The Society Of The Spectacle

Mid-way through 2011, the formation of PARTY was announced. The brainchild of some of Japan’s and New York’s most interesting Interactive Creative Directors, including Masashi Kawamura, (he of SOUR fame), as well as creative from W+K Tokyo, BBH and beyond, it caused quite a stir. (Their inception is covered in far more detail here on Creativity).

With this sort of firepower, their first projects were eagerly awaited. They have not disappointed. I originally had a whole post set up just on the Toyota ‘Fastest Painted Website’ concept, but having seen the newest work for Japanese band Androp; it seems only right to bundle this creativity in one easily digestible morsel.

PARTY is developing quite the folio of work. Blending mystery with storytelling, with online and offline experiences, a commitment to pushing the technology, mashing together business models and shot through with humanity and charm. Their new work for Androp expands on all these themes. ”World.Words.Lights.You” is music video/advert, and potential merchandising behemoth. With the cutest robots this side of the Little Printer. These cute robot types have a dual role. To bring a smile to your face, and a crisp note out of your wallet, as the sale of these robots (on eBay) is what constitutes the revenue stream for the agency. (Note the lack of the word ‘fee’ there). Shifting their model as they go is both smart (I can’t imagine many creatives who wouldn’t want one of those toys), as well as typical of what you would expect from guys as smart and forward thinking as this lot.

All in all, just another reason to follow PARTY closely.

The obligatory ‘making of’ film.

(P.S. This isn’t the first time that PARTY and Androp have collaborated. See ‘Bell’ for further details…)

A typically bizarre and amusing talk from the Mr Bingo. East London’s very ‘master of pens’ provides us with a talk on his Hate Mail project. (Of which I was a recipient) at the Glug Christmas party at Fabric. Apart from being an amusing talk, it’s a great way to show how one drunken random thought can lead to a whole new creative project, and in Bingo’s case, a book deal with Penguin. This is worth your time. You can see more of the HateMail project over here.

Via Chief Wonka.

I’ve been thinking about California (And L.A in particular) alot lately. What it would be like to live there, to enjoy the sun, and the open space, and experience that very particular brand of American cultural life. So it’s quite timely that I stumbled upon the delights of this timelapse film of 1 day in California, as it seems to surmise all that you could imagine is great about living there. Produced by Ryan Killackey, it had awesome art direction, as well as The music choices being pretty spectacular too. An awe-inspiring film, that is far superior to the ads that California itself did a few years back in my opinion.

UPDATE >> Here’s another timelapse, this time focussing solely on LA. Looks amazing, and also has a very different perspective on LA with it’s focus on downtown. Beautiful.

Great idea. Nicely executed. (And the chairs aren’t bad either…)

Beautifully low key film from Intel profiling The Sartorialist (Aka Scott Schuman) on the streets of New York. The film (wonderfully shot by director Tyler Manson) is both a fascinating behind the scenes of Scott at work, as well as study in observation and dedication, and a mood that captures both the city and the idea perfectly. It’s also quite understated from Intel’s point of view. Will be following this one with interest if the rest of the films are of similar quality.

Here’s a slightly different tip today, something from the old world of Luxury, Hermes’ specifically. ‘Fingers’ is a rather charming little film that evolves the look book into something much more interesting than just a precession of same old same old product shots. Naturally, it’s very well done, and for me you can really see how this sort of film could evolve with more interactiveness into a really interesting and iterative buying experience.

Via @manchipp & Highsnobiety

One from the vaults that popped up on Twitter today, and boy is it tense! This is the video to Metal On Metal ‘Bastards’, from the ever excellent Glue Society (which, if you have never been on their website, do, because it’s great). There’s not more to say really. Try and watch without gripping the table with stress at the outcome.