Unilever/Dove Self-Esteem Fund’s already lauded “Evolution” viral spot added to its trophy collection earlier this week (Nov. 12) at the London International Awards (LIA), in a sense again bridging the gap between traditional and digital media. Created by Ogilvy & Mather, Toronto, and co-directed by Tim Piper of Ogilvy and Yael Staav who at the time was with Reginald Pike, Toronto (she has since joined Soft Citizen, Toronto, and Furlined in the U.S.), “Evolution” earned two LIA Grand Prizes, one for best of show in Television/Cinema, the other in the Digital Media competition.
This dual win mirrored the distinction “Evolution” earned at this year’s Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, namely coveted Grand Prix honors in both the Film and Cyber competitions, marking the first time in that festival’s history that the same execution won in the two categories.
A mega hit on YouTube while also striking a responsive chord among TV audiences, “Evolution” shows us how a woman’s face is digitally manipulated to conform to our society’s unrealistic fashion model-like standard of feminine beauty, a standard which has a negative impact on the self-esteem of women, particularly impressionable girls and adolescents.
The Ogilvy creative ensemble on “Evolution” consisted of chief creative officers Janet Kestin and Nancy Vonk, associate creative director/copywriter/art director/co-director Piper, associate creative director/art director Mike Kirkland, and producer Brenda Surminski. On the viral side, the producers were Surminski, Jennifer Walker and Stephanie Kouverianos.
The DP was Tico Poulakakis. Animation house was Edward Cha Animation, Toronto, with special effects from Soho Post & Graphics, Toronto. Editor was Paul Gowan of Rogue Editing, Toronto.
Another prime LIA Grand honor went to Fallon, London, in the Integrated Media competition for the ambient/digital media/print/radio campaign “Tate Tracks” on behalf of client the Tate Modern Museum. BT Design & Media Studio was the interactive video production company. The Fallon artisans on the project included executive creative director Richard Flintham, and creative director/copywriter/art director Juan Cabral.
TV/Cinema The U.S. scored five Gold LIA honors in TV/cinema, including two for direction in a dialogue commercial: American Express’ “Animals” directed by Bryan Buckley of bicoastal/international Hungry Man for Ogilvy & Mather, New York; and Cingular/AT&T’s “Battle” directed by Alison Maclean of Park Pictures, New York, for BBDO New York and Atlanta.
Arnold Boston and Crispin Porter+Bogusky, Miami, teamed to score public service gold campaign honors with the American Legacy Foundation’s “Singing Cowboy,” “Garbage Cans” and “Melting Moms.” Director was Nicolai Fuglsig of bicoastal/international MJZ.
Copping Gold in public service/social welfare was MTV/Staying Alive Foundation’s “Condom vs. AIDS” directed by the Peter Martin duo of Santa Monica-based harvest for Saatchi & Saatchi, New York.
And Saatchi New York copped Gold in home products and humor for Tide-to-Go Stainpen’s “Interview,” directed by Calle Astrand via Dab Hand Media, New York.
Besides “Evolution” in the corporate and cosmetics/toiletries category, other Gold TV/Cinema Gold winners included: Sony Bravia’s “Paint” in the home entertainment category, from Fallon, London, and directed by Jonathan Glazer of Academy, London; campaign honoree Viagra, consisting of the spots “Chuckwubble (Dog Park)”, “Wombleminki (Diner),” “Flangerati (BBQ)” and Wubbleflapps (Bowling),” directed by Eric Lynne via Radke Films, Toronto, and Partizan, Los Angeles, for agency Taxi, Toronto; public service winner Child Friendly Australia for “Children See, Children Do” directed by Sean Meehan of Soma Films, Sydney for DDB Sydney; office equipment category topper Pilot V Liquid Light’s “History of Light” directed by Joan Gil of Arena Shots, Barcelona for Grey Barcelona; retail services winner Big Yellow Self Storage for “Tide” directed by Dougal Wilson via Blink, London, for CHI & Partners, London; and low budget honoree Samaritans’ “Doodles” out of BBDO London.
In terms of TV/cinema disciplines, taking the direction-visual, new director-broadcast and utilities category, was the helming collective The Vikings of Paranoid Projects, Paris, and Paranoid US., for Epuron/German Ministry for the Environment’s “Power of Wind.” Winning cinematography gold was Anil Mehta who lensed Happydent Teeth Whitening Chewing Gum’s “Happydent Palace” directed by Ram Madhvani of Equinox Films, Mumbai, for McCann Erickson, Mumbai.
The sound design Gold winner was sound designer/mixer Parv Thind of Wave, London, for Skoda’s “Giggle” directed by Andy McLeod of Rattling Stick, London, for Fallon, London. And honored with Gold for original music with lyrics were agency writers Christian Belej (composer/lyricist), Gunnar Immisch and Ali Rakhshandeh (lyricists) via music production company Hantaan Music, Munich, for BMW Mini’s “Safety Feature Campaign” and DEF Mini Records “The Disc Brakes” out of Munich ad shops .start and Interone Worldwide.
Digital Media
Beyond the Gold bestowed upon Dove’s “Evolution” in the viral category, there were several noteworthy American winners in the LIA digital media/website competition, including Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco, and Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Miami. The latter scored four Golds: two in online campaigns–one for Volkswagen Jetta’s “Safe Happens,” the other for Burger King’s “Xbox Games Campaign.” Furthermore the overall BK “Xbox Games Innovative Campaign” won Gold in the “Weird Wonderful Work” category. And Crispin’s “Blank Like A Rabbit” for VW earned interactive banner Gold.
Goodby, Silverstein & Partners mined LIA digital gold in the online games and beverages-non alcoholic categories, both for its Got Milk? “Get The Glass” fare for client the California Fluid Milk Processors Advisory Board.
Other digital Gold honorees were: McCann Worldgroup and Mekanism, San Francisco, in the business to business category for their joint effort on Microsoft’s Windows Vista “Clearification”; and 65Media, Marina del Rey, Calif., in the entertainment category for The Simpsons Movie website offerings for client 20th Century Fox.
Integrated Media
There were two Gold winners in the integrated media competition: the aforementioned “Tate Tracks” from Fallon, London; and GAIA’s ambient/poster & outdoor/TV/cinema campaign directed by Wim Bonte and Birger Platteeuw of Caviar, Brussels, for agency Duval Guillaume, Brussels.
A complete list of London International Awards winners is available at www.liaawards.com.
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