Creative Briefs

Déjà-VuBack to the FutureIt's no surprise that both Cadillac and Porsche would want to leverage their rich brand histories in their advertising. But they're doing it with strangely similar scenarios. In a Super Bowl spot for Cadillac from D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles in Troy, Mich., a man breaks free of gridlock in his vintage Eldorado and encounters a future version of himself in a new Caddy. In Porsche's "Awake" spot, created last fall by Carmichael Lynch in Minneapolis, a man awakens from a decades-long coma, takes a spin in his Boxster and sees a new model of the car. In both spots, each driver is impressed with the other car's style. Asked about the similarities, Gary Topolewski, chief creative officer at D'Arcy, says, "Heritage is a very powerful tool to play for select brands." Jud Smith, a group creative director at Carmichael, is quick to note that while "both [cars] have had a rich heritage, Cadillac's is different, though, because it was lost, and they have to reclaim it." E*Trade Revisits Boom Years SAN FRANCISCO—Now that its chimp has been blasted into space, E*Trade is moving on to advertising that reminisces—not exactly fondly—about the heady dot-com days of 1999. New ads that broke last week from Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco, show people cashing in on the bullish climate. In "Pitch," venture capitalists question two slackers about their high-tech proposal. They answer evasively, "I hesitate to call it a chip. ... Software's a weird word. ... We have a Web site—under construction." And yet the suits are easily convinced: "We'd be idiots not to fund this!" The tagline is, "Times have changed. So have we." Other spots show a low-level secretary who can afford a luxury sports car; guys who pick investments by blindly pointing to stocks in a newspaper; and a firm that accepts even grossly underqualified job applicants. The ads reflect the company's new name, E*Trade Finan cial, introduced last week to highlight its range of services. "We've always felt that E*Trade reflected financial popular culture," says agency chairman and creative director Rich Silverstein. "This was a way of getting people to think about their money and how to use it." E*Trade Revisits Boom Years Primary ColorOlympic HighlightsNew Hires at BBH UPS introduced its largest single campaign yet—$45 million for the spring launch alone—during the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics, using the familiar shade of brown as a brand icon for the first time since the color was associated with UPS in 1916. The tagline is, "What can brown do for you?" Creative director Cliff Sorah of The Martin Agency in Rich mond, Va., developed the in tegrated campaign with co-creative director/copywriter John Maho ney. "Brown" is used as a nickname of sorts for UPS, and the art direction emphasizes the color. Six spots directed by Phil Joanou each focus on a character in the corporate food chain. One shows a midlevel manager in an ultramodern office rhapsodizing over "Brown's" ability to make her powerful around the world. Other new work airing during the Games includes a 90-second spot for Nike from Wieden + Kennedy in Portland, Ore. Titled "Move," it focuses on the motion of the human body—specifically, the bodies of athletes like speed skater Apolo Ohno, downhill skier Picabo Street and tennis star Lindsay Davenport. Interwoven are such images as a child playing on a bed and triathletes emerging from the water. A total of 21 sports and activities are represented in the ad. ... In a four-spot campaign for Delta Airlines from Leo Bur nett, Chicago, fans from around the world express the spirit of the Games in a hot tub. In one spot, an American gives a robust Asian man an Olympic collector's pin as a token of friendship. He gets a potbelly pig in return. ... A Gateway campaign from Siltanen/Keehn, El Segundo, Calif., features its talking cow dreaming of Olympic glory as a ski jumper. ... AT&T Wireless is airing a new execution of its "mlife" campaign from Ogilvy & Mather, New York. In "Friendly Rivalry," a speed skater in training crosses the finish line, then types a message on his mobile phone. Else where in the world, another speed skater reads the challenge: "Beat this. 1:47:10." Then a voiceover says, "Some times text says more than talk." Later, the first skater gets another message: "No beat this. 1:47:05." ... In addition to Olympic-themed spots that broke before the Games, McDonald's is running ads from its new brand campaign created by DDB, Chicago. The commercials have an edgy tone and feature Ronald McDonald. Bartle Bogle Hegarty in New York bolstered its creative ranks with the hiring of art director Jeff Church, 31, formerly of Ground Zero, and the team of copywriter Ryan Blank, 29, and art director Mike Hahn, 28, both formerly of Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners. BBH creative chief Kevin McKeon is still searching for creative directors to complement Thomas Hayo, the agency's sole group creative director.

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