As line drawn animation unfolds before our eyes to reveal a cityscape, a voiceover poses what sounds like a mathematical problem. “Presume the average minimum temperature during winter is 34.7 degrees fahrenheit, the average rainfall 5.7 inches. Supposing cardboard boxes hae a fiber saturation point of 3.2, how desperate do you have to be to sleep in one?”
The animation of the figures and the cardboard shelter then turns to live action as we see a male teenager huddled under the box.
“Help a kid who has survived life on the street earn a college degree,” relates a voiceover, which is accompanied by a supered Web site address (seattleeducationaccess.org). “Support our scholarship programs.”
The spot is one of two in a package directed by Brian Johnson of Story, Chicago, for advertising trade group Ad2Seattle. Johnson worked on the TV campaign with a team from Seattle animation house Blank Design headed by creative director/art director/illustrator/animator Bobby Hougham.
The creative team at Ad2Seattle consisted of art director/copywriter Charles Noback, art director Andy Durr and copywriter Shannon Mead.
The mathematical word problem approach was designed to initially engage viewers on an intellectual level and set them up to become emotionally involved when the spots switch gears. “By turning the facts in otherwise detached and cold story problems [the other spot discusses hypothermia] into emotional appeals, we struck a chord with our audience,” related Noback. “They weren’t expecting it and that’s ultimately why it works.”
With essentially no budget to speak of, Johnson had to recruit collaborators, such as Hougham, who liked the idea and supported the cause. Furthermore, as a cost-saving measure, Johnson shot the live-action at the end of a day during the production of another commercial project.
Editor was Tony Fulgham of World Famous LLC, Seattle.
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads — essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More