The Society Of The Spectacle

Some friday inspiration for you from the guys at Creative Social. If you don’t know what it is, then the easiest way to explain it is that it’s a bit like the NBA all star game for the interactive advertising community. Looks like I’ll have to get practising to get into the next one… But I digress, what I found really inspring and I must say, quite jealous about this was the quality of speakers they had at the last one in San Francisco (Pixar heavy with Brad Bird and the composer of the ‘Up’ soundtrack Michael Giacchino) as well as the collegiate atmosphere of these gatherings. An acknowledgement that the work we aspire to create should not only do a job for our clients (otherewise we’d all be out of jobs pronto), but as much be aspire to be a part of culture, not a leech, as well that a spirit of entrepeneuralism and vision will go a long way. That spirit of thinking was captured in the most recent Creative Social blogpost, from Saatchi NY Interactive CD James Cooper, (Worth a follow on Twitter @koopstakov) with his concept of Zero Waste Creativity. An embryonic idea that seeks to eliminate waste in the creative process by actually structuring the brief, setting clear goals and effectively putting in real hard work at the front end, to minimise the waste at the back end. Have a read (and the excellent Edward Booches comments over at PSFK), but it stands that Creative Social is a place where these ideas are given center stage, and as such should be treasured even by those outside the small gatherings themselves.

On the ever excellent Talent Imitates, Genius Steals, Faris had a great post highlighting the curious and innovative ‘Robin Of Shoreditch’ project. A collaboration between a collective of (unamed) creatives (possibly in Shoreditch? Who’d have thought…), the purpose of the project is simple. To take from the rich, to give to the poor. Target the top 100 brands as defined by Brand Z list. Give each of them an idea to chew on all for the princely sum, of 1/10,000,000 of their total brand value. The money donated by each brand for said creative idea then goes to help the victims of the Haiti earthquake. A tragedy that still continues to unfold even as the world’s camera’s have turned their gaze onto (equally horrendous) events.

With the worthiness of the idea firmly established, it might be easy for the ideas generated to be nothing more than throwaway bits of fluff. So it’s heartening to know that the ideas created by the these East London merry men, are by and large, excellent. Incisive well thought through and are not just new lines or a new aesthetic twist. They are culturally relevant and useful (e.g not another script for another ad) they are also hugely optimistic, they have faith in big, game changing, behaviour defying ideas. Which is where all our heads should be at.

So on wards ye merry band, and here’s to gaining as much traction (and blog posts/coloum inches – pick your poison) as possible.

Check out a few of the ideas below.

(Nice soundtracks as well.)

The Creators Project | Mark Ronson.

The ever awesome Vice magazine have teamed up with Intel to create a rather interesting and rather large ongoing collaboration. The Creators Project is a continually updated network of great creative work, from the famous to the anonymous. While on the other hand, it works as an arts foundation, promoting and helping bring great creativity to a wider audience. It’s a nice idea, that for once, makes sense, especially since this is clearly a long term effort by both brands. With huge 3 day expositions being held in cities around the world to bring this content to the fore, it’s sure to be one to watch. To launch the project, Vice has gone and interviewed a number of ‘creators’, talking about how and why they create their content. What inspires them and what fuels their passion to look beyond their boundries (either self imposed or not)

The first video talks with Mark Ronson. Ronson probably needs no introduction as the puppetmaster behind Amy Winehouse’ meteoric rise with the Back To Black album. Admittedly, I’m not the hugest fan of ‘Version’ his covers album, but this interview is actually quite interesting, notably from the way he seems to be such a splicer and dicer of influences and approaches. His acquisition of old analog drum machines and 808′s seems as far removed from the faux-soul sound that has followed him around for the last few years as you can imagine. Luckily that’s what creators do, never stop moving.

Check out the video, and have a dig around the website, (there’s a written interview with Ronson here) this looks like a collaboration to keep an eye on. You can join up the Facebook group here as well to keep up-to-date on all the goings on. The Creators Project is launched next week in New York. Hey Vice! Fly us over?

A very relaxing way to end the week.

Insanely, insanely simple. Nothing else, check them all out here.

Here’s a great video exploring Near Field Communication. This video in particular explores “one of the essential properties of Near Field Communication is nearness, but this is set against one of the paradoxes of touch-based interaction where, in fact, nothing needs to touch.”

Interesting stuff.

Marvel Comics has through it’s successful re-imagining of it’s characters on the big screen, has undergone a renaissance since the beginning of the noughties. (Culminating for those that didn’t know in it’s acquisition by Disney for some ludicrous figure). What has impressed me more than anything is the way they have diversified away from the core comic book base while still keeping a sense of evolution and crucially, innovation. This streak has taken an interesting turn with the release of Marvel Motion comics. Traditional graphic paneled comics giving a moving dynamic overhaul. The results are pretty interesting. (more…)

Here is the first trailer for a really interesting (well for anyone likes Star Wars) remix project. Star Wars Uncut. The premise is simple. The film has been spliced up into fifteen seconds slices. These were then posted online and people we given the chance to reserve one of these sections. It was then their job to bring this to life in whichever way they saw fit, while retaining the dialogue and basic scene structure. I had read about the project sometime ago, but it’s really interesting to see just a small selection of the diversity on offer. Star Wars has been spoofed so many times that it will be really interesting how this will add to the legacy.

It’s done the rounds a bit now, but this is a fascinating and beautifully shot film for Johnnie Walker. BBH London hired the supreme acting talents of Robert Carlyle to narrate the story of Johnnie Walker’s evolution from ‘Victorian greengrocer’ to a worldwide dominant Whiskey brand. It’s delivered with real skill, the writing is spot on and the interaction with the props and setting along the way are just the right side of engaging and add another dimension to the story . The fact that this was an internal film for employees shows how much you can do with engaging businesses inside with a great bit of creative. Take a peek.

Summer has arrived. These seem like the right way to celebrate the arrival of the sun. Incredibly imaginative (and sympathetic) remixes of children’s classics from Disney. More of the same here…