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:
Review: Director Jon M. Chu’s “Wicked”
It's the ultimate celebrity redemption tour, two decades in the making. In the annals of pop culture, few characters have undergone an image makeover quite like the Wicked Witch of the West.
Oh, she may have been vengeful and scary in "The Wizard of Oz." But something changed — like, REALLY changed — on the way from the yellow brick road to the Great White Way. Since 2003, crowds have packed nightly into "Wicked" at Broadway's Gershwin Theatre to cheer as the green-skinned, misunderstood Elphaba rises up on her broomstick to belt "Defying Gravity," that enduring girl-power anthem.
How many people have seen "Wicked"? Rudimentary math suggests more than 15 million on Broadway alone. And now we have "Wicked" the movie, director Jon M. Chu's lavish, faithful, impeccably crafted (and nearly three-hour) ode to this origin story of Elphaba and her (eventual) bestie — Glinda, the very good and very blonde. Welcome to Hollywood, ladies.
Before we get to what this movie does well (Those big numbers! Those costumes!), just a couple thornier issues to ponder. Will this "Wicked," powered by a soulful Cynthia Erivo (owner of one of the best singing voices on the planet) and a sprightly, comedic, hair-tossing Ariana Grande, turn even musical theater haters into lovers?
Tricky question. Some people just don't buy into the musical thing, and they should be allowed to live freely amongst us. But if people breaking into song delights rather than flummoxes you, if elaborate dance numbers in village squares and fantastical nightclubs and emerald-hued cities make perfect sense to you, and especially if you already love "Wicked," well then, you will likely love this film. If it feels like they made the best "Wicked" movie money could buy — well, it's... Read More