From our shoot this weekend, the music video for Shakira’s “Time For Africa” the 2010 World Cup theme song. We shot in 3D using James Cameron and Vincent Pace’s system created for Avatar, with an amazing international cast thanks to Anissa Williams’ hard work.

McDonald’s and Comcast Top Winners at ANA Multicultural Excellence Awards

‘McNugget Love‘ Picks Up Prize for Exceptional Results

By Laurel Wentz
Published: October 06, 2009

PHOENIX (AdAge.com) — McDonald’s Corp. and Comcast, along with their multicultural ad agencies Burrell and Grupo Gallegos, were the big winners at the Association of National Advertisers’ annual Multicultural Excellence Awards on Oct. 5.

McDonald’s and its African-American shop, Burrell, picked up the prizes for both the best African-American work and for the multicultural campaign with exceptional results at the ANA’s Multicultural Marketing & Diversity conference at the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix.

McDonald’s and Burrell picked up the prize for exceptional results with the “McNuggets Love” TV and radio campaign, featuring a man who sings a song about the secret he knows about a woman — that she secretly sneaks off to buy and eat McNuggets. Sales increased by 20%.

“We had so much fun with this campaign,” Ms. Jamison said. “Burrell really brought this idea to us. It’s about taking a risk. We knew we were messing around with an icon of McDonald’s.”
The campaign was a new way to talk to adults about McNuggets, often seen as a product for children, she said. The ads were so successful that they ran in the general market, too, as well as digitally and on McDonald’s African-American-targeted website, 365black.com.

FULL ARTICLE:

http://adage.com/article?article_id=139479

MIKE EPPS: UNDER RATED…NEVER FADED & X-RATED

Premieres Saturday, October 3^rd at 10:40 PM ET/PT

Actor/comedian Mike Epps (“The Hangover,” “Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins, “All About the Benjamins”) returns to the mic with a hot new stand-up comedy special MIKE EPPS: UNDER RATED…NEVER FADED & X-RATED premiering on Saturday, October 3^rd at 10:40 PM ET/PT on SHOWTIME.

Filmed at the historic Fox Theatre in Detroit, MI., Epps gets the house rocking with his unique and hilarious observations of married men, black/white family dynamics and a spot-on impersonation of a popular crime scene investigation series.  Legendary hip hop emcee Doug E. Fresh also makes a special appearance.

MIKE EPPS: UNDER RATED…NEVER FADED & X-RATED is a SALIENT MEDIA production in association with NAPTOWN PRODUCTIONS.  It is written and executive produced by Mike Epps and executive produced by Gary Binkow, Niles Kirchner and Thomas Cobb.  It is produced by Neal Marshall and directed by Marcus Raboy.

check out some articles here: www.showtime.com and here: www.tvbythenumbers.com

Mike Epps, Marcus Raboy, Doug E. Fresh

www.billboard.com

www.femalefirst.co.uk

McDonalds:  “Nugget Love”   ||   Burrell Communications Chicago   ||

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Orlando Jones Show:  “Rainbow Bandages”   ||   FX Networks  ||

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Vans “Snowboarder”   ||  McEllroy Communications ||

FRIDAY AFTER NEXT  || Newline Cinema ||

Marc Anthony:  “Ahora Quien”  || Columbia Records ||

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Katharine McPhee:  “Love Story” || RCA Records ||

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Sean Kingston “Beautiful Girls” || Koch Records ||

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K’naan “ABC’S”

ETHIOPIAN SOULS

These images were created on two trips I was fortunate enough to take to Ethiopia. One trip for my brother and his wife’s wedding in 1999, and a second trip in 2003 when they returned with their 2 year old daughter Ghelila, at which point I tagged along on a photo expedition.

All the photos made on the second trip are Polaroids. The process of figuring out what I wanted to do was an interesting one; I knew I had to go, and I knew I wanted to come back with memorable images, but could I run around and take “National Geographic” style images, and come home with enough in 7 days that made it all make sense? No. Pointing my Nikon around capturing the perfect sunrise over Addis wasn’t what I was after. I wanted to get to know the people. I also didn’t want to take without giving. Then a light bulb went off- I had experimented a bit with a black and white Polaroid film that allows you to have a 3” x 4” instant black and white photo, as well as the same size negative with a little extra work. What a great solution. I could give people their picture moments after I snapped it, sharing the experience, rather than just taking the shot walking away, and showing people later saying look at what a great photographer I am. No, this was a much more pure approach, it felt right. Portraits were something far more interesting than landscapes or monuments for me anyway. Richard Avedon is one of my heroes along with Irving Penn, in my eyes two people who have a grace and strength in their portrait work, always able to capture the spirit of the subject, sometimes serious, sometime whimsical, always presenting their subjects in a special light. Always revealing something about their subject’s soul, and in many cases something deeper about their lives and cultures.

My approach: walk out onto the street and begin stopping people, asking if I can take their picture. For this of course I needed the help of my sister-in-law to translate, but I was sure that once people saw their shot within 30 seconds they would get it. My camera is a 60 year old Polaroid, fascinating to look at, not modern or intimidating at all. And it worked. Every single person was excited to be photographed and within moments be holding their picture. “Me next” became the most common English phrase spoken on the corner in Addis as I stood there with my camera, my brother and all of our new friends. Some were fascinated and wanted to “represent”, quickly running home to change, or running inside to grab a telephone to hold in the shot, or even a cassette tape. Others simply needed a photo, most likely for identification. Only one subject the entire time did not want me to take a picture: a young kid on a motorcycle in the park. I saw his tricked out dirt bike with a rose on the handle bars and thought “cool, stand over here…” but he sped off. Of course others were game, so I began shooting. Within 30 seconds of the crowd gathering to see the first Polaroid guess who sped back over and said “me next”?

I present these photos to you the viewer as a look into a culture I never would have expected I would become so immersed in, and passionate about. I think what is most interesting and exciting about it is something that is reconfirmed wherever I have been in the world: we are more common as people than we may give ourselves credit for. The ties that bind can be found in Ethiopia without looking far when you arrive. In these photographs I hope to show both what we have in common as people as well as what makes Ethiopians unique. Strength, curiosity, fascination, pride, pain, all can be found in these photos. The souls of these subjects, people I made friends in photographing are shown here as strong minded individuals living lives similar to ours; striving for just a bit more, a pair of sunglasses, a new phone…going to work, coming home, trying to find some excitement. In some I see deeper pain and struggle. Though I don’t know the full stories, I can clearly identify that emotion in their eyes. I hope I have represented all of them well, if only just for a moment.

Marcus Raboy, 2009.

I directed this in 2000 with Guru. he will always be one of hip hop’s greatest. Rest in peace.