Bicoastal/international MJZ, The Mill, London, and 180 Amsterdam have ignited the new ad campaign for Adidas’ F50i football boot. A 90-second ad features football legend Zinedine Zidane on an epic quest to uncover the secret of Barcelona midfielder Lionel “The Spark” Messi’s past. The spot debuted on U.K. television during the recent Champions League final between Barcelona and Manchester United and is part of a digitally led global marketing campaign.
Shot in the style of a graphic comic book, the spot opens in the streets of Buenos Aires and features the hooded figure of Zidane embarking on a journey to discover what caused Messi’s ‘spark’. As Zidane sparks his lighter, we are transported back in time to see a group of children playing football in the city’s back streets. When a van crashes into a power pole, electrical sparks rain down over a little boy casting him in a heavenly beam of light while a mysterious stranger hides in the shadows. Could this be the secret of Messi’s success?
The scene then cuts to a crowded football stadium. The Mill used Massive to create thousands of digital characters with artificial intelligence giving them realistic individual behavior. There we witness a grown-up Messi demonstrating his electric footwork on the pitch as Zidane looks on, pondering over the intriguing myth behind Messi’s talent–and realizing that the myth is indeed reality.
Adam Scott, head of telecine, explains how he realized MJZ director Rupert Sanders’ vision of a comic book feel for the spot, “The source material was 35mm, HD video and data capture so the final ad had to seamlessly blend these different formats together. By adding a lot of contrast and sharpness to the material as a base layer and pushing the saturation of specific colors, the result was that the hero characters and football boots were made to stand out more prominently. Next, mattes were created to achieve layers of separation and enhance the two dimensional effect before finally giving the whole film an unusual golden brown hue that produced an unnatural look and complemented the cyan football kit and boots.”
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More