SKOYA - The New Breed

Interesting times. Times where they blur the boundaries. There's no limit. No segmentation. For them.

SKOYA is part of this new breed. Not a writer. Not a painter. Not a poet. Not a thinker. Not a force of nature. Not a skater. Not a surfer. Not a traveler.

But all of the above.

Because they know IT. Because he knows IT.

Skoya.com

Videos. To think, to reflect, to relax. Lay back. They do the work.









Skoya.com

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.

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.

Geoff McFertridge in action

Cool music video for Golden cage by the The Whitest Boy Alive



Also, nice work on this wicked skate, 70's flavour, for Solitary Arts.


Mine is arriving in two weeks. Digged at Turntablelab.

Stranger than Dubai

A month ago I went to Dubai for business meeting. Here's a small video of the trip.



Shot with Nokia Nseries 93i
Music: The Klaxons

Miranda July - No one belongs here more than you

Miranda July new book is out. This is the website she created to promote it. Miranda is behind one of my favourite movie -ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW- the kind that gives you the “hhmmmm, me too, I like chocolate” feeling in your belly if you’re into food, or that makes you cry, if you’re more into swimming.


Anyway, take 5 minutes and enjoy the wonderful world of Miranda’s kitchen appliances.

Surf's Up

I know what I'll be waiting for this summer.




Check the relase dates

Dubai...

Light Bulb.

Photo of burning out light bulb. Beautiful texture.

Photographed by

It's a Lean Mean Fighting Machine

After working for some years at Publicis Net in Paris, I have recently joined Lean Mean Fighting Machine, a digital hot shop in London, simply committed and dedicated to create the best digital advertising ever.
Small shop (11 people), Big Clients (Emirates, Virgin Games, International Herald Tribune, The Economist, AOL...) and one of the highest concentration of talent to the square meter that I have ever witnessed. (Yes our office is very small).
To give you an idea, watch this



Voila! Now We Are Ideas can go back to a normal life, since I am *almost* settled in. I have tweaked around to make this blog a bit more user friendly. Hope you’ll find them friendly enough.

Not dead yet

New city / New life / New job / New House /

weareideas will be back!

>> Holding on to our yound ideas, Undefeated we stand <<

God save...weareideas

Since I am leaving for one week to London, I have just made a massive update of bits and pieces.
Hope you'll enjoy them.
Next update, on the 12.12

Christmas gift idea

If you’re a head, you know what I’m talking about. If not, click on the picture to see more of wulffmorgenthaler's Crazy & Danish comic strip.
Buy their calendar for your loved one

No comment?

This week Newsweek covers for overseas and USA

read the whole story here

Land of Freedom

Mos Def arrested in the middle of a concert for criticizing the Katrina management crisis of Bush's government...

What’s coporate culture? A nice place to work!

I found this video of David Ogilvy giving his definition of corporate culture.
“What is our culture? A NICE PLACE TO WORK”

On average, my work days are 9 to 9. That’s 60 hours per week which means that I spent more than 35 % of my life at the office (without counting holydays, so yeah i'm cheating).
It would be nice to have, at a group level, a CEO who stands up in front of stockholders and claims that his priority is the happy experience employees have working in his group…
Even if it’s not the absolute truth, it’s nice to hear.

Borat Borat!

At last one of my modern hero is making the jump on the big screen!!! Borat, our main man from Kazakstan!!!

The fun is here

Very nice profile on Apple Pro / Sound of Light

I don't want to write about this... It is just a visual pleasure to watch.

Enjoy It here !!!

Micky Dora "doing" Venice Beach peer - 1974

I just found this original footage of Micky Dora surfing Venice Beach and playing with the peer. It reminded me a post that wanted to do about Venice aka Dogtown.
We all saw Dogtown (Peralta’s documentary and the movie), and one of the main criticism that was made by all the real protagonist of this era is that Stacy Peralta is only showing his vision of what Zephyr was about, not Dogtown.
Remember that before Alva and co, Dogtown/Zephyr was far and foremost famous for its hardcore surfing and übber localism.
At the beginning of the documentary there is a small part on surfing. This is the same spot. Venice Beach. Rocked by another legend, Micky. Doing what he did best. Owning.
Check this interview where renowned artist Bulldog kind of straightens things out. He is one of the early dog of Dogtown.

Hitting it right on Cobra Snake

Here is my best friend/roomate with his Tania storming Nyc with a "je ne sais quoi" of ParisSTyle. Cobrasnaked!

Check more pics here

Finally Back after...

Three weeks of holydays. Up and down California. Very nice surf trip, good waves...

Miranda July and Final Cut

Apple, to promote its editing software, final cut, asked some creative motion studios and directors to talk about their editing process…
And how, of course, Final Cut was a “creative asset” for them.

Amongst all the directors, my favorite is Miranda July . She starred and directed Me and You and Everyone We Know, which is somewhere near the top of my “beloved movie leaving a precious feeling this art is still one and might be not dead, yet”

Check the site NOW!

Nuclear Nightmares

no comment // 20 years since Chernobyl

i stopped breathing while watching...

Saturday Post galore

Yeah so it's Saturday and i'm still at work, fighting with my team of ADs and Flash developper to get out a great project for Coca-Cola.
It's a nice morning to give some time to my blog, virgin of any post since almost two weeks...

This morning

This morning, something struck me. Ford is cutting more than 20 000 jobs, and closing maybe 14 facilities. This represent 20 to 25 percent of Ford's North American work force. Now as you can see on the chart, the share price is going ok. Not great but ok. I'm not an economist, i don't have any pHd from Wharton, but what if Ford sold some of its brands (Volvo, Jaguar....) instead of laying off its workers? Sometimes it's hard to accept market oriented decisions when they impact daily lives of 20 000 thousands people...
How is Ford dealing with the crisis? Just by pointing out that this is a long term plan that will create jobs...evenutally... more solid jobs...eventually. I don't think that this argument will be enough to justify such a decision. Let's see where Ford's management crisis firm/advisors take it.

Miami Vice

Miami Vice is back! There are two things strange about this trailer:
first, the linkin park and Jay Z ‘s Numb collab… this is a really bad adaptation of Jay Z’s original hit from the black album
second, Colin Farrel as Don Jonhson... i'm not really feeling it... but i guess all my gay friends will!
thetrailer

The first post

the first post is always the deepest. baby i know.