Team One, Publicis Group’s agency for premium brands, created this commercial for the 2023 Lexus RX which plays on the universal appeal of The Wizard of Oz. The spot features a family resembling the movie characters in the new Lexus RX and asks what if Dorothy had ignored the advice to “follow the yellow brick road” and took the road less traveled instead? Like the all-new 2023 RX, “Unfollow” reimagines what is possible with a modern interpretation of one of the most celebrated films of all time.
Hanna Maria Heidrich via production house RESET directed “Unfollow.” She is an alum of SHOOT’s 2012 New Directors Showcase.
Credits
Client Lexus Agency Team One Julie Michael, CEO; Chris Graves, chief creative officer; Jason Stinsmuehlen, executive creative director; Britt Wilen, creative director/copywriter; Philipp Dietz, creative director/art director; Neil Cleary, sr. music supervisor; Julie Bedard, sr. project manager; Mark Savage, sr. manager, product insights; Sam Walsh, director, content production; Leah Bohl, associate director, content production; Jenny Valladares, sr. producer; Ann Truong, sr. content producer. Production RESET Hanna Maria Heidrich, director; Dave Morrison, managing director; John Moran, head of production; Jen Beitler, Michael Garza, exec producers; Matt Wersinger, producer; Roman Vasyanov, DP; Meghan McClure, production designer. Editorial Cabin Rami D’Aguiar, editor; Katie Pehowski, assistant editor; Adam Becht, exec producer; Carr Schilling, managing director; Dale Nicholls, sr. producer. VFX JAMM Visual Effects Benoit Mannequin, VFX supervisor/lead compositor; Tim Robbins, Patrick Munoz, Diego Vazquez, Max Harris, Michael Parkinson; Sam Shiflett, Flame artists; Brandon Kachel, matte painter; Anna Dood, producer; Anne-Marie DePauw, production coordinator; Asher Edwards, exec producer. VFX Tilt-Shift, LA Felix Urquiza, creative director; Shelby Wong, head of production; Michael Johnson, CG supervisor; Joel Binder, VFX producer. Color JAMM Visual Effects Adam Scott, colorist; Carver Moore, color assist; Jon Lzar, color producer. Music Squeak E. Clean Studios Michael Gross, executive creative producer; Rob Barbato, executive creative director; Julie B. Nichols, creative director; Max Taylor, sr. producer; Zac Colwell, composer. Music “Follow the Yellow Brick Road” by Harold Arlen & E.Y. Harburg (courtesy Sony ATV Music Publishing/Disney Music Group,) performed by Squeak E Clean Music. Audio Post Margarita Mix Santa Monica Whitney Morris, exec producer; Brian Frank, operations manager; Bruce Bueckert, mixer; Mike Murzyn, Sean Melia, Zach Olson, assistants.
With one in five Brits (22%) experiencing a fraud attempt every single week, telecommunications company O2 and VCCP London’s AI creative agency faith have launched what's billed as a first-of-its-kind campaign to fight back against scammers.
At the heart of the campaign is Daisy, a lifelike, state-of-the-art, Conversational AI character designed to speak with scammers and keep them on the phone for as long as possible so they have less time to try and scam real people.
The newest member of O2’s fraud prevention team, Daisy was created using a range of cutting-edge AI technology and is indistinguishable from a real person. Based on a real-life relative of a VCCP employee to ensure total believability, Daisy was built to play on scammers’ own stereotypical views that older people are easier targets for scams. While anyone can be a victim of a scam, criminal fraud gangs often target the elderly, so by leaning into scammers’ own biases, Daisy became the perfect scambaiter.
Phoney fraudsters--including many posing as some of the UK’s most trusted businesses--thought they’d got their hands on an easy target, but Daisy has been beating them at their own horrible game, answering scam calls and wasting scammers calls as part of an awareness campaign which exposes fraudsters tricks and tactics and offers top tips on how to avoid scammers.
Daisy is able to interact in real-time ensuring no suspicions are raised on the other end of the line, and has worked 24/7, and over the course of many hours of scam calls she’s told meandering stories of her family, talked at length about her passion for knitting and provided false personal information including made-up bank details.
O2 and faith worked with leading U.K. scambaiter Jim... Read More
