US Creative Works: featuring Arnold, Jack Morton, Office of Baby and more

Ikea Canada is celebrating Pride with a colorful campaign that features drag queens wearing its lamps, shower curtains and umbrellas on the catwalk.

According to the retailer, it collaborated with a number of Toronto drag queens to create “runway-ready outfits made out of everyday Ikea products” for the photo shoot and video.

Called DRÄG, the campaign is part of Ikea’s ‘Beautiful Possibilities’ platform, which spotlights diversity and inclusion. The campaign is primarily social, but also includes out-of-home, digital and OUTtv, Canada's national LGBTQ TV network. Ikea worked with Rethink for the creative and Jungle on the media buy.

Over the past several years, Pur has been bringing the issue of possible tap water contaminants to the forefront, with the goal of providing consumers with the education and tools (like the website knowyourwater.com) they need to make informed decisions about their water.

While contaminants are not in all users’ water, they often appear as a result of either water treatment limitations or from traveling through miles of aging underground pipes. 
 
Through its new campaign, 'What are you drinking?' Pur and creative agency Arnold are looking to combat the “it’s not my problem” mentality with a series of films designed to reinforce the relevance of tap water quality in your life, and in the lives of those you care for. The films bring the problem into people’s homes by exploring it through familiar life moments – from trying to cook healthy meals for your family to giving a child a glass of water at bedtime.
 
Three 15-second online videos tell stories that highlight our accountability as caretakers, in terms of ensuring the water quality we provide to our loved ones. In one, a little girl asks her father, "Dad, can you get me some traveled-through-miles-and-miles-of-aging-pipes-to-get-to-our-house-but-we-drink-it-anyway-because-it-looks-fine water?" In another, a father asks his daughter to get him a glass of "might-have-a-trace-of-contaminants-like-lead-or-pesticides-or-who-knows-what-else-in-it-but-it's-not-like-we're-going-to-check water?"

A new brand engagement campaign for L.L. Bean titled 'Be an Outsider at Work' encourages audiences to take their work out of the office and into the street. The work, created by Jack Morton, launched the first ever outdoor co-working space with a kick off in New York City.

Research conducted by L.L. Bean shows that being outside boosts productivity, creativity and reduces stress but that work is seen as an inhibitor so the brand has combined the two so that time spent outside and carrying out our work aren’t mutually exclusive. Alongside collaborative workspace partner, Industrious, the brand is hoping to encourage people all over to spend more time outdoors during their day. The physical experience is a mobile outdoor workspace complete with individual work areas, conference spaces and even cycling desks that consumers can reserve or drop by to experience.

The event launched in NYC’s Madison Square Park and will visit Boston, Philadelphia and Madison, Wisconsin. The digital experience includes BeAnOutsideratwork.com with feature tips and inspiration for working outdoors alongside a video, e-book and infographic created alongside workplace strategy expert, Leigh Stringer.

Free The Birds, a brand communication and design agency, has created a new campaign for animal welfare charity Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) encouraging consumers to consider what they eat and reduce their meat-based protein consumption as a result. The campaign emerged from a brand identity brief that Free The Birds took on for CIWF on a pro bono basis as part of the agency’s philosophy to do things that make the world a better place.

In the film, titled 'Mouths' viewers see close-ups of mouths talking about how up until now, history has been made by words – but that change can also come not because of what comes out of our mouths, but because of what we put into them. It uses the fact that one third of the grain produced annually is used to feed farm animals – produce that could be used to feed as many as three billion humans instead. The campaign uses the strapline: ‘Eat plants. For a change’, and the message ‘Your body will love it. The planet will love it too.’ It aims to influence companies directly and indirectly via consumer pressure to reduce their meat-based protein by 25% by 2025.

Video streaming company Netflix has underlined its commitment to casting and hiring black talent in an ad to coincide with the Black Entertainment Television (BET Awards) on 25 June.

Coming just days after the launch of Luke Cage season 2, its Marvel adaptation of the bulletproof black superhero, the TV ad features the likes of Spike Lee, Laverne Cox, Ava DuVernay, Alfre Woodard, Lena Waithe and Justin Simien, among others.

It is an expression of the company’s Strong Black Lead initiative that is looking to develop black voices in its leading shows.

Scientific Anglers, of Midland, Michigan, launched its latest fly line Amplitude Smooth with AST Plus technology. In a campaign to introduce the lines, Scientific Anglers tapped Admirable Devil to develop the zany, myth-busting, basement scientist, Zonker, who tests Amplitude Smooth in out-of-the-box demonstrations on his internet show, 'Zonker Time with Zonker.'

In each spot, Zonker pitches the scientific methods of the Amplitude Smooth fly line to anglers, employing an alarming interpretation of the scientific method while he does so. The campaign features digital video, print, animated gifs, and paid social media posts.

What if we shared information about financial abuse on social media the way we share photos of eye-catching murals? In a social-driven, out-of-home campaign by Leo Burnett Chicago, Allstate Foundation Purple Purse is teaming up with artists in six cities across the country to make visible the invisible issue of financial abuse – a form of domestic violence experienced by 99% of all victims and often the main reason they can't 'just leave.'

Harnessing the growing social trend of posing in front of murals, each mural's design hides an invisible message about the reality of financial, made visible only through Instagram's Moon filter. Photographable and shareable by design, the murals are intended to spark conversation about an issue still considered taboo by many Americans.

The campaign launched on June 20 at Tictail Market in New York City featuring art by Isabel Castillo Guiharro and an announcement by program ambassador Serena Williams. Five additional murals will be launched throughout the summer and run through October, National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. The public is encouraged to visit the murals and share their own photos using #SafeWayOut to show their support.

When can being too sweet be a turnoff? Office of Baby's new campaign shows how, with its new campaign for Siggi’s, the Icelandic lower-sugar yogurt brand. Keeping with its signature clever, humorous and provocative tone, Office of Baby has parlayed its love for the brand into charming, quirky comedy in a series of spots helmed by O Positive director Kenny Herzog.

From a romantic date gone awry to bad tattoos and morning salutations signaling try-hard moments, the messaging in each spot, tied to the tagline of 'not too sweet is sweet enough,' provides humorous analogies to accentuate Siggi’s benefit of “not a lot of sugar.”

A love of the brand, its founder and connection with consumers helped nurture a healthy working relationship. When you see Siggi’s on the shelf, it’s friendly, beautifully designed and inviting. But some don’t know that [Founder] Siggi [Hilmarsson] is a real person. He is a very tall, kind and smart man from Iceland who is hands on. 

In the latest spot from Cole Weber's Department of Imagination campaign for the Washington State Lottery, Seattle Sounders FC fans are encouraged to daydream about their perfect matchday.

The 30-second ad sees a fan's home transformed into a launchpad for a great footballing day out, including a scarf-printing machine, Sounders-themed colours daubed on every wall, and a pitchside view for the match.

Previous spots have focused on the inner workings of the Department of Imagination, which encourages lottery players to fantasize about what they could do with their winnings.

Target has released an evolution of the 'Target Run' campaign the retailer launched last year to highlight the everyday essentials it provides. This summer’s new spots highlight all the new ways someone can make a Target run, and they do it to the sounds of new music from Meghan Trainor (who is sharing exclusive remixes on the Target version of her new album, No Excuses.) 

According to Target chief marketing officer Rick Gomez: “Last summer we introduced ‘Target Run,’ our campaign highlighting the affordable everyday essentials guests can pick up in one stop, all done in a relatable, differentiated, Target way. The effectiveness of this campaign has been incredibly strong. Now, with our expanded fulfillment options – including Drive Up and same-day delivery with Shipt – reaching tens of millions of guests across the US, we’re evolving the campaign to highlight the new ways they can choose to complete their Target Run, how, when and where it’s best for them. At its core, it’s a campaign designed to help our guests make the most of their day, and an important step in making Target America’s easiest place to shop.”

Publicis Seattle and the 2018 Special Olympics USA Games are partnering for a uniquely Pacific Northwest welcome to athletes, families, guests and sponsors, as Seattle hosts the national event July 1-6. The Special Olympics USA Games are a premier, national sports competition that showcases the power and joy of sports at the highest levels. The event is broadcast nationally on ESPN and this year marks the 50th Anniversary of the Special Olympics movement.

Publicis Seattle created an overarching brand identity and unique, athlete-personal tagline, 'Rise With Us.' The Rise With Us tagline gives voice to the athletes and is anchored on a rallying-cry, call to positive action manifesto. Additional elements include animated graphics for the opening ceremonies in Husky Stadium, as well as designs for the medals and ribbons, posters, and athlete bags. The creative echoes the pride and action Seattle takes in garnering support and attention for progressive, inclusive organizations like Special Olympics. This is reflected in Seattle’s City of Inclusion initiative whereby businesses and organizations are creating a community where people with intellectual disabilities are meaningful and fully welcomed and valued.