Good Run, a 3:45 online film is the viral portion of the integrated marketing campaign “Life’s Better with a Boat” for Discover Boating, a public awareness initiative managed by the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) for the North American recreational boating industry. The film focuses on an older man enjoying a private screening of his boating memories, from a boyhood fishing excursion to a recent cruise with his friends.
Many of the clips, which span a lifetime, look like old footage, but the entire piece was shot in early January at Lake Casitas in Ventura, Calif. “It was all original footage on multiple cameras and film formats,” said Joe Grundhoefer, director of broadcast production for Carmichael Lynch/Minneapolis, the agency that created the film, working with Independent Media Inc./Santa Monica, Calif. and director Wally Pfister (Academy Award nominated cinematographer for Batman Begins, The Prestige). “It was shot in 35, 16, 8mm and video, so we could touch on all the time frames,” he said.
“It couldn’t be stock because it needed to be true cast for all the ages of the gentleman and his family,” Grundhoefer said. The main character and others who represent him as a younger man appear in the video. “We cast for the principal man and built the other actors around him,” said Susanne Preissler, executive producer at Independent Media. “You look for people who have similar bone structure and eye color. The director carefully watched the details of the older actor and incorporated them into the other actors’ performances.”
A 35mm camera was used to shoot the man in the screening room and other scenes that demanded a “smoother, warmer look,” Grundhoefer said. Scenes from childhood and a wedding scene used 16mm to provide an older rougher look. Video was used near the end of the piece for a more contemporary look.
The sound track is A Sleepless Sailor, a vocal track by Kate Rusby, which provides a warm tone throughout.
“We decided to add viral marketing to the mix,” said Carl Blackwell, VP of marketing and communications for the NMMA. “It’s a low cost, high impact tactic that allows us to tell more of a story than a :30 or print ad. This piece captures the life of a life long boater for a campaign that sells the lifestyle.”
The video runs at www.Discoverboating.com, mainstream consumer sites including YouTube, Yahoo Video and MySpace, and boat manufacturer sites, including www.hellieryachts.com. The campaign is slated to run through Memorial Day. Integrated marketing aspects include print, cable, web banners and sponsorship of the online Web cast of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.
A General Motors logo appears at the end of the video. “GM is one of the largest engine manufacturers in the boating industry,” Blackwell said. “They saw the concept and fell in love with it and offered to underwrite the production costs.”
Supreme Court Allows Multibillion-Dollar Class Action Lawsuit To Proceed Against Meta
The Supreme Court is allowing a multibillion-dollar class action investors' lawsuit to proceed against Facebook parent Meta, stemming from the privacy scandal involving the Cambridge Analytica political consulting firm.
The justices heard arguments in November in Meta's bid to shut down the lawsuit. On Friday, they decided that they were wrong to take up the case in the first place.
The high court dismissed the company's appeal, leaving in place an appellate ruling allowing the case to go forward.
Investors allege that Meta did not fully disclose the risks that Facebook users' personal information would be misused by Cambridge Analytica, a firm that supported Donald Trump 's first successful Republican presidential campaign in 2016.
Inadequacy of the disclosures led to two significant price drops in the price of the company's shares in 2018, after the public learned about the extent of the privacy scandal, the investors say.
Meta spokesman Andy Stone said the company was disappointed by the court's action. "The plaintiff's claims are baseless and we will continue to defend ourselves as this case is considered by the District Court," Stone said in an emailed statement.
Meta already has paid a $5.1 billion fine and reached a $725 million privacy settlement with users.
Cambridge Analytica had ties to Trump political strategist Steve Bannon. It had paid a Facebook app developer for access to the personal information of about 87 million Facebook users. That data was then used to target U.S. voters during the 2016 campaign.
The lawsuit is one of two high court cases involving class-action lawsuits against tech companies. The justices also are wrestling with whether to shut down a class action against Nvidia.... Read More