Right-Half Chow

It's the web Jim, but not as we know it

Deeplinking has this interesting article up on their blog: paper prototype versions of different popular sites. It's a good illustration of the fact that you can't beat the power of a good idea.

Take presentations for example: I come across people who never write stuff down before they start working on them, they just open up a laptop and powerpoint and see where it takes them. Cue five thousand blog posts on how powerpoint destroys presentations and presentation skills.

Some prototyping experiments go a little too far though...

Let's all go viral

It's worrying how may clients and prospects are coming in these days with a briefing that includes the word 'viral'. Usually this just means something like this: 'we don't have any budget but that's not a problem because every man and his dog is telling us that it doesn't cost a thing to reach over a few million people through YouTube and other services'...

We even have the government writing out pitches with this as a demand in the title of the tender document these days, but then Belgian politics always were pretty surreal.

Videos like these probably aren't helping either:

Laugh the stress away

The original proved to be quite controversial, but this version is well worth watching and probably a lot closer to the daily life of some of these so called gangs:

JUSTICE - STRESS ( JUSTESSE NO STRESS / THOMAS VDB VERSION )
Geüpload door Lesairsavif

Zuji Beans for holidays

A great idea to promote the Zuji travel platform: launch low-priced products (pretty hot when inflation is high) so people can save money for their holidays (which, it turns out, they're still willing to pay for):

It's something a lot of brands would be scared of: launching a product outside their core category to promote the category itself. But I think it's a pretty nifty way of selling a solution in times like these, and you avoid the devaluation of your own brand by price communication...

Style versus Design

Several links and people have pointed me to Niblettes blog and I must say I was pleasantly surprised. This post in particular was pretty interesting, since it got me to rethink the whole creative versus planner debate that's been doing the rounds for the past few years. (It's an article from 2006 but it's still of value today)

This is kind of a summary of the points but, as usual, get your ass over there to read the full post and the comments.

And if this kind of content interests you, be sure to read "The Plenitude" by the late Rich Gold as well. Marvelous stuff!

Just burn us a disc please...

It's not that hard to understand why there are still so many vinyl purists around... and why people would think harder about what they'd want to put out there, music wise.

Edu-tv for audiophiles (films are in the correct order, 2 parts):

Innocent Maid

I tried something new this weekend, the following brand extension from Minute Maid was advertised in my local supermarket:

The line at the bottom reads something like 'pure citrus refreshment, and nothing else'... Kind of rings a bell, doesnt it? Maybe this will refresh your memory:

And it's not just the line here, the drawing on the label, the way the rest of it is presented... I can only hope this is a local thing (Innocent is not readily available throughout the country), but even then it probably was inspired by them (or is there still a marketeer left who is not raving about Innocent?).

Which I find kind of weird from a company like Coca Cola, who are doing fabulous things to revive Coke, facing a very tough market where they are usually the ones being copied. Anyone remotely intelligent will tell you that the Innocent thing works because, well... they are pretty innocent, which is not one of the terms you immediately associate with Coca Cola or Minute Maid.

Especially when the expectations you raise don't stand up to any inspection of the ingredient label (concentrated juice, sugar, natural aroma's, colourants,...):

Doesn't taste half bad though...

Where the hell is matt again?

Almost two years ago I first saw and wrote about Matt and his dancing adventures around the world. Well, it's great to see he's back, and it's even better to see that Stride is still supporting him in his shapethrowing activities across the globe. Here's the new film (YouTube link for slower connections):

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

Take your pick

It's been a while, but hopefully there should be more time in the coming months. It's not exactly a summer lull but it's a bit less hectic anyway.

In the meantime, please click any one of these for an apology, excuse, story... hopefully there is something in there to your liking.

In the meantime, allow me to express my grief over the sad departure of the Kaiser. But hurray for Be Always Opening!

The return of the screensaver

But, sadly, not the return of the frequent blogger, I suspect I'll be able to free up more time by the end of June. Anyway, in between: this fantastic idea that was brought to my attention by Sam from TheseDays.

Everyone surely remembers these images:

But this takes it a step further:

Don' Stop Me Now

Sorry for the lack of updates, but it's been one hell of a month so far, and it does not look like it will ease up any time soon...

But I did manage to find the Erol Alkan short movie (referenced in the Trucks post) with the Queen soundtrack on YouTube a while back, and while Cadbury has a good thing going, this one still sends shivers down my spine:

The Cans Festival

It seems like everything Banksy touches these days turns to gold, so it's refreshing to see that he does all the effort to get new people involved in the scene as well.

If you're in London or passing through, pray that some of the art is still there and go check it out.

The Kaiser speaks

And you should listen (hell, if Martin Sorell reads up, why shouldn't you), at least to this post about the way we should often assume that, as professionals, we should know what is best for our clients, and stick by that until the end. I don't want to go into detail but I can think of some shameful instances for myself. And there's not just the failure of the brand that awaits the client, it's a troubled relationship with mediocre work for years to come...

As an agency we're going through a lot of changes at the moment, and if I had to name one thing that has improved the way we work right now it's never to assume that a client won't buy into something because it doesn't fit his or her way of working.

And then there's the massive effort to keep everything on track after you presented it and the client's doubts are beginning to raise their ugly heads. Just keep on working and tugging stubbornly to make sure that an idea is executed to the full extent of it's potential.

Dude

Since the substantial overuse of the word by Hurley in Lost, all positive connotations the word got from The Big Lebowski have been eradicated. Enter Bud ligt, who are launching Dudemadness...

Not the most original  strategy for a beer I'd say, we've had Jupiler with 'men know why' for decades now, but they never focused on the 'men' moments apart from some moronic tie-in with extreme sports action. If that leads you to buy more beer and confirms you in your manhood you probably already drank too many braincells to death. I do like the new 'men need a break' idea for Jupiler Blue though.

I can sympathise with some of the 'dude-moments' but it's just such a letdown to see it followed by a pay-off for a light beer... I still don't understand the appeal: if you're going to drink beer than drink beer, especially if it needs to tie in with some kind of male bonding/understanding type of thing. And if you want to avoid the Hurley look and start wearing a bra, remember that you don't have to drop down from one of Alaska's most dangerous peaks to call it sports...

The Loudness War

It's always a joy to find people who are able to explain inherently complex matter in a clear and simple way. The past few years there's been lots of talk on 'overproducing' and 'overcompressing' music, and you often hear sound afficionados mumble about the loss of range in modern music productions. This short video explains everything:

There is kind of a similar thing happening in marketing and advertising today. Brands are trying to shout at the top of their lungs in the same channels, repeating the same message with the same colours and the same sounds, losing the subtle touches that are often needed to become more than a onedimensional promotional idea.

That's actually the way the basic media approach worked: turn it up in all frequencies in order to get a maximum of reach. And that's precisely the reason why planners should be more involved in the media planning process: on the lookout for those frequencies and areas where it might be more interesting to approach people from a different, potentially more subtle, angle. As the video rightly states: you need silence to be able to hear a sound. 

Mixes via Pando

Ok, as I'm not able to share it through Imeem, I have been looking for another way and I'm kind of hoping Pando has the answers, let's see if this works:

It's not ideal because you need to download the client, but it's not that big and genuinely useful for other stuff as well.

EDIT: apparently some people have trouble using the client, so it's here locally as well:

Download andys_birthday_boenk_1.mp3

A Glass And A Half Full

I've just spent the better part of an hour surfing the Cadbury site, not because it is superflashy and has a ton of modern features but because it entertains me and remains interesting (kudos for including a link to the remixes). And it's got a nice, Nintendo-y videogame feel to it actually, and that is a tone that fits perfectly with the Cadbury theme. Nothing overly fancy, but really playful and colourful, with a nice and easy soundtrack.

I've always wondered where they'd go with their work outside of the  Gorilla and Trucks feelgood vibe, but this environment makes perfect sense and gives them a platform to talk about some basic truths about the product as well (go outside and talk to the cows about the secret). Just a shame that you have to go and find a UK postcode to register for news...

I even went looking for all the letter clues to get in the vault (not that it's hard, but it was fun), I was just disappointed that I didn't find a high res quicktime version of the Trucks 90' cut there.

New Ief Noise

Back by popular demand, and I'm kind of hoping this platform works out for sharing music. This was a mix I did for the birthday of a good friend, kind of a last minute hussle up, but I think it has quite a nice ring to it (and don't let the title mislead you, it's actually quite palatable):

Hell, I've just realised that they don't really allow for a straight download, I'll upload the file as soon as possible.

Bench Press 2.0

Possibly a bit far fetched as a title, but this idea is truly fantastic:

via Photojojo

Flower Power

According to this, the picture below represents this blog. Looks really interesting but the site doesn't really offer a lot of explanation on the links (the colours indicate lots of links, pictures and DIV tags, whatever that may be) which is kind of a pity. I was hoping to have lengthy conversations on the flowery qualities of this site...

Found on Welcome to Optimism.