Hockey fan and commercial director (in that order), Steve Chase, is one of the three hockey fanatics behind the trending hockey boycott viral "Just Drop It." Frustrated by the recent lockout and the threat of more games on the chopping block, Chase along with fellow hockey buddies Christian Lalonde (a former pro player) and Mike Devlin (Creative Director/EVP of DraftFCB in NY), came up with the concept of making a simple video asking fans to boycott the NHL.
What was once just an idea between friends is becoming an overnight international success. The grass-root campaign called "Just Drop It," asks hockey fans to take a pledge and boycott one NHL game for every one game the league takes away after Dec 21. The boycott goes beyond game attendance and urges fans not to purchase any merchandising or watch televised games.
Media in the US and Canada have already shown their support by posting the video on their web pages and airing interviews with Chase. Hockey is in Chase's blood. An avid player and supporter of the minor league teams as well, Chase directed a campaign for hockey team Allen Americans. See the all the Allen Americans spots here.
Team owner and NHL superstar Steve Duchesne approached Chase to create and direct the work. The resultant commercials masterfully underline how hockey players possess a passion for the game like no other. Recently quoted as "welcoming the challenge of creating ads in the digital culture," Chase wasted no time and let his passion and conscience drive him.
Just Drop It's Statement: Visit their Facebook Fan page to join the cause. [link] The NHL and the players union have once again insulted the very people who pay their salaries. We the fans have the power to make them listen by taking the Just Drop It pledge. For every game they cancel after December 21st, we will boycott an equal number of games. They cancel 10, we boycott 10. No tickets, no TV, no merchandise. If you want to be heard go to our Facebook page and "like" us to pledge. You can also post your own pledge video. Make them JUST DROP IT!
Jennifer Watts, account director at Brandworks International, left, and Scott Morris, media manager at Mindshare Media MICHELLE SIU PHOTO Ad Agency Wars III is set for Wednesday in Toronto!
A year ago, Scott Morris’s typical Friday wind-down with colleagues would have involved beer, pizza and more beer.
Morris, the media manager at Mindshare Media Canada, still ushers in the weekend with members of Toronto’s advertising community. But for the past three months their fellowship has been devoted to toughening up for a charity boxing event.
Agency Wars III, which takes place at the Arcadian Court this Wednesday, will see 24 men and women from 14 local ad agencies square off to raise money for Ronald McDonald House and the National Advertising Benevolent Society.
The participants, who train with professional coaches, actually become qualified amateur boxers sanctioned by Boxing Ontario for the sold-out event.
One of the final training sessions found a broad range of ad industry employees, from art directors to CFOs and copywriters, drilling down at The Boxing Loft in the Entertainment District.
Morris, 31, had spent last Friday fine-tuning ideas for his Ford Fusion portfolio for next year. But come dusk, he was focused on his upcoming bout with Jason Kan, motion graphics designer at Teehan+Lax.
Even before stepping into the ring for their three two-minute rounds, Morris has already earned bragging rights: he’s shed 35 pounds since training began in September and can now execute at least 40 pushups and an eight-minute mile.
“I’ve never done anything like this in my life,” said Morris as he took a break from light sparring inside the Adelaide St. W. gym. “I feel good. I feel confident. I wake up everyday thinking I’m going to throw up from the nerves, but I just channel past that and stay focused.”
Abs aside, Michael Clancy has seen the long-lasting benefits of exposing his competitive industry’s desk jockeys to the even more cutthroat world of pugilism since he founded Agency Wars three years ago.
“Knowing what to do under fire is really important,” said Clancy, executive creative director for Brandworks. “If you can get into a ring, then you can walk into any boardroom in the world.
“In the ad business, taking care of your stress is really important. And boxing is a spectacular way to do that because you’re not in your head. You have to be very much aware of your body. And hitting a bag, doing that kind of strenuous work, the footwork involved, takes you out of the office and puts you into a very physical place where you do what you’re told. You don’t have to think, and you’ll be fine.”
Clancy, 62, who took out his opponent in the third round, aided by former junior featherweight champ Steve Molitor in his corner, when he fought in 2010, has been the oldest competitor to date in the event, which is taped by Fight Network for later broadcast.
“It’s kind of like a fantasy camp for boxing,” he said. “You get to walk in with your entourage, you get to pick your music and it’s televised.”
Head coach Chris “Mr. Showtime” Johnson, a 1992 Olympic medallist, finds the ad folks “very dedicated.
“They’re hungry. They want it almost to an obsessive stage,” he said. “They believe in perfection, but perfection in a sport like this does not come in three months. It’s taken me almost a lifetime.”
After a 20-minute skipping warm-up, Johnson led the group through various punch combinations, all the while pumping them up for fight night.
“If you get a chance to hit someone, hit ’em hard, because if they get the chance they’re going to hit you hard,” he exhorted.
From his ringside perch, returning announcer Jeromy Lloyd, Marketing Magazine’s online editor, has seen a fight or two stopped for split eyebrows and swollen eyes. He’ll be decked out as usual in a rented tux, but without a catchy “let’s get ready to rumble”-style tag line.
“I’m so scared of trotting on someone else’s intellectual property and getting the event sued,” he explained.
The creative team at Brandworks came up with the nickname “Da Boss (a.k.a. The Shot-caller)” for one of their fighters, Jennifer Watts, and selected their Christmas party favourite, LMFAO’s “Shots,” as her entrance music.
Now endowed with an eight-pack and the ability to do “at least 20 real pushups,” thanks to the rigorous 12-week training, the 6-foot-2 account director is pumped to face off against Mindshare media manager Christina Mirabelli.
“My strategy,” said the trash-talking Watts, 30, “is to keep her back with these long arms so she does not get near my face — and punch her in the head.”
Abe Lincoln's Lincoln Have you ever been walking through a parking lot and noticed a really nice Lincoln parked there all alone and thought to yourself...wouldn't it be cool to see Abe Lincoln standing next to it, or maybe it was a Mini Cooper and wondered how cool it would be to see Alice Cooper standing there, well wonder know more thanks to Jimm Lasser and Ray Gordon.
The duo created Namesake Motors, a series of impressive photographs of classic cars and the people for which they are named after. See their Namesake Motors site HERE and the rest of their great work.
Alice Cooper's Mini Cooper
Homer's Odyssey
The Lone Ranger's Ranger
Pontiac's PontiacCredits: Lincoln’s Lincoln, Queen Victoria’s Crown Victoria, Homer’s Odyssey, Alice Cooper’s Mini Cooper, The Lone Ranger’s Ranger, and Pontiac’s Pontiac are all the work of Jimm Lasser, Art Director; Ray Gordon, Photographer; Katherine Ross, Hair & Makeup; Kristin Lane, Costume Designer.
Think Work Play (http://think-work-play.com/), the webzine that charts the creative process in London. A recent interview with Kate Moross, a well-acclaimed London-based illustrator/designer who has done work on Cadburys, Topshop and Samsung ad campaigns, as well as the who’s who of music and culture (Kate has just finished the latest music video for the electronic duo Simian Mobile Disco). In the video, Kate talks about how a certain company approached her about designing a bong, her favourite colours and her admiration of the Queen Mother’s fashion sense.
Our favorite cereal's and their mascots transformed by illustrator and designer, Guillermo Fajardo and they are fantastic. He call's his collection The Breakfast Time Cereal Collection which includes digital art recreations of Captain Crunch, the Trix Rabbit, Count Chocula and Frosted Flakes's Tony the Tiger. Check out more of Guillermo HERE.
Independent commercial director Nickolas Duarte directs his first US national broadcast spot, "Bear Down" for the University of Arizona.
The commercial takes a different approach to university advertising, showcasing the inner strength of the university and its community through the legend/myth of a former quarterback's dying last words "Bear Down" (http://www.arizonawildcats.com/trads/bear-down.html). The visual style and poetic tone were selected to take the heart of that message and present it in a contemporary and artistic manner.
Nickolas is currently self-represented through his company, Crown Chimp Productions, and has earned a National ADDY for his work with Adidas, along with recently directing an international broadcast campaign with the NBA airing in Asia.
Credits: Client: The University of Arizona Title: Bear Down Director: Nickolas Duarte Production Company: Crown Chimp Productions Voice Over: Chris Andrews 1st AD/Editor: Matthew King Project Producers: Ben Lopez, Rosie Zwaduk Co-Writer/Creative Consultant: Drew Grubich Director of Photography: Will Turner 1st AC/2nd Unit DP: Oscar Rivera Sound Design/Mix & Location Audio: Mike Clark Production Design: Adam Ray Make Up: Sonia Campbell Set Design: Jessica Van Ravenswaay 2nd Unit Director: Jacob Turrentine Color/Mastering: Copper Post Colorist: Robert Beadle Production Assistants: Keith Wagner, Ben Oman, Schuyler Copeland, Monty Montemayor Talent: Dancer: Piper Stoeckel; College Guys: Tad Sallee, RJ Markham, Jesse Pickering; Artist: Janet Henderson; Mirror Lab Engineer: Hector Ayala; LEO Project Researcher: Chris Koval; Business Man: Paul Tumarkin; Construction Worker: Alan Zwaduk
A tablet that's a unique expression of entertainment and creativity. A tablet that works and plays the way you want. A new type of computing. Surface....
Surface, Microsoft's first promo video created by 22 year old Caleb Slain, a relative unknown in the ad world, might just have Microsoft snubbing their major ad agency partners: Crispin Porter & Bogusky, Deutsch or Razorfish, again in the future after the success of the video (6 million+ views to date).
Caleb Slain said, "I've had no direct contact within the agencies at all, ours was originally supposed to be a product showcase by myself and Keith Rivers." Rivers produced the video.
"We just wanted to make the most awesome, badass video possible, so that when we gave it back to Microsoft they would either love it or we would never work for them again."
Keith Rivers / keithrivers.com
Caleb Slain / Facebook
Not bad for a video that was originally created just to show people in the trade how the product looks.
Advertising legend Mark Denton donned a fetching pink nightie to advertise his presence in Amsterdam last week in true red-light-district style. Denton’s ‘live show’ at 180 Amsterdam last Thursday drew a crowd, many of whom were lured in by a giant poster installation in the front window of the agency showing the Coy! creative director/partner posing provocatively in front of a net curtain. Denton gave a funny, inspirational no-holds-barred talk to a captivated audience at the agency, giving insights on his 30-year career, his successes and mistakes, as well as his methodology and beliefs. 180 Amsterdam ECD/Managing Partner Al Moseley said: "I always thought Mark was a genius, but I never knew he had such great legs".
