BANG Music hangs ten with a soundtrack capturing the spirit of surfers and Stratosphere surfboards, reaching for not only a big wave but figuratively the stars themselves. Tomas Franta of Creative Embassy in Prague directed ":Stratosphere."
Music/Sound: BANG New York & Prague; Timo Elliston, composer (NY); Mirek Smilauer, sound designer (BANG Europe); Brad Stratton (NY), Jakub Svejda (Prague), exec producers. Audio Post: BANG Europe Mirek Smilauer, mixer; Agency: none; Production: Creative Embassy, Prague
Tomas Franta, director
Top Spot of the Week: Pearson Student Advises Younger Self In AI-Enabled Encounter From VaynerMedia, Hummingbird and Tool
Pearson has launched its first global brand campaign in more than five years as the 182-year-old company continues its evolution into an AI-enabled education and reskilling leader.
The campaign centers on a series of cinematic films featuring real learners in conversation with their younger selves. Using AI to recreate earlier versions of each participant, the films allow individuals to reflect on pivotal decisions, moments of doubt, and turning points that shaped their futures. The creative approach blends emerging technology with documentary storytelling grounded in lived experience.
At a time when AI’s role in both education and creativity is under intense scrutiny, Pearson has taken a deliberate and considered approach. The technology is used not as spectacle, but as a reflective storytelling device, built around consent, authenticity, and human agency. It reflects Pearson’s strong support for AI in augmenting human potential with learning at the core.
The first learner stories spotlight U.S.-based individuals, with additional international profiles launching later this spring as part of an ongoing global series that Pearson produced with VaynerMedia for creative, and Hummingbird and Tool of North America for production. Aqsa Altaf and John X. Carey via Hummingbird teamed to direct the “Impact Stories” films.
This film introduces us to Jasmine who meets her younger 27-year-old self. The younger Jasmine has two kids and is pregnant with a third. She and her two children are living in a domestic violence shelter, sleeping on an inflatable mattress with a slow air leak. Now getting a Pearson education and on her way to realizing her dreams seven years later, Jasmine gets to impart a message of inspiration to her younger self.
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