|
|
|---|
The visually driven "Find Your Strong" campaign conceived by Mechanica founding partner and creative director Libby DeLana and her colleagues features print and online executions, retail and event-marketing components, and the brand's first-ever television spot, which was directed by Andre Stringer from U.S. creative production company Shilo.
"This new campaign continues to amplify our brand mission to inspire runners every day," said Chris Lindner, chief marketing officer for Saucony. "As we confidently emerge as a global athletic brand, we too are finding our 'strong.' Our first national television spot marks a pivotal point for Saucony, signaling a continued expansion of our marketing efforts to further drive brand awareness. Together with our partners at Mechanica, we had extremely high ambitions for every aspect of this significant spot, and the passion and craftsmanship of Andre Stringer and everyone at Shilo has truly exceeded our expectations."
The spot appears as a :60, a :30, and two different :15 versions (complete credits and behind the scenes stills for the spot can be found later of the post).
above: Director Andre Stringer
Along with the other elements appearing through targeted media placements, the :60 TV spot debuted two nights ago tonight on ESPN, and it will continue airing on CBS College, ESPN, ESPN2, Fox Sports, NBC Sports and Versus over the next five weeks.
The following print ads for the campaign were shot by the very talented photographer John Huet:
LEXINGTON, MA (April 25, 2011) – Signaling a continued expansion of its marketing efforts, Saucony, Inc., a leading global supplier of performance athletic footwear and apparel, today announced its new multi-media global brand campaign entitled Find Your Strong. The campaign, the brand’s largest marketing effort to date, inspires consumers to find their personal "strong" through running. The new platform encompasses multiple touch points, including an immersive digital and social media experience and the brand's first-ever national television commercial. The TV spot breaks nationally on Wednesday night, April 27th on ESPN.
above: a still from the spot
"As runners, we know that people run for intensely personal reasons," said Chris Lindner, chief marketing officer for Saucony. “Whether in honor of a relative, for a charity or medal, or for ourselves, running inspires the human spirit, making us stronger. At the core, this campaign is about just that; it's where and how we train and the people and moments that strengthen us. Ultimately, we're tapping into this emotional connection to create a dialog that we hope will inspire even more people to run."
above: a still from the spot
"The new campaign continues to amplify our brand mission to inspire runners every day. As we confidently emerge as a global athletic brand, we too are finding our 'strong'. Our first national television spot marks a pivotal point for Saucony, signaling a continued expansion of our marketing efforts to further drive brand awareness. The timing couldn't be better as the Kinvara 2, the campaign's featured product, was recently named Best Buy by Runner's World in their annual Summer Shoe Guide," added Lindner.
above: a still from the spot
The new campaign, developed by Mechanica of Newburyport, Massachusetts, includes the following elements:
Television
The campaign's new TV spot entitled "What is Strong?" was produced by the Emmy Award-winning creative production company Shilo, and directed by Andre Stringer. Filmed at various locations in California's Marin Headlands, the spot depicts a composition of runners finding their "strong" as they run on roads, trails, tracks and playing fields. The diversity of runners featured conveys the premise that finding one's "strong" is an intensely personal experience.
above: a still from the spot
Stringer once again teamed up with director of photography Max Goldman for this project. On various locations in California's Marin Headlands, the Saucony, Mechanica and Shilo executives and production crew filmed many of the same premier athletes who appear in the agency's campaign print ads.
above: shooting the commercial
Footage was captured on Kodak 35mm and 16mm color negative films using two ARRI 235 and one Aaton A Minima camera packages, the Revolution Steadicam and a custom camera car. Footage was transferred and color-graded by Tom Poole of Company 3 in New York. Editorial credit goes to Cassidy Gearhart, and the spot was finished in HD at Shilo's New York studio.
The 30 second spot breaks nationally on April 27th with an ad flight of 5 weeks, and will be seen nationwide on ESPN, ESPN2, Fox Sports, CBS College, Versus and NBC Sports.
Digital
Because runners are both personally motivated and passionately united, "What Is Strong?" the campaign's online destination, allows runners to honor the people and moments that inspire them while drawing inspiration from the "strong" of others.
The innovative digital application creates a visual depiction of user-generated "strongs," highlighting those most shared by the community. Additionally, users can share their personal "strongs" through social media channels and personalized tee shirts. To coincide with the launch of the TV spot, saucony.com/strong will go live on Wednesday, April 27th. Boston-based Beam Interactive developed the campaign's digital platform.
above: the tv ads were shot in the Marin Headlands and San Mateo
Print
The national and regional print campaign, shot by famed sports photographer John Huet, was launched this month in vertical running and consumer fitness magazines, including Runner's World, Running Times, Men's Health, Women's Health, Fitness, ESPN Rise and the Running Network's regional publications.
In-Store
In-store elements at key national retailers include window displays, point-of-purchase, product displays and consumer brochures. A mobile video resource will reinforce the brand's new marketing platform and feature its product collection.
Event sponsorships, a national tour and a new expo booth will also support the brand's marketing platform.
The Find Your Strong campaign is planned to run throughout 2011, with several new executions for the fall. Saucony will continue to integrate the theme into upcoming marketing initiatives throughout the year.
Complete Project Credits: Saucony "What is Strong?" TV Spots
Project Title: Saucony "What is Strong?"
Project Lengths: :60, :30, 2 x :15s
Debut Date: 4/27/11
Film Location: Marin County & San Mateo, CA
Client: Saucony, Inc.
Chief Marketing Officer: Chris Lindner
Advertising Agency: Mechanica
Partner/Creative Director: Libby DeLana
Creative Director, Copywriter: Ted Jendrysik
Brand Director: Arabella Plum
Producer: Mary D. Hanifin
Director: Andre Stringer
Production Company: Shilo
Director of Photography: Max Goldman
Editor: Cassidy Gearhart
Assistant Editor: Hedia Maron
Rotoscopers: Paul Daniel, Djeison Canuto
Associate Producer: Sheina Dao
Line Producer: Jeremy Yaches
Head of Production: Julie Shevach
Executive Producer: Tracy Chandler
Telecine: Company 3
Colorist: Tom Poole
Music Composer: Darrin Weiner
Sound Design and Final Mix: Penny Lane
Sound Designer/Mixer: Joseph Miuccio
To build excitement around the 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i5 processor, Intel launched this action-adventure video titled "The Chase." The spot demonstrates the performance capabilities of the new processors by creating an action-movie style chase sequence that takes place through a wide variety of program windows on a computer desktop.
Ad Age reports that "With 1.8 million YouTube views and its first entry onto the chart, Intel's "Chase" mini-movie makes it to the straight to the top for a good reason -- it's a great action flick with a sexy heroine and two leather-jacket-and-gold-chains bad guys. The campaign won 1.1 million views in its first week alone."
Credits
Advertising Agency: Venables Bell & Partners, USA
Executive Creative Directors: Paul Venables, Will Mcginness
Creative Directors: Paul Foulkes, Tyler Hampton, David Kim
Copywriter: Josh Parschauer
Art Director: Beau Hanson, Dan Kenneally
Director Of Integrated Production: Craig Allen
Agency Producer: Kacey Hart
Interactive Producer: John Eagan
Interactive Design Director: Ezra Paulekas
Production Company: Nexus Productions
Director: Smith & Foulkes
Director Of Photography: Oliver Wood
Executive Producer: Tracey Cooper
Production Manager: Alistair Pratten
Editing Company: Trim
Editor: Paul Hardcastle
Sound Design: Human
Music: Human
Composers: Edmond Dunne & Gareth Williams
Music Producer: Jonathan Sanford
Mix: Play, John Bolen
Color / Flame: Time Based Arts, James Allen & Sheldon Gardner
Aired: January 2011
Two Italian flavors, Martini & Rossi and Dolce & Gabbana, collaborated a few months ago to launch MARTINI®Gold, a special edition vermouth with a unique recipe which includes orange, ginger and cubeb pepper, inspired by the fashion duo.
The libation was launched with a Fellini-esque film starring the stunning and sexy Italian actress Monica Bellucci:
Directed by Jonas Åkerlund (shown shooting the movie below), the MARTINI® Gold short film is set in Rome, Italy - a beautiful backdrop for the visually lush story.
Inspired by Fellini's La Dolce Vita, it celebrates Italian lifestyle as well as Monica Bellucci's all-Italian beauty, with surprise appearances by designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana:
Stills from the film:
The print ads:
On the set images:
The special bottle and packaging bear the name of both Martini and Dolce & Gabbana
The Russian issue of Vogue even included the actual video within the pages of their December issue, making it their first video advertisement in a print medium:
MARTINI Gold
Martini
Dolce and Gabbana
The latest 60 second spot (shown after the stills in this post) for Activision's soon to be released Call of Duty: Black Ops
Despite your stance on war or video games, one cannot deny the visceral appeal of this commercial. Set to the Rolling Stone's Vietnam-era classic Gimme Shelter, the gamers (a variety which includes, amongst many, a medical technician, a scientist, an electronics store clerk, a hotel concierge, a businessman, Kobe Bryant, Jimmy Kimmel and not one, but three women - even a Birkenstock wearing Granola) find themselves so immersed in the experience, they appear engaged in real life combat. To present a video game as so life-like that the players appear in the virtual world may not be a new concept or idea, but in this case, it is beautifully executed.
The everyday folk - and avid gamer celebs Kobe Bryant and Jimmy Kimmel who make appearances in the spot - are adeptly brandishing weapons while donning their civilian garb (love the Chanel shoulder bag), amongst the thunder of helicopters and flying shrapnel.
above: Video game fans Jimmy Kimmel and Kobe Bryant make appearances in the spot.
There's only one word of dialogue uttered in the whole script... when the hotel concierge, Vic, stops to answer his phone and identify himself while in the midst of combat.
And the final shot of a fast food cook with guns a-blazin' is the Creme de la Combat.
God damn, they were right when they said "There's A Soldier In All Of Us" and I didn't even know it. Now where's my Bazooka?
There’s a Soldier in All of Us (:60)
Call of Duty: Black Ops is a first-person shooter video game developed by Treyarch and published by Activision, scheduled for release on November 9, 2010. The game is the seventh installment of the Call of Duty series since the original game published in 2003, and the third game in the series to be developed by Treyarch.
Pre-order/Buy Call of Duty: Black Ops
Activision is an American video game developer and publisher, with well known titles such as the Tony Hawk series, and the Guitar Hero franchise.
CREDITS
Agency: TBWA\Chiat\Day, Los Angeles
Chief Creative Officer: Rob Schwartz
Group Creative Director: Brett Craig
Associate Creative Director: Blake Kidder
Associate Creative Director: Patrick Almaguer
Creative Director:
Head of Production: Richard O’Neill
Executive Producer: Anh-Thu Le
Producer: Stanton Hill
Art Director: Chase Madrid
Copywriter: Chris DeNinno
Group Account Director: Stan Fiorito
Account Director:
Account Supervisor: Paul Sears
Assistant Account Executive: Rohit Bal
Group Planning Director: Oke Mueller
Sr. Planner: Natalie Puccio
Director of Business Affairs: Linda Daubson
Business Affairs Manager: Jill Durand
Senior Broadcast Traffic: Jerry Neill
Production Company: MJZ
Director: Rupert Sanders
Executive Producer: David Zander
Executive Producer: Eric Stern
Producer: Laurie Boccaccio
Director of Photography: Greig Fraser
Production Designer: Dominic Watkins
Costume Designer: Nancy Steiner
Editor: Neil Smith
Post Production Producer: Carolina Wallace
Visual Effects: Asylum
Visual Effects Executive Producer: Michael Pardee
Visual Effects Post Producer: Ryan Meredith
Visual Effects: Asylum
Visual Effects Supervisor/ Lead Compositor: Jason Hicks
Executive Producer: Michael Pardee
Producer: Ryan Meredith
