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NewsReel 08/02/10
08/02/2010
0 Commentsadd commentALFA ROMEO CAN'T SINK ANY LOWER
COALITION OF THE WILLING
WHELAN GETS STINKY
ANDERSEN M STUDIO'S HEAD TO BROADWAY
SWEETWORLD-WIDE-WEB
HAITI FUND
…AND FINALLYALFA ROMEO CAN'T SINK ANY LOWER
Every two years, hundreds of car salesmen gather together in Brussels with the aim of selling as many cars as they can. It’s called the ‘Brussels Auto & Moto Salon’. An extremely important fair for car salesmen, it can account for up to 35% of the whole year’s sales (which is a whopper of a number). So you can imagine that huge amount of money is spent on advertising … or rather, spent on media...
Alfa Romeo Belguim, being rather non-conformist lot, decided to take a different approach to this year’s media spend - and chucked it all at a rather interesting piece of branded content.
Naturally, in a downturn the only thing that people want to talk about is price - and that’s where Alfa Romeo Belgium did tow the line, albeit in a rather left-field fashion.
Starting with the notion that the Alfa Romeo price couldn’t go any lower and taking it rather literally - The Alfa Romeo team decided to physically take advertising as low as it could go. So the team flew across the world to the Marianna Trench to put an actual billboard on the lowest point on earth: at an incredible 11000 metres below sea level. Capturing the adventure in a 6 minute online film, Duval Guillaume Antwerp launched the film with nothing more than a press release.
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After a couple of other neat publicity stunts (including putting an actual Mito in a shopping trolley with no visible means of support) as well as a bunch of bus shelter show rooms to help the public sell their cars (and buy a newly affordable Alpha Romeo of course), word of mouth - the holy grail in advertising - had taken hold.The resulting sales for Alfa were pretty astonishing, as Alfa Romeo ended the car fair with several broken records. Not only did they sell 80% more cars than this time last year, but they also broke their all-time Brussels car fair sales record by nearly 20%.
Now the question remains - just how are they going to change that billboard for next year?
'Coalition of the Willing' is a collaborative animated film and web-based event about an online war against global warming in a 'post Copenhagen' world.
The film is being crafted by a network of 24 artists from around the world using varied and eclectic film making techniques. Including some of the world’s top moving image talent, such as Decoy, World Leaders and Parasol Island, the film offers a response to the major problem of our time: how to galvanize and enlist the global publics in the fight against global warming. Optimistic and principled, the film explores how we could use new Internet technologies to leverage the powers of activists, experts, and ordinary citizens in collaborative ventures to combat climate change. Through analyses of swarm activity and social revolution, 'Coalition of the Willing' makes a compelling case for the new online activism and explains how to hand the fight against global warming to the people.
‘Coalition of the Willing’ will have an innovative staggered online release. As from 3rd February 2010 the script for the film has been fully available on the site. The completed animated sections will be uploaded in 6 different ‘waves’ 2 weeks apart, over a 12-week period, as they are finished by the contributing artists. Each wave of uploads will introduce 3-5 new sections of the film. The film’s staggered release and the online forum will allow the site to be a crucible for debate on the issues it raises, and allows the audience to collaborate in re- defining the argument even as the film is being made. The film will be complete by mid-April 2010.
The Director/Producer of the piece is Simon Robson aka Knife Party, a multi award-winning animation director and producer. His work has been shown at festivals around the world including Edinburgh, Toronto, Raindance and the Brooklyn International Film Festival. Simon won ‘best animated short’ film for his debut film ‘What Barry Says’ at Brooklyn and London in 2004. He was animation director on BAFTA nominated ‘Taking Liberties’, a feature documentary released in 2007 addressing the decline of civil liberties in the UK.
Writing the film is Timothy Rayner, a teacher of philosophy at the University of Sydney and the University of New South Wales. He is the author of leading-edge academic articles, and his book, Foucault’s Heidegger: Philosophy and Transformative Experience is available on Continuum.Full list of collaborators:
Knife Party
Adam Gault & Stefanie Augustine
Bran Dougherty-Johnson
Cassiano Prado
Mario Sader & Ralph Pinel
Dave Baum
Decoy
Dom Del Torto
Dylan White & Andy Hague
Echolab
Foreign Office
Andreas Gebhardt
James Wignall
Loyalkaspar
Sehsucht & Mate Steinforth, Mighty Nice
Parasol Island
Thiago Maia
World Leaders
Yum Yum London
www.coalitionofthewilling.org.uk
www.facebook.com/coalitionfilm
Former shots Web Editor and sartorial sage (their words, not his; unlike these ones... which are actually his. - and it's very rare that we dont touch a press release at all) Stephen Whelan has defected to Stink to take up the newly formed post of Minister of Propaganda. A naked and blood soaked Stephen was last seen scaling the outer walls of shots towers using a ladder constructed out of spit and manfur before strapping his feet to a raft made of wax-bound rats and charting a course for the Isle of Stink. In his new role he'll be handling Marketing across Stink's UK operations, spreading intriguing rumours and well-intentioned red herrings far and wide, all the while shouting ME ME ME at the top of his voice like an attention-hungry 4 year old on behalf of Stink's roster of directing talent.
Send bribes and polaroids to whelan@stink.tv
ANDERSEN M STUDIO'S HEAD TO BROADWAY
Broadway Films have signed London based Andersen M Studio, for worldwide representation.
Andersen M Studio are sibling partners Martin and Line Andersen, who are based at their Bethnal Green studios. They specialise in animation, graphic design, photography, film and music.
“Our priority is to produce original creative communication. Everything we produce work has personality, originality and integrity.”, said Martin Andersen “and Toby shares this vision with us so it seems like the perfect partnership”
“Once in a very rare while, you see something that is magical, artistic, and brilliant. That something was the film that Line and Martin Andersen, made for the New Zealand Book Council”, said Broadway MD, Toby Courlander. “I’m so pleased to be able to have the opportunity to find them a wider audience in the creative community, and the reaction I have had so far has been phenomenal”
To check out thier top work for the NZ Book Council, look no further:
For those of you not up to date with Sweetworld, the super-sweet boutique animation company with a flair for fluid, scribbly, sensitive, organic, witty animation,get your browsers headed to their new website - www.sweetworld.tv. There you'll find a heady mix of commercials, shorts, TV shows and public information films that are certain to amuse and enlighten. Our favourite is the Amnesty International short about measles - and not just because of the farty noises.
The problems in Haiti are continuing to mount up, and a lot of us are still hesitating to put our hands in our pockets to aid the plight of the Hatian people.
Our pal Athene Parker of Another Film Company has set up a simple fund - aimed squarley at the advertising and production industry - so that we can all do our bit.For more info on how to give to the 'Aid in Action' fund click here.
Don't waste time - click through now.
IT'S A DOG THAT SMILES!!! Get Pedigree Chum on the line, I've got a pitch that will make their coats shine!
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