One of the biggest radio channels in the Netherlands, Radio 538, advertises its Ibiza promotion with two ecstasy pills in the colours of its visual identity; “Listen and win a trip for 2 to Ibiza”. You would almost forget that ecstasy is considered a hard drug – even in the Netherlands. Maybe they should have added a legal disclaimer, saying; “we recommend you to first try one E, to see how it lands, and only then move to the next one”. In any case, an effective ad that will attract the exact right audience for a trip to Ibiza. It also says you should check the 538 website for more info. We did, but couldn’t more info – it probably didn’t fit on the information overloaded website anymore. Anyway, the ad was made by bsur.

An interesting piece (10:42) of branded content; a joint web series by MINI and Vice – or Vice and MINI if you like. The series is presented by Elliott Bambrough and a different co-driver is selected through social media every episode. It follows up the introductory set of commercials around the theme ‘All the wrong places’ featuring the MINI Coupé in different exotic places, positioning the car as an adventurous and cosmopolitan wannahave. Or ‘not for ordinary people’ as we judged the work in September. This episode is about ‘Dekotora’ trucks in Japan, basically a tradition to pimp your ride with kitschy colours, graphics and lights. At the end a MINI Coupé is pimped – a little. You could say that giving the Coupé such a prominent role is a little too much – especially since Vice is seen as a more or less independent magazine – but since it’s done at the end and subtle enough, we don’t really mind it. All in all a smart joint promotion by MINI and Vice. Created by BSUR.

We don’t really understand why this Icelandic hitchhiker with mustache is pregnant, nor why he has a criminal doppelganger, but we like the randomness of this commercial for the new MINI Coupé – it feels like a trailer for a new Coen Brothers movie. The other two commercials – ‘Sunday in Rio’ and ‘Love is in the air’ (in Hong Kong) – are less subtle, but all in all the ‘Another day, Another adventure’ campaign clearly shows that the Coupé is not for ordinary people. Especially when you compare it to last year’s commercial for the Countryman that was a lot more accessible – and won two Lions in Cannes, for that matter. Created as usual by BSUR, directed by Kevin Thomas (Thomas & Thomas Films), and shot by César Charlone – who you might know from ‘The city of god’.

Picture: ECD’s W+K Amsterdam Mark Bernath (left) and Eric Quennoy (middle), mainly responsible for Wieden+Kennedy’s huge success in Cannes and Enrico Balleri from Nike, just after the award ceremony last Saturday. What a great closing night for the Amsterdam agency it was. Nike Write the future scored seven more Lions – earlier in the week it already won gold in Cyber. At the most important award night the Amsterdam agency first of all won the prestigious Grand Prix in film. It was a very close finish with Puma’s ‘After hours athlete’ as jury chair Tony Granger (CCO Y&R) explained at the press conference. After a lengthy discussion he asked the jury to put all the rational arguments aside and vote from the heart. This gave Nike the final push. Nike also won five Lions in Film craft: two Gold (Editing and Script), two Silver (Production and Sound), and one bronze (CG). And the seventh Lion, Gold in Integrated, proved that the campaign didn’t just have a pretty face. And then Heineken; for this other power brand W+K won five Lions in Film and Film craft. Four for The Entrance: Film: Gold and Bronze (interactive). Film craft: Gold and Silver (Direction and Sound Design). One Lion went to The Date – more or less the sequel of The Entrance. It won bronze in Film. This brought the grand total for Wieden+Kennedy to 13 (!) Lions. Together with all the Lions that Portland won for Old Spice, W+K must easily be the most awarded independent network in the world. Two more Amsterdam Lions went to MINI ‘Flow‘ (Silver in Film craft) by BSUR and one to Volkswagen’s ‘Old Lady’ (Bronze in Film) by DDB. All in all Amsterdam (officially) won 25 Lions, 8 (!) more than last year.

With 13 shortlist nominations in film and 7 in film craft, Amsterdam should be able to win some more Lions tomorrow night. Of all these nominations 4 go to Nike ‘Write the future’, 3 to Heineken’s ‘The Entrance’, and one to Heineken’s ‘The Date’, which adds up to an impressive 8 film (craft) nominations for Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam. Write the future also has a nomination for Titanium (integrated), though this case was sent in by Nike. BSUR also does well with 4 nominations for MINI Countryman’s ‘Flow’. Philips’ ‘Wake up the town’ by Tribal DDB has 3 film nominations. Other film nominations go to Volkswagen (DDB), Centraal Beheer (DDB) – we personally liked this more subtle Centraal Beheer film a lot better – De Bijenkorf (Selmore), IDFA X-ray eyes (TBWA) – a very smart film – and the beautiful Sire film ‘Marked for life‘ (180). We’ll keep our fingers crossed!

This 20-second commercial for Specsavers was created by BSUR and directed by Michael Sewandono (Comrad). The voice over says “Look around you. Discover. Have a look for free“. The concept plays nicely with the idea of looking at the world in a different way. Considering the category Specsavers’ brand proposition ‘Have a look for free’ is translated on quite an abstract, not very instrumental level. And the tone of voice whispers, while the others are screaming. Feels very sympathetic, even comfortable. It’s a pity the guy at end was dubbed in his own language. Funnily enough this grabbed us out of mid air and pulled us back on the ground. Back to the real, bad, corporate world.