Cannes Lions Best Commercials

So this commercial is what the judges awarded Grand Prize at the 2012 Cannes Lions best film ads of the year. It's for Chipotle and it features Coldplay's haunting hit "The Scientist", which I personally think adds a lot lot lot to its weight, maybe even more than the visuals do.

The idea is basically a call back for less of an industrialized farming model, that we should go back to the farmer with a wife and a son and one or two pigs. A nice idea, overall. The tag line at the end reads "Cultivate a better world". 

For those that are unfamiliar with Chipotle, it is a Mexican fast food restaurant in the United States that offers delicious burritos, taco salads and even beer and margaritas for the hungover masses. On their website they do have a lot of information about their "food with integrity" practices.

Adweek has compiled the top 15 Gold winners in film, check them out if you have some spare time and want to actively seek out commercials.

Here are some of my faves:

This one for Proctor & Gamble made me cry like a baby. Moms + Olympic Athletes = Tears. Always.

The colours are phenom in this commercial for Lurpak butter, which I assume we don't have in Canada.

The band OK GO have made a career off of viral videos, and this one is no exception, having already received over 22 million views on YouTube.

Conversely, this chilling ad for the Mumbai Mirror has barely any views on YouTube.

This one is just over the top and silly, and I think Mariah Carey directed it.

Olympic-Sized Task

This is an ad for Nike, which is a company that we all know has an unlimited budget and unlimited access to every athelete that's ever held a stick, tied a lace, or verbed a third noun.

Call me old-fashioned (please?) but I think they do their best work when they shave all those hairless people off of their pages and go with a really simple concept like the one displayed above.

They made a bold choice of not even including their logo in the print, relying instead on the fact that they're so well known, people will connect the synapses. I personally think the Nike font leaves me in a grey area (50 shades, to be exact) because it's oddly similar to the font that SKYY Vodka uses... Hmmmmmmm.....

Obviously this is not meant to sell vodka if not maybe under the guise of liquid courage.

This ad reminds me of this time I went diving with my friends and a little boy stood atop a 3 meter diving board for LITTERALLY 2 hours. He was up there so long that the lifeguard whisled out 'last call' and it was do or die for the kid. I think he litterally thought he might die. Literally.
Everyone in the pool dutily got out but all the pool people had noticed that this kid had set up camp up there and began to cheer him on. His annoyed father was like ''Time to go Jimmy.'' (or whatever kids are named these days... Skylar?)

And finally after two hours he jumped, kid style, into the pool, and made it out alive. He had had so much fun doing it that he wanted to go again, but alas, the pool was closed. 

The moral of the story: just jump. You won't regret it.

...unless of course, you die.

Montreal May 22, 2012

What does it mean to be a citizen?

Lately I've been really re-evaluting social media and how it pertains to citizen journalism. 

Today marks day 100 that Montreal students have been on strike, opposing massive tuition increases and student debt. I'm not 100% sure on all the details behind the rallies, but I've met many students who have been hit hard by this movement over the course of my first week here.  I remember how worried we were a while back when the professors at the U of W were planning to strike It was my graduating year.

Today I was lucky enough to stumble into the biggest protest march in Montreal to date on my walk home from work. Tensions are so high here, I can only wonder what it will take for either parties to form an agreement. Two nights ago, riot police unloaded by the bus-full and were walking the streets in formation, banging on their shields like the guys from 300. Yesterday a student threw a moltov cocktail. New laws are being passed every day, making this beautiful, cultural city look more and more like a war-torn police state.

The last two shots are from my bedroom window. The people are still marching by as I write this.