As mentioned last month, the Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP holiday card “Blakes Gives Thanks”, which was filmed, edited and produced by Pixelcarve, has been getting a lot of industry attention. Today, the LMA’s announced the Your Honour award winners and they gave Blakes the top spot for Promotional/Collateral Piece Winners — Holiday Cards.

Summary

Blakes wanted to send a unique and memorable holiday greeting to clients that conveyed a message of gratitude. This was accomplished with a short video that captured the spirit of the season as well as the culture of the firm. Blakes also leveraged social media to spread the message and track results.

The upbeat holiday video features an introduction of a typical day which sets up the theme (and features a Blakes partner and her children), and then leads into clips submitted by people from various Blakes offices about what they are thankful for.

From a marketing perspective, the team wanted the eCard/video to be creative, thoughtful, unique, memorable and engaging. Realizing that eCards had become standard among law firms, Blakes sought a new way that lawyers could effectively connect with their wide network of contacts and clients around the globe. The email portion of the card was customizable with a personal message from the sender, and led to the short video message. Following the video there was an invitation to share the message via social media. The entire experience was flawlessly branded as well as completely bilingual (English and French).

Following the distribution of the “Blakes Gives Thanks” eCard/video in mid-Dec. 2011, the firm received over 8,000 views on YouTube, and all our social media properties saw an increase in followers, dialogue and reach. In addition, the video message elicited more direct replies and good wishes to lawyers than any eCard sent in previous years.

The core objective of our holiday eCard was to maintain and strengthen client relationships, and the total budget for this project was comparable to eCard development and significantly less than sending traditional printed cards.

What the judges say:

Classy. Nice results tracking of the card. Good messaging, unique look.

The video was produced in both English & French and has since been viewed by almost 11,000 people.

Pixelcarve is also pleased to announce the release of the Director’s Cut, which features all new scenes including an introduction not seen in the final video.

Let us know what you think!

Pixelcarve President & CEO Curtis Priest spent some time recently speaking about his support for CorporationCentre.ca. View video >

We are seeking a Flash ActionScript 3 developer to add to our growing team.

You are:

An incredibly passionate, motivated Actionscript3 developer always on the cutting edge and able to rock out amazing work very quickly. You work in fullscreen, and think websites should be more experiential than static. You pride yourself in your beautiful, fluid tweening and movements, flawlessly organized code, and having never seen a Flash timeline. You see The Matrix, even in your sleep, and start to get the shakes if you are deprived of a computer for too long.

You recognize that Flash is NOT dead that it is, and will remain for the foreseeable future, the most powerful rich-media web development platform in the world – no matter what Apple says. You have fun playing with HTML5 and are eager to learn its new features as it matures, but your life’s blood is AS3 and you can’t live without it.

You are confident in what you can do, but your ego is in check and you’re still open to learning new things and new ways. You are comfortable working on your own and in a team in a modern open office, and would benefit from the mentorship of a Flash master.

You have:

-          High level experience with Flash Design, Actionscript 3.0
-          Experience in Server Side Database MySQL
-          Experience with PHP
-          Excellent spoken and written communication skills
-          Ability to clearly articulate design requirements
-          Organized
-          Punctual
-          Attention to Detail (a MUST!)
-          Experience in other Adobe Creative Suite Applications (Photoshop, Illustrator)

You are not:

A junior with no experience. A senior with bad habits. A company or subcontracting production house. Please don’t waste our time if you are.

We are:

An agency unlike any other. Our work is immersive and beautiful – it has to be because we deal with premium brands. Every project sets a new standard and is immediately copied (poorly) by our client’s competition. We are downtown Toronto in the Agency district.

If you’re what we’re looking for, please send your resume and portfolio to careers@pixelcarve.com.

We thank all applicants for their interest; however only candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.

Salary:

Dependent on experience and skills.

Holiday cards have become a staple in the legal industry, having evolved into large productions that often feature elaborate designs and even full commercial video production. Blakes, who have over 550 lawyers in cities all over the globe and are frequently recognized as Best Law Firm in Canada, wanted to take the opportunity to communicate their deep gratitude for their clients, partners, friends and family. They turned to Pixelcarve to produce a 1 minute short that showcased “a day in the life of a Blakes lawyer” and all of the things they are thankful for, as well as a compilation of their lawyers giving thanks from around the world.

“Blakes went all out with this video on thankfulness. Extra marks for the heartwarming scene of a lawyer being welcomed home by her pajama-clad children.” says Precedent, after awarding them the Best Law Firm Holiday Card of 2011.

UPDATE: The Blakes Gives Thanks video has been selected as a finalist by the Legal Marketing Association in the Promotional and Collateral Materials – Holiday cards category. There were nearly 235 submissions this year, and the panel of judges was highly selective in deciding which would be recognized from among the many high-caliber entries. Winners will be announced in the Feb. 29 edition of LMA Briefs.

The video was produced in both English & French and was distributed by a large e-mail campaign also created by Pixelcarve.

The following video caught the attention of the entire legal community and ultimately was viewed by over 10,000 people.

Pixelcarve is also pleased to announce the release of the Director’s Cut, which features all new scenes including an introduction not seen in the final video.

Let us know what you think!

“It’s an honour to be recognized with the best in the industry. Although achieving business objectives and results for our clients is our top priority, let’s be honest it never hurts to be recognized by your peers for outstanding contribution to the entire industry. It’s a testament to the incredible creativity, dedication and unique hybrid of talent found within Pixelcarve.” says Curtis Priest, CEO and President of Pixelcarve.

The Communicator Awards are judged and overseen by the International Academy of the Visual Arts (IAVA), a 550+ member organization of leading professionals from various disciplines of the visual arts dedicated to embracing progress and the evolving nature of traditional and interactive media.  Current IAVA membership represents a “Who’s Who” of acclaimed media, advertising, and marketing firms including:  Condè Nast, Coach, Disney, The Ellen Degeneres Show, Estee Lauder, HBO, Keller Crescent, Monster.com, MTV, Polo Ralph Lauren, Sotheby’s Institute of Art, Tribal DDB, Victoria’s Secret, Wired, Yahoo!, and many others.  See www.iavisarts.org for more information.

“As we continue our mission to honor Creative Excellence for Communications Professionals, we were once again amazed at the high level of work we received for this year’s Communicator Awards. With this year’s entries we found an increased awareness and reflection of the digital world in which we live, and our entrants always seem to find new and creative ways to push the envelope of possibilities across all mediums” noted Linda Day, director of the IAVA.  She added, “We are honored to witness the amazing work being done throughout the industry and want to commend and congratulate this year’s Communicator Award Winners and Entrants for their hard work and dedication.  On behalf of the entire Academy – Job well done.”

For more information about the Communicator Awards, please visit www.communicatorawards.com, email the Communicator Awards at info@communicatorawards.com or call us at (212) 675-3555.

About The Communicator Awards:

The Communicator Awards is the leading international awards program honoring creative excellence for communications professionals. Founded by communication professionals over a decade ago, The Communicator Awards is an annual competition honoring the best in advertising, corporate communications, public relations and
identity work for print, video, interactive and audio. This  year’s  Communicator Awards received  thousands of entries from companies and
agencies of all sizes, making it one of the largest awards of its kind in the
world. Please visit www.communicatorawards.com for more information.

The Communicator Awards is sanctioned and judged by the International Academy of the Visual Arts, an invitation-only body consisting of top-tier professionals from a “Who’s Who” of acclaimed media, advertising, and marketing firms. Please visit www.iavisarts.org for a full member list and more information.

Short & Sweet brings people and short film together, inspiring and empowering audiences while celebrating the medium.

Curtis Priest, President & CEO of Pixelcarve Inc., will be the Guest Host on Monday, May 2, 2011. Please join him for this fun, inspiring and FREE evening of the best short films from around the world!

A little bit about Short & Sweet – it began as London, England’s only weekly short film festival, running every Monday night since May 8th, 2006. Short & Sweet has recently expanded to Toronto, with plans to launch in Australia and South Africa in the near future. Each and every week, we show a selection of the finest short films, music videos and short animations from around the globe: old films, new films, from established directors to breaking talent. The intent is to inspire all who attend, expose the best talent and ultimately celebrate film. We are dedicated to the exhibition of short film as an art form in its own right.

Doors open at 7:30pm, films start at 8pm!

Location:
No One Writes to the Colonel
460 College St. (Just west of College & Bathurst) +Map It
Toronto, ON

We look forward to seeing you there!

All lawyers are the same, right? Not so. Wolf Kimelman has a unique understanding of the Canadian legal system, and of the challenges and crisis’s that their clients experience. As such, Wolf Kimelman required a website that allowed them to stand out amongst the clutter of law firms in the city, and turned to Pixelcarve to help them meet this challenge. We designed and built a beautiful and experiential website that portrays the power of Wolf Kimelman’s brand, as well as their level of unwavering skill and dedication to their clients.

Here is what senior partner Jason Kimelman had to say about working with Pixelcarve.

“We have just launched our web site which was designed and created by the great people at Pixelcarve. Having never purchased a web site and knowing very little about the intricacies of web sites and marketing, we were quite lost initially. Quickly, however, our nerves were calmed by Curtis, Ryan and Jeremy.

Throughout the process (which was relatively quick), our questions were answered, our requests were satisfied and our deadlines were met. We are thrilled with the finished product. It was a pleasure working with Pixelcarve and selfishly, I hope no one ever retains their web site design services in the future.”

Wolf Kimelman was a fantastic firm to work with, and we’re excited by the great results they are already experiencing from their new website.

You can check it out here: http://www.wolfkimelman.com

Tredd is a unique kind of insurance company. Passionately aggressive in serving the risk management needs of heavy industry, they elected not to have a website at all until they could find an agency able to intimately understand the nature of their brand. It only took 1 meeting with Pixelcarve to seal the deal, and the website and branding that emerged is not just a powerful business tool, but a flawless interpretation of who Tredd is as a company – clearly differentiating them in their industry, and defining what makes them exceptional.

For this project Pixelcarve strategized, designed and built a state-of-the-art website, portrait photography, and a full brand identity for both Tredd and TreddWest with business cards and stationary.

Isabel Silveira, Tredd’s Vice President of Operations, has this to say about Pixelcarve:

“Pixelcarve’s product, people amazing!

Here at Tredd Insurance Brokers Ltd., we could not be more impressed with the team at Pixelcarve.

They were a pleasure to work with, from the initial brainstorming meeting, to the photo-shoot to the after launch upkeep. They are timely, professional and patient. Not only are the people great but the product is outstanding. We’ve only been online for a couple of weeks and we are constantly getting compliments about our new website design.

Having an online presence is so important for all businesses but it isn’t always executed to a client’s expectation. Pixelcarve was able to grasp the essence of our corporate personality and translate that into a streamlined, sophisticated website that will help attract more clients and get our message out there. We would highly recommend them to anyone.”

Working with Tredd was incredibly satisfying for us here at Pixelcarve. They exemplify our values and it resulted in a project that we are very proud of. You can check it out here: http://www.tredd.ca

When Gearshift needed to execute a rich-media ad campaign for No Yolks, they turned to Pixelcarve to execute the vision. We created custom 2D animation from scratch, and built them into Flash ads of varying sizes for 4 total executions.

Check them out below:

• Arrow – Big Box
• Arrow – Leaderboard
• Vacuum – Big Box
• Vacuum – Leaderboard
• Facebook Video

In February, the Canadian Media Fund (CMF) announced changes to their requirements to provide funding for television and media projects. In order to secure CMF support, a television project must now include a rich, interactive digital media component. You can watch their announcement in full at http://webcasts.welcome2theshow.com/cmf-fmc2011

Use of interactive digital in support of television projects is already proving highly successful in Canada.  The Showcase series “Lost Girl” has created exclusive content, back story and teasers for their website, enticing fans to interact with the show through multiple mediums.  The web presence has furthered their reach beyond the current television broadcast area, creating loyal online viewers throughout the United States.

Pixelcarve is currently developing interactive digital strategies with independent film makers, and participating in industry events such as the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television’s Breakfast Series.