That tune sounds awfully familiar.

“The growing mental health crisis is one of the most pressing issues for parents today and children’s needs can so often be overlooked,” says Samantha Maltin, EVP, chief marketing and brand officer for Sesame Workshop. “We know that caring for a child means supporting their whole circle of care, whether that’s parents, teachers or other caregivers.”

Of late, the Muppet gang’s appeared in more brand campaigns. Those are fun. But PSAs are where they truly shine.

Such outings feel true to Sesame Street’s mission of lifting up youngsters with love, kindness and gentle wisdom. The Muppets make great messengers because they own a place in almost everyone’s heart. Their efforts carry special gravitas that few other media franchises can match.

As for this outing, well, there’s not much to it. That’s fine. It’s comforting to know the beloved characters are out there in 2024, ready to help kids (of all ages) in any way they can.

Raised in South Central Los Angeles, the director scored his first big hit in 2020 with Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road.” The epic clip cast the rapper as a hip-hop cowboy and won the Grammy Award for Best Music Video.

Calmatic also helmed efforts for Kendrick Lamar, Anderson .Paak and Pharrell Williams.

Earlier this year, the release of the House Party remake marked his debut as a feature auteur. A reboot of White Men Can’t Jump followed shortly thereafter.

Represented by Prettybird, Calmatic’s numerous ad credits include Super Bowl entries for TurboTax and Oikos yogurt, as well as campaigns for Apple, Target, Sprite, Geico and the NBA.

He recently completed an Ad Council PSA that’s near and dear to his heart. Dubbed “Love, Your Mind,” the powerhouse spot backs the Huntsman Mental Health Institute and gently encourages Black and brown men to seek therapy and support.

“This one came across my desk, and I was like, ‘Yo, I have to do this,'” Calmatic recalls. “It was just in the right wheelhouse for things that I believe in—and obviously for a good cause.”

Switching gears, he explored the B2B space for Intuit Mailchimp. “Turn Clustomers Into Customers” explains why marketers shouldn’t treat all clients as if they have the same business issues. The initiative boasts vibrant style, with an orb of tangled humans as its central metaphor.

Working with stunt coordinator Pat Romano, the crew built a rig that resembled a jungle gym and populated the structure with actors, leaving space for VFX artists to fill in the blanks.

In an entirely different vein, Calmatic teamed up with Megan Thee Stallion and Cheetos, recruiting students to F.U. (Flamin’ Hot University).

Looking ahead, “I want to build who I am as a director in the ad space and be instantly recognizable—the same way you look at a Craig Gillespie spot or a Paul Hunter spot, and it’s like, ‘Oh yeah, I know who did that,'” he says. 

He seems friendly. And so well informed!

Conor Byrne directed, with Emmy-winning Legacy Effects handling visuals.

The :45 effectively makes a simple point—that planning ahead shouldn’t feel monstrous—in a fairly novel way. (Of late, big benign brutes are enjoying a moment, with other examples including Trainline and Ikea.)

Peep the tech below. We want one!

“To cut through the clutter, we’re leaning into new terminology,” Jason Ashlock and Paulo Junger, executive creative directors at adam&eveDDB, tell Muse. “‘Pretirement’ is something we think will resonate with people aging into their 40s and 50s. We also know that big furry creatures aren’t the norm in the financial service and retirement saving categories.”

The team used practical means to bring its hirsute helper to the screen.

“It needed to be equal parts soulful, scary and sweet,” the ECDs say. “But controlling the creature was a beast. The performer inside the suit brought it to life while wearing pounds of hair and molded latex. The suit took about six-and-a-half weeks to create and weighed approximately 40 pounds, while the head weighed about 25 pounds. It was very hot, but the performer wore a cool suit beneath it, like race car drivers wear, that cycled cold water through the vest.”

Puppeteers remotely controlled eye, nose and tail movements.

“We saved time pre-programming the mouth articulations to match the dialogue before arriving on set,” Ashlock and Junger recall. “Of course, we always improvise when we’re shooting, but the crew was able to keep up with the pace in real time.”

As for that freaky fab handset thingy…
 
“The first step in taking charge of your financial security is to take action using the free online tools and resources at ThisIsPretirement.org. So naturally, the creature needed a way to share this information. What better way than to use the creature’s phone? We called it an eyeball-phone and made sure it looked like it came from the same world as the creature.”

Amazon’s music library boasts more than 100 million songs. Perhaps that number includes a few tracks to help parents connect with teens who are struggling with their mental health.

Today, the tech giant joins with the Ad Council’s “Sound It Out” initiative for “When You Can’t Say It, Play It.” Available in English and Spanish, the service generates song selections based on prompts such as “happy,” “angry” or “sad.” 

Parents and caregivers can use Echo devices or Alexa to share the tracks with their kids. Presumably, doing so will serve as an ice breaker and help facilitate conversations. (Music is the universal language, after all).

Amazon Ads’ Brand Innovation Lab produced the film, working with directors Blair Macdonald and Oliver Clark, aka Novemba. Ambar Lucid’s upbeat “A Letter to My Younger Self” plays on the soundtrack. 

“We know parents and caregivers everywhere have experienced hitting the ‘I’m fine’ barrier,” says Ad Council chief campaign development officer Heidi Arthur. “Through this interactive feature, we can provide them with the tools—like sharing a beautiful song—to break through and normalize checking in.”

Wisely, the program doesn’t over-promise. This is top-funnel stuff, a way, one hopes, to bring a smile to someone’s face and, perhaps, draw them out of themselves. Even sending an uncool song might pay off, evoking an “Oh, Mom, that’s so lame!” response that leads to more discussions. At any rate, young people will know that someone cared enough to reach out.

Along with Lucid, artists including Nico Craig, JJ Hairston and Carla Morrison will provide outreach on social. 

“As openly transgender, I often feel misunderstood,” Craig says. “I’ve been told by people that my mother should’t even love me because of my identity. So, I put on certain songs that remind me my mom will always love and embrace me no matter the obstacles I endure and bigotry I face.”

The campaign follows last year’s lauded Amazon-Ad Council collaboration, “Alexa, What Is Love?” That one updated the voice assistant’s responses with words from diverse humans.

Parents, don’t be shy about dropping the “F” word in front of your kids. That’s the message of a new Meta/Ad Council campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of fentanyl—which is undetectable by taste, color or smell, making it a deadly, invisible foe when added to other drugs to make counterfeit pills.

The Ad Council teamed up with Meta’s Creative Shop for “Drop the F*Bomb,” a campaign running on Facebook and Instagram that targets parents of teens and young adults. In a trio of ads, parents have their mouths blurred when they, assumedly, say a swear word.

But the controversial word in this case is fentanyl, and each parent slaps the pixelation from their face, ensuring viewers hear them say fentanyl’s name. Each video explains different reasons why the drug is dangerous and how it’s unfortunately found anywhere kids hang out.

“Using the ‘F-word’ with kids may be taboo, but talking to them about the facts, dangers and prevalence of fentanyl should not be. The risk of not having these conversations is too high,” says Michelle Hillman, chief campaign development officer at the Ad Council.

Per the Ad Council, fentanyl was found in 77 percent of adolescent overdose deaths in the first half of 2021.

In addition, Meta created a website that offers ways to broach the topic of fentanyl with teens and features videos of the parents from the ads dropping the “F bomb” on their kids.

“The campaign highlights the dangers of fentanyl in an easily digestible way for parents, helping them understand why the issue is relevant to their families—even if they don’t suspect their children would engage in substance use,” Hillman tells Muse.

CREDITS

Ad Council:
Michelle Hillman, Chief Campaign Development Officer 
Ro Patrick, SVP, Group Campaign Director 
Monica Hunter, Campaign Director 
Hadley Britt, Assistant Campaign Manager 
Ben Dorf, VP, Marketing & Communications 
Khalem Charles, Assistant Manager, Marketing & Communications 
Anuar Saab, Manager, Strategy & Evaluation 
Cat Boyce, Digital Product Manager 

Meta Creative Shop:
Allison Brown (Creative Lead)
Eddie Bennett (Strategy Lead)
Illen Asmerom (Strategy Lead)
Chris Talamo
Jesse Lee
Annie Foster
Tris Gates
Chris Kennedy 

How can a well-intentioned but uncool dad engage his middle-school daughter in a meaningful chat about the dangers of vaping?

Calling her “bestie” and suggesting e-cigs are “sketch” won’t do. Nor will a round of Bananagrams where the tiles spell out L-E-T-S-T-A-L-K.

But making an impromptu dance video with “Backpack Kid” Russell Horning checks some boxes, as we learn in #DoTheVapeTalk, an entertaining :60 from Hill Holliday and the Ad Council for the American Lung Association:

Breaking today, #DoTheVapeTalk subverts the doofus dad trope. Played by Dwayne Colbert, that dude embraces his lack of chill, encouraging parents to visit TalkAboutVaping.org for tips and information. You go, bestie!

“There are so many distractions out there and it can be really difficult for parents to talk to their kids, especially about serious issues. Parents need to get creative and so did we,” Ad Council group campaign director Cece Wedel tells Muse. “Parents of middle schoolers have the power to intervene and educate around important choices while their children are still willing to listen.”

E-cigarette use among teens rose nearly 75 percent from 2016 to 2021, while kids who vape are four times more likely to try cigarettes. The ALA believes improved communication between parents and kids can help reverse the trend.

“There’s a misconception that the ‘good kids’ don’t vape. But there’s no one type of kid who vapes,” Wedel says. “In fact, kids who are unlikely to smoke cigarettes may be at risk. Stress and peer pressure are universal and the main motivators for kids to try vaping, so every kid—including athletes, social butterflies and bookworms—is at risk.”

In the clip, Colbert and 14-year-old Maya Youabian are highly relatable, while Horning’s cameo beneath the ring-light adds a nice absurdist touch. It’s also on brand, given his anti-vaping stance.

“We had Russell come to our rehearsal to teach the choreographer and actors how to do his famous ‘Flossing’ dance,” recalls Hill Holiday product head Brian Gonsar. “Maya picked up the dance fairly quickly. Dwayne struggled a bit at the beginning but after two days of rehearsal we could all see his progress.”

His moves are still pretty sketch.

The campaign will run across TV, digital and billboards, with print and radio elements also in the mix.

In recent years, anti-vaping efforts have been all over the creative map. Truth Initiative’s “Breath of Stress Air” and “Depression Sticks” effectively focus on how e-cigs can mess with your head, while these slang-slathered spots from the Evelyn Lilly Lutz Foundation share #DoTheVapeTalk’s desire to bridge the generation gap. Earlier Lutz Foundation PSAs ratcheted up the weirdness (perhaps a tad too much) by showing teens carrying annoying people—known as “Vapes”—on their backs all day.

CREDITS

Chief Creative Officer: Icaro Doria
Group Creative Director: Guilherme Racz and Lucas Casão
Senior Copywriter: Ronen Goldfarb
Senior Art Director: Carmen Fenech
Associate Copywriter: Maggie Fuller
Business Affairs: Robert Wagner
Head of Production: Brian Gonsar
Associate Producer: Taryn Haughton
Account Team: Daniela Casas, Joan Golden
Project Manager: Jessica Gardnier
Production Company: Strike Anywhere
Managing Director: Victoria Guenier
Producer: Kyra Shelgren
Director: Pete Marquis
Director of Photography: Julia Swain

Edit House: Arcade Edit
Editor: Matt Laroche
Assistant Editor: Joelle Graham
Post Producer: Tom Barnett
Executive Producer: Crissy DeSimone: 

Music House: MAS – Music and Strategy
President: James Alvich
Original Music: Artist/Title: Vape Talk
Executive Music Producer: Joey Reyes
Music Composer: Mike Gonek
Sound Engineer: Mike Marinelli at Sonic Union
Colorist Tim Masick at Company3

“Some days I just didn’t want to do nothing. I didn’t want to get out of bed. But it was important to turn that pain into purpose because I had no other outlet.”

That’s how Bridgett Floyd describes her decision to join with family members to form the George Floyd Memorial Foundation in the weeks following her older brother’s murder by a Minneapolis police officer in May 2020.

“Serving the community was number one,” Floyd says in “Love Lives On,” a racial justice initiative launched last Thursday by the Ad Council and R/GA. Created under the team’s “Love Has No Labels” banner, the new work profiles three women whose responses to hatred and violence serve as beacons of hope and transformation.

“Showing up and being heard and speaking out on things—we gave out money, for scholarships, brought food … but it’s going to take more than just us,” Floyd says in this 90-second PSA:

Actors portray Bridgett and George in “Gentle Giant,” a seven-minute film that explores their relationship:

Andre Muir directed the long-form video, while Justin Polk helmed the shorter segments, including the two clips below.

The first presents Barbara Poma, owner of the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, site of a 2016 mass shooting that left 49 people dead and more than 50 wounded. Poma created the onePULSE Foundation, a nonprofit supporting the survivors and all those impacted by massacre:

Finally, we meet Maddy Park. Alarmed by the rise of hate crimes against Asians and other underrepresented groups in America, she formed CafeMaddyCab, which provides free taxi rides for AAPI women, LGBTQ+ people and elderly folks in need:

“Our goal is for people of all backgrounds to see these stories, recognize our shared humanity and realize how they can continue taking meaningful actions of their own,” Heidi Arthur, chief campaign development officer at the Ad Council, tells Muse. “Many don’t know where to start or what to do that will make a meaningful difference. Our films demonstrate how actions by individuals can make others feel supported, safer and included. Even small acts can have a profound impact.”

Arthur believes “Love Has No Labels” is having an impact, noting a new survey that shows 70 percent of adults believe they can create a more inclusive environment, a 10 percent gain since the campaign debuted seven years ago.

Along with various versions of the videos, “Love Lives On” features audio developed by iHeartMedia, plus digital, print and out-of-home elements. All invite audiences to lovehasnolabels.com for information on how they can help organizations working to creative a more equitable society.
 
In addition, Twitter will host a Spaces event in July to discuss how folks can support the cause, and the social platform’s ArtHouse initiative will engage creators and activists to develop and distribute artworks based on the “Love Shines On” platform.

Other partners donating media and providing support include Amazon, Cox Communications, Google, Hulu, Lightbox, LinkedIn, Meta, Pinterest, Publicis, Reddit, SXM and YouTube.

CREDITS

Love Has No Labels
‘Love Lives On’ Campaign
June 2022

LIST OF SPOTS
The Gentle Giant
Barbara Poma, onePULSE Docushort
Maddy Park, Maddy Cab Cafe Docushort
Bridgett Floyd, George Floyd Memorial Docushort

VIDEO CREDIT LIST
Campaign Title: ‘Love Lives On’
Length: Extended / :60 / :30 / :15 
Location: Broadcast / Streaming /Digital
Agency: R/GA
Client: Ad Council

CREDITS LIST
CLIENT: The Ad Council
Chief Campaign Development Officer: Heidi Arthur
VP, Group Campaign Director: Sheri Klein
VP, Campaign Director: Jenn Walters
Campaign Manager: Ariana Lee
Assistant Campaign Manager: Rachel Eppler

AGENCY: R/GA
Global Chief Creative Officer: Tiffany Rolfe
SVP Executive Creative Director: Shannon Washington
Executive Creative Director: Fernando Hernandez
Creative Director: JJ Lim
Design Director: Pawel Rokicki
Associate Creative Director: Rowan Mansfield
Associate Creative Director: Corey Thorn
Associate Creative Director: Julian Soto
Associate Creative Director: Artiana Wynder
Art Director: Vitor Lessa
Editorial Research and Interviewer: Anslem Samuel Roque

Executive Director, Content Production: Chris Detoy
Director, Content Studio: Erica Jensen
Senior Content Producer: Lauren Powzyk
Senior Content Producer, Art: Yassmina Fandi

Executive Production Director: Jeff Skutnik
Executive Producer : Pete Jones
Senior Producer: Vitor Rossellini

VP, Managing Director: Kelli MacDonald
Group Account Director: Carmen Cramer

Executive Director, Business Affairs: Lynda Blaney-Smith
Associate Director, Business Affairs: Marissa Burnett

SVP, Global Head of Insights: Christian Kugel
VP, Executive Strategy Director: Lucien Etori
Senior Strategist: Brandon Heard
Senior Connections Strategist: Aaron Francois

SVP, Executive Creative Director: Erin Lynch
Creative Director, Experience Design : Jess Vande Werken
Associate Creative Director, Experience: Aaron Kelly
Associate Engineering Director: David Holm

PRODUCTION COMPANY (Anthem Film): Smuggler
Director: Andre Muir
Executive Producers: Patrick Milling-Smith / Brian Carmody / Jaclyn Larson
Head of Production: Alex Hughes 
Producer: Manny Caston
Production Supervisor: Svetlana Dekic
1st AD: Adam Hein
Director of Photography: Oliver Millar
Production Designer: Maren Jensen
Casting Director: Jodi Sonnenberg
Wardrobe Stylist: Elise Velasco

PRODUCTION COMPANY (Documentary Shorts): Invisible Collective
DIRECTOR:: Justin Polk
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Tracie Norfleet
LINE PRODUCER: Adam Leeman
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Eric Tran
1ST ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: Michael Rubman
PRODUCTION SUPERVISOR: Congyu E
STYLIST: Brittany Thomas
SOUND: Evan Millard

EDITORIAL: Cabin Edit
Managing Director: Maggie Meade
Editor (Anthem/GF Film): Nathan Rodgers
Editor (Docu Shorts): Talia Pasqua
Assistant Editor (Anthem/GF Film): Dominique Machain
Assistant Editor (Docu Shorts): Rachel Hamburger 
Post Producer: Andrea Cantor 
Executive Producer: Adam Becht
 
VFX/FINISHING: Shape + Light
Executive Producer: Cara Lehr
Lead Flame Artist: Austin Lewis
Flame Artist: Pat Hunsberger
Flame Artist: Aaron Neitz
VFX Producers: Joe Abou Sakher
Creative Director: Rob Trent

COLOR: Blacksmith
Colorist: Mikey Pehanich 
Color Assistant: Sam Howells
Color Producer: Ashley Goodwin
Executive Producer: Charlotte Arnold

PHOTOGRAPHY: BÜRO
Photographer: Myesha Evon Gardner

MUSIC: Barking Owl
Creative Director: Kelly Bayett 
Executive Producer: Ashley Benton
Assistant Producer : Lily McCann
Composer: Jacob Plasse

SOUND DESIGN/MIX: One Thousand Birds
Sound Design/Mix: Hayley Livingston, Myra Al-Rahim
Additional Sound Design: Jackie! Zhou
Producer: Alex Berner-Coe
Associate Producer: Maya Kotomori

LICENSING & ART PARTNERS
Jelani Rice 
Ron Kurokawa
Nijalon Du’Boi
Getty Images 
XYZ Graphics

“Alexa, what is love?”

It’s many things, of course, ranging from “Being there for someone without judgement,” to “Opening your doors to others without expecting anything in return” and “Supporting people in pursuing their dreams, no matter their abilities.”

Starting today, devices running Amazon’s virtual assistant will offer such responses, and more—generated at random when asked to define love—as part of an initiative developed with the Ad Council.

This short from acclaimed documentarian Rodney Lucas features some of the diverse folks who voiced the replies:

“Our hope is that when audiences ask about love, they will hear voices that inspire them to take action in their communities,” says Ad Council president and CEO Lisa Sherman.

Timed to Valentine’s Day, the work marks a new chapter in the organization’s Emmy-winning “Love Has No Labels” campaign.

“This collaboration is right in line with the goal of ‘Love Has No Labels’—to flood culture with messages of unbiased love across race, age, gender identity, religion, ability and sexual orientation,” Sherman says.

Amazon will tout “Alexa, What Is Love?” across TV, digital and social media. The company also hosts this website, which tells the stories of software developer Cheer, photographer Christopher, tour guide/anti-bullying advocate Jim, student organizer Shujaa and other campaign contributors.

They believe that love is…

• “Showing patience and understanding when someone is learning a new language.”
• “When someone acknowledges how I identify.”
• “When we craft safe spaces for Black women.”
• “When true allies protect my voice.”
• “Looking out for each other.”

That last one pretty much says it all for this culturally attuned foray that leverages technology in a novel, uplifting and relatable way.

Alexa has mulled love and relationships before. Last week, she provided the romantic soundtrack for this sweet ad touching on issues of aging and memory. And in 2019, Alexa “married” Siri, her technological counterpart at Apple.

CREDITS

Director: Rodney Lucas
Executive Producer, Fanciful Films: Natalie Hill
Production Company: Fanciful Films
Chief Campaign Development Officer, Ad Council: Heidi Arthur
Vice President, Campaign Development, Ad Council: Sheri Klein
VP, Campaign Director, Ad Council: Jenn Walters
Director of Media, Social and Emerging, Ad Council: Felicia Carmichael
Assistant Campaign Manager, Ad Council: Ariana Lee
Head of Amazon Brand Lab, Telco & Entertainment: Rob Alley
Creative Director, Amazon Ads – Brand Lab: Jolanta Aerts
Senior Copywriter, Amazon Brand Lab: Sim LeCompte
Executive Producer, Amazon Brand Lab: Carrie Schaer
Senior Program Manager, Amazon Brand Lab: Stephanie LeBlond
Creative Director, Amazon Alexa Personality: Alison Tintle
Associate Creative Director, Amazon Alexa Personality: Will North
Senior Design Technologist, Amazon Brand Lab: Robby Marston
Senior UX/Motion Designer, Amazon Brand Lab: Cassandra Krul
Senior Marketing Manager, Amazon Brand Lab: Gina Avila
Senior Account Executive, Amazon Ads: Ashley Willson