Spotify’s engagement levels are 23% higher than any other medium. Yet digital audio advertising earns under 2% of the total media spend. To kick start a conversation amongst key marketing decision-makers, A Song for Every CMO demonstrated Spotify’s targeting capabilities, using original songs written by leveraging Spotify’s data and dedicated to the world’s top CMO’s. It led to unprecedented results: 75% year-on-year growth and $ 1 billion in ad revenue for the first time, making 2021 the best year in Spotify’s Advertising history. It even inspired other CMOs to request songs of their own.

Credits
Agency Network: FCB
Holding Company: Interpublic Group
Production Company: Watt White Music, Maplewood
Advertiser Brand: Spotify/Spotify Advertising, New York

This is part of a year-long collaboration with FCB India and the #SeeMeAsIAm campaign. Transgender people around the world are often marginalized and experience discrimination and violence. As a result, transgender people are at a heightened risk of HIV – up to 13% higher than the global population. In addition, up to 24 countries criminalize or prosecute transgender people. ‘Unbox Me’ is about countering such stigma and discrimination.

Credits
Advertising Agency: FCB USA & India
Campaign: #SeeMeAsIAm | Unbox Me
Tags: Gender diversity, LGBTIQ, #SeeMeAsIAm, Awareness campaign, Gender stereotypes, human rights campaign, Public Interest

 
 
How does it work?
Their platform works by gathering real-time Google Search data related to six separate sexually transmitted infections: chlamydia, HIV, syphilis, herpes, gonorrhoea and HPV. The data gathered include the STI name, (e.g., “gonorrhoea”), its key symptoms and adjacent search terms (e.g., “painful urination”) plus interest by region (e.g., New South Wales is showing a spike in gonorrhoea-related search behaviour).

The data is compiled into six separate charts for reference, and then rolled up and averaged into a single index: The STI Index. The index drives dynamic, inverse pricing for a 30 piece bundle of LifeStyles® condoms. So, the higher the index, the lower the price of condoms. The price will never exceed the product MSRP.

The project is brought to you by LifeStyles®, a global leader in sexual wellness products including condoms, personal lubricant and other fun stuff.

Credits
Agency: FCB
Campaign: Publicly Traded
Holding Company: Interpublic Group
Production Company: Married to Giants, Toronto
Advertiser Brand: LifeStyles Healthcare Australia, Richmond

Tags: Sexually transmitted diseases, LifeStyles Publicly Traded

#TimesOutAndProud

In September 2018, The Supreme Court of India decriminalised homosexuality. But it changed little for the LGBTQ community. An editorial choice by The Times of India led to the redesigning of its classifieds as the Times Out & Proud Classifieds – a free space where the community could come out, look for jobs, homes, life partners and make announcements. It was an inclusive platform that helped integrate the community into society, and helped position TOI as a modern, informed paper. Classifieds grew by an unprecedented 2.6% as every other media declined, generating 3.3 billion in earned media.

Credits
Campaign: Times Out and Proud Classifieds
Original Campaign
Advertiser Brand: The Times of India, Mumbai
Advertising Agency: FCB India, Gurugram

Showbiz celebrities have supported Arts Emergency to raise awareness of marginalized groups’ struggle to get into the arts.
According to Arts Emergency, those who work in the creative industries are not representative of society. You are less likely to get a job in the creative sector if you are Black, Asian or from a minority ethnic background, from a working-class background, female, disabled or living outside of London and the South East. And the margins of difference claimed by them are not insignificant. A mere 4.8% of people working in music, the visual and performing arts are black, Asian, or from a minority ethnic background. The figure goes down to 2.7% for those employed in museums, galleries, and libraries.

According to their figures, a person from a privileged background is four times more likely than a person from a working-class background to have a job in the creative industries, a ratio that has held over four decades. Currently, only 16% of film and TV workers identify as working-class, and 40% of those in media are private school-educated.

This week has also seen celebrities across the entertainment world go online to call for change, encouraging creative professionals to help those from marginalized groups break into the sector. Amongst them were Jack Dee, Miranda Hart, Katy Brand, Michael Sheen, Neil Gaiman, Jenny Eclair, Samantha Morton, Nikesh Shukla, and Chris Addison.

More than twenty-five organizations have joined the campaign, including The British Film Institute, Get Up, Stand Up—The Bob Marley Musical, ATC Management, ATC Live, and LinkedIn. Many offer virtual open days, internships, artist workshops, and mentorship opportunities.

A new podcast, Crash Culture, will see Arts Emergency’s youth collective discuss social justice and the cultural sector with those in the business.

Arts Emergency founder Neil Griffiths said, “no matter what you’ve achieved, someone at some time gave you a leg up, and Arts Emergency is thousands of people from across the cultural and creative industries doing just that for the next generation by donating money, time and contacts to help them get in and get on.”

Credits
Brand: Arts Emergency
Campaign: #BreakTheGlass
Advertising Agency: FCB Inferno

Fine Hygienic Holding campaign ‘Waste Can Mask Our Future’

Credits
Client: Fine Hygienic Holding
Advertising Agency: Horizon FCB, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Brastemp launches ‘Washing Away Excuses’ with spot directed by Landia’s Aline Lata

“Doing the laundry is everyone’s job; our society can no longer tolerate a gender-based division of tasks,” says Allyne Magnoli, Marketing Director at Whirlpool, which owns the Brastemp brand. “With that in mind, we include in the campaign (in)famous excuses given by family members who do not engage with tasks in the laundry room, preferring to ‘outsource’ the work.

Some of those excuses, which range from “I never learned how to do it” to “I was going to, but you beat me to it,” are the basis of “Washing Away Excuses,” a playful and intelligent campaign from FCB Brasil.”

Some excuses have been printed on t-shirts sent to about 200 opinion leaders, including journalists and influencers. When the shirts are laundered, the excuses disappear to reveal the message “Household chores are everyone’s chores.” A small number of shirts were also sold on an online pop-up store, enabling people to send them as a “gift” to a partner or significant other.

When it comes to the division of household tasks, gender inequality in Brazil is real. A 2018 study by IPEA found that while 93% of Brazilian women are responsible for laundry, only 56% of their partners do the household task regularly.

Credits
Brand: Whirlpool
Product: Brastemp
Agency: FCB Brasil

COVID-19 sent the sports season — and beer sales — into a tailspin. As quarantine set in, on-premise sales evaporated, fans feared a “lost season,” and athletes threatened not to play. Without live fans, athletes and coaches worried the game would feel as empty as the stands themselves. Sports sponsors divested, canceling activations, pulling ads, and subduing communications, but Michelob ULTRA saw an opportunity. Once favored for its health benefits, light beer sales are declining 3%–4% per year and have been since 2013. Michelob ULTRA’s health-and-wellness-oriented positioning is on-trend culturally, but the brand continues to be seen as a “diet” and “watery” beer by consumers. As a result, the brand significantly underpasses its market share in social conversation and badge value, remaining a beer people are pleased, but not proud, to drink. This issue is particularly acute for young, urban drinkers, as the brand significantly under-indexed the light beer category with men 21–49 (-49% average) and women 28–34 (-17% average). To improve its resonance with this audience, a radical change in strategy was called. For the first time since 1998, when Anheuser-Busch became an NBA partner, Michelob ULTRA became the league’s official beer sponsor, a major shift after years of Bud Light’s reign. Why? Nearly two-thirds of Americans ages 18–44 are avid or casual fans of the NBA, making it the perfect opportunity to improve the brand’s relevance with a younger audience with a cultural institution they adore. But to truly deliver, this initiative would need to go beyond linear viewing to include earned media, digital publishers, and influencers, where this demographic gets its NBA coverage. But when the pandemic changed the fate of the 2019–20 season, and its newly minted sponsorship was in peril, Michelob ULTRA focused on its core purpose of bringing enjoyment back to the game and to prove the brand’s motto: “It’s Only Worth It If You Enjoy It.” Knowing that sales growth is heavily influenced by mental availability (reach, consideration, and share of voice), the brand set out to increase its exposure and relevance by finding its place in culture.

Idea: While other leagues scrambled to install cardboard fan cutouts, Michelob ULTRA innovated with Microsoft and the NBA… and Michelob ULTRA Courtside was born. Powered by the debut of Microsoft’s AI-driven Together Mode and a ring of 17-foot LEDs, the experience digitally transported fans into the NBA Bubble from the comfort and safety of home. The experience boasted millisecond data transfers, a never-before-seen rail cam, and 120 spatial audio microphones, which redefined the live-watching experience. To get Courtside, fans scanned their Michelob ULTRA bottles to win virtual tickets to games live-broadcasted from the Orlando-based NBA Bubble. Bold calls-to-action across PR, in-store and digital trade, social, influencer, broadcast integrations, TVC, and more led to the most visited URL in the brand’s history. Suddenly, the empty stands that plagued stadiums became an invaluable brand opportunity. Real-time player, fan, and broadcaster interaction made Michelob ULTRA a pivotal part of the storyline. The magic of the campaign went far beyond the lucky fans who sat Courtside. Influencers (Jimmy Butler, Scottie Pippen, Peyton Manning, etc.) posted, and celebrities (President Obama, Mickey Mouse, Lil Wayne, etc.) made appearances all season. Courtside dominated headlines in sports (ESPN SportsCenter, Bleacher Report, etc.), lifestyle (People, Today, Uproxx, etc.), and news (Wired, Fast Company, Yahoo!, etc.), becoming the #1 industry topic. And across 124 games and 81.5 million hours of NBA coverage, Michelob ULTRA proved game-changing innovation… could change the game forever.

Results: Michelob ULTRA Courtside changed the fate of the brand’s business as it navigated a year rife with disruption due to COVID-19. Michelob ULTRA sales grew 32% due to on-bottle, scan-to-win ticket promotions, soaring cultural relevance, and unprecedented brand exposure to a younger, more urban demographic. The campaign’s success was driven by more than 13 billion impressions and 81.5 million hours of NBA coverage. A veritable cultural phenomenon, Courtside drove a substantial lift in all major mental availability metrics, including consideration (+4.3%), reach (+31%), and share of voice (+6%).In a year when distribution (physical availability) of Michelob ULTRA remained flat, the brand was the biggest share-gainer among beers in the industry. Michelob ULTRA gained +69 points of market share, towering over the declines of Miller Lite (-13 points) and Coors Light (-32 points). Today, Microsoft is applying insights from Courtside to workplaces, classrooms, and entertainment venues to make them more fun, engaging and memorable. And the NBA is looking at the future of fan experience through the lens of Courtside.

Credits
Campaign: Michelob ULTRA Courtside
Clients: Michelob ULTRA, Microsoft, and NBA.
Chief Marketing Officer: Marcel Marcondes.
Vice President Brand Marketing: Ricardo Marques.
VP of Connections: Azania Andrews.
Senior Marketing Directors: Marcela Garcia, Talita Andrade.
Brand Director: Joe Geoghegan.
Director of Digital Marketing and E-comm: Miles Ritenour.
Head of U.S. Sports Marketing: Matt Davis.
Director of Sports Marketing: Kerry Scalora.
Director of Marketing Communications: Jessica Thorpe.

Agency: FCB New York
Country: United States
Music & Sound Production: SixtyFour Music
Co-Chief Creative Officers: Gabriel Schmitt, Michael Aimette
Worldwide Creative Partner: Fred Levron
Executive Creative Director: Samira Ansari
Head of Art: Sy-Jenq Cheng
Creative Directors: Jay Marsen, Lex Beltrone
Creative: Stu Mair
Associate Creative Directors: Matt Everts, MyTran Dang, Thomas Mori, Simon Dolsten
Director of Integrated Production: Adam Isidore
Executive Integrated Producer: Chris Lenz
Senior Content Producer: Adam Nelson
Integrated Producer: Pim Leeuwenkamp
Senior Business Manager: Ellen Kuratnik
Senior Integrated Producer: Kendra Plantt
Group Account Director: Megan Bundy
Account Director: Ashley Read
Account Executive: Joe Labuz
Group Strategy Director: Ben Grossman
Editorial CCO: Nathan Robinson
Editorial Creative Director: Brian Williams
Editor: Alan Chimenti
Head of Production: Stephanie Hornish
Editorial Producers: Natalia Wrobel, Steve Villeseche
Head of CG: Dave White
VFX Artists: Ethan Chang, Miguel Diaz-Rivera, Jerome Knight
Editorial Executive Producer: James Taylor
Editorial Art Director: James McCarthy
Pre-Vis Animator: Joshua Frankel
Partner Editorial Executive Producer: Sarah Brooks
Offline Editor: Lauren Horn
Sound Designers & Mixers: Chris Afzal, Eric Thompson, Conrad Sanguineti
Executive Sound Producer: Vicky Ferraro
Partner Executive Sound Producer: Mary Tomasiewicz
Editorial: NTropic
Editing: School Editing
Sound Design: Wave Studios
Sound Mix: Honeymix

Boards of Change brought America’s disenfranchised voices from the streets to the polls. Plywood boards that barricaded storefronts during the Black Lives Matter protests, filled with messages of unity and justice, were turned into voting booths. They inspired residents in dozens of Chicago’s low-turnout neighbourhoods to create systemic change through the power of their vote and enabled them to register. Amplified by outdoor, social media, and national PR, Boards of Change empowered Black Americans to know their vote counts and helped Chicago attain a record number of registrations and voters.
#BoardsOfChange

Credits
Client: City of Chicago
Campaign: Boards of Change
Agency: FCB Chicago
Client: City of Chicago, USA
Production Company: Lord + Thomas, Flo Creative
Music & Sound Production: JSM Music
Experience Design: Absolute Production Services
Video Production Company: Stoptime Live

An initiative created by FCB NZ and produced in partnership with Jockey and Farmers, Remundies is a range of Jockey underwear that communicates with their owner regularly via text, reminding them to check for signs of the disease each month.

Upon purchasing Remundies, the owner is registered at https://remundies.co.nz, and so the conversation begins.
 

How to check for Testicular Cancer:
 

 
In collaboration with Darkhorse, Jockey’s Social & PR agency to support Jockey’s initiative, the All Blacks and All Blacks Sevens stripped down to their Jockeys as part of their long-term sponsorship of New Zealand’s favourite underwear brand, Jockey.

Paul Hayes, Testicular Cancer New Zealand, commented, “Every year 150 men are diagnosed with testicular cancer in New Zealand, but it’s beatable if you find it early. It has been great working with the team at FCB who came up with such an innovative idea to create awareness of this life-threatening cancer among a hard to reach target audience”.

FCB ECD’s Peter Vegas and Leisa Walls said, “We’ve been working with the testicular cancer team for six years now. The work has always been focused on creating lifesaving behaviour change, but the dream was to find a way to raise some much-needed money at the same time. It’s taken a few years, but Remundies are now sneaking into undie drawers across the country, and we couldn’t be happier.”
 
Credits
Client: Testicular Cancer NZ
Agency: FCB New Zealand
Media Agency: FCB Media
PR Agency: Darkhorse

FCB India will lead the creative mandate for cosmetic brands – Lakme & Elle 18; powered with 360-degree communication strategies that are more adaptive and relevant to the current market conditions. The brand charts its course for the next phase of growth.

Lakme is one of India’s most popular, most trusted brand when it comes to makeup and skincare. Launched in 1952, Lakme is the first home-grown successful cosmetics brand in India. From being the contemporary Indian beauty expert to become the flag-bearer of the latest makeup trends and styles that hit the runway, Lakme as a brand continues to be innovative with its approach towards the world of makeup and beauty.

Elle 18 is known mostly for its trendy and affordable beauty products. The Elle 18 range consists of extremely affordable makeup products that are very contemporary and stylish, and a must-have in any girl’s vanity.

Both brands belong to the parent company- HUL.

On expanding the HUL brand portfolio at FCB, Rohit Ohri, Group Chairman & CEO, FCB India, said, “We are proud to partner Lakme and Elle 18 in India. These iconic Indian brands are a symbol of and inspiration for ‘Make in India’. At FCB, we believe in creating ‘Never Finished’ stories for brands. We’re delighted to have this opportunity to write an exciting new chapter in the ‘Never Finished’ stories of Lakme and Elle 18.”

Adding, Swati Bhattacharya, CCO of FCB, said, “Lakme is a brand that has witnessed the internal and external journeys of Indian women. To be a part of this brand’s voice, makes it an absolutely exciting opportunity for us.”

Year on year FCB India has been setting new benchmarks by showcasing their creative excellence consistently. Starting with the Gold at coveted Cannes in 2018, FCB India sustained the momentum of winning Gold at Cannes yet again the following year, along with earning highest honours at National and International award shows ever since. WARC Report (Creative 100) named FCB India as #1 Creative Agency in India. Cannes Global Creativity Report 2019 ranked FCB Ulka #2. Recently, FCB India was named #1 Creative Agency by the One Show 2020 Global Creative Rankings. The agency was also ‘most awarded’ at D&AD Awards and One Show 2020. At Kyoorius this year, FCB India has again named the most awarded agency that also won the highest honours. The Campaign Brief Asia rankings named FCB India as the No. 2 Hottest Agency in India. That’s not all, FCB India was named Agency of The Year at Campaign Asia Agency of The Year Awards 2020. And to top the award haul this year, FCB was recognised by ADWEEK’S as the GLOBAL AGENCY OF THE YEAR 2020! A true testament of the agency’s commitment to creative excellence and consistency.

Google – Draw to Art | Doodle to discover great works of art

By: Google Arts & Culture Lab

Every great work of art started as a sketch, but what if your sketches could help you discover great works of art?

That’s the idea behind Draw to Art, a Google Arts & Culture installation in the form of an easel. It uses machine learning to match your doodles to paintings, sculptures, and drawings from museums around the world.

To create Draw to Art, we used the Sketchy database to train a neural network, teaching it to match doodles to artwork.

Sans Forgetica

Sans Forgetica is a font designed using the principles of cognitive psychology to help you to better remember your study notes. It was created by a multidisciplinary team of designers and behavioural scientists from RMIT University.

The Open Door Project

The Open Door Project is an institutional response by The Millennium School to the problem of children outside the education net. They believe that a large-scale campaign that enjoys the collective effort of private schools can help mitigate the crisis of over 8 million out-of-school kids in India. They are glad to see that Bhukkad — the film — resonates with the philosophy of The Millennium School, which has a love for learning and joyful learning as its bedrock.
Agency: FCB

A Future Without Change

Every year high school students are bombarded by university recruitment campaigns. So, while other universities showed students a perfect future, Monash University stood out by showing one plagued by problems.

VMLY&R created A Future Without Change, giving students a glimpse into what our world could become if we merely adapt to the issues we face instead of changing them.

With the help of each faculty, the team created 17 products that shouldn’t exist. These were brought to life through a multi-sensory campaign that the public could touch, hold, smell, taste and interact.

Client: Monash University
Agency: VMLY&R Melbourne

Reword

Bullying has moved from schoolyards to social media. Shielded by screens, kids often don’t consider the effect their words can really have. Headspace set out to find a way to tackle online bullying before it happens.

They created reword, an effective tool that works like a spell checker for online bullying. As a child types, this browser plug-in searches an evolving database of abusive words and phrases. When one is recognised, the child is instantly alerted with a red strikethrough, a simple symbol that encourages kids to reconsider what they write. reword has been embraced in Australia amongst children, parents and schools, and is having a genuine impact on online bullying behaviour. To date, when reword has been activated, 91% of insults have been corrected.

StorySign by Huawei

90% of deaf children are born to hearing parents, leading to communication issues, including the challenge of learning to read, which is so key to their future.

FCB Inferno created StorySign for Huawei, a free app that uses AI’s power to translate selected children’s books into sign language, delivered by Star, our friendly signing avatar.

Developed with an understanding of sign syntax to ensure a seamless translation and user experience, StorySign helps to open the world of books to deaf children and their families; users simply hold their phone up to the words on the page and avatar Star signs the story as the printed words are highlighted. This helps parents and children to learn to read together and at their own pace.

This is why Pink October is the most important month on their calendar. A time when they work hard to remind women everywhere to check their breasts! Horizon FCB Dubai wanted to find a way to support FOCP and use Pink October to launch an initiative that would act as a constant year-round reminder for women to do self-exams. This is when something caught their eye, an emoji waving out of the keyboard. But was the emoji waving or doing something else? They asked the question, “Have you ever wondered why this emoji has her arm in the air? It’s because she’s doing a breast cancer self-exam.”

“Having a creative ‘self-examination’ tool using an Emoji will help spread the word about Breast cancer, creating dialogue and much-needed awareness” – Dr. Sawsan Al Madhi, Director General, Friends of Cancer Patients. The emoji is a reminder to every woman who sees it or sends it to do their self-exam, and the hashtag quickly spread around the world.”

Credits
Advertising Agency: Horizon FCB Dubai, UAE

This campaign is about:
Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Digital Campaign, Emoji

Every day a new page of gun violence history is written. And it’s not stopping.

The Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence — an organization committed to fighting the gun violence issue on a state and federal level — created The Gun Violence History Book. Made out of articles, facts, and data showcasing a tragic and deadly history that repeats itself.

The book features 19 milestones to help you better understand gun violence, and how common-sense gun regulations, such as universal background checks, will help it.

But more than it being a sad uncovering of our past, this book acts as a lesson for the future – for Americans young and old who still believe there is a way for us to close the book on America’s gun violence history.

Credits:
Advertising Agency: FCB / Chicago
Client: Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence

This campaign is about:
The One Show 2020, Gun violence, Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence, Gun Violence Prevention Education, Awareness Campaign, Education

The future of assistive technology
Current accessibility products are extremely limited, not to mention the fact that many are overpriced, outdated, and single use. SEE SOUND can now replace them all.

Pinpoints sound location
The more See Sound devices you have in your home, the more focused and precise your reporting will be, targeting the exact room the sound came from.

Sound data at your fingertips
The app visualizes the sound data, while giving you the ability to customize notifications based on what sounds are important for your home.

Deaf owned and operated
Wavio is led by a passionate group of 3 Deaf entrepreneurs whose vision is to make sound accessible to everyone.

About

SEE SOUND is a revolutionary sound recognition device born from the collaborative efforts of Wavio, a Deaf-owned software company, and advertising giant, AREA 23, an FCB Health Network Company. Together, this partnership is designing the future of sound equality.

Wavio is the market leader in sound recognition technology. Founded in 2015 by 3 Deaf entrepreneurs, the company strives to transform the way we think about sound recognition and sound contextual awareness, capitalizing on artificial intelligence and machine-learning technologies.

AREA 23 is a full-service healthcare agency that has dismantled the barriers that stand in the way of true innovation. The company has been consistently recognized with top advertising industry awards and honors, and continues to set the bar on breakthough creative.

Tags
smart home hearing system, See Sound, Artificial intelligence, assistive technology, Deaf, FCB