-Digital agency Smashing Ideas has announced the promotion of Brian Marr to chief strategy officer (photo above).

-Carrot launched an initiative today for The Nature Conservancy, in partnership with Martin Guitars, to raise awareness about poaching of the African elephant, entitled #SaveElephants. link

-World Cup tourists in Brazil are loving this Luis Suarez Adidas ad on Copacabana Beach. link

-AgênciaClick Isobar is rebranding as Isobar Brazil.

-Marketers are prepared for Google Android to be everywhere. link 

- Independently owned Newton Running Co., Boulder has renamed TDA Boulder as its advertising agency of record, responsible “for brand identity, digital and traditional advertising, and sponsorship/event marketing.”

Disaronno is launching a new campaign in the U.S. which will go global in November 2014.

The new campaign maintains the “Be Originale” tagline from previous years, but with a shifted focus “from cocktail creation (i.e. their famed “Disaronno on the rocks” advertisement) to celebrating originality in all aspects of life.” In a new 15-second spot, young Disaronno drinkers “shake originale,” “groove originale,” and “flirt originale,” demonstrating the new campaign’s approach of celebrating the brand as a lifestyle, at the risk of coming across a bit over-the-top. The spot was directed by Laurence Dunmore, who also shot the photography for the campaign’s print elements.

“From the unmistakable aroma to the warm, sophisticated taste and the unique hammered glass bottle design made by master glass craftsmen from Murano, Disaronno defines what it means to ‘Be Originale’,” said Augusto Reina, CEO of Disaronno. “With this new exciting campaign, however, we wanted to bring the spirit of Disaronno’s individuality to life and challenge consumers to constantly shake things up.”

Digital agency Modus Operandi has completed their first initiative for client Belvedere vodka, including both a new campaign and completely redesigned website.

The new website hosts the campaign brand videos, conceived by Modus Operandi and directed by Christopher Ferguson via sister company ModOp Films. Belvedere’s new site and brand videos implore viewers to “#knowthedifference” between terms like “dirty,” “wet,”and “dry,” as in the above “Luxury Vodka State of Mind,” which is set at an upscale pool party. Another video features Belvedere’s Claire Smith, “the First Lady of Vodka” celebrating the vodka martini, which we’ve featured after the jump (along with credits for the brand videos).

““The goal of the website redesign was to modernize Belvedere’’s digital presence as more of a luxury lifestyle brand,”” says Modus Operandi Creative Director Jay Gundzik. “”We use creative social campaigns to activate and drive their consumers to the global Belvedere site. Once there, they can get a feel for the brand through a series of creative branded videos and short documentary-style films. Consumers can also find new cocktail recipes and take a deeper dive into Belvedere’s culture and character.””

Read more

Wieden+Kennedy New York has rolled out two timely social campaigns for Heineken: “#BrazilianNoShow” and “Like for Love.”

“#BrazilianNoShow,” as you might have guessed, is a World Cup-related campaign. W+K New York and Heineken are “challenging CMOs, bosses, and people across America to give their employees time off to watch a game, with their new challenge #BrazilianNoShow!” The idea followed Team USA’s unexpected win against Ghana in their opening game, but is as relevant as ever following the team’s advancement past the group stage. Since game times coincide with the work day here in the U.S., Heineken CMO Nuno Teles appears (video above) to implore American workers and bosses to play hooky and support their team — after all, this opportunity only comes along once every four years.

“Like for Love” sees Heineken supporting Gay Pride Month by “encouraging consumers to ‘spread love’ through the ubiquitous double tap on Instagram, using six photos of real couples to create an interactive virtual Pride flag right in users’ feeds.” The real couple photos all have a single color background, but create an interactive, virtual Pride flag users’ feeds after they are liked. Stick around for credits after the jump. Read more

In what is surely one of the strangest campaigns you’ll see this week, creative Whit Hiler of Kentucky-based Cornett (you may know him from independent org Kentucky for Kentucky’s “Beardvertising” and “Kentucky Kicks Ass”) paired with other local artisans to introduce “Kentucky Fried Chicken Bone Gold Necklaces.”

The project notes that “many great inventions have come out of Kentucky” — such as bourbon, the bowie knife, and, of course, fried chicken. So now, the Kentucky-based integrated agency has “ taken one great Kentucky invention and turned it into a completely new Kentucky invention.” “Like Willy Wonka’s ’Everlasting Gobstopper,’” they’ve “ figured about a way to make it possible to savor a single piece of Kentucky Fried Chicken forever.” That would be by dipping the bones in 14 kt gold and turning them into necklaces. Hiler teamed up with Kentucky jewelry designer Meg C to create a line of “Kentucky Fried Chicken Bone Gold Necklaces.” Just what you always wanted! They’re releasing a limited run of 20 “Gold Kentucky Fried Chicken Wang Bone Necklaces” on Friday, June 27th (that would be tomorrow) at 10:00 AM. Click here to learn more.

Note: the project did not directly involve Cornett or KFC, but the brand was impressed:

What 20 lucky #Chickenistas are awaiting tomorrow’s @KYforKY gold plated chicken bone necklace sale? http://t.co/hCowN5Opyz

— KFC (@kfc) June 26, 2014

Boston-based agency Full Contact has a new television spot promoting convenience/gasoline staple Cumberland Farm’s Farmhouse Blend iced coffee.

The spot marks a departure for the brand, who in recent years have relied on David Hasselhoff in their iced coffee campaigns, such as last summer’s “Thirsty for Love.” Full Contact takes a simpler, more product-driven approach with “Moving Day,” while still employing humor. “Moving Day” sees a woman give her partner and his buddies Cumberland Farm’s Farmhouse Blend iced coffee to fuel them as they move into a new place. She soon regrets the decision, though, as the guys are so unwilling to put down their iced coffees that they break a series of valuables.

Cumberland Farms Senior Manager of Brand Strategy David Heilbronner said the ad “speaks to the quality and value of Cumberland Farms’ Farmhouse Blend iced coffee, and the spot focuses more on the product itself than our past iced coffee commercials. Our agency, Full Contact did a great job inserting iced coffee imagery into a chaotic and humorous scenario…”

While the ad does highlight the actual product in a way the campaigns featuring The Hoff didn’t, it’s far less memorable than “Thirsty For Love,” and it’s very unlikely that it will draw the same kind of attention to the brand. On the other hand, the ad was clearly made on a tighter budget than previous campaigns and it’s unclear if all the attention surrounding The Hoff actually led to increased sales. Stick around for credits after the jump.  Read more

-The latest parody of “First Kiss” features Haley Joel Osment and a whole lot of slapping (video above). link

-GE is optimistic about its policy news hub, Pressing. link

-Yahoo’s latest ad product, Yahoo Prime View, allows advertisers to buy display ads on a viewable cost-per-impression basis. link

-Former Red Bull Brand ManagerMark Pavitt  joins The Blueprint as creative advisor. link

-How the agency model is changing. link

-Data shows that Pinterest is surpassing Twitter in popularity. link

-American Idol ratings slump leaves Fox short on ad inventory. link

Grey London has a new spot for Gillette documenting the last one hundred years in male grooming.

The video, entitled “100 Years of Hair,” features the new “Gillette BODY, the brand’s first razor built for the terrain of the male body.” It takes the viewer on a journey through the myriad (and often regrettable) styles of decades past, such as the “Pepe Le Pew” mustache, handle bar. clean-shaved greaser, unkempt sixties, and the soul patch. At the spot’s conclusion the man  breaks out the Gillette BODY to shave his chest, displaying Gillette’s latest change to male grooming (which is sure to catch on with competitive swimmers everywhere). Stay with us after the credits for a behind-the-scenes video. Read more

To promote Virgin Media’s “comprehensive new bundle of technology services” BBH London teamed up with creative company th2ng (pronounced “thing two”) for a visceral visual demonstration of just how big the bundle package is.

They created a series of five online spots, “Conceived, devised, and delivered on an extremely tight deadline” that show the inflation of a series of everyday items to the breaking point. While the end results of continuously inflating the items — which include  a pair of dishwashing gloves, a standard suitcase, a hot water bottle, and a six-foot tall dinosaur — is predictable, it makes for suspenseful viewing since you don’t know when the explosive moment will occur. Directors Dan Lumb and Crinan Campbell (known collectively as “The Queen”) say that, despite the time constraints, this was still “the project of their dreams.”

Following the launch of the first video in the series on June 16th, viewers had the opportunity to vote online for what they would like to see explode next. You can watch the original video above, and stick around for more explosions and credits after the jump. Read more

Last month, Fallon launched a new campaign for Henkel’s Loctite Adhesives, promoting Loctite Super Glue with a thoroughly ridiculous 30-second television spot featuring fanny pack dancing. Now the agency has continued their campaign with two more television spots, which, unsurprisingly, continue the goofiness trend for the brand.

One of the new 30-second spots, “Breakage” (featured above), sees a man so enamored with Loctite’s adhesive power that he fantasizes about breaking things, just so he and his buddy can glue them back together. The similarly toned “Shoe” sees the same man apprehensive about a shoe emergency. He glues the shoe together and then decides to try to put some weight on it, ensuing in a fairly predictable scenario. Both spots, which were directed by Emmy-winning director David Shane and will debut this week, conclude with a clip from the original campaign spot “Win at Glue.” Stick around for credits and “Shoe” after the jump. Read more