It's a case of bad timing.

A week before Heineken will be feted at Cannes Lions for its global advertising success across several brands, the brewer has parted ways with Wieden + Kennedy, the lead global agency on its flagship brand. Globally, Heineken spends an estimated $60 million to $80 million in media annually.

Five years is a respectable run with a beer brand, especially after Heineken's seemingly perpetual changing of agencies before that. In the U.S., for example, Heineken employed six agencies in nine years before hiring Wieden in 2011. At the time, the agency's Amsterdam office was already working on the brand outside the U.S. in a relationship dating back to the prior year.

In the history of Heineken marketing, then, this was a long relationship—and a fruitful one at that, with both marketer and agency collecting awards from Cannes, as well as Effie and Clio awards. In announcing the split today, Heineken chief commercial officer Jan Derck van Karnebeek acknowledged the partnership was "strong and effective."

Turnover in the brewer's marketing ranks triggered the earlier agency changes and most likely was a factor in this one. Lesya Lysyj, the U.S. chief marketing officer when Wieden added that region four years ago, left the company in late 2013 to become North American president of Weight Watchers. In addition, Alexis Nasard, the global CMO since 2013, is leaving the company as part of a spring restructuring. 

Most beers, imported and domestic, are struggling to gain share in a marketplace that's flooded with regional microbrews. So, absent significant sales gains, all beer agencies are living on borrowed time. As Wieden president Dave Luhr noted in a statement, "In this business, change is more the norm than the exception."

Jim Stengel's history with the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity dates back to 2003, when, as global marketing chief of Procter & Gamble, he and a team of colleagues stormed the beach in search of creative inspiration. At the time, agency creative leaders vastly outnumbered chief marketing officers at the confab, but since then the marketing ranks have swelled. Stengel is no longer at P&G (he left in 2008), but he still goes to Cannes each year, to teach courses in the festival's CMO Accelerator Programme and Young Marketers Academy. This year, he'll also speak to marketing leaders at pharmaceutical companies. In a look back, Stengel explains why P&G first went to Cannes and how the consumer packaged goods giant's relationship with Wieden + Kennedy began.   

Adweek: Tell me about P&G's first trip to Cannes.
Stengel: We started with about 30 people in 2003. The objective was really to use the week to shake us up, to elevate our standards, to make us a much better partner, a much better client, to change our framework for what we thought excellent was. And it did all those things and more.

How did you meet Dan Wieden?
In year two, I asked Dan to come present to the P&G contingent. So, that would have been 2004. Then I started a relationship with Dan. I went out to visit him in Portland. I invited him to Cincinnati. He'll tell you this too. We both said, this is either going to lead to just amazing stuff or it's going to be the worst disaster in history. And really I think if you asked him right now, he would say the P&G relationship made them a better agency and certainly the relationship made P&G a far better client. And it has led to him getting a lot of CPG work, which I don't think ever would have happened without the P&G relationship.

What were the first assignments?
We gave them a fine fragrance in Europe, we gave them Iams' Eukanuba and we gave them Old Spice. We wanted to give them a variety of things to see how it would happen and, honestly, not all of it went terribly smoothly. But it made us just think about creative work differently, it made us think about measurement differently, made us think about research differently.

This 2010 ad from Wieden helped spark a sales revival of Old Spice and to date has generated a staggering 51 million views on YouTube:
 

So, in that context, Cannes has become more of a place to do business than just an awards show.
That's very fair to say. I'm on the board of AOL. We sold to Verizon. It hasn't closed yet, and I can tell you it's a very productive week for AOL, meeting clients, getting business done.

Why do you think that is?
Everybody is there for more than a fly-in and because everyone is there it makes for a really great concoction. You know, it's still a creative festival, it's still an awards show, of course. But because of the people there and the mood that they're in—they're open to new ideas, they're open to meeting different people in ways that they're not in day-to-day business. And that leads to some really good stuff.

This week The Gap said it would close 175 of its stores in North America, or roughly a quarter of them, due to lackluster sales. The retailer also plans to cut 250 corporate jobs in San Francisco and New York. The brand, in other words, is floundering. What happened? And how can the once-dominant khakis-and-jeans chain get its mojo back? 

Some culprits are obvious, like the prevalence of online shopping and the popularity of fast-casual competitors such as H&M and Forever 21 entering the market. (Other major North American retailers, like Abercrombie & Fitch and J. Crew, are hurting, too.) And analysts point out that Gap also hasn't established a real connection to millennial consumers.

But the biggest blow to the Gap brand, analysts say, is its murky brand identity. Gap used to represent "effortless cool." Now it has no clear position, and that's costing it market share. 

"Gap was a leader and innovator in the '90s," said Ruth Bernstein, founder and chief strategic officer at YARD, a strategic image-making agency. "They single handedly reinvented the way retailers advertised through their entertaining khakis-swing-singing-dancing spots. Times have certainly changed, and the competition that once emulated them has overtaken their position."

Martin McNulty, CEO of the digital marketing agency Forward3D, agreed. "Gap has lost what it stands for today," he said. "In creating spin-off brands like Banana Republic and Old Navy, it did a great job of segmenting out-of-office wear and low-cost apparel. But the success of these brands seems to have come at the expense of the core Gap offering."

"Gap's TV strategy was legendary. It symbolized effortless cool—thanks to heavy celebrity association—but in the absence of this, the brand has been displaced by a slew of denim retailers," said McNulty. "Surf and street brands and discounters have all taken chunks out of the mass appeal that Gap once had."

'Dress Normal' didn't make a dent

Last year Gap hired Wieden + Kennedy's New York office to run its creative. The shop came up with the brand's current "Dress Normal," campaign, using celebrities like Elisabeth Moss and Anjelica Huston to tout the brand's new tagline. In a press release for the campaign, the brand said consumers needed to find their own versions of "Dress Normal" and that the campaign stood for "individualism and the liberation that comes from confidently being your most authentic self."

But even with big-name directors like David Fincher and Sofia Coppola, W+K's campaign hasn't seemed to make a significant dent in the brand's lagging sales numbers.  

Differences between Generation X, which represents about 40 million people, and the millennial generation, which represent nearly 85 million people, have also played into Gap's woes, said Michelle Lynn, evp and managing director of the Dentsu Aegis Network. 

"You want to play to the mass market," said Lynn. "But what we've seen [with millennials] is that this population of people is much more nuanced [than Generation X]. You have to go beyond those stereotypes to figure out what the insights are, what's important to these people that you can win with, and it's hard to win with 85 million people." 

Analysts agreed that for Gap to win over its consumer base again, it needs to dig deep into what once made the brand successful—while keeping in mind that times and retail tactics have changed. 

"They need to get their mojo back by resurrecting their innovator spirit," said Bernstein. "They were never about doing things 'normally,' but always about the American spirit of individuality, which made the brand so simply, brilliantly, strong."

Publicis Worldwide will assume lead global creative responsibilities for the Heineken brand, following the split between the world's third-largest brewer and Wieden + Kennedy two weeks ago.

The Publicis Groupe network has been one of Heineken's roster shops, producing ads like the Dream Island campaign. The change, effective July 1, comes without a review, and Publicis will continue to work alongside other current Heineken agencies.

"The [Publicis] team has consistently demonstrated a strong understanding of the strategic direction of the brand, and we have been enormously impressed by their strong creative ideas and innovative approach," Jan Derck van Karnebeek, Heineken chief commercial officer, said in a statement about the switch.

Publicis takes over top creative responsibilities at a time when Heineken NV's flagship brand is enjoying a global upswing: In the first quarter Heineken's volume among international premium beers rose 6.2 percent organically with growth across most markets, including Vietnam, Brazil, China, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan, Canada and the U.K. Heineken is still trying to regain momentum in the U.S., a marketplace awash with regional microbrews. (In the fourth quarter there were some indications of that as the brand posted growth in the states, which contributed to a 4 percent gain in the Americas.)

W+K worked on Heineken for five years, producing work like the "Legends" campaign that helped the company earn recognition as the 2015 Creative Marketer of the Year at Cannes.

In other Publicis news, the network said it is dropping 'Kaplan Thaler' from its New York flagship, which merged in 2012 with the shop founded by Linda Kaplan Thaler.

Here's a fun spot from earlier this year that picked up a silver Lion at Cannes last week. For S7 Airlines from Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam, it features cute kids being themselves, namely by describing wonderful places or things they'd like to visit, but are also impossible … or so they think.

Asked to let their imaginations run wild, the kids cook up with flight destinations that, if they had their way, would feature mammoths, mermaids, space rockets, giant sandpits, superheroes, dragons, wizards, bogeyman, a space kitty (Nyan Cat?) and subterranean cities. (It's not clear if she's thinking of Demolition Man, The Matrix or Twelve Monkeys, but she doesn't seem to have dystopian tendencies at all.) There would also be underground whales and, says the smartest kid by far, chocolate lakes.



Relaying on the charming ad-libs of kids is a familiar trick, reminiscent of past ads like Wes Anderson's animated interview with an 8-year-old on the inner workings of a Sony smartphone (though it probably also owes a decent amount to the Fine Brothers "Kids React" series, as well).

But the W+K sequence is exceptionally well edited, and features a twist that anchors it nicely in the brand. All the fantastical things and places—or approximations of them—actually do exist, if you allow some creative interpretation of reality.

Sure, the ad's reach exceeds its grasp ever so slightly, and might particular bother literalist viewers. But it really does distill what the spirit of travel can be at its best—an eye-opening, awe-inspiring experience that unlocks natural and manmade wonders. And beyond the stunning landscapes, some of the translations are particularly spectacular—Space Kitty, it turns out, is actually a yak, and underground whales are geysers.

In fact, the only real dubious one is that brown bubbling "chocolate" lake. If what you really want is fondue, you're better off staying home and dropping a few Hershey bars into a pot.

Wieden + Kennedy in New York has won the creative business of America's largest beer brand, Bud Light. And owner Anheuser-Busch InBev has also tapped the agency's Amsterdam office to lead the Corona brand globally.

"We've always looked at Wieden from the sidelines as an agency that one day we would potentially want to work with," Jorn Socquet, Anheuser-Busch InBev's vp of marketing in U.S., told Adweek.

Bud Light and Corona's business shift comes on the heels of Wieden + Kennedy's split from another beer brand, Heineken, just a few weeks earlier. Measured media spending for Bud Light is estimated at $350 million.

Wieden + Kennedy takes the reins from BBDO, which has run Bud Light's creative business since 2013, delivering two breakout Super Bowl spots for the brand. The brand is covered for its creative through the end of the year, according to Socquet, who said the first work from W+K will "probably be for Super Bowl next year." 

"We are extremely proud of the work we've done with BBDO," said Socquet. "But we always want to improve ourselves, and from our perspective, in order to raise the bar in the next few months and years, we believe that Wieden + Kennedy is a partner that is better suited to get us to that next level." 

Earlier this year, the brand did face some backlash for bottles of the Anheuser-Busch beer bearing the line, "The perfect beer for removing 'No' from your vocabulary for the night." The tag, which the brand said came from creative shop BBDO, upset quite a few consumers. But, according to Socquet, that has nothing to do with the shop's split from BBDO. 

"[We] shared responsibility to get there [with the tagline], but the accountability 100 percent lies with AB-Inbev, and it is absolutely not the reason why we were separating with BBDO today," said Socquet. 

Andrew Robertson, president and CEO of BBDO Worldwide, issued a statement: "BBDO will no longer be working on Bud Light in the U.S. We gave it our best shot, and I would like to thank all of our people who worked so energetically and diligently on this business over the past two years. We did some work we are proud of, and wish our Bud Light clients and their new agency partner well."

It is too early to say if Bud Light will continue with its "Up for Whatever," campaign or its Whatever, USA festivities. "Maybe we continue with Whatever, USA, maybe we don't," said Socquet. "But in any case we will have a very hard look at it, and if it is worth doing it a third time we will bring it back. If not, we will do something even bigger and bolder than what we did with Whatever, USA."

Wieden + Kennedy's agency culture also impacted Bud Light's decision to move its business. "If you look at the trust with Wieden + Kennedy, they have longstanding relationships with a lot of partners throughout the world," said Socquet. "Predominantly, of course, their flagship partnership with Nike. Those are the kinds of partnerships we want to develop, with agencies and all of those marketing partners throughout the world. We truly see this as a long-term relationship of like-minded organizations from a cultural perspective." 

"A-B InBev is a very unique company with a global portfolio of brands that is the envy of the beer industry," said Dave Luhr, president of Wieden + Kennedy, in a statement. "They are strong in talent and culture and high in passion and ambition. Reminds me of an agency I know. We are fortunate to be starting our relationship. Creatively and culturally, I can't think of a better partnership."

Back in April, Nike Women launched its popular "Better for It" motivational campaign in the U.S. Now, the sportswear giant is expanding the tagline in Russia.

A half-dozen new spots from Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam feature the same playful attitude and general message—that the benefits of exercise outweigh the challenge—but take a slightly different tone, as you might expect from ads that feature professional athletes instead of the average exercisers represented in the U.S. work.

The camera work, from director Carlos Serrao, is a little more dramatic in its attention to detail, with scenes like yogi Olga Markes holding a particularly brutal pose while dripping sweat and boxer Kate Izotova getting punched in the face while sparring (a moment featured, naturally, in slow motion).

The copy, meanwhile, comes across as less overtly vulnerable than in the U.S. ads, where women explicitly tolerated their own misery (largely manifest as insecurity) for the promise of self-improvement in the end. Instead, the Russian athletes seem to be a bit more defiant in their vanity—embracing pain in pursuit of perfection or glory.

"What are you doing here?" says Izotova's voiceover. "You could have stayed at home, been someone's trophy…. Screw that. I'll earn my own trophy."

In other words, the ads hew more closely to traditional endorser-driven sports marketing (even if they're not celebrities with wide global name recognition)—a strategy that speaks more of a "Be like this" inspirational strategy than a "We know it's hard but we're with you" motivational one.

In addition to the pro athlete ads, Nike also turned Instagram posts of real girls working out into street posters around Moscow. Indeed, the campaign's title is "Real Girls of Moscow," and it aims to capture the spirit of what Nike describes as a growing sports movement in Russia, featuring women who are "free-thinking and free-spirited," and "are more comfortable in sneakers than heels, preferring exercise to fad diets."



Whether drawing that kind of line—or calling a bunch of accomplished women, at least four of whom are in their 20s and 30s, "girls"—is a smart or deliberately provocative move isn't clear. But it is at least understandable, given the brand sells selling running shoes that also tend to double as fashion statements—and not stilettos.

Regardless, Nike is also touting a 25,000-person turnout for a 10-day sporting event at Gorky Park in Moscow. And the new campaign features top athletes in a broad range of disciplines (ballet, choreography, long-jumping, skateboarding and sprinting) showing up variously on giant outdoor murals, and in nifty GIFs for online distribution—probably because if you really want to do that sweet kickflip, you're going to have to get used to doing it over and over again, stuck on infinite loop, for the rest of time.

CREDITS
Client: Nike

Agency: Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam
Executive Creative Director: Mark Bernath, Eric Quennoy
Creative Director: David Smith, Alvaro Sotomayor, Craig Williams
Art Director: Ignasi Tudela
Copywriter: Zoe Hawkins
Head of Content : Joe Togneri
Planner: Danny Feeney, Michelle Arrazcaeta
Communications Planner: Josh Chang
Group Account Director: Kirk Johnsen
Account Director: Kathryn Addo
Senior Account Manager: Jorge Fesser
Broadcast production / Head of Art Buying : Maud Klarenbeek
Art buying / broadcast production: Javier Perroud
Head of Studio: Jackie Barbour
Retoucher: Dario Fusnecher
Project Manager: Janna Harrington
Business Affairs: Michael Graves

Production Company: Terrie Tanaka Management
Director/Photographer: Carlos Serrao
Director of Photography: Monica May
Producer: Amy Lynne
Executive Producer: Terrie Tanaka
Vogue Shoot Make-up: Mark Williamson at artist-management using Mac
Vogue Shoot hair: Hanjee at Jed Root for Hanjee Hair Gallery

Editing Company: Whitehouse Post
Editor: Sam Gunn

Audio Post: Wave Amsterdam
Sound Designer/Mixer: Alex Nicholls-Lee

Music: Glintshake / MassiveMusic
Katya Izotova: Glintshake
Olga Markes: Glintshake
Adelina Sotnikova: MassiveMusic
Diana Vishneva: MassiveMusic
Darya Klishina: MassiveMusic

Postproduction: Glassworks
Flame: Morten Vinther
Telecine: Scott Harris
Producer: Jane Bakx

Media Buy: Mindshare Russia

Digital Production + Social Activation: Instinct BBDO Moscow

Three years in, fantasy sports website DraftKings.com is getting serious about its advertising.

Out is the frat-boy wordplay of its current ads (as seen below) and in is a search for an agency that can raise the tone and stature of its advertising. Also, fresh from a category exclusive advertising deal with Disney's ESPN, DraftKings has told shops participating in the search that the brand will be supported by $200 million in media.

To paraphrase DraftKing's current ads, that's a "shipload of money." Ah, but that's just the kind of phrase you probably won't hear in DraftKings ads going forward. Why? Because that approach is "a little bit sophomoric, a little bit frat boyish," explained a source.

DraftKings competes head-to-head with FanDuel in the daily fantasy sports segment of the larger fantasy sports world, which has some 56.8 million active players in North America, according to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association. About 20 percent of those players participate exclusively in daily fantasy sports, according to an Adweek feature story on the category.

DraftKings' search is in its final stages, with a handful of agencies scheduled to make presentations later this week at the company's headquarters in Boston. Sources identified the finalists as BBDO in New York, The Martin Agency in Richmond, Va., Arnold in Boston, Wieden + Kennedy in New York and Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners in Sausalito, Calif. (The agencies had no comment.) A selection is expected by the end of the month.

The winner will succeed Havas Edge, a direct-response shop.

The $200 million media figure represents a nearly six-fold increase from last year, when DraftKings spent more than $35 million in media, according to Kantar Media. And the 2014 figure itself was more than triple what DraftKings spent in 2013, which was around $10 million, Kantar estimated. Despite the rising media dollars, though, revenue on the account is estimated at just $3 million.

Here's a look at some recent DraftKings ads:

You didn't know this, but cheesy commercial actors all know each other, they compete in ESPN fantasy football leagues together, and they all battle to be commissioner—even daydreaming about it while they're supposed to be working.

That's the premise of this goofy, meta campaign from Wieden + Kennedy New York, featuring a fake allergy medicine commercial actor, a fake restaurant commercial actor and a fake shampoo commercial actor—idiots, all—who are engaged in a silent war to become commish, lest the others bring their questionable talents to the job.

Critics will complain that these are just ads for ad people. But really, isn't everyone an ad person these days—particularly ESPN's young male target?

CREDITS
Client: ESPN

Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, New York
Executive Creative Directors: Jaime Robinson, David Kolbusz
Creative Directors: Brandon Henderson, Caleb Jensen
Art Director: Toliver Roebuck
Copywriter: Howard Finkelstein
Producer: Kristen Johnson
Executive Producer: Temma Shoaf
Account Team: Mike Welch, Alex Scaros, Liz Lindberg
Business Affairs Team: Sara Jagielski, Karen Crossley, Breck Henson, Sonia Bisono

Production Company: Arts and Sciences
Director: Matt Aselton
Executive Producers: Marc Marrie, Mal Ward
Line Producer: Zoe Odlum
Director of Photography: Benn Martenson

Editing Company: Cosmo Street
Editors: Tiffany Buchard (TV), Zoe Mougin (Web)
Assistant Editor: Chrissy Doughty
Post Producer: Valerie Sachs
Executive Post Producer: Maura Woodward

Visual Effects Company: SwitchFX
Online Editor: Jon Magel
Online Producers: Diana Dayrit, Cara Flynn

Mix Company: Sound Lounge
Mixers: Glen Landrum, Tom Jucarone

Color Company: Company 3 NY
Colorist: Tim Massick

Animation Company: Joint New York
Animator: Yui Uchida

Music Company: APM

Nike's "Short a Guy" ad from Wieden + Kennedy is a real pick-me-up.

In it, we meet the luckiest, most athletically inclined kid on the planet. While out skateboarding, he meets some of the biggest stars in sports, who suddenly realize they're "short a guy" for their pick-up games and invite the kid to play. He steps up to the plate with Mike Trout and Garrett Richards, spikes it with Misty May-Treanor, kicks up a fuss with Mia Hamm, dunks with Anthony Davis and huddles with Andrew Luck. (No doubt Trout and Luck reminisced about teaming up a few weeks back in this amusing BodyArmor ad.)

Lacrosse-playing brothers Miles and Lyle Thompson are in there, too. Because lacrosse is the next soccer, poised to break through and achieve cultural relevance. No, it's not.

Anyway, it's an exhilarating 90 seconds, set to the frenetic beat of "Surfin' Bird"—paging Peter Griffin!—and surely one of the more memorable sports ads of the year. It went wide Monday night during Major League Baseball's Home Run Derby on ESPN, and has nearly 300,000 views in its first day on YouTube.



"The 'Short A Guy' film and the #TakeonTJ campaign will drive people to our Gear Up hub on Nike.com, where they will find the best of Nike waiting to help them gear up for greatness this summer," says David Schriber, Nike's vp of marketing for North America.

#TakeonTJ is a social and digital push in which "TJ" represents the opponent you've always wanted to beat, but never could. Now, Nike aims to inspire you to train and, ultimately, take "TJ" down a few pegs. The Gear Up e-commerce hub also features advisers who give coaching and equipment tips.

"Short a Guy," directed with fantastic energy by Stacy Wall via Imperial Woodpecker, and seamlessly edited by Rick Orrick, uses Nike's endorsers to great effect. And its multi-sports theme follows a Nike tradition that stretches back at least to the "Bo Knows" era.

Some commenters have suggested casting a girl in the lead would've been an enlightened touch. Fair enough, but as it is, the spot speaks quite eloquently to the universality of sports and the desire of kids (of both sexes and all ages) to take the field with their heroes.

The commercial presents the dream, while the broader Gear Up initiative provides some guidance—and, of course, sells apparel and equipment—designed to make better performance a reality.

CREDITS
Client: Nike
Project: North America Gear Up/ "Short a Guy"

Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, Ore.
Creative Directors: Chris Groom, Stuart Brown
Copywriter: Derek Szynal
Art Director: Jason Campbell
Producer: Ross Plummer
Executive Agency Producer: Matt Hunnicutt
Strategic Planning: Andy Lindblade, Brandon Thornton, Reid Schilperoort
Media/Comms Planning: Daniel Sheniak, Reme DeBisschop, Brian Goldstein, Emily Graham
Account Team: Karrelle Dixon, Jordan Muse, Corey Woodson, Shinya Kamata
Business Affairs: Dusty Slowik
Executive Creative Directors: Mark Fitzloff / Joe Staples

Production Company: Imperial Woodpecker
Director: Stacy Wall
Executive Producer: Doug Helbert
Line Producer: Matt Wersinger
Director of Photography: Jon Lynch

Editorial Company: Work, LA
Editor: Rich Orrick
Assistant Editor: Clay Doggett
Post Executive Producer: Marlo Baird

VFX Company: Joint Editorial, Portland
VFX Supervisor: Alex Thiesen
Flame Artist: Katrina Salicrup
VFX Producer: Rebekah Korebel

Music+Sound Company: Barking Owl
Sound Designer: Michael Anastasi
Song: Surfin' Bird, The Trashmen
Producer: Whitney Fromholtz

Mix Company: Lime Studios, LA
Mixer: Loren Silber
Producer: Susie Boyajan

Wieden + Kennedy has hacked the tagging function on Instagram to create an amusingly absurd "Choose your own adventure" social game for Old Spice, filled with robots, retro monsters and meta jokes.
 

 

You awaken in a dark cave. In the distance you see a faint light, in front of you is an open bottle of Old Spice body wash. Go toward the light—maybe it's a way out? Grab the Old Spice? Tap image once to use tags to navigate.

A photo posted by Old Spice (@oldspice) on Jul 30, 2015 at 10:33am PDT

 
The story opens with the post above. Clicking on it reveals tags that function as the navigation, leading to a maze of newly created Instagram accounts where the story continues. Clicking on the Old Spice body wash in the first scene reveals the first of many comical dead ends, from which you have to backtrack and continue.

The game is pretty much one big joke, undermining itself at every turn and parodying the genre rather than presenting a real "adventure." The ending, in particular, is intentionally anticlimactic, centered on an inside joke about the ad budget for the project—very much in keeping with the brand's self-aware ethos.

Give it a spin, or click here to choose a different AdFreak adventure.

In case you weren't feeling quite old enough today, the classic Michael Jordan vs. Looney Tunes drama Space Jam will celebrate its 20th anniversary next November.

But Nike's newest ad, created by Wieden + Kennedy New York and starring Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin, is a fresh—and pointed—reminder of the 1996 film. 

"The Dunk to End All Dunks" doesn't feature Jordan himself (though the classic Nike Air icon does get a passing nod), or alas, Bill Murray. But it does star one Marvin the Martian, who seems to think that the universe is only big enough for one "Earth-shattering" dunk master.

While Marvin has his share of space-age toys to help him reach the rim despite his diminutive three-foot frame, Griffin has his own secret weapon. Naturally, it's a brand new pair of Jordan Super.Fly 4 sneakers, which launch this week.

The original Space Jam was the highest-grossing basketball film in history, having earned more than $90 million domestically in 1996 dollars (sorry, Hoop Dreams). So, the question follows: is a Space Jam 2 in the works? 

Warner Brothers strongly hinted at a "yes" by filing several new trademarks for the Space Jam brand in June, mere weeks before the studio announced a new "content creation partnership" with Jordan's natural successor, LeBron James. The deal between James' SpringHill Entertainment and the Warner Bros. family includes plans for "TV, film and original digital programming."

LeBron recently proved that he can act by stealing several scenes in the Amy Schumer vehicle Trainwreck, and his company has already produced a TV doc series, a digital-only reality title, a "scripted drama on Starz" and an unnamed NBC prime-time game show.

When asked whether he would star in a potential Space Jam sequel during a Twitter Q&A last month, James teased fans with a "we'll have to wait and see," which could very easily mean "of course I will."

Nike isn't quite as shy. Along with this new campaign, the footwear giant created a microsite naming Marvin the Martian as a member of its extended family of athletes/spokespeople and tracing his plans to use the power of the Super.Fly 4 to destroy that "troublesome little planet" we call Earth once and for all (complete with his own merchandise). The inaugural ad for the new Air line was also directed by Jon Favreau of Iron Man fame, who might just be the perfect Hollywood lifer to helm a new big-budget basketball flick.

And what about Blake Griffin? He isn't just Nike's new spokesperson: he's also performed at Hollywood's Laugh Factory and made appearances on nearly every late-night show. At the very least, he should have a supporting role in a franchise that he calls "a big part of my life." Right, Charles Barkley?

Even if the sequel doesn't come to pass, get ready to see the Space Jam name and logo on everything from "comedy and/or drama features" to "lithographs," "mounted and/or unmounted photographs" and "printed patterns for costumes, pajamas, sweatshirts and T-shirts," according to the trademark filings. And per the Martian himself, we can expect more Blake-and-Marvin ads from W+K to launch before opening night.

This is just the beginning, Earthlings! -Marvin

— Jordan (@Jumpman23) August 2, 2015

CREDITS

Client: Jordan Brand   
Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, New York
Executive Creative Directors: Jaime Robinson, David Kolbusz   
Creative Directors: Jimm Lasser, Gary Van Dzura, Mike Giepert   
Art Director: Jed Heuer   
Copywriters: Al Merry, Laddie Peterson   
Producer: Alison Hill   
Assistant Producers: Kristen Johnson, Lisa Delonay   
Head of Integrated Production: Nick Setounski   
Account Team: Jerico Cabaysa, Jonathan Chu   
Media Team: Karlo Cordova, Justin Lam, Branden Bouvia   
Strategic Planner: Stéphane Missier    
Project Manager: Sunjoo Ryou   
Business Affairs Team: Sara Jagielski, Sonia Bisono, Carolina Hernandez, Lindsey Timko 
  
Production Company: Pacific Rim Films   
Director: Jon Favreau   
Executive Producer, UPM: Annie Johnson   

Editing Company: Arcade Edit   
Editors: Geoff Hounsell, Will Hassell   
Executive Producer, Managing Partner: Damian Stevens
Executive Producer: Nicole Visram      

Visual Effects Company: The Mill, New York   
Executive Producer: Zu Al-Kadiri
Producer: Katie Kolombatovich   
Shoot Supervisors: Westley Sarokin, Ed Boldero   
Creative Director: Westley Sarokin  

Animation: Warner Bros Animation   
Producer, Director: Spike Brandt   
Line Producer: Monica Mitchell   
Animators: Spike Brandt, Dale Baer, Dan Haskett, John McClenahan, Jeff Siergey, Neal Sternecky, Bill Waldman, Dean Wellins   
 
Music Company: tonefarmer   
President, Partner, Producer: Tiffany Senft   
Founder, Composer: Raymond Loewy   
Composers: Jared Hunter, Sam Skarstad, Raymond Loewy   
Sound Designer: Jimmy Harned   
Production Manager: Elizabeth Munoz 

Mix Company: Sonic Union

If things go according to plan, the sounds of the New York subway system could change by 2019. At least, that's what Heineken is hoping.

The idea—making the sound of subway turnstiles into little pieces of music—comes from musician James Murphy, formerly the front man of LCD Soundsystem, who has been working for years, to no avail, on what he calls the Subway Symphony.

But now Murphy's got corporate sponsorship from Heineken, which is bankrolling the project and sees it as a way to showcase how the private sector can partner with the public sector to improve cities across the globe. Working with people to make their cities more magical is something Heineken would like to be doing, taking its "Cities of the World" campaign from last year a step further.

There's only one problem: New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority isn't cooperating with Heineken or Murphy on the project. So, the brand is documenting its work in a new series, hoping that as the public learns more, there's a greater possibility of making the project work.  

"We felt like we should be doing things to make cities a better place to live, even if that was by adding a little bit of magic, versus fixing potholes or curing diseases," said Quinn Kilbury, senior director of marketing at Heineken. "That's not who we are; that's not what we are. We sell beer in the end, so we are trying to be consistent with that. If a beer brand is going to go into civic duty, it should be in a way that's about fun, and magical, rather than something that's more serious." 

About a year ago, as Heineken was looking for a project to kick-start the initiative, Kilbury attended a dinner hosted by Droga5 and the William Morris Endeavor. It was kismet; Murphy was in attendance and told Kilbury about his idea. According to Kilbury, "We got into a conversation, and one thing led to another—and here we are."

But Heineken isn't looking to solely work with celebrities like Murphy on civic projects.

"We thought it was important that we didn't want [the projects] to necessarily be our idea," said Kilbury, "because while we can kind of speak to city life globally and in a macro sense, the people who know their city the best are the ones [who know how to make it a better place]. What we are looking for are people who represent their city and have ideas to actively make their city a bit more magical." 

And that's how the brand see's Murphy's Subway Symphony, which is costing Heineken as much as a standard digital summer campaign, according to Kilbury. Heineken spends $60 million to $80 million a year, globally. 

Initially, Heineken was working with agency Wieden + Kennedy on the project, but its split from the agency earlier this summer delayed the release of the documentary videos. Now, even though the brand tapped Publicis Worldwide to replace W+K, it has kept the project in house. 

"Originally, the intent of the Subway Symphony—we were trying to work directly with the MTA—[Murphy] had tried that for a number of years, and they had never spoken to him," said Kilbury. "We were hoping we could have a direct conversation with them, and they weren't really looking to do that with us."

Given the silent treatment from the MTA, Heineken and Murphy decided to document their work and hope it would spark public interest. 

"We're going to try to get public support, and governmental support, on this and kind of capture it in real time with this documentary," said Kilbury. "It's a different way of doing it but the only way we thought we could do it." 

As Kilbury tells it, Heineken and Murphy see the Subway Symphony as something the MTA could install when it updates subway turnstiles for the "Tap and Ride" program, which is slated for 2019.

"They're going to be changing all of the turnstiles anyway—and at that point, they move from an analog model to digital model—and [adding the Subway Symphony is] just changing the code," said Kilbury. "There's no additional fee, no additional cost on top of what they are already going to be spending on the Tap and Ride." 

In the meantime, the brand is hoping to test the project in just one station. 

"Then you're only talking briefly updating those turnstiles in this one station with this new technology," said Kilbury. "We've built that technology, and it's functioning already." 

Heineken tried for months to set up meetings with the MTA, even going as far as hiring political consultants with connections, but was never able to land a single meeting. Such setbacks could have made the brand back down from the project, Kilbury says, but Heineken is committed. 

The MTA has "a lot of big issues to deal with, so honestly, we get it," said Kilbury. "We want to make sure we can respond correctly to what their concerns are, and now we know their concerns [because the MTA has spoken to the press]. We want to package this up as nicely as possible, so there's really no work for them to do, and then test it. And if it works, we've just made 6 million people's day better twice a day, and that's a positive for them." 

Still, the project is a bit of a leap of faith, said Kilbury. "We see the same research that every other brand in the world sees—about the shifting belief system in the U.S. amongst millennials, and people in general.... People feel better about brands that have an active, positive role in society," said Kilbury. "Our belief is that we're going to get some benefit on a local level from people believing that we care, and that's actually pretty hard for a global brand." 

For the first time, Old Spice's two resident ad stars, Terry Crews and Isaiah Mustafa, are appearing in commercials together.

In a new campaign to help customers choose a scent to match their personalities, Mustafa and Crews star in seven spots slated to be released throughout the fall. 

For years, Old Spice has used both men to appeal to different consumers; Mustafa represents the charming hunk working his way into ladies' hearts while Crews' is testosterone personified with bulging muscles and non-stop shouting.  

"It's the first time in history that we've had both Isaiah and Terry together," said John Sebastian, marketing director for Old Spice. "The point of it is more than just bringing two guys together. It's about helping people who think about or use Old Spice pick the scent that best fits their personality by connecting scents with the personalities of Isaiah and Terry." 

The new spot from Wieden + Kennedy in Portland will launch on broadcast during the Sunday Aug. 9 National Football League Hall of Fame Game. Six more spots featuring Mustafa and Crews will be released later in the fall. 

This campaign focuses on three of the brand's most popular scents—Timber, Swagger and Bearglove—which are available in grooming products ranging from deodorant to two-in-one shampoo. 

CREDITS

Client: P+G/Old Spice

Agency: Wieden + Kennedy Portland
Creative Directors: Jason Bagley, Craig Allen
Copywriter: Jarrod Higgins
Art Director: Matt Sorrell
Senior Producer: Lindsay Reed, Erika Madison
Production Assistant Nicole Kaptur
Account Team: Nick Pirtle, Georgina Gooley, Michael Dalton, Jess Monsey
Executive Creative Directors: Joe Staples, Mark Fitzloff
Agency Executive Producer: Ben Grylewicz

Production
Production Company: MJZ
Director: Tom Kuntz
Executive Producer: Eriks Krumins
Line Producer: Emily Skinner
Director of Photography: Neil Shapiro

Editorial
Editorial Company: Mackenzie Cutler
Editor: Erik Laroi
Assistant Editor: Brendan Hogan
Post Executive Producer: Sasha Hirschfeld

Visual Effects
Visual Effects Company: The Mill LA
Executive Producer: Sue Troyan
Visual Effects Producer: Dan Roberts
Production Coordinator: Kris Drenzek, Jillian Lynes
Shoot Supervisor: Tim Davies
Creative Director: Tim Davies
2D Lead Artist: Tim Davies
2D Artists: James Allen, Brad Scott, Dag Ivarsoy, Scott Johnson, Alex Candlish, Jale Parsons
3D Artists: Martin Rivera, Jason Jansky
Art Department: Kelsey Napier, Bretty Lopinsky, Matthew Dobrez

Music and Sound Design
Sound Design: Company Mackenzie Cutler
Sound Designer: Sam Shaffer

Mixing
Mix Company JOINT
Mixer: Noah Woodburn
Mix Company: LIME Studio
Mixer: Sam Casas

For years, Old Spice has used quirky spokespeople—robots, moms, fingers, or whatever else the brand could cook up—but Terry Crews and Isaiah Mustafa, with their wildly different personas, are certainly the two most memorable.

Old Spice's new campaign from Wieden + Kennedy in Portland pits the two pitchmen against each other, and the agency has just released the second installment in its Mustafa-Crews showdown:

Aside from their onscreen charm, how do these spokesmen stack up? We decided to put together a tale of the tape for both. Let's dig in:

Time with the brand:

Old Spice tapped Mustafa and Crews in 2010 for its "Smell Like a Man, Man" and "Odor Blocker" campaigns, respectively. They've both worked for the brand for five years, so that's a wash. 

Winner: Tie

Campaign appearances:

Mustafa has been in seven campaigns for Old Spice, with many videos included in each digital push. Crews, on the other hand, has been in five campaigns.

Mustafa's digital campaigns also have included more videos released at the same time, making his total view count higher than Crews'.

Winner: Mustafa.

Football career:

Prior to acting, both Mustafa, now 41, and Crews, 47, were affiliated with the NFL.

However, Mustafa (a starting wide receiver for Arizona State)  mainly served on practice squads for teams like the Oakland Raiders and Cleveland Browns before dropping football to pursue acting around 2000.

Crews, a defensive end for Western Michigan, was an 11th round draft pick for the Los Angeles Rams, after which he played for the San Diego Chargers and Washington Redskins. In total, he played 32 games in the NFL.  

Winner: Crews.

Acting career:

Both branched out into entertainment at the end of their football careers. Crews has clearly been more successful in that arena, with 69 IMDB credits compared with Mustafa's 36.

Crews has also scored more high-profile Hollywood gigs, appearing in action series The Expendables, Arrested Development and memorable roles like Idiocracy's President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho. 

Winner: Crews. 

Advertising awards:

Mustafa's inaugural "Man Your Man Could Smell Like" ad quickly became one of the most iconic ads of all time, sweeping many of the industry's top awards. It won a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Commercial in 2010, the same year it took top honors at the Cannes Lions with a Grand Prix in Film and a Gold Pencil from The One Show. Crews' spots, while popular, haven't reached such levels of industry acclaim.

Winner: Mustafa

Social media stardom:

On social media, Crews has 443,000 Twitter followers and 377,000 Instagram followers. Mustafa's got 101,000 followers on Twitter and nearly 31,000 on Instagram. It's barely a contest.

Winner: Crews. 

Final score: 

• 3 points for Crews
• 2 point for Mustafa
• 1 tie

In the end, it seems Crews wins out. But the numbers obviously don't tell the whole story. Which one would you say is the best of the brand's pitchmen?

Coca-Cola has named the three agencies that will create its next global campaign after inviting a total of 10 shops to pitch ideas earlier this year. Coke confirmed to Adweek that the winning shops—all WPP agencies—are Ogilvy New York, Madrid's SRA Rushmore and Santo in Buenos Aires. 

The goal behind the brand's search was to bring together the best ideas from agencies around the world that will resonate with people on a global scale. The new work will follow Wieden + Kennedy's "Open Happiness" campaign, which debuted in 2009. 

"We set out in this process with the goal of uncovering the best ideas and marrying those to executional excellence, anticipating that they may come from different sources," Coca-Cola said in a statement.

While the three winning agencies will contribute ideas for the initial planning stages of the campaign, the seven additional shops that participated in the process—David; Dentsu; FCB, South Africa; Martin Mercado; McCann Madrid; The Cyranos; and Wieden + Kennedy, Portland—won't walk away empty handed. They'll remain on Coke's roster and, according to the brand's statement, will be involved in pitching ideas in the campaign's final stages. 

"This approach allows us to harness thinking from some of the best agency minds in the industry today and see the great work that comes from collaborating against a common brief for Coca-Cola," the soft-drink brand said in the statement.

Coke—which spent roughly $406 million on media in the U.S. last year, according to Kantar Media—has made a number of strategic moves over the last year to revamp its marketing, including hiring Marcos De Quinto as its new chief marketing officer last October. 

We have "Ignition."

That's the title of Wieden + Kennedy London's new pan-European campaign for Honda, which uses spaceflight as a visual metaphor for bold innovation.

Actually, the metaphors are mightily mixed in the campaign's launch film, which packs plenty of imagery and action into its 90-second run time, referencing Honda's heritage across consumer automobiles, Formula 1 racing, aviation, robotics and more.

"We wanted something that encapsulated a feeling of daring and human endeavor," W+K creative director Scott Dungate tells Adweek. "Space travel is perhaps the biggest expression of this, so we thought creating a story that revolved around the anticipation of a rocket launch felt like an entertaining way to dramatize the 'challenging spirit' that runs through Honda and its products."



Asimo the robot makes an appearance, as does McLaren-Honda driver Jenson Button. At one point, the voice of the late Formula 1 icon Ayrton Senna is heard. There's a spacey convoy of Honda vehicles—motorcycles, an HR-V, the highly anticipated Civic Type R and a jet plane—moving in moody slow motion at dawn, as if taxiing down some futuristic tarmac, preparing to blast off into the distant sunrise.

"We shot on an abandoned bridge in Kiev, [Ukraine]" says Dungate. "It was an epic shoot location, and aside from a little [visual-effects] clean-up on the bridge surface, what you see in the film is what existed, right down to the sun rising pretty much dead in the center of the runway."

The family inside the HR-V wears custom-made astronaut/racing-crew gear, and the soundtrack features some of the classical selections from the audio disc launched into deep space on the Voyager 1 space probe. No Chuck Berry, though.

"Dare to do the things others only dream of," is the tagline.

It's all a bit much, and impossible to fully absorb in one viewing. Still, the central image of the fleet of vehicles is impressive, the overall style compelling, and director Aoife McArdle's reach (for the stars) never exceeds her grasp.

"Inventive camera techniques allowed us to represent movement and the sensation of being in a rocket within any grounded Honda vehicle," McArdle says. "Taking inspiration from classic science fiction, this film was an exciting opportunity to be playful with visual perspective, gravity and atmosphere."

Print work below:



CREDITS
Client: Honda Motor Europe (HME)
Project: Ignition
Lead Clients: Jemma Jones & Jonathan Allee

Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, London
Creative Director: Scott Dungate
Senior Creative Director: Kim Papworth
Executive Creative Directors: Tony Davidson, Iain Tait
Producer: James Laughton
Group Account Director: Nick Owen
Account Director: Alex Budenberg
Account Manager: Olivia Amato-Pace
Planner: Martin Beverley
Interactive Producer: Silvan Schreuder
Creative Producer: Mark D'Abreo
Design Director: Karen Jane
Designer: Sanket Avlani

Production Company: Somesuch
Director: Aoife McArdle
Executive Producer: Sally Campbell
Line Producer: James Waters
Director of Photography: John Lynch
Art Dept: David Lee
Wardrobe: Jane Petrie

Editorial Company: Final Cut London
Editor: Dan Sherwen
Producer: Frankie Elster

VFX Company: The Mill
Producer: Gemma Humphries
VFX Supervisor: Dan Adams (2D) & Jonathan Wood (3D)

Music+Sound Company: Factory Studios & Siren @ Factory Ltd
Composer: Walter Mair via Siren
Sound Designer: Anthony Moore
Song 1: Peter Pan Orchestra & Chorus - A Trip on a Rocket Ship
Song 2: Ludwig van Beethoven – Symphony No.5 in C via Imagem PM
Song 3: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Queen of the Night Aria from the Magic Flute via Imagem PM

Print Production:
Photographer: John Offenbach
Production Company: Mark George
Retouchers: Stanleys Post
CGI Model: The Mill

Kevin Durant may be a basketball star, but he knows how to cheer for the little people, too.

In this new co-branded ad for Nike and Foot Locker, the Oklahoma City Thunder player gets so excited while sitting courtside at a street game that he throws his legs—and his namesake KD 8 Nikes—into the air.

It's just one part of an epic crowd reaction when a player—wearing the same Joker-esque purple and green shoes—lands a reverse dunk. Other highlights from the stands include a super slow-mo "Oh no!" face, a sax solo and even a kid blasting off with a jetpack (which doesn't really seem like the safest idea given the crowd below, but anyways).



In fact, the only spectator who doesn't lose his mind is Zach LaVine of the Minnesota Timberwolves—the NBA's 2015 slam dunk champion—who barely bothers to look up from studying a copy of a book titled The Funk on Dunk (which sadly doesn't appear to be a real title … or at least, not one that's currently in print).

Though to be totally honest, the move itself doesn't come close to Blake Griffin's latest for Jordan—or even Marvin the Martian's.

CREDITS
Clients: Nike & Foot Locker

Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, Ore.
Creative Directors: Chris Groom, Stuart Brown
Copywriter: Sheena Brady
Art Director: Mike Warzin
Producer: Kevin Diller
Interactive Strategy: Reid Schilperoort
Strategic Planning: Brandon Thornton
Media/Comms Planning: Charles Lee, John Furnari
Account Team: Jordan Muse, Katie Gurgainus, Chase Haviland, Luke Purdy
Business Affaires: Alicia Willett
Project Management: Emily Norman
Executive Creative Directors: Joe Staples / Mark Fizloff
Head of Production: Ben Grylewicz

Production Company: MJZ
Director: Steve Ayson
Executive Producer: Emma Wilcockson
Line Producer: Mark Hall
Director of Photography: Philippe Le Sourd

Editorial Company: Exile Editorial
Editor: Kirk Baxter
Post Producer: Toby Louie
Post Executive Producer: CL Weaver

VFX Company: Saint
Flame Artist: Robert Trent
VFX Producer: Helen Park

—Digital/Interactive
Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, Ore.
Creative Director: Chris Groom, Stuart Brown
Copywriter: Sheena Brady
Art Director: Mike Warzin
Producer: Kevin Diller
Interactive Strategy: Reid Schilperoort
Strategic Planning: Brandon Thornton
Media/Comms Planning: Charles Lee, John Furnari
Account Team: Jordan Muse, Katie Gurgainus, Chase Haviland, Luke Purdy
Executive Creative Directors: Joe Staples / Mark Fitzloff
Agency Executive Producer: Ben Grylewicz
Digital Designer: Justin Morris
Exec Interactive Producer: Ben Oh
Content Producer : Keith Rice
Art Buying: Amy Berriochoa

Darrell Hammond out, Norm Macdonald in.

Wieden + Kennedy shook up the musty image of Col. Harland Sanders in its first work for KFC back in May, with Hammond being memorably off-kilter—both reverent and tongue-in-cheek—as the chicken chain's founder. But now, the campaign gets even more ambitious in its oddness, and stakes much more meta territory, by replacing Hammond with Norm Macdonald, who claims in four new ads that Hammond was an imposter.

Check out the spots here, which sell the new $20 Family Fill Up meal:

The campaign risks being confusing by swapping in one former Saturday Night Live star for another. But KFC is clearly embracing the idea of keeping viewers off balance as a way of commanding their attention, even if it means polarizing them.

Macdonald, whose style of humor has always veered toward the self-conscious, gives an amusingly knowing performance, even offering a little shrug when he says he's the "real Colonel Sanders," as if to acknowledge the whole charade is a bit ridiculous. That vibe extends to the stock quotes in the press release.

"Other than not quite looking like him, his voice being different, and his inability to cook the world's best chicken, we thought Norm was the perfect choice to play the Real Colonel. I think the fans will agree," says Kevin Hochman, chief marketing officer for KFC U.S.

And yet, while taking the founder down a notch, KFC also continues to raise him up.

"I was blown away when I learned that Colonel Sanders didn't even start KFC until he was 65. That's a whole lot of legend to fit into a couple decades, and it takes a strong work ethic, the kind you don't see every day, to do it like he did," Macdonald says in the press release. "He never gave up, never accepted less than the best and never held back an opinion. Plus he looks great in white."

It's a curious mix of serious and smart-alecky, and clearly not to everyone's taste. But Greg Creed, CEO of KFC parent company Yum! Brands, said at a conference in May that it's better to provoke people than have no effect on them at all.

"So far the response has been about 80 percent positive, 20 percent hate it," he said at the time of the Hammond work, according to Food Business News."But you know what? That's better than 100 percent being indifferent. And that really is what's important … we had lost relevance in the U.S.—60 percent of millennials had not eaten KFC."

He added: "I am actually quite happy that 20 percent hate it, because now they at least have an opinion. They're actually talking about KFC, and you can market to love and hate; you cannot market to indifference."

So, if you hate Norm's ads, that's OK. KFC won't mind a bit.

CREDITS
Client: KFC

Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, Ore.
Creative Directors: Eric Baldwin / Karl Lieberman
Copywriter: Jon Marshall
Art Director: Helen Rhodes
Producer: Jennie Lindstrom / Endy Hedman
Social Strategy: John Dempsey
Strategic Planning: Britton Taylor / Lizzie Hanner / Matt Hisamoto
Media/Comms Planning: Alex Barwick
Account Team: Jess Monsey / Jesse Johnson / Andrie Wheeler
Business Affaires: Connery Obeng
Project Management: Chenney Gruber
Executive Creative Directors: Joe Staples / Mark Fitzloff
Head of Production: Ben Grylewicz

Production Company: Smith & Jones Films
Director: Ulf Johansson
Executive Producer: Philippa Smith
Line Producer: Justine Madero
Director of Photography: Andrejz Sekula

Editorial Company: Joint
Editor: Steve Sprinkel
Post Producer: Lauren Pullano
Post Executive Producer: Leslie Carthy

VFX Company: The Mill
VFX Supervisor: Phil Crowe
Flame Artist: John Shirley
VFX Producer: Anastasia von Rahl
Titles/Graphics:

Sound Company: Barking Owl
Sound Designer: Michael Anastasi
Producer: Kelly Bayett

Mix Company: Lime
Mixer: Loren Silber
Producer: Susie Boyajan

Mindshare went up against Wieden + Kennedy to win Booking.com's media business in the U.S and Canada. The GroupM agency has been tapped to handle media strategy, planning and buying.

Measured media spending for Booking.com in the U.S. in 2014 was $91.5 million, according to Kantar Media. In Canada, the brand spent $5.8 million, according to Nielsen and Evaliant.

"The Mindshare team impressed us with their people, research and insights, which we hope will lead to a groundbreaking media strategy that will drive differentiation for the Booking.com brand," said Manuel Douchez, brand director for Booking.com.

Mindshare competed against incumbent W+K, which is the creative lead on The Priceline Group-owned accommodations website.

Booking.com began as a small Netherlands startup in 1996. Priceline acquired the company in 2005.  While popular in Europe, Priceline has been trying to build share for Booking.com in the U.S. and two years ago launched the brand's first-ever TV and cable campaign in the states. The site books more than 4.5 million room nights every week across accommodations in 221 countries.