February - Miami, Hellohikimori, Virgin Atlantic, We are ideas, The Bat, Visual Mapping, Surf, New York City, Wedding

1/ Miami
I discovered Miami for the first time. It kind of reminded me LA. Not a walking friendly city. I have to go there a lot now, for work. At least it’s sunny. Yeah, At least it’s sunny.

2/ Hellohikimori.com
Hellohikimori is a design studio, based in Paris. In August, I worked on the copy of their new website. It had an FWA some time long ago. Not that the copy had anything to do with it. What I found challenging was to keep one style through so many pages of content. This is a small thing I wrote about them:

Hellohikimori is Nathalie Melato and David Rondel Cambou. Colours walk with us. Together we fight. For brands, for design, for interaction and even for glory; sometimes. We breathe creativity. Together, always.
We love to walk and ride but always out of the beaten tracks. It is painful, sometimes, but it’s worth it. Really.
They say audacious. We say proud.

3/ Hello Gorgeous! Virgin Atlantic
Forget all the hyperbolic battles raging between international airlines. I have travelled on quite a few… Nothing comes close to the experience of flying Virgin’s Upper class. Yes that sounds a bit yuppie yup, but spare me 5 minutes while I demonstrate through time log:
> (Whenever) You book a flight
> (48 H) They ask you to call them back
> (24 H)You call them and give your passport number + check that everything is all right + update your flying club account
> (1.30 H) A Virgin limo picks you up
> (1.25 H) Limo driver checks you in via blackberry
> (1.00 H) The Virgin limo drops you at the special Virgin check in
> (0.57 H) Guy grabs your bag, security asks you the usual three questions, girl hands your boarding pass
> (0.50 H Pass customs through special Virgin desk
> (0.45 H) Bim Bam Boum, you’re in Heathrow Virgin lounge with a delicate atmosphere: wicked tunes, tasty breakfast, cosy furniture…
> (0.15 H) Buckled up and ready to go…

Now, I am not paid by Virgin Atlantic to write about them (yet… R.B.? Call me!), but this has changed my experience of flying.
It’s clear that the fight is not just about on-board services: who has the biggest… seats, or the most…in-flight entertainment.
It’s about the whole journey. This is the real consumer experience. Every little thing, every little attention counts. Before, During and After. Right now, Virgin ticks Before and During. After is still up for grabs, in my opinion. Wouldn’t it be great if after your flight Virgin sends you a satisfaction enquiry or calls you?
The only problem? This level of service and efficiency is highly addictive. (Oh, did I mention the head - shoulder massage, on board?)

4/ Weareideas.com, new and improved
Hopefully, I will be able to maintain and update this version after the crackdown last August. It’s a shame because my stats were off the roof but hey, a new job and other things to concentrate on…
I added some nifty features: Plazes (so that you know where I’m at?) and Twitter (so that you know what I’m up to?). Also, the RSS should work properly now. Images are bigger. Google search bar. Cleaner look and feel. Digg it! fully integrated.
But, really, the main thing is this new concept: The monthly nine. Every month I am going to talk about nine things that I stumbled upon, that tickled my fancy or that are just so out there that they should interest us. This will not be exclusively web related, websites or digital. Nor only advertising driven. Anything goes. Weareideas is opening itself.
So if they’re any cool bits and pieces that you love, please share.

5/ The Bat
This is my new job. I have left the agency world behind me. All hail to the client side. It’s quite interesting to live the “other side”. The politics, the dynamics, the processes.
For Death or Glory, I guess.

6/ Visual Mapping
I have worked on this baby for sometime now. It focuses on the main digital areas and how they are interlinking with each other. Since it’s all about networks, the challenge is to see where does *my brand* should engage its user? What is relevant? Where is it relevant?
Creating this visual map helps a lot in articulating the strategic vision in a very plain way, without the fussy web2.0 trendy bullshit keywords.

Simple questions > Complicated answers / Visually simple

Visual Mapping intraveinous inspiration: Visual Complexity

7/ Surf
Since I arrived in the UK, I have only surfed once on the North Devon coast. My brother, Skoya, came to visit and off we went to see what Croyde had to offer. Well we were unlucky. It was really poor. The kind of waves that test your will and determination, even when it’s sunny. And, it was raining and windy. We had fun.
It seems that sometimes, Croyde can fire some serious steaks though.

8/ New York City
I haven’t been to NY since 1992. I used to spend one week there during summer from 1985 to 1992. This is where I scored my first Jordans, where crazy people hanged out on Times Square, where Harlem was not friendly and nobody really cared about Brooklyn. So yeah, it changed a lot. For the best or the worst.
Whatever, there’s still nothing like it.

9/ Wedding
Hectic. Time Hungry. Crazy & Happy.

New - Work in progress

I have been working a bit on We Are Ideas over the week end. I will change the post concept. A bit more synthetic so that I atually have the time to do it.

Hang in there, We Are Ideas is almost back.

ps: The new look and feel is spanking clean.

Kanye doing his thing

This tune is a classic already. Enjoy the video.



I have been slacking with posts and updates, sorry about that. All blames on my new job. For the best.

Thanks for being patient.

No post just surf, We Are Ideas is back in 10 days

Off to the Basque Country for 10 days. No post. Just some real surf, without pixels.

The life of a blogger

This the reason why I am taking some time off. It's a hard knock life, for us, bloggers.



This viral was shot and directed by Sibling Rivalry for ButternutJelly, an eBaumsworld.com me like. Oh and by the way, the name of the head editor is Jhidekim.

Ray Ban Wayfarer viral

The most iconic Ray Ban model, the Wayfarers, get wet in this nice little viral.



Never Hide, Ray Ban

Welcome to DMBDO, the puppet agency

It’s always interesting to know how people in our industry like to describe it.



Nice copy. Cool and entertaining.

They want us to participate, so send your stories here.

Watch The puppet agency, DMBDO

Show me Perrier ... NOT!

What happened to Perrier? This print campaign was running when my girlfriend was in NYC last summer (she actually sent me a pic the ads).



And now I stumbled on this Show me perrier website. The concept is fairly simple: around different themes (sexier, crazier, healthier, riskier), this microsite embeds entire websites or webpages. You can then rate the content etc… nice idea in theory… well actually not even in theory.



Why on earth anyone would want to go on a brand website to get content that you can have on any linkdump? What Perrier has to do with a bread shaped penis? Should they even want to be associated with it?
"Oh, come on it’s just fun. It’s like a ride in the dark side of the web… Show me Perrier" Maybe, but again, other websites do it. Much better.
Perrier is a brand that I love. It has strong equity. Again the print campaign was really cool. It had legs. But the web campaign is running the wrong way.
Really bad interactive experience. And very bad branding.
Show me perrier

Replace Banners

After replacing ads by art, you can now, thanks to ProWebSurfer, control what you want to replace them with. Picture of your girlfriend or your weekend at the beach...

I wonder what will happen if this kind of applications flourish. Could this be the end of a business model?
They harness the true spirit and specifications of the web compared to TV or print. Very interesting because unlike TiVo or other DVRs, this is a free service, tailored to your taste (yeah, since you're choosing the pictures...doh)

Demo here (annoying voice)

Sprint Ahead

I have already posted about this Sprint ahead new campaign and the cool little e-card app they created (apparently a rip off from this).



Anyway, I still think this is a very impactful campaign. The visual concept matches perfectly the sprint speed (think "speed of light") concept and gives more depth to the brand promise and benefits. It has and creates emotions. I can see it, hear it, interact with it. It communicates something that I want to be a part of. It looks simple and it looks good.



As usual with GS&P, it’s integrated and it’s not dull.

HP Bi Reality - Best Fake Viral or Best Real Viral?

Yes, this is the real question here. Is this for real? We some priceless voice over comments: “the user can see all around their presence at their remote location simply by turning around, which is very natural and immersive.”



More information here

YSL and SHOWstudio, Edition 24 live event

The web is becoming THE platform to broadcast live events with atypical formats. After Diesel Heidies or their latest fashion show, here comes YSL & SHOWstudio who will be staging a live 24-hour shoot of the new “Edition 24” collection, with Jessica Miller as the Actress / Model, Stefano Pilati as the Creative Client and Nick Knigth as Visual Guru.


The shoot will be organized in 4 acts each divided in 6 scenes. Prior to the shooting, SHOWstudio asked users to send their script for the different scenes. Submissions are now closed. You can read them here.

Transparent and integrating the user, this campaign is a very interesting and bold move by YSL. Letting users create its content for the launch of a new collection is good, but to take the risk of actually shooting it live, this is excellent.
Courageous and rewarding PR campaign. Very now, very digital. Is someone at YSL is listening to what’s happening.

So, Sunday the 15th of July, go there and enjoy the show.

La Redoute and Christian Lacroix collaboration

We saw so many collaboration between high end designers (and not so high end) and high street retailers.
This one is even more unexpected: Christian Lacroix, famous French Fashion designer, and La Redoute, a French Catalogue company that does mail-order business only.


Anyway, the website to promote this line is a nice, soft and easy video experience. Think Alice in Wonderland.
The video of the model plays with angles and sizes to give it an original perspective when interacting with its surroundings.

Relearn to drive - BMW USA

BMW USA would like to take us back to that unique, sweet, one time only teenage experience...
Learning to drive that is. Sweet memories. At relearntodrive.com you can watch several (funny?) videos of cliché instructors. All of that to promote the BMW Performance Driving School where you can learn to drive seriously a BMW with some ex NASCAR dudes. It seems that seriously implies to skid and drift.


Anyway, all that for $2,995 only. Oh, and the website has some really nice angled car racing videos that are worth watching.

Nike Trainer Dunk Free x Mita - Nike Hybrid

What is going on at Nike these days? Look at those kicks. I am sorry but this is too much. Way too much. Too much details? Overloaded? Clustered? Ridiculous? Yes, Yes, Yes and Yes...


Hum...Mine have just arrived! Sweet!

Xbox, Master your environment by AKQA

AKQA has just created this online movie to promote three games for XBOX 360 in the UK. One movie...three games? Yes but one idea: Master your environment. And the film is developped solely around this insight and not the games.



It looks really good. Not the most interactive project in the world but the production is really high end and everything just looks so much better in slow motion.

Nike Football, The Perfect Kick, T90 campaign

Nike Football is at it again. Funny little online video with young boy Rooney.



T90 Laser is a cool feature with multi angle video showing the perfect kick in slow motion.
They also have a competition where you can upload your video of your perfect shoot at the T90 target.


Maybe not as powerful as "The Chain" but nevertheless good stuff

Mash the movie, riding fixed gear in San Fransisco

MASH: "It's not about stopping - it's about going as fast as you can. Commitment to every line, corner, and hill is what defines the style of these San Francisco riders. Come roll with us."
Gabe Morford and Mike Martin, Directors



This is the trailer. The movie should be premiered in the Bicycle Film Festival, which is touring worldwide.
Dedicated to my bro'Skoya

LED Throwies in New York

or why New York is definitely not Boston.