Pepsi's biggest bid to re-assume brand and cultural relevance begins this week under the rallying cry and new global tagline of "Live for Now." PepsiCo is looking to this new pop-culture-based campaign to deliver on executives' promise to reignite growth in the company's flagship beverage brand.

Songstress Nicki Minaj will be the initial poster child for the campaign, which will get going with a homepage takeover of Yahoo.com on Wednesday by Pepsi, which will cross-promote Pepsi Pulse, as Pepsi's website is branded, reflecting the interactive hub that will serve as the social-media nexus for Pepsi's campaign.Continue reading...

With the 2012 Major League Baseball season opening in less than a month, the Chicago White Sox are getting ready for Robin Ventura, former White Sox third baseman, as this will be his first year as manager of the team.

To help share his baseball philosophy on hard work, dedication and love for the game, Energy BBDO produced a set of spots which will be break on local television today (Mar. 19) to help drive ticket sales and enthusiasm ahead of Opening Day on April 6th.

The commercials (watch below) feature Ventura looking back at his remarkable past with the team, with old clips from White Sox games. In a second spot, he walks onto the field, while his voiceover highlights his passion for baseball and his team.

The tagline, simply: "Appreciate the Game."Continue reading...

PepsiCo is promoting Diet Mountain Dew with a new campaign that (above) features ESPN sportscasters Dick Vitale, Erin Andrews, and "Mike and Mike" (Mike Golic and Mike Greenberg); and below, NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., who is being sponsored by the brand for 16 races in 2012, a deal that kicked in over the weekend with the Daytona 500 race.Continue reading...

As announced in July, Sainsburys is ending its relationship with Jamie Oliver, with this BBDO-produced 2011 holiday campaign (see more below) its last featuring the British celebrity chef.

The 11-year endorsement deal between the UK supermarket chain and the cheeky chef hasn't been without controversy — including spats over battery hens and a fall-out after he stated “For any chef, supermarkets are like a factory. I buy from specialist growers, organic suppliers and farmers" — but also made a lasting impression on the nation's home cooks, as a spokesman for the grocer told Marketing Week UK.

Click here for Brand Republic's timeline of the 11-year partnership, which produced more than 100 commercials and initiatives such as promoting sustainable fish.Continue reading...

Audi, in addition to launching its holiday sales promotion above, has released a sneak peek at the 2013 A4, the A3 e-tron and a very clever iPad app — check them out below.Continue reading...

To launch their My Starbucks Rewards program in Canada, Starbucks has installed four new interactive storefronts in Toronto and Vancouver. A joint effort by BBDO's Toronto office, Blast Radius and The Media Merchants, the window displays allow users to reveal rewards by touching gold stars in an animated interface.

More details from the press release:Continue reading...

Yahoo! and BBDO just completed a joint study which revealed that 95% of consumers “crave” engagement with brands and that leveraging storytelling on paid, owned and earned media (POE) “through the prism of a dating relationship” will increase marketing success.

"Humans crave stories and advertising, at its best, has always been about the business of storytelling to build brands," said Simon Bond, CMO of BBDO. "However, given the new media landscape of paid, owned and earned media, branded storytelling has changed forever. It's no longer what you say, but how you say it."

For more on the best practices for brand storytelling (one hint: don't shout!), click below.Continue reading...

AT&T won a Silver Integrated Lion at the Cannes advertising festival this year, well-deserved international recognition for this 10-minute PSA about the deadly results of texting while driving, showing real-life examples of the last text that was composed while driving — often cut-off mid-text as the driver veered into a fatal accident.

When the hard-hitting documentary was released in late December, its "No text is worth dying over" tagline a tough warning to New Year’s Eve imbibers, it became an instant viral hit and has been seen millions of times on YouTube.

Now the agency responsible for the award-winning effort, BBDO New York, has just released a video case study documenting the continuing impact of the documentary, including a planned smartphone app to keep the effort alive.Continue reading...