kajeet cell phones, targeted to nine to 14 year-old tweens, are being promoted by an animated mystery film from Red Tettemer/Philadelphia and Mekanism/San Francisco. The film began playing October 31 and will run for eight weekly installments, concluding with one of three possible endings, chosen by the kids.
The Mysterious Mystery of the Malfunctioning Pets stars the kajeet dudes, six brightly colored round characters who represent kid archetypes, from the jock to the skater. As the kids tackle the mystery of the evil janitor who plants chips in pets’ brains to render them helpless so he can sell them as robotic Christmas toys, they use kajeet phones to take pictures and send text messages, which helps them solve the heinous crime.
The film plays at Dudeworld.com, kajeet’s site.
“The idea is to engage kids and persuade them not to ask for any cell phone but the kajeet, because it’s the only one for this audience,” said Steve Red, Red Tettemer’s chief creative officer. “The film shows the use of the kajeet phone in the kids’ lives, it entertains them and involves them in the outcome of the story.”
The final episode of the film will play before Christmas, making it part of the holiday campaign that promotes the phones as Christmas gifts for kids, Red said.
Mekanism had produced 3D animated TV spots for the campaign, but went the 2D route for the film. “We created them in 2D and shot all the scenes in Flash and animated them in Maya,” said director Ian Kovalik of Mekanism.
He said the characters were hand drawn in the early stages. “We scanned in the art work from the storyboards and used it as background to give the animators some reference,” he said.
“We took the individual characters and brought them to life to give the dudes their own unique identities,” he continued. “The most exciting part was figuring out how the members of the squad would approach the situation, who would be the leader of the group, who’s more timid and who’s the maverick. We really got to know the characters and brought them to life.”
Mekanism is renowned for their animation work done recently for the BP TV spots where the little kids drive into the station. “The animation work we do is really character-oriented,” Kovalik said.
He added that the goal of the kajeet campaign “is to capture the Nickelodeon mindset. We’re looking at the audience that watches SpongeBob and we’re targeting that mindset with crazy, quirky characters like you see on Nick.”
Red said the animated film is part of a multi-media campaign that includes TV, print, online, radio and viral initiatives. The traditional elements drive consumers to the site to see the film.
Supreme Court Allows Multibillion-Dollar Class Action Lawsuit To Proceed Against Meta
The Supreme Court is allowing a multibillion-dollar class action investors' lawsuit to proceed against Facebook parent Meta, stemming from the privacy scandal involving the Cambridge Analytica political consulting firm.
The justices heard arguments in November in Meta's bid to shut down the lawsuit. On Friday, they decided that they were wrong to take up the case in the first place.
The high court dismissed the company's appeal, leaving in place an appellate ruling allowing the case to go forward.
Investors allege that Meta did not fully disclose the risks that Facebook users' personal information would be misused by Cambridge Analytica, a firm that supported Donald Trump 's first successful Republican presidential campaign in 2016.
Inadequacy of the disclosures led to two significant price drops in the price of the company's shares in 2018, after the public learned about the extent of the privacy scandal, the investors say.
Meta spokesman Andy Stone said the company was disappointed by the court's action. "The plaintiff's claims are baseless and we will continue to defend ourselves as this case is considered by the District Court," Stone said in an emailed statement.
Meta already has paid a $5.1 billion fine and reached a $725 million privacy settlement with users.
Cambridge Analytica had ties to Trump political strategist Steve Bannon. It had paid a Facebook app developer for access to the personal information of about 87 million Facebook users. That data was then used to target U.S. voters during the 2016 campaign.
The lawsuit is one of two high court cases involving class-action lawsuits against tech companies. The justices also are wrestling with whether to shut down a class action against Nvidia.... Read More