Skin

TAXI Montréal is behind the gorgeous new national Jergens print and transit campaign. It’s sexy in a smart way, and delightfully simple.

The sensuous pics and minimal copy likely make folks who’ve never even considered moisturizer as part of their daily regime, fairly itch to slather some on.

In the three executions, lines of lotion suggest clothing on an otherwise nude woman’s body, all serving to spark consideration of that most worn undergarment, your skin. The yummy photography and art direction depict Jergens Extra Care Lotion as a potentially sensual experience.

In addition to magazine and subway ads, the campaign graces Web banners and in-store displays.

client: Heather Carney, brand manager, KAO Brands Canada

(Kao handles Jergens, Curel, Biore, John Frieda, Ban)

CD: Stéphane Charier

copywriter: Patrick Chaubet

ADs: Patrick Chaubet, Maxime Patenaude

account director: Diane Bélanger

print production director: Jacques Latreille

photographer: Bernard Matussière

Secondhand smoke blows

Mmm… street gum. And how about a used toothbrush to go with that?

Aimed at youth, a new Toronto-area campaign out of Gilbert + Davis for The Lung Association compares inhaling secondhand smoke to scooping a nasty old toothbrush out of a gutter and sticking that in your mouth.

The idea was that kids wouldn’t chew a wad of used gum so why should they be okay with absorbing secondhand smoke, especially if it was portrayed as an analogy to unpalatable secondhand items?

Research showed teens followed this train of logic, and it enabled them to get past reservations about asking their buds to butt out. G+D creative partner Rick Davis says the gritty comparisons let teens say ‘secondhand gum’ or ‘secondhand tissue’ to get the point across.

Two spots airing on Citytv in February and March, ‘Toothbrush’ and ‘Gum,’ show kids picking up the objects in question off the street, and then nonchalantly reusing them. Supers point out: ‘You wouldn’t put a secondhand toothbrush in your mouth. Why put secondhand smoke in your lungs?’ There’s also a wave of wild postings in Toronto that extend and reinforce the theme. The campaign suggests that kids ‘ask someone who smokes near you not to,’ and directs them to secondhandblows.com.

Davis says the campaign is based on a desire to be ‘non-preachy, non-big-brother in telling you to tell your friends to butt out.’ Webisodes for the Much Web site shot by the City crew top off the campaign. MM

client: Eileen McAlear, director of marketing and communications, The Lung Association

CD/CW: Rick Davis

AD: Benson Ngo

account director: Joanne Riley

prodco: Shetoco Films

director: Rick Maden

editing: Third Floor Editing,

Jordan Krug/Richard Unruh

Music: rmw

Chum/City webisodes: Daniel Brainin,

director of commercial production

Killer PSAs (with a lot of heart)

If your heartstrings are in working order, the new ALS Society PSA campaign will give them a good tug. Premised ‘What would you do if you still could?’, two pro-bono 30-second spots from BBDO Toronto effectively raise awareness about the fatal neuromuscular disease that cruelly affects muscles while leaving the mind and senses intact. Folks afflicted tend to focus on how to spend the time remaining.

In ‘Hugging’ and ‘Running,’ that same dilemma is put before the viewer.

‘Hugging’ features a guy who throws his arms around everything he sees, from a cop giving him a ticket – and his horse – to a waitress. The info that ‘Most people with ALS lose the use of their arms in the first two years of the disease’ appears as he embraces a tree. The reach-for-the-Kleenex moment is when he hugs his sleeping wife, as the tagline says: ‘What would you do if you still could? ALS kills the body first.’

‘Running’ follows a marathon jogger, poignantly juxtaposing his endless run with the info: ‘Most people with ALS lose the use of their legs in the first two years of the disease.’

Sixty-second spots for cinema will follow, as well as print and interior transit, all of which seek to elicit donations. Available in French and English, the spots are online at www.als.ca and TV stations can get the ads from Bobbi Greenberg at the ALS Society of Canada. MM

client: Bobbi Greenberg, director of

communications, ALS Society of Canada

CDs: Jack Neary, Ian MacKellar

AD: Christina Yu

copywriter: Ian MacKellar

account managers: Meghan Cheesbrough, Stephanie Nerlich

agency producers: Matt Minor, Margaret John, Cynthia Heyd

prodco: Reginald Pike

director: Yael Staav

cinematographer: Tico Poulakakis

music: Jim Guthrie, Pirate

editing: Alison Gordon, Relish

The men of George

The George fashion label is now jetting over a men’s line from London, and the new spot announcing its Canadian arrival at Wal-Mart depicts a horde of British lads in undershorts, obviously bereft.

A sequel to the ladies-in-towels-on-the-streets-of-London spot for the women’s line, the new advert follows a bunch of guys who look more like they came from the streets of Sheffield (think Full Monty). Our story opens on an undershirted bloke discovering an empty clothes cupboard, who then rushes out to join a swarm of underwear-wearing guys racing through London, mad intent on chasing down their duds. The spot closes on them converging at an airport, where they press up against a window, watching a plane depart. The super explains: ‘Fashion, taken from the streets of London. George, now available in Canada, exclusively at Wal-Mart.’

The ad was done by Publicis Toronto, and in an endorsement of its efforts, the work they did for the Canadian George launch – establishing key strategies and touch points – is being incorporated into the brand’s style guide as it steps out globally.

When creating the George launch plan for Wal-Mart, the Publicis team acted as if George were their client. This allowed them to focus on translating the essence of George, the largest apparel line sold through Wal-Mart’s supermarket, Asda, in Britain.

George, launched in 1990 by George Davies (who also spawned the Next fashion chain), has stand-alone stores in the U.K. in addition to its George at Asda presence in Wal-Mart stores in Germany, South Korea, Puerto Rico, Japan and the U.S., and Wal-Mart is continuing to roll George out in North America and Mexico.

The Publicis team worked closely with the George gang in England, and as per SVP/ECD Duncan Bruce, the Canadian contingent was credited for one of the most successful launches. ‘They feel we’ve nicely defined the essence of their brand,’ says Bruce. ‘When we met last week, they were very interested in how we tackled men. They’ve asked for input and thinking when it comes to advising other countries how to launch it.’

He also gives props to Wal-Mart for recognizing that they had to tag it as opposed to ‘Wal-Mart brings you George.’ In the U.K., the George brand was attributed with propelling Asda to the number-one clothing retailer spot last spring. So it certainly seems to merit star status. MM

client: Lou Puim, Wal-Mart director of marketing

CD: Duncan Bruce

AD: Anthony Wolch

copywriter: Steve Graham

producer: George Archer

brand director: Gord Muirhead

prodco: Steam Films, Toronto; Annex Films, London

director: Jeremiah Chechik

editor: Michelle Czukar, Panic and Bob Editing

music: ‘Somebody Stole My Thunder’ by Georgie Fame

A fish out of water

When faced with the challenge of extending the BCAA brand into uncharted waters, the creative team from Rethink put together two spots promoting the company’s travel planning and insurance divisions.

A spot for travel advice is particularly funny. It opens with two women in their 30s sitting at the bottom of a swimming pool. When one of them makes her way up to the surface, it’s revealed that the women have, much to their chagrin, found themselves at a college spring-break resort complete with passed-out, drunk frat boys, bikini-clad beauties, and an over-enthusiastic activity director with a bullhorn rounding up contestants for a wet T-shirt contest. As the woman descends to rejoin her friend at the bottom of the pool, the ‘Where do you get your travel advice?’ tagline appears.

Bob Simpson and Noreel Asuro, the writer and art director for the two ads, said the spot was actually inspired by Rethink co-founder Tom Shepansky’s

parents, who had the misfortune of being put in a

similar situation some years ago.

A second ad was created to promote insurance and stars two love birds getting ready to run off together who suffer a series of unfortunate events.

The campaign also includes print and online ads. DS

client: Louisa Flinn, marketing director BCAA

CD: Chris Staples

copywriters: Bob Simpson, Heather Vincent

AD: Noreel Asuro

agency producer: Ann Rubenstein

prodco: Reginald Pike

director: Mark Gilbert

exec producers: James Davis, Josefina Nadurata

producer: David Bouck

DP: Doug Koch

post production: Coast Mountain Productions

editor: Ian Jenkins