Nissan company presented the competitor for electro-car Renault Twizy which has been shown for the 1st time in October of current year on motor show in Paris. The Japanese car received name New Mobility Concept and, according to representatives of the manufacturer, electrocar is the prototype created for studying of possible use variants in the future. Thus, unlike Renault, Nissan does not declare possibility of start of the similar car in mass manufacture.
The New Mobility Concept by Nissan
Nissan novelty is equipped by the same electric power-plant, as Renault Twizy. Renault Twizy sales begin in the European car market in the end of next year, and representatives of the company promise that such car will cost not more expensively the usual scooter. At Nissan mark the 1st serial electro-car is model Leaf, whose manufacture in Japan began in the end of October. The cruising range of such car makes 160 kilometers, and charging of batteries occupy 8 hours. In Europe Leaf will cost about 30,000 euros.
Maple Leaf Foods and one Mother's story of how bacon has changed her life in Toronto's John St. created new ad campaign.
This is one Mom's amazing story of how she changed her life with bacon. It's time to tell the world about its incredible power and we hope her story inspires you to change your life. Four spots from the campaign include: The Woman Who Changed Her Life With Bacon, Doing The Dishes, Making The Bed, and House Cleaning.
Credits: Creative Ad Agency: john st, Toronto Client: Maple Leaf Canada Creative Director: Stephen Jurisic Creative Director: Angus Tucker Copywriter: Jacob Greer Art Director: Denver Eastman Agency Producer: Anna Neilson Director: Will Beauchamp Director: Jamie Cussen Production Company: Aircastle Films Executive Producer: Will Beauchamp Executive Producer: Jamie Cussen Line Producer: Lauren Corber Editorial: Aircastle Films Editor: Anna Feldman Post Production: Aircastle Films Post Production: Susan Armstrong Casting: Jigsaw Casting Casting Director: Shasta Lutz
An island at the crossroads of the Mediterranean, Sicily occupied a pivotal place in antiquity between Greece, North Africa, and the Italian peninsula.
Statue of a Youth (The Mozia Charioteer), Sikeliote (Sicilian Greek), 470–460 B.C. Marble. Courtesy of the Servizio Parco archeologico eambientale presso le isole dello Stagnone e delle aree archeologiche di Marsala e dei Comuni limitrofi–Museo Archeologico Baglio Anselmi. By permission of the Regione Siciliana, Assessorato dei Beni Culturali e dell’Identita Siciliana. Dipartimento dei Beni Culturali e dell’Identita Siciliana. Sicily: Art and Invention between Greece and Rome, on view at the Getty Villa April 3–August 19, 2013, will showcase ancient Sicily as a major center of cultural innovation from the fifth to the third centuries B.C., when art, architecture, theater, poetry, philosophy, and science flourished and left an enduring stamp on mainland Greece and later on Rome.
“This is the first major exhibition to arise from the Getty’s 2010 Cultural Agreement with Sicily, presenting masterpieces that are among the most accomplished examples of ancient Greek art in the world,” said Timothy Potts, director of the J. Paul Getty Museum.
“We are especially thrilled to have on view the exceptional statue of a victorious Charioteer from Mozia that the Getty has recently conserved. This object is a unique expression of the marvelous artistry of Greek sculptors at the dawn of the Classical era.”
Sicily: Art and Invention between Greece and Rome, co-organized by the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the Assessorato dei Beni Culturali e dell’Identita Siciliana, features some 150 objects, a major portion on loan from institutions in Sicily, including stone and bronze sculptures, vase-paintings, votive terracotta statuettes and reliefs, carved ivory, gold and silver metalwork, jewelry, inscriptions, architectural revetments, and coins.
“These splendid objects bear witness to the athletic and military victories, religious rituals, opulent lifestyles, and intellectual attainments of the Sicilian Greeks, which shaped Greek culture at its peak,” explains Claire Lyons, acting senior curator of antiquities at the J. Paul Getty Museum and curator of the exhibition.
The Mozia Charioteer
The Mozia Charioteer, widely considered one of the the finest surviving examples of Greek sculpture, serves as the exhibition’s centerpiece. Recently on view at the British Museum in London during the 2012 Summer Olympics, the statue has since undergone conservation treatment at the Getty Villa. Part of the Getty’s cultural agreement with Sicily, this 18-month collaborative conservation project involved remounting the sculpture and the provision of a seismic isolation base, which will accompany the object when it is reinstalled at the Whitaker Museum on the island of Mozia.
The triumphant Mozia Charioteer, discovered in 1976 on the island of Mozia in western Sicily, is believed to represent a charioteer who competed at Olympia on behalf of one of the Sicilian rulers. The extraordinary style of the sculpture, especially notable in the sinuous pleating of the long linen xystis that sheathes the figure’s athletic physique, is a tour-de-force of stone carving. Clearly a master of his craft, the sculptor was able to reveal the torso and limbs beneath the thin fabric. With its confident gaze and proud stance, this statue conveys the high level of originality and experimentation achieved by Greek sculptors working in Sicily.
The “Signing Masters”
Important evidence of Sicilian artistic innovation is also apparent in the exquisite coins of the time. Beginning in the late fifth century B.C., a group of Sicilian Greek coin engravers, mainly based in Syracuse, added their signatures to the dies used to stamp coins. Known as the “Signing Masters,” these remarkable craftsmen created extraordinary works of art on a miniature scale. Departing from the traditional profile view, they devised novel ways of representing the human body in a lively three-quarter perspective or striking frontal pose. This testimony of individual mastery of the medium is virtually exclusive to Sicilian Greek coins created around 400 B.C. Often abbreviated in tiny but legible script, the artists’ signatures are typically all but hidden in locks of hair or elements of jewelry.
Known as the “coin of coins,” the unique Aitna tetradrachm from the Royal Library of Belgium is one of the most precious ancient coins in the world. On view in the exhibition along with 50 other exceptionally crafted Sicilian Greek coins, the image on the tetradrachm depicts the head of Silenos on the obverse and on the reverse, Zeus enthroned with an eagle perched beside him, imagery that alludes to the cult of Zeus on Mt. Etna. Greek settlers and their gods
Sicily: Art and Invention between Greece and Rome will also examine how settlers from the Greek mainland brought their myths and religious practices to Sicily. To sanctify new colonies and maintain ties with mother cities, they built altars and temples to such gods as Apollo, the patron deity of colonists, as well as the deified hero Herakles. Included are terracotta heads of Apollo, Hades, and Persephone, created as cult or votive images of deities that played a central role in ancient Sicilian worship. The skillfully modeled clay, embellished with striking polychrome pigments, compares favorably with the most accomplished works in marble and bronze. An exceptional example of metalwork is a religious offering dish made of two and a half pounds of gold. Known as a phiale mesomphalos, the vessel is embossed from the center outward with bands of beechnuts, acorns, and bees above blossoms; the owner’s name —Damarchos, son of Achyris— is inscribed beneath the rim, together with its equivalent weight in gold coins.
The divine hero Herakles was also embraced by Greek settlers, who linked his deeds to their cities. Contrasting aspects of Herakles’ identity —peaceful healer, solitary herdsman, and violent aggressor— heightened the appeal of his cult among the men of rural Sicily, who tended flocks and worked as mercenary soldiers. Among the objects on view is a finely preserved bronze statuette of Herakles recovered from a river-bed in Contrada Cafeo (Modica), which suggests that a shrine to the hero was situated nearby.
Preeminent among the honored deities was Demeter, goddess of agriculture, and her daughter Persephone (or Kore). Sanctuaries of the goddesses dotted the island, but their cult was most enthusiastically embraced in central Sicily, where, according to myth, Kore descended to the Underworld as the bride of Hades. Depictions of these deities include a terracotta bust with a rare painted figural scene that may represent part of a ritual honoring or celebrating the goddesses, and a cult statuette disc overed near an altar in Gela together with an offering jug of carbonized seeds of grain.
Archimedes of Syracuse
A section of the exhibition will focus on Archimedes of Syracuse (about 287–212 B.C.), one of history’s foremost scientists and mathematicians. More than a millennium ahead of its time, his work laid the foundation for branches of math, physics, engineering, and even computer science. When Syracuse’s King Hieron II asked him to determine whether a crown was made of pure gold, Archimedes made his legendary deduction that a solid displaces a volume of liquid equal to its own volume, a discovery that supposedly caused the scientist to leap from his bath and run naked through the streets crying “Eureka” (“I have found it!”).
On view is a leaf from the Archimedes Palimpsest, the only surviving manuscript containing copies of Archimedes’ writings. The medieval prayer book that included this leaf was inked by a scribe onto recycled parchment that originally bore the theories of Archimedes. The pages were scraped clean before being overwritten, but with the use of advanced imaging technology, the original writing is visible. The leaf on view is a section of text from “Proposition 1” from Archimedes’ Method, a work integrating geometry and physics.
Literature on Sicilian art
Finally, the exhibition examines the reflections of literature in Sicilian visual arts. Many mainland Greeks became familiar with Sicily through the epic poetry of Homer, including Odysseus’s wanderings after the Trojan War, which took him to the western Mediterranean.
Often depicted in vase-painting and sculpture, Odysseus’s encounters with strange creatures like the Cyclops and Scylla were allegories for early colonial settlement and trading enterprises that spread Greek culture to distant, exotic regions. The pastoral genre created and perfected by the Syracusan poet Theokritos (about 300–after 260 B.C.) flourished as Sicily was falling under the dominion of Rome in the third century B.C. He is renowned for his Idylls (literally, “little pictures”), which paint nostalgic word-images of Sicilian country life from the point of view of a sophisticated urbanite. Theokritos’s rustic characters—including satyrs, shepherds, and the woodland deity Priapos—also populated the visual arts of the period, attesting to the appeal of rural fantasies during a time of civic turmoil. On extended loan from Syracuse, a life-size statue of the fertility god Priapos, the earliest such figure in Greek art will be featured in the exhibition. Like the Mozia Charioteer, it was also the subject of a collaborative conservation project undertaken by the Getty Museum.
The importance and popularity of Greek comedy and drama outside of Athens is evident in the theatrical figurines, masks and scenes on vases, many of which come from the island of Lipari. The celebrated “Father of Tragedy,” Aeschylus (Greek, 525–456 B.C.) traveled to Sicily on at least two occasions, where his plays found fertile ground in the strong local tradition of performance on the island.
On display is a terracotta mixing vessel with the earliest known depiction of the myth of Perseus and Andromeda, which likely reflects a performance of Sophocles’ Andromeda (about 450 B.C.). The Greek inscription painted above the figure of Perseus—“Euaion, the son of Aeschylus, is handsome”— names the actor, son of the great tragedian.
Rich harvests, bountiful seas, and a favorable trade location brought immense wealth to the Sicilian city-states, and the exhibition highlights their widespread reputation for luxurious lifestyles with five gilt-silver vessels, part of a larger group of fifteen. The silver treasure had been buried for safekeeping beneath the floor of a house in Morgantina during the Roman sack of the city in 211 B.C. The entire hoard comprises religious vessels as well as a set for the symposion, a convivial drinking party for men that was an important part of the social life of well-to-do Greeks.
Sicily: Art and Invention between Greece and Rome is the latest in a series of cooperative efforts between the Getty and the Sicili an Ministry of Culture and Sicilian Identity arising from a 2010 agreement that calls for a number of collaborative projects, including object conservation, seismic protection of collections, exhibitions, scholarly research, and conferences. Recent related projects include the 2010 loan of the Gela Krater, a monumental red-figured volute krater (wine mixing vessel) attributed to the Niobid Painter; The Agrigento Youth, a rare example of an early classical marble statue called a kouros (an idealized nude young man), loaned to the Getty from the Museo Archeologico Regionale in Agrigento (2010/2011); and most recently the loan of thirty-six objects from the sanctuaries of Demeter at Morgantina (2012/January 2013).
The exhibition is co-organized by the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the Assessorato dei Beni Culturali e dell’Identita Siciliana, and celebrates 2013 as the Year of Italian Culture in the United States, an initiative of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, realized under the leadership of the President of the Republic of Italy.
Integrated campaign brings GE Monogram to Canadian travelers via enRoute and Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounges
Press: Toronto – March 4, 2014 – GE Monogram is proud to announce their partnership with EnRoute, Air Canada’s inflight travel magazine, for a new integrated content series highlighting notable chefs and food personalities in Canada. This is part of a broad initiative with Spafax – an international leader in content marketing and custom publishing. The upcoming campaign titled ‘GE Monogram Presents The Chef Series,’ will run across several platforms with the goal of providing rich content to consumers in transit.
“GE Monogram is inspired by the love and respect of food and supports causes that bring food to the forefront,” says Philippe Meyersohn, GM Marketing and Training, GE Appliances Canada. “We want to focus on Canada’s growing love of food and show our appreciation for Canadian chefs. Aligning with EnRoute and their various properties allows us to share our love of food with Canadians across the country.”
The integrated campaign will include a print component in the spring and fall issues of enRoute, featuring a series of seven full page editorials known as “The Chef Series,” which will present a distinct interview with a chef or food personality. The campaign’s video element will involve award winning chef interviews shot in a GE Monogram kitchen space. The video series will air on Air Canada’s inflight video systems during the fall, but is also scheduled to air on the Food and Documentary channels. Both the print and video series will live online at enroute.aircanada.com for the duration of the campaign, where users can experience content as it’s published.
To complement the campaign, GE Monogram will hold a contest in August for Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge guests in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver airports, whereby GE Monogram displays will be set up, inviting lounge guests to enter for a chance to win two tickets to enRoute’s 2014 “Canada’s Best New Restaurant” event held in Toronto in November 2014, including return flight and accommodations.
Jamaica's multiple gold medal winner Usain Bolt stopped at Nissan's GranDrive testing track and Yokohama headquarters, bringing his record speed and excitement to Japan and becoming Nissan's Director of Excitement. I'm sure the fact that Nissan team is developing a special "Bolt" version GT-R.
Bolt appeared at Nissan's world headquarters, saying: "Racing is my inspiration, and I want to help Nissan become an even more exciting brand for everyone."
In recognition of Bolt's contribution to sports and his automotive enthusiasm, Nissan's Chief Operating Officer unveiled a unique gold-painted GT-R, which will be auctioned to benefit the Usain Bolt Foundation (http://usainbolt.com/foundation/).
Bolt, who was picked up Tokyo's Narita Airport in a GT-R driven by F1 racer Mark Webber (below), is expected to contribute further to Nissan's "WHAT IF_" global brand campaign.
To continue building brand momentum at Nissan, TV commercials featuring the Nissan LEAF electric vehicle, called "What if you could drive the future, today?", will also start airing.
But here's what really caught my eye about the big production Nissan and the new Director of Excitement...
At about the 1:00 minute mark Bolt enjoys a delicious doghnut during a brief interview of the "To the World: Usain Bolt in the Nissan House" video.
Not just any doughnut, but a magical creation of warm gooey goodness from Krispy Kreme. An obvious product placement? Maybe, maybe not...
Mattress commercials aren’t typically known in ad land for being creative hotbeds, but an upstart Los Angeles-based agency has changed all that with a cheeky television campaign for mattress giant Sealy, Inc.
Last December, Arcana Academy opened with the North Carolina-based brand as its founding client and the following brief: launch the Optimum memory foam version of Sealy’s famous Posturepedic mattress, a product designed to compete with specialty mattress maker Tempur-Pedic.
So, the agency conceived several playful TV spots to remind viewers that mattresses are made for more than just sleeping. The tagline: “It’s better on springs. Whatever you do in bed, Sealy supports it.”
The campaign’s latest spots brim with simplicity and innuendo. In “Tester,” the camera zooms in on an actual, rump-shaped mattress tester as plunges down into a bed as coquettish French music extolling the product features plays on the soundtrack.
Similarly, “Good Neighbors” suggests much without showing anything. In the ad, mysterious noises emanating from the abode of an unseen owner of a Sealy Posturpedic begins attract several curious and irritated neighbors. What’s actually happening is never shown, so any inferences are entirely the viewers’ own.
Since Arcana Academy began working for Sealy, Optimum mattress sales have gone up. Tempur-Pedic’s stock price, meanwhile, dropped to nearly 1/3 of its value despite outspending its competitor by more than $150 million. Then, in a classic if-you-can't-beat-'em-join-'em move, Tempur-Pedic bought Sealy, Inc, forming the largest mattress consortium in the world.
Created by Arcana Academy founders and award-winning creatives Shane Hutton (ex-Modernista!) and Lee Walters (ex-Arnold Worldwide), the campaign has breathed new life into a sleepy category and attracted a more youthful, vibrant audience to the brand.
The agency is housed in a converted Victorian mansion in Los Angeles. Its offices’ Baroque interiors pay homage to its mysterious name: ‘school of secrets.’ The walls are adorned with gold leaf, esoteric antiques, strange artwork and of course, advertising trophies but underneath it all is a team that aims to give consumers a fresh perspective on familiar products.
“We started Arcana Academy because a window of opportunity had opened — the kind of window that, if it were ever to close, you would spend the rest of your life saying, ‘what would have happened had I jumped through?’ says Walters. “So we did.”
“We have no illusions about taking over the world,” adds Hutton. “We want to stay small, offer our clients highly personalized service and continue to give them more, for less, faster. If that sounds suspiciously like a promise of turning lead into gold, well, it is.”
Credits: Title: Good Neighbors Client: Sealy Inc. Agency: Arcana Academy Creative Director/Writer: Shane Hutton Creative Director/Art Director: Lee Walters Agency Producer: Charles Wolford Director: Arni & Kinski Production Company: aWHITELABELproduct Executive Producer: Annique De Caestecker, Ellen Jacobson-Clarke, Oliver Hicks Post Production: Cindy Chapman, Les Sorrentino, Gizmo Rivera Editor: The Whitehouse, Los Angeles — Heidi Black Music: The Lodge
Title: Tester Client: Sealy Inc. Agency: Arcana Academy Creative Director/Writer: Shane Hutton Creative Director/Art Director: Lee Walters Agency Producer: Timmi Goldstein Director: Blind/Greg Gunn Production Company: Blind Executive Producer: David Kleinman Post Producer: S. Tobin Kirk Editor: Justine Gerenstein Music: Beacon Street Studios
It is widely believed around the world that the Land Rover Discovery 4, or LR4, is one of the very best off-roading vehicles that money can buy. However Land Rover’s recent “Born Free” commercial falls short of convincing viewers that this is true. Although the brand is known as the pioneer of bringing off-road vehicles “on-road” for everyday use, in the face of ever increasing luxury 4x4 competition, Land Rover’s latest commercial fails to convey that they are in the business of manufacturing the finest off-road vehicles on earth.
To begin on a good note, the commercial is set to the classic Andy Williams Born Free tune, which appropriately inspires a feeling of adventure in viewers and a yearning for the great outdoors. The background music is also appropriate as it ties in Land Rover’s connection with the Born Free Foundation, a conservation organization that the brand has supported for many years. The “Born Free” commercial’s focus, however, is a vibrant young couple who repeatedly visit a dry-cleaner with their dirty laundry. In three visits, they drop off sand filled desert clothing, soaking wet clothes, and leaf covered jungle clothing. The worker behind the counter is obviously puzzled about what they’ve been up to, and the ad paints a stark contrast between the adventurous lives of the couple and the humdrum existence of the man who runs the store.
While viewers are as intrigued as the dry-cleaner as to where this this couple has been and what they have been doing, it isn’t clear until the last few moments when the worker goes to the window and sees them driving away that this is a Land Rover commercial, let alone a car commercial. Unfortunately for Land Rover, viewers are left with more of an opinion of the adventurous couple than the vehicle they drive, which is a shame because the LR4 is truly an impressive ride. Although Land Rover’s competitors show off the sleek lines, luxurious interiors, and ideal environments for their vehicles, Land Rover only offers us glimpses of what the LR4 is all about. And while it is true that the ad is successful in that it makes viewers want to know more about the vehicle, the “Born Free” commercial is obviously an example of marketing a lifestyle rather than a product. Only time will tell if this ploy is a successful one, but when you’ve got a product as remarkable as the LR4—you’re going to sell it no matter how it is marketed. This guest post was contributed by Brittany Larson of Elite Auto Brokers.
18 Feet & Rising’s new advertising for the National Trust focuses on its role looking after and championing the special places that the world loves by encouraging the public to share their love for those places which hold a special place in their hearts.
The print campaign, will run across press, OOH, and digital, shows the iconic National Trust oak leaf as a symbol of love — an alternative to the heart in the vein of the popular 'I heart NY' imagery. Each execution is a statement of an individual's love of a place, whether it's an 11 year-old catching butterflies at Wicken Fen or a 14 year-old getting to the top of a hill before his dad at Stourhead. Each story is authentic, with no models or fake names, and a social element invites the public to get involved, along with celebrities, volunteers and staff. The campaign aims to steer public perception away from National Trust locations as being a 'look but don't touch' visitor experience, and instead show that these are places for creating hands-on memories.
Credits Creative Director: Behrad Taherparvar Art Directors: Behrad Taherparvar & Noreen Khan Copywriter: Behrad Taherparvar Strategic Business Lead: Katherine Grenville-Jones Agency Producer: Emily Hodgson Photographers: Josh Cole, Naomi Goggin, Caroline Irby, and Arnhel de Serra
