Microsoft Advertising’s Branded Entertainment and Experiences Team (BEET) has dovetailed with ad agencies Walton Isaacson, bicoastal and Chicago (creative), and Team One, El Segundo, Calif. (media), to shepherd Fresh Perspectives, a new web series directed by The Sniper Twins of BRW USA for client the Lexus CT Hybrid. The series debuted on MSN.com last week.
The webisodes focus on six young artists in different mediums, tasked to create original pieces of art within 24 hours around the themes of “escape,” “challenge” and “empower.” The artisans are chef Craig Thornton, painter/collagist Augustine Kofie, fashion designer Robert James, paper sculptor Jeff Nishinaka, singer-songwriter V and photographer Tod Seelie.
Fashion designer James, for example, sets out to create a jacket in 24 hours to meet the “challenge” theme. Chef Thornton embodies “escape” with the welcomed distraction of creating “forest flavors on a plate.” Painter Kofie translates “empower” into an orange colored creation. Seelie “escapes” by lensing on location in “the far end” of Brooklyn and Queens. Songwriter/vocalist V pens and performs a song designed to “empower” young girls.
The Sniper Twins collaborated with Team One, Walton Isaacson and Lexus. UTAOnline packaged the show and brought the opportunity to the Sniper Twins to direct and BRW to produce. They also brought on Yosi Sergent’s Taskforce to help cast the artists who would best tie in with the Lexus brand and the CT Hybrid. The series was shot over eight days–five in Los Angeles and three days in New York–on the Canon 7D. The DP was Aaron Platt The webisodes follow the artists as they complete their works of art and examine how art is defined in a different “fresh” perspective.
The original series, BRW USA’s first venture into branded entertainment, is an example of the growing trend toward programs with more subtle branding. Director Barry Flanagan–who along with Dax Martinez-Vargas comprise the Sniper Twins–observed, “There are exciting opportunities now for branded content where companies and agencies can get behind the projects as sponsorship and come up with really creative content.” The Fresh Perspectives campaign focuses less on the Lexus name and more on what the Lexus brand, and more specifically, the new Lexus CT Hybrid, represents. As all brands are becoming more social, this method is an ideal way for Lexus to take a more content-driven approach to connecting with consumers.
Altogether, 45 different videos were produced for the project, including artist bios and time-lapsed imagery of each art project in process. The Fresh Perspectives hub page will also feature written profiles on the artists and features of 30 additional artists.
Fresh Perspectives is part of a multifaceted marketing campaign for the CT Hybrid, “Darker Side of Green,” which launched on March 1 and features unconventional creative and media executions.
The Microsoft BEET contingent included brand strategists Sara Clark and Eric Day, brand solutions manager Jessica Lowe, managing editor Steven Wiens, editor Monica Fischer, creative director Jeremy Grubaugh, sr. user experience lead Kris Bergen and user experience designer Richard Worsfold.
The BRW USA ensemble included managing director/sr. executive producer Andy Traines, exec producer Gianfilippo Pedrotti, production supervisor Robert Gustafson and line producer Ari Weiner.
Click 3X also figured in the mix, with VFX creative director Ders Hallgren, VFX managing director David Edelstein, exec producer Rob Meyers, producer Maddy Yasner, animator Dave Rogers, and editors Rob James, Emily Sheskin, Sam Goetz and Nicole Turney.
The audio post team from YouTooCanWoo consisted of David Perlick-Molani, Deidre Muro and Paul Hammer.
Here’s a taste of Fresh Perspectives:
Oscar Nominees Delve Into The Art Of Editing At ACE Session
You couldn’t miss Sean Baker at this past Sunday’s Oscar ceremony where he won for Best Picture, Directing, Original Screenplay and Editing on the strength of Anora. However, earlier that weekend he was in transit from the Cesar Awards in Paris and thus couldn’t attend the American Cinema Editors (ACE) 25th annual panel of Academy Award-nominated film editors held at the Regal LA Live Auditorium on Saturday (3/1) in Los Angeles. While the eventual Oscar winner in the editing category was missed by those who turned out for the ACE “Invisible Art, Visible Artists” session, three of Baker’s fellow nominees were on hand--Dávid Jancsó, HSE for The Brutalist; Nick Emerson for Conclave; and Myron Kerstein, ACE for Wicked. Additionally, Juliette Welfling, who couldn’t appear in person due to the Cesar Awards, was present via an earlier recorded video interview to discuss her work on Emilia Pérez. The interview was conducted by ACE president and editor Sabrina Plisco, ACE who also moderated the live panel discussion. Kerstein said that he was the beneficiary of brilliant and generous collaborators, citing, among others, director Jon M. Chu, cinematographer Alice Brooks, and visual effects supervisor Pablo Helman. The editor added it always helps to have stellar acting performances, noting that hearing Cynthia Erivo, for example, sing live was a revelation. Kerstein recalled meeting Chu some eight years ago on a “blind Skype date” and it was an instant “bromance”--which began on Crazy Rich Asians, and then continued on such projects as the streaming series Home Before Dark and the feature In The Heights. Kerstein observed that Chu is expert in providing collaborators with... Read More