Matthew Woodson - Ghostco Illustrator

Matthew Woodson was born and raised in rural southern Indiana. At a young age he developed a fascination for natural history and the elegant simplicity of silent moments and small deaths. He then moved to Chicago to attend The School of The Art Institute of Chicago, where natural history was non-existent and silent moments / small deaths were few and far between. After graduating in early 2006 Matthew still lives in Chicago, in an apartment full of original hardwood floors, taxidermy, and a cat.

I like Ghostco. His illustration is obviously awesome but he also has something interesting to say.  He's an interesting guy who draws. So make sure you read his blog and look at his portfolio.

The Viral Palette

One of the problems that Marketers are concerned with is how do they maintain Brand Values while trying to maximise reach with Viral Media. They're uncomfortable with the stunty craziness associated with YouTube but realise they can't miss out on the opportunity. What do they do?

I'm going to bust the misconception that you need to be off strategy and whacky in order to get millions of people interested in your content. In fact, the most viewed, most memorable corporate content is all about brand strategy and brand values. You have to have something to say, why not say what you believe in?

Instead of talking about the sociological theories of viral media or showing a powerpoint slide with the "marketing approach" shopping list (which only provides the illusion of brand control) I'll show some examples and do a quick precis of what I believe they do. This is by no means an exhaustive list of options but I'll try to cover the main bases.

How do you get people to pass along your message? Here's what worked for a few brands.

Take a Stand

A couple of guys jump an airport fence under cover of darkness and tag "Still Free" onto the fuselage of Airforce One. It's a political statement. Well, it's a corporate political statement. Marc Ecko and Droga 5 decided to make a film that embodies the spirit of the Ecko clothing label: The Art of Street Graffiti, Freedom of Speech (Ecko had sued New York City over the right to a graffiti competition) and champion of the youth. The sheer audacity of the prank meant it spread like wildfire. Ecko quickly (nearly the next day) explained why they did it in a statement from the owner himself where he mentions all of his Ecko properties. He did it for the kids of America, because he believes it's the right thing to do, because it creates an altruistic brand character for people who sell t-shirts to kids from the hood and the burbs. They claim nearly 80 Million views.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eP0iSJQLfJ4]

Buy the Still Free t-shirt
Read about the Still Free Game
The Marc Ecko Brand
Still Free Official Site

Cannes Cyber Grand Prix 2006

Tell the Truth

A woman sits down in a studio full of lights. Through time lapse we see her transformed from a normal person with pimples into an idealised fiction on a billboard. This is an invitation from the Dove Self-Esteem Fund to take part in their sponsored classes. It's also the most viewed film of 2006/7 in the world. We all know the story, you can read the story here if you missed it. Why does it work? Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty is all about debunking stereotypes. In this case they expose the very techniques used by their competition that they have vowed not to use. It's a moral and ethical statement from Dove. It's perfectly on strategy and connects with people. It might have gone terribly wrong but they displayed the right amount of honesty to be believed.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U]

With over 150 million U.S. dollars worth of free media exposure through millions of hits on YouTube and every talk show in North America and Europe singing its praises, our Unilever clients say this piece has to have the highest ROI in the history of advertising.

Something that is hardly thought about is the amount of PR that contributed to the free exposure. The film needed to be amazing but without real world support it would never have reached the number of people it did in the end. Evolution has also been flighted in a number of countries as a full duration (75") TV spot and was the 2006 Superbowl ad for Dove.

Find out how you can be part of the Campaign for Real Beauty

Cannes Cyber Grand Prix 2007
Cannes Film Grand Prix 2007

Say It All

VW Passat had 120 new things to say about their car. How do you possibly explain 120 features in any meaningful way? Especially when they couldn't be vague, "the VW Passat films needed to communicate a very specific technical feature of the car". What Arnold Worldwide did was commission 120 short films. You may only have ever read about this campaign in a business paper but 120 films to dramatise 120 new features on a car is something to remember. Distilled to the nth degree, this campaign is only about the number "120". You may only watch 5 of the films ever, but you know they are part of a set of 120 (each spot opens with it's serial number eg. "38/120"). You may not like all the films, but you'll love some of them.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKpQAvL8MeY]

the Arnold-devised 120 Feature Films web blitz that began in the fall not only represents what's being called the largest use of online spots for a single branded entertainment initiative, but also illustrates the new roads agencies are taking to create a buzz-worthy campaign.

The amount of online buzz around the films has resulted in between 15 and 20 of them being formatted for broadcast. Considering that the spots were relatively inexpensive to make (around $2,000 per film says Weist), spreading them across various mediums certainly gives the client much bang for the buck.

'boards

You could say that VW tested 120 concepts and then aired the favourites on TV to everyone who didn't see them online. Buzz and research all in one package.

See the first 25 films at Brand New School

Cannes Cyber Bronze 2006

Have an Adventure

You land on a site where a Mini suddenly erupts from a traditional looking banner. The thing drives out of the box! It then invites you to follow the car, promising that it won't take you to the Mini site. What ensues is a fun ride through the darker recesses of the web. Stuff you didn't know you could or should search for is brought to you via your Mini web adventure. The campaign in Britain for Mini at the time was "It's a Mini Adventure" and was supported by TV spots featuring Martian attacks and Print showcasing comics about mad scientists driving invisible cars. I suppose one of the reasons it worked was that it used real websites as it's destinations, not made up weirdness. Respecting the web even as they drove all over it.

With four destinations within one journey and three unique journeys created, the user is unlikely to go on the same adventure more than once.

The Mini Showcase

Cannes Cyber Gold 2007

Play The Game

The California Milk Processor Board brought their "Got Milk?" campaign to the web with a brilliantly realised "board" game. It's a bit like Monopoly with mini stage games and some amazing animation. They've brought the production values of Pixar to a website. It's just so well done that people can't help but tell other people about it. Yes, there is the "milk is good for you" educational messaging liberally spread throughout but you forgive it any heavy-handedness because of the sheer entertainment they give you. The game is educational, fun, engaging and all about the milk. It's also the centre of their new campaign, 7 TV spots and a poster/print campaign drive to the game.



Play Get The Glass

Cannes Cyber Gold 2007

Fake Real

In 2004, at a time when webcams were finally getting headway on the net and ordinary people could see each other talking on the other side of the world, Crispin Porter + Bogusky engaged the skills of The Barbarian Group to help Burger King tell people that you could Have Chicken Your Way. How better than to go to a site where you can order a guy in a chicken uniform to be an idiot? You'd think that after all these years the guy in the chicken suit would be tired... well, I'll tell you a secret. There is no guy in a chicken suit. The interaction perfectly demonstrated the BK promise of "Have It Your Way' though.



Order the Chicken
The Alexa.com Stats (demonstrating a very long ROI tail)

Cannes Cyber Gold 2005

The Limited Experience

Two gorgeous and crazy girls stole the new Diesel Intimate collection, kidnapped a nice guy, locked themselves (and him) in a hotel room. Then, using six video cameras they broadcast their experience 24 hours a day, live for 5 straight days on diesel.com. Branded Reality Interactive TV. As a viewer you could participate in their experience so it became your own experience. They blogged, took photographs, had parties and generally lived the perfect Succesful Life. All, of course, in Diesel's Intimate Collection. Unlike the Subserviant Chicken above, this had a lifespan of only 5 days. It was a short, powerful experience for viewers and then Diesel moved on. Which is exactly how a rock star would do it.



Watch what happened over those 5 crazy days.

Cannes Cyber Grand Prix 2007

Make A Useful App

Nike and Apple collabrated to create Nike+. Not just an iPod add-on or a social website but an entirely new product. Their video tells it better than I can, but this is a situation where the agency, R/GA, forged a new worldwide business with their clients. It's a bit of a holy grail to be honest and probably required the blood of virgins to be sacrificed to actually make it happen. They've created a tool that's useful, fun to use and includes a community of like-minded users from all over the world. At the core of it is a back-end sales tool that R/GA originally developed independently of Nike+, it's purpose is to sell shoes with as little fuss as possible. They hand over this powerful application for the price of a widget that sticks to your shoes.



The iTunes store even added a Nike Sport Music section with special workout mixes, athlete inspirations, podcasts, etc. A well rounded product. Is it an ad though?

Nike+
The hack around if you don't want to buy a pair of Nike.
Buy your own Nike + iPod Sportkit

Cannes Cyber Grand Prix 2007

Immersive Content

A guy named Justin tinkers with a system of broadcasting video signal from a small camera on his body, from any location, to a website. It takes him about 6 months to figure out the technology. When he does he goes live 24 hours a day. Real time. From his car, to his office, to the first virtual date between Justin.tv and iJustine, his life is laid bare for us to view at our leisure. Which is a trend young people are exhibiting online, sharing everything. As near as I can tell no one other than Justin has created any PR buzz, brand experience or ad awards with this technology. Yet.



Watch Justin.tv
The Alexa Stats

I've obviously missed out on about 99% of the cool stuff on the web. What I hope I've collected are some awesome pieces of brand work that defy the "whacky" label. User generated content about a kitten falling asleep may grab eyeballs but no one believes it when there's a logo stuck on the end. These brands have told the truth, been honest and generally surprised us. I've missed out on the Nine Inch Nails Year Zero launch and about another 8 million other clever ideas. Oh well. Maybe later.

Presentation Created & Assembled by Ivan Pols, Associate Creative Director @ Ogilvy Toronto
All works are copyright of the respective brands and agencies.

ps. An experiment gone wrong:
Chivas "This Is The Life"

pps. Here are a few other interesting experiments:
See More Side Effects
Volvo - The Hunt
Ikea - Come into the Closet
BMW - Pace

Behind Rikki Kasso

This is probably one of the most prolific creators on the net. Rikki Kasso is from Shibuya, Japan and runs 7 blogs, probably has a real job as well, draws, photographs and exhibits and also , I repeat, finds time to blog about it all. I've mentioned Tokyo Undressed before, and here is another of his projects, Behind The Lines. Impressive if only for the sheer volume of illustrations. If you're a fan of ink and paper and Japanese bondage/furries you'll get a kick out of this site. NSFW.

Behind The Lines

ps. Cool Girl 365 has a feature by Rikki Kasso. You'll have to dig for it but the digging is fun. Again: NSFW.

Where, Why, What, When, How That Phone?

 

"A lot of rich qualitative user research loses its soul by the time it's been squeezed into conference and journal submission formats and in addition, work involving concept generation tends to remain confidential. So what you see here scratches the surface, nothing more."

And that quote is about right, but do not think that it's not very interesting. There are a lot of  odd tidbits that are worth knowing. They traveled to 11 cities, interviewed over a thousand people and have the pictures to prove it. If you have any interest in how hand held devices, any hand held device, may change in the future, these presentations may give you a little head start.

I enjoyed the blog format of their travels coupled with the PDF files that explain what they found. I guess the questionnaires must have been an exercise in information design by themselves, how do you ask a guy from Kampala about the interface design issues he's been having? The writer posts some interesting thoughts from the cities, like this one, ' "What happens when everything is transformed into 'experience' shopping? And the experience shops are clustered in close proximity? Is it possible to experience, well, 'experience fatigue'?" Some of them sound like he's a bit jet lagged, some are relevant musings from a good scholar. It's a blog, dammit.

Link 

Maarten

 

In my experience this style of illustration can turn out really badly. Except if Maarten is the executor. Beautiful pieces with a lot of fun and sexiness thrown in. Well worth a meander.
This is his official site and this is his  agent's page for him. And here is his blog, Champagne Cat Fight. Chicks dig it.

ps. His agent is is a Netherlands company called Comic House. Have a peruse through their portfolios. Very cool collection of European talent.

Cali Rezo - A Mannered Digital Painter

 

Cali Rezo makes painting look really easy. Not because of the fancy software she uses, the over large Wacom or clever cheats. It's because she's a damned talented Graphist. And she sings.
I especially like her distorted portraits but there is a huge portfolio on her site to choose from. She plays around quite a bit with subject but always with a technical prowess that makes me want to try harder. Cali's images turn out so remarkably tight that she's put together a "How Do I Work" video that shows that while she uses photographs as part of her process she does not work over them. The video is humbling to watch. In order for her to keep her art her own she has a day job, so all this work is after hours. I suspect she paints very fast. Her work is available to buy and she does commissions. I reckon she'd make a really good character designer for film and games.

Cali's Home (includes all her portfolios and stuff).
Cali on Virb (you can hear her sing here as well).

The Sopranos Design Lesson

Michael Beirut has written a bona fide Soprano's missive that gives all creatives some timely and astute advice. From Client Relationships to Aesthetics, Beirut finds the lesson in The Sopranos.

On commitment:
"I came home one day, shot her four times. Twice in the head. Killed her aunt, too. I didn't know she was there. And the mailman. At that point, I had to fully commit."

I heard this back in design school, and I still forget it every now and then: if you're going to make something big, make it really big. If you're going to make it simple, make it really simple. Or really small, or really fancy. If you're going after a project, if you're trying to win a competition, if you're serious about getting the job done, don't bother unless you're willing to fully commit.

Well written, brilliantly spotted and impeccably researched. Read Don Beirut at Design Observer.

Creative Review / Blog

CR Blog

Design Observer - Writings on the Wall and Other Places

 

If you work in the design industries, you may sometimes be tempted to think about your partcular niche of this calling. Perhaps, you have profound thoughts immediately and reward yourself with a sickly latte. Or perhaps you scratch your head like the majority of upright monkeys and reward yourself with a sickly latte. If this is your fate then you need some help from the people at the Design Observer. They are most likely far more astute and well-spoken than you could ever hope to be and therefore can be quoted and name-dropped with gay abandon. They are Michael Bierut (Pentagram), William Drenttel and Jessica Helfad (Winterhouse) and Rick Poynor (scholar). They have a couple of contributing writers and the site is an Artkrush fave. This blog has all the intellectual fodder your caffiene addled brain can handle.

Excellent writing, great thinking and non-"design" design.

Link

David Byrne Radio - Vox Humana

This month's David Byrne Radio play list is nearly at an end. But not ended yet and it's damn interesting. He writes a little essay on the theme for the month as well:

Vox Humana

This is the Latin phrase for the human voice, for a stop on pipe organs and is [I believe] the title of a play by Cocteau that features a distraught woman talking to her lover on a telephone. I've recently stumbled on a bunch of wonderful recent recordings that feature spoken word or the human voice manipulated in various ways — it almost makes me think this might be a time when this vague genre might be flourishing. Really exciting and sometimes funny stuff. Not quite singing, most of the time, but definitely musical.

Your ears will thank you and your friends will be impressed by your knowledge of this odd musical genre. My problem is where to get most of the stuff on this play list . Who stocks Casino Lost by Philip Bimstein? (eMusic seem to have some of it.)

Go here, hit play, copy the playlist.

ps. David Byrne is definitely worth checking out. As a musician and as a thinker.