Between 1966 and 1986 Californian sports brand K-Swiss sold only one model tennis shoe without ever changing it. Today K-Swiss reverently calls it the ‘The Classic’, because every other tennis shoe that followed was derived from it. And 44 years after its launch, and with the help of Amsterdam based agency Lemon Scented Tea, K-Swiss shares the shoe’s rich history in a story of 8 chapters. Under the campaign motto ‘You gotta know your classics’, every chapter highlights one of the unique aspects of the white leather tennis shoe. On top of that K-Swiss asked 8 designers across the globe to graphically interpret the ‘chapters’ on a poster; Mario Lombardo (Berlin), Value and Service (London), Cobbenhagen & Hendriksen (Amsterdam), Mark Owens (Los Angeles), Non-Format (US), Grand People (Bergen), Fabian Jenny (Zurich) and Sung Min Choi & Sulki Choi (Seoul). Only 400 copies of each poster were printed to give the whole project limited-editionesque exclusivity. We chose to share chapter ‘K’, since we guessed most people would like to learn where the letter ‘K’ comes from. The artwork was done by Sean Murphy at Value and Service. Here’s a passage from the copy that accompanies it: “K is for Kalifornia. We know, it defies all logic, deliberately misspelling the name of our home turf like that. But to the two Swiss brothers who designed the first Classic from their L.A. garage, calling their company Kalifornia-Swiss was the most logical thing in the world. It was their way of paying homage to a place that had welcomed them with a progressive, creative and playful culture – and limitless tennis courts”. You got to love this kind of designvertising that adds heritage, profile and sophistication to a brand.

Shirt porn, that’s what we thought when seeing this promo for the new black jersey of the Sacramento Kings. Though some people will tell you that black is not a colour at all, the copy written by Lemon Scented Tea will tell you that black is more than a colour; it’s an honour worn by Kings. It will be released during Christmas, at the beginning of the season when the Kings play the LA Lakers.

There’s a Children’s Ombudsman, who actually listens to children. Not everyone does apparently – even the judge doesn’t (!) – so that’s why this lengthy, but impactful film communicates that there is someone who stands up for children’s rights. Commercials like this make you forget that there’s an economic crisis going on. The Netherlands is a very wealthy country. Created by Lemon Scented Tea, produced by Brenninkmeijer & Isaacs, directed by Anne de Clerq and shot by Robbie van Brussel.

‘Go Forth’ is Levi’s new brand proposition. It supports positive change in the world and celebrates today’s “pioneers who are taking action to build a better future”. In this dramatic mini-documentary, created by Wieden+Kennedy and directed by Sanne van Hecke, we see Portuguese street artist Alexandre Farto (aka “Vhils”) nonchalantly wearing a pair of baggy Levi’s and creating a series of street murals that capture the faces of some ‘Berliners’ who embody the ‘Go Forth’ spirit. This branded content made us think of both the Sartorialist film for Intel (by Amsterdam Worldwide) and the mobile printer film for Océ (by Lemon Scented Tea) – though the latter was a fictional documentary. We’re spotting a trend here, in which everyday people are portrayed as heroes. That is, they all do something special and this is enlarged in a documentary-like piece of long(er) form content. It merges real life with the smooth exaggerative qualities of an ad agency and thus subtly incorporates brands into society. It makes (or at least should make) these brands more authentic, credible, and sympathetic.

This ‘documentary’, directed by Eelko Ferwerda (Revolver Media), follows two entrepreneurs that run a business called Instant Poster Power from their van. Ed Lensen, Business Development Manager at Océ, asked Lemon Scented Tea (LST) for “a B2B story that wouldn’t feel B2B”. Well, if that is what he asked, we think LST did a very nice job. We don’t really believe this is a documentary – skeptical as we are.  Though strikingly well cast, these guys aren’t real, their van isn’t real, and their business isn’t real. But since this commercial is only meant as an elaborate and sophisticated “conversation starter” for Océ’s sales team, we think it makes very apt and pleasant advertising. In fact, if we freelancers ever have to buy a “high-end poster printer”, we will happily consider Océ.

This commercial was made for the Luxemburg, Belgium and French markets. Since it was created by Amsterdam based Lemon Scented Tea, we wanted to share it anyway. We had never heard of Bofferding. It sounds funny. The commercial is more serious though. It felt to us as a cross-over between Bavaria (that is, the pay-off “Zo, nu eerst een Bavaria”, which basically means ‘Phew, now I deserve a Bavaria’) and Grolsch (more specifically the pay-off from the 80’s: ‘Craftmanship is Mastership’). But that’s not really relevant since the commercial is not made for the Dutchies. Strategically it does make total sense, but there’s something odd about the end, where the hero almost clumsily opens the bottle with his screwdriver, and a bad voice-over somewhat spoils the nice images we saw before. A bit of an anti-climax, really. But, all in all, skillfully made and thus A-brand-worthy. And it did make us a little thirsty, we have to admit.