My goodness, now that the old "man your man could smell like" already got the bling in the form of a Grand Prix, I might have to propose to this ad instead. Scuz' me while I run off and create a new award.

Spot the football heroes! It is as if 180 Amsterdam and W+K Amsterdam have decided to duke it out in epic-length football ads this year.

Players on epic journey in this ad are;
• Steven Gerrard (England/Liverpool)/ The Powerhouse
• Michael Ballack (Germany/Chelsea)/ The Capitano
• Steven Pienaar (South Africa/Everton)/ The Link
• Lionel Messi (Argentina/Barcelona)/ The Spark
• Daniele De Rossi (Italy/Roma)/ The Gladiator
• Shunsuke Nakamura (Japan/Yokohama Marinos)/ The Specialist
• David Villa (Spain/Valencia)/ The Blaze
• Jozy Altidore (USA/Hull City)/ The Trigger
• Andrés Guardado (México/Deportivo de La Coruña)/ The Wingman
• Kaká (Brazil/Real Madrid)/ The Maestro
• Yoann Gourcuff (France/Bordeaux)/ The Creator

It sometimes takes an unbelievable spot to deliver an unbelievable offer, and Anonymous Content Director Christian Loubek delivers just that in a powerful :30 for Volvo via Arnold Worldwide.

As a camera pans over a collection of VolvoXC60 parts seemingly suspended in midair, a voiceover explains the company's new Safe + Secure Coverage Plan, under which the legendary automaker commits to absorbing the cost of repairing and maintaining its vehicles' 4,800 parts for five years. To symbolically reinforce both the safety of the autos and the freedom inherent in such a program, a gang of ski-, bike- and surfboard-wielding drivers and passengers stand within the hovering Volvo frame, as the narrator chimes, "…so you can take care of more important things in life, like living it."

Man is being chased by ZOMBIE SNOWMEN AAAAAAAAH! Oh, it's wicked weather. Either way, run'em down, dude.

Bully Pictures and Bully Bros Post showed off their snow making abilities for a spot promoting Suzuki’s new 4-wheel drive sedan, the Kizashi.
Conceived by Los Angeles agency Siltanen & Partners Advertising, “Wicked Weather” shows a man driving the car through a wintry environment where he comes under attack by a band of evil snowmen. A half dozen or so of the creatures, sporting stovepipe hats and menacing grins, hurl snowballs at the man in an apparent attempt to force him from the road. The man is saved by the agile performance of his car, which dodges out of the way just as the snowmen collide, exploding in a cloud of white flakes.

Mitsubishi recently tapped Brickyard for extensive CG work, most notably on the frogs, in “No Fairytale,” a new spot showcasing the 2010 Mitsubishi Lancer. A majority of the frogs featured in the ad are completely CG, although for one close-up the Brickyard team carefully layered shots of real frogs to create the illusion of hundreds of frogs in the road. The hero frog in the spot was created using a combination of live action and CG which gave Brickyard artists the freedom to animate his speaking lines and manipulate facial movements to sell the realism of a talking frog prince.

Here's a neat impossible feat, we know that some pools are great as skating ramps but have you ever tried skating in a full pool? Didn't think so. It'll be just like those bizarre nightmares I have where I have to fight off some monster and just as I throw a swing at them the underwater phenomena kicks in and my mean punch becomes a wussy slow-motion splash. Then when I wake up it's due to Folgers trippy sunshine happy all over the place seeping through my curtains - and my boyfriend wonders why I'm grumpy in the morning. Walk a mile in my heels, dude.

Old Spice ads are now officially so powerful, they're blocking my resistance.

The "quitting sucks" tagline is here in force, with a shark attacking a man so tuned in to wanting a smoke he doesn't even notice.

Greg Ketchum, Executive Creative Director, Ogilvy New York on IBM “Data Anthem”:
In the next phase of IBM's Smarter Planet campaign, we're focusing our messaging on how organizations around the world are going about the business of actually building it. One of the pillars of building a smarter planet is the emergence of data and the ability to harness it for answers to our biggest problems. We wanted to educate business leaders on the importance of data, provide some context for its proliferation, and suggest the enormous opportunities that lie within it. We also wanted to convey to people that we now have the computational power and advanced analytics to see data in new ways so we can make sense of it. Hence, our interest in finding the most compelling, arresting ways possible of visualizing actual data. On a smarter planet, data matters.

Set to "Ain't no sunshine when she's gone" we watch as our hero decents through the nine rancid, writhing, violent, befouled, fiery circles of Hell to rescue Beatrice. This ad is set to air in the fourth quarter.

Recently, Rhino's CD Vico Sharabani collaborated with director Jason Smith of Industry on an new :30 for Mazda via Doner, Detroit.

While the spot appears to be totally live action, it is really a seamless mix of CG and in-camera footage blended to show off both the interior and exterior of Mazda5.

"Both Doner and Jason Smith were outstanding creative partners," noted Sharabani. "They understood that making the natural flow work would require major `Frankenstein-type' surgery, and their insight and willingness to adapt were refreshing. We used multiple layers in post to fully integrate a complex composite, a process that was considerably easier than it could have been, since we took care of as many details as possible in pre-vis."

This commercial features a stylized match between two top world ranked female tennis players. It was shot on two continents; in Malaga, Spain where Jelena Jancovic was playing in a tournament and Beijing, China where Zheng Jie was busy training. In Shanghai Andy McGraw from Cut+Run then united the players via the magic of editing, with post and effects created and applied in Hong Kong.

Very nice with the cuts between the film 2012 and the scenes shot for this music video alone (even though I could not help but giggle a little at the pained love song sung to a backdrop of the destruction of the world, but that's just me.)

The latest music video from creative ideas and solutions studio SOLID is set against the backdrop of a cataclysmic event. However, as directed by Wayne Isham and edited by SOLID’s Richard Cooperman, “Time for Miracles” is a testament to artistic collaboration and raw star power.

The extended version of "eyes" where you see all the different characters available before it switches into game mode and shows off the world you'll play in.

Talent Trivia:
Francisco Randez = Ezio
George T Woods = Doge
Andrew Rasputin = Soldier
Sean Francis = Chancellor
Mahi Dadwal = Merchant
Drew Delio = Nobleman

Stare deep into the soldiers eyes.

Stare deep into the merchants eyes.

END OF LINE.

th1ng, the award wining mixed media and animation studio, has created a TV spot for Air Wick advertising commissioned by Euro RSCG London. The commercial was directed by Andy Powell and breaks on national television in mid February. The advert is being shown as part of a larger marketing initiative to launch the Air Wick’s latest autospray Air Wick Freshmatic i-Motion.

Powell, who has recently directed four Air Wick idents for the Emmerdale soap sponsorship on ITV, was briefed to represent i-Motion as the product ideally suited to the demands of a typical modern household.

In doing so the spot had to demonstrate that i-Motion not only delivers continuous fragrancing, but also its motion sensor automatically adjusts the level of fragrance when triggered by movement.

Aired in the 2nd quarter

This 30s spot, produced by Pascal Blais Studio and out of Grey Mexico, was used to introduce Ocean Spray cranberry juice to Mexico, by combining CG particle animation and live-action to create a world within a field of cranberries.