The Shanghai Job has followed up its successful J&J Gyno "Small V" digital viral campaign (which won the Grand Prix and Gold medals at the prestigious China4As awards) with a new web viral introducing J&J's KY lubricant to the Chinese market.  Again working with Raynet Ogilvy, the company tapped feature director Angel Gracia to shoot a moody, evocative piece that shows situations where one can easily imagine lovers finding the necessary inspiration to get in the mood for love.  (Click here to screen the video.) The Shanghai Job EP Colin Lai recommended that the spot be shot in L.A., where the viral could get a little Hollywood treatment.  Among the locations used were a mansion in Beverly Hills, Malibu Creek State Park and the Santa Monica beach.  It was shot entirely on the new RED Epic camera and includes post and finishing performed entirely in-house at Cortez Brothers, which provided production service. The choice of music, which Lai says was critical for the spot, was made by the agency CD; Lai worked with the Shanghai office of Massive Music to adapt a recording of the jazz standard "Love Somebody." The viral went live on the web last month and can be seen at this link.

A new spot for New Era baseball caps from Director Kim Albright of London production company Thomas Thomas  features the breakdancing sensation known as "Les Twins." In "Make Your Own Moves," the dancing brothers from Paris perform their magic in a chilly warehouse located in Bermondsey, London. The creative, which was conceptualized by the agency Exposure, promotes New Era baseball caps using the twins Larry and Laurent Bourgeois (who've danced for Jay-Z and Beyonce, and are currently in Los Angeles performing in Cirque du Soleil). With no set routine on the day of the shoot, the brothers listened to the track and jumped to it, improvising a series of high-energy dance moves. "Make Your Own Moves" is online and showing in Footlocker stores throughout the UK.

London-based creative editorial house Marshall Street Editors just completed the latest work for the brand Puma Social, which supports that wearing Pumas is not just a fashion statement or for playing sports or exercising in, but really a way of life. In the lifestyle-driven spot titled "Surfing," edited by Marshall Street's Patric Ryan, created via Droga5 and directed by Frederik Bond of MJZ, the viewer is taken through what would be the night's decisions for social interaction or not. The decisions are conveyed via voiceovers that accompany edgy visuals which are designed to reflect the thoughts and actions of Puma wearers, who choose to be the doers as opposed to those who prefer to stand on the sidelines and watch.

London's 76 Ltd teamed up with agency DLKW Lowe in London to create an alternate world promoting two new attractions at the UK's Alton Towers Resort. The two TV ads take very different approaches for each of the attractions. "Ice Age - The 4D Experience" features a family getting into a bright yellow car which runs on bubbles; the car fills with snow which explodes out of the back seat as the kids watch the animated feature film "Ice Age" on flatscreens. "Nemesis Sub-Terra" starts out in the same theme park environment but features a darker tone, reflecting the park's signature roller coaster on which the new ride is based. Both spots were directed by Gerald McMorrow, while post production was performed by Dave Smith at Absolute Post in London. The spots will run for six months on UK TV, as well as other versions that will run on Italian TV.

Believe Media just completed a three-spot campaign for Residence Inn by Marriott and agency mcgarrybowen.  In the spots titled "Elephant," "Giraffe" and "Penguins," we see how the hotel tailors your stay to your individual needs, only in this case it's to the animals' needs. For instance, in "Elephant," the pachyderm arrives back in his room to find a nice bowl of peanuts on the table, while in "Giraffe" the lanky critter is rewarded with lots of - what else? - headroom. Gerard de Thame directed the campaign for Believe, which features creative editorial from The Whitehouse in New York and visual effects from The Mill in L.A.

Rooster Post of Canada just completed work on a spot titled "Brain Scan," for the Alzheimer Society of British Colombia. The spot, which is set to a haunting piano piece composed by Robert Smart, illustrates animations of life, love and family within the confines of a brain scan image. Directed by Steve Gordon of Untitled Films with animation by Hatch Studios, Christina Humphries with Rooster Post was the editor on the work. The concept behind the spot, from agency Rethink in Vancouver, is to keep research into Alzheimer's top of mind in the public eye.  The spot uses the brain scan imagery to make the point that victims of this disease often lose all memory of loved ones and major events in their lives, hence the campaign's web site, www.protectmemories.ca.
 

The L.A.-based effects and design studio Proof of Concept (POC) recently completed work on an effects-driven project for L'Oréal Paris through Gobsmack! India and directed by Jim Sonzero. The spot, titled "Roots," features L'Oréal Paris spokesperson Sonam Kapoor.  Lead Artist Darren Fanton worked closely with Sonzero to conceptualize and create multiple aesthetic CGI environments. Once the concepts were approved, the team at POC had to turn around eight VFX-heavy spot versions in Hindi and English for a total of 160 seconds of CGI. "POC not only met the challenge but raised the bar for the whole category," says Shyam Madiraju, director and founder of Gobsmack! "The vision of Jim Sonzero - arguably one of the top beauty directors in the world - involved a very sophisticated and technically complex world of CGI on this campaign."  The production company frequently produces VFX-driven commercials and works with CG houses around the globe, Madiraju adds, noting that Proof of Concept is a valuable collaborator.

Agency Marcus Thomas recently collaborated with music company DeepMix to compose a new song with an iTunes tie-in for its Troy-Bilt work. The spot, titled "Saturday After Saturday" (which includes scenes of a family taking care of its yard on a breezy weekend day), includes the pop track "World Goes By" by artist Tom Luce; viewers can download the full-length song via iTunes. "We chose Tom Luce as the featured artist because he has such great writing and storytelling instincts and is exceptional at crafting songs that can support a visual narrative," says Dave Curtin, DeepMix Managing Director and Executive Music Producer. "He has a great following, but we wanted to open up the exposure further, and having the Shazam integration music technology here is the perfect way to connect audiences to the song and the spot with a call to action."
 

In hockey they call it a hat trick - scoring three goals in a game.  Seems the folks down at Bouffant have done something similar.  The boutique South African production company Bouffant has won the Creative Circle's Ad of the Year for the third time in its four years in business. Director Dean Blumberg's controversial and painfully comic "Last Dictator Standing" commercial for Nando's and agency Black River Football Club won Ad of the Year. In the spot, a Robert Mugabe lookalike is seen reminiscing about his happy days horsing around with Saddam Hussein (seen here making sand angels), Idi Amin, Col. Muammar Gaddafi and other despots, to the tune of "Those Were the Days."  The win also marks Blumberg's second Ad of the Year win.  Bouffant Director Erik Van Wyk's KFC "So Good" for Ogilvy Johannesburg was also featured in this year's top three spots at the show. In the ad an elderly couple watches a bunch of teens munching on KFC and starts to dance, during which they grow younger and younger. According to Bouffant EPs Melina McDonald and Lorraine Smit, "In the beginning we thought it was just luck, but the more we shoot, the luckier we get! We just want to say thanks to our clients and our directors, who make us look so good."

6 Point Media has completed several episodes of the Tom Hanks web series "Electric City." Six Point owns and produces the show, which grew out of an internal pitch initiative at the studio. It's distributed on Mondo Media's You Tube channel, and just reached the 100-million view mark. Created by Ed Skudder and written, voiced, directed and edited by Skudder and partner Zack Keller, the series is animated in-house at 6 Point and is currently in production of its fourth 10-episode season. Skudder and Keller also direct commercials for 6 Point Media, most recently helming McDonald's "Better" for Moroch. 6 Point Media is currently at work on several more web series, along with promos, spots and TV projects. In the commercial sphere it lent its 2D character animation work to Psyop for its current Met Life campaign for Crispin Porter + Bogusky, which places the Peanuts characters in various live action settings.

Burbank-based VFX and design house BiG MACHiNE was tapped to create the main titles for the Fox  comedy series "Breaking In," starring Christian Slater. The new main titles for the series debuted with a recent episode titled "Game of Jones." BiG MACHiNE Creative Director Ken Carlson, who recently directed the main titles for the ABC sitcom "Suburgatory," and Creative Director Steve Petersen, combined their graphics, VFX and live-action production talents to create the mixed-media show open. All of the live-action footage was specifically shot for the opening sequence, with BiG MACHiNE using the same Arri Alexa cameras used in production in order to maintain continuity with the look and feel of the show. For the pivotal frozen moment effect, BiG MACHiNE utilized its "Glidetime" technique, drawing on methods that Petersen developed utilizing a handheld camera for a recent National Geographic documentary about the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.

Rei Inamoto, Chief Creative Officer at AKQA, will serve as the AICP Next Awards Judging Chair and Master of Ceremonies at the Next Awards presentation, which will be held the morning of the 2012 AICP Show's debut at The Museum of Modern Art in New York on June 12. "The Next Awards are a great showcase of forward-thinking work, not only in the marketing and communications industry, but also ideas that are shaping the future of our industry at large," says Inamoto."I'm honored to be a part of something which highlights innovation and the people behind it." The Next Awards honor innovative marketing communications across eight categories: Integrated Campaign, Viral/Web Film, Website/Microsite, Product Integration, Experiential, Mobile, Social and Cause Marketing. The latter two categories are new to the competition this year.  "Rei's work over the past several years speaks for itself, and not only reflects on projects that fit the Next Awards criteria, but have been recognized by luminaries in the field," says Jackie Kelman Bisbee, Founding Partner/Co-Owner of Park Pictures and Chairperson of the 2012 AICP Show. "He brings a very strong awareness and understanding to this role."

Chicago-based post and design house Optimus has promoted Mike (Chick) Ciacciarelli to Executive Creative Director (seen on the left) where he will guide the company's creative efforts for both client work and internal branding and marketing. Donnie Bauer, formerly design director at Optimus, will move into the creative director role, where he will oversee Optimus' team of designers. "The promotions of Chick and Donnie reflect our commitment to offering integrated production services – from production to editing to design – to meet all of our clients' needs," says Optimus President Tom Duff. Ciacciarelli has been with Optimus for 13 years, during which he led the design group to become one of the top departments in Chicago, working with a wide array of clients such as Nutrilite, Craftsman, The Chicago Museum of Science & Industry, Budweiser, Supercuts and a host of others. Bauer came to Optimus five years ago as a senior designer, after which he made the move to design director.

Speedshape has signed Chad Cooper as Director of Business Development.  Cooper brings 13 years of experience in advertising and post production to his new post and will head up client services and new business at the company's Detroit flagship facility. In addition, he will oversee the growth of its East and West Coast satellite divisions as Speedshape expands its staff and services to accommodate its growing national client roster in the commercial, broadcast, digital media and film arenas. "Chad understands the business from multiple perspectives," notes Speedshape co-founder, Tom Stone. "He has the depth of knowledge needed to help clients get the most out of both traditional and digital projects, and navigate the bridge between them."

Our upcoming Special Feature on Music & Sound promises to be a great opportunity for music, sound design and audio post houses to strut their stuff in front of our global audience of agency and production professionals.  "Right Tracks" will profile some of the top music and sound design houses in the business and examine an uptempo score of issues facing composers, music producers and sound designers as they deal with shifting trends in advertising creative, production and distribution.  For more information on this Special Feature, please contact your SourceEcreative sales  rep or Halyce Naparstek in our Boca Raton office at hnaparstek@sourceecreative.com or at +1-561 206-0728.