…for your squares to hit.
…for Steve from next door to get his fat hand out of the chip bowl.
…for your turn in the bathroom.
…for a blind eye turned on that 3rd chili dog.

And then it happens. That magical moment when you see a spot that was done by your friends!!
An actual TV commercial, airing during the Superbowl… made by some of the most talented individuals on the planet.
Individuals that you really, really know! The kind that have dinner at your place when they are in town and honestly mean it when they ‘like’ your facebook status. The kind you can be really proud to work with.

Maybe you didn’t have that moment, but maybe you did.
We totally did. Over, and over and over again.

Click on the image above, or RIGHT HERE and check out this amazing work, some of the best this year’s Big Game had to offer.
Brought to you by our friends at SPOTWELDERS!!

He’s always watching. Always.

This holiday season, Chevy gets us into the spirit with a campaign highlighting a certain salesman who goes by the name “Nick”. He’s jolly, he loves cookies and he wants you to get a great deal on a new car! The elves at GSPDET put together a slew of :15′s, :30′s and longforms sure to make you ha ha ha! (or ho ho ho)

We had slightly longer to deliver our goods than you-know-who… still, there was much work to be done! Pluto handled the visual effects, audio post and finish. The plan was simple – we… made a list for cleanup, clients checked it twice. Grant got to mixing while Zack made the cars all look nice. Last came graphics before shipping out!!!!!!!

Finish – Pluto
VFX + Finish: Zack Jacobs
Motion Graphics: Ian Sigmon
Audio Engineer: Grant Castleberry
Executive Producer: Christine Sheridan

The greatest gift of all was that with Pluto’s shared storage system, every artist working on the project had immediate and up to the second access to the project and footage. Because we share projects, timelines & footage across rooms with no transferring and no copying, rather than spending days conforming and redoing stuff that’s already been done, this workflow allowed the focus to be on the good stuff… Making the spots better.

Client – Chevy

Agency – Goodby, Silverstein & Partners Detroit
CD: Michael Corbeille
Senior Copywriter: Merritt Fritchie
Senior Art Director: Bill Majewski
Executive Producer: Jamie McCarthy
Producer: Agnieszka Palarz
Account: Jacqueline Redmond
BA: Lisa Trevethan/Deborah McCauley

Production – Furlined
Director: Ted Pauly
DP: Chris Soos
Executive Producer: David Thorne
Line Producer: Jay Shapiro
Production Designer: Samantha Gore
Stylist: Shirley Kurata
Makeup: Dominie Till
Casting: Alyson Horn

Offline – Beast
Editorial: Rich Smith
Edit Assistant: Doug Lapp
Producer: Mary West

Color Correction – Ringside
Color: Eric Maurer
Producer: Joel Wicks

Finish – Pluto
VFX + Finish: Zack Jacobs
Motion Graphics: Ian Sigmon
Audio Engineer: Grant Castleberry
Executive Producer: Christine Sheridan

If you were there, we thank you! If you weren’t, we missed you!!

We couldn’t be happier that so many good folks came by to say “Hi!” to us and meet our cohorts from Spotwelders at the fabulous Valentine Distillery. The Spotwelder crew came out in full force, bringing the NY style and the LA cool.

We loathe name droppers but did we mention Dick Gordon, Brad Waskewich, Livio Sanchez, Dahkil Hausif, Joanne Ferraro, David Glean, Lucas Spaulding, Ting Poo + Carolina Wallace were there?

If you know your advertising, you know that these are some top notch, A+, goldstar editors and producers. And, they didn’t just come for the party… they came for you. They came to let you know they are here. Here at Pluto, here in Detroit.

The party may be over, but we’re just getting started!
Game, on.

And then it started to dawn on me! Here I was, spending time out of my day pondering how the amount of Facebook friends was affecting mine and others’ brain size! Just like that, Facebook had become a stress magnet! I mean, we’ve all been there. I’m sure you’ve posted something and then wondered why no one ever commented. Or publicly made fun of something you meant to be serious. Or even worse, took something seriously that was meant to be a joke. Don’t get me into the stress of “to tag or not to tag someone” in a photo…

I began to wonder if anyone else had ever looked into the stress Facebook actually causes on people’s lives. Could one suffer from Facebook-related anxiety? Low and behold, a few inquisitive Scots from Edinburgh Napier University had already asked the very question: Do more Facebook friends cause more stress in your life? And indeed, uncovered these stats:

12 percent of respondents said that Facebook made them feel anxious. Of these, respondents had an average of 117 friends each. The remaining 88 percent of respondents, who said that Facebook did not make them feel anxious, had an average of 75 friends each.
63 percent delayed replying to friend requests.
32 percent said rejecting friend requests led to feelings of guilt and discomfort.
10 percent admitted disliking receiving friend requests.

So, what does all this mean?
Well, as much stress as Facebook may or may not cause, I think it’s safe to say, it’s not going anywhere.
So I say, embrace it. Post and comment away.

On second thought… I think I am starting to stress a little about posting this… hmmmm…

On September 28th, a group of crime fighting Agency types congregated in Birmingham with a singular goal…

Win the Trophy.

We had gads of fun! If you missed it… you missed out + we missed you!

Congrats to Doner for catching Katie! Special thanks to “Detective Dooley,” Donny Klemmer and all the other
fine folks about Birmingham who helped make this such a great night!

Last night, a member of the paparazzi was killed in their Birmingham apartment. It’s up to you, our CSI Unit, to help crack the case. Was it Bill Bonds with the 5 Iron at the Townsend? Join us Wednesday, September 28th at 7pm to find out.

Interested? Get a team of 4 together and email your team roster to nmarin@hellopluto.com
Don’t delay, or pertinent case evidence may not arrive in time.

Animation – Ian Sigmon
Music / Sound Design – John Katona

Drum roll please…

We’d like to announce our relationship with Creative Editorial house, Spotwelders. We’ve been dating for a while now and we thought we’d make it official. Spotwelders is a nationally renowned editorial company with an impressive roster of editors and work.

“After working on a few projects together, we reached out to them in an effort to round out our own services here in Detroit. It’s pretty cool to be able to offer our Detroit clients this level of talent with none of the usual complexity four-walling introduces. It’s one call to either Pluto or Spotwelders and we handle the rest,” says Christine Sheridan, Executive Producer at Pluto.

David Glean, Spotwelders CEO adds, “We have done so much great work out of Detroit, we thought it made sense to partner with a local company that shared our vision. Dave Corbett and I met and everything fell into place. Detroit has such an amazing history, we are excited about having a presence there.”

Combining a Spotwelders editor with Pluto’s digital color grading, finishing, VFX, sound design, and motion design… It’s easy to see why we’re taking it to the next level.

Hopefully we can meet their parents soon.

Be sure to check out Spotwelders Work.

His hands are magic. His name is Ian. And no matter how booked we try to keep him, he still
finds time to make wonderful things that show off his talents for us to look at and enjoy.
So please, have a look and enjoy the animation, the custom music (courtesy of Alexander Vlachos) and if you should come
across evidence that proves this wasn’t Eleanor Roosevelt… we don’t want to hear it!!