#Grand Prix Effie

[kierunekkreatywny]

#TheBestOfEffie Grand Prix Effie 2005 Heyah Launch

[madstars-festival]

[EXECUTIVE JURY] Don't Play the Game. Change it!

- Interview with Emma de la Fosse, chief creative officer of Edelman UK

One of the five top echelon professionals chosen as a jury president for the MAD STARS 2024 awards is Emma de la Fosse, chief creative officer, Edelman UK.

Emma became the first-ever group chief creative officer of Ogilvy UK in 2016. Under her co-leadership, OgilvyOne became the most highly awarded digital and direct agency in the UK. Three years later, she became chief creative officer of one of the UK’s foremost digital agencies, Digitas UK, whose creative fortunes and reputation she helped to rebuild. She is now chief creative officer of Edelman UK, the world’s largest and most successful PR and comms agency. This legendary career began with a role as a copywriter in a creative boutique agency.

In 2020, Emma was awarded a lifetime achievement medal recognising outstanding creativity in customer marketing, the Caples Andi Emerson award. She has led her teams to win every major international award D&AD Yellow Pencils, Cannes Grand Prix, One Show Best in Show, and DMA Grand Prix through to multiple Effie awards for effectiveness and has been the executive creative director for world-famous brands such as IBM, British Airways, British Gas, Kimberly Clark and Kellogg’s.

Emma gave MAD STARS a preview of her judging criteria as well as an insight into her career and the key elements of great work!

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Q. What are you hoping to find at MAD STARS?

A: Margaret Heffernan, professor of business practice at Bath University is one of my heroes. She says, “A world that was once complicated is now complex.  There are still patterns, but they don’t repeat. In today’s world, creative thinking is essential to business.” So what I am looking for are creative solutions for our world’s problems. As Margaret also says, “Don’t play the game. Change it.”

Q. What makes a good MAD STARS awards judge?

A: Sometimes, senior people can become a little cynical when they’ve worked in the industry for a long time. But MAD Stars jurors are still like kids in a sweet shop when it comes to ideas. They are those who ask “why not?” instead of “why?” People who believe in the power of the impossible.

Q. What skills and talents have you used in your career?

A: Gosh, that’s a question I’ve not really thought about before. I suppose tenacity is one of them. Average is easy. Great is hard. You can’t give up easily if you want to get the best ideas made. What else? My brain sees connections very readily, it spots patterns and recognizes similarities between things. That helps when looking at old problems in new ways. I’ve got quite a strategic brain too, so I can write a decent brief and tell if somebody else’s is right or wrong. But mostly I have a sense of fun and I love to build creative teams. To me, it’s like family. A strong creative culture is essential to getting great work made.

Q. What are the biggest challenges to getting MAD STARS award-worthy work through?

A: All great creative work is hard to get out of the deck and into the world. That’s because it challenges you, it can put you outside your comfort zone. As human beings, we instinctively gravitate towards the familiar. Especially in times of global strife or economic uncertainty. So, the kinds of ideas that win at MAD STARS, those that seek to shift the status quo, will have been pretty challenging to get live.

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To give you a glimpse into her judging criteria, Emma shared with us four of her most recent inspirations and one of her favorites.

Read on to find out what inspired her!

<SOLAR IMPULSE - PRÊT À VOTER> Location: France Brand: Solar Impulse Agency: Publicis Conseil

: Solar Impulse is a foundation headed by the explorer Bertrand Piccard, it is dedicated to solving the knowing gap when it comes to tackling environmental challenges by collecting and promoting innovative ideas that are pragmatic and economically viable- it leads to what it calls 'eco-realism'.

Solar Impulse curated chose 50 out of 1400 ideas that were pragmatic and economically sound solutions for key environmental problems in a book called: “Ready to Vote”. A limited edition of books was sent out to 577 newly elected MPs along with this pre-drafted legislation that MPs could use in debates in Parliament.

So far 3 legislative proposals from Prêt à Voter have been adopted word for word, integrated into the Renewable Energy bill of the French Government. There is momentum for further concrete change, with 9 other ready-to-vote proposals being debated in the Senate, 1 is being scrutinized by the Swiss Parliament, and an environmental law being submitted to the European Union.

Image Source: SOLAR IMPULSE FOUNDATION

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<THE BRAKE ROOM> Location: United States Brand: Chick-fil-A Agency: McCann New York

: More than 65,000 food delivery workers in New York go above and beyond to deliver for the city. Winter conditions make what they do even more challenging. While they’re always on the go, they essentially have no place to go in between stops.

The Brake Room is a first-of-its-kind rest station allowing food delivery workers to get warm, use the restroom, and grab a cup of coffee in between deliveries, free of charge.

Chick-fil-A describes the service as ‘an extension of the same experience that Chick-fil-A restaurants provide to guests,’ and ‘just a small way to show our appreciation for the delivery drivers who help fuel our business.’

Image Source: Chick-fil-A https://www.chick-fil-a.com/brake-room

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<50+> Location: Mexico Brand: Popeyes Agency: GUT Mexico City

: In 2022, the global chicken and burger brand Popeyes will celebrate its 50th anniversary, and to honor the occasion, a special campaign called “50+” was launched in Mexico. Although Popeyes has been around for 50 years, the brand was relaunched in Mexico in late 2021, more than a year ago.

“50+” was born out of the problem that more than 20% of unemployment cases in Mexico are between the ages of 45-65. The idea was to celebrate the 50th anniversary by hiring people over the age of 50, who are often stereotyped as low performers and unable to find work. The campaign was designed to positively impact the Mexican community and encourage people to get involved in the continued growth of Popeyes in Mexico.

Image Source: INSIDER LATAM – YouTube ‘Popeyes- GUT México’

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<Heinz Fraud Ketchup> Location: Canada Brand: Heinz Ketchup Agency: Rethink Canada

: Heinz is one of the world's most beloved ketchup brands, known for its distinctive thick, rich sauce and irreplaceable ketchup. However, due to cost concerns, many restaurants refilled Heinz bottles with other ketchup, and it wasn't hard to find social media posts from consumers directly criticizing this act. Inspired by these posts, Heinz launched a bold campaign called “Fraud Ketchup” to uphold the brand's core belief that ‘It Has To Be Heinz’.

The campaign encouraged people to take photos of restaurants they suspected were using another brand of ketchup in Heinz bottles and tag them on Heinz's Instagram. In addition to working with the local restaurants most tagged with “fraudulent ketchup,” Heinz created a collaborative project to get them to use Heinz ketchup and offered free ketchup for a year to the first 10 restaurants that committed to using only Heinz ketchup.

Image Source: Rethink Communications

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<Contract for Change> Location: United States Brand: Michelob ULTRA Pure Gold Agency: FCB Chicago

: Contract for Change is a campaign by Michelob ULTRA Pure Gold, the first beer brand to be USDA-certified, to support farmers converting their existing barley fields to organic. The campaign is designed to address the challenge of organic barley production, with only 1% of U.S. barley fields being organic, to drive sustainable growth and support the expansion of the organic grain industry.

One of the reasons there are so few organic barley fields is that converting existing fields to organic is expensive, and farmers face a three-year wait with an uncertain future. To address this, Michelob ULTRA signed a long-term transition contract to purchase barley grown during the transition period and the first year of organic production. Michelob ULTRA purchases barley grown during the transition period at a 25% higher price to support farmers. In addition, farmers participating in the campaign will benefit from the ability to sell organic crops other than barley grown in rotation.

This resulted in 175 farmers signing contracts to participate in the campaign, enabling 4% of all barley fields in the U.S. to produce organic barley.

* Emma Says, “This is not recent but it’s one of my all-time fave pieces of world-changing work!”

Image Source: shachter - Michelob Ultra. Contract for Change

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You've seen the interview with Emma, our executive jury, and we hope it inspires your entries.

Remember, the 1st entry deadline is approaching fast! It closes on May 10th (KST), so there's only one week left to take advantage of the early bird.

Seize this opportunity to showcase your creative ideas on a global stage! We're eagerly waiting for your submissions that will change the world.

👇🏻Submit your entry now👇🏻

[beeradvertisements]

Dijalekti Croatia Effie 2016. Grand Prix

[johnsonatlasalle]

The Most Memorable Marketing Campaign

What was the most successful marketing campaign or strategy that has impressed you the most in recent times, and why? 

One of the most successful marketing campaigns in recent times was the "Share a Coke" campaign by Coca-Cola. The campaign involved printing popular first names on Coke bottles and encouraging consumers to find and share their personalized bottles with friends and family.

There were several reasons why this campaign was so successful:

Personalization:

 The campaign capitalized on the trend of personalization by printing individual names on the bottles, which created a sense of ownership and made the product more appealing to consumers.

Social media: 

The campaign leveraged social media by encouraging consumers to share photos of their personalized bottles on social media platforms, which generated a lot of user-generated content and helped to spread the campaign message.

Emotional appeal: 

The campaign tapped into the emotional connection that people have with their names and the desire to share with others, which made the campaign resonate with consumers on a deeper level.

Interactive:

 The campaign was interactive and encouraged consumer engagement, which helped to increase brand awareness and loyalty.

The "Share a Coke" campaign was incredibly successful, with Coca-Cola reporting a 2% increase in global sales during the campaign period. The campaign was also recognized with several awards, including a Cannes Lions Grand Prix and a Gold Effie Award.

[effieworldwide]

Winner Spotlight: “Helping the French Eat A Little Better Every Day” by Intermarché & Romance

March 7, 2019

2018 Grand Effie Winner Effie Awards France

Images courtesy of Intermarché & Romance.

In recent years, much of the French grocery category was participating in an ongoing “price war” to attract mostly transitory customers.

In 2017, Intermarché began working with Paris-based agency Romance to challenge this category convention, shifting the brand’s orientation to a new mission, “Helping the French Eat A Little Better Every Day,” which included more emotionally resonant and highly visual creative work.

Since the relaunch, the brand has increased its market share, added new households to its customer base, and improved brand perception among French consumers – all without altering its prices or footprint.

The campaign won the Grand Effie in the 2018 Effie Awards France competition after earning a Gold in the Distribution category and a special recognition for Creative Impact.

We asked Jerôme Lavillat, Strategic Planner at Romance, to share how this work effectively drove growth for the brand.

What were your objectives for “Helping the French to eat a little better every day”?

JL: Over the past 15 years, French food retailers have waged a fierce price war, leveraging aggressive promotions and heavy discounting in their communications. Meanwhile, the expectations of French consumers have drastically changed over time: in 2016, their purchasing behaviours had nothing to do with what they were a few years earlier. 

Indeed, more and more French consumers were trending towards healthier eating and were turning to new kind of retailers: delivery services of fresh products from the farmers’ fields to their doorsteps, organic shops, food co-ops, community-supported agriculture, package-free stores, etc. As a result, Intermarché, the third largest food retailer in France, faced struggles and failed to entice consumers. The brand’s market share declined, losing 345,000 households between 2014 and 2017. In 2016, Intermarché was perceived as one of the most old-fashioned brands in its category (its brand perception as being modern was ranked 7 out of 10). Hence, it became priority for Intermarché to revamp its brand image in order to meet new consumer expectations and make French people fall in love with Intermarché all over again.

Who was your primary audience for the campaign, and why?

JL: We made the choice to target the most quality-sensitive French people: the young families. Because they represent a majority part of large retailers’ earnings (43,1%), they tend to be more loyal and they are very sensitive to quality, we chose to prioritize targeting families with babies and children.

In addition, connecting with families who are sensitive to quality gave Intermarché the opportunity to win the hearts of new and more profitable customers who are less often promo-addicts (“promo-addicts” represented 14,8% of Intermarché’s customers vs 10,3% on average for competitors) and less fickle (from 100 clients who shop at Intermarché, 62.8% also go to E.Leclerc and 48.5% to Carrefour).

What was your strategic insight?

JL: Being the only brand to be so close to the agricultural world and to manufacture its own brands, Intermarché is the best positioned in the category to offer quality products and help French people to eat better. 

How did you bring your idea to life? 

JL: French consumers have become more and more sensitive to quality and increasingly attracted to new distribution channels. As such, we had to radically change the way we were talking to our audience and break the industry’s communication codes. And we did it. 

We revamped Intermarché’s brand image: It’s all about the brand, not about the offer. We launched a brand campaign rather than price- and product-focused campaigns. By doing that, we radically changed the way Intermarché and French food retailers usually communicate. This is how Intermarché established its new brand ambition – to help people eat healthier every day – and at the same time deeply changed its brand image. 

We used an emotional approach rather than a rational one. To reach as many people as possible, we moved away from rational speech and tangible proofs. We did not want to sound patronizing. Instead, we showcased a love story that everyone could identify with and hence connected emotionally with our audience.

Finally, we chose a cinematographic approach to optimize our impact. Food retailers usually invest a lot of money into TVCs. To stand out from the clutter, we had no choice but to break the industry’s codes. We decided to approach our film in a different way. We used a cinematographic treatment (realization led by Katia Lewkowicz), came up with a 3-minute long video that clashes with the short-length norm, and used a very popular soundtrack to connect emotionally with French people. 

L'amour, l’amour

Les Bons Légumes

Why was breaking out of the “price war” and shifting the focus to your brand the right approach?

JL: As explained earlier, expectations of French consumers have changed and in 2016 their relation to nutrition had nothing to do with what it was a few years before. 26% of French people claim to be ready to consume less to consume better, 53% claim to be ready to pay more for quality products and 70% say they eat better than two years ago. If this quest for quality seems obvious today, it wasn’t the case in 2016. At that time, food retailers were still convinced that being perceived as the brand with the most attractive prices was the only thing that mattered. The truth is, consumers needed reassurance and a brand that helps them in their everyday quest for “better eating.” We were the first to realize it and to put the emphasis on the quality by creating an emotional link between the consumers and the brand. For the first time, a top food retailer (the third French food retailer) broke the category conventions by breaking out of the price war. It was a brave but vital choice, because it put Intermarché in a leading position.

The campaign also included a series of print and digital ads.

What role did this campaign play in driving growth for Intermarché?

JL: Since the campaign “L’amour, L’amour” launched, Intermarché’s business results have been outstanding. Intermarché won market shares during 18 consecutive 4-week periods of time.

In 2017, Intermarché increased its annual turnover by 4%. In other words, a +1.1 billion-Euro return for 53 million Euros invested in media.

Thanks to its brand shift, Intermarché managed to attract more customers, achieving increased in-store traffic (+13.3 millions cashier checkouts in 2017 vs 2016), the biggest performance in the market. Intermarché’s traffic growth was 5 times higher than its competitor’s traffic growth.

Furthermore, “L’amour, L’amour” made Intermarché attract a more profitable audience. Indeed, Intermarché won +0.2pt market share in the “promoblinds” customer segment, meaning customers not interested in promotions and discounts. Intermarché is the only brand (besides E.Leclerc) that enticed this target audience.

The campaign “L’amour, L’amour” had a very fast and direct impact on the brand image. 78% of French people who saw the campaign stated that the campaign improved the image they had of the brand. In 2017, Intermarché became the brand with the strongest evolution of brand modernity perception. Intermarché’s modernity perception increased by 1.1pt while the competition’s modernity perception decreased by an average of 0.35pt.

Simultaneously, the intent to visit Intermarché stores increased steadily. In fact, Intermarché’s progression (intent-to-visit) was 27 times higher than its competitors’ and above all the strongest in the category in 2017, with a 1.9pt increase vs 0.07pt average increase in the category.

Besides the campaign’s impact on consumers, were there any other results achieved?

JL: Apart from the business results, the campaign had an instant impact internally as well as on the way competitors were communicating.

On one hand, the campaign accelerated Intermarché’s pace of internal structural changes to elevate the client experience and products to the level of the campaign:

Development of product innovations: healthier products with less sugar, lass salt, less additives (Intermarché private labels).

Extension of the organic range (“bio”) and development of the largest organic range for children in the market.

Restructuration and complete redesign of our loyalty program, with discounts allocated to healthy recipes; the development of quality indicators to guide consumers in their purchase decisions; and emphasis on healthy food innovations.

Restructuration of the store concept to put the emphasis on traditional products and encourage people to cook at home more often.

On the other hand, the campaign has jolted the industry:

Amongst the competition, 4 retailers have entered advertising pitches to assign a new agency: E.Leclerc, Système U, Auchan, Aldi. This is a phenomenal jolt in the industry’s history, as some brands have collaborated with one agency of record for 20 years.

Jérôme Lavillat is a Strategist at Romance Agency.

Read more about the 2018 Effie Awards France.

[barbiebraganca]

BARBARA AND GABRIEL DE BRAGANÇA THROW GALA TO CELEBRATE THE RE-INAUGURATION OF PORTIMÃO CIRCUIT.

The party was held this Sunday (23), after the closing of the Algarve Grand Prix weekend at the Estoi Palace. The Braganças showed an united front, having the family attend in almost it’s entirety. Hosts Gabriel and Barbara both showed up with dates, The Prince having Princess Effie of Scotland as his and the Crown Princess, while having her husband attend the party, showed up arm in arm with close friend Duchess Matilde of Aragon. Princess Ariel and Beau of Belgium made another appearance together while the youngest, Fernando, made his late entrance unaccompanied. The guests of honour of the night were the Formula 1 drivers that participated in the race.

[bananasilver90]

Digital Advertising Firm London

TBWA is likewise rated as the most creatively identified network worldwide for three out of the last five years in Creativity magazine's Yearly Awards Report. And in the Gunn Record, TBWA is rated as the 3rd most granted network in the last ten years (the Gunn Report integrates the winners' checklists from every one of the major advertising and marketing award contests on the planet). As well as once more, TBWA was placed 5th on the Advertising and marketing Age's A-List. Finally, TBWA has actually been awarded the most Grand EFFIES of any firm network. TBWA has actually won 12 Grand EFFIEs out of the 32 that have actually ever before been granted since 1980. BJL don't consider the media first, but at business troubles they intend to fix for their customers and also by utilizing fresh and reliable suggestions they move the category and can give genuine commercial results. Currently progressing, The company has rebranded in 2018 as The & Collaboration. The & Partnership London thinks the future of the creative industries lies in large, vibrant and also bionic suggestions which blend world-class imagination with clever data, modern innovation as well as expert system. National Crash Helpline were our first client, and over the 10 years we have collaborated with them their online conversions have expanded by 600%, surpassing their targets and maintaining within preferred Certified Public Accountant. This has been achieved with hostile PPC administration, executing creative Search Engine Optimization campaigns, remarketing, collaborations, and social. All you require to do is take a look at this business's customer wall, and it will be enough to convince you that they are worth their salt. AMV BBDO has actually been responsible for several of the most unforgettable adverts, including Revel's 'against the coffee' campaign, and adverts for Walkers Crisps, Birdseye, BT, and Guinness. Take a look at the advertising and marketing companies for motivation, there may be a details type of company you are searching for. There are a variety of advantages to electronic advertising for any business in all fields. Firstly, marketing digitally can provide you with global reach, assisting you to increase your presence throughout new markets and also probably even trade internationally. Digital advertising and marketing project prices are also generally a great deal more affordable than lots of conventional advertising methods. Nevertheless, among the biggest advantages of electronic advertising is the quantifiable results it offers. Y&R course themselves as the UK's most creative as well as effective agency, exactly how? W+K are the world's only independent full-service, artistically driven worldwide ad agency, they transform brands right into more powerful brands by making them represent a meaningful psychological sensation, a brand name can gain fans and also not just customers. They think the powerful brand names become leaders, not fans-- transforming themselves as fast than their customers. One of the most reliable brand names are intriguing-- they transform people's minds and interfere with the marketplace area, altering consumer society. Award wise, TBWA is ranked as a top globally advertising agency and was identified by the Marketing Age as the 'Best Worldwide Network of the Years' in 2010. Take a look at our latest electronic marketing company news, updates as well as short articles. Your website requires to showcase your brand's character with every scroll. From the color scheme, to pictures and video clips, our skilled digital marketing experts can craft styles fit to your precise demands. It was a satisfaction taking care of such an expert team as well as currently being an owner of the most beautiful brand-new site. I would advise Atom 42 to any person that was seeking an electronic marketing company. top rated digital marketing agency in london The company was named in 2016, the UK's the majority of awarded independent creative firm at Cannes Lions, as well as Digital Firm of the Year at the Project BIG Awards. Its clients include Argos, British Gas, Liberty Brewery, Godiva, Lexus, McVitie's, Information UK, Royal Bank of Scotland, TalkTalk, Toyota and also Travelodge. Invite to our list of 50 of the leading honor winning advertising and marketing companies in the UK. On the internet metric tools can help you to develop the efficiency of the campaign.Find out extra. Recognizing how much you should allocate electronic marketing will completely depend on your business objectives, target audience, general advertising and marketing spending plan and also future plans. Some resources recommend investing 50% of your advertising and marketing budget plan on electronic, nonetheless for some service models this can be %. Talk with a participant of our team todayabout where you need to be alloting your digital advertising budgets. As a renowned electronic marketing company in London & Essex, we always strive to stay ahead of the curve; taking a positive approach to every modification as well as fad happening worldwide of digital marketing. As component of our efforts, we keep up with the current news and also updates as well as through our sector leading digital advertising publication, we can pass this expertise on to you. We deal with online marketers, advertising divisions and individuals to supply all the creative solutions they need. The well known and also mass honor winning Paris agency BETC has actually recently opened a London office with the intent of building on the success of the 600 solid French company. The brand-new London arm just opened it's doors in mid 2011 with a team headed up by ex-directors of TBWA and also DDB. BETC London is currently making waves and also is rapidly on the rise attracting both international brand names such as Samsung as well as Diet Coke (as well as local timeless British brand names such as Cockburn's, Cow & Gate as well as Warburtons). One upon a time marketing companies had actually harped on regarding whether they were over the line or below the line. BJL don't care whether they are below the line, through the line, down the line or sidewards-- they simply don't see a line and also they never ever have. What they see are opportunities to get in touch with customers, change their behaviours and also drive rewarding service. The Effie Awards honour the most considerable achievement in marketing communications, aka - concepts that function. Named as IMD's 'Many Successful Agency of the Year' with 3 Golds back in 2011, won an IPA Performance Award in 2012, Mom likewise won a variety of honors at the BTAA British Arrows and 5 Cannes Lions in 2010. Fallon have numerous honors from the Innovative Circle as well as Cannes, including a Grand Prix. They are driven by the power of creative thinking to fuel society as well as profits. Developing suggestions that are discussed by youngsters in the play ground and also their mums at the school-gates, in bars, chatrooms, airport lounges as well as across social media networks-- putting brands at the heart of conversations. The business has a history covering over 21 years, as well as they are presently ranked second around the world for strategy as well as effectiveness by WARC. It is certainly worth having a look at the job they have actually done on their website.

[fieryrondo]

El cisne Ch. 23 sneak peek

The boots. The boots. He has been skating for sixteen years and not once had he ever had boot issues. Until now. The Olympic season. Javi’s no stranger to getting the short end of the stick, but here the timing feels utterly cruel. He doesn’t do anything differently, only gets them fitted and heat molded from a supplier he trusts. Yet they pinch and poke and bite at his ankles until his skin breaks. His heels rubbed raw and red. He hobbles. He chokes. The blades never run how he wants.

As such, his skating suffers. Jumps become a trust exercise with no one in the room to catch him. His feet were no longer his own, his nerves knotted and stitched with someone else’s—a Frankenstein’s monster. It’s a terrifying thought for any athlete to no longer know their own body. His quad success rate drops to a fifth of what it used to be. A fifth. A shocking fifth-place finish at NHK Trophy. A disappointing third at Rostelecom Cup. The nail in the coffin that grounded him in Toronto in December, left behind to watch the Grand Prix Final from his apartment instead of rinkside, all the while Yuzuru broke yet another world record and pushed himself as the favorite for the Olympic title.

It’s not fair. Javi had thought then and he thinks now. He curls into himself. Hand reached down to carefully touch the tender skin and healing blisters on his heel. Brian had gently assured him that boot issues were almost always temporary. At what was likely no small emotional cost, he even spoke of Yuna, the medals and records she achieved despite the off-centered blades that had plagued her teenage years. But Javi doesn’t feel like Yuna Kim. He feels stuck, sunken, and more than slightly hungover.

And hungry. Very very hungry. His stomach growls.

He ignores it.

Effie growls. She slaps a paw in his face.

“Alright!” Javi shouts and shoves the blanket aside. Effie hops down from the bed and pads out of the room. Needy little thing, and he has spoiled her rotten, but she does provide a much needed distraction from his self-wallowing. Javi slowly peels himself from the bed. Chill jolts up his spine the moment his feet touch the floor. No wonder Effie is so pissy; he had neglected to turn on the heat.

Then, a clap of thunder. So loud and close Javi’s teeth hurt. A feline shriek and scraping of chair from the living room. Something falls over. Javi staggers to the bedroom window and throws back the curtains.

Outside, a downpour thick enough to smear the Toronto cityscape in a slurry of gray, leaving behind the only shadowy remnants of high rise buildings.

And wings.

Wings. White. Big. Fluttering.

Then nothing. Only rain.

[youthblogs]

A Look at Sajan Raj Kurup’s Award-winning Advertisements

Creativeland Asia (CLA) is one of India’s most awarded and recognized advertising agencies with several multinational clients. They serve brands like Audi, Hippo, Cinthol, Frooti, and Godrej just to name a few. Founder and Creative Chairman, Sajan Raj Kurup believes in creativity above all else. His goal is to provide his clients with a creative and innovative platform on which they can build a lasting and proactive relationship with their customers. CLA’s activities involve advertising, brand management, film production, digital media, and even brand incubation. Since founding CLA in 2007, Sajan Raj Kurup has consistently pushed out great campaigns for their clients, winning them countless awards along the way. Here is a look at some of the Advertising campaigns CLA produced and the awards they won.  

Hippo - Plan-T  

Campaign Digital Media Awards 2011 - Gold in Best Loyalty Campaign, Gold in Media Innovation, and Gold in Best Social Media Strategy

Cannes 2011 - Best use of Technology winner

Goafest 2011 - Best Creative use of Social Media winner

In 2010, the wheat-based baked chips brand Hippo was launched in India. With a successful launch in a market populated with fried chips, Hippo managed to break through the norm and establish its presence. However, the newly found brand found it hard to keep up with its competition as the nascent sales and distribution system found it challenging to keep track of stock. The 400,000 stores across India were slow to resupply their stock and the brand’s reputation was in peril. To solve this problem, CLA proposed an Ad campaign called ‘Plant-T’. Plan-T asked Hippo’s followers on Twitter to tweet whenever they couldn’t find the snack in their local stores. The move proved to be successful as tweets flooded in across 50 cities, which were then collected and analyzed to relay the information to the respective distributors. With this information, Hippo managed to resupply their stores within hours of a tweet, and overall sales were increased by 76%.

Audi - A8L 3D Campaign  

Spike ASIA 2011 - Grand Prix in the Best Media Category

Goafest 2012 - Grand Prix award, a Gold, and a Silver award

Campaign Digital Media Awards 2011 - Gold in the Automotive category, Silver in Online Advertising, and Silver in Best Integrated category

Effie 2011 - Bronze in Consumer Durables category

For Audi’s launch of the A8L, a luxury and premium sedan, CLA went 3D. The A8 is a premium sedan and looks to promote comfortable and luxury features. It’s an “experience”, Audi says, and to visualize this experience CLA opted to use CGI to great effect in their ad. CLA designed a 90-second video ad, which starts with a man standing in an empty space, he takes a deep, relaxing breath before he is flung into the air. As the man slowly floats in mid-air, the CGI elements start. The luxurious A8 starts to slowly assemble around the man as a seat catches him. He looks around at every mesmerizing detail, the door handles, ac vents, seat covers, all assemble around him as he enjoys the experience. The assembled car then gains weight while in the air and drops to the ground as the suspension system bears the force. The man then breathes out and the film ends with the tagline ‘The Advanced State of Mind’.

Frooti - The Magic of Frooti

Asia Pacific Advertising Festival (ADFEST) 2014 - Bronze in Film Craft Lotus (Directing), Gold in Film Craft Lotus (Original Music Score)

Goafest 2011 - Silver in Film (Food and Beverages), Integrated Bronze (Food and Beverages)

In 2013 Frooti grabbed Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan for their upcoming ad campaign. The campaign named ‘The Magic of Frooti’ aimed to mesmerize their viewers with the fresh and juicy mangoes of Frooti. So CLA crafted a TVC featuring Shahrukh drinking Frooti as onlookers are irresistibly mesmerized. The ad starts just after a football practice game and sees Shahrukh guzzling down a bottle of Frooti. We then cut to a group of little kids desiring the mango drink. The kids drool uncontrollably at the thought of drinking a Frooti as Shahrukh finishes the whole bottle by himself, he looks back at the group, who we find out are actually adults staring at him with child-like innocence. Shahrukh’s “What?” finally breaks their spell and they get back to what they were doing before. The ad ends with two actual kids laughing at the group from a distance as they see the whole thing unravel. The entire shot is held together by the ever enchanting score and jingle of  Frooti.  

[sywtwfs]

Who’s Who of the 2017 Grand Prix Series, Part 3: Men

The third part of our Grand Prix previews will cover the talent-packed discipline of men’s singles! Remember to check out our previews of the ice dance and pairs disciplines as well, and our playlist of program recommendations for currently-competing singles skaters.

The last two seasons have brought about a technical revolution in men’s skating the likes of which have never been seen since the advent of triple jumps. Although the men have been attempting quadruple jumps for many years, up until the 2015-16 season, most skaters included 1 quad in the short program and 1 or 2 in the free program, and most attempts were limited to the toeloop and salchow jumps. Everything changed when Chinese teenager Boyang Jin brought a catalytic spark to men’s skating in his senior debut season, making waves with his consistent quad lutz and 6 quad attempts across two programs. Reigning Olympic Champion Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan then increased his own base value, smashing world records into the ground, and it was all history from there.

The last two seasons have seen the successful completion of the world’s first quad flip, quad loop, and quad lutz and quad flip combinations. The top men of the field now include 2 quads in the short program and 3-6 quads in the free program. The ripple effect has spread throughout the entire men’s field, with more and more skaters attempting the harder quad loop, flip, and lutz, and continually increasing the quantity of quad jumps in their programs. While there are very real concerns about the direction men’s skating is taking and the long-term effects of so many quad jumps on skaters’ health, there is no doubt right now that men’s skating is in a uniquely exciting position. With at least 6 skaters vying for the Olympic podium and potential dark horses waiting in the wings, every competition this season promises to be a thrillingly unpredictable battle.

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YUZURU HANYU

Representing: Japan

Age: 22

ISU Personal bests: SP 112.72, FS 223.20, total 330.43

ISU Season’s best: 268.24

Notable titles: 2014 Olympic Champion, 2014 & 2017 World Champion, 2-time World Silver Medalist, 4-time Grand Prix Final Champion, 4-time Japanese National Champion

Programs: SP - Ballade No.1 (Chopin); FS - Seimei

Grand Prix events: Rostelecom Cup, NHK Trophy

Quad count: Toeloop, salchow, loop, lutz (in practice; intends to include in programs); 2 in SP, 5 in FS

At the age of 22, Yuzuru Hanyu will already go down as one of the greatest skaters of his generation, and possibly in all of history. Yuzuru won his first World medal in 2012 at the tender age of 17, capturing the hearts of the audience with a dramatic free skate to "Romeo + Juliet". Seeking a better training environment where he could polish his basic skating, he made a coaching change to Brian Orser in Canada prior to the 2012-13 season, and gradually positioned himself as the top Japanese man on the basis of his strong technical skills. His unexpected win over reigning 3-time World Champion Patrick Chan at the 2014 Sochi Olympics propelled Yuzuru into superstardom, but it wasn’t until the last Olympic cycle that his maturity truly began to shine. After a rough 2014-15 season where he suffered a bizarre series of accidents, injuries, and illnesses, Yuzuru came roaring back in the 2015-16 season with his best set of programs to date. Partially inspired by Boyang Jin’s revolutionary technical content, Yuzuru increased his own quad count and skated flawless performances at both 2015 NHK Trophy and the 2015 Grand Prix Final, blowing away the previous world records and completely changing the landscape of men’s skating. Struggling through an injury at 2016 Worlds, Yuzuru finished second to training mate Javier Fernandez for the second year in a row, but more records followed in the 2016-17 season: Yuzuru became the first skater to land a clean quad loop in competition, and after two years of silver medals, he won his second world title at the 2017 World Championships with a record-breaking free skate. Over the course of his career, Yuzuru has broken the SP world record 7 times, the FS world record 3 times, and the combined total record 2 times. He currently holds all 3 world records in men’s skating. He is also the first man from Asia to win multiple World titles, as well as the Olympic title.

Yuzuru is known for his all-around skating and strong technical ability, especially his jumps and spins. He is one of a few men to perform the Biellmann spin, and the layback ina bauer has also become a signature move for him. The triple axel is his signature jump, but all of his jumps have a high degree of quality. He is capable of performing difficult transitions and gaining high Grades of Execution on all of his elements. With a combination of high base values, quality elements, and high PCS, Yuzuru is simply unbeatable when he’s clean. However, his placements will ultimately come down to his own consistency, which is nowhere near bulletproof. He has also chosen to reprise both of his programs from the 2015-16 season, raising eyebrows in some corners. Hampered by knee pain, Yuzuru set a new world record in the short program at Autumn Classic International, his first competition of the season, but completely collapsed in the free skate to finish second behind Javier Fernandez. He will start his Grand Prix season early at Rostelecom Cup, the first event of the series, where he will face fiery young quadster Nathan Chen of the USA and Mikhail Kolyada of Russia. At NHK Trophy, Yuzuru will go up against a familiar face, Canada’s Patrick Chan. As long as he can avoid disasters, Yuzuru will likely qualify for the Grand Prix Final, where he will have a chance to defend his title and become the first man in the world to win the competition 5 times.

Random off-ice facts: Yuzuru always has a Winnie the Pooh tissue box with him at competitions; it was a gift from his parents. He has several rituals before competing, including crossing himself to check his axis. He enjoys collecting high-end earphones.

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JAVIER FERNANDEZ

Representing: Spain

Age: 26

ISU Personal bests: SP 109.05, FS 216.41, total 314.93

ISU Season’s best: 279.07

Notable titles: 2016 & 2015 World Champion, 2-time World Bronze Medalist, 5-time European Champion, 2-time Grand Prix Final Silver Medalist

Programs: SP - Modern Times (Charlie Chaplin); FS - The Man of La Mancha

Grand Prix events: Cup of China, Internationaux de France

Quad count: Toeloop, salchow, loop (in practice; does not intend to include in programs); 2 in SP, 3 in FS

Javier’s story is a classic rags-to-riches one: Hailing from Spain, a country without a strong background in figure skating, Javier first debuted on the international stage in the 2006-07 season. He finished 28th at the 2007 European Championships and 35th at the World Championships, failing to qualify for the free skate. Under the tutelage of Russian coach Nikolai Morozov, Javier gradually rose up the ranks, but it wasn’t until a coaching change to Brian Orser in Canada before the 2011-12 season that Javier broke through as a top skater. What followed was a series of many “firsts” for Spanish skating - Javier was the first Spanish skater to win a World medal in 2013 and the first Spanish World Champion in 2015, a position he repeated the following year at the 2016 World Championships. Javier backs up his charming on-ice personality with solid technical content; he began attempting 3 quads in his free skate long before the current quad boom began, and when he’s on, his jumps can gain huge Grades of Execution. However, in the face of Yuzuru Hanyu and younger competitors adding quad after quad to their arsenal, Javier has elected to stick with what he’s good at, a strategy that has served him well so far this season: he won both Autumn Classic and Japan Open against Yuzuru Hanyu, Nathan Chen, and Shoma Uno. On the other hand, with his lower base values, consistency will be absolutely crucial for Javier as he aims to become Spain’s first Olympic medalist at the Winter Olympics next February. Heading into his third Olympic season, Javier has strongly hinted that he may retire afterwards. He will begin his Grand Prix run at Cup of China, where he will face home favorite Boyang Jin; at Internationaux de France, Javier will go up against reigning World silver medalist Shoma Uno.

Random off-ice facts: Javier has a cat named Effie. He is friendly with Canadian skater Patrick Chan.

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PATRICK CHAN

Representing: Canada

Age: 26

ISU Personal bests: SP 102.13, FS 203.99, total 295.27

ISU Season’s best: N/A

Notable titles: 2014 Olympic Silver Medalist, 3-time World Champion, 2-time Grand Prix Final Champion, 3-time Four Continents champion, 9-time Canadian National Champion

Programs: SP - Dust in the Wind; FS - Hallelujah

Grand Prix events: Skate Canada, NHK Trophy

Quad count: Toeloop, salchow; 2 in SP, 3 in FS

The oldest of the top 6 men, Patrick has stated in no uncertain terms that this will be his last season as a competitive skater. His long and decorated career has included a string of World medals, 3 of them gold, as well as an Olympic silver medal in 2014. Patrick was instrumental in raising the technical level of men’s skating in the 2010-2014 Olympic cycle; his quads, along with his complex, transition-filled programs and spotless skating skills made him the man to beat in those four years. Heading into the 2013-14 Olympic season as the favorite for gold, Patrick’s odds were shaken when he lost the Grand Prix Final to Yuzuru Hanyu, and he eventually lost the Olympic title as well after a nervy, error-filled free skate. Patrick then took a break and pursued other goals during the 2014-15 season. He returned to competition in 2015-16 to a very different field - the quad boom was getting underway, and Patrick, previously the technical standard in men’s skating, found himself trailing behind in base value. But old dogs can still learn new tricks. In the 2016-17 season, Patrick successfully added the quad salchow to his free skate. Although he had an up-and-down season and didn’t medal at the Grand Prix Final or ISU Championships, he skated some of the most difficult programs of his career while showcasing the maturity and skating quality that only a veteran can have.

Patrick is known for his skating skills, which have often been praised as the best in the men’s field, as well as his technically pristine 4T3T combination. Although he trails behind the quadsters in base value, he is a polished, complete skater who is able to gain high Grades of Execution for his elements - though the triple axel has remained his nemesis jump for many years. For his last season as a competitive skater, he has chosen quiet, introverted pieces of music. Due to breaking in new boots, he has not competed at any pre-Grand Prix events and will make his season debut at Skate Canada, where he will face Shoma Uno. He will go up against Yuzuru Hanyu at NHK Trophy. Despite his age, Patrick is still challenging himself technically, and will likely attempt two quads in his short program this season. It’s hard to predict how he’ll perform on the Grand Prix, but one should never count Patrick out.

Random off-ice facts: Patrick speaks and understands French. He is a sports car enthusiast and has his own line of ice wine and sparkling wine with Canada’s Flat Rock Cellars.

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SHOMA UNO

Representing: Japan

Age: 19

ISU Personal bests: SP 104.87, FS 214.97, total 319.84

ISU Season’s best: 319.84

Notable titles: 2017 World Silver Medalist, 2017 Four Continents Bronze Medalist, 2-time Grand Prix Final Bronze Medalist, 2016 Japanese National Champion

Programs: SP - Four Seasons: Winter; FS - Turandot

Grand Prix events: Skate Canada, Internationaux de France

Quad count: Toeloop, salchow, loop, flip, lutz (in practice; may include in programs); 2 in SP, 5 in FS

For those who have watched Shoma since his junior days, it’s likely that none would have expected him to achieve all of his current success. Although he turned heads with his musicality and performance ability from a young age, Shoma struggled to get a triple axel for many years, and managed only middling success on the junior international scene due to his low technical content. A breakthrough came in the 2014-15 season, when Shoma temporarily abandoned the triple axel and acquired a quad toeloop instead. With the pressure off, he overcame his mental block with the triple axel, eventually making it one of his most reliable jumps. Shoma shot to the top of the junior standings and debuted as a senior in the 2015-16 season as the reigning Junior World Champion. A nearly-clean free skate won him a bronze medal at his first Grand Prix Final in 2015. Although there were hopes for him to podium at his Worlds debut, a few costly mistakes left Shoma in 7th. He channeled his frustration into action, landing the world’s first quad flip in competition at the 2016 Team Challenge Cup only a month later. Shoma had a superb 2016-17 season, medaling at every competition he entered, including silver at the 2017 World Championships, where he finished only 2 points behind Yuzuru Hanyu. He attempted the quad flip throughout the season, and also added the quad loop to his free program halfway through the season.

Shoma is known for his skating skills, cantilever, and intense presence on the ice. Although he has room to improve in all areas, especially in adding more difficult transitions to his programs, he is a strong all-around skater with the base value and PCS to aim for major podiums. This season, his coaches decided to bring back his “Turandot” free skate from the 2015-16 season. Shoma began his season with a runaway win at Lombardia Trophy, setting new personal best scores in all segments and landing five quads in his free skate, including the quad salchow, a new jump for him. However, he made several errors in his free skate at Japan Open, finishing behind Javier Fernandez and Nathan Chen. Shoma will need to adjust to his new 5-quad free skate layout and produce dependable results if he hopes to win. He will face off against Patrick Chan at Skate Canada, and Javier Fernandez at Internationaux de France.

Random off-ice facts: Shoma looks up to 2010 Olympic Bronze Medalist and World Champion Daisuke Takahashi, citing him as a model for artistic expression. He began figure skating at age 5 because he wanted to do the same sport as Mao Asada, who trained at the same rink and often played with him. His coaches have also coached Midori Ito, Kanako Murakami, and Mao Asada in her junior years. Shoma hates vegetables, loves meat and rice, and is a hardcore gamer in his spare time.

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BOYANG JIN

Representing: China

Age: 20

ISU Personal bests: SP 98.64, FS 204.94, total 303.58

ISU Season’s best: 252.60

Notable titles: 2016 & 2017 World Bronze Medalist, 2016 Four Continents Silver Medalist, 4-time Chinese National Champion

Programs: SP - Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; FS - Star Wars

Grand Prix events: Cup of China, Skate America

Quad count: Toeloop, salchow, lutz, loop (in practice; intentions unknown); 2 in SP, 4 in FS

Nicknamed “Mars Boy” by Chinese fans, Boyang’s jumps are truly out of this world. As a junior skater, he was performing 3-quad free skates during a time when even most senior skaters didn’t consider attempting so many. Boyang’s unprecedented jump content was one spark that set off the quad revolution. Debuting as a senior along with Shoma Uno in the 2015-16 season, Boyang made waves in the skating world by landing the first-ever 4Lz3T combination, as well as the first clean (positive GOE) quad lutz in international competition. His quad lutz wasn’t just a one-hit wonder, either - he landed it throughout the season, along with another quad in his short program and 3 other quads in his free program. He was the first skater to land four clean quads in a free skate in international competition, a feat he accomplished at the 2016 Four Continents Championships. Despite somewhat messy performances, he won a bronze medal at his first senior World Championships in 2016 behind Javier Fernandez and Yuzuru Hanyu. On the flip side, Boyang had a noticeably large gap between his TES and PCS, and during his second senior season, he took pains to address his weaknesses. His fun and energetic “Spiderman��� short program in the 2016-17 season got the crowd going wherever he went, showing off his developing skills as a performer. His jumps were less reliable during the 2016-17 season, but Boyang peaked where it mattered most, producing two clean programs at the 2017 World Championships to win his second World bronze medal in a row.

Boyang is known for his enormous quad lutz and fun/weird exhibitions. This season, he has opted for a serious short program and a free program to an eclectic selection of music from "Star Wars". He has continued to polish his skating while retaining the same jump layout, but his PCS remains somewhat lower than the rest of the top men. He absolutely needs to land his jumps in order to compete with them. Boyang started his season at Finlandia Trophy, winning the title by a small margin against Vincent Zhou and Adam Rippon. He will go up against a strong field at Cup of China that includes Javier Fernandez, Vincent Zhou, and Mikhail Kolyada; at Skate America, he will face Nathan Chen and Adam Rippon.

Random off-ice facts: Boyang’s Chinese nickname is Tian Tian. He enjoys electronic music, flying drones, collecting earphones, and following the latest fashion trends. He has multiple pet reptiles. Boyang often livestreams himself doing random things on the Chinese app Inke, and has posted streams from the banquets of skating competitions.

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NATHAN CHEN

Representing: USA

Age: 18

ISU Personal bests: SP 103.12, FS 204.34, total 307.46

ISU Season’s best: 275.04

Notable titles: 2017 Four Continents Champion, 2016 Grand Prix Final Silver Medalist, 2017 US National Champion

Programs: SP - Nemesis; FS - Mao’s Last Dancer

Grand Prix events: Rostelecom Cup, Skate America

Quad count: Toeloop, salchow, loop, flip, lutz; 2 in SP, 3-7? in FS

Child prodigy Nathan Chen has been on the public radar since his novice years. Learning triples at lightning speed, Nathan delighted audiences with his performances as a kid. Unfortunately, his seasons on the junior international circuit were often cut short by a variety of growth-related injuries. By the 2015-16 season, Nathan had started reinventing his image in a more technical light - at the 2016 US National Championships, he landed 2 quads in his short program and 4 in his free skate (two salchows and two toeloops) to win the bronze medal, and was named to both the Junior and senior World teams. His brilliant debut would be delayed, however; a jump attempt gone awry in the US Nationals gala led to a serious hip injury, for which Nathan required surgery and a lengthy rehab process.

Most skaters probably would’ve taken it easy after that. Nathan Chen is not most skaters. Coming back from injury fresh and ready to go, Nathan promptly added both the quad flip and quad lutz to his arsenal, learning new quads as quickly as he learned his triples. His senior debut in the 2016-17 season took the world by storm; he was the only skater to attempt both the quad lutz and flip in his programs, landed the world’s first 4F3T combination, won silver at the 2016 Grand Prix Final with a first-place free skate that featured 4 clean quads, became the first skater to land 5 clean quads in a free skate en route to winning the 2017 US National Championships, and defeated Yuzuru Hanyu to win the 2017 Four Continents Championships. Pegged as a podium favorite for 2017 Worlds, Nathan unfortunately struggled with skate boot issues in the weeks prior to the competition, and ended up in 6th place overall after a messy free skate - where he nevertheless still attempted 6 quads.

Nathan faced criticism for his quad-focused programs throughout the 2016-17 season, but he has made huge artistic strides this season with a sharp, contemporary short program choreographed by Shae-Lynn Bourne, and a similarly fascinating free skate by Lori Nichol. On the technical side of things, Nathan has started the season relatively slowly. He attempted only 3 quads in his free skate at his first competition, US International Classic, but in typical Nathan fashion, also landed his first quad loop in the process - making him the only skater in the world so far to have landed 5 different types of quads in competition. He finished behind Javier Fernandez and ahead of Shoma Uno at Japan Open. Nathan’s first Grand Prix event, Rostelecom Cup, will pit him against Yuzuru Hanyu; at Skate America, he will face Boyang Jin. It’s difficult to predict how Nathan will fare on the Grand Prix, just as it’s impossible to predict what his jump layouts will be - he changes his jumps from competition to competition - but Nathan is a sure threat for any podium, and he’s only just starting to gear up for the Olympics in 4 months’ time.

Random off-ice facts: Nathan is the youngest of 5 siblings. He has a background in ballet, and can play piano and guitar. He hopes to study pre-med and business in college. His hair is naturally curly, thank you very much.

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MIKHAIL KOLYADA

Representing: Russia

Age: 22

ISU Personal bests: SP 95.37, FS 184.04, FS 279.41

ISU Season’s best: 248.50

Notable titles: 2017 European Bronze Medalist, 2017 Russian National Champion

Programs: SP - Piano Concerto No.23 (Mozart); FS - Elvis Presley Medley

Grand Prix events: Rostelecom Cup, Cup of China

Quad count: Toeloop, salchow, lutz; 2 in SP, 3 in FS

Popping up out of nowhere in the 2015-16 season, Mikhail surprised everyone by placing 4th at the 2016 World Championships with entertaining, if somewhat kitschy, programs. He had practically no international recognition before that point. Mikhail quickly established himself as one of Russia’s top men in the following season; despite erratic performances on the Grand Prix, he won the 2017 Russian National Championships and placed 3rd at the 2017 European Championships. He ended the 2016-17 season with an 8th-place finish at Worlds and personal best scores at World Team Trophy. Mikhail has attempted the quad lutz since last season and recently landed it for the first time in his free skate at Ondrej Nepela Memorial, where he rallied from a terrible short program to win the competition overall. He has also added the quad salchow to his free skate. However, perhaps one of the most notable things about Mikhail so far is his consistent inconsistency - after a first-place short program at Finlandia Trophy, he blew it in the free skate to finish 4th. With his powerful jumps, Mikhail has dark horse potential written all over him, but in order to compete with the “Big 6”, he needs to actually land his jumps. Starting his Grand Prix season at home at Rostelecom Cup, Mikhail has a decent chance of medaling, or even defeating Yuzuru Hanyu and/or Nathan Chen if they make enough mistakes. At Cup of China, Mikhail will face Javier Fernandez, Boyang Jin, and Vincent Zhou, and will have a chance at the podium again if he can keep it together.

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JASON BROWN

Representing: USA

Age: 22

ISU Personal bests: SP 94.32, FS 182.63, total 273.67

ISU Season’s best: 259.88

Notable titles: 2015 US National Champion

Programs: SP - The Room Where It Happens (Hamilton); FS - Inner Love

Grand Prix events: Skate Canada, NHK Trophy

Quad count: Toeloop (never landed cleanly); 1 in SP, 1 in FS

In the current quad-packed men’s field, Jason is a bit of an anomaly - he has never landed a clean quad in competition, but has managed to stay near the top of the field on the strength of his consistency and PCS. Catching the audience’s eye when he was a junior, Jason is a born showman. His energetic “Riverdance” free skate was a fan favorite during the 2013-14 Olympic season, and he won an unexpected spot on the Sochi Olympic team, ultimately placing 9th at the Olympics. Jason won the US National Championships the following season, and placed a career-best 4th at the 2015 World Championships. Injury took him out of the second half of the 2015-16 season. Although he was still struggling with an injury, he placed 7th at the 2017 World Championships, about the best result he could hope for behind the “Big 6”. Jason is known for his flexibility, spirals, and spins, for which he can gain high Grades of Execution; however, without a quad, it’s unlikely he will be able to challenge the very top. He finished miles behind Shoma Uno at his first competition of the season, Lombardia Trophy. If he can produce clean or nearly-clean programs, however, he has a shot at medals on the Grand Prix series. For Jason, the Grand Prix is less about qualifying for the Final, and more about establishing himself as a strong contender for the US Olympic team.

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VINCENT ZHOU

Representing: USA

Age: 16 (17 when the GP starts)

ISU Personal bests: SP 80.53, FS 179.24, total 258.11

ISU Season’s best: 250.01

Notable titles: 2017 Junior World Champion, 2017 US National Silver Medalist

Programs: SP - Chasing Cars; FS - Moulin Rouge

Grand Prix events: Cup of China, Internationaux de France

Quad count: Toeloop, salchow, flip, lutz; 2 in SP, 4-5 in FS

One of the new generation of talented quadsters, Vincent is definitely one to watch this season and in the future. Another child prodigy who learned jumps at an incredibly quick rate, Vincent won the 2013 US Junior National title over Nathan Chen, but was forced to miss the next two seasons due to a serious knee injury. He made his junior international debut in the 2015-16 season, placing 4th at the Junior Grand Prix Final and 5th at 2016 Junior Worlds. In the 2016-17 season, Vincent won the silver medal at US Nationals behind Nathan Chen with impressive performances in both programs. He followed up two months later with the 2017 Junior World title, landing 3 quads, including a quad lutz, in his free program. At his senior debut at 2017 Finlandia Trophy, Vincent landed 4 quads in the free skate to win that segment of the competition and finish second overall behind Boyang Jin. Not yet 17 years old, Vincent already has 4 types of quads in his arsenal and has landed a rippon (both hands over his head) quad lutz in practice. Although his PCS as a new senior is still fairly low and there is plenty of room to polish his skating, Vincent is already a promising performer known for his drama and signature spreadeagles. With his potentially monstrous base value and the unpredictability of the men’s field, Vincent may be able to challenge for Grand Prix medals in his very first senior season. He will make his Grand Prix debut at Cup of China, where his Chinese grandparents will cheer him on. Good performances on the Grand Prix can allow Vincent to build his case for one of the 3 men’s spots on the US Olympic team.

Random off-ice facts: Vincent skipped two grades in school and is a straight-A student. His parents originally put him into sports because he was too energetic as a child. He enjoys writing poetry and shares his poems on Instagram.

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ADAM RIPPON

Representing: USA

Age: 27

ISU Personal bests: SP 87.86, FS 182.28, total 267.53

ISU Season’s best: 249.88

Notable titles: 2016 US National Champion, 2010 Four Continents Champion

Programs: SP - Let Me Think About It; FS - Arrival of the Birds/O

Grand Prix events: NHK Trophy, Skate America

Quad count: Toeloop, lutz (never landed cleanly); 0-1 in SP, 1 in FS

One of the oldest men in the field, Adam is proof that you only get better with age. Although he won the Junior World Championships twice back in 2008 and 2009, it took Adam several years as a senior - and several coaching changes - to truly find his groove. Eventually settling down with accomplished technical coach Rafael Arutunian, Adam had a breakthrough in the 2015-16 season, winning the US National title and placing 6th at 2016 Worlds. With his newfound consistency and confidence, Adam was better than ever on the 2016 Grand Prix series, winning two bronze medals and qualifying for his first Grand Prix Final. Unfortunately, Adam suffered a foot injury before the 2017 US National Championships and missed the second half of the 2016-17 season. He made a strong return this season at Finlandia Trophy, where he placed third, looking healthy and ready to go.

Adam has landed the quad toeloop cleanly in competition, although it is still not a particularly stable jump for him. He has attempted the quad lutz for several years, and has not yet landed it cleanly. Due to his lack of a reliable quad, he can only challenge for medals on the Grand Prix if other skaters make mistakes, but strong performances will build his resume as he aims for his first-ever Olympic team. Adam is known for his musicality and performance skills, showing two very different sides of himself in his club-themed short program and delicate, spellbinding free skate. He also popularized the “rippon” jump variation, where a skater holds both arms above their head while jumping. Adam most commonly performs the “rippon” on his triple lutz. Adam also has an excellent layback spin, a position rarely seen in men’s skating.

Random off-ice facts: Adam is one of a few figure skaters to come out as gay while still competing. He has choreographed programs for himself and other skaters. He is best friends with fellow American skater Ashley Wagner, and shares a coach with her and Nathan Chen. He’s a witch and you can’t kill him.

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OTHER SKATERS TO WATCH

Denis Ten (KAZ): Assigned to Rostelecom Cup and Internationaux de France. 2014 Olympic Bronze Medalist, 2013 World Silver Medalist, 2015 World Bronze Medalist. High-quality skater, very inconsistent, always injured.

Dmitri Aliev (RUS): Assigned to Rostelecom Cup and NHK Trophy. 2017 Junior World Silver Medalist. Debuting on the senior Grand Prix this season. Good skating skills, high potential, inconsistent jumps. Has landed the quad lutz in practice.

Alexander Samarin (RUS): Assigned to Skate Canada and Internationaux de France. 2017 Junior World Bronze Medalist. Debuting on the senior Grand Prix this season. Good jumps, skating could use some work. Has landed the quad lutz in practice and domestic competitions.

Maxim Kovtun (RUS): Assigned to Skate America. 3-time European Medalist, 3-time Russian National Champion. Withdrew from Skate Canada due to a back injury. Inconsistent. Interesting programs, for lack of a better descriptor.

Jun Hwan Cha (KOR): Assigned to Skate Canada and Skate America. 2016 Junior Grand Prix Final Bronze Medalist, 2017 Korean National Champion. Good musicality and skating quality. Injured during the off season, current condition unknown.

Han Yan (CHN): Assigned to Cup of China. 3-time Four Continents Bronze Medalist. China’s first Junior World Champion in men’s singles. Great skating skills and jumps when he’s on, but inconsistent. Missed 2017 Worlds due to shoulder surgery. Strong return at 2017 Cup of Nice.

Keiji Tanaka (JPN): Assigned to Cup of China. 2016 Japanese National Silver Medalist. Withdrew from Rostelecom Cup due to muscle injury. Had breakthrough in recent seasons, but will need to be consistent to make Olympic team.

Takahito Mura (JPN): Assigned to Skate Canada and Skate America. 2014 Four Continents Champion, 4-time Japanese National Bronze Medalist, qualified for GPF in 2014. Great jumps when he’s on, but inconsistent.

Daisuke Murakami (JPN): Assigned to NHK Trophy. 2014 NHK Trophy Champion. Qualified for GPF in 2015. Missed 2016-17 season due to injury. Rough comeback so far.

Alexei Bychenko (ISR): Assigned to NHK Trophy and Internationaux de France. 2016 European Silver Medalist. Previously skated for Ukraine. Inconsistent.

Daniel Samohin (ISR): Assigned to Rostelecom Cup and Skate America. 2016 Junior World Champion. Attempts many quads, but extremely inconsistent.

Misha Ge (UZB): Assigned to Rostelecom Cup and Internationaux de France. 2016 Autumn Classic Silver Medalist, 6th at 2015 Worlds. Passionate and musical performer. Has choreographed for many skaters. Considered retirement after 2017 Worlds due to chronic injuries, but back this season for one last Olympics. Knows 3 languages (English, Russian, Mandarin).

Nam Nguyen (CAN): Assigned to Rostelecom Cup and NHK Trophy. 2015 Canadian National Champion, 2014 Junior World Champion. Successful senior debut in 2014-15, hit with inconsistency in following seasons. Seems to be getting back on track.

Kevin Reynolds (CAN): Assigned to Cup of China and Skate America. 2013 Four Continents Champion, 6-time Canadian National Medalist. Attempted many quads throughout his career, but tends to underrotate them. Missed a couple seasons due to injury, made a good comeback in 2016-17 with bronze at Skate Canada.

Max Aaron (USA): Assigned to Cup of China and Internationaux de France. 2013 US National Champion, 2015 Skate America Champion. Known for his jumps, but inconsistent. Has a shot at the US Olympic team if he keeps it together.

Jorik Hendrickx (BEL): Assigned to Skate Canada and Skate America. 2017 Nebelhorn Trophy Champion, 4th at 2017 Europeans. On the rise lately, but will need to remain consistent for good placements.

Michal Brezina (CZE): Assigned to Skate Canada and NHK Trophy. 2013 European Bronze Medalist. Originator of “potato medal”, as he used to finish 4th very often. Usually finishes much lower than that these days due to inconsistency, but capable of decent placements if he’s on.

Deniss Vasiljevs (LAT): Assigned to Rostelecom Cup and NHK Trophy. 2016 Youth Olympics Silver Medalist. 7th at 2017 Europeans. Good skating skills and spins, but inconsistent jumps.

[kierunekkreatywny]

#TheBestOfEffie Grand Prix Effie 2004 Żubr - Mruczando

[cecilleeeee-blog]

Should you leave work? Yes, says Alex Wadleton

By Alex Wadelton, originally published on http://www.campaignbrief.com/2016/09/alex-wadelton-why-you-should-l.html

In a lot of big agencies, there seems to be almost a competition to see who can stay the latest at work, who can work the most weekends, and who can be at their desk working earliest every morning. Some of it has to do with the fact that everyone is overworked, but a lot of it has to do with trying to give the appearance of being a hard worker. Does it make the quality of work better? I'd say no. Mostly it makes people resentful of the fact that they are just at work, stuck inside on a sunny weekend while all their non-advertising friends are out and about. So, let me tell you a story about why you should leave the office as often as professionally possible. A few years ago, I was wandering around an exhibition with my young son. The details are a bit hazy- it might have been Scienceworks, it may have been ACMI... but there is was one thing that is crystal clear in my mind's eye. Hidden, almost Zoltar-like in a dark corner of this exhibition, were a couple of grotesque photographs of a mental asylum patient being tested upon in the 1860s by a French scientist with the incredible handle of Guillaume-Benjamin-Amand Duchenne (de Boulogne). What the bloody hell was he up to?

In short, he was applying electrodes to people's faces to try and recreate the six basic human emotions of anger, happiness, fear, sadness, disgust, and surprise. Some of them worked, others were bizarrely contorted, but all were impossible to look away from. And it got me thinking. Why wasn't there more study on this area? What was it all about? And how quickly could I shoo my son away from looking at a lunatic electrocuting people in the name of science? I went home and read up about him, and it's fair to say if he'd tried to do it now, he'd be locked up in an insane asylum himself. Duchenne was intrigued to try and understand the physiology of the human face and how it works. From there it's only a hop, skip, and a jump in logic to progress straight to feeding electrical currents into the facial muscles of lunatic asylum inmates just to see what happens. Shits and giggles and all that. But in the 19th century, there were no laws to protect against such barbaric pseudo-scientific study. And that was that. Just another useless piece of information to be stored in my brain never to be thought about again, swimming around with all the pointless sport stats I know, the encyclopaedic knowledge of drum n bass that hardly anyone else apart from me cares about (big ups to Etherwood!), and all of the horrendous dad jokes that cause nothing but groans from all and sundry. Or so I thought. Because last year whilst I was working at McCann Melbourne a brief for the Melbourne International Film Festival from Danish Chan lobbed on the desk of my then art director partner Andy Jones and me. It was all about the emotions that you feel at the festival. How no matter what language you speak, we all share the same feelings. They wanted a cinema ad, and a poster. Sure, we could do that, no problem! Or we could go three and half million steps further and construct an archaic movie chair contraption that replicated what Duchenne was doing 150 years earlier by applying electrodes to people's faces to stimulate their facial muscles in order to re-enact the emotions you felt whilst watching all the films that were playing at the 65th anniversary of MIFF. No, really. Getting a client to agree to this frankly insane idea was no small feat, for which Caroline Macmillan deserves an inordinate amount of praise. Lauren Zoric at MIFF supported the idea from Day One, shepherding it through with élan. Idea, somehow miraculously approved, we then had to figure out the small task it if was, you know, even possible. That's where Australia's own SEO mad pseudo-scientist for the 21st century, Steven Nicholson from Airbag stepped in to frame. He and his team, supported by Robert Stock, Eliza D'Souza, and the inimitable Adrian Bosich were able to pull several hundred cats out of a bag along the way to make it happen. Back at Rancho McCann Victoria Conners, Patrick Jennings, and Afrim Mehmed produced the bejesus out of the idea with the support of Adrian Mills and Pat Baron. The best bit about working in this industry is getting to do crazy stuff that makes it sound like you are more interesting than you are when someone delivers your eulogy.

So, when at the Festival launch at Melbourne's iconic Forum, the person tasked with being the test subject for The Emotion Simulator freaked out at the size of the 800-person strong crowd (and the fact that they were going to have electrodes placed all over their face, whatevs) there was only one idiot willing to step into the breach. Being on stage as Steve manipulated my face for ten minutes is the most surreal experience of my life. Plus, I'm sure it was a bit of payback for Steve to inflict a modicum of pain on me for all the pain I'd caused him. And it just goes to prove, once again, that it's important to have a life outside of work. To be curious. To know a little bit about a lot of things. Because you never know what you'll see in life that you can bring back to work. So, go home on time. Don't work on the weekend. Turn your computer off. Put that phone away. Wander about with your mind open. You'll not only enjoy your life more; you just might get to electrocute people for fun.

The Melbourne International Film Festival Emotional Trailer just secured 1 Gold, 2 Silver, and 5 Bronze at Spikes, to go with Gold, Silver, and Bronze at Cannes, a Grand Prix, two Gold, two Silver, and four Bronze at AdFest, a WARC Prize for Innovation, and an Effie. You can watch it here.

[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

[pharmaphorumuk]

FCB Health’s Neon appoints Sebastian Mallarino

Sebastian Mallarino has joined FCB Health Network’s Neon agency as its group creative director.

A native Colombian, he brings more than 15 years of advertising and marketing experience to the role and was the first creative in Colombia to be awarded a Cannes Lions Grand Prix and two Grand Effies.

Mallarino said: “I am excited to be joining the FCB Health Network at such a momentous time. I was attracted to Neon’s core belief that ‘killer ideas save lives’, and I’m thrilled to be in a position where I can help us continue to build on our remarkable achievements.”

He has been involved in the creative fields since 1995, working across multimedia, television, theatre and film, and even starting his own multimedia agency at the age of 15.

Before joining FCB Health’s healthcare communications agency Neon, Mallarino spent over 11 years at Grey, where, under his leadership as creative vice president, Grey Colombia became the most awarded agency in the country in 2017 and was ranked the most creative operation in the network.

Dana Mainman, FCB Health Network president and CEO, said: “2019 marked a decade since Neon first launched under the FCB Health Network umbrella, and they continue to raise the bar for the industry with their laser focus on hiring the best talent from anywhere in the world.

“Their continued success can be attributed first and foremost to this tremendous talent, and Sebastian will contribute mightily to that powerful creative depth.”

The post FCB Health’s Neon appoints Sebastian Mallarino appeared first on .

from https://pharmaphorum.com/news/fcb-health-neon-sebastian-mallarino/