The latest spot in a campaign promoting the 2010 MTV Movie Awards on June 6 broke today (May 27), deploying star power with actor/comedian Aziz Ansari (Parks and Recreation, Funny People) who is awards show emcee, Jeremy Renner who offers a tongue-in-cheek reprise of his Oscar-nominated role as a maverick demolition expert in The Hurt Locker, and pop music star/teenage hearthrob Justin Bieber.
Directed by Evan Silver and produced by Kris Walter of MTV on-air promos, all five spots in the comedy campaign are running globally on TV, in movie theaters and online.
In The Hurt Locker/Bieber spot, we see Ansari in his living room watching the Best Picture Academy Award winner on TV, with Bieber behind him in the kitchen munching on potato chips. Ansari explains that MTV hooked him up with the newest movie watching technology–“4D,” which is indeed leaps and bounds beyond 3D as we see Renner in Ansari’s cramped living room, performing a famous scene from The Hurt Locker. Renner tries to disarm a bomb only to be disturbed by Bieber’s chomping on potato chips. Renner has no idea who Bieber is–at least that’s the actor’s claim which turns out to be defused by an ill-timed cell phone call.
Other spots in the campaign include another “4D” screening of The Hurt Locker in Ansari’s home, this time with guest Kristen Bell (Forgetting Sara Marshall), as well as promos in which celebs all help to answer the query, Who is Aziz Ansari?
In yet another promo, “Let’s Go To The Movies, which is running on TV and in movie theaters, Ansari encourages the audience to come to the movies with him while the classic “Let’s Go To The Lobby” song starts up. Ansari walks right past a movie theater and into his apartment where he proceeds to illegally download a movie. A few moments later he gets a surprise visit from a very anxious gun toting SWAT Team.
In addition to directing the spots, Silver served as art director for MTV on-air promos, part of a creative team which also included producer Kris Walter, executive creative directors Kevin Mackall and Amy Campbell, writer Aziz Ansari, editor Tiffany Burchard at Edit No 6 with VFX by Mark Szumski at Click 3X.
R/GA Goes Independent In Management and Private Equity Partnership
Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG) has sold R/GA, the creative innovation company, to Truelink Capital, a private equity firm with a track record of investing in tech-enabled services. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The move thus marks R/GA’s return to independence as a privately owned company after 23 years as part of IPG. R/GA’s global management team and Truelink Capital have formed an indie partnership. R/GA’s global CEO Robin Forbes and chair & global chief creative officer Tiffany Rolfe are two of the global leaders, together with others, who are investing in the company as part of the deal. R/GA’s next chapter will be fueled out of the gate by a $50M Innovation Fund, enabling the company to invest in new skillsets and talent, and acquire new capabilities, emerging tools and platforms. Additionally, R/GA has established a Strategic Advisory Council of senior marketing and technology executives to support emerging AI client transformation opportunities across multiple sectors.
As an independent company, R/GA is activating an AI-enabled model to better serve clients, unburdened by the restrictions and overheads of traditional corporate structures. New remuneration models based on outcomes, agile new team structures, and scaling up its flexible talent model “R/GA Associates,” are among the initial changes being implemented.
“Today is a landmark moment for R/GA, as we enter an exciting new chapter as a private company supported by our new partners at Truelink Capital. This announcement also signals a stark contrast to a wider trend towards consolidation in the agency business. Most agencies will struggle to make the pivot in this new age, especially at a time when they’re operating within complex agency... Read More