Pretzel Aftermath
I just found out, via John Talbot, that the Wendy's Canada #expectToBeAmazed Facebook campaign won Bronze in the Shopper Innovation Awards:
More than 4,000 people entered the contest for the trip (1,000 people above target) during the six-week campaign, the brand’s Facebook page garnered 60,000 new “likes,” the videos received more than 320,000 views and 8.7 million impressions were tracked.
The Great Mark Lewis
It's been long enough, I can finally confess... I never actually got to taste the thing. We weren't allowed to eat the ones that were prepared to go on screen and I don't really eat that much fast food and I missed my chance.
Oh well... next magic-themed ad campaign....
New Preview Video
I've got a new teaser video, now up on YouTube (or an inch and a half below this sentence if you're in a hurry). Posted with special thanks to Toronto's magic video elf, Chris Mayhew. There's an extended version immediately below. I've also updated the video page with a few new things, so feel free to check it out.
Taller Tales
Tall Tales
This weekend, I finished the first round of shows for Illusions of Grandeur with my friend, Tyler Wilson. The goal was to create a true close-up magic show, instead of a show on stage that people had to watch from a distance. The worst seat in the house was 12 feet away from the "stage". The feedback we've received so far has been extraordinary. Tyler and I would like to thank everyone who was able to make it out. Putting together the show was an amazing experience. We had to assemble and script everything by email and there were several of Tyler's in the show that even I didn't even have the chance to see until the day before when Tyler arrived in Toronto.
At the moment, we don't have any concrete plans to remount the show anywhere, but I've spoken with Tyler and it's not entirely off the table... so keep an eye open for the possibility.
Here is the first round of photos from the show:
These are just the iPhone photos. The Abracadabaret elf, Chris Mayhew, is busily working on the nice ones.
Magic that Sucks
Earlier this year, I contributed a trick to a special project organized by David Peck and the Mosquitoes Suck Tour. His plan was to create an instructional resource for magicians - magicians teaching magicians - and to take all the proceeds (actually all the revenue!) and put them towards the purchase of malaria preventing mosquito nets. It took a number of months to gather all the contributions and edit them together and the final product is now available. The Mosquitoes Suck Project can be downloaded for just $10. It includes contributions from Bobby Motta, Joshua Jay, Anthony Lindan, David Peck, Brian Roberts and Canadian Magician of the Year Winners Bill Abbott and Jay Sankey. All of the performers donated their time for the project and SoChange provided the filming and editing so 100% of the revenue goes towards bednets.
On "set" with Anthony Lindan, David Peck & Brian Roberts
The download comes as an mp4, 106 minutes long, 2.97 GB. It's an enormous amount of content at an incredible value. The reason for the $10 price tag: $10 buys one insecticide treated mosquito net which protects a family for up to five years. So please consider buying a copy now.
Mosquitoes Suck Project
If you're not interested in magic but still want to help, MST also has a bunch of cool stuff like T-shirts, and an assortment of private label fair trade coffee available at their shop.