Coca-Cola Zero video contest winners Gabriel Olson and Sean Barney take MOFILM Grand Prize at Cannes Lions 2010

Young filmmakers meet Avatar & Titanic Producer Jon Landau

Cannes Lions, Cannes, France – 23^rd June 2010 — MOFILM, the video contest community that helps aspiring film-makers showcase their creative talent for big brands and social causes, has announced the Grand Prize Winner of its Cannes ‘make an ad’ competition.

The Grand Prize winners are Gabriel Olson and Sean Barney from Los Angeles, California with Frankencouch, a tale of two very different friends, one tall and one small; on the search for a couch that is a perfect fit for both. In the end they compromise with two halves from different couches, coming together to make one.

http://www.mofilm.com/std/3ddb8a

The winner was chosen from nine individual finalists.

The winning video was shown on the main stage at Cannes Lions to over 1,000 delegates and marketing executives from the advertising industry.

Jon Landau, Jonathan Mildenhall (Coke), Sean Barney & Gabriel Olsen, Ralph Cochrane (Founder of MOFILM)

Jon Landau, Jonathan Mildenhall (Coke) and Sean Barney & Gabrliel Olson

Gabriel Olson and Sean Barney said: “Showing at Cannes has been such a brilliant experience for us, especially the opportunity to mix with fellow creatives and one of our filmmaking heroes. We chose the Coke Zero brief because it challenged us to make the impossible become possible.  There was a problem one day, a solution two days later.”

Competition participants from all over the world had just six weeks to make an ad for one of nine leading international brands including AT&T, Bud Light, Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Light, Coca-Cola Zero, Kodak, Lego, Logitech and Nokia

Jonathan Mildenhall, VP Global Advertising Strategy and Creative Excellence for Coca-Cola said, “Given our commitment to emotionally engage with our consumers on a daily basis we are always looking for new ways of developing great content. By partnering with MOFILM we have sourced brilliant content for each of the Coke brands. Gabriel and Sean produced a big emotional story around the Coke Zero proposition that is based on Possibilities. Their story is not only unique and distinctive for our brand but the execution is superb. Casting, editing, direction, colour and sound are all superb. Creative excellence in motion.”

Each of the nine individual winners has been flown to the Cannes Lions Festival in France, where the grand prize film was chosen by a distinguished jury of filmmakers and executives from the advertising industry.

About MOFILM

MOFILM is the leading video and film contest community for aspiring filmmakers, with members all over the world. MOFILM works with global brands to showcase talent and create innovative new ideas.

MOFILM filmmakers are valued by brands. Our competitions give our partners a chance to tap a huge reservoir of international filmmaking talent, as well as developing a wealth of content to be distributed online and via mobile devices. MOFILM contests also help brands engage with creative talent around the globe.

www.mofilm.com

For more information, please contact:

Press@mofilm.com

MOFILM would like to issue a direct apology to community involved with the recent Nokia MiniMo contest and Will Tribble.

It has come to our attention that the Critics Award winner “Forrest Chump” was not an original creation, as required by the terms and conditions of the competition but had been copied from Will’s Tribble’s “Forrest Gump in One Minute, in One Take“.I. This issue should have been dealt with as soon as it was flagged however it was not. We will be holding a full review of the administration of this competition.

We would like apologise unreservedly once more for this error. We didn’t realise that the film that we chose was a copy, we would have instantly removed the submission from the competition if we had. As it stands, the original winner has now had their prizes revoked and we will be announcing a new winner soon.

Will Tribble has also been invited to the London Film Festival as the guest of MOFILM and the One Minute One Take film will be shown during the MOFILM London Film Festival ceremony.

Partnership with MOFILM invites budding and established film-makers to produce short films for top brands – from Axe to Vaseline

Unilever today announced a worldwide competition that gives creative people the chance to develop innovative film content for as many as 13 of its top brands – marking its largest-scale effort to involve consumers in content creation for its brands. The Unilever Consumer Creative Challenge (Twitter ID #ulccc )is a collaboration with MOFILM, the leading video and film contest community for aspiring filmmakers worldwide.

Launching at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, the Unilever Creative Challenge is open to anyone over 16 years old —from first-time filmmakers to seasoned professionals, from around the world. People are invited to create short films (up to 90 seconds) for iconic Unilever brands such as Axe, Ben & Jerry’s, Snuggle, and Vaseline.

Keith Weed, Unilever’s Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, explains: “The secret to great marketing is to have great, relevant brands to work with and to keep close to consumers. Unilever has a unique portfolio of brands that offer unparalleled opportunities to address universal consumer desires and social and environmental issues and our most recognisable campaigns like Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty have been successful because they have truly engaged their consumers.

“Digital and social media offer exciting opportunities to foster dialogue and generate brand advocacy; and inviting consumers to be part of the creative process for our brands is a prime example of this. By partnering with MOFILM and its global network of industry professionals and content enthusiasts, we know we’ll attract top talent from around the world and are excited at the prospect of seeing how they will help tell our brands’ stories.”

Following the kick-off at the Tribeca Film Festival in April, the contest will continue throughout the summer and culminate with the announcement of the winners at the London Film Festival in October 2010. Five winners will be selected for each brand, and one overall winner will win 7,000 GBP. The winning creative will be used in upcoming brand marketing campaigns.

At www.MOFILM.com, contestants can choose one of 13 Unilever brands for which to develop creative content. Detailed product briefs will instruct contestants on the key brand attributes and elements that should be included in the content. The contestants will upload their entries to www.MOFILM.com. Winners will be judged by a panel of peers, film experts and industry leaders.

Jeffrey Merrihue, Chairman of MOFILM said “Great brand building has always been a Unilever trademark and with 13 iconic brands participating in this competition, filmmakers will be excited to take part. We are delighted that Unilever has taken such a big step in engaging the global creative community in its marketing initiatives and we look forward to a long partnership.”

The 13 Unilever brands included in the contest are: Axe/Lynx, Ben & Jerry’s, Close Up, Dove deodorant, Heart brand [e.g. Wall’s], Knorr, Lifebuoy, Lipton, Rexona/Sure, Snuggle/Comfort, Sunsilk, Surf and Vaseline.

The program will be available in multiple languages, including English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Chinese. All skill levels are welcome; past winners have included first-time filmmakers working with their own equipment, as well as professional agencies. MOFILM encourages creative community support through a number of social media sites (Facebook, Twitter) and through previews of past winning films posted on www.MOFILM.com.