Los Angeles-based DUCK Studios has signed French-Swiss directing and art directing duo Ben & Julia. The duo, who run Ben & Julia Studios in Berlin, are multidisciplinary talents whose work spans mixing animations, shooting live footage, producing drawings, and manufacturing puppetry for commercials, virals, music videos and animations. Ben & Julia first joined forces in 2006. Prior to this, Julia spent time as an associate producer and graphic designer for MTV and as an art director for TV and press. Ben worked as a director, editor and VFX artist for various agencies in Paris….Toronto-based production house Brown has signed director Scott Otto Anderson. The up-and-coming Sydney-based filmmaker, artist and designer directs music videos, television and commercial programming. Recently Andersen completed a feature-length documentary entitled Hairtales which is currently on the festival circuit. His experience as a spot director spans such clients as MTV, Honda, Lexus, Canon and Cadbury while also directing the cult music show, Alchemy, on SBS TV in Sydney. He also directs music videos for popular bands and musicians including Lady Sovereign's “Those Were The Days.” Anderson is a founding member of the directing collective Family and in 2009 he formed the company Photoplay Films with long-time collaborator Oliver Lawrence. Anderson's work for Wateraid was recognized in 2006 with a Bronze Lion at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. He is repped by Saville Productions in the U.S. and Les Producers in France….Milla Stolte has joined goodness Mfg., a Trailer Park company, as director of strategy & planning, a newly created position at the agency. Stolte will oversee goodness' now combined planning and social media groups. Stolte spent the past two years at Tribal DDB N.Y. as head of planning & strategy across all accounts–Reebok, H&R Block, Disney, Nickelodeon, et al. She also led Tribal's social media arm, Radar. Prior to that, Stolte was a planner at Modernista!, focusing on accounts such as Hummer, Napster and Product (RED). Stolte is currently involved in several new business pitches for goodness, in addition to projects in development for LucasArts and Coda….
New FDA Rules To Take Effect For TV Drug Commercials
Those ever-present TV drug ads showing patients hiking, biking or enjoying a day at the beach could soon have a different look: New rules require drugmakers to be clearer and more direct when explaining their medications' risks and side effects.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration spent more than 15 years crafting the guidelines, which are designed to do away with industry practices that downplay or distract viewers from risk information.
Many companies have already adopted the rules, which become binding Nov. 20. But while regulators were drafting them, a new trend emerged: thousands of pharma influencers pushing drugs online with little oversight. A new bill in Congress would compel the FDA to more aggressively police such promotions on social media platforms.
"Some people become very attached to social media influencers and ascribe to them credibility that, in some cases, they don't deserve," said Tony Cox, professor emeritus of marketing at Indiana University.
Still, TV remains the industry's primary advertising format, with over $4 billion spent in the past year, led by blockbuster drugs like weight-loss treatment Wegovy, according to ispot.tv, which tracks ads.
Simpler language and no distractions
The new rules, which cover both TV and radio, instruct drugmakers to use simple, consumer-friendly language when describing their drugs, without medical jargon, distracting visuals or audio effects. A 2007 law directed the FDA to ensure that drug risk information appears "in a clear, conspicuous and neutral manner."
FDA has always required that ads give a balanced picture of both benefits and risks, a requirement that gave rise to those long, rapid-fire lists of side effects parodied on shows like "... Read More