Creative Briefs

DEJA VUAdoration in Aisle 1 When did supermarkets suddenly become places of worship? Leo Burnett's stockboy, Curtis, is so enamored with Kellogg's Frosted Flakes that he polishes and irons the boxes. RC Cola's Bottle Guy, from The Blum Group in New York, dusts displays and polishes his costume. "I say do what you love and love what you do," he beams, echoing Curtis' "I love Frosted Flakes." Blum creative chief Alan Blum attributes the campaigns' similarities to the style of Christopher Guest, who directed both. Bob Akers, ecd at Burnett in Chicago, says he's "flattered" Blum would choose a similar theme. "At least they were smart enough to go to the master, [Guest]," he says. Master of His Domicile NEW YORK—Jerry Seinfeld returned home to American Express advertising in a spot from Ogilvy & Mather that broke Sunday during ABC's Academy Awards broadcast. It's Amex's first Seinfeld ad since 1999, when he was seen buying remedies for other people's embarrassing ailments. This time, the comic is an overly enthusiastic home improver. As he sits quietly with his newspaper, Seinfeld notices the cuckoo clock on his living-room wall chirps "cuck" without the "oo." The local hardware store clerk suspects a loose nail, so Seinfeld wields his Amex card to buy a titanium hammer. Pounding on his wall, he discovers he has "exposed exposed brick." Back at the store, he tells the clerk, "I'm gonna shell it like a walnut." The project gets ever more involved until the house is leveled. "With Jerry, what we try to do is an 'everyday' strategy," says David Apicella, senior partner and executive creative director at Ogilvy in New York. "A hardware store is a funny, fun place for guys because any home-improvement project escalates. It's enormously comic." The spot was shot on a Universal Studios lot in Los Angeles, where the agency used a specially constructed brownstone facade. "We really had a bulldozer pull it down" at the end, Apicella says. "It was a project of enormous scale, and it's as big as it looks" in the ad. Master of His Domicile Crowd Pleaser Volvo Madness People Crowd PleaserAn NBA star in a public park can't help but attract attention. So it wasn't surprising that word spread quickly through a northern Los Angeles neighborhood recently that Kobe Bryant was around. The L.A. Lakers guard was on hand to shoot a McDonald's spot for DDB Chicago in which he joins a kids' team but is warned not to blow their chances for a trip to McDonald's—the prize for winning the game. Heavy security didn't keep about 100 youngsters from surrounding the set. "More and more kids were showing up," says Tim Souers, a DDB creative director. The crowd and Bryant remained calm through the afternoon's tight schedule. Afterward, the player made time for his fans, letting them gather for autographs. The ad broke this week during the Academy Awards. Volvo MadnessMessner Vetere Berger McNamee Schmetterer/Euro RSCG is keeping track of March Madness, but not just for the basketball games. The shop is logging on to the Web to view the progress of its multimedia Volvo S60 campaign, which is running on television, wireless devices, the Internet and Web TV during the NCAA tournaments. Developed by the New York agency, its integrated marketing unit, Fuel North America, and Cylo, a converging media company, the work encourages people to visit Revolvolution.com. The TV spot features the S60 maneuvering along a winding road as a voiceover likens its win of a coveted new-car award to a playoff upset. "To savor this Cinderella story and possibly win a Volvo S60," it says, "visit Revolvolution. com." Banners and sponsorships on CBS' SportsLine.com site link to the microsite. Web TV viewers can click on a banner during the spot for more information. And fans thumbing through scores on their Web-enabled cell phones might see a Volvo logo. Participants at Revolvolution.com are asked where they heard about the drawing. So far, TV leads the pack, with the Web a close second. Though TV will most likely triumph as the most effective medium, the shop is not underestimating the newer media. The underdogs could stage an upset in years to come. PeopleDavid Cohen joined FCB in New York as svp and executive producer/creative director of worldwide brands from his post as senior partner and executive producer at Ogilvy & Mather, New York. … GSD&M, Austin, Texas, promoted Jan Wieringa to svp and head of broadcast production and Idea Studio. … Richard Eber was promoted to chief creative officer, a new position, at McCann Relationship Marketing in New York. … Libby Brockhoff, a former partner at Mother Advertising in London, has joined Carmichael Lynch, Minneapolis, as an associate creative director working on Ikea and new business.

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