15 BELOW
Taxi is helping keep homeless people warm. What else needs to be said? In my opinion, this is the greatest thing an agency has done this year (perhaps ever). After some distribution problems last year, the program is rolling out in full this winter and includes an auction of the newspaper insulated 15 Below coats signed by celebrities like Nelly Furtado, Jon Stewart, Rush, and Kid Rock. Proceeds go to the Salvation Army. Every agency should be using its creative resources to solve real-world problems this way. Want to be talked about on blogs? Want to finally crack Facebook? Want word-of-mouth buzz you don’t have to continually stoke? Start helping people the same way you help brands. —Jeromy Lloyd
THE BAY—BEIJING 2008
As much a part of Canadiana as touques and flags on backpacks, Olympic wear is something we look forward to every two years. The Bay zip-ups and hoodies for the ’08 Summer Games fell short on patriotism. The dizzying pattern pays homage to Chinese calligraphy—what HBC calls “a state-of-the-art ‘Sublimation’ printing technique.” But the complete ensemble—over-sized hoodie ($65), T-shirt ($30), droopy cargo pants ($65), and a bandana ($15)—seems more like the streetwear of wannabe rappers from Thunder Bay. (No offence to Thunder Bay, of course.) Since The Bay is going to be clothing our athletes until 2012, it would be nice if the Vancouver Games outfits actually reflect Canada instead of The Offspring’s “Pretty Fly (For a White Guy).” —Lisa Hannam
BELL
In 2008, Bell finally anaesthetized Frank and Gordon. The move, combined with an agency review that yielded a complex multi-shop partnership, guaranteed that Bell’s rebranding campaign would be one of the year’s most anticipated. And what did all those great minds, working on a fresh, clean slate, come up with? Er, nothing special. Bell’s first post-beaver advertising—which, granted, was just the launch of a campaign that is evolving—began with cryptic billboards that simply featured the letters E and R, while subsequent ads revealed the theme by highlighting the letters in words such as “better” and “faster.” In other words, Bell started out confusing and graduated to bland mediocrity. Unlike the beavers, Bell’s “er” ads weren’t even irritating enough to be memorable. —Matt Semansky
EGG FARMERS OF CANADA
I usually like cheese with my eggs, but this spot for the Egg Farmers of Canada’s GetCracking campaign makes the naughty list this year for its unabashed, hit-you-over-the-head cheesiness. Client: “We need to show eggs giving people energy.” Agency: “We could have people eating eggs and then having a productive, happy day.” Client: “Good, good. But what if people don’t get that the energy is coming from the eggs they eat? We need to show the actual transfer of energy from the egg to people.” The result: a giant flying egg bouncing from scene to scene, energizing everybody it touches: old-man runs past bike-riding grandson; girl solves math question, and so on. Despite the absence of subtlety, the message does get slightly scrambled for me because flying eggs remind me of Mork (or worse, Mearth). —David Brown
LAKEHEAD UNIVERSITY
“I will think for myself” proclaims the print ad for Thunder Bay’s Lakehead University. An admirable sentiment. After all, university is where young people tend to find their voices and begin asserting their independence. What I really can’t stand, though, is the visual representation: A flip-flop-wearing doofus standing on one foot. On a rock. Next to a fast-flowing river. The copy underneath reads “Your path, Your future.” I see this dunderhead’s future as a newspaper headline: “Lakehead U. student perishes in prank gone awry. Friends begged him to use common sense, but he insisted he was ready to think for himself.” A, for the concept. F, for the execution. —Chris Powell
MCDONALDS
That’s me actor-ing in the commercial for McDonald’s Angus Burger—which I also wrote and directed. Okay, not really. But this spot from Cossette is so convincing I got carried away. “You’re still here. That never happens,” says the man as he returns to his date bearing two hamburgers. “You like music? Good,” he says, turning on the stereo. “That’s me on piano,” he says as Mozart’s “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik” fills the room. After taking credit for painting Munch’s famous “The Scream,” he extols the virtues of the Angus burger he “made.” Funny and engaging, the spot even elicits a chuckle from my commercial-averse spouse. My only beef (sorry) is how it depicts the Angus burger as a perfectly formed behemoth rather than the slapdash collection of beef, vegetable matter and cheese it is in real life. I’ll have to remedy that with my next McDonald’s creation. —Chris Powell
MICHELINA’S
John St. juiced up advertising for Michelina’s this year with a series of spots featuring a spunky, old Italian woman. She pops up in unexpected places, berating people for not eating enough and spoon-feeding her targets while uttering the tag line “Let mama feed you.” The best of the ads was “Take Down,” in which Mama spear-tackles a young football player and calls him “pathetic” for being brought down by an old woman. Mama’s a brilliant character—she comes across as authentically Italian but at the same time in on the joke—and this spot shows her at her nastiest and funniest. —Matt Semansky
MILLER GENUINE DRAFT
Molson and its agency, The Hive, squeeze maximum value from their “Nothing to hide” concept for Miller Genuine Draft with this cheeky spot in which a woman finds a pornographic DVD in her date’s collection and realizes he’s not the least bit embarrassed by it. What makes it work is the contradictory nature of the male character—this guy is anal-retentive enough to organize his DVDs in alphabetical order, yet so casual that he can explain, with a blasé smile, that he keeps his sleazy vid out in the open because, well, it’s a DVD, and that’s where all his DVDs are. The woman can’t help but acknowledge his logic. I can’t help but laugh. —Matt Semansky
MITSUBISHI
A car drives down a windy road. It’s sleek and can handle the corners. Probably there’s a good-looking 30-something behind the wheel. Most car ads use the same format. But the Mitsubishi ads featuring Transformer-like robots made me wish I could wear my 3-D specs to watch. In one, a Mitsubishi is tested by a line of robotic football linemen. In another, assembly line bots dribbled a wheel like a basketball, slapped it like a puck and finally slam dunked it onto a sporty red Eclipse coupe to deliver the message that the cars are built with the “spirit of athleticism.” Like a Nike ad, it was almost inspiring enough to make me go for a run. I said almost… #151;Lisa Hannam
MOXIE’S
There was a time when I ventured into bars to look at members of the opposite sex. However, not one of those venues was in a shopping mall restaurant, so these Moxie’s ads just don’t ring true to me. I might be biased because I live in Toronto, where this sort of social interaction happens at overpriced dance clubs that don’t have seafood linguine specials. So fine, aiming for the Young Beautiful People market is legit. And yes, everyone uses the “good time” vibe to reel ’em in. But using such a blatantly sexualized stance that overlooks the after-work crowd? Unattractive. —Jeromy Lloyd
NOVA SCOTIA’S POMEGRANATE
North America has caught mobile mania, so the timing was impeccable for the “launch” of this fake wunderphone, the Pomegranate NS08. I had no reason to see the campaign’s real content—a pitch for Nova Scotia’s business market—but I was entertained enough to make it through to the reveal. Why? From the opening animation to descriptions of each “feature,” the tone and visual style were perfect. It started familiar and credible, and slowly let me in on the joke. I’m convinced that smart, culture-savvy people were behind the project—people who were able to play with expectations to create gold out of what could have been a dull-as-lead government ad. —Jeromy Lloyd
SUBWAY
On goes the television and here comes a Subway commercial, asking me to test my sandwich I.Q. Not sure what that means, but I’m ready for anything that might distract me from the irritating background music. Some drawings of sub toppings drop from the top of the frame. I’m asked to choose what comes next in the pattern. I don’t really get it. Now there’s a cartoon monkey with sunglasses swinging across the screen—maybe he can help! On the other hand, what do monkeys know about sandwiches? Stupid monkey. My head hurts. Is that song still playing? I’m no closer to knowing my sandwich I.Q., but this utterly incoherent spot—part of a frustratingly widespread campaign—sure is testing my patience. —Matt Semansky
