Melbourne-based Communications Technology company, ProjectProject has successfully built and launched social enterprise brand, One Night Stand Sleepwear.

The launch included a major PR stunt and integrated PR, digital and social media communications campaign  - that even positively caught the attention of Sir Richard Branson himself.   

Entrepreneur and founder of ONS, Jamie Green, stood in a Perspex box for 24 hours in Melbourne's famous Degraves street in front of supporter brand Grill'd. It was both a brand launch and an effort to kick-start a crowd-funding campaign in a bid to pre-sell $24,000 worth of the label's first full sleepwear range. As a social enterprise, every purchase of One Night Stand Sleepwear supports young people sleeping rough by providing meals, and assisting with employment.

Absolut Oz, the limited edition bottle created in collaboration with world renowned director, Baz Luhrmann, is now taking on a new phase of creativity in the realisation of two eco-friendly street art installations - one in Sydney, one in Melbourne - on an open canvas, outdoor space via agency, Tongue.

Absolut vodka has a rich heritage of collaborating with inspirational artists and is now evolving this spirit of creation for the next creative generation.

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McDonald's Australia has this week joined the ranks of a handful of Australian brands, reaching the one million Facebook fan milestone and becoming the largest Australian QSR Facebook community.

Says Mark Wheeler, head of digital marketing for McDonald's ANZ: "With social media and digital playing an increasingly important role in McDonald's brand communications, hitting the one million fan milestone is something we're lovin'.

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CB can confirm that Network 10 executive general manager Russel Howcroft has taken over the marketing guru role on Recipe to Riches left vacant by the departure of Droga5 creative chairman David Nobay earlier this month.

Sources say Howcroft, the former CEO of Y&R Brands and a panelist on The Gruen Transfer - who is currently on holiday - will soon be joining the line-up. Filming of the auditions for series 2 is already underway with Recipe to Riches co-hosts Carman's Fine Foods owner Carolyn Creswell and chef Darren Robertson.

Droga5 lost the lead agency status for Woolworth's, the backing sponsor of Recipe to Riches, late last month - coinciding with Nobay's withdrawal from a second series. Now Woolies' lead agency role is with Leo Burnett, most industry pundits expect Droga5 to part ways completely with Woolies in the near future.

While Recipe to Riches is backed by Woolworths, arch rival Coles continues to back MasterChef Australia, also on Ten - which may or may not be a tricky situation for Howcroft to deal with going forward.

The best radio ad of 2014 will be battled out between leading ad agencies, radio stations and production studios as part of the national Siren Awards, and will be announced in Melbourne next month.

The finalists this year include; 2013 Gold Siren winners, John Mescall & Pat Baron from McCann Melbourne, with another Metro Trains campaign; winner of two consecutive Sirens rounds, Western Australian creative agency Marketforce; plus two other Perth agencies JWT, Perth and Gatecrasher and more than 20 other finalists from around the country.

An overall winner, who receives the Gold Siren statue, will be announced at the Sirens breakfast at Encore St Kilda on 9 May. The winner receives a trip to Cannes to the Cannes Radio Lions, to be held in June, and two tickets to attend the festival. The client of the winning 2014 Gold Siren Award also wins a ticket to Cannes.

Fairfax Radio Network's Perth stations 6PR and 96fm will launch their own road safety campaign this Easter.  The initiative came after a powerful and moving interview by 6PR Mornings presenter Gary Adshead with Maria O'Shea, the West Australian mother who lost three of her four children in a car accident caused by a driver who was texting.

Fairfax Radio Network Perth management and staff were so moved by the interview, the stations decided to launch their own campaign to try to change behaviour and stop people from texting whilst driving.

LISTEN TO THE SPOT - ROAD SAFETY MESSAGE 6PR.wav

To launch the new Samsung Galaxy S5 for Telecom NZ, Auckland digital experience agency Touchcast created a series of extreme "unboxing" videos to drive traffic to an immersive website.

The team roped in Guy Williams, gave him a brand new handset in an unopened box and pointed a camera at him. Five extreme situations resulted in five clips. The videos grab viewers' attention and drop them into the website, where they are invited to unbox their own S5 by scrolling through an interactive animation in high definition. The site lets you explore the phone in detail, its features and the benefits of getting it with Telecom.

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In a wearable technology first by Whybin\TBWA Sydney and Eleven PR, tailor M.J. Bale has partnered with Heritage Bank and Visa, to create a suit with a contactless payment chip and antenna fused into the sleeve, giving men the ability to pay for anything with the effortless swagger of a celebrity, tycoon or double agent.

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With more than 45 years television production experience between them, producers John Lamble (left) and Warwick Boulter (right) have launched VisionVault, a private and secure cloud where brands and agencies can store, access, manage and share their digital assets.

Three years in development, VisionVault securely and independently stores every production, audio and visual asset - from raw footage to art, images and sound files - in a cloud that is connected to the global Sohonet fibre loop, linking more than 400 studios, agencies and production houses worldwide.

Sydney composer Rafael May has a rare double header of his movies playing this Easter Weekend on ABC2.

Blackwater, which won Raf the 2013 Best Soundtrack Album at the APRA AGSC Screenmusic Awards, will air on Saturday at 9:30pm and The Reef will air on Sunday at 9:30pm.

In the biggest account move this year M&C Saatchi, Sydney has won mega insurance brands NRMA Insurance, SGIC and SGIO following a two-way shootout against Host, Sydney.

CB understands incumbent Whybin\TBWA, Sydney were knocked out of the pitch in late March, although one source says they did not re-pitch, citing differences of opinion on the future of the brand. The agency created a series of multi award-winning campaigns for the brand including NRMA 'Car Creation', which won the Australian Effies Grand Prix in September last year.

Mitchell & Partners has been appointed as the master media agency for the Australian Government.

Mitchells, in partnership with Adcorp, will commence from 1 July 2014 overseeing all Australian Government campaign and non-campaign media expenditure.

Says Luke Littlefield, CEO of Mitchells' parent company Dentsu Aegis Network: "We are absolutely thrilled that Mitchells has been successful in pitching for the Australian Government contract. We are delighted that our talented team; our proven expertise and track record with Government clients; and our commitment to delivering exceptional client service have given Mitchells the opportunity to work with one of the most important and prominent clients in the country."

Each week Bestads picks the very best advertising in the world, in every medium - which is reviewed by a top creative director or team to select their own personal favourites.

This week's Bestads guest judge is Jordan Atlas, SVP, executive creative director at Ignited in LA.

BEST TV
Winner: Thai Life Insurance: Unsung Hero. A powerful bit of storytelling that unveils an authentic snapshot of humanity at its finest. I watched this over and over again, finding new elements that made it better with every viewing. I'm torn whether I would categorize this as a tearjerker or feel good commercial of the year. Perhaps that's what makes it so amazing. READ ON...

The New York Times reports that a funny thing happened on Monday morning to carefully laid plans by the giant JWT advertising agency to announce later in the year that it would bring back its longtime name, the J. Walter Thompson Company: The chief executive of the JWT parent, Martin Sorrell of WPP, let the cat out of the bag.

According to the New York Times Sorrell made the disclosure at a breakfast at the Pierre Hotel, one in a series of executive breakfasts hosted by The Wall Street Journal. READ ON...

Johnson and Johnson's Sudafed Day and Night takes listeners on an enchanting journey in this latest radio campaign via JWT Sydney.

The spots, performed by renowned Australian actor Barry Otto, aim to remind people who are suffering with sinus congestion and headaches just how relaxing and enjoyable a clear head and a full night sleep can be by using Sudafed.

PLAY THE TED SPOT
PLAY THE GEORGE SPOT

We hope you, like over 115,000 other ad professionals registered on Bestadsontv.com throughout the world, enjoy visiting the site regularly to check out the very best and latest advertising in all mediums being produced worldwide.

BestadsPRO Membership is only US$30 per year (less than US$3 per month)
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The Campaign Brief App and Bestads App - the two most popular advertising Apps in the world - are both available for iPhones and Android phones.

The CB App is in the Top Business Apps Charts on iTunes in 10 countries (including Australia, NZ, India, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia), while the Bestads App is in the Top Business Apps Chart in 50 countries (including Australia, NZ, UK, Germany, Canada, Ireland, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa and most Asian countries).

The Campaign Brief App includes CB Australia, CB New Zealand, CB Asia and CB WA - all on the one app.

Leo Burnett Sydney has lured DDB Sydney planning Russ Mitchinson for the head of strategy role and Emma Montomery as head of connect.

Mitchinson is a world-class integrated strategist with over 15 years' of award winning international experience. Widely respected in the industry, Mitchinson is the chair of the Account Planning Group (APG) and has led sessions on Innovation with Google at Cannes, the Battle of Big Thinking and was recently a Cannes Juror for Effectiveness. During his career, Mitchinson has worked on a wide range of integrated campaigns for global brands including McDonald's, Volkswagen, Visa, Vodafone, Unilever and Tourism Australia.

Today Powerade, the official sports drink chosen by FIFA, has unveiled the new "There's Power in Every Game," campaign ahead of 2014 FIFA World Cup.

The campaign, created with Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam, includes television commercials, print/out-of-home, documentary-style films, and for the first time global digital activation that hero real players - celebrating the sweat, hard work and determination it takes to overcome adversity and power through.

VIEW THE SPOT
VIEW NICO'S STORY

The Cannes Lions Young Marketers Academy is set to return to the International Festival of Creativity for a fifth year with new sponsor, leading brand and communications agency Dentsu Aegis Network, supporting the dedicated training programme.

A week-long course, taking place throughout the Festival week, the Young Marketers Academy addresses the importance of creativity in communications and provides a bigger picture of a marketer's role. Designed for young marketers working for client companies, the academy focuses on four key topics: The case for creativity; Communication strategy excellence; Best-practice agency- client relationships; and the modern brand. The course will be led by Jim Stengel (pictured), former global marketing officer of P&G, with experts Suzanne Tosolini, an independent consultant focused on all aspects of brand strategy, and Serfi Altun, founder and idea chef at Idea Bakery, serving as academy tutors. Dedicated to supporting the next generation of brand leaders, Dentsu Aegis Network will actively support the Academy across the week through a range of activities including access to inspiring and aspirational speakers.

The women of 3AW have come together as a result of Chrissy Amphlett's #itouchmyselfproject launched yesterday via JWT, and have created a small internal initiative called #Itouchmyselfie to support the campaign for breast cancer self examination awareness.

3AW's fill-in breakfast hosts Peter Maher and Kate Stevenson loved the new breast cancer awareness campaign so much that they arranged an interview yesterday morning with one of the stars of the campaign, Deborah Conway.

(Pictured Clockwise starting top left: Cushla Travers, Sharna Beves, Kate Stevenson, Fenella Wagener, Viv Hatzi, Sally Cockburn, Nicole Denton and Ashleigh Brown (L-R), Sally McMahon, Eliza Houghton, 3AW Afternoons guest Alicia Loxley from Channel Nine, Alexandra Factor, Dee Dee Dunleavy. Centre: Chrissy Amphlett.)

LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW

Sydney-based digital agency, Holler, off-the-back of some recent new business wins, has bolstered its ranks with two senior hires. Anton Mills (left) and Michael Griffiths (right) have recently started at Holler as the agency's new technical director and executive producer respectively.
 
Mills arrives at Holler after four-years at Isobar, passionate about demystifying technology as a platform for creative use. With an incredibly diverse portfolio, Mills has worked on award-winning campaigns such as David Jones 'Denim Seeks Soul Mate' experience, plus led significant projects for the likes of Samsung, Network 10 and collaborating with Empire of the Sun on an Audio/Visual prototype, 'Soundtrack of the World' for the Arte 'Power to the Pixel' awards.

Meyer Cookware Australia, the Australian affiliate of California-based Meyer Corporation and Thailand-based Meyer Industries Limited, has appointed Spinach as its full service agency following a competitive pitch.
 
Meyer is the Australian market leader in cookware and food preparation across a number of product categories, channels and consumer demographics and the company has become a world leader in the manufacture of hard anodised non-stick cookware. Its key brands include Essteele, Raco, Anolon and Circulon.

Last year, the NSW Teachers Federation ventured into new territory for a union by creating two brand commercials (First Day and Last Day), aimed at improving the image of public school teachers and public education as a whole.

Such was the success of the first two ads (written by Jane Caro, art directed by John Greig and produced by Baz Milas), directed by Ray Lawrence via The Feds, that the Teachers Federation has commissioned two more, also from the same creative team.

VIEW THE FIRST SPOT
VIEW THE SECOND SPOT

It's funny how a beer can get you thinking. Each sip and gulp leading your train of thought into strange places and interesting topics of conversation, as if giving you permission to speak up and say what'€™s really on your mind.

But 4 Pines is all about real ale, and when you're drinking it, it expects to hear the real thoughts it deserves. It wants those questions and observations that not everybody talks about, yet still make us ask 'Why?'

A new print campaign out of Grey, Sydney.

VIEW THE BEARD POSTER
VIEW THE CUBICLE POSTER
VIEW THE TIE POSTER

Iris Worldwide Sydney has brought the culture and passion of New Zealand regions to life in a campaign for adidas with the release of the 2014 season Investec Super Rugby team jerseys.

The Alive With Pride campaign gives the humble jersey a far richer meaning through a series of collectable posters designed by selected New Zealand artists by delving deeper into the stories behind the teams and the cultural significance of their origins.

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Bankwest has launched an integrated campaign to support Australia's first and only everyday transaction account that enables members to earn Qantas Points. It leverages "Garry the Squirrel" in what is the next installment of the long-running 'Happy Banking' series of ads.

The campaign was developed by Bankwest's marketing team in conjunction with creative agency, Host Sydney.

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Moccona has launched 'Awaken', a new breakfast blend with a M&C Saatchi-created campaign that invites customers to 'Wake up to something special".

Like its predecessors, this campaign indulges in a special Moccona moment. In this instance, it's that precious time between waking and getting on with your day when you savour your first coffee.

Shot entirely on location in Rome, the spot evokes a 'Sleeping Beauty' type fairytale that reflects Moccona's European heritage and light-hearted romantic approach.

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CB Exclusive - CB can reveal that Luke Waldren, chief executive officer of Grey Australia, has resigned to pursue other interests outside of the agency world.

With immediate effect, Michael Knox (left), executive creative director, will become the managing partner of Grey Melbourne and will continue to drive it forward. Knox is highly regarded in the industry and his creativity, passion and leadership is well-known. Paul Worboys, COO of Grey Group Australia and head of Grey's Sydney office, together with Knox, will be responsible for managing the Australian operation.

The departure of Waldren comes four months after the loss of TAC, the agency's biggest account, which had been at Grey for 24 years.Waldren joined Grey Melbourne in 2010 and was promoted from MD to CEO in April 2012. He helped rejuvenate Grey Group by attracting high-calibre talent - as well as new business. He has now decided to turn his talents towards the client side of the industry.

The NSW Department of Finance and Services today confirmed the new pre-qualification scheme for NSW Government agencies to access advertising and digital communications services will start on 1 May 2014.

This whole-of-government scheme will be managed by the Department of Premier and Cabinet (DPC).

Following its win of Universities Australia (UA) last year, Hello I'm Venus has now produced the second installment of the 'World Class' campaign, focusing on the digital space -- with a new website, internet advertising and several in-stream commercials.

On 14th April, a 30 and 2 x 15 sec commercials will launch and have been created specifically for in-stream video and streaming video mrecs on sites including Yahoo, Jumpin, YouTube, Vivo and catch-up TV.

VIEW THE WEBSITES + COMMERCIALS

Independent digital agency, Alt Agency, has launched a new specialist offering dedicated to the health, pharmaceutical and medical industries, Practice Digital.

Practice will be led by managing director Peter Bernard who has fifteen years experience in the pharmaceutical and medical devices sectors prior to launching Alt Agency in 2010.

Tourism Tasmania has kicked off its latest promotion via Jim Jam, Sydney with the "Cheeky Half Million Dollar Seat Giveaway" event held last Friday.

The front lawn of the MCA at Circular Quay, Sydney was transformed into a gigantic game of 'musical seats' where participants battled it out to win return Qantas flights for two to Tasmania this winter. With the harbour as the backdrop, the big reveal from Tourism Tasmania was that every participant was awarded return flights even if they weren't lucky enough to snag a seat.

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By Simon Veksner
Creative Director
DDB Sydney

Bob Hoffman's talk at Advertising Week Europe has generated a super-fun controversy.

A commenter on Campaign Brief opines: "So glad this is out there. Sick of the so called 'social specialists' in the agency talking shit the entire time." READ ON...

CB Exclusive - Tonight Westpac launches the latest instalment in its highly successful Proudly Supported series called Unstoppable You.

The campaign, via DDB Australia, launches nationally with a TVC entitled 'Flow', directed by Glue Society's Gary Freedman. OOH, digital and print executions support the launch TVC.

VIEW THE SPOT