El Gaffney

Happy 30th Anniversary, Mom and Dad

Last night my beyoncé, sister and her new husband took my parents out for dinner to celebrate their 30th anniversary. We hit up Plein Sud, which was on the radar since it’s pretty new to our neighborhood and Ed from Top Chef D.C. runs the kitchen. The meal was quite tasty. You can’t go wrong with flatbreads, mac and cheese and ham, skirt steak and souffle, though, can you? I guess if Tom C. is tasting you can. But our amateur palettes were “more than satisfied.” (Yes, that’s a My Cousin Vinny reference. By the way, IMDB lists the tagline for that movie as “Rambo. Terminator. Indiana Jones. Vinny Gambini.” Really?)

I didn’t open this new post window to talk food or film; I did so to (more publicly) recognize and congratulate my parents on this amazing milestone in their (our) lives. They’re an example in so many ways – one of which is their love for and commitment to each other. Thank you both, for everything.

This seemed like a much more important story today than “What your brand can learn from Kanye Tweets as New Yorker cartoons.” But, if you’re into that, friend me on Facebook.

Tags: family, food

Two Things I Love: Fridays and Cookies

This animated gif has been making its way around the Internet, and it puts a smile on my face. Just like bulldogs snorting, Bubb Rubb woo woo’ing and this epic sax.

Have a happy weekend.

Tags: internet

Beer Ad Me

Now that I’m working in the beer category, I’ve been on the search for best advertising practices in this space. Of course Dos Equis is still getting a lot of love, and I recently posted about Heineken’s stunt in Italy. I’ve always liked Carlsberg’s slogan – “Probably the best beer in the world,” and Carlton Draught’s “Very Big Ad.” More recently, I think what Mother did for Stella with “Up There” is pretty darn sweet. And, as far as we all know, Bros Icing Bros was completely unsanctioned by Smirnoff.

Needless to say, when Dan in our London office put me on to this move by Andes beer in Argentina, I was feeling it. An idea that’s obviously limited in its real-world experience reach, but has gained a massive reach through the content created around it. Red Bull-style. Enjoy responsibly.

Any other interesting examples for me?

Tags: ads, beer

Three Days Until the World Cup

Four until USA beats England.

One of the last things I worked on back at Wieden was ESPN’s marketing for the very quickly approaching World Cup. One of the most interesting things we did with them (and a South African artist collective) is put together 33 murals that told the stories of each participating team (and another for the tourney). You can check them all out here on Facebook or on Flickr. But, of course, this is the most important one:

Finally, here’s the “anthem” TV spot (Bono and all) for the entire event:

P.S. I’d like to promise more activity over here, but with game-watching and my new job, I can’t be sure. Thanks for keeping me around.

Tags: art, soccer, worldcup

Making a Brand Statement

Earlier this year I posted about the Coca-Cola Happiness Machine and had a handful of friends outside of the industry send me emails about how cool it was. (Side note: They weren’t comfortable commenting on the blog even though it’s mine because they aren’t in advertising. However, they’re the harshest couch critics of commercials – especially during football season.)

Anyway, a conversation about creating something (an ad, event, application, etc.) that makes “a brand statement” – gets people talking and shows them a company’s values, personality and/or mission – led me to think about some of the work that’s broken through and resonated with me over the last half year or so. You guys and dolls in advertising have probably seen most, if not all, of these but figured I’d post them for the other nine visitors who aren’t scouring award show winner lists. Plus, I truly believe it’s important for everyone in our industry to talk about the work we see out in the marketplace – whether “creative” is in your title or not.

The idea that sparked this post originally is closest to the Coke example in that it’s a stunt that documented made for some pretty interesting video. What I love is how Heineken thought about their audience and decided to use the people who have the most influence over their soccer fan consumers to reach them.

Also in the sports world (my world) are Gatorade’s Replay, Nike’s Chalkbot and Puma’s Hardchorus. Definitely check these out – they’re really fun.

Given my history working with The Islands Of The Bahamas’ tourism board, I can’t deny last year’s big winner on awards show circuit. Here’s its case study video:

Other award winning ideas brought to life that I admire are BK’s Whopper Sacrifice, Axe’s 100 Girls and our Old Spice Swaggerize Me.

Lastly, two very different uses of film (hundreds of very short clips to show off a limited-run of shoes and one long tale about whiskey) have caught my eye and sucked me in. They are New Balance’s 574 Cilps and Johnnie Walker’s “The Man Who Walked Around The World:

P.S. Kevin, there’s your credit list.
P.P.S. W+K London just released an extended version of Impossible Dream for Honda.

Tags: brands, lists