Grey New York Launches PSA for National Parks

Grey New York has launched a PSA campaign promoting the National Parks in honor of the National Park Service’s upcoming centennial in 2016, entitled “Find Your Park.”

The 60-second spot aims to give viewers a broader idea of what the National Parks contain, beyond the geysers of Yellowstone or views of the Grand Canyon that typically come to mind. While the 60-second spot celebrates the natural beauty of such sights, it also reminds viewers that these are places where “history is made, art is created, things happen that should always be remembered.” Throughout a series of fast cuts, the word “Park” keeps appearing to reinforce the idea that these very different places are all National Parks. The spot ends by calling on viewers to “Get up, get out there and find your park.”

Beyond the broadcast PSA, the campaign also includes a Virtual View Tour, which kicks off at North Flatiron Plaza in front of Madison Square Park with United States Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell, National Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis and actress Bella Thorne encouraging visitors to “experience all 407 national parks within an interactive one-minute musical rotation.”The tour will move on to Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. later in the month.

“National parks offer a multitude of experiences for visitors,” said Jarvis, in a statement. “There’s a national park in every state and with each stop on the Find Your Park Virtual View Tour, we’re bringing them closer together than ever before. Tap the screen and within seconds you’re speaking with a ranger or park-goer at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming or at Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site in Atlanta, Georgia and exploring what the park has to offer in real-time.”

A large social effort also encourages users to tweet using the hashtag #FindYourPark and share their stories at FindYourPark.com. The site will soon feature a series of interactive stories from the likes of Bill Nye, (scientist), Bella Thorne, Roselyn Sanchez (TV and film actress), Terrence J. (TV personality) and Mary Lambert (singer/songwriter and LGBT advocate).

Credits:

Advertiser: National Park Service

Spot Title: “Parks”

First Air Date: Thursday, April 2nd

Agency:  Grey New York

Chief Creative Officer: Tor Myhren (Global) / Andreas Dahlqvist (New York)

Creative Directors: Joe Mongognia (Group Creative Director), Sean Crane (Group

Creative Director)

Art Directors: Chris Perrone (Associate Creative Director)

Copywriters: Tony Muller (Associate Creative Director)

Agency Producer: Keira Rosenthal

Music Producer: Ben Dorenfeld

Production Company (location): n/a

Director: n/a

Director of Photography: n/a

Editor (person & company): Trish Fuller / Whitehouse Post

Color Grade: Fergus McCall /The Mill

Finishing:  The mill /Producer Veronica Ware

Audio Engineer: Dante Desole/Vision Post

Music/Sound Design (person & company): Dante Desole / Fall On Your Sword

Principal Talent:  Markita Prescott (VO)

GSD&M, Welikesmall Make Science Look Cool for U.S. Air Force

Yeah bitch, science!

If you’ve been paying attention to education in this country, you probably know that U.S. students aren’t stacking up so great against students around the world. They’re currently ranked 25th globally in what educators have taken to calling STEM: science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

In an attempt to get more students to pursue careers in science and technology (other than meth manufacturing), the U.S. Air Force teamed up with agency GSD&M to create a project called the Air Force Collaboratory, described as “an online educational platform that pairs students with Air Force experts to tackle three unclassified military projects.” The projects include a prototype technology to rescue people trapped in collapsed structures, determining where to launch the newest GPS satellite, and designing the next generation of unmanned aerial vehicles.

GSD&M partnered with interactive design consultancy Welikesmall to create video content from three Air Force bases, including Air Force Space Command — one of the most restricted-access areas in the country. Using video, including shots captured by crawling through debris in simulated earthquake conditions, GSD&M and Welikesmall created an informative and engaging video. They make science and technology seem kind of cool, not always an easy feat. The video was lacking one crucial piece though: Bill Nye.

Welikesmall also created a social media network that allows the Air Force to constantly update the site with new content, projects and notifications. They even turn the project into something of a game, with users able to see how their ideas rank against their peers. It will be interesting to see what new ideas emerge from this endeavor. Credits after the jump. continued…

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How Does Superman Shave? Gillette Asks Some Supergeeks Who Might Know

Gillette has a super-geeky Man of Steel tie-in and YouTube takeover going on right now, where they ask an impressive list of celebrities, "How does Superman shave?" Bill Nye, the science guy, offers a theory based in materials science. Super-geek movie director Kevin Smith suggests he uses a piece of the spaceship he came to Earth in (while detailing and dismissing some super other amusing theories, including the one from the comics that he uses his heat-vision reflected in a mirror to burn each hair off). The Big Bang Theory's Mayim Bialik (whom you may know as Blossom, and who also has a real Ph.D in neuroscience) puts forth that Superman has super-Nair. Finally, the MythBusters guys give five or six theories before landing on the Large Hadron Collider. Surprisingly, but not in a bad way, no one said with a Gillette razor. It's a smart idea and a great tie-in. Ad agency Concept One came up with the notion for Gillette. If you want to hash over your own theory, tweet at #HowDoesHeShave. Or just search it to geek out on the crazy pseudo-science theories. Asking comic-book nerds to argue an absurd bit of superhero minutiae on social media? Their evil plan just might work! More spots below.