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Archive for the ‘Ethics’ Category

For One Fifth Of The World

17 Dec 2006

When my nephew Floris Van Opstal was still working for Dubois Meets Fugger, before he made his move to The Young Ones, he and his buddy Steven Goedhart created this piece of art and they sent it in to Sappi, Ideas That Matter, a program from Sappi to support design for the public good. The work is for UNESCO, to bring the fact to the people’s attention that (as the copy says:) “80% of the world’s population does not have access to free media”. The method they chose to deliver this message was to put the card inside of a stapled newspaper. People that would buy the newspaper would find themselves unable to read it because they first had to remove the staple. A nice way to illustrate the limited access to news that 80% of the world experiences daily. The campaign is supposed to be launched on December 27th, the artwork might vary. This entry was the only Belgian entry that got awarded, fyi. Yeah, it runs in the family :)

Unesco - Sappi

Copy on the backside of the card:
“For UNESCO and Sappi a violation of human rights is unacceptable. Surf to www.unesco-vlaanderen.be for uncensored background information”.

 
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Posted in Advertising, Campaigns, Ethics, Marketing

 

WWF Mysteries

05 Dec 2006

Some things in life are rarely seen, mostly only by the local fool of town, and barely believable. With some real species it’s going to be exactly the same – unless we take urgent actions to preserve the wildlife is it is and make sure it doesn’t extinct. That’s why I think these ads for WWF bring the message across very well. With a lot of animals in the grey zone of being extincted, pictures of them in a natural habitat will become as rare as a picture of the monster of Loch Ness, Big Foot or UFOs. I like the amateur feeling of the pictures, the raw grains in them as if they were over 50 years old already. Melancholic, yes. Funny, no. Necessarry, absolutely.

Agency: Ogilvy SA
Art Directors: Prabashan Pather, Catherine Conradie,Gareth McPherson
Writers:Catherine Conradie, Prabashan Pather
Creative Director: Gordon Ray
Executive Creative Director: Mark Fisher
Via Adverbox

 
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Posted in Advertising, Campaigns, Ethics

 

Citibankers Make The Day

21 Nov 2006

About thirty sick children had a very good and relaxing time last Saturday because together with their parents they had been invited to spend a day at the Planckendael zoo. This isn’t shocking news of world importance, but the story behind it is. Citigroup organized its very first ‘Global Community Day’ last weekend, and over 40.000 volunteers (workers of the Citigroup) from over 100 countries engaged themselves in a social mood for over 700 projects.

Although they’ve had ‘Volunteer Day’ for over two years, this was the first time the event had such an international and massive allure. Employees of the Citigroup get a day payed leave to participate in the project for one or the other social event. In Belgium they partnered with Mistral Gagnant, an organisation that helps sick children feel at ease and entertains them while recovering from diseases like cancer and other severe illnesses. To help them recover mentally, to close the gap between being isolated in a hospital and getting back to playing with other kids.

In the Planckendael zoo, kids and parents could follow a guided tour and there were workshops where they could express theirselves with colors, tinkering and small artworks. Citibank employees brought their own families as well, and the kids would be split up in small ‘units’ of 4 to 5 children of roughly the same age, so they could socialize and experience the event together.

Bird

Citigroup said that they’d love to repeat the event and make it an annual cross-border (cross-continental) highlight in their social activities.

I think it’s great that companies organize these kind of things during ‘paid’ company time. Not because they have to do it, but because of the image they build for their company while doing something back for the community. Because of the necessity to have their employees away from the desks and in touch with people they work for. Because of the moral value to participate in creating a nicer place, even if it’s only for a day. Imagine all companies did this. Think of how much better the earth would be, one day at a time.

 
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Posted in Ethics, Marketing

 

A Big Mess

19 Nov 2006

Every so often you’d see a really shocking campaign. Recently I blogged the PSA with the drowning kid, then before that there was the truly shocking simulation PSA with a kid that got ran over. Now it’s something from New Zealand where they’ve put the inside of a man into a blender. (Yeah, blenders are hot lately) Pretty confronting if you see it and very disgusting, even though the image itself looks pretty clean. I’m not sure this is the right approach. I also think the message is too well-hidden in the visual… I don’t know. I think it won’t be effective unless it’s placed above a urinal or a sink, some place where you can look at it for a while, because the message won’t get through in a glance.

Blender - The faster you go... the bigger the mess

Copy: – “The faster you go the bigger the mess.”
Agency: Clemenger BBDO
Via: Houtlust

 
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Posted in Campaigns, Ethics, Marketing

 

Plan Belgium

18 Nov 2006

Plan is an active community of children, supporters, staff and volunteers in over 60 countries. For over 65 years, Plan has worked with children to help transform their lives and bring sustainable improvements to their communities. Supporters across the globe sponsor nearly 1.3 million children in 45 countries, benefiting an estimated nine million other children. MTFR was asked by SnowByLG&F to design the new Belgian website. Although it doesn’t look like a massive interactive Flash experience, this site is exactly what it’s supposed to be. The atmosphere it creates, the emotions it triggers and the information it shares is size-made for the target audience. I really like the way the drawings from kids create a very special experience. The Flash is very smooth and and the site feels modern and up to date, which is pretty unique for an NGO (as far as I know).

Plan Belgium

I’m very supportive for this kind of initiatives. With just a little money, you can change the childhood of a kid in a faraway country of which you probably don’t hear much positive news. Offering chances to a better world, helping people progress. It’s like being the undercover hero. Every kid deserves a normal childhood, unfortunately most of the kids don’t have that. We can make a change. Time to make that happen. Virtual adoption would not only make you feel better, it doesn’t have to cost you much either. For a small amount of cash, you can create priceless dreams.

Dutch version | French version

Concept (copy+ad): Johan Roelandt, Koen Van Deun (LG&F)
Creative Director: Paul Wauters (LG&F + Snow)
Strategy: Luc Libens (LG&F)
Account Manager: Elke Noels (LG&F)
Graphic Design: Lisa Allegretta (LG&F)
Webdesign: Elke Helbig (Snow)
Internet Producer: Carl De Mey (Snow)
Internet Strategie: Jonathan Detavernier (Snow)
Internet Development: MTFR
Animation & Dev Banner Campain: Bob Goor (Buroproper), Valentijn Steenhoudt (Snow)

 
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Posted in Campaigns, Ethics, Marketing

 

Winters Aren’t Always Fun

15 Nov 2006

This campaign made me feel a little unhappy. I can’t add more to the copy than they’ve already written. I’ll think I’ll give some extra cents to the beggars I meet in the streets this winter so they can have a nice coffee somewhere or some hot soup… Sometimes life’s just unfair to some people… Copy: “We see the heartbreaking effects of poverty, homelessness, abuse and addiction every day. And most importantly, we see the people who desperately need support and compassion. For us it’s impossible to turn a blind eye to suffering. Last year in Canada, the Salvation Army served 2.5 million meals to the hungry, helped 10.000 people with addictions, and provided one third of all shelter beds each night. This Christmas, we ask you to open your eyes and your heart. And give. – SalvationArmy.ca – 1.800.SAL.ARMY – Give hope today”

There also a clip that’s part of this campaign. See it here.

Title: Invisible
Agency: ACLC Inc., Toronto
Client: Salvation Army
Copywriter: Steve Conover
Art Director: Howard Beauchamp
Creative Director: Tony Miller
Producer: Mark Siversky
Director: Christina Hodnet
Production Company: The Partners’ Film Company, Toronto
Editor: Jason Grebski, Flashand3rd, Toronto
Transfer: Notch, Toronto
Music: The Hive, Toronto
Audio: Wanted Studios, Toronto
Re-toucher: Steve Cribben

Thanks, Shannon

 
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Posted in Advertising, Campaigns, Ethics, General

 

Know Why

09 Nov 2006

This ad for Time Magazine is a very compelling illustration of how images can speak for themselves and maybe actually don’t even need a copy. Self-explanatory advertising, so to say. The point of the two-worded copy is in fact obvious: it plays on the same emotion as the BBC ads “see both sides of the story“, namely that even (or maybe ‘especially’) in news, images can be deceiving. Seeing a picture like this immediately causes your audience to divide in two groups. That is why it’s important to read ‘Time Magazine’, to know the background of the image, to get context… to know ‘why’. Moving away from the ad itself as a topic and looking to the image, I must say it’s a very strong picture. The depicted soldier in distress is a real issue starter. It’s a captive, impressing image. Most war pictures are, but this one is one of the few ones I’ve seen that causes a dilemma inside my mind. Did he lose a buddy? Is he just tired? Maybe he doesn’t want to go to war? Maybe his mother died in the US? The picture fits exactly in the goal of Time’s ad. Challenge people to know more. To know why.

Time Magazine

Agency unknown.
Thanks, Wim L.

 
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Posted in Advertising, Campaigns, Ethics, Marketing

 

WWF Global Warming

01 Nov 2006

Global warming isn’t funny. The effects are far more serious than what we see today, but the changes are already noticable. It’s November and the last week the temperature was still around 20 degrees Celcius. It’s warmer for a longer time, it seems summer has lost its sense of time. Winter doesn’t kick in on time, but when it does, it’s harsh and strong. The weather has become far more extreme than it used to be. The ice on the poles are melting… We all should become aware of this and take action or it might become as serious as pictured in this clip of the WWF. Sure, they make it look a little funny, with some entertaining background song, but the main line of the clip is totally true: “pretending it’s not there will not solve the issue.”

WWF 1

WWF 2

Kudos to Shannon over at Glossy inc for sending the info and hosting the clip.

Agency: FCB, Toronto
Directed by Chris Sargent
Pro Co: UNTITLED, Toronto
Editorial & F/X: AXYZ, Toronto
Music/Sound Design: Rosnick Mackinnon Webster, Toronto

On a side note: the British government recenlty released a report on the impact of climate change.

 
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Posted in Ethics, Marketing, Video

 
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