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…)

Mid way through last year, I worked on some ideas for a new campaign for Lynx (Axe to all those not of UK extraction). The ad script ‘Anarchy’ that I read at the time immediately stood out as one of the most interesting and exciting that the brand had attempted in a while. Full of the verve, wit and fun that AXE is (in)famous for. (To be fair, it’s also quite a neat concept from AXE too).

So it’s great to see that the commercial (even in it’s trailer form) seems to have managed to translate so well from script to film. However, what makes AXE campaigns so much fun to work on is usually the stuff that goes on around the initial ad concept. This proves yet again to be the case with this digital idea from BBH New York. Another example of digital platforms bleeding into traditional media disciplines, and creating something fun and innovative with it.

The AXE Anarchy Graphic Novel mashes together ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ style narrative with participation from AXE fans around the world. Add them together and you end up with a ‘real time’ comic (all illustrated in the Marvel/DC Comic Book tradition) that incorporates the users whose suggestions won out. It should make for an interesting story, and would be interesting to see where this is taken, surely a printed version, or development of the characters further would be a great way to continue to build on the assets already established.

It’s a novel combination that, from the looks of the promo video, has been executed with flair and passion. (The AXE site from the brief glimpses you can see looks well done too. The YouTube channel is here).  With the full release of the commercial coming up, and add in some ideas I worked on (natch), it’s looking to be a strong start to the year from one the world’s consistently strong advertisers.

One of the most consistently inspiring companies out there is the guys from Northern Sweden, North Kingdom. There year has been punctuated by many excellent projects. From Volvo Cross Country Travels (Which I blogged about last month), to the extensively chronicled ’Three Dreams Of Black’ project with Google Creative Labs.

That last project provides one the examples in this presentation from Alfredo Aponte. Entitled ‘Enhancing Experiences with Animation’), it shows how animation (not in it’s Pixar/Dreamworks configuration) is one of the most essential elements to any genuinely successful product, project or campaign. The metaphors he draws upon to describe great UX are smart and help demystify and clarify in equal measure. So this presentation works well as both an introduction to the subject and and clear opinion piece for those with a keen interest  in the discipline. Well worth a read.

A couple of videos here from the masters of their fields. Essential viewing and just goes to show that success is truly aligned to authenticity.

Dieter Rams.

John Hegarty.

So over at the (recently discovered) Design Chapel blog, North Kingdom founder Robert Lindström gives us a detailed breakdown of their new work (in collaboration with Forsman & Bodenfors) for Volvo. Volvo Cross Country Travels is a multi platform experience that brings to life 25 of the most spectacular adventures in Scandinavia.

To be honest, Robert’s detailed breakdown on his own blog does a far superior job than I ever could of explaining the reasoning behind each creative decision. I want to focus on what a fully realised, and excellent project this is. Every single touchpoint; the awesomely well executed website, (which acts in it’s own right as the best tourist guide to Scandinavia you’ll find on the web), which works seemlessly across tablet and mobile platforms, to the films shot for each experience, are flawlessly executed.

The sense of an adventure is enhanced by the smaller touches of integration through the experience. The badges (see below) are cute touch that work across your digital prescence, e.g checking into Foursquare, and integrated into Google Maps as well as being real world objects, collectable in the same way that scout badges were for us as kids. It’s a little thing, that makes a huge difference to the overall effect.

This is always what you imagine a Volvo car should be doing, even though it’ll spend most of it’s time ferrying the kids to and from school and that’s some pretty powerful brand association. This project also shows (obviously you might say) the value of attention to detail in cross platform delivery and is another excellent example of a maturation of interactive experiences in 2011.

Kudos to all involved.

Photo via F/28

While looking through the excellent kox.tumblr (SFW), I stumbled upon the image above that really rather confused me. is it real? is it a diorama? Or just tilt-shift on acid? Upon further investigation, it turned out to be part of an excellent collection of similar diorama’s by the Flickr member F/28, or Florian Tremp – ‘Small World Photographer’. This collection of fantastic odd, and uneasy snapshots of small town, dustbowl America, aptly titled “No Country For Small Men”, are made all the more remarkable by the attention to detail and effort that has gone into photograph/diorama. All made by hand, they truly are a sight to behold.

The entire collection, (here on Flickr) is well worth a look.

This is certainly one of the coolest and most ambitious ideas I have seen this year. All based on a very simple truth. New York Writes Itself, is literally that. A crowd-sourced film script made up of thousands of New Yorkers imaginations and reflections of their own city, billed as a ‘A Production By The People Of New York’.

It’s such a simple thought; a city as diverse, as complex and as densely rich in story as New York could quite literally write itself a script. It’s not like New York hasn’t already been explored in minute detail by some of film’s great directors, from Spike Lee’s Bed Stuy masterwork Do The Right Thing to Woody Allen’s Upper West Side neuroses in Manhattan, or Times Square’s squalor in Midnight Cowboy and Taxi Driver, (the tip of the iceberg obviously), but what makes this different, and therefore worth the follow is the threading together of these disparate experiences. Can you really make a script of something as vast as New York? All these films put a microscope onto a particular slice of New York life, giving you an opportunity to truly experience that slice of life. The creators have neatly sidestepped this by allowing all the elements, Quotes, scenes and characters in the script to be selected and made into their own productions – like posters, exhibitions, music videos and short films.

Projects are already underway, with the first one being ‘The Chairman’ (below)

If you wanted to take this exploration further, then this project is another example of either the strength or weaknesses of crowdsourcing projects. What are the rewards of participation?  I personally believe the reward is in seeing your own experience recreated in some way. Your unique experience of New York becomes a unique thread in the cultural pattern of the city. You are now immortalised in your metropolis. When at times we can feel alienated from the scale and enormity (and relative anonymity) of cities, the chance to write your own piece into it, seems to be too tempting. A project to follow with interest.