Click 3x provided visual effects design and production services for a new national campaign for Dos Equis beer. Ad agency McCann-Erickson conceived the three 30-second spots where the product's familiar double "X" logo manifests itself in some rather unexpected places. "Ceiling Fan" opens on a young couple as they hustle into their beachfront cottage and flop on the bed. Soon the ceiling fan prompts the woman to run to the kitchen for beer. "Cocktail Dresses" has two guys hanging out at an event at an art museum.

Cambridge Animation Systems, the exclusive developer of Animo software, has signed a five-year sponsorship with the Broadcast Educators Association of Canada (BEAC) to award the best student animator and his or her college or university. The total value of the sponsorship is more than CA$100,000. Under the annual program, students will create animation clips up to 60 seconds in length using traditional or digital animation processes. A panel of experts will judge the clips.

TOPIX has just wrapped on two 15-second in-theater vignettes for Famous Players, Canada's top grossing and fastest growing theatrical exhibitor. "Feature Presentation" and "Coming Attractions," in both English and French, showcase the Famous Players theaters and their high-tech sound capabilities. The spots were created by agency Encore Strategic Marketing of Toronto. TOPIX designer/art director Mark Cutler describes the vignettes as a "millennium lava lamp, a visual stimuli that is non-specific but ties in with the music, maintaining the same fascination one has with the lamp.

If you missed the extended June 18th deadline to enter the
competition at the World Animation Celebration you should send an
e-mail to: wacfest@aol.com and explain how quickly you can get your
entry to Los Angeles. The pre-selection process begins on June 18
and continues all week long! The final judging of the selected
entries for the World Animation Competition will take place by the
grand jury as part of the 7th World Animation Celebration event on
August 7-11, 2001. The GRAND JURY is comprised of the following

Nickelodeon has signed a new SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS licensing deal with the fast food chain Burger King, launching on June 11. Big Kids Meal and Kids Meal customers will be able to collect seven SpongeBob toys designed to be used both on land and in the water. The four-week SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS promotion will be supported with in-restaurant merchandising, the first kids merchandising created by Draft Worldwide Chicago, as well as Web-based marketing and national kid-directed television advertising.

Universal's SITTING DUCKS, a new CGI children's animated series, has been licensed in multiple international territories. ITV has secured rights to the show in the U.K., with other licenses going to France's TF1, Australia's ABC, Mexico's Televisa S.A., Portugal's TVI and Star TV in Greece. Cable rights to SITTING DUCKS have been acquired by Canada's YTV and by the Nickelodeon Channel in Australia. In the Netherlands, the show will be shown exclusively on the SBS group of channels.

The Oscar winner for best short animated film, FATHER AND DAUGHTER, has won the coveted grand prize at the International Festival of Animated Film at Annecy. In an elaborate and festive closing ceremony held on Saturday, June 9, 2001, the awards were handed out by the festival’s artistic director, Serge Bromberg.



The Short and Feature Fiction Films jury, made up of Ron Diamond, USA, Florence Miailhe, France, John
Dilworth, USA, Françoise Reymond, France and Oscar Grillo, Argentina has awarded:

"Annecy

Last month Cartoon Network set new May total day ratings and delivery network records, posting double-digit ratings and delivery growth across households and all key kids demographics. Total day ratings grew 10% in households (1.1) as well as 10% for tweens 9-14 (1.1) and kids 2-11 (2.2), and 19% in kids 6-11 (1.9). Total day delivery increased 18% in households (767,000), 26% in tweens 9-14 (191,000), 31% in kids 6-11 (315,000) and 28% in kids 2-11 (616,000).

TOPIX has recently completed the online and CGI for a 30-second spot promoting Colgate-Palmolive's household cleaner, Fabuloso. Featuring a Carmen Miranda look-alike, "Conga" was developed through ad agency Young & Rubicam (Mexico City, Mexico), and debuted in Mexico and Uruguay in May, with a debut in Panama, Ecuador and Columbia set for June and July. After cleaning her dishes with Fabuloso, a Brazilian bombshell and two trumpet players jump from the clean plates, inspiring Mom, son and the family dog to dance a conga line around the kitchen.

New Line Cinema has signed an extensive deal with fast-food giant Burger King to promote THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy. The agreement represents the single largest promotional arrangement for New Line and one of the largest programs ever launched by Burger King. The program will span more than 10,000 restaurants worldwide and will run longer than the first film runs in theaters.