To promote Windows Server 2008, the most recent release of the Microsoft Windows Server line of operating systems, which was released February 27, a series of three video ads starring a computer-generated robot character are playing at www.serverunleashed.com and other sites. The spots were created by McCann Erickson/San Francisco and produced by Digital Domain/Venice, Calif.
“It’s a major launch for Microsoft, an updated version of their enterprise software and they needed a big campaign, so we came up with the metaphor of the robot,” said Michael Furlong, a creative director at McCann. “The campaign is about reliability and manageability, which we represented with the strength and flexibility of the robot.”
In spots entitled “Command Line,” “Crouching Robot” and “Exerciser,” the robot, nicknamed IT247, is the server, which runs and jumps around the industrial space as two men discuss it.
Digital Domain used motion capture to set up the robot’s moves. “We wanted to have the robot be able to do robotic things and have the flavor of a human being,” said Fred Raimondi, the Digital Domain director. “Rather than have an animator do it, we recorded the motions of a guy in a suit with sensors on his body and applied it to the robot model.” Alex Chansky, an actor who doubled for Spiderman in two movies and has appeared in martial arts films, was filmed in the motion capture sequence.
The two men were shot on green screen with everything else in the spots in 3D. The spots were shot with an Arri D4 digital camera. “It’s fully digital and we didn’t use film,” Raimondi said.
The spots are all :30s but they’re not running on TV in the U.S., although they may in international markets. “Different markets will adapt them for their own usage,” Furlong said. “Here, we’re trying to target IT pros and it’s easier to get them online.” The U.S. campaign runs at www.serverunleashed.com and a number of sites in a media buy, including gadget sites Gizmodo and Crunchgear.
The U.S. campaign also includes two-page magazine spreads.
Furlong said he worked with the McCann office in Japan to coordinate the robot movements because “they’re very sensitive to how robots are represented.” Robots have appeared in ads for Honda and Nissan in Japan, “so we had to make sure the robot was unique,” he said.
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