Morning Update: Olivia Wilde breaks barriers; buy a BMW online; MullenLowe’s creative head on disruption; M&C to launch Lida in NYC
https://youtu.be/YhCEoL1pics
Creativity Online: Olivia Wilde Plays a Girl With Down Syndrome in Eye-Opening Film
Actress Olivia Wilde appears in the latest moving film by Saatchi & Saatchi for CoorDown, Italy’s national organization for people with Down Syndrome. Directed by Reed Morano at Pulse Films, the spot highlights World Down Syndrome Day on March 21.
The spot aims to start a conversation around how those living with Down Syndrome see themselves and how they can be disadvantaged when people pre-judge them based on their condition. Wilde plays AnnaRose as she sees herself – an ordinary girl, out with her family, laughing, crying, running and dancing. It’s only at the end we see the real Anna Rose, and she asks, “How do you see me?”
BMW is plotting the first marketing push for Retail Online, its fledgling e-commerce platform which it claims – perhaps surprisingly – is performing well since the launch last year. The online store raised more than one eyebrow when it was announced in a first for the car market, with many questioning whether people were comfortable enough with e-commerce to make such a high-value purchase.
After entering the site, potential buyers answer five questions on their lifestyle which BMW uses to suggest an appropriate model which they are able to then customise. Meanwhile an online specialist is on hand to answer any questions via a live-chat function. Users can select their nearest dealer to process the transaction there and then or set up a time to visit for a test-drive.
Jose Miguel Sokoloff, the global creative head of ad agency MullenLowe, was in the Philippines last week where he gave a presentation on the virtues of soft power over the hard sell at Ad Summit Pilipinas.
In this Q&A with Mumbrella Asia’s editor Robin Hicks in his hotel lobby in Subic, the award-winning Colombian talked about a period of disruption in adland that will expose agency “dinosaurs”, how the commodisation of the business has made outstanding work rare, and what he thinks of DDB creative chief Amir Kassaei’s call to end the “madness” of awards shows.
The Drum: Ad of the Day: Inspiring the Future – Redraw the balance
Charity Inspiring the Future has set out to reveal the reality of gender stereotyping. Working with MullenLowe London, ‘Redraw the Balance’ asked school children aged between five and seven to draw a firefighter, a surgeon and fighter pilot – 61 pictures drawn were men and only five were female.
Russell Hobby, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), explains: “The project opens up the world of work to children – right at the age of where they are beginning to develop their aspiration and ambitions. It helps to break down gender stereotypes and preconceptions, improving life chances, especially for those living in areas of deprivation.”
M&C Saatchi’s digital and direct agency Lida has bought a majority stake in the New York digital customer experience agency MCD Partners in a deal valuing the business at around £10 million.
Ian Magnani, John Caruso and Wasim Choudhury, the co-founders of MCD Partners, will continue to run the business, which will rebrand to Lida over the next six months. The agencies have complementary specialisms with Lida focusing on providing its clients with CRM, direct marketing and data strategy and analytics, while MCD Partners works with brands on their user experience as well as digital marketing and products – including apps and websites.
A Singapore PR agency has launched an e-commerce platform that enables brands with tight budgets to order content directly from a website and get completed work back within three to five days depending on the scope of the project.
The Words.sg platform from Singapore’s Mutant Communications offers clients content services at the click of a button, cutting out the need for meetings, negotiations, quoting, invoicing and retainer fees, the agency explained. Clients can follow a step-by-step process on the Words website to order content including press releases, white papers, infographics, e-books, opinion pieces, social media content and awards submissions.
Campaign Live: Archant launches global luxury property title
Archant, the regional paper and magazines publisher, has launched a quarterly global luxury property magazine after an editor of one of the company’s titles pitched the idea.
International Prime Properties launches at the end of the month, and came through Archant’s Innovation Fund, which encourages staff to pitch business ideas. Karen Tait, the editor of French Property News, and Sue Crwys-Williams, a group sales manager at Archant Specialist, came up with the idea, and will become the editor and group sales manager, respectively.
Do we really need to see an able-bodied person to believe that people with Down Syndrome are “ordinary” people? Very problematic.
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