Levis Vintage Clothing Japan

Greatly crafted website for Levis Vintage Clothing in Japan range, exclusively sold in selected shops and in their own Aoyama shop, just across Bathing Ape.
A lot of attention was spent on details and animations. 3D is well integrated even if it runs a bit slow (always the case with japanese website).


What I am really enthusiastic abou here is that no sacrifices were made between Art Direction/Design and Flash/3D implementation. Both are great and support each other to push it to the next level.


Love it. Here.

ps: Yes we all have seen most of the fx but who cares... It looks great.What matters is "not where you take ideas from but where you take them to" Jean Luc Godard.

TOTO is coming to refresh us

TOTO is big in Japan. TOTO has a message. Clean is HAPPY. Washlet brings you happiness. From the bottom up. (sorry couldn’t resist)


So now install TOTO washlet. Refresh yourself. Restore yourself. Pamper yourself. Be clean. Be Happy.

Do Not Enter

Dan Witz, Do not enter.

Mercedes Class C - Agency Republic

Good interactive effort by Agency Republic for the new Class C. Small interactive experiences that tie in with some of the product specs.


Sweet here. Not sure how this is related to the mercedes class C target though.

Little Deviant - Scion xD - ATTIK

I have already written about how Scion and ATTIK are pulling some of the most interesting car campaigns. Their cars polarize the public into a “hot or not” poll. The "no opinion" doesn’t really exist. You love it or you hate it.
Ballsy products with a gutsy communication.


This little deviant campaign is to celebrate the launch of the new Scion xD. The world has been conquered by some sheeples (kind of a subtle mix between a suit and a ship: likes to follow and to conform) but a gang of little deviants are ready to take them on.

The TVC is cool.



The micro site is really tight. Great art direction, strong storytelling. I really enjoyed playing through the whole experience.


Three thumbs up for Scion and ATTIK.

Share The Air - Panasonic

Always tricky to see big corps trying to co opt skate, when, truly, they don’t have anything to do with it. The leap here is taking on by Panasonic. See, skaters, they listen to music, take pictures, make videos and then have to watch them… This is where Panasonic steps in.


They have aligned a serious roster (Koston, Jenkins…) and some new kid that I don’t even know of (I’m getting really old).
The skaters have blogs, they post videos and they even do the freaking product demos.

The art direction is nice and appropriate. I think this kind of operation can work. I am still not sure how pertinent it is for Panasonic to enter the skate scene and to target this audience who might not be the prime buyers of their product… but maybe I am wrong.
Anyway, share the air

We Are Ideas DNA

My blog DNA.


Serious stuff if you ask me.
ps: It doesn't work well on Mozilla.

iTunes Festival and the ICA

Great operation by iTunes. They are organizing a music festival, in July, with the institute of contemporary art. Every night, one concert.


So what’s the catch? It is invitation only. And how to get invited? Well, just enter the draw.
What’s in it for Apple? Apart for the cool branding operation, a lot of cool data collection on a perfect core audience for iTunes.

Simple, efficient but expensive. I would like to know the cost per head entering the draw.

The Line Up


Air Traffic Amy Winehouse Aqualung Ash Athlete Beardyman Ben’s Brother Beverley Knight Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Candie Payne Cherry Ghost Crowded House Dhafer Youssef Duke Special Editors
Elisa Ghosts Gianna Nannini Goldspot Good Shoes GoodBooks Groove Armada Imogen Heap Jack Peñate James Wolff Jamie Scott & the Town Just Jack Justin Nozuka Kasabian Leash Leon Jean-Marie Little Man Tate Ludovico Einaudi MIKA Mr Hudson & The Library Mutya Buena Nine Black Alps Paolo Nutini
Paul McCartney Raul Midón Rebekka Bakken Remi Nicole Scott Matthews Stereophonics Terra Naomi The Bad Plus The Coral The Dead 60s The Go! Team The Hoosiers The Maccabees The Pigeon Detectives The Rakes The Rumble Strips The View Tiny Dancers Travis Wir Sind Helden

Every band has its own page, with a full bio, a direct link to their iTunes store section. Tight user path. Seamless.

Sign up here to enter the draw.

And the winner is...

It’s quite clear. Now.


Lesson learned?

Ugoldorak is Ugo Nonis

Talented Motion/Art Director. Worked at MTV france, Eyeball NYC and now MTV NYC.


Eclectic and versatile work. Love it.



and he is a funny guy. No really.



check here

Just love the internet...

This reminded me why I am working in this business.



1 million views on YouTube and going...

Wirebreakers for MOTOROKR

Now there is a lot of positive things I wanted to say about this wirebreakers operation: the way they use the "not so new" krump trend (I mean how can any thing be new after David Lachappelle tries to make a documentary out of it...Oh wait, actually he did.) and associate it to their main product benefit: wireless headphones (wire breakers...doh). So you can just "Krump it up, Kid, Gansta Style"... Sorry.


Anyway, the website destroyed anything cool I had to say. I am not for the "amateurish look and feel" when professionally done. Plus, its content is not socially enabled. Can't share the videos, cannot download them... You are going to tell me: "But they are on YouTube". So what.
It's about how the brand engages its target on its own turf, YouTube is one touchpoint. Not THE touchpoint.

Anyway, if you want to look at the website… here it is.

And here’s a video

Things fall apart by Devoid of Yesterday

Devoid of Yesterday is ROB CHIU + CHRIS JAMES HEWITT + CHRIS JAMES HEWITT

Diesel is having a Live Fashion Show

Seems like they can't have enough of this live thing at Diesel (think Heidies, Cannes Cyber Grand Prix). We will see tonight how it looks. 9.30pm CET.

Here's the preview video.



And they don't hesitate to shut Diesel.com normal content to solely focus on the event.


Some people at Diesel know what they are doing! Really.

Hydro - Viral Campaign

Very cool virals from Hydro, a fortune 500 company that sells Oil&Energy, Aluminium and other cool stuff like that...





"There are many young engineers out there. We cant wait to see them grow up."
Well if they can do some cool things like that, me too.

Choon, Nokia Music Recommenders

UK microsite to promote Nokia’s latest effort in captivating the music territory with their ambitious project “music recommenders”.
Choon = Tune in brit slang. Just a small precision in case you didn’t get it.


So, what do we have here? A game, easy to understand, easy to play, funny and hip graphics and I have even managed to be in the top five (for now).
Overall, a cool experience, right on spot, fresh and clean. Nice job.

Nuf said! Go & Beat me.

Collaboration between RGA London and designers David Rondel + Nathalie Melato

Reminds you someone?

It has to if you ever worked in an agency. If you have three minutes to spare...



Visit the site for behind the scene footage.

LOVE Cartier

The LOVE collection is inspired by the bracelet created by Cartier in 1970. For the launch of the collection, 12 short movies were directed by Olivier Dahan, a famous French director. They are exclusively broadcasted on the microsite. Reminds you something? Ok, moving on.


I am not feeling the Art Direction of the website at all. Kind of cheap. A pale imitation of luxury. You can make your own opinion, this is just mine, for what it’s worth.
The short movies can be watch one after the other or in an interactive experience, with two call to action at the end of each short. I suppose the concept is to let the user create his own LOVE experience, to immerse him in a Parisian atmosphere, suave and precious, from viewer to creator.
The films are well produced, well written... Little voices back in Paris told me that the production budget was around 900 000 euros.
Overall, my experience was nice, but not sure it was worth this price when globally the microsite is really poor.

Uniqlo

Uniqlo has become one of the most interesting mass fashion houses in the digital arena. And they continue to roll out some very strong ideas.


Uniqlock is right now just a casting of girls pulling some interesting “(q)lock” moves, blended with classical moves. It is very different to what we are used to see. Contemporary but no too much. It is supposed to launch on the 15th of June (tomorrow).



Keep tuned.

Also, Uniqlopaper presents their new collections. It is a nice blended mix of products and content. Content that matters. That is right on their target. Young, trendy, a bit hip, but not too much. Zara, Gap, H&M beware. Uniqlo is happening. Fast.


Uniqlo is embracing content in everything they do. They have understood that it’s not just about your product anymore. Brands are not their products, nor are they just their advertising. They are becoming content producers, built around their values, their product, their lifestyle. Products are put back into perspective. Products are put back into our REAL life. They become content as well. To read, to look, to feel. Consuming is so not about buying a thing anymore. And maybe it has never been.

MTV vs Global Warming... Only 10 years left.

MTV

AICP Show @ MoMA

Nice surrealist inspired (think Dali, Magritte) introduction sequence for the AICP show at the MOMA.



Production Agency: Version 2

BMW Series 1 Japan

Very strong integrated internet centric operation from BMW Japan for the new Series 1.
The microsite features a webmovie in three episodes. I watched them during my lunch break and I got really, really excited. The production is of very high quality, the sound design is great (think Tubular Bells, Mike Oldfield), the actors are class-A… It all communicated a really great experience.


The website is supported by print ads, a TVC, flyers and a mobile site that you can access from the website via QR code. I wasn’t allowed to visit the mobile site (maybe restricted to japan ip only) but the transition from a QR code on the web to my N95 was an amazing thing. We are going to see so many more of those in our countries.

Don’t surf it, just walk it.

Small online app, very visual, interactive and playful, which let you “walk” through linked sites.


It doesn't work well with weareideas, linking very different site from Technorati or Alexa...

Ineffective media buying and ad networks

I really like this example because it's neither extreme nor shocking. It's simple and shows how ineffective and dull mass media buying on big ad networks is. This is something that frustrated me on almost every digital display advertising campaign that I have worked on.


So, I am watching this great video about this iconic surf director on surfermag. This guy, Albert Flazon, is talking about how, when he produced one of the most deep and beautiful cult surf movies “Morning of the Earth”, he was having the time of his life, experimenting new ways of living in community, travelling, surfing, discovering etc… and then to the right, I see this banner for the US Special Forces.
I don’t know who the Special Forces are trying to target on surfer.com but my guess is (just a hunch, heh) “young blokes, 18-24, sporty, fit, adventurous, ready for a challenge”… Yes, yes and yes. It ticks all the boxes, but certainly not the main one: is my product relevant to this audience?

Future is not tomorrow, anymore.

The future of Digital is emerging faster than I could have thought. More new techs are coming out and it’s getting hard to keep up.


Watch Surface. You’ve read about it everywhere. Well it’s coming. Fast.

iPhone? Out the 29/06.



There’s also this new app, photosynth.


It generates images and compositions by hyperlinking numerous images related to the composed image. Think multidimensional spaces, think zoom, think navigation. Think tagging, semantic connection, social experiment: think collective memory. It’s really hot.


Not clear? Watch it here.

And then Google Street View, that aroused some very internet centric concerns about privacy, rights, usage of the data…



And some nice, huh, well, funny stuff.
Wonders of Digital.

New Era is hot... new branding hot.

Surprised? Well think again.
I am aware that this tech stunt of making your logo or a picture out of lots and lots of smaller images is now almost passé, but NE does it with their buyers, wearing their products (caps for those who have been sleeping on some other street fashion island for the past 5 or 6 years), and giving some fresh poses.


They have developed an amazing positioning inside the street industry without going for the easy hip hop "celeb" endorsement. And it all ties in together. Community, Positioning, Experience, Branding...

So the question is: Are you part of the New Era?

MOTOROKR Z6

Cute little site for motorola's new phone.


ps: I said cute, not groundbreaking or amazing. Clean&Cute.