Published on Tuesday, May 21st, 2013 by Peter Giffen

According to the YouTube description: “In March 2013, Coca-Cola set out to break down barriers and create a simple moment of connection between two nations — India and Pakistan. The initiative ‘Small World Machines’ provided a live communications portal between people in India and Pakistan and showed that what unites us is stronger than what sets us apart. The key to engaging with each other through the machines was simple: people in India and Pakistan could complete a task, like touching hands, drawing peace, love, and happiness symbols – together.”

The video was created by Leo Burnett, and has received some criticism that it may be over promising. As an article in the Washington Post points out: “Indo-Pakistani tensions could use all the help they can get. The two countries, since breaking apart in 1947, have fought three major wars, including a 1999 incident that almost led to nuclear conflict. Pakistan’s military intelligence service has been accused of supporting anti-India terror groups. Polling in both countries suggests Indians and Pakistanis fear and mistrust one another deeply.”

How likely is it that a shared beverage experience is going to make a real difference?

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Published on Friday, May 17th, 2013 by Peter Giffen

Freelance director, motion graphic artist and designer Raoul Paulet wrote, directed and animated this video for Hugo & the Prismatics. Represented by Montreal-based Colagene Illustration Clinic, Paulet has worked in Italy, France, U.K. and Canada for many international studios and clients. He describes his video:

“Through a journey of self-discovery a woman explores the meaning of life. Choices, fears, intentions, mistakes. Her feelings are brought to life and populate her imagination. To distinguish what is real from what is not, she has to observe and listen carefully. This is the only way to not get lost.

“Objects that move and change shape. A magical table that gives her shelter. Dark shadows that reflect thoughts and movements. In this journey she learns how to communicate and play with these elements, so that she can finally feel confident enough to open her eyes wide and make her own destiny.”

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Published on Thursday, May 16th, 2013 by Peter Giffen

Okanagan Spring Brewery has launched a new campaign to remind beer drinkers to keep the light of youthful exuberance burning bright. Created by Toronto-based creative agency Open, the campaign demonstrates how Okanagan Spring embodies the personality of its namesake. Okanagan Spring has been brewing under the 1516 Purity Law since the company’s inception in 1985. The world’s oldest food law, 1516 states that beer must only be brewed using four natural ingredients: barleys, hops, yeast and water.

“Okanagan Spring wanted to carve out and claim an emotional space,” says Christian Mathieu, partner strategy at Open, in a press release. “They wanted to forge an emotional connection with their target”.

“The Stay Pure proposition supports the west coast lifestyle philosophy which is true to the spirit of Okanagan Spring and truly resonates with our core target,” says Rosy Atwal, national brand Manager, Okanagan Spring  Brewery.

The new Okanagan Spring Brewery campaign includes TV, digital and OOH. This is Open’s first campaign for the client since winning the account in November 2012.

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Published on Wednesday, May 15th, 2013 by Peter Giffen

It’s not often a specialty pet food company can brag about sponsoring – and premiering at – an international film festival. But that’s exactly what Petcurean Pet Nutrition did on April 27 at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York. Subplot Design, of Vancouver, was at the premiere and helped launch the film and campaign through key online, offline and live event elements.

“Savour Every Moment” is the latest film from Keith Hopkin, the director behind the YouTube sensation, “Dogs in Cars.”

Created with the help of an artistic grant from Petcurean, Savour Every Moment celebrates every moment we spend with our pets, and was an instant hit with pet lovers and pets alike at screenings during the world-famousTribeca Family Festival on the streets of Tribeca. The film received more than  600,000 views in the first week.

Subplot worked in partnership with Petcurean and Toronto agency, Harbinger to bring the film and promotional campaign to life through brand direction, event materials and ongoing promotional support. It also created the Facebook campaign portal. Pet lovers can not only view and share the film, but can also upload their best, silliest, or sweetest photos of their pets along with stories, poems or other words that express how they savour every moment with their pets.

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Published on Tuesday, May 14th, 2013 by Peter Giffen

Japanese funeral service home Nishinihon Tenrei approached ad agency  I&S BBDO to create an ad for a trade show, which would fly in the face of the usual repertoire of somber colours associated with the industry. The challenge was to stand out without being disrespectful to Japanese tradition – no small task. To express “the beauty of life,” the agency created a human skeleton made of pressed flowers, and printed the results in a poster. The need to celebrate lost life has a particular poignancy in Japan, which suffered massive casualties in the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.

[Nod to Colossal]

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Published on Monday, May 13th, 2013 by Peter Giffen

Upon launching Ford’s new global platform, Go Further, Y&R  Canada crafted messaging exclusively for the Quebec market: Let’s go further together. The campaign consists of two mini-documentaries featuring Marc Bergevin, general manager of the Montreal Canadiens, and Alain Simard, president and founder of l’Équipe Spectra and the FrancoFolies.

The films explore the paths these two leaders took to realize their dreams. And serve as a testament to the fact that with enough conviction and hard work, anything can be achieved. Directed by Nicolas Fransolet from Cinélande, the two documentaries will air on TV and online in 30 second and 15 second formats.

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Published on Friday, May 10th, 2013 by Peter Giffen

Plan Canada (Plan), an international aid and development agency, has launched a new brand campaign for Because I Am A Girl, created by One Advertising  (One) in Toronto. Because I am a Girl is Plan’s global initiative to end gender inequality, promote girls’ rights and lift millions of girls – and everyone around them – out of poverty.

The brand campaign messaging, presented as colourful info graphics on a chalkboard, highlights the urgent situation facing the world’s girls: 70 per cent of the world’s poorest are girls and women and 66 million girls worldwide are denied an education

And yet it’s proven, when a girl is helped to attain her basic human rights, starting with education:
• For each year she stays in school her future income can increase by 15 to 25 per cent
• Girls with secondary schooling are up to six times less likely to be married as children, on average have 2.2 fewer yet healthier children, and can increase their contribution to household income by 18 per cent
• If 10 per cent more girls attend school, a country’s GDP increases an average of 3 per cent

“The creative literally brings the facts to life through animation, because they are extraordinarily powerful in their own right. This campaign captures the ripple effect that every donation can create,” says Karen Howe, Senior VP/CD at One, in a press release.

The campaign strategy is highly integrated across TV (:30), Out of Home, Transit, and Digital, to encourage professional women to help change the lives of girls, their families and their communities by donating to Plan and the Because I Am A Girl initiative. The campaign runs until late May. The creative by One Advertising appears across numerous consumer touch points, from specialty TV networks, out of home and transit advertising in key markets (Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver and Calgary), along with a wide variety of digital sites. Media buying for Out of Home, Transit and TV was handled by ZenithOptimedia, while ABER handled the digital buy.

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Published on Thursday, May 9th, 2013 by Peter Giffen

The calibre of entries being submitted to our Student Awards this year is a true testament to the level of teaching and hard work from students all across North America and abroad.

As Ryan Di Leo said in our March All-AACE Issue, ” …these projects are eerily professional in every aspect, ranging from concept right through to the meticulous staging and seamless Photoshop artistry.”  And we are sure that this year will be no different.

The winning students will receive coverage in our November/December issue, on our very popular Student Winners Gallery, and at the well-attended Winners’ Exhibit in Toronto this Fall, where one lucky student will be named the Student AACE Winner.

For the full list of categories and contest details, visit the Student Awards microsite.   The call for entry deadline is Friday, May 17.

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Published on Tuesday, May 7th, 2013 by Peter Giffen

Recently premiering at Hot Docs 2013, in Toronto, Spring & Arnaud is a documentary about art, love, and mortality, explored through the lives and work of celebrated Canadian artists Spring Hurlbut and the late Arnaud Maggs. Underline Studio of Toronto designed the theatre poster and promotional materials for the film about the inspiring couple.

From the Hot Docs film description by Lynne Fernie: “Cinematically gorgeous and beautifully crafted, Spring & Arnaud is a breathtakingly tender and intelligent love story about acclaimed Canadian artists Spring Hurlbut and Arnaud Maggs. Spring’s art focuses on mortality and the traces we leave behind: ashes, bones, preserved animals, old metal cribs that invoke the spirits of the deceased in her photography, video, sculpture and installations. Arnaud Maggs, winner of the Scotiabank Photography and Governor General’s awards, remains fascinated by systems of identification, of repetition and the miniscule differences and similarities in collections of people, objects and ephemera while recognizing the authority of photography to express these ideas in massive installations. Whether singing ‘It’s only a paper moon’ together as dusk falls on the French countryside or talking about the process of making art in their Toronto studios, their undying love for each other as they face the reality of Arnaud’s illness literally lights up the screen.”

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Published on Wednesday, May 1st, 2013 by Peter Giffen

Ask Montreal photographer John Londono what has contributed to his success and he ticks off the big three: timing, luck and doing what he loves. Yet, from his life story the picture that emerges is one of a man who has deliberately sought cross currents in his career that have pushed him sideways or seemingly backwards when other artists would have driven ahead.

A case in point: At the end of his studies in photography at the CEGEP de Vieux Montréal, he won the top prize in the Lux student competition for his series Altares, a tribute to his family roots in South America. (Londono was born in Venezuela, but moved with his mother to Quebec when he was almost five years old.)

Soon agencies were calling, wanting to see his portfolio. He turned them all down. “I didn’t have any commercial ambitions at all and I didn’t really have a commercial portfolio,” he recalls. “I wanted to be an artist.” . . . Read “Instinct, Intuition & Memory” by Liz Warwick.

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