Best Ads of the Week: Christina Aguilera’s Just Eat order & Jack Box’s haunting Halloween

This week, Troy Polamalu took a Hyundai out for a joy ride, Burger King released a haunting horror short and NHL champions put the Stanley Cup in the dishwasher.

Land O’Lakes: Tulare is Incredible by Human

For National Farmer’s Day last week and National Co-op Month this October, Land O’Lakes is uplifting the farmers, restaurant owners and families of Tulare, an agriculture town in the heart of California’s Central Valley.

‘Tulare is Incredible’ is a new mini-documentary that reveals the stories of everyday Tulare residents, along with images of their daily lives, be it expansive dairy farms, morning donut runs or children playing on swingsets. Colorado-based branding agency, Human, ideated and developed the campaign.

ByAmazon: Food Too, Who Knew? by Red Brick Road

ByAmazon, the own-brand grocery offering from Amazon, aims to challenge preconceptions of the brand’s food credentials through a light-hearted campaign developed by independent creative agency Red Brick Road.

‘Food too, who knew?’ lets shoppers know that the Amazon they rely on for everything from books and toys to electrical items is now launching own-brand groceries. The brand campaign uses smile-shaped food to playfully imitate the Amazon smile, landing the message that Amazon now does food.

Taj Mahal Tea: Megh Santoor

Brooke Bond Taj Mahal Tea, a UK-based Lipton-owned tea brand, recently earned a Guinness World Record for the ‘Largest Environmentally Interactive Billboard’ for its out-of-home work, ‘Megh Santoor.’

‘Megh Santoor’ measures 150 feet wide and was installed outside of the Vijayawada train station in Andhra Pradesh, India for monsoon season, which typically lasts from June to September. With every rain shower, the raindrops activate the billboard’s strings to perform a rendition of the ‘Raag Megh Malhar,’ a classical Indian form of music played on a stringed instrument, called a santoor, that celebrates rainfall. The campaign also earned a mention in The Drum’s Anatomy of an Ad series.

Hyundai: Safeties Depend on Safety by Innocean

A new Hyundai ad taps into NFL Hall-of-Famer Troy Polamalu’s iconic style, “cat-like quickness,” and “supernatural instincts” to show off the safety features of the new Hyundai Tucson.

Dubbed ‘Safeties depend on safety,’ the spot follows Polamalu on a trip from a farmer’s market to his Hyundai Tucson and around town, where the vehicle’s safety features – including forward and rear collision-avoidance assist and lane keeping assist – protect him and others from what could otherwise be disastrous. The new ad was created in partnership with the brand’s agency of record, Innocean.

Burger King: The Call by Denstu Creative

In a spooky turn of events on October, Friday the 13th, Burger King unveiled a haunting Halloween campaign, ‘The Call,’ to presage the arrival of two seasonal menu items: the Ghost Pepper Whopper and Ghost Pepper Chicken Fries.

The 60-second horror short follows a woman who is terrorized by an anonymous caller. They deliver the oblique but foreboding message, “It’s back; it’s coming for you.” After relentless torment, she gives in and tries the Ghost Pepper Whopper and Ghost Pepper Chicken Fries, which leaves her possessed and looking for the curse’s next victim. Horror movie buffs may recognize this trope from films like ‘The Ring,’ ‘One Missed Call’ and so on.

The short was directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon known for his Emmy-nominated work on ‘American Horror Story: Coven.’ The campaign was created in partnership with Burger King’s agency partner, Dentsu Creative, Burger King and production company Wild Gift Content.

Just Eat: Musical Showstopper by McCann London

Online food delivery brand Just Eat released a campaign fronted by 90s pop star Christian Aguilera. Created by McCann London, the spot also features hip-hop artist Latto. Together, the duo create what the brand has dubbed a “truly unexpected musical showstopper” to reflect how customers feel when they see what’s on offer at Just Eat.

It begins with Latto and Aguilera dressed in baroque style as operatic queens, both being offered an array of their favorite Just Eat food while delivery couriers and operatic suitors perform elaborate choreography around them. The commercial was directed by music video veteran Dave Meyers.

Jack in the Box: Feeding Time by TBWA\Chiat\Day LA

For spooky season, Jack in the Box released its first horror short entitled ‘Feeding Time.’ Not only is short’s plot terrifying, but it announces the return of Jack’s seasonal Monster Tacos and the launch of its new Angry Monster Tacos.

The campaign was ideated and developed with creative agency TBWA\Chiat\Day LA in partnership with Hollywood horror writers. The project gave the writers (and crew) a creative outlet during the WGA Writers Strike.

ESPN: This is SportsCenter by Arts & Letters Creative Co

On Monday, SportsCenter, ESPN’s satellite television network, released a a new spot titled ‘Dishwasher,’ as part of its larger ‘This is SportsCenter’ campaign.

In the ad developed by creative agency Arts & Letters Creative Co., Golden Knights forwards Jack Eichel and Jonathan Marchessault join SportsCenter anchor Steve Levy to give the Stanley Cup a much-needed cleaning in a dishwasher. Levy watches Eichel and Marchessault open the dishwasher with the Stanley Cup inside. Marchessault asks Eichel if “they should run it again,” (meant to be a subtle gesture of winning the Stanley Cup back-to-back), to which Eichel replies, “Yeah, I think so.”

Los Angeles Tourism: Art and Culture is for Everyone in LA

Los Angeles Tourism, also known as LA Tourism, this week launched its largest-ever consumer-facing awareness campaign in the UK and Ireland: ‘Now Playing,’ which aims to beckon those bracing for rain in the United Kingdom and Ireland to visit sunny Los Angeles this fall. The initiative is part of a larger global campaign spanning the US, the United Kingdom and Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, Mexico and Canada, culminating into an $8.6m investment.

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