“Emily’s Story” is the true story of a child’s life threatening illness and the joy Children’s Wish Foundation brought to her and her family’s life. Beautifully animated by Crush, "Emily's Story" is one film in a campaign for the Children’s Wish Foundation via KBS+P Toronto and sponsored by Gravol.

The creative team at KBS+P Toronto, copywriter Cristina Simonetto and art director John Roberton, developed a wonderful, gentle script before looking for an animation company to bring it to life. The team at Crush team jumped at the opportunity to contribute to such poignant story, and were excited to participate in a project that not only bought a children’s story to life, but also raised awareness for such an amazing cause.

Crush’s Julia Deakin designed Emily and all the characters, and worked with Crush’s Yoho Yue and Jullian Ablaza to bring Emily’s world to life. Jullian worked with talented illustrators, Ashley Barron and Flavia Lopez to create the world using a mix of paper and other media.

Yoho Yue and Joel Tellier rigged and animated the characters, with subtlety and sensitivity to Emily’s story. The team at Apollo Music took the pictures and added a beautiful, haunting score.

Everyone who touched the project was profoundly moved by Emily’s story and are so proud of the final piece.

Every child should enjoy a life full of laughter, shared joy, and memories with the people they love. Since 1984, The Children’s Wish Foundation of Canada has granted over 17,000 wishes to children with life-threatening illnesses. Children’s Wish is proud of its tradition of never refusing a wish to an eligible child. The maker of Gravol has been proudly supporting Children’s Wish since 2008, helping kids like Emily.

Donations to the Children’s Wish Foundation of Canada can be made on Gravol’s site: http://gravol.ca/en/highlights/the-children’s-wish-foundation-of-canada/

Credits:
Agency: KBS+P, Toronto
Creative Director: Dan Pawych
Senior Art Director: John Roberton
Copywriter: 
Cristina Simonetto
Broadcast Producer: 
Clare Cashman
Account Supervisor
: Adam McClare
Account Executive: Paige Heathcote
Animation and Visual Effects: Crush
Creative Director: Gary Thomas
Senior Designer & Animator
: 
Yoho Yue
Senior Designer & Animator
: 
Julia Deakin
Designer & Animator
: Jullian Ablaza
Animator: Joel Tellier
Illustrator & Assistant Animator: 
Ashley Barron
Illustrator & Assistant Animator: Flavia Lopez
Assistant Animator: Kyle Steffler
Assistant Animator: Errol Colautti
Senior Producer
: Janice Rebelo
Executive Producer: Jo-ann Cook
Music & Sound Design: Apollo
Creative Director: Yan Dal Santo
Sound Design: Harry Knazan
Music Composers: Daenen Bramberger and Mike Wise
via: GlossyInc.

Director Seth Epstein of Stardust recently finished an incredibly moving and inspirational brand film for Ahnu, the Bay Area-based providers of originally engineered performance shoes. The three-minute short film entitled “Walk New Ground” follows ultra-endurance hiker Trevor Thomas on one of his challenging, long-distance hikes — revealing his unique story along the way.

“Stardust was chosen for one simple reason, their unique ability to capture a true and authentic moment and translate it into inspiring digital content,” says Anders Bergstrom, Marketing Manager for Deckers, Ahnu’s parent company, and Co-Creative Director on the film. “The Ahnu brand had been working with Trevor Thomas for some time, but had not yet captured the emotional essence and impact that an incredible person like Trevor can have on a brand and its core business. Seth, Dex, and their team [at Stardust] saw the potential and brought out what is true and inspiring in Trevor's story – all the while delivering on the Ahnu brand's promise to ‘walk new ground.’"

According to Stardust Director and company partner, Seth Epstein, the idea for the film came from a two-hour phone conversation and pre-interview he had with the film’s subject, Trevor. “His story was amazing on it’s own, so I asked him every question you could imagine,” he explains. “It was during that phone call, that I realized how I wanted to approach the story. I knew where I wanted to go, and needed to figure out how to do it as efficiently as possible.”

Utilizing “lean filmmaking techniques,” Epstein shot the film on DSLR on-location in Northern California’s Redwoods, not far from Ahnu’s headquarters, which was important to the company’s co-founders. “We used a lot of in-camera film techniques, and played with light and focus as much as we could, in order to create the film’s story which is a metaphor. Every filmic technique is an ingredient in the visual aesthetic of the film, and that was our intention going into the shoot.”

For Stardust Executive Producer and company partner Dexton Deboree, this Ahnu brand film represents a new direction the company is taking in terms of storytelling. “By focusing on Trevor’s story, Seth was able to create a film that truly celebrates the Ahnu brand and everything it represents as a conscious, sustainable company, which puts its success back into the community by sponsoring someone like Trevor. For us at Stardust, it was an opportunity to further express our new voice by creatively investing in a project with a lot of heart, which is important to Seth and I as creatives, but also as business people.”

After production was wrapped, the short film was edited by Neil Meiklejohn at Rock Paper Scissors with color completed by Company 3’s Siggy Ferstl. Stardust contributed motion graphics to the film, which according to Dexton required a “tender hand.” The film was unveiled at a large trade show event earlier this year. It is posted to the Ahnu web site, and will be used for branding, marketing and Social Media initiatives this year.

Credits:
Client: Ahnu
Brand Director: Jacqueline Van Dine
Marketing Manager, Ahnu: Michelle Erbs
Marketing Manager, Deckers (Ahnu Parent Company): Anders Bergstrom
Production/Postproduction Company: Stardust
Director: Seth Epstein
Co-Creative Director: Anders Bergstrom (Marketing Manager, Deckers)
Executive Producer: Dexton Deboree
DP: Patrick Notaro
Producer: James Taylor
Design/Effects Producer: Melina Osornio
Line Producer: Sean Cope
Design Director, Animator: Piero Desopo
Editorial Company: Rock Paper Scissors
Editor: Neil Meiklejohn
Executive Producer: Carol Lynn Weaver
Postproduction Company: Company 3
Colorist: Siggy Ferstl
Musical score by Jesse Mattson

The Sevens, launched today on Secret Location’s website, is a multi-layered narrative experience will also live online at www.whatarethesevens.com and can be enjoyed on a number of levels: as a short film, an interactive game or a fully immersive mystery in which users can participate.

“The interactive film is the start of a larger narrative that we’ll continue to build on over the next year and beyond,” explains company founder James Milward. “A lot of the time the most experimental ideas we have aren’t appropriate or are too risky to hinge the success of our clients on. As a result, we built this experience as a sandbox for us to play in and experiment with ideas, techniques and technology in a way that will prove concept with real users.”

For the past four years, Secret Location has produced several experimental interactive experiences, including Rookie Blue: Interrogation Room, Stanfield’s Guy At Home and Endgame Interactive, which won an International Digital Emmy® in 2012. The Sevens begins with a phone call and contains three puzzles for viewers to solve. In a suburban home, a young girl named Julie is confronted with a series of mysterious symbols that, once arranged in a particular order, unlock a phone number and passcode. If users solve the puzzles and dial the number, they are taken deeper into the story’s narrative by being given a chance to solve one final puzzle in order to reveal an alternative ending.

“The nature of the story is that it keeps drawing you in further and further, making you more vulnerable. It’s the classic Alice In Wonderland rabbit hole scenario,” says Pietro Gagliano, creative director and partner at Secret Location. “We want people to feel shaken up by how deeply immersive the experience feels at the end.” The idea evolved from Secret Location’s portfolio launch four years ago. Set up as a Choose Your Own Adventure-type narrative, the site drove 120,000 people through the portfolio in the first three months. Incidentally, the designers posted a phone number on the bottom of the site for potential clients to call but visitors assumed it was part of the game. “We received nearly 100,000 phone calls in the first six months,” says Gagliano. “Suffice it to say, it was annoying but it did give us an idea and proved that people would call if we asked them to – or even if we didn’t ask them to.”

The team began brainstorming and writing The Sevens in November 2011 with writer/filmmaker José Avelino Gilles Corbett Lourenço and production began in February 2012. Now that it’s live, the creative team intends to grow the story, add new characters and create related content that can live on other sites, such as YouTube. Secret Location has already rolled out several real world elements connected to The Sevens. In tandem with the site launch, cryptic posters featuring characters from the film and chalk stencils of the mysterious symbols and the URL have begun appearing in select cities across North America, including Toronto, New York and Los Angeles. “We’d love to keep adding elements to this narrative,” says Gagliano. “That’s why we created an open invitation at the end of the experience for the user to contribute ideas.” “This is really not the end,” adds Milward. “It’s just the beginning of a growing story eco-system and mythology that we’re creating around The Sevens.”

About Secret Location: Secret Location is an Emmy® Award-winning interactive agency that launches products and solves problems through storytelling for brands, broadcasters and producers. Just four years old, the company is a three-time Webby Awards honoree, was shortlisted for a 2011 Cannes Lion and is a Gemini, AToMiC, Creativity International, CASSIES and Marketing Awards winner. Secret Location is based in Toronto, Canada, and is led by President/Executive Producer James Milward. http://www.thesecretlocation.com/

Credits:
Created by Secret Location
Executive Producer: James Milward
Creative Director & Lead Designer: Pietro Gagliano
Technical Director: Ryan Andal
Project Manager: Ashlee Lougheed
Art Director: Stefan Grambart
Graphic Designer: Kai Salminen
Editing & Motion Graphics: Steve Miller
Assistant Editor: Michael Kazanowski
Web Developers: Gino Fazari, Michael Phan, Paul Stodolak
Music & Sound Design: Lodewijk Vos & Joseph Murray
Cast– In Order of Appearance
Dad: David Straus
Julie: Elle McFeeters
Dog: Pearl
Mom: Jennifer Fullerton
Written By: José Avelino Gilles Corbett Lourenço & Secret Location
Directed By: José Avelino Gilles Corbett Lourenço
Director of Photography: Henry Less
Assistant Director: Billy Shand
Line Producer: Luke Bryant
Assistant Camera: Nick Giordano
Gaffer: Dave Lewis
Art Director: Michael Leach
Set DResser: Dylan Jackson
Sound Recordist: Edward Senkowski
Hair & Makeup: Margot Keith
Wardrobe Stylist: Sarah Millman
Production Assistant: Derek Modesto
Contributors:
Adam Drake
Adam Park
Ann Marie Donnelly
CJ Hervey
Graham Budd
Jenn Hartnoll
Jory Krüspe
Josh Manricks
Kathryn Rawson
Noora Abu Eitah
Sabrina Saccoccio

The newest TV advert for John Lewis Never Knowingly Undersold entitled "The Other Half"

The advert is the story of two people falling in love. On the left side of the screen we see the girl's side of the story. She lives in 1925, the year that John Lewis made its life long commitment to Never Knowingly Undersold. On the right side of the screen we see the boy's side of the story. He lives in the present day.

By bringing their two worlds together as one, we show that falling in love, and embarking on a relationship, is a universal story which will keep being replayed throughout time. While many aspects of our lives today are very different to almost a century ago, the really important things haven't changed at all.

The music in the commercial is a cover of the INXS song, Never Tear Us Apart done by Paloma Faith. If anyone knows who the actor and actress are in the ad please do let us know.

Credits:
Ad Agency and Creatives: Adam & Eve DDB, London, by Aidan McClure, Laurent Simon, Shay Reading and Frank Ginger.
Directed by Ringan Ledwidge of Rattling Stick.
Costume design: Natalie Humphries.

As part of its “For Those Who Do” campaign, the “Getaway” film involves the consumer in a story centered around the versatility of the new Lenovo Yoga 11S, in the way only Lenovo can. It’s dark and slightly subversive. Stylish without being too sleek. And, best of all, it showcases our single product’s four incredible modes, in a storyline that allows our consumer to interact directly with the product and the campaign’s hero, Lizzie.

“Getaway” isn’t a sequel in the literal sense, but it uses our illustrious heroine from last year’s campaign, “The Pursuit,” and adds to the story. It tells us that she’s gone through incredible measures to capture Lenovo’s technology more than once – in fact, this is her eleventh heist. And now that she’s completed her final mission, she wants to give the tech back to the people – our biggest fans. The end result is an entertaining piece of film with our incredible technology as the real hero, and a call to our fans to join the story and claim one of Lizzie’s eleven Yoga 11S’s for themselves.

Credits:
Creative Agency: Saatchi, NY
Production Company: Logan & Sons
VFX/ Editorial: LOGAN
Telecine: MPC NY, MPC LA
Music Score: Paul Minor
End Music Track: “Mechanical” by Oliver
Sound Design: SNAPSOUND
Mix: Sonic Union

A story that goes to the heart in the truest sense of the word. The TV spot of the Swiss Heart Foundation calls attention to the most common cause of death in Switzerland: heart disease and stroke. The spot tells the wonderful story of a great, undying love, and simply shows on how precious every minute of our lives.

Credits:
Agency: Contexta AG, Bern, Switzerland (www.contexta.ch)
Creative Director: Moritz Staehelin
Copywriter: Annette Häcki/Raphael Gammenthaler
Art Director: Stefanie Morgan/Moricz Nemeth
Agency Producer: Ulysse Schnegg
Account Supervisor: Nadine Borter
Advertiser's Supervisor: Martin Zimmermann
Account Manager: Alexandra Beyeler
Production: stories AG, Zurich, Switzerland (www.stories.ch)
Producer: Yves Bollag
Director: Tobias Fueter
D.O.P: Holger Diener
Lighting: Attila Doczi
Editor: Tobias Fueter/Beni Fueter/Wolfgang Weigl
Editing Company: stories AG, Zurich, Switzerland (www.stories.ch)
Music: Composer/Artist/Title: Adrian Frutiger
Sound Designer: Gian Dolder
Off-voice English: Harlan Hogan
Post Production Supervisor: Denis Spycher
Animation: Cloudscape
Production Designer: Adrien Asztalos
Special Effects/Computer Graphics: Cloudscape
Colour Grading: Fabian Kimoto
Line Producer: Nicole Spring
Production Coordinator: Heike Schreyer

Bridgestone is among one of the first 2012 Super Bowl XLVI advertisers to start building up the hype to the Super Bowl ad game with a teaser campaign. "Performance Balls and Puck" commercials, launched during the Bridgestone Winter Classic hockey game on NBC. Sports commentators Mike Milbury, Barry Melrose, Dick Vitale and Michelle Beadle compete to be the first to the scoop in the "Time to Perform" press conference.

The engineers at Bridgestone are about to make a very important announcement: they're going to take their vast knowledge of performance on the road and bring it to the playing fields of the world; a bold move that promises to revolutionize sports as we know it.

Follow the biggest sports reporters as they try to break the story of how Bridgestone is going to attempt to revolutionize the world of sports by bringing their tire technologies to each sport. Stay tuned at facebook.com/BridgestoneTires leading up to Super Bowl XLVI. The spot features: Michelle Beadle, Dick Vitale, Barry Melrose, Mike Milbury and Kenny Smith.

Sports legend Dick Vitale is tracking the Bridgestone story but a rising star in Michelle Beadle thinks she will get the scoop first. Follow the story at facebook.com/BridgestoneTires to learn more about Bridgestone taking their innovative tire technologies into the world of sports.

The latest announcement left the world's leading sports announcers speechless and tweet-less.

Duracell proves the importance of the power inside by telling the story of all-pro linebacker Patrick Willis in a new web film promo. His personal journey to the pinnacle of the NFL required the ability to power through obstacles and a steadfast and unwavering belief in himself. His story is remarkable and inspiring and further proof that with the right stuff inside, great things are possible. #TrustYourPower
I've had a number of people ask about the music in this commercial, it is the work of composer Adam Taylor.

Credits:
Advertising Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi, New York
CCO: Con Williamson
Creative Director: Justin Ebert, Alex Lea, Peter Smith
Art Director: Nate Ripp
Director: Eliot Rausch
Agency Producer: Peter Feldman
Production Company: Uber Content
Director: Eliot Rausch
EP: Preston Lee, Phyllis Koenig, Steve Wi
Director of Photography: Ed David
Editorial: Rock, Paper, Scissors
Composer: Adam Taylor

All-Girl Rock Band the Runaways

Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning prove they are the Queens Of Noise in a biopic about 70s all-girl rock band The Runaways. The career of The Runaways was short lived, spanning only five years, but the impact they had on the music industry was immense. The all-girl teenage rock band helmed six albums and several hit singles such as Cherry Bomb, Queens Of Noise and Born To Be Bad, and helped shape female rock icon Joan Jett. Yet it was a dirty, tumultuous ride as shown in The Runaways, the directorial debut from Floria Sigismondi.

Set in Southern California in the mid-70s, Joan Jett (Kristen Stewart) is a shy and sulky glue-sniffer who dreams of becoming a rock star like Suzi Quatro. She takes that burning ambition to music promoter Kim Fowley (Michael Shannon) and after pitching him the idea of starting an all-girl rock band, he starts to recruit teenage girls for The Runaways. He and Jett find their front woman in the stylish and dreamy Cherie Currie (Dakota Fanning) and the young women are soon subjected to a rigorous training regimen where Fowley teaches them how to handle rowdy crowds, deal with hecklers and howl, wail and strut in a passionate brand of macho feminism.

Despite their musical talent, they all play their own instruments and write their own songs, Fowler sees an opportunity and promotes The Runaways as a cocktail of empowerment and exploitation. Dressed in hot pants, heels, jumpsuits and lingerie, the teenage girls become both a fetish and a rebellious rock `n' roll band, and subsequently take off. From homegrown success to global domination, including a huge fan base in Japan, the girls begin to struggle with their meteoric rise to fame, the easy availability of drugs, predatory men, lack of supervision and group dynamics.

The focus of the film is the individual stories of Jett and Currie, who are key members of the group and share an intimate relationship as friends and sometime lovers (which cumulates in a pash between Stewart and Fanning). Coming from a background as a photographer and music video director, Sigismondi has an eye for visuals and her competency in creating this grungy 70s world is similar to Catehrine Harwicke's effort in The Lords Of Dogtown. Her direction of the music scenes, which are all sung and performed by the actors, really captures the electricity of the band and their music. However, that is also her downfall because The Runaways retains a glossy sheen that seems out of place given the events unfolding on screen. The story too has been trimmed and moulded from Currie's autobiography, so that it is just rebellious enough, while skipping over some of the more confronting and compelling issues.

But the crux of The Runaways is the performances, with Shannon delivering a suitably sociopathic turn as Fowley and Alia Shawkat makes the most of her small supporting role. Yet it is Stewart and Fanning who steal the show. In case you did not know already, they make this film their declaration that they are no longer child stars, but rather young-adult actresses who deliver tour de force performances. Fanning's David Bowie-esque Currie is as beautiful contradiction, a vulnerable and undecided teenager off stage and a fierey sex kitten on it. Besides her uncanny resemblance to Jett, Stewart ozzes the rock `n' roll mentality and her brooding, attitude-filled performance is reminiscent of a young James Dean.

Flashy and feisty, The Runaways is an entertaining piece of pop art, but it fails to delve deeper into the real story. For an accurate account see former bassist Victory Tischler-Blue's documentary Edgeplay: A Film About The Runaways. Sure, from a technical perspective it may be one of the worst documentaries I’ve seen, but she captures the band’s truly amazing story in interviews and mind blowing revelations. Watch it. In other news, I interviewed her a few weeks ago and she describes Jett as a “fucking c#nt” so she deserves your props for that.

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

Purina Cat Chow was giving out free cab rides in New York City, all you had to do was share your own personal cat story.

The Purina Cat Chow "Cat Cabs" hit the streets of New York City last week to give free rides to any cat person who was willing to share their cat relationship story. These are just a few of the great stories that were collected!

Have a story to share? Visit www.yourcatstory.com to participate

We can't reverse what's happened in Syria but we can change how the story ends. While ISIS have seized headlines, thia video tells the story not making the news : the horror endured by ordinary Syrians on a daily basis. With the death toll close to 200,000 Syria is now the most dangerous place in the world. The majority of civilian deaths can be attributed to "barrel bombs" - oil drums filled with explosives, chemical weapons, rusty nails dropped from Syrian regime helicopters onto populated areas. The same area is often hit twice, to ensure those coming to rescue the victims are also killed.

With the holidays approaching, this new ad campaign is a magical and festive tale created for Kobo eReaders. Directed by Toronto's Holiday Films Ed McCulloch, the bedtime story-like “A Father’s Tale” beautifully mixes live action and visual effects and is chock-full of festive imagery. Created by Kobo’s own in-house ad agency, the spot is currently airing in Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

Already have a Kobo eReader? Right now you can Save 40% on Select Titles, or get yourself one if you don't!

Credits:
Title: A Father's Story
Client: Kobo
Brand: eReader
Agency: Kobo
General Manger: Matt Welch
Creative Director: Darrell Credeur
Art Director: Jessica Wong
Copywriter: Sabrina Christo
Agency Producer: Joe Pistorio
Production Company: Holiday Films
Director: Ed McCulloch
Executive Producer: Josefina Nadurata
Line Producer: Andre Fitsialos
Director of Photography: Paul Meyers
Editorial Company: Flat Iron Edit
Editor: Kurt Ritchie
Visual Affects Company: Track & Field
Producer: Yumi Suyama
Flame: Mike Bishop
Models/Moco: Remote Control
Producer: Brianne Wells
Model Maker: matt crookshank
Music & Sound Design: Eggplant Collective
Casting Director: Shasta Lutz, Jigsaw Casting
Wardrobe: Trish Venema
Production Designer: Greg Keen

The British Museum will open a major exhibition presenting a history of Indigenous Australia, supported by BP. This exhibition will be the first in the UK devoted to the history and culture of Indigenous Australians: both Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders. Drawing on objects from the British Museum’s collection, accompanied by important loans from British and Australian collections, the show will present Indigenous Australia as a living culture, with a continuous history dating back over 60,000 years.

The objects displayed in this exhibition are immensely important. The British Museum’s collection contains some of the earliest objects collected from Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders through early naval voyages, colonists, and missionaries dating as far back as 1770. Many were collected at a time before museums were established in Australia and they represent tangible evidence of some of the earliest moments of contact between Aboriginal people, Torres Strait Islanders and the British. Many of these encounters occurred in or near places that are now major Australian cities such as Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth. As a result of collecting made in the early 1800s, many objects originate from coastal locations rather than the arid inland areas that are often associated with Indigenous Australia in the popular imagination.

The exhibition will not only present Indigenous ways of understanding the land and sea but also the significant challenges faced by Indigenous Australians from the colonial period until to the present day. In 1770 Captain Cook landed on the east coast of Australia, a continent larger than Europe. In this land there were hundreds of different Aboriginal groups, each inhabiting a particular area, and each having its own languages, laws and traditions. This land became a part of the British Empire and remained so until the various colonies joined together in 1901 to become the nation of Australia we know today. In this respect, the social history of 19th century Australia and the place of Indigenous people within this is very much a British story. This history continues into the twenty first century. With changing policies towards Indigenous Australians and their struggle for recognition of civil rights, this exhibition shows why issues about Indigenous Australians are still often so highly debated in Australia today.

The exhibition brings together loans of special works from institutions in the United Kingdom, including the British Library, the Pitt Rivers Museum and the Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. A number of works from the collection of the National Museum of Australia will be shown, including the masterpiece ‘Yumari’ by Uta Uta Tjangala. Tjangala was one of the artists who initiated the translation of traditions of sand sculptures and body painting onto canvas in 1971 at Papunya, a government settlement 240km northwest of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. Tjangala was also an inspirational leader who developed a plan for the Pintupi community to return to their homelands after decades of living at Papunya. A design from ‘Yumari’ forms a watermark on current Australian passports.

This exhibition has been developed in consultation with many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals, Indigenous art and cultural centres across Australia, and has been organised with the National Museum of Australia. The broader project is a collaboration with the National Museum of Australia. It draws on a joint research project, funded by the Australian Research Council, undertaken by the British Museum, the National Museum of Australia and the Australian National University. Titled ‘Engaging Objects: Indigenous communities, museum collections and the representation of Indigenous histories’, the research project began in 2011 and involved staff from the National Museum of Australia and the British Museum visiting communities to discuss objects from the British Museum’s collections. The research undertaken revealed information about the circumstances of collecting and significance of the objects, many of which previously lacked good documentation. The project also brought contemporary Indigenous artists to London to view and respond to the Australian collections at the British Museum.

Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum said, “The history of Australia and its people is an incredible, continuous story that spans over 60,000 years. This story is also an important part of more recent British history and so it is of great significance that audiences in London will see these unique and powerful objects exploring this narrative. Temporary exhibitions of this nature are only possible thanks to external support so I am hugely grateful to BP for their longstanding and on-going commitment to the British Museum. I would also like to express my gratitude to our logistics partner IAG Cargo and the Australian High Commission who are supporting the exhibition’s public programme.”

Source: The British Museum [April 23, 2015]

New TV ad for Amstel Lager, extended version of the story of boxer, Thapelo ‘Tick Tock’ Mokoena.

This is the story of an impatient young boxer who goes for a title before he is ready and falls. But with the help of the community learns to take his time and rediscover his love for the sport.

Credits:
Advertising Agency: OwenKessel, USA
Executive Creative Director: Donovan Bryan
Creative Director / Copywriter: Mike Cook
Art Director: Martin Sing
Production Company: Velocity Films
Director: Greg Gray
Editor: Ricky Boyd / Deliverance

Getting to a million miles isn't typical. But neither is Joe. See his remarkable story:

Joe just reached one million miles in his 1990 Honda Accord! To celebrate this extraordinary feat, we surprised Joe with an over-the-top parade in his honor. Watch what happened. Way to go, Million Mile Joe!

Driving a Honda for a million miles is an extraordinary feat. So how did Joe do it? For starters, he's read and followed his owner's manual and maintenance schedule to the letter. He's also a stickler for fluids, he checked them weekly, switched them seasonally (10W-30 in summer and 5W-30 in winter), and changed them every 5,000 miles. He's been loyal to the same brand of oil and never let it go below a quart low.

You know how most people let their fuel go to almost empty? Joe never did. He's also a creature of habit, using only Honda air, oil and fuel filters. Joe never rode heavy on the brakes, and changed the fluid every few years. He's also replaced the fuel pump, both cooling fans and the radiator twice.

Besides his fastidious maintenance, Joe's Accord made it to one million miles because he's loved it. He's treated it with respect and always drove it responsibly. In fact, Joe has only gotten one speeding ticket in a million miles-that must be some kind of record. When it comes to driving, Joe's the man.

Check out Joe's story at http://www.MillionMileJoe.com

Toronto-based animation and design studio Crush has launched another wonderfully paper craft-inspired spot, this time for Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo via creative agency Wong, Doody, Crandall, Wiener, Seattle.
Working with the creatives at Wong, Doody, Crandall, Wiener, this spot for the Woodland Park Zoo builds on the work Crush did last year for "Emily's Story", for the Children's Wish Foundation, For this spot, Crush used a lot of classic illustration as reference for their designs and colour palette, but then developed them into something very contemporary.
Crush designer Jullian Ablaza developed the look of the animals and with the help of artist and children’s book illustrator Ashley Barron brought each animal to life. Once the animals were created, Jullian designed the environments to be simple but to compliment the animals as the film flowed from scene to scene. Crush Senior Designer and Animator Yoho Hang Yue put together the animatic and ultimately the animation. To keep the project streamlined and cost efficient, Yoho created the entire project in After Effects, adding textures to the final piece.
"We wanted a very tactile feel, which we would have done in camera if the budget and timeline allowed," said Gary Thomas, Creative Director, Crush. "The end result was very close to that and allowed for a lot of flexibility. The creative team at Wong, Doody, Crandall, Wiener were a dream to work with. They were totally on the same page and brought great insight to the work. We are incredibly pleased with the final result."
Check out Crush's "Emily's Story" http://glossyinc.com/?p=11420

Credits
Title: "Alive — Lion Clubs"
Client: Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle
Director, Marketing & Corporate Relations: Jim Bennett

Agency: Wong, Doody, Crandall, Wiener, Seattle
Creative Director: Monkey Watson
Copywriter: Peter Trueblood
Art Directors: Caitlin Finn, Daoust Huertas
Sr. Graphic Designer: Ramon Vasquez
Producer/EP: Steph Huske
Account Supervisor: Heidi Brown

Design and Animation: Crush, Toronto
Creative Director: Gary Thomas
Senior Designer & Animator: Yoho Yue
Designer & Illustrator: Jullian Ablaza
Illustrator: Ashley Barron
Senior Producer: Janice Rebelo
Executive Producer: Jo-ann Cook

As LEGO celebrates its 80th Birthday, they take a look back at its history with this short great animated web film entitled "The Lego Story".

The animated video describes the life of Danish toymaker Ole Kirk Christiansen, who created the company in 1932, and his son Godtfred, Lego’s second owner, from the perspective of current owner Kjeld, the founder’s grandson.

Ever wonder how the name "Lego" came to be? The name "LEGO" comes from the two Danish words "leg" and "godt", which translates to "play well".

Credits:
Created by Lani Pixels

Blackberry shares some love stories in the smartphone maker's latest marketing campaign entitled "BBM Love and Latte".

The BlackBerry Messenger has played Cupid for many love stories. One such love story is of Mahek and Siddharth. Watch and cherish how their love story blossomed over BBM conversations and coffee.