The real-life gay couple from Tiffany & Co.'s recent print ad return in this spot from Ogilvy & Mather featuring various duos on the brink—or in the process—of getting engaged.

Part of the jeweler's "Will You?" campaign, it's a sweet spot, in tune with the times, celebrating diversity and true love as simple facts life. (The 75-second ad shows an interracial couple, too.) According to the client, the campaign acknowledges the "variety of forms" found in modern romance, and positions its rings as "the first sentence of the story that a couple will write together."



The progressive campaign has generated lots of mostly positive media play—Miley Cyrus called it "badass"—though some critics say it doesn't push the envelope enough, while others take Tiffany to task for casting only attractive couples.

Societal issues aside, the spot shines in its attention to the daily details of affection: sharing a quiet drink or private joke, making gentle fun of a parter's foibles, fixing the buttons on a lover's shirt. Such scenes remind us of the priceless commitment a Tiffany ring represents.

Given how much advertising loves office humor, it's a bit surprising that characters from Office Space haven't been revived more often for commercials. Bill Lumbergh, in particular—the 1999 film's most broadly drawn corporate caricature—is great for a laugh. Yet the character, played by Gary Cole, has shown up only once in an ad—for State Farm, a few years ago—and didn't even deliver much of his signature drawling babble.

Now, Atlassian corrects that with this campaign for HipChat—software that facilitates internal communication at the workplace, including live chat.In the 90-second spot below, Lumbergh has brought in his employees on Labor Day to discuss how they can work better. Instead of using HipChat, he wants more meetings and more emails—and for the latter, "more bulk on your threads." Mmm-kay?



The onscreen tagline at the end is: "Don't work in the past."

The campaign, by San Francisco creative agency Brass Ideas, will also include :15s and :30s, banner ads and out-of-home, though not TPS reports.

My late grandfather once told me, "There's an ass for every seat." Not until today did I truly know what he meant.

Just when you thought Miley had ruined twerking for everyone, the folks at AIAIAI headphones raise the bar for rump awareness with their latest project, "Real Booty Music." Music producer Branko (from Buraka Som Sistema) attached sensors to Twerk Queen Louise's derrière and harnessed the movement of—well, butt cheeks—to create new music. 

It really is something to behold.



The company says: "The overall idea behind the project was to provide AIAIAI headphone users and other music lovers with new music. Moreover, we wanted to do this in an unusual way, which brought about music made by the booty—for the booty. The project explores the rich heritage of bass-driven club culture, where dancing and booty shaking are integral elements. We want to see if it's possible to change the perception of twerking through placing it in a technology-driven, creative context and letting the dance 'do the talking.' "

In the event that the video simply whetted your appetite for the track, check it out:



Via Ads of the World.

CREDITS
Client: AIAIAI
Creative Director / Art Director: Peter Michael Willer
Copywriter: Ulrik Nørgaard
Artist: Branko
Dancer: Twerk Queen Louise
Creative Technology Design: Pieter-Jan Pieters / Owow
Engineers: Joep le Blanc, Alex Tsamakos
Film Director: Mike Nybroe
Webdesigner: Andy Borglind
Published: February 2015

Sonic is pretty serious about playing with its food.

A new campaign from Goodby, Silverstein & Partners transforms actors' mouths into zany little characters using face paint, à la makeup artist Lauren Jenkinson's renditions of classic cartoon characters.

The illustrations are great more or less across the board, even if some of the writing and delivery—the self-destructive robot, the melodramatic doctor, the angst-ridden teenager—might try a little too hard to be funny.

The better monologues turn the corner on relatable bits of truth—like a Southern belle who scrambles to save face after it turns out she's not so refined after all—or on straight-up charming silliness—like a hammy yeti, idiotic octopus or behind-the-times groundhog.

The best moments, though, come from the more subtle facial cues, like when a chin twitch becomes a boxer pumping his pecs, or a soul patch finds new life as chest hair (in what might be the most perfect equivalence ever).

Then again, that all might just be a matter of taste—promoting the fast-food chain's various drink flavors is, after all, kind of the point. But seriously, just try to keep your brain from imploding when Abraham Lincoln cracks a pun about a Leonardo DiCaprio movie.

CREDITS
Client: Sonic
Campaign "Sipsters"
Agency: Goodby Silverstein & Partners

Creative
Executive Creative Director/Partner: Margaret Johnson
ACD/Writer: Jon Wolanske
ACD/Art Director/Designer: Kevin Koller
Copywriter: Justin Ralph

Account Services & Strategy
Group Account Director: Leslie Barrett
Account Director: Jenna Duboe
Assistant Account Manager: Olivia Mullen
Business Affairs Managers: Chrissy Shearer, Jane Regan
Senior Communication Strategist: John-James Richardson

Production
Director of Broadcast Production: Tod Puckett
Broadcast Producer: Melissa Nagy
Production Company: eLevel Films (Goodby Silverstein & Partners)
Director: Claude Shade/Jon Wolanske
Director of Photography: Brett Simms
Executive Producer: PJ Koll
Line Producer: Genevieve Giraudo
Production Manager: Haley Klarfield
Make-up Artists: Sarah Coy, Victor Cembelin, Sophie Smith and Monica Bishop

Postproduction
eLevel Films (Goodby Silverstein & Partners)
Editor: Quinn Motika
Executive Producer: PJ Koll
Post Producer: Samantha Liss
Telecine: Nathan Shipley
Online: Kyle Westbrook
Audio Mix/Sound Design: Nic DeMatteo, Jody Scott, Jon Shamieh
Music: APM Music
End Title Design: Kevin Koller

Netflix and Comcast have been sparring for a while. But on Wednesday, Netflix delivered a quietly epic uppercut to the cable giant and its interests—thanks to a single creative tweet.

It concerns net neutrality, on which the FCC is set to vote Thursday. Netflix is heavily invested in the issue, fearing that without an open Internet, Comcast and other cable companies would create Internet slow lanes for companies that refuse to pay broadband providers for access.

That fear is communicated brilliantly in the tweet below, which stretches on forever. (The tweet has been making the rounds in the net neutrality debate, and was picked up by Netflix today. It was not created by Netflix.)

"What if the Internet was so slow it loaded one word at a time? Don't let Comcast win," it says—with a link to the Battleforthenet.com, which argues for net neutrality.

The tweet is particularly impressive because it eats up a giant piece of a user's real estate when it appears in the feed, making it all but impossible to miss.

Thursday's vote is actually expected to be a foregone conclusion, with Republicans already conceding defeat on the issue and Netflix and its allies expected to be victorious.
 

What if the Internet was so slow it loaded one word at a time? Don't let Comcast win. http://t.co/OCoIdQiIN3

— Netflix US (@netflix) February 25, 2015

Bleak black-and-white digital billboards in London (one in Holborn and one in Aldgate) are telling the sad stories of people priced out of London as the city continues to change. If you're headed to or moving out of London, LondonIsChanging.org wants to know why.

The project was created by Rebecca Ross, a communication design and urbanism teacher at University of the Arts London. It's about the housing crisis, but it's more than that, too. Ross' intent is to hold politicians accountable for the planning changes that are changing the face of London. But most of the responses she's received in her call for a open dialogue at LondonIsChanging.org have been socioeconomic in nature.

While select quotes are being pulled for display on the billboards, all of the data collected by the project will be made available to the public in 2016—at which point, hopefully, somebody somewhere will do something with it. Of course, the fact that there's no guarantee that will happen is probably what makes it qualify as public art.

Either way, this is officially the classier British way to scream, "The rent is too damn high!"

Sure, we Americans drink a whole lot of light beer, but do you realize just how much?

The infographic below from the team at alcohol-fueled site VinePair shows the staggering scope of mainstream beer sales—especially Bud Light, which tallies $3 billion more in sales than its closest competitor, Coors Light.

The data, via IRI and Beer Advocate, are from 2013 but likely still quite accurate. Yuengling stands alone as the only privately owned craft beer in the Top 20, and VinePair notes that smaller brewers make up just 15 percent of sales. (Oh, and the site has another graphic suggesting microbrewed upgrades for the light beer lovers among you.)

If nothing else, the chart highlights the silliness of Budweiser's Super Bowl ad positioning craft beer as some sort of anti-American hipster insurgency. Anheuser-Busch seems to be doing just fine without having to spend millions in ad dollars to crush the craft beer movement.

Attention, creatives: You have actual paying clients, and shouldn't be pissing your time away working on briefs for some cockamamie ad contest. But if you do, at least keep it quiet.

That's the message of this amusing video by agency Zulu Alpha Kilo encouraging entries to Canada's National Advertising Challenge—a contest that challenges creatives to dream up the most unconventional solutions for Canadian marketers. Sounds like fun? Sure, but you'd better not let certain colleagues know you plan to enter.



The winning teams get a trip to Cannes in June. The NAC got 200 entries last year, but hopes to double that this year. The briefs go live March 2, with a deadline of March 30.

"We have big aspirations for the NAC, but we were facing a serious comprehension issues within the creative community," says Ellie Metrick, marketing and communications manager at NAC. "This year's online video goes a long way in explaining that we offer creatives an opportunity to do original work in exchange for a chance to go to Cannes."

CREDITS
Agency: Zulu Alpha Kilo
Client (Company): National Advertising Challenge
Creative Director: Zak Mroueh
Art Director: Ari Elkouby
Copywriter: George Ault
Agency Producer: Tara Handley
Production House: Someplace Nice
Director: Pete Henderson
Account Team: Alexandra Potter
Client: Ellie Metrick
Production House Producer: Robbie McNamara
Video Post Facility / Editing Company: Rooster
Editor: Chris Parkins
Online/Transfer: Fort York
Flame Artist: Lauren Rempel
Audio Post Facility/Music House: Zulu Alpha Kilo
Audio Director: Stephen Stepanic
Engineer: Stephen Stepanic

Apple Watch gets a 12-page spread in the March issue of Vogue, part of the run-up to the wearable device's launch in April. Rate-card value: north of $2.2 million.

All three versions of the watch—the luxe 18-karat gold model, a sports watch and the leather-bound standard edition—are featured in the magazine's "Spring Fashion Blockbuster," and the images we've seen so far look appropriately stylish. (Scroll down to see for a sample of pages from the ad section.)

The sleek, angular devices are tastefully displayed in classic Apple style against plain white backgrounds. In one shot, the watch's face appears to rise from a milky mist, the muted hues of its app icons signaling its time has arrived. Another shows a rising segment of the band in stark relief, suggesting a silvery stairway to heaven (by which I mean the nearest Apple Store, naturally).

More than anything, these arty abstractions resemble jewelry advertising, with the Apple Watch cast as the latest shiny bauble for the tech-crazed masses. Tres chic! Tres Apple!

Observers have generally lauded the strategy of positioning the watch as a fashion accessory, though some point out that Google Glass went the Vogue route with a spread two years ago and failed to catch on with the masses.

In my view, that's an unfair comparison. The failure of Google Glass has been analyzed to death, but ultimately, its lack of "cool"—perched on users' faces, for everyone to see—was perhaps a fatal, if unavoidable, flaw.

Apple Watch, a far more discreet wearable, won't provide such a sorry spectacle. Like fine timepieces of old, it's designed to be admired while remaining unobtrusive. Folks who catch a glimpse of the gadget won't confer Glasshole-type scorn on wearers. Instead, the device will inspire curiosity and a desire to buy.

It will be in vogue in for years. Just watch.

Google Play has been running a great branded content series from BBH Los Angeles called "California Inspires Me," featuring interviews—which are then set to animation—with famous Californians talking about their upbringing. It's a collaboration with California Sunday magazine (the regional print offshoot of nonfiction event series Pop-Up Magazine), and the results have been fantastic.

The latest spot in the series breaks today, featuring Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh, who explains how he grew up legally blind and initially wasn't that interested in music. It's a lovely way to tell these kinds of stories. Have a look here:



To get an idea of how this campaign works behind the scenes, AdFreak chatted with Josh Webman, creative director at BBH L.A.

AdFreak: Can you describe the collaboration between BBH, California Sunday and Google Play? Who's responsible for what?
Josh Webman: Everyone at Google and BBH loved the Pop-Up Magazine series. It was an incredible, sort of, "happening," where on one night different artists, journalists and filmmakers present their work on stage—and then it all goes away. Nothing is filmed or recorded. As it turned out, Pop-Up was starting a new magazine series called California Sunday, and they were really interested in story advertising. The timing was perfect.

We all worked together to create the "California Inspires Me" series of print ads and animated films. It's been a true collaboration between the three partners, with everyone bringing value to the work. We're fortunate to have a client like Google Play, who is a big believer in creating advertising that doesn't feel like advertising and putting content out into the world that is authentic and inspiring.

How do you choose the interviewees?
We all kind of go around the room and try to think about who has a truly unique story. Whose story would be fun to bring to life? Everyone has a say.

What's the process like for the interviews? Do you sit down and have a long chat and then pick the best part? Is it more structured than that?
The studios team at California Sunday is amazing at getting people to open up. They have a deep roster of producers and writers from This American Life and public radio, who have a knack for getting the most interesting morsels out of their subjects. We would then all pore over the interview and transcripts afterwards, pick out the nicest bits, and start carving out a narrative.

Is the audio edited a lot?
We usually have somewhere between 45 minutes to an hour and a half of unedited conversation. Then, we cut down—as is always the case, we end up having to kill a few of our babies for the sake of a nice, tight story.

Do you then find animators to put pictures to the words?
Actually, we are already researching animators well in advance of the interview. Sometimes, this is the hardest part of the whole process, because each one of us has this back-pocket, laundry list of animators we've been dying to work with. So we're all kind of jockeying for our favorites. But it all becomes a little clearer when we finally land on an interview subject. There was always a "eureka" moment, where we knew the subject and the animator just belonged together. It's matchmaking.

What led you to Mark Mothersbaugh?
Who doesn't love Devo? We were all fans. But really, Mark is so much more than Devo. He has such a dynamic and varied body of work, and the trajectory of his career has taken so many fascinating and unexpected turns. It felt like, "Why wouldn't we want to tell that story? It's riveting."

In many ways, he embodies what we think of when we think of a multidimensional artist. He just has so many tools in his belt. And his personal story—how he "made it," how he became who he is—is just as interesting as the art he creates. Mark has influenced whole generations, and in different mediums, too. He just seemed perfect for this project.

You got Madrid-based directing duo Manson to direct this. Why them?
Because they're amazing. That's the short answer. The long answer is, our design director, Florencio Zavala, came across the work of street artist/illustrator SAWE—one half of Manson—and we were all blown away. After one viewing of Tomás's work as well, we knew we had to work with this crew. Mark's story is fascinating, and we knew these guys would really elevate it. And they did. Knocked it out of the park.

What other videos have you done?
We've done "California Inspires Me" profiles on director Mike Mills, and the indie singer Thao Nguyen. And of course, Jack Black. We are hard at work on the next few installments, and they are great, really interesting, inspiring people whose stories are told beautifully. The diversity of the subjects is key, so we are trying to surprise people. We really hope everyone likes them.

The whole series has a dreamy vibe. Was that the intent all along?
We think so. It's the California way, right? We're all based in California—BBH L.A., Google Play, and California Sunday—so we wanted to have that feeling come across in the films, but subtly—we didn't want to be heavy handed about it.

We wanted to get across the surprising way the state of California can be this great, unexpected haven for creativity—a place for dreamers and misfits. There's a certain allure there, and an ideal that feeds right into a dreamy fantasy. To that end, we do always ask the illustrators to give us a bit of a surreal/fantasy vibe. That's the great thing about animation: You can open it up and tell a person's story in a less formal way.

What is the series trying to say, deep down, about California?
California is thought of as a lot of different things. Thanks in part to the film industry, we know it's a place where artists come to, but it's also a place where artists come from. It is a creative mecca as rich and diverse as any in the world, from the beat scene in the '50s, Haight-Ashbury, Beautiful Losers, Ray and Charles Eames to Compton, Silicon Valley, Sound City, the Sunset Strip, Disney, Pixar, CalArts and Grand Royal.

California is a place where people not only find their footing, but grow and bloom, developing as people and as artists. BBH, California Sunday and Google Play wanted to shine a light on that idea. It really is a magical place, and it's cool to hear how California does in fact inspire people. We're all hoping, in our own way, that the series inspires others as well.

See the previous videos from the series here:

CREDITS
Client: Google Play
Global Director of Marketing: Brian Irving
Marketing Manager: Zena Arnold
Product Marketing Manager: Robin Gonterman

Spot: "California Inspires Me: Mark Mothersbaugh"

Director: Manson Animation: Manson
Music: Shannon Ferguson

Sound Production: Youth Radio

Agency: BBH, Los Angeles
Executive Creative Director: Pelle Sjoenell
Creative Director: Josh Webman
Creative Director: Peter Albores
Design Director: Florencio Zavala
Art Director: James Beke
Copywriter: Tyree Harris
Business Director: Derek McCarty
Account Lead: Raquel Castro

California Sunday
Publisher, President: Chas Edwards
Producer, "California Inspires Me": Derek Fagerstrom

Project Manager: Whitney Lynn
Account Executive: Noelle Kaplan
Front End Developer: Amelia Kaufman

The third season of Netflix's government drama House of Cards will officially be available to stream on Friday. And (spoiler alert) Frank Underwood has consolidated his power. Apparently, lots of scheming, backstabbing and murdering pays off.

What better way to celebrate the Underwood's success than to imagine what his presidential campaign posters would have looked like, had he taken a more traditional route? That's exactly what Mashable did, taking inspiration from real presidential posters from Obama, Kennedy, Johnson, Taft and more. 

Oh, and for good measure, there are a few touting Claire's rise, too. 

See the whole gallery here.

You've got a social media war room during the Super Bowl to generate that genius real-time tweet. But what about when llamas are suddenly, unexpectedly on the loose and the Internet is going insane? How do you respond?!

As it happens, this exact thing happened today. And as office productivity turned to mush, the brands' mettle was tested as everyone gawked at the spectacle on the Internet. 

So, how did they do? Hit and miss. See below.
 

FACT: Llamas don't need that extra "l". They just want it.

— Skittles (@Skittles) February 26, 2015

The llamas clearly just #WannaGetAway... #LlamaGetAway?

— Southwest Airlines (@SouthwestAir) February 26, 2015

"we are chill, we mean no harm. give us some fries." -llamas, probably

— Denny's (@DennysDiner) February 26, 2015

Our #MarvelCharacterOfTheDay is CLEARLY Black Lama. #llamawatchpic.twitter.com/3IqDFoBhdp

— Marvel Entertainment (@Marvel) February 26, 2015

The #AZCardinals have agreed to one-year deals with the #llamasontheloose. Each llama will earn 2,340 lbs of hay. Steve Keim does it again.

— Arizona Cardinals (@AZCardinals) February 26, 2015

Llama drama. pic.twitter.com/lt6RZNURWZ

— Disney (@Disney) February 26, 2015

The work day has officially come to a stand still. Beers and the #llamachase officially pair well. #Llamapic.twitter.com/9v0hTie5sA

— New Belgium Brewing (@newbelgium) February 26, 2015

OH THANK GOD LLAMA WE WERE SO WORRIED ABOUT U. #LlamaWatch2015#llamadramapic.twitter.com/R9Jvl6RWoA

— Pete Zaroll (@totinos) February 26, 2015

Better #Llamas than bears, right? #TeamLlama.... #tweetfromtheseat

— Charmin (@Charmin) February 26, 2015

For the record, we are officially #TeamLlama.

— Fireball Whisky (@FireballWhisky) February 26, 2015

Tiger Woods has been having a rough time for about half a decade. He's been stuck on 14 major championships since 2008, but it's good to know he can poke a little fun at himself.

Tiger gives his pursuit of No. 15 a quick, humorous mention in this very entertaining Nike Golf spot from Wieden + Kennedy, which also stars Rory McIlroy, Michelle Wie, Charles Barkley and Bo Jackson (who utters a certain familiar phrase from an old, old, old W+K campaign for Nike). Comedian Keegan-Michael Key provides the voiceover.



The ad, for Nike's Vapor driver, takes a humorous look at why golfers of all skill levels might want to change their driver.

CREDITS
Client: Nike Golf
Project: There's Always Better

—TV
Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, Ore.
Creative Directors: Chris Groom / Stuart Brown
Copywriter: Brock Kirby
Art Director: Derrick Ho
Producer: Jeff Selis
Interactive Strategy: Reid Schilperoort
Strategic Planning: Andy Lindblade / Brandon Thornton
Media/Comms Planning: Alex Dobson / Jocelyn Reist
Account Team: Alyssa Ramsey / Rob Archibald / Heather Morba / Ramiro Del-Cid
Business Affaires: Dusty Slowik
Project Management: Nancy Rea
Executive Creative Directors: Joe Staples / Mark Fizloff
Head of Production: Ben Grylewicz

Production Company: Biscuit Filmworks
Director: Steve Rogers
Executive Producer: Holly Vega
Line Producer: Vincent Landay
Director of Photography: Nicolas Karakatsanis

Editorial Company: Joint Editorial
Editor: Matthew Hilber,
Post Producer: Leslie Carthy
Post Executive Producer: Patty Brebner

VFX Company: The Mill
VFX Supervisor: Tim Davies
VFX Producer: Will Lemmon

Music+Sound Company: Barking Owl

—Digital/Interactive

Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, Ore.
Creative Director: Chris Groom / Stuart Brown
Copywriter: Brock Kirby
Art Director: Derrick Ho
Producer: Jeff Selis
Interactive Strategy: Reid Schilperoort
Strategic Planning: Andy Lindblade / Brandon Thornton
Media/Comms Planning: Alex Dobson / Jocelyn Reist
Account Team: Alyssa Ramsey / Rob Archibald / Heather Morba / Ramiro Del-Cid
Executive Creative Directors: Joe Staples / Mark Fitzloff
Agency Executive Producer: Ben Grylewicz
Digital Designer: Rob Mumford
Exec Interactive Producer: Patrick Marzullo
Content Producer : Byron Oshiro / Sarah Gamazo
Broadcast: Jeff Selis
Art Buying: Amy Berriochoa
Photographer: Henrique Plantikow
Interactive Studio Artist: Adam Sirkin, Oliver Rokoff

Rhett & Link will slake your thirst for goofy, brand-inspired comedy in the "Ultimate Water Taste Test," a wonderfully wet episode of their "Good Mythical Morning" YouTube show.

The guys, best known for their brilliantly bad local commercials, compete against each other to identify seven varieties of water. They sample five brands: Dasani, Evian, Fiji, Smart Water and Blk Water. ("It's not from a river in Alabama," Rhett quips, but infused with fulvic powder, "whatever that is.") There's also pond water from Echo Park in Los Angeles and H2O straight from the tap.

The duo don a dual-action water-tasting apparatus—basically hardhats and two hoses for drinking—that actually connects their heads, making them look, Link notes, "like two construction workers talked into doing some kind of scuba trust exercise."



Once the blind water taste test begins, the snark pours forth.

"It's got a flowed-down-through-snow-in-the-Alps kind of a feel to it."
"There's an elevation in this taste—this is from up high, not from down below."
"Tastes like clouds."
"I can taste vapor distillation."
"If somebody's selling this, they need to stop immediately."

You'll have to watch the 15-minute segment—streaming rapidly toward 1 million YouTube views in just two days—to see how many of the seven they correctly identify. Be sure to hang in for the refreshingly honest "Neither Water" spoof commercial at the end, which drives home the point that, when you're truly parched, branding doesn't matter.

What a day the Internet had yesterday. First we watched llamas on the loose. Then, just after 6 p.m., BuzzFeed posted what might be its single most-shared article ever: "What Colors Are This Dress."

If you're unaware—which is impossible, unless you live in a cave—the story pointed to a Tumblr discussion about the color of a dress. Welp, the Internet exploded—and so did the brands, which swarmed the topic like flies.

See some of the tweets below. Hooray for net neutrality! I guess?
 

Clearly it's copper and black. #TheDress

— Duracell (@Duracell) February 27, 2015

It's not the color of #TheDress that matters, it's the #party you wear it to.

— Party City (@PartyCity) February 27, 2015

White and gold? Black and blue? All we see is white and red. #TheDress

— barefootwine (@BarefootWine) February 27, 2015

#whiteandgold or #blackandblue? We found a way around science- you can have both! #TheDress#dressgatepic.twitter.com/5oj3ZTqOWk

— LEGO (@LEGO_Group) February 27, 2015

Definitely not blue #TheDresspic.twitter.com/Z1dIE9Atoa

— krispykreme (@krispykreme) February 27, 2015

Proud to be black & white, or is it white & black? #TheDress --- Drinkaware.ie pic.twitter.com/Turyk9zYfc

— Guinness Ireland (@GuinnessIreland) February 27, 2015

Definitely Red and White! #HaveAbreak#TheDress#breakfromthedress#TeamRedAndWhitepic.twitter.com/BFVVMRGn5m

— KITKAT (@KITKAT) February 27, 2015

We've been asked... The dress is blue & black. #tweetfromtheseat

— Charmin (@Charmin) February 27, 2015

AKSHULLY if you adjust the saturation and bring down the levels you'll see that the llamas never even ran away in the first place. #TheDress

— Pete Zaroll (@totinos) February 27, 2015

We see it as blue and yellow, but we may be a tiny bit biased. #TheDresspic.twitter.com/JGs4XuyiZ8

— Cirque du Soleil (@Cirque) February 27, 2015

You're not the only ones @Cirque! We see blue & yellow too :) #TheDresspic.twitter.com/jOcsQrOCUN

— IKEA USA (@IKEAUSA) February 27, 2015

It doesn't matter which color you see, we've got you covered. #TheDresspic.twitter.com/v5lJOCydVp

— Behr Paint (@BehrPaint) February 27, 2015

No filter. #TheDresspic.twitter.com/U1A8A6pNsd

— Miller Lite (@MillerLite) February 27, 2015

Trust us, #TheDress is white.

— Clorox (@Clorox) February 27, 2015

You all have it all wrong. It's red & red. #TheDress

— Fireball Whisky (@FireballWhisky) February 27, 2015

Why does everyone keep calling us Gold and White now? What's going on, Internet?! #TheDress#WhatColorsAreThisDresspic.twitter.com/Hz4xGr7DzZ

— M&M'S® Brand (@mmschocolate) February 27, 2015

We promise, we aren't messing with you. This dress is blue and black. #TheDress#Blueandblack#WhiteandGoldpic.twitter.com/pI92V96uLX

— JCPenney (@jcpenney) February 27, 2015

Less concerned about #thedress and more concerned about the #lastchobani in the fridge.

— Chobani (@Chobani) February 27, 2015

We think #thedress is blue... But we're a bit biased. #blueandblackhttp://t.co/ycCj6KU5MW

— Lee Jeans (@LeeJeans) February 27, 2015

We may see #whiteandgold on #TheDress, but it's #blackandblue that we want in our belly! pic.twitter.com/DRYMi81zO8

— Dogfish Head Brewery (@dogfishbeer) February 27, 2015

Who can you trust? Certainly not your eyes. This is definitely #whiteandgold#thedresspic.twitter.com/4YtUBPeQ6s

— Zyrtec (@Zyrtec) February 27, 2015

*stops furiously scribbling amidst dozens of coffee cups* there is no dress. it is not the dress that changes colors, it is only yourself.

— Denny's (@DennysDiner) February 27, 2015

It's white and gold. pic.twitter.com/OqrPgKx6r4

— Pizza Hut (@pizzahut) February 27, 2015

This is awkward, it's actually white and red. pic.twitter.com/DpCKsBkPiI

— Domino's Pizza (@dominos) February 27, 2015

#TheDress might look better in red and white.

— Coca-Cola (@CocaCola) February 27, 2015

Brands are obsessed with space, getting to space, and anything that's been to space. This week, it was Jose Cuervo's chance to boldly go where no tequila brand had gone before—and hopefully make it home safely.

In honor of National Margarita Day last Sunday, Cuervo and its agency, McCann New York—using aerospace technology and GPS tracking—launched a container of margarita ingredients heavenward, hoping to mix a cocktail in space and parachute it back to Earth.

See how that went in this video:

The agency teamed up with independent space program JP Aerospace, along with scientists who led the Phoenix Mission to Mars, to build and launch the spacecraft. The launch site was Pinal County Park, about an hour north of Tucson, Ariz.

Severe buffeting of winds at high altitude shook the margarita, and the extreme cold froze it. When the capsule reached about 100,000 feet into space, the weather balloons shattered and the capsule parachuted down.

The margarita landed in a ravine 100 miles from the launch site. It reportedly tasted good.

In this inspirational ad from Wieden + Kennedy for Powerade, a boy who represents a young Derrick Rose rides through the south side of Chicago to a voiceover by Tupac Shakur—the late rapper's first narration of a commercial.

"You see, you wouldn't ask why the rose that grew from the concrete had damaged petals," Shakur says. "On the contrary, we would all celebrate its tenacity. We would all love its will to reach the sun. Well, we are the roses. This is the concrete. These are my damaged petals. Don't ask me why. Ask me how."



The bike ride from the South Side to the United Center reflects Rose's journey from the streets of Englewood, through adversity, to the NBA. The scenes then change to the present day, with the recently injured Bulls point guard drinking a Powerade courtside. Copy flashes, "We're all just a kid from somewhere," and the spot ends with a Rose wearing a "Just a kid from Chicago" sweatshirt.

The #powerthrough hashtag seems poignant in light of Rose's recent injuries. And of course, using lines from "The Rose That Grew Through Concrete" is almost too lovely and perfect.

CREDITS
Client: Powerade
Agency: Wieden + Kennedy
Production Company: Smuggler
Director: Jaron Albertin

This Saturday Night Live ad parody, in which a dad (Taran Killam) drops off his daughter (Dakota Johnson) to join ISIS, sparked a raging debate this weekend on social media.

The sketch lampoons Toyota's "My Bold Dad" Super Bowl ad for the Camry, which showed a proud father driving his daughter to the airport as she begins her hitch in the U.S. Army. In SNL's skit, the dad urges his daughter to "Be careful, OK?" as she climbs into a rough-terrain vehicle with three heavily armed, scraggy-bearded jihadi types. "ISIS. We'll take it from here, Dad" is the tagline.

Detractors argue that the radical Islamist group's atrocities are too heinous, and too freshly carved into our collective psyche, for the comedy treatment. They believe the parody is offensive, or at least in bad taste. Defenders applaud SNL's bold decision to court controversy in its quest for laughs. (This camp includes Arsenio Hall, who tweeted that the sketch was "#hilarious.")



Personally, I wouldn't use the word "hilarious," even without the hashtag. Its savage satire will, however, get under your skin—and maybe even make your skin crawl. That's a good thing. Western teenagers and young adults (like Jihadi John) who choose to join extremist groups only recently hit global headlines. We're in new and unfamiliar territory, processing gut-wrenching details and struggling, as individuals and as a society, to understand.

That's why the debate is so important. And so wonderful. We should never have to reach a "safe place" or stoop to group think as we parse provocative concepts. SNL is free to say whatever it wants, and viewers are equally free to express their agreement or take umbrage. Jousting in the marketplace of ideas, defending our opinions with fierce passion—that's what America is all about. Or should be all about, at any rate.

What would you do if you were walking through a well-lit shopping mall and your shadow suddenly turned into Donald Duck? It might be enough to strike panic into the heart of any reasonable person. Is it time to go on a diet? When did things get so wildly out of hand? Is this an acid flashback?

But a new reality-style video from Disney—promoting Disney Parks—finds a string of shoppers seeming to have a pretty great time when silhouettes of the company's classic cartoon characters start stalking and mimicking them from behind a backlit set of doors.

It's very charming, especially for the kids in the audience, and the young-at-heart—because who doesn't want to be Buzz Lightyear?



At least some of the reactions are likely staged, but it almost doesn't matter—they're entertaining either way. One very serious businessman balks then smiles at the notion that he's "getting shadowed by a Goofy." One sane woman shakes her head no, backing away, terrified, saying "I'm good," when Snow White's evil queen offers up a poisoned apple.

But the stunt is perhaps most delightful when a grown man tries to catch a shadow football thrown by a shadow dog. (It's least convincingly spontaneous when Minnie Mouse crushes a teenager in a dance-off.)

Regardless, it's a testament to the iconic status of the characters (most of the silhouettes are proper, easy-to-recognize brands in their own right). And it certainly gets across the idea of good, family-friendly fun. As much as you might want to, hating Disney characters (or at least, hating all Disney characters) is like hating puppies and sunshine—you just can't do it.

The Skoda Fabia is a pretty special car. Just park it on the street and see what happens. It's way more attention getting than you think. A very clever ad by AIS London and MindsEye director Luke Bellis.



There have been ads like this before, of course—notably, this 2008 spot about driving safely around cyclists.

CREDITS
Client: Skoda
Agency: AIS London
Art Director: Jay Packham
Copywriter: Ian Cochran
Director: Luke Bellis
Producer: Ben Sullivan
Production Manager: Carmen Siu
Production Company: MindsEye
1st AD: Jonathan Sidwell
Director of Photography: Dan Stafford-Clark
Gaffer: Stefan Mitchell
DIT: Nelson Oliver
Art Department: Hayley Macdonald
Art Assistant: Ruth Pickard
Postproduction: Tundra
Head of Post: Espen Haslene