Actor/comedian/director Jamie Kennedy, whose credits include the half-hour hidden camera/practical joke/prankster WB reality TV series The Jamie Kennedy Experiment, and Michael Addis, with helming credits that include the well received comedic feature documentary Heckler (starring Kennedy), teamed to direct a hidden camera online spot campaign introducing the Portégé Z830 Ultrabook lightweight laptop computer for clients Toshiba and Intel.
The assignment from Los Angeles agency goodness Mfg. marked the ad directorial debut of Kennedy and Addis who are repped as a commercialmaking duo by First Wave, a New York-based hybrid production/post/music house headed by exec producer Justin Havlik.
The Ultrabook videos feature professional pickpockets Bob Arno and Ben Seidman, along with real-people accomplices and unsuspecting marks. The scenarios involve an Ultrabook being placed inside the bag of a distracted, unsuspecting person. The computer is so light that he or she doesn’t even notice they’re carrying a laptop. Sure enough, a security guard comes around asking to inspect people’s bags for a stolen computer. When the guard discovers the laptop, accusations fly at the mark who’s been deftly set up.
Kennedy related, “We took the hidden camera comedy we have so much fun with–in TV and film–to commercials and created some pretty cool branded entertainment. The agency came up with a great campaign for us to do what we do best. Social experiments with real people’s reactions are at the heart of the pieces and we made sure that it was a fun experience for everyone involved.”
The “I Was Framed” campaign also includes an interactive component with an embedded YouTube video game that lives on Toshiba’s Facebook tab.
Havlik produced for First Wave. Ruben O’Malley served as DP.
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