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Advertising

Johnnie Walker Tackles Driving Drunk Head-On

By Delphine Hirasuna |

When Johnnie Walker signed onto the Join the Pact initiative to promote responsible drinking, the whisky maker did more than lend its name to the campaign; it gave an impactful demonstration of what might happen when you drink and drive.

Marketing agency APAC Iris Singapore worked with Johnnie Walker to create this 90-second public service spot. The agency took advantage of the fact that Johnnie Walker has been a long-time sponsor of the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Formula One racecar team, and proposed building a CGI model of a Formula One car out of 1,750 Johnnie Walker whisky glasses. The project, headed by Iris regional creative director Grant Hunter and film/3D director Russell Appleford, proved to be an arduous task. Just the crash scene alone required more than 100 gigabytes of data. Two-time world drivers’ champion Mika Häkkinen, Johnnie Walker’s responsible drinking ambassador, was brought in to give the voiceover message authority, advising, “Staying in control is what matters in racing. Split-second decisions are the difference between finishing first and finishing last – or not finishing at all.” For a liquor company, this approach is bold and civic minded. It addresses the potential danger of their product directly and doesn’t try to slip in a self-serving “buy more whisky and party hearty” plug.

Advertising

Motel 6 Road Trip Through Time

By Delphine Hirasuna |

Motel 6 chose an interesting way to tell consumers that they’ve been around for a half century. They “time traveled” both the station wagon and the family of four inside through the decades by morphing them into the latest styles. For those who are baffled about how Motel 6 got its name, here’s the story. The motel chain was founded in 1962 by two building contractors in Santa Barbara, California, who figured out how to offer bargain rates by calculating out the cost of land, construction and ongoing maintenance. By cutting out any frills, they decided they could offer rooms at $6 a night and still make a profit – hence, the name Motel 6. Of course, inflation and other factors have caused room rates to go up multifold over the past 50 years, but relative to other hotels, it is still considered affordable to penny-pinching families.

This commercial was made by Dallas ad agency, The Richards Group, which has been running Motel 6 ad campaigns since the 1980s. They were the ones who came up with Motel 6’s famous tagline “We’ll leave the light on for you.” The Richards Group teamed with the production firm King and Country (K&C), which made the 30-second spot from start to finish – production, direction, editorial, animation and VFX – completely inhouse. Rick Gledhill directed for K&C.

Viral Marketing

Drama in a Belgian Square

By Delphine Hirasuna |

This video was produced to promote the launch of the TV channel TNT in Belgium. We’d tell you more but don’t want to spoil the tagline. The viral stunt was produced by the Duval Guillame Modem agency, with Geoffrey Hantson as creative director and Koen Mortier as director.

Photography

Reseau Ferré De France: Tomorrow on Track Today

By Delphine Hirasuna |

French communication agency W Atjust and director Thierry Poiraud gave a new twist to the tilt-shift photographic technique in making this commercial for the French railway network, Reseau Ferre de France. Tilt-shift uses special lenses and unique angles to capture a real life scene as if it were in miniature. In this case, the video combines tilt-shift photography with models and 3-D animation and adds a giant human hand making improvements to the railway network. Nice touch.