What’s the use of an umbrella missing its middle during a rainstorm? Or beach-tennis paddle without a middle? How about a piano with no middle keys? They’re all part of a world without middles, brought to life for State Street Global Advisors in the latest campaign for its mid cap ETF (exchange-traded fund), MDY. In the stock market, mid caps, as their name implies, comprise companies with market value in the middle of the spectrum, the sweet spot between large caps and small caps. Investors often assume that if they own both large and small caps, they have broad exposure to the market–meaning they have covered the entire scale of the market. But without mid caps in their portfolio, they don’t.
Created by McCann NY, the campaign opens with this spot titled “Rainy Day,” directed by Bjorn Ruhmann of SMUGGLER. The commercial shows us a world lacking middles, underscoring the campaign refrain, “The middle can make all the difference.”
Mid caps like MDY really can make all the difference—portfolios containing mid caps have a track record of outperforming portfolios without them. The campaign, spanning TV, social and digital, drives to a website experience where investors can use an online tool to find out how increasing a mid cap allocation can make all the difference in their own portfolios.
Credits
Client State Street Global Advisors Agency McCann New York, Gene Campanelli, Peter Powell, Daniele Ferdinand, SVPs, group creative directors; Stephanie Cajucom, VP, creative director; Donna McCracken, SVP, executive producer; Anna Andreis, SVP, group strategy director; Daniel Lammon, VP, strategy director. Production Craft NY Fermin Fernandez, sr. designer; Daniel Farinella, digital advertisement development; Puneet Oberoi, quality assurance engineer; Gabrielle Wilson, digital production coordinator. Production Company SMUGGLER Björn Rühmann, director; Patrick Milling Smith, Brian Carmody, Allison Kunzman, exec producer; Nick Sutherland-Dodd, producer; Justin Brown, DP. Production Services Company Migrate Films Libbi Ball, exec producer. Editorial Work Editorial NY Rich Orrick, editor; Fatos Marishta, assistant editor; Chris Delarenal, producer; Alejandra Alarcon, exec producer. VFX Preymaker Angus Kneale, chief creative; Verity Grantham, exec producer; Edward Lopez, Jongmoon Woo, Jamie Scott, Simon Holden, Tim Bird, Wynand de Wet, creatives; Jubulani Simelane, Joaqui Lopez, Kendall Rotar, production; Melanie Wickham, exec producer. Audio Post Sonic Union Paul Weiss, mix engineer; Alex Thiel, assistant engineer; Patrick Sullivan, head of production.
After losing part of his right leg due to cancer, Terry Fox campaigned to raise national awareness and funding for cancer research by running his Marathon of Hope, a cross-Canada 42-km daily run, on his prosthetic leg. Fox, who died in 1981, is a national hero. His image will be on Canada’s new $5 bill.
In this two-minute video titled “Finish It,” the Marathon of Hope is recreated. It’s all done in one take, and it features an actor/marathon runner who uses a prosthesis on the same leg as Fox. CGI was deployed to make him look more like Fox. To further ensure the actor represented Fox accurately, not only did the actor and team watch and study many videos of Terry, but Terry’s brothers, Fred and Darrel, coached the actor on Terry’s running style and mannerisms. They also created a copy of Terry’s prosthesis for the actor to use for the shoot.
The message is clear. As the Marathon of Hope now marks its 45th anniversary, we now have the opportunity to “Finish It” for Fox, raising money and awareness to get a cure for cancer over the finish line, completing the work that Fox started. The public service film starts with Fox on the marathon run, eventually joined by a crowd of other dedicated runners from all walks of life who take over the race.
Mark Zibert directed via production company Scouts Honour for Toronto agency Diamond. The video features a never-before-heard version of the song “Courage” from Canadian band The Tragically Hip.
“We wanted to create a campaign that captures the magnitude of Terry Fox’s legacy while driving meaningful action,” said Peter Ignazi, chief creative officer at Diamond. “By revisiting the Marathon of Hope with such care and reverence, we aimed to reignite Terry’s mission and... Read More
