Hasta La Creative!

For the follow-up to the popular “Look Inside. Jack Andraka” video which garnered over 2 million views on YouTube, VB&P decided to tell the inspiring story of Erik Weihenmayer.

Erik is a mountain climber who has climbed the seven tallest summits on earth, one of only 118 people in history to accomplish this feat. That would be impressive enough, but Weihenmayer is the only person to do so while blind. Weihenmayer was born with retinoschisis and was fully blind by the age of 13. Three years later, at a recreational program for the visually impaired, he was introduced to rock climbing, and it changed his life forever. “I wanted my life to be an adventure, I didn’t want to be shoved to the sidelines and forgotten and just sit in a dark room listening to life go by,” Weihenmayer said. “Rock climbing for me was sort of a symbol that I could get to the summit of whatever I wanted to do, but I had to do it differently.”

In 2001, Weihenmayer became the first blind man to reach the top of Mount Everest, and by 2008 he’d accomplished the amazing feat of scaling the seven tallest peaks in the world. “In an ironic way, that thing like blindness or that barrier you face, if you attack it the right way, it can become a catalyst to moving yourself to a new place that you may not have gone to in any other way,” Erik said.

Erik’s story can be viewed online, in the above film directed by Christopher Hewitt of Knucklehead. Intel has also launched a social media program, where if Erik’s video is shared 2,900 times they will donate $30,000 to No Barriers USA, an organization offering “transformative experiences that allow people to embrace a ‘no barriers mindset’ and discover the potential that lies within themselves and the world.” After viewing Erik’s “Look Inside” video above, you can head here for the full story. Stick around for credits and “Look Inside. Jack Andraka” after the jump.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Now that we’ve received entries from both Lowe Roche and john st., the latter of which has already claimed to have won the Best Agency Video prize at the 2013 Strategy AOY Awards, why not see what else came into play at this year’s event. Above, we have fellow Toronto-based agency Taxi’s submission for the Strategy AOYs, which shows a hapless soul taking ad award obsession to a, well, more fashion-conscious level. We wonder whose actual Cannes Lions they used in the clip, though we’re anxious to see how “okinawin denim,” “mini-wallets” and “pilgrim aesthetics” could possibly all join as one. Where does this rank out of the three we’ve covered for you? In the meantime, you can also check out the trade’s current 2013 winners list here.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.