Three Nice New TV Ads - For Cuervo, Cars and Carbs - Worth Noting.

It's been refreshing to come across this slew of nice tv spots in the past week. Given that 95% of commercials on the air are easily dismissed as forgettable, I thought I'd share this trio of well-produced, entertaining and engaging commercials for such common product categories as liquor, cars and food.

Advertising largely parody products that lack a distinguishing characteristic - booze, pizza and the vague history of a car manufacturer - it's not easy to do memorable advertising, yet these three have succeeded. All have a social media component as well.

Jose Cuervo Tequila


Keifer Sutherland has never been sexier as he encourages us to have a Cuervo and a story, but no regrets (albeit I know a lot of tequila stories that include regrets), in this new 60 second spot for Jose Cuervo Tequila by McCann Erickson New York:




The campaign includes TV, online and print advertising, and a social media effort inviting consumers to share their stories at #cuervostory.

Honda Branding Spot


Honda creates a worthy successor to their famous Cog Spot with "Hands" by Wieden + Kennedy, London. The 60 spot celebrates the curiosity of Honda engineers, which has led to some of the most successful Honda innovations over the past 65 years:




Discover the engineers notes, facts, insights and tales behind Honda's history in this embellished version shown here.

Dominos Pizza


And lastly Domino's newest spot and campaign by CP+B, Powered by Pizza, is a refreshing look at the common consumption of the convenient carb-laden pie by those burning the midnight-oil while celebrating innnovation:



Connecting with project and business owners who utilize Indiegogo, they will offer gift cards directly to individuals within the fundraising site who pledge support toward select projects reflecting great and innovative ideas.



In addition, the "Pizzavestors" program, where about 30 startup companies all throughout the U.S. were treated to a $500 Domino's Pizza gift card, will be an added part of the campaign – all in the spirit of fueling great ideas and encouraging organizations to keep up the good work. Share what you do when you're #poweredbypizza on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled mediocre advertising.

Gabriel Orozco Special Edition Bottles for Casa Dragones Tequila.

Casa Dragones Tequila and renowned artist Gabriel Orozco have collaborated on a limited edition bottle in honor of his mid career retrospective. Casa Dragones Tequila accompanied Orozco on his retrospective tour held in four leading museums throughout 2011, from MoMA in New York City, Kunstmuseum in Basel, Switzerland, Tate Modern in London, to Centre Pompidou in Paris.

“Our collaboration with Gabriel Orozco marks an extremely exciting moment for Casa Dragones as we celebrate Mexican contemporary art and Mexican craftsmanship with the world.” Says Bertha González Nieves, Co-Founder and CEO of Casa Dragones Tequila.



Each crystal bottle is engraved with Gabriel Orozco’s Black Kites motif, based on one of the artist’s most iconic works of art (shown below), and includes Orozco’s signature.



above: Gabriel Orozco, Black Kites, 1997, Graphite on skull, 8 ½ x 5 x 6 ¼” (21.6 x 12.7 x 15.9 cm), Philadelphia Museum of Art, Gift (by exchange) of Mr. and Mrs. James P. Magill, 1997, ©2009 Gabriel Orozco

Black Kites by Gabriel Orozco, 1997, is a human skull covered in an intricate graphic checkerboard, representing the two sides of life that are constantly at odds; the grid represents rationality and the skull represents uncertainty.



Handcrafted with meticulous attention to detail, only 400 limited edition bottles have been produced and each is signed, numbered and dated by hand.



A close-up look at the etched skull on the limited edition bottle:

A close-up look at the label on the limited edtion bottle:


Artist Gabriel Orozco says, “Casa Dragones accompanied me on my tour, and I was very proud to have the finest Mexican tequila with me to celebrate this important time of my life.”


above: Artist Gabriel Orozco

The limited edition bottle will is at select retailers in the United States, Mexico and London for $1,850. For more information, contact Casa Dragones Concierge at 646-330-4678 or concierge@casadragones.com.

Gabriel Orozco Books and Catalogs

Watch 3 Urban Artists As They Design The Lucha Libre Bottles for 1800 Tequila.

For the past few years 1800 Tequila has been releasing limited edition artist series bottles.

The most recent, the fabulous new Lucha Libre Series of 6 artist designed bottles for 1800 Tequila have recently been introduced and are now accompanied by three mini documentaries of their creation by A76.


above: Gary Baseman working on his bottle art and the finished product

Highlighted are three award winning artists (Gary Baseman, Tristan Eaton, Yuko Shimizu) designing and speaking about their Luchador themed artwork for the limited edition 1800 Tequila Bottles.


above: Yuko Shimizo talks about her design and the finished product

Through the combination of stylized editing and Mexican influenced original music, the videos immerse viewers into the artists' creative process, as well as their different personality and locations.


above: Tristan Eaton's bottle art in progress and the finished product

Watch as Yuko Shimizu, Tristan Eaton and Gary Baseman create their original art work for the new limited edition Luchador bottle series for 1800 Tequila.

Yuko Shimizu:

Tristan Eaton:

Gary Baseman:


In addition to the bottles featured in the documentaries, the other 3 Lucha Libre bottles were designed by Tes One:

Ray Smith:

and Alex Hank:


The video series was created and produced by Duffy Higgins in partnership with Proximo Spirits & 1800 Tequila. An A76 Production.


PRODUCED & DIRECTED BY: DUFFY HIGGINS
EDITED BY: JOHN REIS
SOUND MIXER & SOUND DESIGN BY: ROB DALY
MUSIC BY: MAD PAN PRODUCTIONS
PRODUCTION ASSISTANT: GUILIA ARMENTANO

The full line of the 3rd Artist Series of bottles for 1800 Tequila:

Over at NOTCOT, you can see the unboxing of the promotional mailer and all the cool Lucha Libre related design goodies by Dead As We Know It that came with it.