Strut got busy in the workshop and produced the 2008 Holiday Wrap promo for MuchMusic. The year-end programming package showcases the best and worst that celebrities had to offer over the past 12 months and replays some of the most popular celebrity-related shows.

The animated spot drew inspiration from the venerable Charlie Brown Christmas Special and featured appearances by Kanye West, The Jonas Brothers, Lilo & Sam, the now defunct Paris & Benji, Brit-Brit and more.

Strut developed the overall look and feel of the promo then commissioned the illustrations (by Danielle Erickson) and animated the sequence to the audio track supplied by Much. We enjoyed working with Danielle so much, we asked her to come on board full time at Strut. We're happy to report she accepted the offer.

The word association surrounding the Razer Television rebranding seemed innocent enough... eclectic TV programming... entertainment... three ring circus... circus tent... BACON! Thus was born the freak show affectionately referred to as “The Meat Circus”.

The mixing of circus elements, meat products and a healthy dash of the bizarre hit the spot. All of us at Strut Creative are pleased to announce that we have been honoured with Gold at the 2008 Promax/BDA Design Award for our re-brand of CTVglobemedia’s Razer Television Network.

The gold for “Total Package Design: Image On-Air” was awarded at a ceremony in New York Wednesday night, and was accepted by Justin Stockman, Creative Director, MuchMusic / Razer / TV Land, of the CTV Creative Group.

Strut designed and executed the re-brand of Razer to refresh their on-air look and strengthen their position as a unique, youth-targeted, national specialty network. The project involved developing a totally new look & feel for the network, including on-air promotional packaging, station IDs, bumpers, as well as branding elements for key network content such as their highly-rated “Razer Flick” feature movies.

Promax/BDA is the worldwide association of entertainment marketers, promoters and designers, representing more than 500 television stations and all major broadcast and cable networks in North America as well as more than 3,000 individual members in 70 countries. The Promax Awards are recognized around the globe as the highest accolade for promotion and marketing professionals working in electronic and broadcast media.

Strut was tasked with creating and producing a stand-out Public Service Announcement on a small budget to raise awareness of World Water Day and the Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology’s mission to enable developing countries to have access to clean drinking water.

Strut’s engaging script helped garner interest from Stir Films and Ear Candy to support this great cause and create a great TV and radio spot.

These days the line-up for PSA airtime is long, but this spot caught the attention of CityTV and Global who put them into rotation. Global also uploaded the spot to their national PSA pool and CAWST was a bit surprised when they received a call from a student group in Hamilton, Ontario who wanted to host an event for them.

The Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology is a Calgary-based non-profit organization providing technical training, consulting and acting as a centre of expertise in water and sanitation for the poor in developing countries.

Facing a shortage of teachers, the Calgary Board of Education asked Strut to develop a recruitment campaign for new graduates, teachers teaching outside the CBE, non-practicing teachers and people looking for a career change.

We took a look at all the benefits there are to teaching – specifically teaching within the Calgary Board of Education – and developed a multi-faceted campaign that incorporated print ads; posters; a job fair trade show display; recruitment micro-site; radio advertising and guerilla marketing.

A different project for Strut in that the micro-site was the only item that we produced from beginning to end. The majority of items and tactics were provided as a marketing toolkit to be implemented as-is, or used as a template by the CBE’s internal design and communications department.

Check out the case study.

Russ Bugera has joined Strut Creative as creative director and partner. All you really need to know about Russ is that he is a Gemini-Monkey.

In case that doesn’t quite do it for you, here are a few more details:

Graduating from ACAD and getting his start in a small design studio, Russ’ passion for advertising led him to lengthy stints at Venture Communications, evolving from Designer to Associate Creative Director, and most recently, Tag Advertising as Creative Director.

Combining his visual training with a natural flair for words, he constantly hops the line between pictures being worth a thousand words and words being the art director of the mind.

In his 15+ years in the business, Russ has been the driving force behind successful campaigns promoting a vast range of clients and products including Alberta Milk Producers, Alberta Teachers’ Association, ARAM Systems, arriVa Condos, Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Community Savings, the core shopping centre, Downtown Calgary, Eau Claire Market, Hotel Arts, Kingsway Mall, Lloydminster Credit Union, Paintbrush Ridge, Peloton Computer Enterprises, Prairie Toyota Dealers, Raw Bar Restaurant, Subway Restaurants, Superior Propane, The United Way of Calgary and Area, and Wild Rose Brewery... to name but a few.

Russ is excited to bring his problem-solving expertise to Strut and fortifying an already formidable creative team.