To Fight Animal Cancer, Dogs and Cats Sing, Dance, and Even Rap

Yes, that’s right, a dog raps in the two-minute “We Could Be Heroes” music video meant to raise awareness and money for animal cancer. The video for Pet Trust comes from Toronto-based Red Urban and appears to be a sort of “We Are the World” spin-off with dogs and cats. The opening over-the-should shot of a paw pressing against a keyboard tells you all you need to know. If you love animals, you’ll probably find this cute. If you don’t, you’ll probably find this cringingly corny.

Regardless of your position, I’m sure we all want to find a cure for animal cancer, so this campaign can always block any creative criticisms behind a shield of philanthropy. But even though the animal-personified-as-human motif  lacks substance, it’s hard to navigate this kind of project without resorting to Sarah McLachlan territory. And by comparison, Red Urban took a more positive approach that doesn’t make you want to immediately change the channel or start weeping. Points for that, and credits after the jump.

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Red Urban Highlights New Golf GTD’s Acceleration in Global Spots

Red Urban, Volkswagen’s creative agency in Canada for the past three-and-a-half years, has unveiled the new Golf GTD with a global campaign showcasing the car’s rapid acceleration. The five 15-second spots for the campaign were filmed on location in Toronto over the course of two days, presenting quite a few challenges for Red Urban and director Curtis Wehfritz, working with several different shooting locations, a car-mounted camera and many prop gags.

The results are pretty mixed, ranging from the befuddling — expanding waistlines and accelerated childbirth — to the humorous: a grumpy child whose strawberry ice cream flies off its cone and against the rear windshield. This latter spot succeeds largely because of the perfect look on the girl’s face, and the believable (if unrealistic) execution of the ice cream splat.

The series marks the Canadian agency’s increasing expansion into global creative work for Volkswagen, which creative director Christina Yu calls “an amazing opportunity for Red Urban.” Red Urban’s work for Volkswagen in Canada has been innovative and has even seen the agency take some risks, as with their “Great Volkswagen Art Heist” campaign. While their campaign for the Golf GTD plays it relatively safe, hopefully the agency will start pushing boundaries with their future global work for Volkswagen.

Credits and one more video after the jump.

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