Wow! Some really cool dimensional graphics come to life in the most ordinary of backdrops in this ID exploration for MTV. Who cares if there aren’t any music videos any more on MTV, as long as they play cool ID bumpers like these!
ABSOLUT is part iconic brand, part master storyteller.
Think about it. For decades, ABSOLUT managed to tell countless memorable stories with just one bottle and a two-word headline. The campaign won every industry award and filled a 100 page+ book.
A while ago, though, the bottle campaign that put them on the map was layed to rest, and the brand struggled to reinvent itself and find its place on a top shelf crowded with super-premium, vanity vodka brands.
Art, music and fashion had always been the brand pillars upon which they told their magnificent stories. But when French conglomerate, Pernod Ricard, purchased them in 2008 no one really knew what the next chapter would be for world’s FIRST premium vodka.
It’s now 2010, and the state of the global economy has put a damper on the party. Companies in every industry have shifted their messaging to focus on value and price. And luxury brands have lost their Teflon coating.
So what’s a vodka brand to do?
Well, I’m happy to share that ABSOLUT has gone back to telling great stories. This time using digital and social media to create a format unrestricted by the dimensions of a magazine’s back cover or the run time of a late-night TV spot…
In this stunning 15 minute black-and white documentary, directed by legendary rock n’ roll photographer, Danny Clinch, ABSOLUT tells the story of Jay-Z and the city (NYC) that inspires his creativity.
So what does this have to do with vodka, you may ask…
Well, at first glance… nothing. But somewhere along the way, a simple product became a powerful storyteller. And if in this media-saturated world in which we live, a brand can capture your attention, engage your curiosity and inspire your own creativity, well, that’s one brand someone might just be inclined to ask for by name.
A toast to ABSOLUT and its newest muse, Jay-Z. Skål.
A couple months ago, Canon launched a user-generated HD Video Contest on Vimeo.com and invited photographers/filmmakers (using Canon DSLRs) to create a short video that picks up on the final frame of the last winning chapter before it. The contest kicked off with Vincent Laforet, who shot the first of seven. You can check out Chapter 1 and 2 here:
Chapter 1: The Cabbie from Vincent Laforet on Vimeo.
Job Security from Runner Runner on Vimeo.
Welcome to Mark’s Internet Genius of the Week. An exciting new feature on ID8 in which I examine creative and entertaining stuff hiding in the darkest corners of the interwebs! This week’s internet genius is Joe Penna. A Brazilian native who moved to LA to pursue a career in awesome. Better known by his YouTube handle as the Mystery Guitar Man, Penna consistently puts out the most innovative and labor intensive videos on YouTube.
Penna pushes the boundaries of the YouTube platform by creating choreographed videos made entirely with annotations, or by combining stop motion with house hold instruments to make awesome musical tributes to classical composers like Beethoven. He’s even found ways to turn his viewers into composers with an interactive virtual piano.
Here’s my favorite video of his called, “iFlip,” it combines the childish wonder of flipbooks with the slick interface of the iPhone.
Not only is Penna a musical genius but he’s a skilled editor with a creative flair that is missing from most YouTube musicians. And that’s why Joe Penna, the Mystery Guitar Man, is the Internet Genius of the Week! Check back next week for a new internet genius and other cool content.
Former SheSays LA panelist, filmmaker Jessica Sanders directed this compelling and evocative short film for Sony’s make.believe campaign about her life story as a filmmaker and coming from a filmmaking family.
Sanders recently completed MARCH OF THE LIVING, a feature documentary about the last generation of Holocaust survivors going back to the sites of the Holocaust in Poland with teenagers from around the world. The film was shot in Brazil, Germany, Poland, Israel and the US, and will be released in 2010.
Remember the first time you were chased by a sprinting T-Rex on an island off the coast of Costa Rica? How about the last time you had an epic battle with an undead skeleton warrior? Can’t remember? You mean you’ve never seen Jurassic Park or Jason and the Agronauts?
That’s what Visual Effects do. They transport us to places that would be otherwise too expensive, too dangerous, or too impossible to ever visit.
I remember my jaw hitting the floor when I saw that Brontosaurus go up on it’s hind legs to get the leaves at the tippy-top of that tree. I remember the terror when I saw the T-1000 dispatching innocent bystanders in liquid metal form. I remember my first jump to warpseed and the iconic hum of an ignited lightsaber.
Do you remember the first time you felt the magic of the silver screen?
If not, here’s a quick look at the past 100 years of movie magic. Enjoy!
“More than 70,000 advertising professionals have lost their jobs in this “Great Recession.” Lemonade is about what happens when people who were once paid to be creative in advertising are forced to be creative with their own lives.”
For more information and updates on the film’s release, visit their website.
ART & COPY Trailer from ART & COPY on Vimeo.
ART & COPY is a powerful new film about advertising and inspiration. Directed by Doug Pray, it reveals the work and wisdom of some of the most influential advertising creatives of our time — people who’ve profoundly impacted our culture, yet are virtually unknown outside their industry. Exploding forth from advertising’s “creative revolution” of the 1960s, these artists and writers all brought a surprisingly rebellious spirit to their work in a business more often associated with mediocrity or manipulation: George Lois, Mary Wells, Dan Wieden, Lee Clow, Hal Riney and others featured in ART & COPY were responsible for “Just Do It,” “I Love NY,” “Where’s the Beef?,” “Got Milk,” “Think Different,” and brilliant campaigns for everything from cars to presidents. They managed to grab the attention of millions and truly move them. Visually interwoven with their stories, TV satellites are launched, billboards are erected, and the social and cultural impact of their ads are brought to light in this dynamic exploration of art, commerce, and human emotion.
Get your Kleenex, because this depiction of the hisotry of Soviet Ukraine (with sand) on Ukraine’s Got Talent brought tears to the entire audience (including this poster). The gritty lines created in the sand creates beautiful monocromatic animation that recalls historical film. Watch as this artist tells a heartwrenching, evocative story without uttering a single word.
In the wake of the latest summer blockbuster G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra (in Theaters today!) I remembered the impact that G.I Joe had in my life. As anyone whose watched the animated series knows, at the end of every show you’d be treated to a G.I. Joe themed PSA. During these PSA’s, a Joe would inform us of a particular danger that occurs in everday life ending the segment with the now iconic phrase, “and knowing is half the battle.”
Certain episodes featured very special PSA’s on poignant topics like, “never hide in a refrigerator.”
Thanks to Recondo, I now know to never hide in an abandoned fridge. No matter how awesome the hideout may seem. Perhaps Indiana Jones could learn a thing or two from watching this powerful message.
And now you know, and knowing is half the battle. Maybe we could get the Ninja Turtles to tell me what the other half is?
extra credit: For a bonus PSA click here. Check out the G.I. Joe’s uniform in that one. Can someone please tell me how that outfit is tactical?
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