As marketers begin planning their search marketing for 2017, it’s worth paying special attention to three areas in particular, which will likely see continued growth.

As marketers look ahead to 2017, there are three key trends in social media that they should prepare for.

Director Terry Rayment depicts the transformational power of love and happiness with his 35mm spot “Understanding.” Cinematographer Kate Arizmendi helps Rayment display the power of visual storytelling at its best, capturing all the emotions beautifully on KODAK VISION3 500T 5219.

Kodak’s affiliation with the piece, which chronicles the relationship between a teenaged boy and his father as he struggles to accept his son’s homosexuality, speaks to the brand’s willingness to share socially relevant stories that have the power to spark change. Captured as a powerful and poignant slice of life, “Understanding” communicates the values of acceptance and equality that the Kodak brand holds close.

With minimal dialogue, the spot illustrates the struggle of a parent’s expectations weighed against the needs of the heart. The journey from misunderstanding and judgment ultimately comes to a point of full support, influenced by the discovery of a cherished moment caught in a photograph. The underlying message is delivered with a sense of realism and nuance: when seen through the eyes of those who love us, all who we choose to love are fully embraced.

Inspired to pay homage to the iconic Kodak brand, Terry Rayment set out to create a snapshot of family life that felt as if it could exist in any time period, in any town. Shepherded by Eskimo Executive Producer Kristofer Barton, “Understanding” was shot in rural Pennsylvania over the course of three days. Together with cinematographer Kate Arizmendi, they forewent stylized trends of contemporary filmmaking, instead opting to strip the compositions, the blocking and the camera direction down to their most fundamental forms. Then they reconstructed the scenes from the remaining raw building blocks of cinema, making sure that each moment had a clear narrative beat, which propelled the story forward. The creative approach paid off, the resulting spot has a timeless look and feel to it that will endure repeat viewings and remain culturally relevant for years after its release.

Director Terry Rayment began his career in Chicago’s agency world as an art director before literally moving across the street to become an Autodesk Flame apprentice. There he uncovered a deep love for the detail-driven world of post production. Soon Terry relocated to Detroit, where he launched Eskimo, specializing in editorial and finishing.

Terry’s human-driven directorial style quickly became in high demand. Notable work includes global campaigns for Wolverine and Cadillac and PSA story content for the University of Florida, as well as the popular short form documentary “Wonderland.”

CREATIVE CREDITS:
Nolan: Jaz Goodreau
Father: Adam Harper
Dylan: Taylor Turner
Mother: Andrea Marino
Claire: Reiley Trombetta

Production Company: Eskimo
Executive Producer: Kris Barton
Head of Production: David Martinez
Director: Terry Rayment
Producer: Christian Luedke
Art Director: Timothy Barker
Coordinator: Ryan Komorowski
Director of Photography: Kate Arizmendi
1st AC: Gino Varisano
2nd AC: Mike Toland
Loader: Will Dejessa
Camera House: Panavision NY
Gaffer: Geoff Taylor
Best Boy: Lorenzo Pace
Key Grip: Mike Fares
Best Boy Grip: Shane Moore
Production House: Expressway Grip, Philadelphia
Art Director: Timothy W. Stevens
Props: Mikael Simpson
Set Decorator: Michael Mizrahi
Casting: House Casting NY
Location Scout: Staci Hagenbaugh
Sound Mixer: Paul Aife
VTR: Chris Murphy
Script Supervisor: Charlie Rowe
HMU: Katie McGregor
Wardrobe: Deborah Artaza
Editor: Scott Hanson
Color House: The Mill – Chicago
Colorist: Luke Morrison
Composer: AJ Hochhalter
Special Thanks: Caleb Slain, Brooks Malberg, Lauren Martinez
Film Processing – Fotokem LA
Film Scanning – Cinelicious

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Award-winning comedy writing and directing duo Josh + Vince of content studio Big Block helm a festive new holiday commercial for Amazon Fashion Europe.

Created by digital agency DF London, the spot features fashion authority Olivia Palmero, who has smartly avoided the mall rush by completing all of her holiday shopping on Amazon. Olivia’s canine sidekick Mr. Butler gets an impromptu fashion show, and in return offers some cheeky observations to her admittedly self-serving sartorial decisions. We get the posh pup’s perspective on a clotheshorse as Olivia runs through her holiday shopping list, finding every reason to keep the perfectly selected gifts – for herself.

Josh Ruben and Vincent Peone’s distinct brand of comedy has won huge social media followings, with their short films, commercials and music videos amassing a combined total viewership of well over two billion. The duo are currently developing a Comedy Central TV series, and continue to create content for brands such as Budweiser, BBC, Blackberry, Verizon, Trojan, Sobe, IBM, AT&T, Kellogg’s, Banana Boat, Tribeca Films, MTV, CBS, Nintendo, Time Warner, Vitamin Water, and many others. Josh + Vince are represented by Big Block for commercial work worldwide.

CREATIVE CREDITS:
Agency: DF London
Creative Director: Sophie Lewis
Business Lead: Lizzie Robson
Producer: Helen Powlette

Production Company: Big Block
Director: Josh & Vince
Exec. Producer: Geno Imbriale
Line Producer: Justin Towery
DP: Ryan Helfant

Editorial: Nomad Edit NY
Editor: Amanda Moreau
Producer: Sheena Wagaman

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Photo: Asa Mathat

It’s one thing to watch a TED Talk online; it’s another experience altogether to be in a cinema together with your friends and fellow TED enthusiasts, watching speakers deliver the talks of their lives in real time. Last year, we shared the opening night of our annual sold-out TED Conference with more than 1,000 cinemas in 20 countries. It was an intriguing experiment in radical openness that, to our delight, audiences loved.

So this year we’re unveiling TED Cinema Experience – an exciting event series that includes three opportunities for audiences to join together and experience the TED2017 conference.

Presented with our partner BY Experience, TED Cinema Experience includes:

(The below represent U.S. times only; international audiences will experience TED captured live and time-shifted. Check show times here.)

Opening Night Event: Monday, April 24, 2017

US: 8pm ET/ 7pm CT/ 6pm MT/ time-shifted to 8pm PT

Experience the electric opening night of TED, with half a dozen never-before-seen TED Talks and performances, beamed live from the TED stage.

TED Prize Event: Tuesday, April 25, 2017

US: 8pm ET/ 7pm CT/ 6pm MT/ time-shifted to 8pm PT

On Tuesday night, audiences can watch our newly announced TED Prize winner Raj Panjabi reveal for the first time his plans to put the $1 million TED Prize award towards a creative, bold wish to spark global change. The session will feature new TED Talks as well as updates from two previous TED Prize recipients, space archaeologist Sarah Parcak and education innovator Sugata Mitra.

Highlights Exclusive: Sunday, April 30, 2017

4pm ET / 3pm CT / 2pm MT / 4pm PT

A highlights program will be created especially for our cinema audiences! It goes behind the scenes at TED to share exclusive talks and performances, and some of the most insightful, inspiring and exciting moments of the week-long TED2017.

Theater locations and tickets are now available here!

The recent news that Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz is handing over the reins of the company gives me pause.  This the second time Schultz has left the brand’s top post.  The last time was back in 2000 and the brand suffered so much in his absence, he ended up having to return in a dramatic takeover eight years later.  He has since led his team to re-establish Starbucks as a beloved brand with sustained growth and it just had its most profitable quarter ever.  This time, the brand seems to be better positioned to continue flourishing under new leadership, but I am still left wondering what lies in store for the future of Starbucks?

Most reports of Schultz’s departure have focused on the new upscale concepts he plans to develop, Starbucks Reserve and Starbucks Roastery.  While betting that people will pay $12 for a cup of coffee seems a big risk, it’s an even bigger gamble to leave the core business in the hands of folks who may or may not share Schultz’s passion, focus, and discipline on the brand — especially since the core business is continuing to forge new paths.  It plans to open about 2,100 net new stores globally in 2017, it has set a $1 billion increase in revenue goal for its consumer packaged goods segment (e.g., VIA instant coffee), and it is developing a new digital ordering system that uses artificial intelligence technology.

Now more than ever the company needs to be vigilant about preserving the core values of the Starbucks brand.  Its growth and innovation must be aligned with and advance the emotional connection customers feel to the brand, not detract from it nor distract the company from it.  The organization needs to stay committed to the core of its brand, as I advise all companies to do in my book What Great Brands Do.  Only time will tell if it does — in the meantime, what lies in the future of Starbucks?

I suspect the news from Starbucks will center on:

• Starbucks as big in China as it is in the U.S. The company plans to open 12,000 additional stores globally in the next five years, with half of the new units in the U.S. and China.  The growing Chinese middle class will eat, er I mean, drink up brand and its accessible luxury positioning.
• A transformed customer experience. While the company has emphasized the role of its baristas in providing an extraordinary in-store experience for customers, it continues to develop technology that replaces in-person, hands-on service with mobile-enabled, personalized transactions.
• More growth in other channels. Starbucks will continue to expand its grocery and foodservice business and introduce ready-to-drink new coffee and tea products.  It probably sees more growth in those segments than in an “over-retailed” U.S. market.
• Howard Schultz’s bid for public office. He has a long history of advocating for civic engagement and when he was asked in a recent interview about a possible bid, he said only that the time was not right.

While we contemplate the future of Starbucks, here’s a look back at some of my past content about the brand:

Mcdonald’s All-Day Breakfast and Other Calls I Got Wrong — a recent post about my mistaken criticism of Starbucks VIA

Brand Experience Brief: Starbucks Roastery — a video audit & analysis of the new concept

What Is the Purpose of Business — my POV on Starbucks’s “Race Together” campaign

Brand Book Bites from Onward — the best bits from the book Schultz wrote to memorialize the remarkable turnaround at his company

Why Fast Feeders Need Starbucks to Succeed — a post from 2009 about Starbucks’s influence on the industry that is still relevant today

The post what does the future hold for starbucks? appeared first on Denise Lee Yohn.

Publicis Argentina developed for Renault the case based on the second stage of the digital campaign “Renographies II”. After a successful first edition last year, this new stage explores the relationship of the users with the cars, under the guidelines of his new identity “Passion for life”.

This second stage of “Renographies” consists of 5 short films where consumers can identify themselves as part of the stories. In these “mini movies” the stories told, speak of people where vehicles play an important role at a given time in their lives. The participating models are: Duster, Logan, Sandero Stepway, Sandero R.S. 2.0, Duster Oroch and Twizy.

This new Renault brand campaign was developed for Latin America, and was shoot in 3 Countries: Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay with a total of 32 locations. The crew traveled more than 25,000 km and involved 300 people of different nationalities in the production during 16 days of filming. The entire campaign was developed by the advertising agency Publicis Argentina.

CREDITS:
Brand: RENAULT
Agency: Publicis Buenos Aires
Campaign: Renographies II
Country: Argentina
ECD: Fabio Mazia
Creative Director: Paula Kozub
Regional Account Director: Iván Pinzón
Production Company: Landia
Directors: Vellas, Lucas Shannon, Juli Fernandez
Executive Producer: Adrián D’Amario
Audiovisual Producer: Patricia Abelenda
PH Directors: Pierre de Kerchove, Javier Julia
Postproduction Director Coordination: Julián López Cóppola
Clients approval: Eric Pasquier/Marcelo De Carlo/Noel Castillo/Eugenia Guerra

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Some wonderful comments to choose from this week … so I chose two:

Amy Cox writes: “Experiencing the full range of emotions, including sadness and grief, can be good, inspiring, motivating, in balance with the self. Please do not confuse sadness with Major Depressive Disorder. Medication that works well for a person is a tool that allows them to be themselves, to feel the full range. … Depression is as similar to healthy sadness as a coma is to taking a refreshing nap.”

Jeff L. writes: “Dena Simmons touches on a topic that is rarely talked about … Rarely do we hear about the transition in emotional state that is required as a prerequisite to academic success in the middle grounds of established American institutions. This abrupt transition is not atypical for minorities, and due to the nature of white privilege well misunderstood.” 

I intend to highlight Jeff’s comment, but felt I must also share our speaker’s response. Really, it’s their interaction that I feel is so wonderful. Dena’s question to both Jeff and the community at the end, if answered, can be the best part about comments. The discussion of what can be done, with honest, respectful people, can ease anxieties around what isn’t being done right now. Also, crowd-sourcing ideas in this way, on this platform, has the potential to be quite powerful. Our community always has *incredible* ideas, and I’ll hope they’ll put that brain power to work and join Jeff and Dena’s conversation.

Fabian Oefner’s new work plays with the color properties of bismuth. Photo: Fabian Oefner

End-of-the year news from our busy TED speakers:

Let’s start with something gorgeous. The newest series of prints produced by Fabian Oefner, Photographic Paintings, highlights the process by which color comes into being. The images merge his signature science-based photography with the traditional form of a painting, exploring the properties of the element of bismuth, whose rapid fluctuations of color and shapes form the basis of each image. (Watch Fabian’s TED Talk)

Can India grow a circular economy? With its fast-growing urban economy, India is facing down big questions about poverty, resource scarcity and industrialization. How to address all the needs that will arise along the path of progress? Well, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation studies the concept of the circular economy, which involves regenerative development and eco-first thinking, and in a new report supported by ClimateWorks and the UN Conference for Trade and Development, they make a strong case that a circular economy framework might be the way to go for the subcontinent. “With its existing circular mindset and strong digital backbone,” Ellen MacArthur writes, “India can reap significant economic and societal benefits, embarking on a positive development path as it focuses on regenerative practices.” (Watch Ellen’s TED Talk)

Hey, ho, where’d you go? Ohio. Author JD Vance, whose book Hillbilly Elegy tells the story of the decline of his southern Ohio home town, has announced plans to move back home and commit to making his state a better place. He’s setting up a nonprofit called Our Ohio Renewal, deciding between Columbus and Cincinnati as a home base, and looking to learn more about the flatland northern towns above the dirt line, like Toledo and Cleveland, as well as the hilly southern Ohio region that is the setting for his book. (Watch JD’s TED Talk)

Museums under the sea. In December 2016, a team of cave divers converged at Abaco in the Bahamas for a two-week survey of one of the most remarkable underwater caves ever found. The Abaco Blue Holes Project, sponsored by National Geographic, relied on a range of virtual reality, augmented reality and 3D imaging techniques to map the Crystal Caves of Abaco and then share those images widely through blog posts and updates from people like  Jill Heinerth, who served as documentarian for the expedition. (Watch Jill’s TED Talk)

Necessary fiction inside un-liberal democracies. As the world’s leading jailer of journalists, with 140 imprisoned at current count, Turkey seems on an authoritarian path of power that might look contradictory for a country that maintains free elections. However, this is far from surprising, Elif Shafak writes in The New Yorker, as free elections on their own cannot sustain democracies. “There are other necessary constituents: separation of powers, rule of law, freedom of speech, women’s rights and minority rights, and a diverse, independent media,” none of which exist under the Erdoğan government, she says. Her solution: We need more fiction — not less — to counter what she cautions as the silence of speech created by the persecution of so many writers in Turkey. (Watch Elif’s TED Talk)

Awards season report. For her services in education and women’s economic empowerment across the Gulf Cooperation Council, Dr. Leila Hoteit was named Businesswoman of the Year at the Arab Woman Awards UAE ceremony in Sharjah, UAE. (Watch Leila’s TED Talk)

— For his diversification of solid state lighting (SSL) applications through LiFi, Harald Haas received the International Solid State Lighting Alliance’s Award for Outstanding Achievement. (Watch Harald’s TED Talk)

— Sarah Parcak, the winner of the 2016 TED Prize, was honored with an American Ingenuity Award from Smithsonian magazine for using satellite imagery to disrupt looting and locate unknown ancient sites. Parcak shared the stage with other awardees, including Aziz Ansari, Lin-Manuel Miranda and the mother who exposed the water crisis in Flint, Michigan. On December 12, Parcak was named one of Foreign Policy’s “Leading Global Thinkers of 2016.” This year, the magazine’s editors made the case for optimism; the honorees, they wrote, “are proof that as society’s pillars falter, individuals step in to bear the weight.” Parcak’s TED Prize wish, to build the GlobalXplorer citizen-science platform, appealed because she’s “recruiting her own citizen army for the research” into looting of ancient sites around the world. (Watch Sarah’s TED Talk, and sign up for updates on GlobalXplorer.)  

Twist’s latest campaign for Heluva Good! Cheese reminds viewers that during fireside chats or intense bidding wars, flavor is always worth enjoying. The first 2 spots to air of Matt Pittroff’s humorous campaign points out that whether you are venturing into the great outdoors or frequenting yard sales, hunger strikes and flavor is always calling. The new campaign encourages viewers to strike gold with nachos, a grilled cheese or cheese fondue and use fantastically flavored Heluva Good! Cheese.

Credits:
Spot Titles: “Camping” and “Garage Sale”
Agency: New Honor Society
VP, Group Creative Director: Terry Stewart
Creative Director: Tom Nations
Agency Producer: Derek Burr
Executive Producer: Larry Israel
Producer: Beth Martychenko
Senior Copywriter: Zack Swyers
Production Company: Twist
Executive Producer: Alissa Liebert, Jim Geib – President/EP, Amyliz Pera/EP
Director: Matt Pittroff
Line Producer: Steve Blair
Editorial Company: 90 Degrees West

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