On the awards show circuit, Microsoft’s Halo 3 video game appropriately has already scored the proverbial hat trick, garnering best of show honors at The One Show last week for its “Believe” campaign out of McCann Worldgroup and T.A.G. in San Francisco. The other two legs of the hat trick came recently with “Believe” topping the International Andy Awards and the Art Director Club Show.
“Believe” has indeed made believers out of many as the campaign successfully spanned television, interactive TV, web and cinema platforms. It centered on a real world diorama built to commemorate the fictional battle between mankind and its alien enemy and painted a picture of the ultimate Halo 3 hero–Master Chief. Through TV spots of accounts from battle veterans, online interactive flyovers of the entire monument and outdoor ads designed to look like commemorative murals and plaques–the audience started to see Halo 3 as a story with real emotion and Master Chief as a hero who personified courage, duty and sacrifice.
“Freakout” The other big winner at The One Show was Burger King which was named Client of the Year, in large part due to two campaigns out of Crispin Porter+Bogusky, Miami: “Whopper Freakout,” which featured reactions from consumers when they are informed that BK has discontinued its signature Whopper burger; and a tie-in with The Simpsons Movie. The latter included TV commercials and a website through which fans could turn photos of themselves into Simpsons characters.
The top winners at this year’s show included TBWA Worldwide’s Network (2 Gold Pencils, 6 Silver, 4 Bronze), BBDO New York, (5 Gold, 2 Silver, 2 Bronze), Saatchi & Saatchi, (4 Gold, 2 Silver, 1 Bronze), Ogilvy & Mather (1 Gold, 2 Silver, 3 Bronze), Leo Burnett (4 Silver, 1 Bronze), McCann Worldwide (4 Gold, 1 Bronze), Crispin Porter + Bogusky (2 Gold, 1 Silver, 1 Bronze), Jung Von Matt (1 Gold, 2 Silver, 1 Bronze) and Wieden + Kennedy (3 Silver, 1 Bronze).
The 33rd annual One Show ceremony was held at New York’s Lincoln Center in the Time Warner Center. Emcee was comedian Tom Papa.
A complete list of winners can be found at http://www.oneclub.org/.
First-Time Feature Directors Make Major Splash At AFI Fest, Generate Oscar Buzz
Two first-time feature directors who are generating Oscar buzz this awards season were front and center this past weekend at AFI Fest in Hollywood. Rachel Morrison, who made history as the first woman nominated for a Best Cinematography Oscar---on the strength of Mudbound in 2018--brought her feature directorial debut, The Fire Inside (Amazon MGM Studios), to the festival on Sunday (10/27), and shared insights into the film during a conversation session immediately following the screening. This came a day after William Goldenberg, an Oscar-winning editor for Argo in 2013, had his initial foray into feature directing, Unstoppable (Amazon MGM Studios), showcased at the AFI proceedings. He too spoke after the screening during a panel discussion. The Fire Inside--which made its world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival--tells the story of Claressa “T-Rex” Shields (portrayed by Ryan Destiny), a Black boxer from Flint, Mich., who trained to become the first woman in U.S. history to win an Olympic Gold Medal in the sport. She achieved this feat--with the help of coach Jason Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry)--only to find that her victory at the Summer Games came with relatively little fanfare and no endorsement deals. So much for the hope that the historic accomplishment would be a ticket out of socioeconomic purgatory for Shields and her family. It seemed like yet another setback in a cycle of adversity throughout Shields’ life but she persevered, going on to win her second Gold Medal at the next Olympics and becoming a champion for gender equality and equitable pay for women in sports. Shields has served as a source of inspiration for woman athletes worldwide--as well as to the community of... Read More