Turns out that the not-so-secret spokesperson for Downy Unstopables is Danny McBride, who presumably spent weeks sniffing his own hoodies to prove to himself that it works. A show of hands, please, who had Danny McBride on their super bowl bingo card?

Unlike so many other industries, IKEA has such a long-standing and pre-planned production of all their classic furniture, that they don’t have to change the prices of things. And that alone is making them cheaper.

IKEA is inflation-proof! Al-Futtaim IKEA has teamed up with INGO The Agency to launch a campaign that shines a spotlight on the brand’s commitment to keep products affordable for customers.

“As a company, we understand the importance of affordability in today’s economy. With this campaign, our goal is to remind consumers that Al-Futtaim IKEA is committed to keeping prices low while still providing well designed functional products. We want to showcase the efforts we make to ensure that our products remain accessible to everyone and make a better everyday life for more of the many people”, says Carla Klumpenaar, IKEA’s Al-Futtaim GM Marketing, Communication, HF and Retail Design in UAE, Qatar, Egypt and Oman.

In addition to the release of Bard, Google will allow developers to tap into its language models to create their own applications. The company will begin opening up its Generative Language API to companies, developers and creators next month, Pichai said.  

“Beyond our own products, we think it’s important to make it easy, safe, and scalable for others to benefit from these advances by building on top of our best models,” Pichai wrote in the blog post. 

Pichai touted the release of the company’s large language models in an earnings call last week. He added that users will soon be able to use language models “as a companion to search.”

Last week, Google announced a partnership with the artificial intelligence startup Anthropic, which is testing its own chatbot to rival ChatGPT. Google has also invested close to $400 million in the startup, according to a person familiar with the matter. The deal gives Google a stake in Anthropic, but doesn’t require the startup to spend the funds buying cloud services from Google, Bloomberg earlier reported.

—Bloomberg News

What do you give for Valentine’s day? Traditionally, chocolates and flowers. Well, Toblerone wants you to give a little more this time around. While the Toblerone website gives you the ability to personalize a Valentine Toblerone, even make it pink, it also has an insurance option. Last year the term situationship peaked as a trend search on google, describing that relationships are in fact a bit unpredictable – especially at the start.

Toblerone’s Valentine’s Day campaign urges people to dive into relationships without worrying about where they might lead. Ideated in partnership with creative agency Le Pub Amsterdam, the campaign’s online activation, “The Love Insurance”, has a clear goal and light-hearted claim: “No matter how your relationship goes, love is worth it.”

“‘The Good Ai’ captures the world’s fascination with AI and the journey we’ve all been on as it has evolved throughout our lifetimes. And it has now reached the workplace in a bigger way than it ever has before,” said Morgan Norman, chief marketer at Dialpad, in a statement.

The spot, created by Hybrid Productions, will have regional airtime in San Francisco and Seattle markets only. 

It is still unclear how sizable a role AI will play during this year’s Big Game. Avocados From Mexico previously said it would link a QR code in its national Super Bowl spot to ChatGPT, but last week decided to axe those plans.

Leslie David Baker is back with heart-shaped Honey-Nut Cheerios, and his former co-star and real-life bestie Phyllis Smith.

In the central spot created by ad agency Anomaly, “Genie,” Buzz the Honey Nut Cheerios Bee appears “like a genie” as the pair enjoys eating Honey Nut Cheerios together.
Phyllis asks Buzz if he grants wishes, begging to forget the vision of her neighbor in biking shorts. In return, Leslie deadpans: “I don’t think the bee can help you with that.”

These spots mark the first of a campaign that will span the entirety of 2023, with Cheerios continuing to roll out new creative that interweaves the same joyful humor between Leslie, Phyllis, and Buzz.

“Being on set with Phyllis felt like the good ol’ days — especially as we were able to get back to improv’ing as we used to do together – but this time with Buzz the Bee,” said Leslie David-Baker on his role in the campaign. “I’ve loved Cheerios since I was a kid, and now I realize that Cheerios not only tastes good but it’s good for me. It’s one part of my heart health commitment for my family, friends and fans.”

“Leslie is so thoughtful and a joy to be around, so being able to work with him again while also working with Cheerios—my favorite cereal since I was a child—was a win-win situation, especially for a topic like heart health,” said Phyllis Smith on reuniting with Leslie. “Monitoring and maintaining your heart health is so important for you and your loved ones.”

“It was amazing to bring Leslie back for his second year with our Cheerios Hearts campaign – but this time with his best friend Phyllis to help us showcase the importance of finding your ‘why’ with the relationships that matter the most to keep your heart health,” said Kathy Dixon, Senior Brand experience Manager for Cheerios. “As Leslie and Phyllis reminded us so well throughout this campaign, with a little laughter and a lot of love, a heart health journey can be fun.”

Meanwhile, in “Friendiversery,” Leslie pulls two boxes of heart-shaped Cheerios out of a bag. Phyllis exclaims, “you remembered!” To which, Leslie states: “Congratu-birthday-friend-aversary.”

Constellation Brands—one of the largest beer companies in the U.S.—has put its media account in review. The company’s brands include Corona, Modelo and Pacifico beers as well as a portfolio of wine and spirits brands including Svedka vodka, Casa Noble tequila and Kim Crawford wine.

Constellation’s longtime incumbent agency is Horizon Media, which first won media planning and buying duties for the alcohol beverage company in 2009 when it was called Crown Imports. This is the second longtime Horizon client that has put its account in review of late. In October, Geico also sent out an RFP for its media business.

Horizon wasn’t immediately available for comment. 

“We are engaging in a review for our media business to ensure we’re optimizing the value of our marketing investments based on our requirements today, and in the future, and we value the commitment and partnership of our long-standing relationships and look forward to continuing to build connections with our consumers through cutting-edge media execution,” Constellation wrote in a statement to Ad Age.

ID Comms will be handling the review. 

Sooner or later someone will tell us which Super Bowl ads – or, possibly, celebrities – performed best. Much pre-game publicity focussed on Serena Williams as a tyro golfer for Michelob Ultra, with Succession’s Brian Cox. A riff on the old golfing movie Caddyshack.

No idea which agency, if any, was involved – Mullenlowe? Anyway they do say that agencies sometimes struggle with big name celebs, reluctant to tell actors, for example, not to ham things up. Back in the day CDP used to be brilliant at corralling actors – think Joan Collins and Leonard Rossiter for Cinzano. Maybe it’s a lost art.

Serena’s OK.

MAA creative scale: 4.

She might look like your sweet aunt or grandmother, but they don’t call her the “Godmother of drumming” for no reason. Dorothea is actually a grandmother from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, who enjoys drumming hardcore drum classics. And drinking liquid death.

She’s Liquid Death’s new brand ambassador, here murdering a drum set playing ’This Water Couldn’t Be Any Less Appealing’ from Liquid Death Greatest Hates, Vol. 1.

Philadelphia is riding high this week, with the city’s second NFL championship in five years a very real possibility on Sunday. But the Eagles are using the spotlight of Super Bowl week to draw attention to the darker side of Philly—its escalating gun violence, which to many has become a true crisis.

Some 516 people were murdered in the city in 2022, most of them killed by guns. The violence has steadily risen since 2016, when 277 people were killed. There have been 41 homicides already in 2023, and the problem is widely considered to be reaching a boiling point.

Now, the Eagles have rolled out a 90-second film addressing the crisis. 

It stars—and is narrated by--Ja’Nell Hall-Ragin, a local artist, actress, poet and gun violence survivor whose brother was killed in the epidemic. Hall-Ragin begins by talking about the city’s great qualities, including pride in its sports teams, before moving on to the wellspring of pain just beneath the surface.