Crispin Porter+Bogusky (CP+B), Miami, takes a sobering detour from its manic Fast character and offbeat hip German engineering campaigns for the Volkswagen GTI with this two-spot package that promotes the safety of VW’s Jetta.
In “Movie,” two couples are in a car; they’re talking about the film they just saw that evening at a theater. In tongue-in-cheek fashion, the women are taking the men to task, claiming that the guys shed a tear or two during emotional scenes in the flick. The males feign ignorance at first; then the driver starts to defend himself. Much of the animated conversation is taking place with the car at a standstill. We then see the traffic light turn to green, and the automobile starts to advance through the intersection.
At that moment, we see an SUV fast approaching the driver’s side of the car. In the blink of an eye, the SUV broadsides the automobile. The impact is jarring as side air bags deploy.
Next, the two couples are standing on the street, looking at the smashed yet still amazingly intact VW. More importantly, the driver and three passengers, while shaken, appear fine. A female passenger says, “Holy sh..” But before she can complete her sentence, an end tag appears that simply reads, “Safe happens,” with the advisory that the Jetta has a four-star side impact crash rating.
The other spot in the campaign, “Like,” centers on a similar scenario with two men talking as their Jetta motors down a street. One man teases the other about constantly inserting the word “like” in his verbal statements. Out of nowhere a pickup truck pulls out of a driveway in front of the car, and the vehicles collide. Both Jetta front airbags are activated. Again, the car’s occupants are okay. Indeed “Safe happens.”
Both commercials were directed by Phil Morrison of bicoastal Epoch Films. Doug Halbert executive produced for Epoch, with Anita Wetterstedt serving as producer. The DP was Ed Lachman.
The CP+B creative team included creative directors Alex Bogusky, Andrew Keller and Rob Strasberg, copywriter Tim Roper, art director Dave Clemens, executive producer Rupert Samuel and producer Leticia Jacobs.
Editor was Gavin Cutler of Mackenzie Cutler, New York. Flame artist/compositor was Chris Redding of Framestore CFC, New York. Audio post engineer was Philip Loeb of Sound Lounge, New York.
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads — essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More