New Campaign Says New Zealand's Army Has Purpose

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Wait, New Zealand has an army? OK, kidding. Of course they do. Even tiny islands in the Southwestern Pacific need defensive forces. And to make sure everyone knows that, Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand is out with a campaign for the New Zealand Defense Force entitled "Purpose Built."

The creative, which aims to inform the public the armed forces are much more than combat, centers on the notion that joining the army is less about obligation and more about caring and purpose.

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by Steve Hall    Sep-16-13    
Topic: Cause



Chipotle Hits Home Run Again With Darkly Dystopian Processed Food Statement

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Darkly dystopian yet magically hopeful, this CAA Marketing/Moonbot Studious-created three minute animated film, "The Scarecrow," flips things on its head and tells the story of an out-of-work, disintermediated scarecrow who goes to work for a bunch of crows running a processed foods factory called Crow Foods.

In this bleak, barren new world, our scarecrow gets a peek inside the Crow factory at chickens pumped with hormones and cows kept in boxes. The experience, for both the scarecrow and the viewer, is depressing and hits all too close to home. It's no secret much of what we eat can barely be called food any longer but Chipotle, which two years ago delighted us with it award-winning "Back to the Start," aims to change all that.

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by Steve Hall    Sep-12-13    
Topic: Brands, Cause, Video



Robert De Niro Asks Us to Remember 9/11

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In an effort to get people to pause and reflect on the tragic losses of September 11, 2001, BBDO New York has created a video for the National September 11 Memorial Museum. In the video, 9/11 Memorial Board Member Robert De Niro asks people "to pause, to reflect, to explore, to learn and to honor the best in humanity."

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by Steve Hall    Sep-11-13    
Topic: Cause, Celebrity



If Farmers Farmed Like Fisherman Fish

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World Wildlife Foundation in Canada is out with a john st.-created video, part of the organization's Sustainable Seafood campaign, that asks the question, "We don't farm like this. Why do you fish like this?"

In the animated video, we see a catch-all net of sorts collecting a huge pile of animals, trees, earth and whatever else gets caught in the net. It's meant to be a metaphor for unsustainable fishing practices that, while more efficient, catch much more than they should.

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by Steve Hall    Sep-11-13    
Topic: Cause



What is 'Social Good' And How Can Brands Benefit?

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What do we mean and understand by the term "social good"? This is the first question brands must ask themselves before incorporating social good into their business model. It is not a homogenous and neatly defined entity. Rather, social good is an umbrella term that incorporates many business practices, effects and outcomes.

Because social good is a fluid and evolving concept, it is up to each startup to set their own definition of "social" and "good." If you don't have parameters for social good, you can't thoughtfully incorporate it into your business model.

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by Steve Hall    Sep-10-13    
Topic: Cause, Opinion, Social



Boston Jeweler Launches LGBT Campaign

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Boston-based Long's jeweler has launched a new marriage-themed ad campaign targeting the LGBT community. The jeweler is using local couples for the ads. One ad features two women and the headline, "Let's Both Wear White to the Wedding." Another ad featurtes two guys and the headline, "Can Both Our Mothers Walk Us Down the Aisle?"

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by Steve Hall    Sep-10-13    
Topic: Cause



Chopped Cabbage Represents Effects of Malnutrition

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This project -- which, according to the press note, aims to raise the IQ of an entire country -- envisions the brain as a cabbage. More precisely, a cabbage hacked down in size by a machete so as to represent a malnourished brain that has had its potential reduced by 25%. A brain that, because of the effects of ongoing hunger, disease, and the lack of education has, according to this effort from Dallas-based Firehouse Agency for St. Lucia, been forever stunted.

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by Steve Hall    Aug- 8-13    
Topic: Cause



Cannes Chimera Invites Ad Community to Solve Global Poverty

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Do you have what it takes to create a program that will "improve the lives of the world's poorest by alleviating extreme poverty, hunger, gender inequality, illiteracy and disease by 2015?" If so, Cannes Chimera, along with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation invite you to read this brief and propose your idea.

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by Steve Hall    Aug- 7-13    
Topic: Cause



Campaign Makes Organ Donation Easy For Lazy Millenials

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Cleveland-based Marcus Thomas is out with a new campaign for organ donation entity Lifeblanc. Fronting the campaign, which aims to reach 18-25 year olds, are two TV :15s which aim to illustrate just how easy organ donation can be.

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by Steve Hall    Jul-23-13    
Topic: Cause



Message in A Bottle(s) Calls Attention to Plight of Lake Huron

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This past Canada Day weekend, john st. teamed up with a new not-for-profit, Stop the Drop, to help raise awareness for the drop in Lake Huron's water levels and drive government action. The result was a stunt that called attention to the plight of Lake Huron's lowering water levels by placing hundreds of messages in bottles on the beach giving voice to a lake that can't ask for help on its own.

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by Steve Hall    Jul-10-13    
Topic: Cause