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.

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.

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

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.

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?

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

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.

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.