On 6 October Aviva will turn the Lyttelton flytower of London’s National Theatre into the world’s biggest photo frame and hand it over to the public for 10 days of huge-scale photo projections.
- Huge-scale public projections give thousands of people a chance to tell the world what matters most to them
- Aviva to donate £2 to Save the Children for each photo and personal message uploaded
- World-famous photographers host Pop Up Photo Studio at London’s National Theatre
On 6 October Aviva will turn the Lyttelton flytower of London’s National Theatre into the world’s biggest photo frame and hand it over to the public for 10 days of huge-scale photo projections. The campaign will give thousands of people a moment of fame and recognition. Aviva will donate £2 to Save the Children for each person who submits a photo and a personal message. The money will be used to fund two new projects to help street children in India get access to education.
It is all part of Aviva’s "You are the Big Picture" campaign, which brings to life its commitment to recognising and celebrating individuals – customers and employees, as well as the public at large – giving them a unique moment in the spotlight.
In 2010, almost 60,000 people from more than 200 countries took part in “You are the Big Picture.” This year, Aviva will introduce a new twist to the Big Picture projections. Everybody who submits a photograph will be asked to say in five words what matters most to them. If their photo gets projected, so will their message. It’s our way of showing that to us, customers are people, not policy numbers.
It’s easy to get involved:
- People can submit photos and tell the world what matters to them via Facebook - www.facebook.com/aviva - or by visiting the Aviva Big Picture Pop Up Studio outside London’s National Theatre.
- Each person will receive a unique piece of art: a collage of words in the shape of their face and a personal film to share with friends.
- If they are selected at random for projection, their photograph and message is then projected onto the National Theatre and streamed on YouTube for the world to see. Each person selected will be given the time of their moment of fame so they can watch it in person or via YouTube live stream. They will also receive an individual snapshot commemorating the projection moment to share with friends online.
For each photo and message uploaded, Aviva will donate £2 to Save the Children as part of its global Street to School programme, which helps street children into education and training. The aim is to fund two mobile learning centres in communities in India where hard-to-reach children are in need of basic education and counselling. Each centre will help up to 1,000 out-of-school children.
World-famous photographers host Pop Up Photo Studio
Aviva has recruited two of the world’s most celebrated portrait photographers for a specially created Pop Up Photo Studio in the National Theatre Square on London’s South Bank. Clive Arrowsmith and Jillian Edelstein – who between them have photographed the likes of Nelson Mandela, Paul McCartney, Simon Cowell, Kate Moss and many more – will each spend two days in the studio taking fashion magazine-style photos. Each person will receive a copy of their portrait as a memento and see it projected on a huge scale onto the National Theatre later in the evening.
The event is free of charge, and Aviva is offering up to 100 spaces each day for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, which includes a pre-shoot makeover by professional fashion make-up artists.
YATBP LIVE!
In addition, Aviva’s own roving photographers will be out and about from 8-11 October. The YATBP LIVE! photographers – clad in distinctive yellow suits – will snap visitors to the South Bank and project their photo during the first hour of the evening’s projections.
Your words flying through the London sky
Once participants have uploaded their photo and message, they will receive their very own personalised Big Picture film to share with friends. The film takes place on the busy streets of London and will see the participant’s own words emblazoned on buildings and sign posts.
These words then detach from their moorings and fly off over the London skyline until they reach the National Theatre, where they reassemble to form a unique piece of art. Participants will then receive an e-mail with a time code so they can see their photo projected live on the real National Theatre, as well as creating a memorable snap-shot of the moment.
-ends-
Enquiries:
Blue Rubicon - Aviva@bluerubicon.com
Tom Kirkham
Blue Rubicon
+44 (0)20 7260 2700 / 07824 901 425
Vanessa Rhodes
Aviva
+44 (0)20 7662 2482 / 07800 699 546
Notes to editors:
For more information on the "You are the Big Picture" campaign please go to:
Photographer biographies:
Clive Arrowsmith
Internationally celebrated portrait and fashion photographer Clive Arrowsmith shot the cover of the Wings album “Band on the Run.”
He was a schoolmate of John Lennon’s and spent many weekends sleeping on the floor of the flat shared by Lennon, McCartney and Harrison.
In the years since, Arrowsmith has carved a niche for himself as a photographer, director and songwriter. He has photographed The Dalai Lama, Prince Charles, Mick Jagger, Jeff Beck, Michael Caine, Liv Tyler, Margaret Thatcher and a multitude of stars from celebrity and fashion.
He has also worked closely with Paul McCartney. As well as the “Band on the Run” cover he also shot the cover "Wings at the Speed of Light" and has taken a large number of portraits of McCartney and his first wife Linda.
Fashion has been a huge part of Arrowsmith’s career photographing the collections for British and French Vogue, Vanity Fair and Harpers, as well as all the great designers, including YSL, Gucci, Tom Ford and Vivienne Westwood. For the past two years he has been collating all the work for Vogue in the 70s and 80s in a book called “Arrowsmith: Photographs from Vogue”. This year he is also working on Britain’s Next Top Model as a judge and photographer.
Jillian Edelstein
Jillian Edelstein began her career as a press photographer in South Africa. Since arriving in London in 1985, she has produced portraits for some of the world’s leading publications such as The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Vogue, Marie Claire and Interview.
Her subjects have included Nelson Mandela, Woody Allen, Daniel Day Lewis, Kate Moss and Simon Cowell.
Edelstein has produced award winning personal projects including her book “Truth & Lies” which documented the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa. She has recently completed her second book, which features her early photo essays as well as more recent work illustrating the story of a search for her ancestors.
Projection dates:
- 6–15 October: The National Theatre, London
Pop Up studio dates:
- 8 October: Clive Arrowsmith
- 9 October: Clive Arrowsmith
- 10 October: Jillian Edelstein
- 11 October: Jillian Edelstein
About Save the Children:
Save the Children works in more than 120 countries. We save children's lives. We fight for their rights. We help them fulfil their potential.
For more information about Save the Children visit: www.savethechildren.org.uk
Aviva and the National Theatre:
Aviva is the proud sponsor of National Theatre Live, an innovative initiative pioneered by the National Theatre which sees live theatre performances broadcast in almost 500 cinemas across the UK and around the world. Aviva is principle sponsor of NT Live. The new season began on the 15 September and will run through to Summer 2012.
For more details see www.nt.live.com
About Aviva:
- Aviva is the world’s sixth largest* insurance group. We provide more than 53 million customers with insurance, savings and investment products with total worldwide sales in 2010 of £47.1 billion**.
- We are the UK’s largest insurer with 19 million customers and one in three households has a relationship with us. Our combination of life, health and general insurance is unique in its scale and breadth in the UK market. Customers can choose to buy our products through intermediaries, our corporate partners or from Aviva direct and we have become the partner of choice for many of the UK’s biggest organisations.
- We are ranked as one of the UK’s top 10 most valuable brands and Aviva plc are in the top 10% of socially responsible companies globally in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index. In 2010 we invested £4.3m into our communities in the UK, which included 1,500 Aviva volunteers giving 24,000 hours for good causes. In addition, our employees gave £600,000 through fundraising and donating. Read our corporate responsibility report at www.aviva.com/2010cr
- Aviva is working in partnership with Railway Children through the Aviva Street to School programme to get children living or working on UK streets back into everyday life. Find out more at www.aviva.co.uk/street-to-school
- The Aviva media centre at www.aviva.com/media includes company information and a news release archive.
- For broadcast-standard video, please visit www.aviva.com/media/b-roll-library/
- Follow us on twitter: www.twitter.com/avivaplc
* based on gross worldwide premiums at 31 December 2010.
** at 31 December 2010.