This spot fills the screen with the screen of a smart phone on which plays an exchange of text messages. A friend urges another to come to the movie theater. The text conversation starts with the recipient of the first message initially resisting, about to go to bed. Eventually she acquiesces and jumps in her car to hurry over to the theater. The texting continues with her behind the wheel.
Suddenly and sadly, the texting becomes one-sided, with no response from the teen driver.
A sobering text message then appears on screen from this spot’s sponsor: “Put it down. Save your Life. Project Yellow Light.”
Project Yellow Light is a film competition for the Hunter Garner Scholarship, which is awarded annually to the Virginia high school student who submits the most compelling save driving video. The scholarship was established by Julie Garner, a VP at The Martin Agency, Richmond, Va., who lost her 16-year-old son, Hunter, in a car accident in 2007. The goal of the video competition is to create videos that will influence teens to embrace safe driving habits.
“The Last Text” is one of two Project Yellow Light spots designed to spur high school students in Virginia to create and enter videos into the competition. These spots designed to spur action were produced by ONE at Optimus, the live-action production arm of post house Optimus, which joined forces with The Martin Agency on the project. These professional spots have been added to the Project Yellow Light website that also showcases teen videos created over the past few years.
“Car accidents are the number one killer of teens in the U.S., and more than 300,000 are seriously injured each year,” said Julie Garner. “We launched Project Yellow Light to keep our son Hunter’s name alive and to empower teens to create videos to spread the word about safe driving. After running the scholarship contest for four years, we asked ONE at Optimus to create professional yet accessible spots that would inspire teens to develop their own polished and savvy videos. The spots ONE created were perfect–they hit the message without being ‘preachy’–and really got the kids excited about taking it up a notch in their own videos.”
More than a dozen staffers at The Martin Agency have been involved in Project Yellow Light since its inception in 2007. Friends of Julie Garner at the agency have donated their time and talent to create the website, guide teens in video production and development, and even act as judges to choose the scholarship winners.
The two Project Yellow Light spots were directed and edited by Otto Arsenault of ONE at Optimus. The ensemble of talent from ONE at Optimus also included creative director/exec producer John Noble, writer Amanda Speva, producer Sarah Slevin and DP Mark Pallman. Audio engineer was Joel Anderson of Optimus.
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More