Last weekend I attended the Bellator VII tournament in Chicago. Bellator is a new Fighting Championship that offers a unique tournament structure with a focus on the fighters. Prior to each fight Bellator showcases the the fighter’s background, strategy and fighting style.
I have to be honest, I was never much into MMA or any sport for that matter but once you get past the shock and awe you begin to see the strategy and technique that each fighter brings to the battle. I find it especially interesting that Bellator features some female fighters in the non-tournament bouts.
Female fighters are a rare breed and many come from a traditional Martial Arts background such as Muay Tai. You can’t help but stop and stare when two women get in the cage to battle it out. (The most well known female fighter is probably Gina Carano who was an American Gladiator on the re-make.)
Last weekend I watched Kerry Vera (wife of UFC light heavyweight Brandon Vera) and Leslie Smith take to the cage. This was the debut MMA fight for both girls. Leslie Smith is a fighting rookie and loves being the underdog. The more experienced Kerry Vera was the winner in what proved to be an exciting fight.
The best part, however, is the sportsmanship and respect that the fighters have for each other. At the end of the fight the two women hugged and were full of smiles proving this sport is more than what you see on the surface.
Just announced over at ANidea.com, check out what AgencyNet has been up to! This is a 2009 showcase of AgencyNet’s breadth of work across different verticals for some of the worlds most recognized brands. Watch the high-res version here and download it to your iphone / iPod.
More from AgencyNet at the An Idea Blog: ANidea.com.
OwnYourC 2.0 has been named today’s FWA S.O.T.D. Click here to reminisce on the original OwnYourC, former FWA Site of the Month.
Earlier this year, a few of us at AgencyNet had just gotten off the phone with Cactus Marketing to discuss “Own Your C,” the award-winning public service campaign that just two years earlier had blown the doors off of the way campaigns talk to teens about choosing not to smoke. The conversation was simple and to the point.
“It’s time to give ‘Own Your C’ a serious facelift,” we all agreed.
Since the launch of the campaign in 2006, the media landscape had changed dramatically, and with it, consumer behavior indisputably had changed as well. It was time to rally around the cause that had inspired such creativity the first time around, and do it all over again.
We were thrilled at the challenge, but to be honest, the idea of completely overhauling a highly successful campaign like Own Your C was a daunting one.
How do we follow THAT, we all thought.
A COMMUNITY OF CHOICES
Knowing this, our solution was to give teens what they want most—a soapbox to express themselves.
We envisioned a rich, immersive environment that would invite users in, encouraging exploration, dialogue, and above all—debate. We knew that the same power of peer influence that might cause a teen to smoke in the first place also had the power to inspire positive change when put to constructive use.
We knew that Own Your C needed more than a campaign—it needed a community.
OWNYOURC 2.0
When all was said and done, we’d go on to build the new ownyourC.com 2.0, a rich online community allowing teens to share their opinions about the choices they face each and every day. Taking advantage of the latest technologies to provide the community with the most robust and user-friendly experience possible, we developed the front-end using Flash 9 and Papervision for the streamlined rendering of 3-D objects, and used Adobe Flex for all Action Scripting.
Teens can express themselves through text, photo, or video—and we’re even building in the ability to record yourself live on webcam directly within the site. From smoking, to fast food, to the existence of UFOs, every choice in this community matters.
A robust Content Management System, developed in ASP.NET 3.5 on a Windows Server Platform, makes the piles and piles of data parsed by the site invisible to the end user, and an elaborate filtering system allows teens to view responses in a way that is most meaningful to them.
The fully integrated and synergistic campaign also includes a series of 15-second TV spots, online rich media banners, and Live “C-Ride” events that invite teens to participate in the new ownyourC.com 2.0 community.
Everyone works differently and every project is different. How do you know when it’s time to wireframe, prototype or storyboard? What are the best practices to ensure that your design is clearly communicated before you even open up Photoshop? When is planning just a waste of time? This panel will debate the pros and cons of planning versus diving right in to design.
Getting approval on designs can be an exasperating and time-consuming process where significant rounds of revisions can result in scope-creep. This session will offer methodologies for getting sign-off on designs with the fewest revisions, and simple tips for preparing and presenting your comps in the most efficient manner.
