Here’s a fun little promo for the Miami Ad School’s Toronto location, showing a portfolio critique that seems like good news at first for our young hero being interviewed—but soon the truth becomes more painfully obvious.
“Celebrities Read Mean Tweets” is one of Jimmy Kimmel’s most popular segments. It’s been spoofed here and there—even by ad agencies. But now, Canadian agency John St. takes the theme in a bit of a different direction with “Kids Read Mean Tweets.”
Check it out here:
“It’s easy to laugh at rich celebrities reading some of the terrible things people have said about them online. We condone it. We even revel in it,” the advertiser, Canadian Safe School Network, say in a press release. “But this same behavior is turning almost 40 percent of Canadian kids into victims of cyberbullying. It’s a growing epidemic that invades their lives and leaves many feeling like there’s no way out.”
The client has even started an Indiegogo campaign to raise money, all of which will go into buying online video so the spot can be seen by more people.
CREDITS
Client: Canadian Safe School Network
Agency: John St, Canada
Executive Creative Directors: Stephen Jurisic, Angus Tucker
Creative Director: Niall Kelly
Copywriters: Kohl Forsberg, Jacob Greer
Art Directors: Jenny Luong, Denver Eastman
Agency Producers: Madison Papple, Cas Binnington
Account Supervisor: Matty Bendavid
Digital Strategy: Adam Ferraro, Michael Nurse
Community Manager: Jacqueline Parker
Production Company: OPC
Director: Chris Woods
Director of Photography: James Gardner
Executive Producers: Harland Weiss, Donovan Boden, Liz Dussault
Line Producer: Dwight Phipps
Editorial: Saints Editorial
Editor: Mark Paiva
Editorial Executive Producer: Stephanie Hickman
Editorial Producer: Ardith Birchall
VFX, Online & Finishing: The Vanity
Colourist: Andrew Exworth
Flame Artist: Naveen Srivastava
VFX Executive Producer: Stephanie Pennington
Audio Post Facility: Eggplant Collective
Audio Director / Composer: Adam Damelin
Audio Head of Production: Nicola Treadgold
Since today is Halloween, we’ve seen a fair number of themed ads and other such clickable “content” produced by our agency friends. We know how picky our readers are, so we’d like to highlight some of the most horrifying work we’ve received this week that has absolutely nothing to do with ghosts, goblins or big-name candy clients.
First: this “Employee Appreciation Day” spot from Canada’s Union Advertising isn’t related to Halloween, but it is frightening because, like the best horror movies, it’s only a slight exaggeration of reality.
More information/creative credits here. Moving along…
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
Ever feel like real-time marketing is all about being first, and not about being good?
You’re not alone.
John St., the Toronto agency that regularly produces scathing parody videos about the ad business, just released the hilarious video below about the breakneck pace of marketing today—and how every brand feels the need to react to real-time events within minutes.
As it did with Catvertising™, John St. is now pretending to be running a whole new dedicated unit called Reactvertising™, where it goes to absurd lengths to make sure its clients are clued into current events 24/7 and can react within seconds—indeed, knee-jerk-like—to breaking news.
“Does your agency take hours to respond to the latest trending hashtag or celebrity death?” John St. asks. “Is your brand missing out on being part of the conversation because you’re reacting too slow?”
Watch below and see how to get quicker, quality be damned.
A few more videos from the campaign:
john st. has crafted a new campaign in support of “below-the-waist cancer research” for Stanfield’s.
For the campaign, the agency brought back testicular cancer survivor, Mark McIntyre, who appeared in previous campaigns “The Guy at Home in his Underwear” and “The Gitchhiker” to promote the fundraising experiential event “#StreakWeek,” which runs from October 18-26. Mark introduces the idea, and appears to be promoting actual streaking until the end of the video, where he recommends wearing Stanfield’s underwear, “just to be safe” (and not get arrested). Viewers (both male and female) can support Mark on one of his streaks or participate in a streak of their own, or just use the #StreakWeek hashtag on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. Each time it is used, Stanfield’s will donate a dollar to the Canadian Cancer Society (up to $25,000).
“We wanted to make sure people could get involved however they want.” said Angus Tucker, ECD at john st. “Whether it’s sharing Mark’s journey, donating to a streaker, raising money by going streaking yourself, or just using the hashtag, it all helps and it all goes to a very very good cause.”
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
Toronto agency john st.’s latest campaign for World Wildlife Fund Canada is based around the insight that people are lazy. Or, as Stephen Jurisic, co-ECD at john st. puts it, “This idea comes from the rather depressing truth that most people will only do things that help the environment if it’s really, really easy to do…So rather than try to change that behavior, we thought let’s just embrace it and show that it takes next to no effort to help our oceans and the sea life in it.”
In a 60-second spot, the agency promotes buying seafood with the MSC (Marine Stewardship Council) label on it to help protect our oceans by supporting sustainable fishing practices. The spot likens buying MSC-certified seafood with recycling (“Because it’s next to the trash.”) and buying organic, things that are “easy and practically unavoidable.” It’s an interesting change of approach from the usual call-to-arms, making the implication that there’s really no excuse not to buy MSC seafood, since it’s so easy.The campaign also includes two shorter how-to videos and a series of overtly simply online quizzes. (more…)
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
john st. has a new campaign for President’s Choice, Canada’s number one consumer packaged goods brand, celebrating curiosity.
Who decided to try to eat pineapple? Who first braved a beehive to get honey? How did people figure out which mushrooms were edible? Who figured out popcorn? These are some of the questions posed by the campaign’s 60-second broadcast spot, “Crave More,” which concludes with the line, “If you don’t search for more, you’ll never find it.”
“It’s the questioning of the status quo that leads to the discoveries of foods and different ways of sourcing foods that is really the DNA of President’s Choice,” explains Angus Tucker, partner and creative director of John St. “That’s what we were trying to capture, that passion for finding the new and the next.”
The campaign also includes a 30-second broadcast spots, in-store marketing, social media elements and an overhauled website.
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
With the brand having passed the 10-year mark in Canada, john st. is re-introducing Mitsubishi with a new branding campaign, complete with a fresh tagline, “Built Better. Backed Better.”
Built around a series of 30-second ads, the new campaign implores Canadians to get to know Mitsubishi, since, as the ending line states, “With a ten year warranty, you’ll be spending a long time together.” The tagline and “get to know Mitsubishi” angle both highlight the extensive warranty, making for a cohesive strategy. The first in the series of television spots, “Get To Know Mitsubishi” goes through the brand’s logo, history, future, “the first mass-produced electric vehicle,” it’s designer, his mother, and the house he bought her, and the warranty, in rapid succession — perhaps too rapid. With each item introduced by “This is…” and the spot running through the list so quickly, it’s a bit too easy to miss information or tune the spot out altogether. The television campaign is supported by digital, print and radio ads.
“The idea for the campaign came right out of Mitsubishi’s industry best warranty,” explains Angus Tucker, executive creative producer/partner at john st. “It’s ten years, which means that when you buy a Mitsubishi, you’re going to be spending a lot of time with your vehicle, whether an Outlander, RVR, Lancer or Mirage. So you better get to know each other first.” Stick around for credits after the jump. (more…)
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
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