Hasta La Creative!

Producers Tamir Moscovici and Paul Proulx, the creative production team behind Urban Outlaw and Painting Coconuts , decided to mark the 15th anniversary of Sony’s landmark Gran Turismo series (and recent release of Gran Turismo 6) with a documentary profiling “the single-minded genius behind Gran Turismo’s birth and breathtaking 15-year evolution,” Kazunori Yamauchi.

KAZ: Pushing the Virtual Divide is a one hour, 24 minute documentary examining the drive and devotion Yamauichi has put into Gran Turismo from its birth through its incredible evolution over the past 15 years. Since the first Gran Turismo game in 1997, the game Yamauchi had wanted to make since he was fifteen years old, he has always gone above and beyond expectations in creating the best games possible. Yamauchi has been one of the most important and interesting figures in gaming over the past 15 years, with a singular devotion to giving gamers the ultimate driving experience. His insane devotion to detail in his racing simulation series can be traced to his love for racing and all things automotive — he really races himself, and often wins. This offers him a unique understanding of what racing is all about, something he brings into each of his games.

If you’re a gamer, and especially if you’re a fan of the Gran Turismo series, it’s a really intriguing — and sometimes nostalgic — look at one of Sony’s most iconic gaming series and the incredible man behind them. Check out the trailer above, and, if you’re interested, head on over to Hulu for the complete documentary. Credits after the jump. continued…

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To promote The Power of Movement, Canada’s largest yoga fundraiser, Lowe Roche wanted to show that not only would the event raise money for arthritis, but that yoga can bring increased mobility to arthritis sufferers as well.

To link these ideas, Lowe Roche crafted a 30 second spot featuring yogis lined up to resemble “shapes of the human bone system.” The spot uses this as a striking visual representation of the ties between yoga, arthritis and mobility, accompanied by text explaining how you can help those with arthritis simply by doing yoga. All of this is accompanied by the obligatory new age music you’d hear at a typical yoga studio.

For Lowe Roche creative director Jane Murray, this was a very personal project. Murray suffers from a rare form of arthritis called Ankylosing Spondylitis, which causes the spine to fuse. When client Sabrina Young approached her asking if she knew any agencies who would take on pro-bono work for the Arthritis Research Foundation, she volunteered and made it her pet project.

Print elements of the campaign launched last month, while the television component of the campaign was only recently unveiled. The Power of Movement event is scheduled for March 2. Credits after the jump. continued…

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We’ve covered past john st. efforts, original campaigns that are usually quirky and honest without forcing the issue. The Toront-based agency’s newest fare, “Earth Hour Cheerspiration,” comes on the heels of a WPP takeover. And even though it’s too early to thumb the corporate acquisition for a change in creativity, ”Cheerspiration,” as you can see in the above video, lacks the off-beat humor we’ve come to expect from john st.

The spot is meant to promote Earth Hour for WWF Canada, when those interested will conserve energy by shutting off all lights for one hour on the night of March 23 (for reference, check out this previous Earth Hour work from TVF and Hot Chip). Associating the unwavering pep of five loud cheerleaders with an important cause seems misguided at best, especially since it’s not easy to understand their hollering and, well, they’re cheerleaders. They’re stereotypically dumb–not saying that’s true–and only likable to jocks and teenage girls who thought Bring It On was a great movie. Not sure what the connection is to Earth Hour–maybe there is no connection? But if that’s the case, then why?

Dare I say it…even couchgating was more entertaining, and that’s been my gold standard of witless advertising. Here’s to hoping for better work next time, john st. Two more “Cheerspiration” spots and credits after the jump.

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