With the Nov. 6 election right around the corner, ad/marketing specialists, Third Street Advertising, is doing its part to encourage young people to vote. A compelling non-partisan campaign that launched this week, humorously warns: If you don’t get out and cast your vote, don’t complain about the results.
Third Street Advertising and frequent collaborator Foundation Content created “Real Complainers Vote” as a clever 2-minute mixed- media viral video as a PSA, supplemented with street-level campaign materials such as posters and campaign buttons.
The project took two months to complete, starting in late July, when David T. Jones, Third Street’s award-winning chief creative officer, brought his script to Foundation creative director/motion graphics designer Kyle Shoup, notes Steve Morrison, Foundation VP/general manager who edited the fast-moving video.
The artist was Ray Noland, aka CRO, known for his prolific street art and nationally acclaimed for his for his Barack Obama 2008 election posters.
Caught between his many projects, Noland became Foundation’s artist-in-residence for two weeks, working on Foundation’s stage and collaborating with Shoup.
Their ideas resulted in an intermingling of two different styles that incorporated stop motion, stenciling, cardboard cutouts, 2D and 3D design and animation, making it a truly mixed media piece and a cohesive narrative.
“They were able to take Ray’s work, which is very political – he’s out there spray painting on the streets – and blend them with Kyle’s design abilities,” says Morrison.
As Jones comments, “Ray’s message is political, Kyle is not as cynical. They’re like Lennon and McCartney, Mayor Daley and Gov. Blagojevich.”
Foundation has been a true creative partner to Third Street since the company started, says Jones, who started the “attention agency” after 15 years at FCB and DraftFCB as CD and ECD/GCD of Emerging Platforms. He is also the creator and artist of popular, humorous “Ad Land” cartoons that appeared for years in Adweek.
“Foundation over-delivered on our big expectations with layers and layers of brilliantly executed ideas. At one point, we were in the studio up to our elbows in cut-out stencils, funny paper constructions, rope, ribbon and had an overall sense that we were creating something pretty cool,” he says.
The narrator was local stand-up comedian/actor TJ Miller, “whose bizarre comedy outlook gave our project true social momentum,” adds Third Street ACD Max Mearsheimer. Jones also gave Miller license to twist and run with the copy.
Foundation Content’s co-founder/CCO Samantha Hart says the company was has a strong interest in PSAs on a regular basis, “because a strong aspect of our company’s mandate is to give back to the community. We feel that encouraging people to get out there and vote on Nov. 6 is critically important.”
“Real Complainers Vote” is also on Facebook and you can follow the griping on Twitter (@complainersvote).
