Two weeks to go: Adweek Project Isaac Competition

As media, marketing and technology continue to rapidly transform the world, genuine invention has become crucial to advancing brands. The Adweek Project Isaac Awards were conceived to cast a celebratory light on invention across all areas of the venerable publication’s coverage. Submissions are now open (the deadline’s in two weeks: April 8) in 35 categories across four brackets: Advertising & Marketing, Media, Digital and Best Practices. Winners will earn the right to use a custom Adweek Project Isaac seal, and will appear in an invention-themed issue of Adweek to be published on May 13, just ahead of the CLIO Awards in NYC on May 15. The judges will also select one overall “Gravity” award winner who will be revealed and honored during the CLIO ceremony’s Adweek Project Isaac presentation.

Founded in 1978 and fully relaunched and redesigned in 2010, Adweek delivers vibrant, insightful and forward-thinking content via the traditional weekly print magazine, Adweek.com and Adweek on the iPad for the advertising, media and marketing industries. For further information please visit www.isaacawards.com.

Moving forward: World Water Day 2013

In honor of World Water Day, it’s my pleasure to share this video from charity: water documenting the organization’s latest efforts to get people around the world clean and safe drinking water.

More than 780 million people on our planet don’t have access to clean drinking water. For $20 a person, non-profit charity: water funds clean water solutions like shallow wells, deep wells, rainwater harvesting systems, and spring protections to provide people in need with clean and safe drinking water. Find out how you can help give one person clean drinking water at www.charitywater.org/donate

The following infographic Read more

Innovators in Design 2013

Innovators in Design is a seven-week series focusing on people who are reinventing the way we live presented by ARTINFO.com, the online destination of Louise Blouin Media, the world’s leading cultural media group. Part seven will be arriving soon – in the meantime, click the ad to find these fascinating entries posted over the past several weeks.

. Part 1: 5 Figures Who Are Redesigning the Way We Build
. Part 2: 5 Figures Who Are Redesigning the Way We Interact With Nature
. Part 3: 5 Figures Who Are Redesigning the Way We Experience Art
. Part 4: 5 Figures Who Are Redesigning the Way We Raise Our Children
. Part 5: 5 Figures Who Are Redesigning the Way We Communicate
. Part 6: 5 Figures Who Are Redesigning the Way We Travel

Rocking, rolling with PICROW

Digital content studio and branded entertainment agency GreenLight Media & Marketing recently engaged the award-winning, full-service Hollywood production studio Pictures In A Row (PICROW) and director/cinematographer Peter Lang for a high-profile assignment for “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and sponsoring partner Hyundai. To take full advantage of Hyundai’s sponsorship of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” GreenLight conceived two energetic :15 spots featuring visually stunning cinematography of a custom Hyundai Santa Fe, which was a perfect fit for Lang and other PICROW in-house talents, including editor Joseph Remerowski.

Forces for good: Kobe Bryant

In this first episode of Mission: Kobe Bryant, the renowned NBA star visits Skid Row to learn about the issues facing homeless people in LA, and speaks to four extraordinary men seeking to improve their lives. You can learn more about the Kobe and Vanessa Bryant Family Foundation’s fight to end homelessness in LA by visiting www.kvbff.org. You can also follow the link to the YouTube posting to find a Homeless Service Organization near you through the National Coalition for the Homeless.

More on Mission: www.bit.ly/VOEpdN

In Mission, Kobe Bryant documents an honest account of challenges facing residents of Skid Row, the downtown Los Angeles area with the largest concentration of homeless people in the United States. Through his personal and candid conversations with residents of The Los Angeles Mission Read more

Giving season: The National Coalition for the Homeless

The National Coalition for the Homeless, founded in 1982, is a national network of people who are currently experiencing or who have experienced homelessness, as well as activists and advocates, community-based and faith-based service providers, and others committed to the single mission of ending homelessness. To create the changes necessary to prevent and end homelessness, the coalition works to meet the immediate needs of people who are currently experiencing life on the street, and those facing homelessness.

For further information, please visit www.nationalhomeless.org and/or www.facebook.com/NationalCoalitionfortheHomeless

Gift Togetherness

I am very proud to share Thornberg & Forester’s “The Gift of Togetherness,” part of a powerful campaign from DDB Chicago promoting Ronald McDonald House Charities. The campaign’s goal is to raise $1 million by December 31; for every dollar raised, 90 cents support programs globally!

World AIDS Day 2012

World AIDS Day is held on 1 December each year and is an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV, show their support for people living with HIV and to commemorate people who have died. World AIDS Day was the first ever global health day and the first one was held in 1988. The official website and social media hub for the event is www.worldaidsday.org. As reported by Barry Silverstein this week for brandchannel, the ONE Campaign global advocacy organization has just shared its latest findings.

The good news: Scientists now have the tools to “turn the tide” on AIDS, and the world should be heartened that the UN set targets for the “beginning of the end of AIDS” to be met in 2015. The bad news: Unless “sufficient funding, coordination and political will” are brought to bear in the fight against AIDS, it will be 2022 before the “beginning of the end of AIDS” can be reached. Read more

Honor military veterans

This coming Sunday is Veteran’s Day here in America, and it’s a day of honor and celebration that has its roots in “the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month” of 1918, when Germany signed the Armistice to end World War I. I have written before about what this day means to me personally, and since America’s businesses are made up of its citizens, it’s natural that our esteem for our military veterans is the inspiration for many types of related cause-marketing campaigns, including those detailed last year at this time by Stuart Elliott of The New York Times.

Although my military service was during the relatively peaceful era of 1985 to 1990, it still was not all that easy. I know firsthand about the dread of boot camp, and the difficulty of enduring even basic training… but to me, my motivation was clear: I wanted to serve my country. Through those experiences and others, I came to have ultimate respect for those who have gone far beyond “basic training” to become the Marines, the SEALS, and other elite members of our special forces… whose bravery and daily commitments are seemingly made of granite. It is nearly impossible to duly honor them and express the appreciation they deserve.

Below, I am very proud to share the touching personal message I received from my cousin, whose son graduate last year at this time as a Navy SEAL. Throughout the ordeal of her son, we received updates of the harrowing experiences — one after the other — that this young man, and others like him, were willingly facing in order to serve our country. He was literally knocked back time and again, and each time, he stepped back up with even more determination; he never gave up, and today, his dream of being one of America’s finest and best trained specialists is a reality. And like everyone who wears a military uniform, ultimately, he did all of this to serve us.

As you read this and otherwise participate in Veterans Day in your chosen ways, please think of those young people who have dedicated their lives to the military, and consider reaching out somehow to let them know you appreciate them. Also, I invite you to learn more about the Wounded Warriors Project, and consider making a donation. Thank you! Read more

Get out and vote!

AIGA, the professional association for design, believes designers serve a critical role as communicators, educators and innovators. The association’s 2012 “Get Out the Vote” campaign invited members to create nonpartisan posters and videos that inspire the American public to participate in the electoral process and vote in the 2012 general election. You can check out the results here, and at AIGA’s exhibition at the AIGA National Design Center in New York City through November 30.

The video above comes from the next-generation creative studio Transparent House. “We took the dramatic feel of a cable news program teaser/intro and directed the responsibility toward the viewer; shifting the roll from passive (absorbing information) to active (voting).”

Please vote!