“Beat Up Kidz” is the new Music Video for Toronto-based band The oOohh Baby Gimme Mores, directed by Ryan Enn Hughes. The video was shot using a variety of DSLR cameras. Footage was rotoscoped and animated in postproduction frame by frame.

Director + Camera + Animation: Ryan Enn Hughes
Editor + Additional Camera: Micha Pichlkastner
Stylist: Judith Clancy
Additional Animators: Genia Shapira, Warren Wilson, Anthony Saleh

According to Hughes: “Toronto punk quartet The oOohh Baby Gimme Mores are a guaranteed booty shaking, fist pumping, machine built to make you sweat on the dance floor. Being named to North By Northeast top bands, playing shows at the Edge 102.1 and Canadian Music Week, The OBGMs have shared the stage with artists such asSaul Williams, Janelle Monae and Kathryn Calder of The New Pornographers.Feeding off pure energy and oozing with infectious drums and catchy synth lines: The oOohh Baby Gimme Mores are truly harbingers of the party groove.”

A new TELUS initiative gives Canadians the chance to have a positive effect on their communities. By visiting www.givewherewelive.ca TELUS customers and supporters can upload photos showing how they give where they live. Ten contributors will be awarded $10,000 each to give to their favourite Canadian charity.

The site was created and developed by Vancouver digital agency, Domain7  in partnership with the TELUS Community Investment team and TAXI. To capture the TELUS story in a way Canadians can relate to Domain7  designed a campaign that gets customers involved. It’s the first time TELUS has invited customers to tell their own stories of giving.

The result is a tapestry of mini stories—photos of people all over Canada who are actively giving back to their communities.

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?

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.”

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.

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.

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]

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.

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.

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.