This back to school season there are thousands of adults hitting the books who may never get the recognition they deserve. But for the 29 million Americans who didn’t graduate with a high school diploma, going back to school to get a high school equivalency degree is worth the effort. Over the course of a lifetime, those with a high school degree are expected to earn more than 30% more than their peers without a diploma.
The Ad Council and the nonprofit Dollar General Literacy Foundation partnered with McKinney to launch new PSAs and a new push to congratulate these adult learners. The goal is to celebrate these hardworking adults and inspire many more adults to push their education forward. The new work is awe-inspiring—capturing the real reactions of four people who recently finished high school at ages ranging from 24 to 38.
This Best Work selection is "The Story of Karim" which introduces us to a man who spent most of his life in foster care and dropped out of school with only a few classes left. At age 26, with the encouragement of his wife and 2-year-old daughter, he completed his degree.
Kyle Ruddick of production company HeLo directed the PSAs.
The strategy behind the work “No one gets their diploma alone,” emphasizes the huge role families, friends and supporters make in the journey to get a high school equivalency degree.
Client Ad Council/Dollar General Literacy Foundation Agency McKinney Jonathan Cude, chief creative officer; Stevie Archer, group creative director/copywriter; Ellen Page, associate creative director/art director; Ray Boome, associate creative director/copywriter; Dylan Meagher, copywriter; Regina Brizzolara, director, content production; Kara O’Halloran, interactive producer; Beth McKnight, digital team manager; Aubrey Jones, broadcast producer. Production HeLo Kyle Ruddick, director; Ian Rigby, DP. Music Beacon Street Studios Audio Post Beacon Street Studios Rommel Molina, audio engineer. Editorial Tessa Davis, Zack Winick, Hugo Jordan Postproduction Apache Steve Rodriguez, colorist.
Director Gia Coppola Teams With Mejuri For “A New York Minute”; 1st Episode Takes Us To The Grocery Store
Mejuri, known for turning fine jewelry into an everyday luxury, has partnered with director Gia Coppola (The Last Show Girl, Palo Alto) and The Directors Bureau in Los Angeles, for the first time reimagining the brand’s story as episodic content. In a series of microfilms, co-created by Coppola and premiering following New York Fashion Week, Mejuri eschewed a typical celebrity campaign and cast us as voyeurs to a group of aspiring young women--real people, not actors--at the crossroads of their adult lives against the backdrop of New York City.
Titled “A New York Minute,” the series features five real-life friends, who include one perfectly imperfect heroine named Emma. The women celebrate ordinary moments and interactions which reveal, sometimes retrospectively, the extraordinary within the mundane. Adjacent to the brand’s own community, the 30-something year old cast includes Laura Love (Emma), Rebecca Ressler, Natalie Vall-Freed and Rozzi Crane. Mejuri’s jewelry makes an appearance as the best supporting actor.
“When I met with Gia and The Directors Bureau team, there was instant creative and personal chemistry and a natural alignment on the desire to push and blur the lines between marketing, storytelling, and the construct of what a ‘campaign’ could be,” said Jacob Jordan, chief brand officer, Mejuri. “Gia was able to push that idea into something that truly feels new and artful, with a realism and relatability that almost feels jarring. Gia was such a perfect collaborator and partner, someone I had complete trust in to be a catalyst for Mejuri’s values of celebrating women as their truest selves. I can’t wait for us to continue to tell the next chapters of this story.”
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