BBH Shanghai is Ad Age China's AGENCY OF THE YEAR

Our friends and colleagues at BBH Shanghai are getting well-deserved recognition for this past year's work, named by Ad Age China 2009 Agency of the Year.  The agency is bringing American pop culture flair and experience to advertising for major International brands in the Asian market.  ECD Johnny Tan and his team have worked tirelessly with Backyard on several campaigns including Minute Maid/Coca-Cola featuring pop singer Eason Chan, and multiple LG work including the recent "Portal" featuring scenes from blockbuster "Avatar."  Congratulations! http://adage.com/globalnews/article?article_id=141483

BACKYARD’S PRITTS JOINS THE BATTLE FOR AVATAR AND LG

Backyard director Rob Pritts brings one cell phone shopper knee-deep into the alien world of Avatar in a new :30 “Portal,” for LG out of BBH, Singapore. Promoting the new LG Chocolate phone and the upcoming James Cameron sci-fi epic, the spot features in-movie action as the shopper flees from a vicious creature on the planet of Pandora. Avatar opens nationwide this Friday, December 18^th.

“Portal” opens inside a suburban mall at an LG kiosk. A young man approaches the kiosk where a new LG Chocolate is on display, playing a scene from Avatar in beautiful HD. He picks up the phone, marveling at the HD LCD screen, and is suddenly thrust into an intergalactic wormhole. Transported almost instantaneously to the jungle planet of Pandora, the man stands stunned—and still holding the phone—amidst lush ferns and towering trees. From out of nowhere, a dinosaur-like creature of skyscraper proportions rises above him, ready to pounce. Two azure skin-toned characters from the film appear to scream, “Run! Definitely run!” The young man does, hurling himself off of a waterfall, back through the wormhole returning to the mall kiosk where he stands panting and soaking wet. Passersby stare, unaware of his split-second intergalactic journey. A voiceover concludes, “Feel like you’re there with the 4-inch, HD LCD Chocolate. See things differently.” The Avatar and LG logos appear, accompanied by LG’s tag, “Life’s Good,” closing out the spot.

Credits:

Client: LG

Products: LG Chocolate phone and “Avatar”

Title: “Portal” :30

Airdate: December 13, 2009

Where Shot: LA

Production company: Backyard Productions, Venice, CA

Director: Rob Pritts

DP: Christophe Lanzenberg

Producer: Carr Donald

Exec. Producer: Kris Mathur

Advertising Agency: BBH, Singapore

Executive Creative Director: Johnny Tan

Head of Production: Rebecca So

Creative Director: Kelly Pon

Producer: Krystie Koh

Editorial Company: N/A

Editor: Bob Mori, Santa Monica, CA

Visual Effects Company: Radium, Santa Monica, CA

Exec Prod: Jeff Blodgett

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