the British director the fast-food giant has entrusted with the humongous task of putting on film the soon-to-debut “I’m Loving It” global advertising campaign, believed to be the biggest, andcertainly the most ambitious, marketing effort in McDonald’s history.

Who is the man who got the nod for what could easily be the world’s most high profile ad campaign this year?

“He is a guy you just want to take care of,” said Brain Carmody, executive producer of Smuggler, a production company with offices in Beverly Hills, Calif., and New York. Carmody brought Brown into the Smuggler fold a little more than a year ago when he was mostly an unknown quantity in United States advertising circles.

Until McDonald’s tapped him, Brown had remained mostly an unknown directing talent in this country. Perhaps his highest profile project to date was a new campaign for Sheraton Hotels that features a rock band frolicking around a hotel and singing “Let’s Spend the Night Together.” It was certainly a high-energy, distinctive campaign, although one that seemed ill-suited to selling Sheraton to business travelers.

Still the music-focused Sheraton work hinted at Brown’s background in the music video business, a world he entered after first spending time as a film editor. Brown was attracted to music videos because he “likes watching crazy artists, and he has a very calming influence on them,” according to Carmody. Among the artists Brown has worked with are Tori Amos, Apollo 440 and Finley Quaye.

Brown’s music videos were mostly low-budget affairs, but they led him to Stink, a London-based production company founded about 31/2 years ago. Many of Brown’s director peers at Stink are now involved in the massive McDonald’s ad shoot, which is taking place in locations as far afield as Singapore, Rio de Janeiro and Prague.

While Brown might not have been the director many in the ad world would have expected McDonald’s to choose for such an important project, Carmody said he wasn’t surprised.

“Once they had a chance to meet with James and get a feel for his work, I thought it would be clear he was a good choice,” said Carmody, who applauds McDonald’s for taking something of a risk with Brown.

“I think McDonald’s knew they needed to come in with something pretty hot,” Carmody said, adding that so much advertising in the fast-food category is “so bad, so average.”

Carmody said Brown has a “natural” film style. In commercials he did for Playstation 2 and Eurostar, the train that travels beneath the English Channel, there’s also a noticeably rough-edged quality to the work. “He’s a craftsman with a great eye,” added the Smuggler executive producer.

Brown has lived a rich and wildly diverse life, according to Carmody. He was born to British parents in Malaysia, but spent most of his formative years in a tiny town in Wales. He has traveled extensively and lived in many different places.

Still for all his worldliness, Brown tends to eschew many of the trappings of the good life. Added Carmody: “When he comes to visit me, he doesn’t want to stay in a hotel, he just wants to hang out at my place.”

Where will it all end for Brown, obviously a man not easily pigeonholed? “He’s writing a couple of movie scripts,” Carmody said.

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Client: Allstate

Agency: Leo Burnett

Executive creative director: Jonathan Hoffman

Creative directors: Jeanie Caggiano and Michael Valenti

Copywriter: Ron D’Innocenzo

Art director: Aaron Noffsinger

Producer: Veronica Puc

Director: Steve Miller

Editor: Jan Maitland

‘Chess’ a very good new spot in Allstate campaign

It’s always nice when a campaign we liked at the start stays likeable as new executions are rolled out. That, we’re happy to report, is what has happened with Allstate’s unique tabletop theater campaign, which uses all manner of found objects to make the case for Allstate as a preferred insurer and financial services provider.

“Chess,” the newest execution in the ongoing campaign from Leo Burnett, is as fresh and clever as any we have seen. As you might have guessed already, the spot plays out on a chess board, where the king is immediately introduced as the all-important Allstate customer and the various other chess pieces stand in for the many Allstate professionals–some 50,000, we’re told–who can assistant a customer by providing claims adjustments, emergency assistance or legal counsel, among other things.

Aside from the clever concept itself, “Chess” sparkles thanks to Ron D’Innocenzo’s talent for delivering copy with just the right light touch. Not too light, though, and certainly not too ponderous. When the King chess piece is presented, for instance, D’Innocenzo throws in a “Yea, you’re the king” line as the all-important and always visible hands that move the chess pieces underscore that fun interjection with a bit of bow and scrape choreography.

In fact, as has been the case in every tabletop theater commercial so far, the hands in “Chess” manage to turn in a performance every bit as riveting as that of any actor who might appear on screen in in his or her entirety.

Lew’s view: B+

Playtex takes to the air again with campaign

Playtex’s Thank Goodness It Fits brand has launched its first television ad campaign since the line debuted in the early 1980s.

This television effort is the last of three campaigns designed to reposition Playtex’s major brands, which also include the Cross Your Heart and 18 Hour products. Playtex executives say sales have increased about 20 percent since the multifaceted advertising effort commenced.

The new Thank Goodness It Fits ad blitz from KraftWorks/ New York is all about promoting the brand’s innovative bra sizing system, which includes half sizes. The campaign tagline is “Half Sizes Too for a More Perfect Fit.” A bouncy jingle features the line “thank you for letting me be myself.”

Ad Notes

Chicago-based Starcom MediaVest Group is adding five new consumer context planners to its agency network. They are Kendra Hatcher, Bambi Kapp, Jane Lacher, Esther Franklin and Angela Feruglio.

The next wave of advertising from Draft/Chicago for the Chicago Mercantile Exchange will focus on products designed to appeal to high-volume financial futures traders, universal banks, hedge funds, futures clearing firms and agricultural commodities producers, ranchers and wholesalers. The ads are a continuation of the “CME Now” campaign launched earlier this year.

The United States Navy has launched a new television, radio, print and Internet campaign aimed at African Americans. The theme is “Person In Me.” Campbell-Ewald/Detroit and GlobalHue in Southfield, Mich., jointly developed the campaign.