Tying into college basketball fever and building on its long running Visigoths campaign while stepping up its branded entertainment push, Capital One, a corporate partner for the NCAA, introduces us to The Ivan Brothers, two larger than life Viking-like characters who are recruited by fictional East Western State University’s basketball team and then take a perennially losing program into the Big Dance, a.k.a. the NCAA College Basketball Tournament.
Agency DDB Chicago not only called on the make believe Ivan Brothers but also another, this time real-world brother duo to bring their creation to life–directorial team The Hoffman Brothers (Matt and Mark) of harvest, Santa Monica.
A pair of tongue-firmly-in-cheek TV spots set the stage. “Coaches” features famous college basketball coaches–from Roy Williams to Tubby Smith, Tom Izzo and Danny Manning–praising the overpowering, scary basketball talents of The Ivan Brothers.
In “Selection Show,” CBS Sports anchor Set Davis announces West Eastern State’s bid to the NCAA Tournament–mimicking the actual Selection Sunday show. A camera shows us “live” the celebratory reaction of the East Western team and its coaching staff.
Both commercials drive us to the web (theivanbrothers.com) for the humorous yet somehow charming, authentic-feeling backstory–East Western’s track record of futility (65 consecutive losses), the coach’s offbeat recruiting trip made possible by Capital One’s Venture Card air mileage points, and the sojourn’s payoff, the discovery of The Ivan Brothers in a remote backwoods community. The coach and his assistant teach The Ivan Brothers how to play basketball, turning their raw athletic talent into on-the-court dominance.
The Ivan Brothers campaign–including the backstory short titled The Ivans–debuted around the time tournament bracketology madness began and is running into the NCAA tournament, which opened Thursday (3/18).
The campaign is already generating considerable buzz and audience. As coach (and former NCAA championship player) Manning observed in the “Coaches” spot, “It’s hard to defend guys who are used to storming castles.”
An excerpt from the short accompanies this story. Log onto theivanbrothers.com to see the entire film.
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More