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January 2007

Twist's Cooper & Bekemeier Direct Spots for Subway & GMAC

In the new Subway commercial entitled "Ringside," a boxer fights hard to stay in the ring. A burger is suggested, but he quickly rejects that. The only thing that can give him the energy he needs to be victorious is Subway's new Big Hot Pastrami sandwich. "Grady's command of comedy and drama, not to mention his ability to make a non-actor act is impressive," comments Eric Loeffler, Vice President Marketing Communications, Nemer Fieger/Minneapolis. Cooper called on his comedic talent for this new spot: "We found a real boxer who was green as an actor, but then I suggested he watch all the 'Rocky' movies. He ended up channeling Sylvester Stallone and we got a great performance out of him."

For the new, two-spot commercial campaign for GMAC Financial Services, Twist Director Jonathan Bekemeier relied on his ability as a voyeuristic storyteller to shoot comedy and real people. The first spot follows a young man trying to get into "a new ride," as he struggles to open the door of the new car he wants to buy. The situation is a metaphor for the challenges consumers can face finding the right financing. The second spot entitled "This Moment" features a lovely house with a car parked in the driveway a father plays in the yard with his young daughter, as his wife plants new flowers in the garden. "This was an interesting shoot," explains Bekemeier. "Two spots, both storytelling, but very different types of storytelling. One was more comedic while the other was more of a 'real people' moment. It was great because they both fit within the styles that I gravitate towards, so I was able to fully exercise my directing range."

Other recent projects for Twist Directors Grady Cooper and Jonathan Bekemeier include commercials for Formica via Ugly Stick, and Shooting Star Casino; and General Mills via Campbell Mithun/Minneapolis, respectively.

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INTERspectacular Writes/Directs For Discovery's New Science Channel Campaign

The team at New York design and concept studio INTERspectacular has written and directed four, animated commercials for Discovery's The Science Channel. This exciting project featured the INTERspectacular team penning the channel's popular new tagline: "A World Without Science is a World Without Discovery," which serves as the creative premise behind the 4 new spots. "The Art of Navigation" for example shows Columbus at the wheel of one of his ships. When asked: "Where are we?" He admits: "I don't know" and bursts into tears, as his three ships collide with one another. "Moon or Bust" has a spaceman who thinks he needs more ladder; when in fact it is oxygen he requires. And in "The Wonder of Cloning," a scientist learns that you can't really clone a sheep by pushing a mirror up to his face. Each spot ends with the channels' new tagline and The Science Channel logo.

According to INTERspectacular's Co-Founders/Creative Directors Luis Blanco and Michael Uman, not only was their team given creative carte blanche with the project's direction and writing, but also with its choice of animation. They chose Illustrator Josh Cochran for the project whos palette reflects 1950s retro style and gives the illustrations a "science pulp feel" to them, similar to old science textbooks and education films. INTERspectacular looked at a number of animators and chose Ben Lee, who has his own toy company Nanospore. A fellow member of the "vinyl subculture," Lee was able to flesh out Cochran's illustrations perfectly. Blanco notes too that this project emphasizes INTERspectacular's continuing mission to diversify both in terms of its creative talent and client base. The studio has garnered numerous awards (including a series of Bronze awards at the 2006 Promax/BDA Conference) for its character animation for client Comedy Central.

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GASKET STUDIOS ENJOYS EGGCELLENT COLLABORATION WITH CARMICHAEL LYNCH ON A.G. EDWARDS CAMPAIGN

Design, animation and visual effects company GASKET STUDIOS completed a multiplatform animated package for A.G. Edwards with the financial services company's signature "nest" egg as the visual centerpiece. The spots and web ads can be seen via national media including CNN, CNBC, Forbes, Money and The Wall Street Journal. The television portion of the campaign blossomed into a web and TV package fostered by strong collaboration between agency teams from Carmichael Lynch and GASKET. "Very often interactive is treated separately or as a revision of television work but this was approached with all interests -- both technical and creative - simultaneously," says GASKET STUDIOS founder Greg Shultz. "This was a great opportunity to bring everyone's concepts to life and wow the client together." Carmichael Lynch Producer Brynn Hausmann says, "As a producer, they made it easy for me. It truly was an integrated effort. Greg's team was very proactive and turned some great work around for us in a really short timeframe."

To develop both "Puzzle" and "Timer" for web and broadcast, GASKET lived, breathed and ate the egg, including studying the volume, mass and subtle texture of blown out eggs (think Easter decorations) and a special photo shoot with the A.G. Edwards icon that graced the GASKET studio with a special client appearance (see accompanying photo). For "Puzzle," GASKET sought inspiration for the look and feel of the individual pieces from classic wooden 3D puzzles and animated them so that they would snap together as though guided by an invisible hand. The web assets were provided as a toolkit of elements, which were ultimately translated into the final banners by GASKET under the direction of the agency web team.

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IMAGINARY FORCES CREATES ICONIC BRANDING IDENTITY & DESIGN LANGUAGE FOR CBS SPORTS

Imaginary Forces (IF) has designed a new logo and branding identity for CBS Sports. IF Creative Director Steve Fuller led the IF team, and worked closely with the CBS creatives to develop a cohesive concept and design language that would translate to any sport including college basketball, pro tennis and PGA golf. The HD open is modular and changeable allowing the CBS in-house designers to customize the back-ends and teams based on who's playing, creating a sports identity based on a shared pulse or wave of experience. The new open personifies this concept with a breathing, living pulse that unifies the graphics and live-action game footage.

An aggressive track drives the visual rhythm, juxtaposing portraits of the top players, archival NFL footage of teams, plays shown in bullet time, and shots of excited fans against stylized red, white and blue graphics. "The main idea behind the logo was to have hub of energy that would create the pulse waves; it is the electrical engine for each graphic," explains Steve Fuller. "By integrating 3D movement and reflective light, the open becomes an abstract journey into the logo and the world of NFL on CBS."

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