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PLUS. An exclusive look behind the scenes of Avon's Beauty Your Way Advert shoot. Diversions from Afar, Gear Patrol, Huckberry and Evoke's Track of the Month.
issue #1
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Inside this issue
The Best Places to Travel in 2023 Introducing The Geo-Godfather Wars Forget The Gym Membership Evoke the Sound - Track of the Month BEHIND THE SCENES ON A RIDLEY SCOTT PRODUCTION - THE REALITIES OF SHOOTING AN ADVERT SNEAK PEAK - THE EVOKE PODCAST Books about British Royals Who Aren't Named Harry!
Welcome to the first edition of the Evoke Magazine! After taking a look at the great feedback and response to our weekly newsletter, we've decided to take it a step further and create a monthly magazine. The magazine will pick the best content from our newsletters each month in addition to more in-depth pieces you have asked for, that quite simply don't work for our newsletter - which is really designed to give you quick bite size snippets of what's happening here in Team E, industry trends and the wider world. So with this, we can serve you all that great info but on a deeper level, with greater insights and with all your favorite bits and pieces we've dished to over the month! We hope that you enjoy our latest addition to the Evoke family of content and we welcome your feedback. So without further ado - happy reading!
"shift happens"
It takes twenty years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it...
Warren Buffet on Public Relation
We could take care of your's too – Let us control the narrative!
We know everyone says it's not all work, it's about play, too – and as much as we don't want to sound like a broken record, there is truth in the truism. Like we said earlier, we are all about ingesting the complex and the trivial in equal measure. In fact, we love nothing more than thinking deeply about the more 'playful' things in life. Read ' em and ponder away.
It’s our favorite time of year: the Where to Go season, when AFAR reveals our list of the ultimate places to travel in the coming year. How to choose? Our editorial team reached out to writers, reporters, and correspondents around the world and curated 12 global destinations for 2023 that feel poised for a “moment": creative cities, seaside villages, national parks, and other places where wonder prevails. Read on and prepare to start wandering...
It was my first trip to Australia—my first trip abroad—in 2001, and I arrived in Melbourne a green-as-they-come university student, all nerves and adrenaline, ready to pounce on whatever adventure lay before me. Show me the city! I screamed silently at our study-abroad orientation leaders. Let me loose! We visited the Coney Island–like neighborhood of St. Kilda on the south shore, learned the finer points of Australian rules football, and ferried to nearby Phillip Island, site of a nightly parade of pint-size penguins that dashed from sea to land at dusk, prompting a chorus of “awwws” from everyone with a heart.
Those points of interest were lovely but ... safe. Introductory. What if I had realized that a couple of hundred miles off the coast of Melbourne was an island known for its irreverent art? For its stark and dramatic natural beauty, its world’s-best single-malt whisky, and seafood so fresh, it asks you about the catch of the day. What if I had visited Tasmania?
Sprawled across 7,700 square miles in southern Tanzania, Ruaha is the country’s second-largest national park. Yet it draws only a tiny fraction of Tanzania’s safarigoers, who flock in much larger numbers to the more famous Serengeti in the north. But low visitation rates make biodiverse Ruaha a wildlife enthusiast’s dream: This vast landscape of habitats, ranging from savannas to wetlands, feels like a private game reserve, and travelers can go days without seeing another vehicle. In one of the park’s less-visited corners, you’ll find the Usangu wetlands, site of a former hunting reserve and home to the Wasangu tribe for centuries. The wetlands feed the Great Ruaha River, a critical water source for people, animals, and hydroelectric dams that supply energy to much of the country. Wildlife audits have revealed populations of cheetahs, leopards, and lions. Topi antelope can exceed 1,000 animals in one herd.
In 2017, the Tanzania National Parks Authority, Tanzanian Wildlife Research Institute, and safari lodge company Asilia Africa came together to introduce a tourism model where revenue from visitors helps fund research, management, and conservation. Asilia’s Usangu Expedition Camp, which opened in 2022, is the only place to stay for more than 30 miles in any direction. Its four high-ceilinged rooms feature enormous beds, rain showers, and wraparound mesh walls that provide views of acacia-dotted wilderness. The lodgings make a stylish base for exploration in two upcycled vehicles that run on ethanol created from the cane waste of a nearby sugar plantation. Guests pitch in on data collection from camera traps by day and thermal monocular cameras by night.
Discover more fabulous places to visit, curated by the team at AFAR, over on their official website.
A DIY spirit brings a historic city to life in a riot of yoga, silent discos, and avant-garde music...
With all that is happening in the world today, sometimes it's hard to decipher how it all fits together, what it means and why you should be paying attention. Our MD Leah Tedrow and Founder of Strategic Intelligentia, Barak Seener, have collaborated to bring us the Real-Talk on understanding how geo-politics impacts you and your world in this brand new podcast. Launching at the end of this month, this weekly podcast will open with a two-part episode, Ukraine: The World After the War, reviewing the history of the Ukrainian/Russian relationship, the overview of how it culminated into an invasion and ponderings of what lies ahead for both Ukraine and the world at large.
"How the podcast came about, where it's name came from and the genesis of the idea"
The first episode focuses on a broad overview on how we got to this point with Ukraine, Russia’s invasion and its impact on you on an everyday level.
Episode #1
Don't let high school fool you — there's plenty of fun and fitness to be had with organized sports.
When you picture the notion of "getting more active," you probably conjure up images of hitting the gym, embarking on new running routes or signing up for that perfect fitness app to make at-home workouts a part of your daily regimen. The last thing you probably think of is getting involved in athletics, especially as an adult. Sure, we all have those horror stories from gym class that left a sour taste in our mouths for organized sport, but playing games can actually be a great way to get a solid workout in without a coach's whistle blaring in your ear. There can also be a lot of stigmas surrounding the traditional fitness journey that aren't present in some adult leagues — you've maybe never gotten under a barbell for squats or used a hex bar, but odds are you've played kickball a time or two. Plus, what other fitness discipline routinely involves a social gathering afterwards — think of those post-game trips to the ice cream parlor, but on a more mature level.
In cities and towns across the nation, there are plenty of adult rec sports leagues prime for rethinking your idea of "working out." So, before you sign up for that app or gym membership, or before you invest in running shoes that will see more houseware than roadwear, here are a few reasons to consider joining a sports league to keep fitness on your schedule with an added dose of fun.
Anyone who tells you every workout session they do is enticing is lying to you. Let's face it, jogging multiple miles or lifting weight plate after weight plate can be a grueling endeavor, and it's not for everyone. If you're not already motivated to do these things, then how can you expect to stay diligent in your training? Rec sports leagues mask the strain of training through gamification. Since games are fun, you're more likely to keep them. And since winning is fun, you're likely to work hard to improve. It's the same notion behind leaderboards and arcade-style circuits you'd find in some of the most popular home gym equipment.
Read the full article, from Gear Patrol over on their official website.
And just because you feel like you're simply "playing a game" doesn't mean the training is less influential on your overall health. A 2018 study on the effects of 3-on-3 basketball across athletes with no prior training found that the subjects experienced improved fitness levels, seeing broad-spectrum improvements in multiple variables related to their overall health profiles including lean body mass, bone mineral density, body fat percentage and heart rate. Not bad for an activity that results in more smiles than sweat-riddled stress, huh?
WE CREATE 120% of the awesome content we publish!
did you know?
We could take care of your's too – We are a fully fledged content factory!
Breaking barriers, shattering glass ceilings.... oh yeah, we are definitely OWNING THIS!
Our very own Laura Shaw was selected to be featured in an Avon commercial, ‘Beauty Your Way’ last summer and she chronicles her experience of what it takes to create 60-seconds of great story-telling.
I guess before we get started, I should tell you how I became an “Avon lady” in the first place (we are called Avon Representatives now btw). Many years ago, I had a mental health breakdown following a mentally abusive relationship, which left me homeless and with the stark choice of picking myself up again and starting over, or just giving up. The latter was clearly not an option and that was when I came across the opportunity to work with Avon. I’m not trying to open this article in a dramatic fashion, just an honest one. In all my previous careers, they had always been corporate, or retail based 9-5 positions, and after what I had just been through, I just couldn’t face going back to that. Avon offered me the freedom to work my own hours, choose my own way of working and the type of customers I would work with. I have always had an entrepreneurial spirit and felt I had never really given myself the opportunity to tap into that, until this had come along. It taught me how to represent myself, gave me marketing training, and how and where to engage people through social media for lead generation and sales.
It was the educational start I needed, and I ran with it. It changed my outlook on life, helped build me up again and gave me the courage to take a bigger step in expanding my responsibilities and go for an interview with my partner’s company (cue Evoke), where he had been the Digital Director for nearly a decade. The MD at Evoke gave me a chance and said she saw something in me and encouraged me to continue my work with Avon as well, as she understood the training tools that Avon was providing me would help with my work with Evoke and vice versa. I began to expand on my skills such as image editing, social media copywriting, photoshop and Final Cut - which only spurned on my desire for storytelling and gave me the ability to do it more effectively. My first look behind the scenes of a production came during a national campaign Evoke was creating for a client and gave me the opportunity to work in multiple roles of website creator, second photographer and social media marketer. Up until that point I had never seen how all the functions came together and all the hours, effort, planning and passion it takes for a 60 second commercial and the supporting campaign pieces.
But being a part of that process gave me the courage to enter an Avon competition to be a part of their new global ad. So, I submitted my video audition and to my shock WON! I had been a part of the ‘Watch Me Now’ Avon advert the year before, but this one was different - it was going to be a very in-depth mini-film by Ridley Scott Productions (yes, the very same Ridley Scott that directed Gladiator, Alien, American Gangster, Martian, etc…). Avon choose women for the commercial they believed were inspirational and represented the brand and what they stood for, and two other women, Annie Dolores Wainwright & Anneetah Adu were also selected. The process started with long interviews about our journeys and careers paths. It was then I realized this was going to be an experience like none other. I was nervous, scared, excited - not only to be a part of a major production but to get a first-hand account of what happens behind the scenes ON A FILM SET. It left me tingling with anticipation - it was a content creators dream. The stories and experiences I’m about to share with you just from this experience, are ones that not only gave me a new insight and a wealth of knowledge but ones that will continue to fuel my inspiration for years to come. And so it begins, the journey of what it takes to create a 60-second film, and the various lengths of short form content from that original piece.
Continue enjoying this exclusive behind the scenes look on a Ridley Scott Production in our Mind Lab!
From the moment I was picked, the planning began, and I was seriously not prepared for the immediate strict protocols and the tight secrecy/security around the production, especially regarding the shoot and filming dates. It started with calls and emails to determine who the extras were going to be. Avon wanted a diverse range of my friends to be in the advert with me, as the people around me really do amplify who I am, and they wanted it to be genuine and real.
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"shift happens"
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You want drama? Try deposing the House of Plantagenet.
Been hearing a lot of “I don’t give a s**t about Prince Harry,” or “I'm too smart for that kind of soap opera,” or “Didn’t we throw a bunch of tea into the Boston Harbor so we didn’t need to pay attention to these guys?” Well, I brought the receipts: “Prince Harry’s ‘Spare’ sets record as fastest-selling nonfiction book of all time.” -NY Post, 11/14/23 Turns out you DO care about Harry after all. But even if you're not one of the 1.4 million people that bought Spare, maybe because you don't care for tabloid drama or you're just a freak who doesn't want to watch a rich family tear itself to bits, or maybe because you just don't care enough to read 401 pages of thoughts drawn directly from that ginger-capped royal cranium, we're here to offer some alternatives.
The fact is that even if we don't like these particular royals, we really like royals in general. Like reallylike them. Nobody ever went broke telling us more about those royals, and especially about their odd habits and weird body parts. But while titillation and rubbernecking is part of the appeal, the fact remains that the story of the British monarchs is a hell of a good yarn. So we dug up four recommendations for you to check out instead of Spare. These run the gamut from history to myth, but each is a serious book grounded in the historical or cultural record about the British monarchy. And more importantly for our purposes, they’re page-tuners. They’re full of the historical facts you need to impress a date who is obsessed with the Plantegent’s role in shifting tax burdens, but they’re also a hell of a lot of fun to read. Long live the king.
Read the full article, from Huckberry over on their official website.
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"shift happens"
We have created this edition for you with original content and third-party content. Copyright © remains in the hands of the original authors/creators, no I.P or copyright infringement is intended. EVOKE International maintains copyright over all it's original content. All rights reserved 2023.
The Best Places to Travel in 2023
Forget The Gym Membership
Books about British Royals Who Aren't Named Harry