Work of the Week: 11/08/23
This week's selection of top creative work includes some amazing animation, absurd comedy and heartfelt storytelling to explore the power of friendship and more.
Samsung have hit a double this week, scoring two places in our Work of the Week via a brilliantly bright and bold animation that shows off the new Galaxy Tab in a colourful world of hyper-pop happiness, as well as a rather meta slice of branded entertainment that follows two interns creating a calamitous campaign for the same new product. Meanwhile, director Vincent Haycock paints a picture of modern youth culture for Instagram and Dentsu Creative takes us underground to meet Elvis in a bizarre series of curry ads.
To see all of these campaigns, as well as some persuasive print advertising from VMLY&R COMMERCE Colombia and an animated coming-of-age story for Riot Games' Valorant Champions Tournament, read on below.
Instagram - Instagram Connections
Partnering with Somesuch director Vincent Haycock and advertising agency Johannes Leonardo, Meta's social media giant created 'Instagram Connections', a pair of films that present an authentic portrait of today's youth culture. The two long-form pieces ‘Small Fries’ and ‘Send Off’ capture the raw essence of young people's authentic relationships today, and show how the Instagram platform helps to facilitate their communication and closeness. An insight into gen z life, the films show genuine and unfiltered moments that explore the very notion of human connection in a digital world.
Valorant (Riot Games) - Ticking Away
Café de Coral - Every Bite...
It's far easier to just tell you to watch these two bizarre spots for Hong Kong fast food chain Café de Coral, than attempt to describe the absurdity. Created by Dentsu Creative Hong Kong, the films feature crazy scenarios including a man becoming a human skipping stone and a construction worker falling into a mysterious subterraneous cave, which just so happens to be inhabited by a troglodytic Elvis impersonator. It's bewilderingly wacky - and it really makes us want to taste 'Every Bite' of the curries that supposedly make you fly, tremble or go boom.
Samsung - The Interns
Samsung and BBH USA get really meta with this one, parodying creative agencies in a charming short film about the new Galaxy Tab S9. Directed by ProdCo's Thomas Ormonde, the piece follows two interns attempting to create an ad campaign for the new product - to mixed results. Using each story beat to showcase a different feature of the Galaxy Tab, the interns run through a reel of unsuccessful ideas before finally presenting the idea of doing an ad about making the ad. So, this is an ad about making an ad, which is about making an ad, which is... well, you get the point. Adception, if you will.
Vanti - Conviértete
Every year, hundreds of Colombians come together to honour the Virgin of Carmen. This usually involves parades through the streets, generally formed by precessions of gas-guzzling automobiles. Taking advantage of this insight, Vanti - a company dedicated to the commercialisation of natural gas in Colombia - worked with VMLY&R COMMERCE | Geometry to create a print campaign that shows the symbols of the celebration being suffocated by exhaust fumes. Accompanied by a simple tagline, 'Convert', the posters are a a clever and visually arresting call to action that encourages the conversion of vehicles to natural gas vehicles.
Samsung - Samsung Galaxy Unpacked
The tech company's second entry on our list this week, this animated spot from Unlisted's 2veinte and Cheil Worldwide Korea is a kaleidoscopic whirlwind of life that bursts from the tablet's screen. Packed with otherworldly environments and a rainbow of colour, the energetic film is bursting with vibrancy and unleashes all of the whimsical possibilities at a Galaxy Tab user's fingertips.
Budweiser - It's Not the Same Without Your Buds
Many brands sought to mark the moment this International Friendship Day, and who better to do so than a brand that knows everything about 'buds'? Created by Anomaly Toronto, this heartfelt campaign brings Canadian men together with their 'buds' and shines a light on the statistic that almost 70% of men see their friends less in-person as they get older. As well as the touching film, the beer brand also removed the word 'bud' from its social channels and ran a limited series of 'bud-less' bottles to raise awareness of the issue.
