Academy of Interactive & Visual Arts

Lauren here! WE MADE IT THROUGH ANOTHER YEAR! This is the final Talking Points for 2024 and I’m so thankful for all of you who have checked in, followed along and engaged with these posts. Don’t worry (I know you weren't worried), this isn’t goodbye. Let’s all take a collective and hard-earned rest… let’s reset, spend time with friends and loved ones, and forgive ourselves the rare bad habit or slip up that may have presented itself. On that note, let’s begin! This week’s points brought to you by the season’s unlikeliest of mascots, Terd & Yureen: - Looking back at TPs, some brands popped up more than most, with PepsiCo and McDonald's coming out (way) on top. I love the brands, which may explain it, but PepsiCo has been crushing marketing with their internal agency, D3 and McD’s just comes up with the best storytelling and brand experiences (I’m also a life-long Grimace enthusiast). - Speaking of PepsiCo… their new holiday social campaign for Pepsi Zero Sugar sees Santa flipping his preference from the “other soda” (who thought they had a claim on the icon) - Anything that featured a dog caught my eye, bc dogs are literal angels and we don’t deserve them. This week also marks my 1-YEAR RESCUE ANNIVERSARY with Carrot Angeloni, miniature schnauzer extraordinaire and occasional accidental co-host of #AIVALive: In Session (along w her schnoodle brother, Ebi). She may be afraid to go outside and can’t be left alone for more than 7 min (we’ve timed it), but she is still perfect. Follow @EbiandCarrot on Instagram and make them famous. Shout to the wonderful organization Hounds in Pounds for bringing her to me. - Have we gone too far? Leo Burnett did not bother themselves with that musing, as evidenced by their new Huggies Pull-Ups (@Kimberly Clark) campaign, which has realistically animated and anthropomorphized the Poo & Pee emojis and renamed them “Terd & Yureen”. If this catches on, let’s check in on the child fans in a few years and see what interesting tendencies have popped up. They are p cute, though… (via DesignRush) - Playing off of his Olympics Hype-Man role, Snoop Dog returns to Paris to help Publicis Groupe celebrate becoming the world’s largest advertising holding company (and the first on time the honor has landed in France). He appears with CEO Arthur Sadoun in the annual “Wishes” film. Incidentally, our own Social Mgr, Aurore Chao-Oger, is a Publicis Paris alum, so we appreciate their talent (via PRWeek). - I’ve been downing mandarins like they’re uppers, so it’s fitting to cover Wonderful Halos' new (and first!) integrated campaign “Hands Off My Halos” that brings some edge & grit to the tiny citrus treats. In it, kids turn criminal (satanic, really) to punish parents for taking the last Halo. Hey Wonderful… we have many Integrated Campaign categories in the Communicator Awards. Just sayin’ (via Marketing Dive). See you on the other side! Best wishes to you all!

🌟 Meet Mike Marett, Founder & CEO of Confideo and an AIVA Juror for The Communicator Awards! Mike is an industry trailblazer with a proven track record of launching award-winning digital products and platforms across healthcare, technology, and media. As an advisor, angel investor, and mentor, he’s guided numerous startups, refining strategies to unlock emerging channels and drive value. To get your work in front of industry experts like Mike, enter now: https://vist.ly/3mqafa5

Here it is—the final Weekly S.O.W. of 2024! As we wrap up the year, we’re celebrating all the connections made and opportunities shared through this series. Thank you so much to our amazing jurors and community for making this possible! Ready to end the year on a high note? This week’s list is your chance to explore fresh opportunities and start 2025 with momentum. If you land a role, we’d love to hear about it—let’s celebrate those year-end wins together! Here’s to new beginnings, bold moves, and a connected year ahead. #HiringNow #CareerOpportunities #CommunicatorAwards #MarketingJobs #CreativeCareers #CommunicationIsConnection #NewYearNewOpportunities

🌟 Meet one of our AIVA Jurors for The Communicator Awards: Değer Dündar Altınbayrak, Managing Partner & COO, Enüstkat Interactive (euk.)! Değer is a trailblazer in digital marketing, committed to mentoring young talent and empowering women in tech. 💭 From bookstore sales rep to AI expert, her approach creates impact from innovation. Read her full story here: https://vist.ly/3mq5anw

Hey there, Lauren again with the penultimate 2024 Talking Points. I guess I’m affected by all of the “Year in Review” and holiday content I’m seeing, as my points this week are taking on a bit of a cozy, pop-culturey vibe.  This week’s points brought to you by Altoona “Pizza”: - Taylor Swift took the final bow of the endless The Eras Tour this week. Reading the accounts of her band and dancers, this really was such a herculean effort and I can’t wait to understand the full impact to local economies. In a very rare misstep the book which chronicles the tour has caused an uproar in a less-positive sense. Apparently, rife with misspellings and errors (and fully missing sections), the folly has been dubbed “The Errors Tour” book. Less shockingly, Sabrina Carpenter is under fire for the merch just being… well… garbage. - On fan merch (and less cozy a topic), the Levis’Store jacket worn by the UHC CEO-shooter (now known to be Luigi Mangione) in his early images sold out almost immediately. The folk-hero response to this murder has been jaw- dropping, but I have to admit that some of the social content borne from it is pretty clever (among them a faked Burger King X Tweet that simply states “We don’t snitch”) Also, refer to the hero image in support of my favorite memes declaring that Altoona has a history of doing Italians dirty (apologies to the good people of PA) - On this and other dark topics, pls don’t sleep on the “Diddy TLDR” and the new “Deep Dive” series from the ladies of The First Degree podcast (Alexis Linkletter and Jac Vanek). They put on their tin-foil hats and bring an impressive amount of detail and research into pop-culture conspiracy theories. The First Degree is always very well done, but these are next-level. If you end up going down a “286” numerology rabbit-hole, I’m not sorry. - Offering up an antidote to the dark news, CNN named its #2024HerooftheYear and it goes to a man named Stephen Knight, founder of Dogs Matter, which “provides foster homes for dogs while their owners seek addiction treatment”. The combination of caring for dogs and actually supporting, rather than stigmatizing people suffering from addiction disorders makes him a WONDERFUL choice for this honor. - Another fun rabbit hole, I was reading The Washington Post story on Sora - the AI video platform -  and its glitches, which of course spun off into a Reddit roundup of Sora fails. Do yourself a favor…  - Back to tours, excited to see that Cash App has entered the ticket presale space with Kendrick Lamar and SZA. Curious to see how it goes, but def not a bad way to start… - Finally, a town in China wraps its Trees in cute sweaters with arms and faces.  (via designboom) See you next week for the final 2024 Talking Points!

Ready to make your work shine? ✨ Here’s why you should submit your projects to The Communicator Awards! Whether you're aiming for industry-wide recognition, celebrating your team's efforts, or joining a network of industry leaders, The Communicator Awards is the platform to honor your best work. 💼 Submit before the Final Entry Deadline on Jan 24th: https://vist.ly/3mppymc

Let’s finish the year strong! Week 8 of our Weekly S.O.W. is here, packed with new juror-sourced opportunities to set yourself up for success in 2025. As you prep for the holiday season, maybe you can make some time to also prepare for what’s next in your career? Take a look, and don’t forget: if you land a role from this list, we’d love to celebrate your success! #HiringNow #CareerOpportunities #CommunicatorAwards #MarketingJobs #CreativeCareers #CommunicationIsConnection #FinishStrong

"People don’t leave jobs, they leave people." 🗣️ Episode 2 of The Communicator :31 with AIVA Juror Carol L. Berman, Senior News Director at Penn Medicine, is here! We challenged her to answer one big question: 'What’s the secret to retaining talent?' With extensive experience working in fast-paced news and communications environments for NBC and Comcast, Carol shares her insights in just 31 seconds! ⏱️ Don't miss her take on leading today’s workforce. The Final Entry Deadline is January 24th, enter your work before time runs out: https://vist.ly/3mpite6.

🎬 The Communicator :31 is back with episode 2! 👀 This time, we're challenging AIVA Juror Carol L. Berman , Senior News Director at Penn Medicine, to answer one "big" question in only 31 seconds! With decades of experience in creative and powerful storytelling, Carol has mastered the art of impactful communications. Her expertise spans multiple media formats, with a focus on video, earning awards at nearly every stop along the way! She worked across diverse industries, including healthcare, finance, telecommunications... always bringing fresh, strategic thinking to every project. Stay tuned! 📅 You won’t want to miss it!

Hi Team, Lauren here, after my extended holiday break. Hope everyone (in the US) had a lovely Thanksgiving and that you are all enjoying the real ramp-up of the holiday season. Some of this will be old news, since I’m playing catch-up, so please forgive me if you’re sick of hearing about something. Let’s get to it! This week’s points brought to you by grisly murders, according to my Apple Music Replay (True Crime Podcasts, that is): - Wow. Jaguar’s rebrand is really polarizing, BUT when was the last time that Jaguar was generating this much buzz? The campaign is being criticized for being too “fashion” and “design” forward (and for not focusing on the cars), but I personally don’t think that the machines were ever in doubt. What the brand needed was a style and positioning reset and… whether you like it or not, they achieved it. It IS the top Talking Point, after all.  I know we have some expert Brand designers and strategists in this community and I am very keen to hear their takes. - Less polarizing and just kind of brilliant is an anti-graffiti OOH campaign out of Australia. These bus seat-backs make it appear that the person in front of you is handcuffed behind their backs. Cooch Creative  is behind the idea (follow Brendan Cox for this and more great marketing) I would love to see this and more clever OOH executions in The Communicator Awards this season! - Apple Music – appealing to our navel-gazing quest for data about our favorite subject: ourselves – published its annual #Replay yesterday. The usual suspects topped the global report (Kendrick Lamar, Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, etc), but I have a feeling that some of us (many of us) are a little embarrassed to reveal our actual top listens. - Domino's is partnering w Netflix once again, bringing its #EmergencyPizza program to a multi-faceted campaign (by AOR WorkInProgress) around Squid Game’s S2 Launch. “The partnership includes two co-branded spots running on Netflix’s ad-supported platform and linear TV in addition to a promotion at “Squid Game: The Experience” in New York City that will reward the lowest-scoring players with free Emergency Pizzas for a year.”  (Via Marketing Dive) - Taco Bell is reigniting its NFL Partnership with a fun campaign that eschews celebs for its real VIPs: the customers, who will be given the chance to appear in the brand’s 2025 Super Bowl Ad. For the next 2 wks, special “Live Mas” Drive Thru Cams will be set up in select locations across the country and will be integrated with the Taco Bell App to capture fans cheesing for their chance to be broadcast to a MASSIVE audience. TBH, I love a Mexican Pizza, but (similar to the Apple Music Replay) this is something I do in private and shrouded in mystery. That’s it for now… see you next week with more “of the moment” headlines.  Have a lovely weekend!