#Effie New Zealand

[willywaldo]

My latest review for film-forward.com. A Mistake features a bravura performance by Elizabeth Banks as a New Zealand surgeon dealing with the consequences of a split-second decision made in the operating room. With its superb cast and sensitive direction, the film raises thoughtful questions about accountability, forgiveness, and empathy. 

[allaboutmarketing4you]

A Case Study On Apple: “Get A Mac” Brand Campaign

" Remember the friendly (yet hilariously pointed) banter between a laid-back Mac and a slightly uptight PC? That’s Apple’s “Get a Mac” campaign, a series of television commercials that redefined tech marketing from 2006 to 2009.

Imagine this: Justin Long, cool and casual, personifies the Mac. John Hodgman, in a suit and tie, embodies the PC. They playfully debate the strengths of their platforms, showcasing the Mac’s ease of use, sleek design, and intuitive features in a way that makes you chuckle and think.

Simple, witty, and oh-so-effective. The ads’ minimalist style, with a clean white background and the two actors facing each other, kept the focus on the message. But it was the humor that truly resonated. Mac’s playful jabs at the PC’s quirks resonated with consumers, making Apple’s technology feel approachable and desirable

The impact? Stellar. The campaign helped Apple gain significant market share and made Macs a popular choice for everyday users. Critics lauded its creativity and effectiveness, and the ads remain etched in pop culture memory even today.

“Get a Mac” wasn’t just about selling computers; it was about changing perceptions. It redefined Apple as the cool kid on the block, the user-friendly alternative to the complex world of PCs. And it all started with a playful conversation between two actors on a white background.

Background Stepinto 2006, a time when PCs dominated the computer landscape. Apple, though beloved by a dedicated fanbase, still held a smaller market share. It was then that a revolutionary marketing campaign emerged, aiming to shift the tides: the iconic “Get a Mac” campaign.

Crafted by TBWA\Media Arts Lab, Apple’s then-advertising agency, this campaign had a clear mission:

Capitalize on the rising popularity of Macs. Apple recognized the growing buzz around their products and wanted to amplify it. Position Macs as the superior choice for everyday users. Ease of use, security, sleek design, and unwavering reliability were to be the new Mac mantra. Go global, not just national. The campaign transcended borders, spreading its message across the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and even Japan. And what a captivating message it was! Forget dry tech specs and monotonous voiceovers. “Get a Mac” ushered in a new era of playful marketing, starring two unforgettable characters:

Justin Long, the epitome of laid-back cool, personified the Mac. His casual demeanor and witty humor made technology feel approachable and fun. John Hodgman, in his signature suit and tie, embodied the slightly uptight PC. His portrayal offered a humorous foil to the Mac, highlighting the perceived complexities of Windows-based machines. The stage for this playful tech debate was simple yet effective: a clean white background, the two actors facing each other. This minimalist canvas allowed the focus to remain on the witty banter and clever comparisons. Each ad tackled a specific aspect of the Mac-PC rivalry, from ease of use (“Switch”) to virus protection (“Virus”).

The impact was undeniable. “Get a Mac” became a critical and commercial darling, winning awards like the prestigious American Marketing Association’s 2007 Grand Effie. The ads resonated with the public, becoming pop culture references and leaving a lasting legacy.

More than just selling computers, “Get a Mac” reshaped the landscape of tech marketing. It proved that humor and personality could be powerful tools, paving the way for a more engaging and relatable approach to advertising. In essence, it opened the door for a new generation of tech users to embrace the world of Macs.

Target Audience Apple’s “Get a Mac” campaign targeted average computer users who might be persuaded to switch from a PC to a Mac. The campaign ran from 2006 to 2009, and helped Apple increase its net income each year.

The campaign’s target audience included:

Tech-savvy: The campaign targeted non-tech-savvy PC users. PC users: The campaign targeted PC users who were afraid to switch to a Mac. Uninformed: The campaign targeted consumers who chose PCs because they didn’t know about Apple. Misinformed: The campaign targeted consumers who had misconceptions about Mac computers. The campaign’s strategy included:

Highlighting PC problems: Each “episode” highlighted a specific problem with PCs. Creating characters: Apple created two characters for the campaign, “MAC” and “PC”. Justin Long played the character “MAC” and John Hodgman played the character “PC”. Campaign Strategy Personification: The campaign’s genius lay in personifying Mac as the cool, laid-back “Mac guy” and PC as the uptight, bureaucratic “PC guy.” This humanized tech and made the comparison engaging and relatable.

Humorous Storytelling: Lighthearted banter and witty scenarios highlighted Mac’s strengths in areas like ease of use, virus protection, and design. Humor disarmed skepticism, made complex topics understandable, and left a lasting impression.

Simple Visuals: The clean white background and minimalist sets kept the focus on the message and avoided distractions. This visual style mirrored Apple’s brand identity of sleekness and sophistication.

Targeted Messaging: Different ad variants focused on specific user segments and their needs, like students worrying about deadlines or musicians struggling with software compatibility. This ensured the message resonated deeply with the intended audience.

Catchy Jingle: “Having Trouble Sneezing” further embedded the campaign in viewers’ minds and added a layer of memorability.

Multi-channel Approach: The campaign wasn’t limited to TV. Online ads, print materials, and in-store displays reinforced the message across various touchpoints.

Competitive Advantage: By highlighting PC weaknesses and showcasing Mac’s strengths, the campaign created a clear differentiation and positioned Apple as the superior choice.

Cultural Integration: The ads became pop culture references, further solidifying Apple’s brand image and extending its reach beyond targeted audiences.

Campaign Results Apple’s “Get a Mac” campaign wasn’t just a bunch of funny commercials; it was a marketing blitzkrieg that reshaped the tech landscape. Its results were nothing short of phenomenal:

Market Share Skyrocketed: In just three years, Mac’s market share quadrupled, jumping from 5% to a staggering 23%. This dramatic shift cemented Apple’s position as a major player in the PC market.

Brand Image Transformed: From a niche brand for creative professionals, Apple morphed into a mainstream darling, synonymous with cool and user-friendly technology. The “Get a Mac” campaign successfully changed consumer perceptions, making Apple a desirable choice for the masses.

Sales Soared: The impact was immediate. Apple saw a 200,000 increase in Mac sales just one month after the campaign’s launch. By the end of the year, sales figures boasted a 39% jump compared to the previous year.

Critical Acclaim: The campaign wasn’t just adored by consumers; it garnered numerous awards and accolades. The pinnacle was the prestigious 2007 Grand Effie Award, and recognition as the Adweek “Ad Campaign of the Decade.”

Overall, “Get a Mac” exceeded all expectations. It redefined marketing and advertising for tech products, proving that humor, clever storytelling, and relatable characters could win hearts and minds – and drive major business success. The campaign’s legacy stands as a testament to the power of bold ideas, executed with wit and precision, to leave an indelible mark on the world.

Lessons Learned The power of storytelling: Compelling narratives resonate with audiences and effectively communicate complex messages. Humor as a marketing tool: Humor can disarm skepticism, make complex topics relatable, and leave a lasting impression. Importance of brand differentiation: Clearly define what makes your brand unique to stand out in a crowded market. Multi-channel approach: Extend your message across various touchpoints to reach your audience effectively.

Conclusion The “Get a Mac” campaign is a masterclass in marketing strategy. By understanding its target audience, crafting a relatable message, and delivering it in a humorous and engaging way, Apple achieved remarkable success. This case study offers valuable lessons for any marketer looking to build a strong brand and connect with their audience on an emotional level. "

Source: thebrandhopper.com

Read the article at: thebrandhopper.com

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[effieworldwide]

Winner Spotlight: “Re:scam” by Netsafe & DDB New Zealand

September 26, 2019

2019 APAC Effie Awards 2 Gold - IT/Telco & Brand Experience - Services

Netsafe is an independent, non-profit online safety organisation. It provides online safety support, expertise and education to people in New Zealand. It’s been around for more than 20 years, founded in 1998 to help New Zealand’s internet users stay safe online.

After noticing the growing influence of technology in their respective areas, the New Zealand Police, Ministry of Education and several not-for-profits teamed up with telecommunication organisations and IT industry partners to create an independent body focussed on online safety. Together they created the Internet Safety Group (rebranded Netsafe in 2008).

In 2018, Netsafe wanted to curb the alarming increase in phishing attacks - fraudulent attempts to obtain personal information through hoax or scam emails. Between 2015 and 2018, phishing attacks had grown by 65% worldwide, and just in New Zealand, $257m per year was being lost to cyber crime - and that’s just the reported amount. The shame and humility victims feel after falling prey to an internet scam means most attacks go unreported.

So Netsafe partnered with DDB New Zealand to create the “Re:scam” initiative, a crew of AI chatbots designed to respond directly to scammers’ tactics. Since launch, the bots have saved thousands from falling victim.

“Re:scam” earned 11 Effies – including seven Gold – in the 2018 Effie Awards New Zealand and 2019 APAC Effie Awards competitions, in categories including IT/Telco, Data Driven, Limited Budget, and Experiential.

Below, Rupert Price, Chief Strategy Officer at DDB New Zealand, explains how it worked.

Effie: What were your objectives for “Re:scam”?

RP: The objectives for the “Re:scam” campaign were relatively straightforward.

First, make people aware of the dangers of internet phishing scams. It was important to educate New Zealanders on the telltale signs of email scams and also to reassure them that they weren’t alone. By demonstrating that this was a widespread problem, we could show New Zealanders there was no shame or humility in being the target of an email scammer – it happens to all of us. This would be measured by earned media coverage, as we had no budget to buy media exposure.

Second, give internet users a tool to fight back against phishing scams. Not only did we want to reduce the number of people falling prey to such scams, we also wanted to discourage the scammers in the first place. By showing the scammers that people were on to them, although outside of legal jurisdiction, we wanted to show them people were prepared to fight back. This would be measured by the level of direct engagement with the campaign.

Third, make people aware of Netsafe’s role in keeping Kiwis safe from harm online. We wanted New Zealanders to know there was an organization protecting their interests online and to show them that they had somewhere to turn if they had any concerns about online safety. Knowing you are not alone is powerful encouragement when fighting back against cyber crime. This would be measured by visits and enquiries to the Netsafe website.

Effie: What was the strategic insight that drove the campaign? 

RP: Obviously email scammers rely on the art of disguise, exploiting people’s inherent sense of trust through pretending to be someone they’re not. To succeed, this scheme relies on most people to be trusting, which most New Zealanders generally are. 

Our big insight was, of course, that this ‘bond of trust’ has to work both ways. Not only does the email recipient have to believe they are dealing with a credible sender, but the scammer also has to believe they are dealing with a gullable and willing recipient for the scam to work.

This breakthrough insight gave us our big idea. We were going to beat the email scammers at their own game. If they were going to impersonate people with an ‘offer too good to be true’ then we would impersonate a willing and gullible victim to waste their time - without wasting ours.

Effie: What was your big idea? How did you bring the idea to life?

RP: An AI-powered chatbot that imitated human victims, wasting scammers’ time and protecting real people from harm. Re:scam was an AI-based initiative that gave people a tool to fight back against scammers. When someone received a phishing email, they could forward it to me@rescam.org. Our program then picked up the conversation and replied to the scammer based on the email. Replies were designed to lead scammers on for as long as possible with exchanges that wasted limitless hours of their time.

Effie: If scammers were busy talking to a robot, they weren’t talking to real people.

RP: This was a good first step, but at its heart Re:scam was a faceless entity, not built to be shared en masse. Because we had no media budget, if we wanted to give ourselves a chance of breaking into culture and driving mass awareness, we needed to give the bot some personality. Or rather, multiple personalities.

We introduced AI cat-phishing to the world with a deliberate blend of human and computer-generated creativity.

We engaged IBM’s AI ‘Watson’ to help analyse the content of messages and formulate responses, and created a digital video as the centre-piece of our communications. This mirrored the multiple personalities of Re:scam by showing different C.G. faces and voices flickering in and out.

To show that anyone could be a victim of an email scam, Re:scam was created to mimic various types of personalities. With deliberate spelling mistakes and malapropisms, each “character” had their own backstory and unique way of talking.

From the retiree asking “The Illuminati” if they had a bingo night he could join (and who sent his bank details through One. Number. At. A. Time), to the single mother who was excited to win big money, each was programmed to be as frustrating and time-consuming as possible, while remaining human enough to avoid detection. Sometimes our bots would accuse the scammers themselves of being bots.

Every time they got a response, they now had to second guess themselves.

Effie: How did you measure the effectiveness of the effort? Were there any surprises in the results?

RP: Being a campaign designed to directly encourage consumer interaction (for the campaign to work, it required people to do something), primary measurement was relatively simple. The campaign would succeed or fail based on the number of people who forwarded on their phishing emails and let the Re:scam AI bots to do their thing. 

The thing that surprised us most was the sheer volume of responses we received. 210,000 scam emails were forwarded onto us over the campaign period. Most of these were from New Zealand but many were from overseas also. The big learning for us was that an entirely earned and owned channel campaign in today’s media landscape is a truly global campaign, if the idea is strong enough.

The secondary measurement of the campaign, the objective of which was to raise awareness of the issue, showed the earned media coverage for the campaign was everwhere. Through New Zealand news media outlets Re:scam reached an audience of 4m+ across all networks, (that’s nearly the entire population of NZ, by the way). However, the campaign’s global reach was in excess of $300m+ through media outlets as diverse as The BBC, The Guardian, El Pais and CNN.

Effie: What was the greatest challenge you faced when creating this campaign, and how did you approach that challenge?

RP: The greatest challenge we faced with the Re:scam campaign is that we had no media budget. As Netsafe is a non-profit NGO, its primary channel of communication is though the news media. It relies on the ‘newsworthiness’ of the issues to get picked up in the news media and carried to the audience.

Of course, this is a high-risk strategy. There was no guarantee the news media would be intrigued by our initiative, and depending on the news cycle of the day, other stories might take precedent. The news media creates interest, which is then amplified on social media. Since pickup from news channels is vital, we must always push ourselves to come up with ideas that create interest beyond the issue itself. In the case of Re:scam, we knew internet scamming and phishing tactics was a topic of public interest, but we also knew that our unique and innovative AI bot solution would be of equivalent news interest.

Of course, we also had to build the AI Bot, which was no mean feat itself!

Effie: What lessons can marketers take away from your work?

RP:

Don’t be afraid to try something that has never been done - someone has to be first, so why not you?

If it doesn’t exist, be prepared to build it yourself.

Don’t let a lack of a budget hold you back - great ideas will always prevail if there’s enough will and conviction behind them.

Make sure your campaign or initiative ‘adds value’ to your audience in some way. If it’s not through utility or enlightenment, at the very least entertain them along the way.

***

Rupert Price is the Chief Strategy Officer at DDB New Zealand/Interbrand New Zealand.

Rupert’s career in advertising spans nearly eighteen years in London’s most pre-eminent agencies and now nearly eight years in New Zealand. In the UK, Rupert worked on brand and advertising strategy with Y&R, AMV BBDO, JWT, Saatchi&Saatchi and Ogilvy. 

Beginning with local projects for companies including Kellogg’s, Unilever, The Army and Sainsbury’s, Rupert broadened his skill set to take on global strategic roles for BP, SAB Miller, Unilever and American Express amongst others. In 2010, Rupert relocated with his young family to New Zealand. 

Now working with DDB and Interbrand, Rupert has delivered strategic projects for Westpac, Lion, The Warehouse, Lotto NZ and now Vodafone. Rupert has won numerous IPA Effectiveness Awards, Effies and APG Awards and has been involved in highly awarded advertising campaigns including Persil ‘Dirt is Good’ and Dove ‘Campaign for Real Beauty.’

Awards earned by “Re:scam”:

2019 APAC Effie Awards: GOLD – IT/Telco GOLD – Brand Experience - Services SILVER – Data Driven

2018 Effie Awards New Zealand: GOLD – Limited Budget GOLD – Most Effective Use of Digital Technology GOLD – Most Effective PR/Experiential Campaign GOLD – Best Strategic Thinking GOLD – Most Progressive Campaign SILVER – New Product or Service SILVER – Short Term Success BRONZE – Social Marketing/Public Service

Read more Winner Spotlight interviews >

2018 Effie Awards New Zealand judge Mark Earls shares his thoughts on “Re:scam”

[typingtess]

NCIS: Los Angeles Season Twelve Rewatch:  “Russia, Russia, Russia”

The basics:  Callen is questioned and accused of being a Russian agent.

Written by:  R. Scott Gemmill wrote/cowrote “The Only Easy Day”, “Brimstone”, “Breach”, “LD50”, “Found”, “Borderline”, “Absolution”, “Archangel”, “Tin Soldiers”, “Impostors”, “Cyberthreat”, “Honor”, “The Watchers” and both sides of the NCIS Los: Angeles/Hawaii Five-0 “Touch of Death” episodes, “Recruit”, “Free Ride”, “Wanted”, “Ravens and The Swans”, “Impact”, “War Cries”, both ends of the “Deep Trouble” season five finale/season six premiere, “Inelegant Heart”, “Praesidium”, “Traitor”, “Active Measures” (season seven premiere), “Blame It On Rio”, “Internal Affairs”, “Matryoshka” part one,  "Talion" (season seven finale), “High Value Target”/“Belly of the Beast” (season eight premieres), “The Queen’s Gambit”, “Under Siege”, “Unleashed” (season eight finale), “Party Crashers” (season nine’s premiere), “This Is What We Do” (episode 200), “Các Tù Nhân”, “Goodbye Vietnam”, “Ninguna Salida” (the season nine finale), “Hit List”, “Asesinos”, “Till Death Do Us Part”, “Choke Point”, “The Guardian”, “Hail Mary”, “Kill Beale Vol. 1”, “Alsiyadun”, “Fortune Favors the Brave”, “The Bear” (season 12 premiere), “Angry Karen” and “Love Kills”.

Directed by:  Daniela Ruah who has other duties with the show.

Guest stars of note:  Returning from other season 12 episodes are Gerald McRaney as Retired Navy Admiral Hollace Kilbride, Nicki Micheaux as DOJ Special Agent Effie Carlson, Eugene Prokofiev as Oleg Barinov and Olesya Rulin as Zasha Gagarin.  Back from Kensi and Deeks’s wedding is Ravil Isyanov as Anatoli Kirkin.  Guest stars include Seamus Dever as Kapitan Alexi Gonchgarov while KCBS reporter Sara Donchey plays KCBS reporter Sarah Donchey.

Our heroes:  Continue on season 12’s long Russian road.

What important things did we learn about:

Callen: In custody. Sam:  Nearly hooked a surfer. Kensi:  Wearing two hats as actor and director.  A hyphenate. Deeks:  Attorney at law, screamer, guitar player, hyphenate. Eric:  Not today. Nell:  Ibid. Fatima:  Apologizes to both Sam and the Admiral for things that aren’t her fault. Roundtree:  In San Diego giving a deposition.   Hetty:  Hunting for a high ranking Russian spy.

What not so important things did we learn about:

Callen: Thought he was Irish. Sam:  Did not get a medical degree with his gym membership. Kensi:   Has a special voice to get Deeks to do things for her. Deeks:  Model, too. Eric:  Not today. Nell:  Ibid. Fatima:  Allergic to avocados. Roundtree:  Still in San Diego. Hetty:  Negotiating the return of two NCIS agents from Syria.

Who's down with OTP:  Kensi is pimping out Deeks and enjoying it.

Who's down with BrOTP:  You know, Sam and the Admiral could be real buddies.

Any pressing need for a cranky retired Admiral?  So much so he’s here.

Who is running the team this week?  Kilbride but barely.

Fashion review:  Callen is in a blue long-sleeve tee-shirt and a black jacket before wearing a janitor’s uniform.  Sam is in a red long-sleeve tee-shirt with a black jacket.  Kensi is wearing a pale grey sweater and black leather jacket.  Deeks starts the episode in a blue suit with a crisp white dress shirt and no tie.  Later, he’s in a dark blue zip-up hoodie and a blue-grey long tee-shirt.  On the Pier, Deeks has a poncho and I can’t even describe Kirkin’s clothes at the photo shoot.  Pale purple sweater for Fatima.

Music:  Three songs!  “Weight of the World” by Willow Robinson is playing in the teaser.  “Les Hugueots: Overture” from the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra is the music Deeks uses to mask his conversation with Callen.  “I’m Too Sexy” by Right Said Fred is Kirkin’s modeling music.

Any notable cut scene: Not cut scenes but this had both the episode commentary by Daniela Ruah as well as a nine-minute feature about Ruah directing.  They are getting their own post.

Quote:  Kilbride:  “He's being questioned by the Center for Counterterrorism.” Sam:  “About what?” Kilbride:  “Being a Russian asset.” Sam:  “Are you kidding me?” Kilbride:  “Am I known for being a kidder?” Fatima:  “How could anyone suspect Callen of being a Russian agent?” Kilbride:  “Well, in case you have been too busy surfing or enjoying your organic avocado toast, there has been a bit of a... power struggle in this country lately.” Fatima:  “ I don't surf, and I'm allergic to avocados…sir.”

Anything else:  The previouslys are all from “The Bear”.  At the beach, Callen is calling a disconnected number as he broods.   As he starts to return to his car, he sees he’s picked up a tail.  He takes a picture of the big SUV following him.  When he starts to walk away, he ducks and is suddenly next to the SUV.  They speed off.  The short credits run.

Fatima joins Callen in Ops.  He’s not sure he has a case, just an SUV trailing him.  He’s had a feeling he’s been followed for the last few days.  Since he’s running an errand, could Fatima run down the owner of the SUV.  She wants to know if the team should be involved.  Callen is waiting for more intel.

As Callen is walking into the DOJ, Special Agent Effie Carlson wants to know why he’s there.  Callen calls it routine NCIS business.  Carlson knows he’s there to meet someone from the National Counterterrorism Center – she’s running the task force.  She also wants to know why Callen wants to question Russian pilot Oleg Barinov.  Since there are a lot of easier ways for Barinov’s Captain Gonchgarov to defect, Callen has some questions.

Carlson invites Callen into a conference room.  She believes he’s wasting his time.  In three months, the Russians never spoke to any US officials.  They may have spoken to Russian officials – they’ve seen them and any conversation can’t be recorded.  Before entering the conference room, Callen has to put his phone and gun into a lockbox.  She wishes Callen luck.

With an American guard, Barinov joins Callen.  Callen has no interest in the guard so he’s dismissed.  Oleg has no real interest in Callen.  Won’t even sit down.  Callen asks about family, returning to Russia and his surprise that none of the plane’s crew except Gonchgarov sought asylum.  The US would have negotiated to have his family join Barinov in the US.  It would have taken time but they would be together.

With Barinov saying he’s not a traitor, Callen asks if Barinov considers Gonchgarov a traitor now that he’s defecting.  Gonchgarov actions put everyone in jeopardy.  Landing the plane in the field could have killed the entire crew.  No response.  Callen wishes Barinov a safe trip back to Russia and ends the interview.  As the guard returns, Barinov says Captain Gonchgarov is a true patriot.  Callen is surprised.

Joining Callen in the conference room, Carlson wants to know what Callen has on Barinov.  Other than the basic family info, Callen doesn’t have much to share.  Carlson talks about Callen’s work history – that he was CIA before NCIS working mostly in Russia.  Callen says it was really the Ukraine.  Carlson notes some people consider the Ukraine part of Russia.  Ukrainians do not.

Bringing up Callen’s birth name – she has Grisha Aleksandrovich Nikolaev – which is about as Russian as it comes.  Callen jokes about being Irish.  More time is spent on the Callen family history – his KGB Dad who was disillusioned by the Soviet Union.  Callen mentions that dear old Dad wound up being a CIA asset.  Anna is brought into the conversation because she’s Russian too.  Carlson asks for Anna’s location and Callen can honestly tell Carlson he has no idea.  “I’m starting to think we’re broken up.”  Arkady comes up and as difficult as it is to believe, he was KGB too.  Carlson has lovely photos of all of the Russians in Callen’s life.

Callen’s done with this.  He’s sorry things did not go well in the hallway and he’s sorry Carlson’s group has had no luck with Barinov but the crew of the plane are a group of “very nice young airmen” who want to go home.  They are not a threat.  When Callen starts to leave, Carlson pushes a button on the conference room table. Callen can’t leave even though he’d like to.  Carlson wants to how long “Grisha” has been working for the Russians.

As Sam arrives to an empty bullpen, he asks an arriving Fatima where everyone is.  Kensi and Deeks have an appointment but are expected soon.  Roundtree is in San Diego giving a deposition.  Callen was in earlier but left.  Sam tried to call Callen but Callen didn’t pick up.  Fatima is worried which has Sam worried.  Fatima recaps Callen’s beach morning. Sam is unhappy he’s just hearing about this.  Both Callen’s phone and car are off-line.  Fatima apologizes but Sam tells her Callen should have told her where he was going.  Sam is going to alert the team but wants Fatima to find the last known location of Callen’s phone or car.

With more photos, Carlson is now going through Anna’s prison time and Kate Miller who “surprise to surprise” was a Russian agent.  Callen would like some coffee, completely bored by the presentation.  Next in Callen’s Russian connections is Zasha Gagarin who NCIS spoke with 91-days ago.  Callen explains Gagarin gave up the names of the people on the plane.  That makes no sense to Carlson since Gagarin is a spy – why would she help.  Callen explains that Gagarin enjoys a certain lifestyle in Los Angeles.  NCIS paid her because communism is not as fun as a Neiman’s shoe sale.

Stunned, Carlson thinks Russia gave NCIS the information they wanted to hear.  Callen knows that but it was a smart risk considering what they knew.  Carlson reminds Callen that while they captured the crew, the “strategic bomber” was blown up by Callen, losing all the valuable intel inside.  Callen makes it clear, the crew blew up the plane.  It was in his after-action report.  In Sam’s after-action report was his belief that blowing up the plane was a mistake.  Callen thought it was better to save the crew and lose the plane than to lose all of them.  Carlson notes the crew are more Russians in the story – plus of course Callen.

While Callen thinks Carlson was following him, she denies it.  He asks what is her goal with the interview.  She’s trying to protect the country from foreign intervention.  Callen is disappointed but then again, conspiracy theories are all the rage these days.  Still, he expected more out of a federal agency.  Callen has been identified as a Russian asset.  Callen asks if she writes fan fiction in her spare time.  He also asks for her sources.  While not at liberty to reveal the DOJ’s sources, Carlson says everything their informant has given them has been verified.  

The last place Fatima has for Callen’s car and phone is right near the Federal Building in Westwood.  If Callen is in a secure area, that would mean his phone signal was blocked but Sam still doesn’t understand why car tracker isn’t working since there is no underground parking lot.

Joining the in-Ops fun is  Admiral Kilbride.  Sam introduces Fatima to Kilbride.  The Admiral knows where Callen is – “in the middle of a witch hunt” – and fills Sam in. Fatima is stunned anyone would believe “Agent Callen” is a spy.  The Admiral thinks Fatima has been too busy surfing and eating organic avocado toast to notice the power struggle going on in the country.  Fatima doesn’t surf and is allergic to avocados.  The Admiral actually smiles.

With Callen in custody, his car has likely been impounded and held in a secured area – that’s why the GPS isn’t working.  Fatima asks why Callen hasn’t called for a lawyer.  Sam thinks while the DOJ believes they are interrogating Callen, he’s actually questioning them.  He’ll figure out what the DOJ is looking for and then stop cooperating.  Kilbride will call the SecNav so she will start making some phone calls.  Sam wants to get someone into the DOJ.

Callen is questioning Carlson.  He’s asking about when she was tipped off about his “so-called Russian connections.”  Callen wants to understand the timeline.  An official comes in to speak with Carlson.  Callen says if she has other obligations, he’s happy to finish up.

Outside of the conference room is Deeks, who is trying to sell his bar to Barinov’s guard.  Carlson arrives, asking who Deeks is.  With a card, he announces he’s Martin Atticus Deeks, Esquire.  He is there for his highly decorated and respected client Special Agent G. Callen – he asks “who, pray tell, are you?”  Carlson introduces herself.  Deeks takes a photo of her ID badge for his friend “Wolfy” at CNN who is a stickler for details and the truth.  Carlson wants to know who told Deeks to appear.  Deeks calls lawyer/client privilege.  He also tells Carlson her boss is about to get a call about now clearing this all up.  Carlson assures Deeks she’s the boss.  He thinks she’s probably not the boss anymore.  

Deeks joins Callen, asking “how you doing there tiger?”  Deeks has Carlson leave because he wants to speak to his client alone.  Deeks opens his briefcase as Carlson leaves.  Callen wants to know why Deeks is there.  He has a sandwich and a speaker.  Playing a little classical music, Carlson can’t hear what’s going on through the door – “sneaky bastard”.  

Callen tells Deeks what he knows – the DOJ is hunting for a Russian mole.  Deeks jokes that they finally got Callen.  Not sure if this is about him, Hetty or someone they know, Callen has been identified as a Russian Agent.  Deeks asks why but Carlson left behind photos of Garrison, Anna, Katya, Arkady and Gagarin.  Deeks knows how it looks.

In the upstairs office, Kilbride talks about rumors of a high ranking US member of the intelligence community actually be a Russian agent.  Sam thought that was an urban legend.  Hetty had a plan to smoke them out.  Fatima is explaining the same story to Kensi in the bullpen so the scene goes back and forth.  

Posing as journalist, two agents were put into Syria by Hetty. She had them share intel in a controlled manner that would get back to Washington.  By monitoring who says what, she could find the spy by how Assad and his Russian backers moved troops.  As Hetty was getting close, the government grabbed the agents.  The US government doesn’t know if the agents’ covers were blown.  Hetty is negotiating their release.  Callen could be a misdirection in all of this.  With Callen being Hetty’s prized protégé, the spy inside the government could be covering their work.

Carlson has had enough of the overture from “Les Hugueots”.  Callen thinks she’s more a fan of Kraftwerk.  She wants both Callen and DEEKS gone from the Federal Building.  Deeks notes she got the call from above he promised.

In the parking structure, Callen tells Deeks about Barinov’s line about Gonchgarov being a true patriot.  Callen thinks it is a code.  A lot of time and money goes into getting a Russian spy in with US intelligence.  Accusing Callen of being a spy could take away attention from someone else.  Lose an old bomber and its crew to get their spy inside the US or protect another.

Just as Hetty was looking for the mole, the plane landed.  Callen thinks Gonchgarov is working for the Russian Intelligence. There would be just enough intel on the plane to make it look like the Captain defected.  The problems started when the plane blew up.  Callen is going back into the building.  He has idea and turns himself back in.  Deeks calls Sam, who is stunned. Carlson is surprised Callen had a change of heart.  He hasn’t.  He just needs to see Captain Gonchgarov.

Up in Ops, Fatima and Kensi are reviewing all the Russians the team has dealt with over the years.  The need to find someone they trust.  That’s a problem.  Kensi finds one – Kirkin.

Deeks is not on-board for Kirkin.  He recommends Arkady but Arkady’s links to Callen knock him out of consideration.  Deeks feels so – Kensi suggests “special” – but Deeks thinks “dirty” working with Kirkin.  Deeks is the only one who can get Kirkin to help.  Changing her voice to a high pitch, Kensi asks “please” and Deeks relents.

Walking down a residential street in Los Angeles, the Admiral is yelling at Sam on his cell asking what the hell is wrong with NCIS.  Kilbride thinks it is a terrible plan.  Sam thinks it is the only plan they have.  Besides, the Admiral put a dead guy in a golf cart once..  Getting into his vehicle, Kilbride thinks the team has all been drinking Hetty’s Kool-Aid.  A gunman arrives and shoots Kilbride.

Carlson is moving Captain Gonchgarov from his safehouse.  There has been an incident and she doesn’t believe he’s safe.  Kilbride is rushed off in an ambulance with EMT Kensi Blye.  The Admiral is disgusted with himself for going along with the plan.  Kensi remembers the dead guy in the golf cart and Kilbride is finished with that.  He starts reminiscing about a time when he once emptied a morgue and decides that’s not a good story to tell.  Kensi agrees.

Deeks arrives as Kirkin is having a meltdown in “The House of Kirkin”.  Kirkin’s frown turns upside down when he sees Deeks.  He introduces Deeks as LAPD to the people in the studio.  Deeks updates Kirkin on his career change and Kirkin is delighted Deeks is a very secret agent.  Kirkin has turned over a new leaf.  Through art and fashion, he’s giving back.  “Why not share this with the world.”  Deeks asks for a favor and Kirkin thinks they can help each other.

As Gonchgarov is being sped to a different location, this SUV is cut off by a Sprinter van.  The driver and his partner are executed, Gonchgarov is put in the van.  It is Callen and the team doing the kidnapping.

Bringing Gonchgarov to the boat shed, Kirkin at the table in the main room in is a plastic jumpsuit.  There is a tarp in the back of the boat shed’s main area with a sheet over a body.  There is blood on the sheet.  Kirkin explains to Callen that he didn’t mean to kill her but things happen.  There is a news report on the big screen about Kilbride’s assassination.  Kirkin is cleaning up the mess – Kilbride was a Russian asset.  They got Gonchgarov away from the DOJ just in time.

Callen is interrogating Gonchgarov – someone outed Kilbride and the Americans killed him.  Unless another Russian spy killed Kilbride.  Gonchgarov denies being part of any of it.  He’s not Russian intelligence.  He just wants to live in America.  Callen calls Gonchgarov a traitor.  

In Ops, Kilbride joins Fatima to watch Masterpiece Theater.

Still in the main section of the boat shed, Callen asks if Gonchgarov gave him up.  Gonchgarov doesn’t even know who Callen is.  Kirkin calls Gonchgarov  a liar and, pulling out some pliers to find the truth.   The door opens to the boat shed and Deeks is dragged in by Sam wearing a ski-mask.  Deeks is thrown on the tarp in the back of the boat shed.  Callen drags Gonchgarov to interrogation.  Kirkin is worried about “Marty” but he’s fine.  Kensi, the woman under the tarp, needs to pee.  As Kensi races to the restroom, Deeks starts warming up for his screaming.  

Gonchgarov insist he is defecting but asks if Callen is really working for the Russians.  “How do you think I knew where to look for your plane?”  And who blew it up to keep it from the Americans.  Gonchgarov says he’s just a pilot.  Callen disagrees.  Gonchgarov is either an asset or a liability.  Deeks’s screams can now be heard through the interrogation room walls.   Callen says the good thing about the boat shed is nobody hears the noise and it is easy to throw bodies into the ocean.

Fatima asks Kilbride if he believes Gonchgarov believes what’s going on.  “Not unless he’s an idiot.”  Fatima notes the Admiral isn’t big on encouragement.  “Not everyone got a trophy when I grew up.”

With Callen promising that Kirkin can get him both papers and work, Gonchgarov isn’t interested in a new identity.  Callen asks what does he think is going to happen if he doesn’t cooperate.  Since the US in the land of opportunity, Gonchgarov thinks he can work hard and be something.  Callen calls him an embarrassment to Moscow.  He won’t be allowed to live in the US happily ever after.  Gonchgarov says his freedom is worth the risk.

Sam tells Deeks to stop screaming – Gonchgarov isn’t budging.  Deeks really thought he was selling the story.  Kirkin had goosebumps.  Deeks asks why does Kirkin have to make things weird.

If he is return to the American authorities, Gonchgarov will share the one thing he has – a phone number he was made to memorize it in case he was in trouble in foreign territory.  In the main room, Sam thinks it could be legit but the Russians could have a dozens of numbers for different situations.  

Fatima traces the number to London.  Kilbride thinks it is a hub where they can trace the caller’s location and get a team in the area to pick the caller up.

Giving Gonchgarov a flip-phone, the Taxi Service is called.  He is told to go to the Santa Monica Pier in an hour.

At the Pier, Gonchgarov sits at a bench.  Callen is in a janitor’s uniform, Sam is fishing, Kensi has a baby carriage and Deeks is wearing a poncho and playing a guitar.  Sam nearly hooked a surfer while he was finishing.  Deeks was nearly hooked a few days earlier.  Kensi thinks it was a shame he was thrown back.  He thinks she’s being unkind.

Callen notices a woman approaching Gonchgarov but she’s just taking a selfie.  The Admiral wonders how America went from the Greatest Generation to the Selfie Generation.  Kilbride would rather be tarred and feathered than take a selfie.  Sam thinks tar and feathers stopped being a thing when the railroads were put in.

The young woman hands Gonchgarov her phone.  While the team first thinks she’s making contact, Gonchgarov take her picture and returns the phone.  She shakes his hand and thanks him.  As she walks away, Deeks recognizes her as Zasha Gagarin.  Callen sees her toss her phone and her leather gloves.  She also removes a pair of latex gloves.  Racing to Gonchgarov, Callen wants an ambulance.  Sam realizes Gonchgarov was poisoned.  

Not getting too close, Kensi and Deeks order Gonchgarov not to touch has face with his hands.  As he tries to walk away, Gonchgarov starts to cough.  He collapses and has a seizure.  The team cannot help him.  While Deeks chases Gagarin with Callen and Sam,  Kensi stays with Gonchgarov but Gagarin is in the wind.

A hazmat team takes away a barely breathing Gonchgarov.  Kensi  is going to the hospital so the Russians can’t finish him off.  Carlson arrives.  She’s furious.  NCIS paid $30,000 to Gagarin – Deeks corrects her since it was $38K.  Carlson wants to know why Callen’s lawyer was there but Deeks explains he’s a hyphenate.  She calls him a dumbass, which entertains Callen and Sam.  With the only member of the Russian flight crew willing to cooperate released to NCIS and now nearly dead, Carlson is not a happy DOJ Agent.  Carlson wonders how Gagarin escaped unless Callen was working for Russia.

When Sam suggests Gonchgarov could pull through, Carlson asks if he got a medical degree with his gym membership.  That gets a laugh out of Callen and Deeks.  Carlson wants to bring Gagarin in but with her connection to the Russian consulate, Carlson will be drowning in red tape.  With Gagarin on the run, the DOJ should let NCIS find her so Carlson will finally get her real Russian Agent.  She wants to work with NCIS on this.  Callen agrees as long as the DOJ stops following him.  Carlson assures them all, the DOJ is not tailing Callen.

In Ops, Fatima asks if there has been any signs of Gagarin.  Kilbride thinks she’s having dinner at the Russian Embassy in Mexico City.  Gonchgarov is in a coma.  Kilbride thinks the plan could not have gone much worse.  Fatima, who is on her way to stake out the Russian Consulate, apologizes for things going off the rails.  The Admiral thinks there are those you win and those you curse.  He wishes her a good night.

An arriving Kensi sees Sam and Deeks packing up their things in the bullpen.  Callen is off to check on Arkady.  Arkady put Zasha on the team’s radar.  Kensi wants to go home but Deeks tells her they have a date.  She really isn’t interested but Deeks tells her if she wanted to stay home she shouldn’t have pimped him out to Kirkin.  Sam announces he’s leaving.  Kirkin needed a quid pro quo.

In his studio, Deeks is wearing Kirkin’s ridiculous fashion as Kirkin gleefully takes some pictures.  Kensi is brought a bottle of champagne.  Kensi is getting a little smashed.

As she walk into her hideout, Gagarin is grabbed from behind by Callen wearing a dark hoodie.  Callen tells her killing Gonchgarov was never part of the plan.  If Gagarin didn’t kill him, someone else would have.  Callen should have been warned but Gagarin said then they both would have been killed.  She diluted the poison as much as she could but it had to look real.  She apologizes – she tried.  Gagarin doesn’t know where the Russians would send her but she’s expecting to be sent somewhere.  Callen threatens to kill Gagarin if she double crosses him.

What head canon can be formed from here:  The end is a mess because if memory serves – and that’s why I do this – I don’t think Zasha is even mentioned again.  

Fatima apologizes too much to the men in charge for things that aren’t her fault.  It wasn’t her fault Callen left without telling anyone where he was going and it wasn’t her fault that the case went sideways but she sure as hell apologized to both Sam (for Callen) and the Admiral (for the case).

The Kirkin stuff is sadder when you know how it ends.

Episode number:  This is episode 11 of season 12.  Episode 273 overall.

[seasonsofeverlark]

I Don't Know Much (But I Know I Love You)

Author: @juxtaposie​​

Prompt:  An international student comes and they never celebrated thanksgiving or seen fall colours before. Coming from a country they don't see those colours often... It's amazing to them becuase they never had anything like this before maybe a first snow fall. [submitted by @katnissandpeeta125​]

Rating: T for some swearing and described adult activities

Summary: Katniss might be in love, so it’s really too bad she couldn’t bring herself to tell anyone she was bringing him to Thanksgiving.

Author’s Note: As before, many thanks to @mandelion82​​ for being my point person, @eiramrelyat​​ for keeping me on schedule, and @jroseley​​ for the proofread!

__________

The drive down from Boston had been rough. What should have taken eleven hours had taken closer to fourteen, the highways clogged with holiday traffic, but Peeta had been a good sport about it. He’d gamely manned the aux cable, fed her french fries in traffic, and even talked her down from rear-ending the asshole who’d cut them off when they’d merged on to US-50 in the last hour and a half of the drive. He’d made a hellish experience bearable, keeping her spirits up when they’d hit traffic - again - outside of Harrisburg and she’d nearly run off the road avoiding a pile-up. He’d smiled at her, and made her laugh, and kept her sane, and that feeling was bubbling again, that feeling that she’d been stomping on since the first time he’d put his arm around her (over the Irish breakfast plate, in a booth at the Wheelhouse Diner, both of them so hungover they could barely sit up). 

She hadn’t said it yet, but she could feel the words clogging her throat every time he held her hand, every time he put his arms around her, every time they made love. 

It was really going to break his heart when he realized she hadn’t told anybody she was bringing him. 

It wasn’t like she was keeping him a secret - not exactly, anyways. Prim knew they were kind of sort of dating, that they’d been out a few times and that Katniss liked him. What she didn’t know was that for the last month Peeta had more or less been living with her. He had his own apartment, of course, but she could barely remember the last time he’d slept there. He didn’t have a drawer or anything, but there was a stack of his clothes on the floor of the closet. His toothbrush was sharing a plastic bag with hers, packed neatly in her duffel, because she’d grabbed both of them out of the cup on the bathroom counter. She was wearing his oversized All Blacks sweatshirt. 

Jesus, why hadn’t she told anybody she was bringing him?

A low whistle from the passenger seat interrupted her shame spiral. The two-story ranch house had just come into sight at the end of a long drive lined with live oak trees. Even at 1am, the surrounding lawn was well-lit, and the house gleamed a shining white. Most of the windows were dark, but the porch lights were still on, and Katniss breathed a sigh of relief. She could stave off the shitshow for a few more hours at least. 

Peeta groaned as he climbed out of the car, stretching muscular arms above his head and across his chest. “Glad that’s done,” he said, smiling at her over the roof of the car. “I’m knackered.”

“You weren’t even driving,” Katniss groused as she popped the trunk on her second-hand Corolla. 

“The control freak at the wheel wouldn’t give me a turn,” he countered, maneuvering her out of the way so he could grab both their bags. 

“Can you blame me?” she asked as they climbed the steps up to the front porch. “You flat-out told me you drift into the left lane when you’re tired.” 

Their shared laughter died when the front door swung open abruptly. 

“Get your asses in the house,” Haymitch grumbled. “I wanna go to bed.”

Katniss froze, stunned by the complete nonchalance her uncle was displaying upon finding her on the porch with a strange man. Beside her, Peeta dropped one of the bags so he could offer his hand in greeting. 

“I’m-“

“Peeta, I know,” Haymitch interrupted before saying to Katniss, “He’ll have to sleep in the game room. Guest rooms are all taken.”

“You didn’t have to wait up,” Katniss said, kicking the door shut as they followed him into the house. 

“Nah, you know how your aunt is,” he said, waving a hand in dismissal. Then, turning to Peeta, “Game room is in the basement. Goodnight.”

Peeta just laughed, shaking his head a little, and turned to hand Katniss her bag. “Goodnight then, I guess,” he said, bending to kiss her gently, heedless of their company. 

“Goodnight,” she echoed softly, already feeling lonely at the prospect of sleeping without him.

“Hold on a second,” her uncle said when she turned resolutely toward the staircase.

Katniss paused, annoyed, and turned back to find him fighting back an obnoxious, shit-eating grin.

“Prim ratted me out,” she surmised.

“Sure as shit did,” Haymitch replied. When Katniss made a displeased sound in the back of her throat, he continued, “Didn’t say anything about him coming to Thanksgiving though, I’m guessing because you didn’t tell her.”

“I didn’t know if he wanted to come,” she tried to defend, but it was only partly true. 

Haymitch just shook his head at her, and headed for the stairs.

“For the record,” he said as he passed her, “I don’t care where you sleep. Just don’t let Effie catch the two of you. She’s already so far up my ass about tomorrow being perfect. Think she might stroke out if we add premarital cohabitation.”

“You lived together before you got married,” she protested, smiling.

“Goodnight,” was Haynitch’s only reply as he disappeared up the staircase. 

Biting back a grin, Katniss made her way toward the basement stairs. That hadn’t gone half bad. Maybe things would be fine.

***

Much too early, Katniss was dragged into consciousness by a loud slurping sound. She and Peeta had crammed onto the game room couch, clinging together so neither fell off, and she poked her head out from the warm cocoon of body heat and blankets to find Johanna Mason sitting on the floor, not three feet from the couch, with a large, steaming mug of black coffee.

Johanna took another loud, slurping sip, smacking her lips and grinning like the Cheshire Cat. “Who ya got under there, Brainless?” 

“Go away Johanna,” she grumbled, turning her face back into Peeta’s chest, which was now shaking beneath her in silent laughter. He’d clearly been awake longer than she had, and Katnuss groaned unhappily. If there was anyone in the house she wanted to keep Peeta away from, it was Johanna Mason.

“Hi,” Peeta said, extracting a hand from the blanket pile and reaching in Johanna’s direction. “I’m-“

“Peeta, I know,” Johanna said, taking his hand and shaking it so enthusiastically that Katniss was jostled.

“Did Prim tell everyone?” Katniss asked as she sat up, her ire rising.

“No,” Johanna said easily, still grinning. “But Haymitch did.”

Katniss scowled at her. “Why aren’t you asleep? In your own room. Far away from us.”

Johanna’s grin just widened. Ignoring Katniss, she said, “So New Zealand. Thrill capitol of the world. Ever been skydiving?”

Peeta sat up beside her, pushing unruly curls back from his forehead. “A couple times, yeah.”

“Bungee jumping?”

“Once,” he replied. “It sort of loses the novelty once you’ve jumped out of a plane.”

Katniss was shaking her head, both at the apparent cheeriness of her morning-person boyfriend and the thought of jumping out of a perfectly good plane.

“What time is it?” she asked before Johanna could continue with her inane questions.

“After seven,” Peeta offered, slinging an arm around her dropping shoulders so he could pull her in against his side and kiss the top of her head before pushing himself to his feet. With a smiling, “Excuse me, ladies,” he stepped around Johanna and disappeared into the bathroom.

Katniss watched him go, but when she turned back to Johanna the other girl was craning her head around to watch the now-closed bathroom door.

“Stop,” Katniss said firmly. 

“I’m not even looking at you,” Johanna said. “And can you blame me? Look at you. Look at him! I thought for sure he was going to be ugly, or weird, but he’s actually pretty hot. His arms are almost as big around as my thighs.” 

Katniss flopped back over, intent on hiding in the blankets, but Johanna climbed onto the couch before she could burrito herself in the blankets, and continued to make inappropriate comments until Katniss pushed her bodily back onto the floor. She practically skipped from the room, still cackling, when Peeta reappeared mere moments later. “Up, up, up!” she called down the stairs in a surprisingly accurate impersonation of Aunt Effie. “It’s a big, big, big day!”

 “I don’t see what you’re always complaining about,” Peeta said as he pulled her up off the couch and into his arms. “She’s not half bad.”

Craning her head back to see his face, Katniss took in his beatific smile and said, “You heard her call you hot.”

“She only said ‘pretty hot’,” he reminded her, tightening his arms around her until her heels came off the floor. She took the hint, closing the last few inches of distance between them to kiss his smiling mouth while he pulled her completely off her feet. Laughing, he spun them around and began walking backwards toward the couch, but before he could sit down there were footsteps on the stairs.

Panicked, Katniss tore her mouth from his and pushed on his shoulders. “Put me down,” she whispered urgently, feet scrabbling for purchase on his shins, but it was too late.

“Katniss!” Effie exclaimed, somehow managing to shriek despite the fact that she was almost whispering. “What are you doing? Who is this?” Then, before Katniss could answer, Effie was hustling back up the stairs, yelling, “Haymitch! There’s a boy in the basement!”

Peeta let go of her as the basement door slammed shut, and took a big step back. They stood in awkward silence as Katniss tried to come up with something to say, but Peeta beat her to it.

“You know,” he said gently, “I don’t care that you clearly didn’t tell anyone you were bringing me, but you could’ve let me in on that.”

“Peeta,” she tried, reaching for him, but he shrugged her off. 

“Give me a minute,” he said, kneeling to dig around in his duffel. 

Katniss swallowed thickly. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” he said. 

The basement door opened again. “Hands where I can see them,” Haymicth shouted before appearing on the stairs. He gave the two of them a long look before saying, “Your aunt wants me to talk to you, so when you get dressed and come upstairs just… act like I yelled at you, or something.”

“I see you come by the avoidance naturally,” Peeta said to her, and Haymicth let out a barking laugh. 

Face burning, Katniss asked, “Don’t you have something better to do right now?”

Haymitch shook his head. “Better than embarrassing you in front of your new boyfriend? Not a chance. Hope you’re ready for the third degree.” Addressing Peeta, he said, “She’s never brought a boy home.”

“What, ever?”

“Gale was over here all the time,” she protested. 

“Yeah, but you didn’t like him,” Haymitch said. “You thought you did, for some reason I still haven’t figured out, but you didn’t.”

Peeta laughed, teasing, “Do you like me, love?”

“Don’t blame you for not being able to tell,” Haymitch said. “Girl’s pricklier than a cactus.”

“That’s rich, coming from you,” Katniss shot back. 

Haymitch held up his hands in surrender. “Alright, alright. Why don’t you two get dressed and come have some breakfast. I’ll, uh, give you some privacy.”

When he’d gone, Peeta reached for her hand and pulled her toward him. Still kneeling, he wrapped his arms around her thighs and rested his chin against her belly, looking up at her through long, golden eyelashes. “Do you like me, love?”

Just like that, the feeling she’d been pushing away roared to the forefront of her mind. Suddenly shy, Katniss plunged her hands into his hair and bent to press her cheek to the top of his head, inhaling deeply. “Yes,” she breathed, feeling like she was confessing something much bigger. “I like you. So much.”

****

The rest of the morning passed in a blur. After they dressed they had breakfast in the living room, eating english muffins, eggs, and sausages off paper plates while sitting cross-legged on the floor around the coffee table. Effie was practically vibrating, peppering Katniss and Peeta with questions as she moved in and out of the room. Prim finally came downstairs, shrieking in delight when she realized who was sitting beside Katniss on the floor, and just as predicted she got along with Peeta like a house on fire. It made Katniss feel warm inside, to see the two people she most adored talking like old friends even though they’d just met. 

Haymitch and Johanna left for the airport, and returned an hour later with Finnick, Annie, and their 2-yr old son who was named for his father. Prim immediately commandeered the baby, while Finn and Peeta bonded over surfing, and Peeta promised to take them all to Tauranga if they ever made it to the North Island. They put the parade on the big screen TV hanging over the crackling fireplace, and Peeta put his arm around her. Despite the raucous conversation and an audience composed of almost every one she cared about, Katniss was content to tuck her feet up under her and snuggle into his side. 

“Do you need any help?” Peeta asked Effie, causing Haymitch to shake silently with laughter.

“Aren’t you darling!” Effie exclaimed. “No, you just sit right here until Santa shows up.”

“She’s not cooking,” Katniss supplied after Effie had left the room.

“I thought eating was the point of this holiday.”

“Oh, we’re gonna eat,” Haymitch said, “but Effie’s not cooking. No one wants that.”

“We made everything yesterday,” Prim said, bouncing the cooing baby in her lap. “Effie and Lavinia are just heating it all up.”

Even so, after the parade ended Peeta left Katniss with her family and went to the kitchen, where he was promptly put to work making pastry lattice for the three pies - the only things being made fresh that day. 

With Peeta otherwise occupied the teasing began, and continued for nearly twenty minutes until Haymitch said, “All right, let her alone. If we keep it up too long she might disappear on us.” 

“He seems really nice,” Annie offered sincerely. 

“He is,” Katniss agreed, unable to keep a smile off her face. 

They kept the TV on, enjoying the dog show and the warmth of each other’s company. Baby Finn was particularly enamored with the animals, which launched a discussion about pets, past and present, wherein Prim reminisced fondly about the absolute monster of a cat she’d lost just the previous year, and no one, not even his wife, could talk Finnick out of the idea of providing a puppy for his son to grow up with. 

“You’re leaving for college next year,” Haymitch told Prim. “You’re not getting a damn cat!”

After the dog show they put cartoons on for the baby, and Katniss went to rescue Peeta from her aunt only to find him happily engaged in a conversation about his family’s bakery in Hamilton. He loved the bakery, Katniss knew, even if there was so much bad blood between him and his mother that he’d left the country over it. Effie was in her element, directing Peeta and Lavinia around the kitchen as she finished the place settings in the dining room. When Katniss poked her head through the door to take in the year’s decorations, somewhere tastefully between Thanksgiving and Christmas, she was roped into moving the  serving dishes around the table until her aunt was satisfied everyone would be able to reach everything. 

“I think we’re almost ready,” Peeta said, bending over in front of the oven to survey the baking pies. 

Effie checked her watch, declaring that they were right on time - it was a few minutes before 2pm - before sending Katniss into the living room to corral everyone. 

When they were all standing around the table, waiting to take their seats, Effie elbowed Haymitch until he cleared his throat and said, “All right, well… Here’s to the family we choose. Let’s eat ‘til we puke.”

“Haymitch!” Effie exclaimed in dismay, but she was drowned out by laughter and the scraping of chairs as everyone took a seat. 

The meal was incredible. Katniss took Haymitch’s advice, having seconds of everything until she felt sick, and somehow still managed to find room for pie. Peeta’s hand rested on her thigh under the table, and every time she looked at him she could feel an unmatched fondness bubbling up in her. He took the teasing in stride, laughing as her aunt, uncle, and sister told embarrassing stories about her, and even offered a few embarrassing stories about himself, and Katniss had to hold herself back from kissing him. Her heart was as full as her stomach.

By the time everyone was done eating she was sleepy and content, and when everyone drifted away to find their own quiet corner in the house, Katniss took Peeta’s hand and led him up the stairs. Her old bedroom was just as she’d left it when she’d moved to Boston for school, and she pushed Peeta toward the bed before shimmying out her jeans and joining him.

“So that’s American Thanksgiving,” he said, his hand drifting up and down her arm. 

Katniss laughed. “It’s not over yet.”

“We watched the parade, we had turkey and stuffing and pie, now we’re having a nap,” he ticked off on his fingers. “What’s left?”

“We’ll probably go to the movies later,” she said, “then Effie and Johanna and Prim will get up at 3am to go shopping.”

“Black Friday is real?” he asked with a laugh.

Katniss groaned. “Unfortunately. You might get roped into going. They always need a pack mule, and Haymitch bitches so much my aunt doesn’t make him go anymore.”

“They’re an odd pair,” Peeta said. 

“Yeah,” she agreed. “They are.They fought all the time when I was little - they still fight all the time. She drives him crazy, and she used to get so mad at him she’d go into the basement and scream. I didn’t really get why they were together. 

“Didn’t like past tense?” Peeta asked, squeezing her tighter. 

“You don’t drive me crazy,” Katniss said, immediately understanding what he was driving at. 

“Might be doing something wrong then,” he said, pushing up on his elbow until he was leaning over her. 

Taking his face in her hands, she stroked his cheek, her thumb catching in the dimple beside his smile. “Did you enjoy your first Thanksgiving?” she asked quietly. 

“Love, I enjoy anything I get to do with you.”

She didn’t mean to say it, hadn’t wanted to say it, but the “I love you,” tumbled from her lips before her brain could catch up with her heart, and when she realized what she’d done she pulled Peeta down against her, burying her face in his neck so she wouldn’t have to look at him. 

He laughed, and she was mortified - she hadn’t said those words to anyone but Prim, since her dad died, and Peeta was laughing at her - but before she could fall down the spiral of despair Peeta said, “I knew it,” and kissed her. 

It was a sweet kiss, just the gentle pressure of his lips against hers, his free hand buried in her dark hair. 

“I knew it,” he said again when he pulled away to rest his forehead against hers. “You’re awful at hiding how you feel, you know.”

But he hadn’t said it back, so Katniss swallowed down the lump in her throat and asked, “Do you love me?”

“Are you blind?” he shot back. “Of course I love you. I’m crazy about you.”

Before he could kiss her again, the door to her bedroom flew open and Prim bounded in, heedless of the moment she’d just interrupted. 

“Movie’s at 5:40,” she said, “and the mall opens at 10pm this year, so we’re just gonna head over after.”

“That sounds awful,” Katniss groaned, hiding her face in Peeta’s neck again. 

“Can’t wait,” Peeta replied. “Better get some rest then eh?”

“Yep, rest,” Prim agreed. “I”ll just lock the door on my way out, shall I? Happy Thanksgiving, guys.”

“Happy Thanksgiving,” Katniss echoed, and for the first time in her life, she meant it. 

[thelittlestcheshire]

Isak ( @isakvaltersen03​ )

“Isak! Hey! How have you been?” Jonah smiles at his cousin as he comes over. “It feels like it’s been forever.” And perhaps it had been, after all, he’d been busy with his own school work when Luxor went down to the city, and after that, they’d gone to France. Although when he visited Ches in London for Effie’s birthday, he probably should have tried to see if he could hop the train with her or something when he visited Ches in London for Effie’s birthday. “How have you been enjoying New Zealand? Pet any dogs yet?”

[xiaojaan]

oceania is australia and new zealand!

Oh my god! I just searched it lmao I didn’t know! They never taught us anything like Oceania it was always Australia as a continent and why are we taught different things about world👁👄👁... 

Thanks Effie I got to know something new today! 😂😭

[elizabethsharmon]

i was tagged by @lallemanting thank you ❤

nickname: i somehow became mags, but my 2 closest irl friends call me lestru (throwback to the time when we were obsessed with sherlock in high school) or asif (from that 'the friendship with ... has ended' meme shshhs)

zodiac sign: sagittarius

height: 171 cm which is like 5′7″ i think?

languages: polish, english, french (though i'm not really comfortable with writing and speaking but i understand everything i read or listen to ✌), i know some basic spanish and i learned italian for a year but i only remember three (3) sentences and some random words shhdg

favorite flower: carnations

nationality: polish yikes

favourite season: winter

hogwarts house: when i first took the pottermore quiz in hs i was sorted to slytherin and i was offended that i'm not in ravenclaw and then i retook it like two years ago and it sorted me in ravenclaw and i was offended i'm not in slytherin so hshshs slytherclaw i guess

last thing i googled: i was checking some people from my new work 👀

song stuck in my head: 'natural' by imagine dragons, a real bop 👌

following and followers: ugh i follow a loooot of blogs, more than 400 even though half of them are inactive probably lol and i have like 5 times that followers

coffee, tea, or hot chocolate: tea (black with one teaspoon of sugar and a slice of lemon, i'm peak polish when it comes to tea ✌)

dream trip: new zealand

favorite color: blue

amount of sleep i get: ugh usually 8-9 but now i started work and i get 6-7 rip me

dream job: a writer or a film/tv producer, i just know that i want to create and write things and film them, i guess one day i'll know what my dream place in tje business would be but for now i'm finally working up my courage to apply to film school so keep your fingers crossed

wearing: black jeans and blue tshirt with a little heart in left upper corner and i just noticed this heart has stripes that are kinda like pride flag colours shshdjd

favorite fictional characters: clara oswald, 12th doctor, lucas lallemant, eliott demaury, hermione granger, sarah manning, effy stonem, and many others i don't remember at the moment

favorite songs: too many to list but my go to will always be anything from 'smoke + mirrors' album by imagine dragons 👌

instruments: i played the flute in elementary school like some basic christmas carols if that counts? hsjsh

random facts: i quickly remember names and faces and i have a great memory for quotes, dialogues or useless facts about books, tv shows and films

aesthetic: i like a bunch of different things, i don't have defined aesthetic, it depends on many vectors i guess gshsh

tagging @solo-silenzio, @lulu-lallemant and @thebeautifulisalwaysbizarre ❤

[thecringefailintherye]

Hi this is so random but I found you because I was stalking the Skins tags and found your posts in there and they made my day! It’s my newest special interest and I haven’t rly found many posts in the tags that actually are appreciative of the show itself, instead of the same sad girl aesthetic things. I know your blog has moved on a bit but it just felt so good to see some proper funny blorbo posts about my favourite characters. (Btw I love MCR too, they are in my top three fave bands of all time and I’m always appreciative of those silly little fellas! I’m hoping to see them in New Zealand next year after they got postponed like… three times cause of covid)

HI HI!!!! i dont post about skins much anymore but it used to be my hyperfixation n i still watch it sometimes, (i mainly post about bad emo music, opera, and classic literature, but yknow, im ALWAYS up to talk about gen 1 and how much i love them)

there are way too many sad girl coquette lana del ray effy crying with a fag black and white gifs in the tag and it genuinely annoyed me tbh, funny blorbo posts are what i do best!!!

i’m so glad the skins fandoms still around, and if you ever wanna talk abt it, well, i’m your gal!!!! i still love skins sm, especially gen 1, i’d love to start ranting about the blorbos from my shows (maxxie and michelle) again

OH and have fun at the NZ show, i saw them ages ago back in cardiff n they were brilliant, so i’m sure youre gonna have a great time <3

[fatetempted-a]

                        he stood up too quickly from the chair at his computer. as a nurse and someone who grew up with two parents in the   medical profession   as well, quick wit and a sharp reflex was required. you needed to be able to keep your patients happy and content, but also be able to help them at any moment’s notice. that was exactly what she did as his footing became clearly off, seen out of the corner of her eye. effie   lunged   forward   (   as she had been sitting a fair bit away   )   and took a hold of the man she cared after. she allowed him to steady himself before letting go with only a hand resting at the mid of his back. 

                        holden took her hand, assuring her that   he was alright   with a few soft words and a thumb that ran across her knuckles.   “   i know you are,   ”   her new zealand accent was thick as it always was when she was concerned, a tale tell sign she was lying about that.   “   it’s my job to make sure you don’t take a spill and hurt yourself. after all, we   can’t   have that with the little one sleeping. you might wake her up.   ”   a slightly worried frown soon turned to a suppressed grin with a joke to   lighten   the air.

❪   ♡   ❫   —   @ablehearted​​​      //      continued   +   ♡   !

[tragicfated-aa-blog]

                        her heart   ached   unlike it ever had before. the new zealand native was sure that she’d never experienced this sort of pain, and that was coming from someone who got beat up and partially maimed for a living. the most laid back gal you’d ever meet, so friendly and full of life she was. in that moment though, she felt like she was in shambles of her former self. not that she would let a   break–up   change her or make her a colder person by any means, but she felt like will smashed her heart into thousands of pieces and that wasn’t a good feeling at all. there was only one person she knew would understand how to   comfort her   if nothing else. right now, effie didn’t want someone to solve her problems for her or pat her back and tell her there were plenty of fish in the sea. she knew the one man she’d known since she was a young girl in grade school was the only person that could possibly make her feel some sort of validation—–jay white.

                        she didn’t bother to bang on his door even though it was the middle of the night. at this point in their friendship, she knew where he kept the spare key and that’s exactly what she used as her means of getting inside. tears still streamed down rosy cheeks from her sobs. eyes were puffy and   no doubt   an eyesore at this point, but that never mattered with him. it crossed her mind a time or two that he might turn his overly protective mode on and this might interfere with his chaos stable mates, but she desperately   needed   jay right now. 

                        after closing and locking the door behind her, she sat the key down safely and wiped mascara stained cheeks in her quest to the kitchen where the only light in the residence was on. her hiccuping sobs must have   given her away   from the front door because he didn’t make his way to see who was in his house, but as she rounded the corner into the kitchen he was already prepared for her. all the petite brunette could do was approach him and then nearly fall into his arms clinging to him, hands gripping at his biceps.   “   i’m sorry. i know thet it’s late, but i   needed   you,   ”   she tried to explain as clearly as her voice would allow.

*:･ﾟ✧   —   @fadedglcry      //      closed   ⟶   effie + jay   !

[madstars-festival]

MEET THE 5 BRILLIANT CREATIVES LEADING THE AD STARS 2020 AWARDS

It is an honour to welcome five of the world’s most acclaimed and eclectic creative leaders to this year’s Executive Jury.

AD STARS would like to thank the following creative executives for taking on the challenge of overseeing the 13th AD STARS Awards. A warm welcome to Sarah-Leith Izzard, Ogilvy Hong Kong; Fabio Caveira, OPPO China; Levi Slavin, Colenso BBDO, New Zealand; Sascha Kuntze, BBH Singapore and Valerie Madon, VMLY&R, Singapore.

SARAH-LEITH IZZARD, OGILVY HONG KONG

Sarah-Leith Izzard’s advertising career has taken her all over the world. Her career started in London in graphic design, but she soon gravitated towards advertising agencies in Sydney, Australia. After over three years at Ogilvy Hong Kong, she set sail for Jung von Matt in Berlin where she was the creative lead on the global Nikon account, creating their biggest global product launch up until that point.

Last year, she moved back to Ogilvy Hong Kong – this time as the agency’s Regional Executive Creative Director.

Along the way, Izzard has collected awards at Cannes, Ciclope, One Show, Kam Fan and the Shorty Awards. We are delighted to welcome her to our 2020 Executive Jury, where she will oversee the Film and Video Stars categories.

FABIO CAVEIRA, OPPO CHINA

He may not like soccer and samba or claim never to have tasted feijoada, but rest assured, Fabio Caveira is indeed Brazilian at heart. These days, he is based in Shenzhen City in China where he is Senior Creative / Art Director for OPPO’s in-house agency.

Caveira’s career has taken him all over the world from Brazil to Portugal, Poland, Romania, Jordan, Qatar and China. After working at several multinationals including J. Walter Thompson, M&C Saatchi, Leo Burnett and Y&R, he became curious to join an in-house agency and joined OPPO, the third biggest mobile company in the world behind Samsung and Huawei (Apple now sits in fourth spot).

Fabio will oversee the Design & Print categories at AD STARS 2020.

LEVI SLAVIN, COLENSO BBDO

Levi Slavin has played a huge role in the ongoing success of Colenso BBDO, New Zealand, which was named Agency of the Decade, Pacific by the Cannes Lions this year.

Before returning to Colenso as Chief Creative Officer in 2017, Slavin was an Executive Creative Director at BBDO New York. His work on The Message — an 8-episode original branded podcast — won two Gold Lions for GE.

But when Trump was elected, Levi decided to escape to New Zealand to run Colenso BBDO. In his first year, the agency was named the #1 Best and Bravest by Contagious.

Before all this, Levi worked in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the US, collecting over 100 international awards along the way. He was Global Creative Director at Anomaly NY working on Google and Diageo. He also worked at Saatchi & Saatchi, London and Clemenger BBDO.

Before all that, Levi didn’t know anything about advertising and was mainly focused on growing a moustache.

At AD STARS 2020, he will oversee the Diverse Insights, Outdoor, PSA, Pivot, Place Brand, Radio & Audio categories.

SASCHA KUNTZE, BBH SINGAPORE

Sascha Kuntz is Chief Creative Officer at BBH Singapore and the first person to sneak the recipe for perfect soft-boiled eggs into his bio: Place the eggs into a pot and cover them with cold water. Bring the water to a boil and switch off the heat. Wait for 3 minutes, take out and cut open the eggs. Enjoy with a pinch of salt and pepper. Serve with lightly toasted bread.

When he’s not boiling eggs, Kuntz has also won over 350 awards at all major award shows including Cannes, D&AD, One Show, Effie. This includes 9 Grand Prix, and a Titanium at Cannes Lions.

Kuntze will lead the Interactive, Integrated, Innovation, Mobile, Data Insights, Social & Influencer categories at AD STARS 2020 – welcome, Sascha!

VALERIE MADON, VMLY&R SINGAPORE

Valerie Madon returns to our Executive Jury for the second time – she was also an Executive Judge at AD STARS 2014. Today, Madon is Chief Creative Officer, Asia at VMLY&R, Singapore.

From a young age, Madon loved to paint – a passion that led to a career in advertising working for major brands such as Hewlett-Packard, Procter & Gamble, Singapore Airlines, HSBC, Burger King, VISA, Singapore Tourism Board, Changi Airport, Central Provident Fund, Shell, GSK, Cycle & Carriage, Friesland Campina and many others.

Over the years, she has made her mark at countless award shows, and was awarded Singapore’s first Digital Creative Director of The Year award at the 2011 Advertising Hall of Fame event – a title she defended again in 2012. She has also been voted by IAS as one of Singapore's Most Influential CDs from 2011 to 2018.

When she is not painting, creating integrated advertising campaigns or spending time with her family, Madon runs her own artisan ice cream shop, Licktionary (www.licktionary.sg), with her husband, another advertising veteran, Farrokh Madon.

She will lead the Brand Experience & Activation, Creative eCommerce, Direct, Media, PR categories at AD STARS 2020 – welcome back, Valerie!

Judging for the AD STARS 2020 Awards is now underway. The winners will be announced online on 7th September via adstars.org

[poeticandvaguelysweet]

@lunabelles

name: Annaliese

nickname(s): Anna/Lucy/Andy

zodiac sign: Scorpio

height: 5′7″

orientation: bi

nationality: Australian

favorite fruit: watermelon

favorite season: autumn

favorite book: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close; Jonathan Safran Foer

favorite flower: sunflowers

favorite scent: rosewood

favorite color: yellow

favorite animal: BEARS

coffee | tea | hot cocoa

average hours of sleep: depends on my week. busy; 6 hours. nothing on; 10 hours. 

cat or dog person: both? but only if they’re my pets

favorite fictional character(s): Effie Trinket, Andy Dwyer, Leslie Knope, Claire Dearing

number of blankets you sleep with: 4

dream trip: New Zealand! 

blog created: May 2014

number of followers: 604

I tag: @verxxotle , @akastarlord , @cali-forniacationn , @soapieturner , @galorya, @parksxo, @all--the--dancers, + anyone else who feels like sharing! 

[suffrageinstitchesnz]

Makers’ names: Karen Shaw and Emily Barker

Petition sheet number: 289

Person honouring: Emily Barker

Relationship to makers: Husband's great-grandmother; children's great-great-grandmother

Emily Studholme was one of 10 children born to early settlers Effie Channon and Michael Studholme. Born Emmeline Violet Studholme in New Zealand in 1862, but known as Emmie, she grew up at Te Waimate, their farm in South Canterbury. 

In 1882 Emily married John Matthias (Jack) Barker. Jack was born in New Zealand in 1856 to early Canterbury settlers Emma Bacon and Dr Alfred Barker. 

Emily and Jack lived all their lives at their farm called Waihi, near Geraldine in South Canterbury. She had eight children between 1884 and 1899 – they were all given her maiden name as a middle name. 

Emily appears to be the only one in her family and friends to have signed the suffrage petition, so she must have felt strongly about it. She continued to enrol to vote after the petition.

Emily was mainly occupied with sewing, bottling fruit, horse riding, painting, reading, hosting visitors, flower arranging, discussing current affairs with her husband, managing the servants, and caring for her children. She made trips to surrounding farms and towns, but most of all she enjoyed regular family trips to her childhood home.

World War 1 affected Emily. Six of her children served during WW1 and sadly one was killed. After the war Emily and Jack went to Europe and visited their son’s grave.

Emily died in 1938, five years after Jack.

Panel materials: Photo of Emily Barker with her children (taken mid-1890s) printed onto canvas. Painting on calico copied from one by Emily. Signature embroidered on plain cream fabric. Braid bought new; backing a fabric a piece I already had. Belgian lace on back.

Unique ID number: VRS.2019.470

[sekerenews]

3 Times Burger King Trolled McDonald’s and How It Boosted Sales

Burger King has a very fiery marketing approach, they are constantly trolling their other fast food rivals especially McDonald's. McDonald's seems to always be at the centre of the brand’s stunt.  The fast-food chain is always looking for and finding ways to troll McDonald's. They have trolled McDonald’s in some very savage and epic ways. Have you ever wondered if these stunts have ever paid off for the brand? Well on this post, we would be discussing some of the times Burger King Trolled McDonald’s and how its boosted sales.

Whopper Detour

This has to be the most savage way Burger King has ever trolled its rival ever. The campaign was created by FCB New York, the campaign involved offering its fans a 1 cent Whopper coupon. To redeem the coupon, fans had to be within 600 feet of a McDonald’s location. This campaign was a huge hit both in PR terms and in driving downloads. Their app was downloaded more than 1 million times and was the No 1 download app on Apple App Store. It also increased sales through the mobile app by 3 times during the campaign and a continued sales increase of times 2. The sales increase was not in units sold but in total sales value. Results: 3X sales increase through the mobile app during promotion 2X increase sustained after 2019 One Show Best in Discipline in Experiential and Immersive

Scary Clown Night

This campaign was created by the creative agency LOLA MullenLowe. The campaign was created just after Stephen King’s IT movie was released, the movie is the highest- grossing horror movie in history and at the time of the release was one of the most talked about the movie. Burger King decided to leverage on the movie’s success and people’s fear of clowns. They used the opportunity to also troll their longtime rival McDonalds. The campaign involved encouraging fans to dress up as Scary Clowns. Burger Kings around the world gave free Whoppers to anyone who came dressed as a clown on Halloween Results: More than 110,000 clowns receiving free Whoppers 15% global sales increase, 21% increase in foot traffic 1 billion earned impressions $22.4 million in earned media value Cannes Lions gold Lion in Outdoor

McWhopper

This campaign was created with Y&R New Zealand and it involved Burger King penning an open letter to McDonald in a New York Times ad. They asked them to come together on International Peace Day and create a McWhopper. The proceeds will be given to a nonprofit advocating for peace. Its rivals politely declined, and it sparked a lot of attention and led to other burger chains joining the cause instead. This lead to nearly 9 billion media impressions. Results: $138 million in earned media 9 billion media impressions 2016 Cannes Lions Grand Prix in Media and Grand Prix in Print 2017 Grand Effie Source: Adweek Read the full article

[effieworldwide]

In One Sentence: Matías del Campo, General Manager, DDB México

March 25, 2019

In one sentence, what do you believe will be the greatest opportunity for the next generation of marketers? 

The greatest opportunity for the next generation of marketers will be to use technology to help with trivial tasks - that way they can concentrate on generating creative ideas that move people’s hearts, motivate them to buy more of their clients’ products, and be better contributors to our society.

Matías del Campo served as a judge for the 2018 Effie Awards México competition. 

October 2018 Gala Recap: México, LATAM, New Zealand + 6 more > 

More "In One Sentence" insights from judges >