This film highlights a “New Recruits” activation in Montclair, NJ, created by Energy BBDO on behalf of Change the Ref, a leading gun-control organization. The event took place last Saturday and was hosted by Change the Ref founders Manuel and Patricia Oliver whose son Joaquin “Guac” Oliver and 16 others were murdered, the victims of gun violence, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.
Flynn Drew directed the film via Energy BBDO.
“New Recruits” seeks to enlist children for action in the heart of a warzone, showcasing the shocking fact that if they were active-duty military, they might face a safer reality than the one America’s gun-centric culture has wrought at home. The event took place at a “faux-recruitment” center–the key message being, “Send your children to war. It’s safer than sending them to school.”
The goal is to raise awareness about the crushing reality our children face every day, amplify awareness for the Change the Ref organization, and push for a ban on weapons of war.
The catalyst for this idea started with a tweet from President Biden who shared the statistic that over the last two decades, more school-aged children have died from guns than on-duty police officers and active-duty military combined.
Credits
Client Change the Ref Patricia Oliver, Manuel Oliver, founders; Anna Johnson, social media lead. Agency Energy BBDO Luiz Sanches, North America chief creative officer; Josh Gross, chief creative officer; Gary du Toit, creative director/copywriter; Lance Vining, creative director/art director; Charles Foley, copywriter/art director; Alex Gianni, head of production; Hayley Baldwin, experiential production lead; Flynn Drew, director; Mitch Monzon, studio lead; Jeff Davis, executive producer; Serena Lignel, producer; Daniel Kuypers, music lead. Audio Ben Treimer, audio engineer. Music Human Music & Sound Design.
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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