Want to know an effective way to get attention from consumers? Launch your new, several thousand pound product off of a 100 ft. tower.
Yesterday, Chevy did just that with their new compact vehicle, the Sonic. Goodby, Silverstein & Partners orchestrated the stunt and live streamed the excitement from LA on Let’sDoThis.com. The power was in the users' hands as they were invited to visit the website and 'click' to push the Sonic closer to the edge.
Several hours and 2,400,000+ clicks later, the car made the plunge where it was caught by bungee cables attached to a hydraulic crane, creating a social media-powered bungee jumping car. Visit the site to see the car dive.
Word is, the initial plan was to drive the Chevy to a levy but the levy was dry. Okay, so that's false, but don't pretend that that song doesn't always slip into your mind when you hear Chevy. Well, it's either that or an endearing mental image of Chevy Chase's dimple chin.
Big Spaceship just announced that Alasdair Lloyd-Jones is joining the agency as Partner & Chief Operations Officer, effective immediately. In this newly-created role Alasdair will oversee the strategic vision for the company, develop new practices and manage the core management team, reporting to agency founder and CEO Michael Lebowitz.
That's not the only change taking place inside Big Spaceship. Minister of Technology Joshua Hirsch and General Manager Jason Prohaska, who joined the agency in 2002 and 2004 respectively, have also been named partners.
Over the past year, Big Spaceship has continued to grow and expand its business, with key new hires and promotions among the agency’s management, strategy, design/development and production teams. Recently the agency unveiled an expanding portfolio of work for leading clients including Google, Chobani Champions, Lucasfilm, Activate and Adobe.
Prior to joining Big Spaceship, Alasdair was Co-President & Chief Strategic Officer at San Francisco agency Cutwater. Alasdair’s background is primarily in strategy. He comes with much agency experience across a number of major agency groups including Ogilvy, Publicis and Deutsch working across many markets including Europe, Asia and North America.
“It is an exciting time to be joining Big Spaceship,” said Alasdair. “We are working in that space between product innovation and traditional communication, creating highly engaging experiences that connect brands to their target audiences. I look forward to working with the crew to invent new products and strategic marketing communications, and to build the agency’s strength in bringing digital experiences more utility and enjoyment.”
Graham Elliot's film, NY in Motion, presents itself as a love letter to NY and the people who work their asses off to make it a compelling place to create and conduct business. What started out as a small project ended up expanding into a documented history of the Motion Graphics Industry that is making its way across the film festival circuit and looking to inspire government funding for design industries. We all know how excited Bloomberg gets about NY's tech developments. Will the film inspire him to show the same love for design?
New York-based post production boutique Northern Lights teams up with director Graham Elliott to uncover the passion and innovation that fuels the New York City Motion Graphics Industry in the illustrative documentary New York in Motion. In the film, Elliott interviews over 50 of the most influential players in the motion graphics field, defining the industry as it is today, how it’s evolved over the years and where it’s going. After a highly successful debut screening in April, the documentary is poised to make a splash in the film festival circuit with slated screenings at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) from November 16-27, the Pause Fest in Melbourne, Australia (November 7-13), A Design Film Festival in Singapore (November 3-20) and the International Motion Festival in Cyprus (March 2012). The interviews include executives from such influential studios as Psyop, Shilo, Mr. Wonderful, Brand New School, 1st AveMachine and TV networks including MTV, BET, NBC and Comedy Central along with a wide array of top freelance designers and artists.
Elliott, an industry veteran of 20 years and Music Video/Motion Graphics instructor at the School of Visual Arts, was inspired to create this film as he began to see a spike of interest in the school’s Motion Graphics department without students having a solid awareness of what actually encompassed this burgeoning industry. Originally intending to create an eight to twelve-minute short piece to be used as an informational video at graduation, Elliott quickly realized that his 100+ hours of footage were much better suited for a longer-form project. He notes, “What was most inspiring is the passion that people had for their work. I found a really amazing industry out there and the irony is the recession has really helped the industry in New York, allowing companies to branch into other creative services and allowing for fresh talent to open up their own shops.”
Not only does the documentary capture the essence of the Motion Graphics industry, but it also displays the enchanting energy that New York City radiates and how it constantly fuels creativity in the industry. Elliott integrates stop-motion throughout the film and uses images that depict the endlessly motion that defines the Big Apple. Elliott notes, “New York City dwellers are up against different demographics of people everyday and have encounters that inspire the various personalities within the industry.”
In addition to festival screenings, the film has sparked interest in the industry as a whole, inspiring New York City’s Center for Urban Future to explore the possibility of pushing government agencies to put more financial backing into the design industries, which provide a great deal of business within the city.
Alive & Well has formed a partnership with Fake Love in an effort to develop engaging stories for brands that span multiple platforms. Besides the rhetorical satisfaction elicited from this news, equally impressive is that the word "advertising" was not used once in the press release. Rather, the emphasis is appropriately placed on immersive storytelling, visual narratives, and enhanced interaction. That's where the Real Love's at for Fake Love.
Alive & Well has formed a partnership for integrated, experiential and new media with New York based creative technology shop, Fake Love. Focusing on immersive brand solutions and integrated visual storytelling that work in multiple platforms, Fake Love is led by Creative Directors/Technologists Josh Horowitz and Layne Braunstein. Specializing in experiential design, post/vfx and new media, Fake Love has had its hands in projects for top brands such as Google, Spin Magazine, M.A.C. Cosmetics, Microsoft, Samsung and MTV Networks.
Currently in production with Bacardi, Coca Cola and State Farm, Fake Love is also working on a second collaboration with visionary Chinese choreographer Shen Wei (Beijing Olympics) to create a visual narrative installation set to accompany his latest show, premiering in November. The previous performance project titled, “Limited States,” is touring Europe.
Says Alive & Well Executive Producer Stephen Dickstein, “It’s really exciting to be associated with such talented and really great guys. They get technology, they’ve got great taste and they are extraordinarily pleasant and humble.” Adds Fake Love ECD/Partner Josh Horowitz, “Alive and Well really understands what we do and have been such great supporters of our work. They’ve been such a huge factor in getting us amazing opportunities and letting us push the boundaries between design and technology. Our work with them on ad agency projects have really allowed us to walk that fine line and drive the creative to exciting new territories.”
Fake Love has put together an impressive group of creative professionals. The team is accomplished, award winning and very well known amongst their peers. Different facets of the company focus on video and the interaction of image sound in love performance. They also work in creative programming, 3D modeling, sound, video and electronics enhancing interaction within physical space.
If Bruce Springsteen sings about it, it's American. Listen to Racing in the Streets, and if you weren't convinced before, know now that Chevy is an all-American brand (though they're now also a global force). And, of course, baseball is the corresponding all-American past time. (Take me out to the ball game, anyone? Buy me some cracker jacks? Definitely one of the songs in my elementary school patriotic verse book.) Next month, Chevy brings the two traditions together with their World Series TV spot celebrating 100 years of existence. Check out the full pitch below:
DETROIT – In many ways, baseball and Chevrolet have grown up together. To celebrate its upcoming 100th birthday on Nov. 3, Chevrolet will air a 60-second ad during game one of tonight’s World Series (7:30 p.m. ET on Fox) that blends historic photos of memorable moments starring Chevrolet vehicles and frames them in modern-day settings.
“The ‘Then and Now’ spot celebrates Chevrolet’s role in the American journey, and I can’t think of a better setting for its world debut than the World Series,” said Chris Perry, vice president, Global Chevrolet Marketing and Strategy. “Chevrolet’s business may be about making great cars, but we also recognize that life’s road trips are about the places and people we experience along the way.”
The spot was developed by Chevrolet ad agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners (GSP), along with Park Pictures and Lance Acord. It shows historic photos of past events involving Chevrolet vehicles, held at arm’s length on the modern-day location where those moments occurred, connecting the past and the immediate present.
“Of all car brands, Chevrolet is the most eternal,” said Jeff Goodby, Co-Chairman and Creative Director at GSP. “Chevy suggests our past, our present, and our future as individuals and families. Even if you've never owned one, you know the feeling.”
On November 3, 1911, Swiss immigrant Louis Chevrolet and U.S. entrepreneur Billy Durant founded the Chevrolet Motor Car Company. Today, Chevrolet is one of the best-known automotive brands, not only in the U.S., but around the world.
Klout touts their service as creating “the standard for influence.” But as with everything in social media, that standard is constantly shifting. So today, we welcome a new era for Klout Scores. Klout CEO Joe Fernandez (score: 67) just announced “the biggest improvement to the Klout Score” in their history, a statement that will surely be analyzed by Klout historians for some time. It will take effect next week.
Since Klout has become a thing that social media aficionados care about (and business folk command their assistants to take care of), we want to know how to manipulate our influence. What does Klout take into account, and how can we check the necessary boxes in order to rise to the top of its list?
According to Fernandez’ outline of the latest Klout iteration, it seems that if there is a formula for success, it’s to simply act like a genuine, social human being. If you’re making friends, keeping them and sharing with them, Klout will hand you a favorable score. Who do you impact, how much do you influence those people, and then what level of influence does your network attain in turn? Klout now asks those questions outfitted with clearer definitions. They have “tightened” their core premise that defines influence as the ability to drive action. “You are not more influential because you tweet or use Facebook more, you are influential because you have an influential audience engaging with your content.” Get Alec Baldwin or Khloe Kardashian (who has to be a lover of Klout) into your Twitter clique, and you’re set.
Among Klout’s other reinvigorated goals is transparency. If your score drops, Klout will give you the reason for the change. The mercurial orange speech bubble is no longer a stubborn mystery. Secrets will be revealed, and it is up to the user to adjust their social behavior accordingly. Pleading dumb is no longer a valid excuse for a sub-30 Klout score.
As Klout continues to improve accuracy and widens its reach, it stands to become an integral part of ascending any social media ladder. Write your latest Klout score below your Twitter handle on your resume, or in fact look up a prospective company’s number before agreeing to interview. Now that we know more about what the number means, it can encompass social power and indeed serve its initial grand purpose: defining the standard for influence.
Campfire (an NY agency specializing in "storytelling in a hyperconnected world") has got a new art director, Ilene Joel. Lest you think she has confused her sartorial eras based on the above headshot, rest assured that Joel is in fact just more impressive than the sum of her marketing achievements: the feather headband is a product of her company, MadeforMademoiselle. (Click our link instead of searching to avoid posts about genital piercings.)
Aside from her crafty endeavors, Joel's creative marketing work has been recognized internationally by the Applied Arts Magazine and Cannes Future Lions. She began her career at G2 Interactive (Grey Group) New York, and joins Campfire from her previous art director position at VML/Y&R in New York. Joel has served as art director for leading brands such as Hershey's, Accenture, Goldman Sachs, Mars and Campbell's.
Joel will fill Campfire's newly created role immediately, reporting to partner and CCO Mike Monello. She'll launch straight into work on several integrated campaigns for Campfire clients including A&E, Snapple, Syfy, Harley-Davidson and HBO. It's bound to be a whirlwind, and Joel is no doubt up for the task--beneath the custom feathered headband lies a bona fide powerhouse.
We just got word that Leo Burnett NY has succeeded Gotham as Chobani Yogurt's Agency of Record.
It's a big win for the young office behind New York Writes Itself. You have to imagine CCO Jay Benjamin and his aussie crew are pretty pumped right now about their first AOR win.
Chobani and Leo Burnett will "create an integrated national campaign including TV, out-of-home, social and digital among other elements." So basically, they'll do everything. We wonder if Big Spaceship remain a digital vendor for Chobani.
“We came into this creative review knowing we needed to find an agency that brought us strong creative ideas and thoroughly understood our brand and our customers,” said Doron Stern, VP of Marketing, Chobani. “We picked Leo Burnett because they presented us with compelling and genuine ways to tell the Chobani story and engage with our customers.”
We can only assume that Leo pitched a tale protein-fueled probiotic jet fighters attacking indigestion and heart disease. That's what I think of whenever I eat yogurt, at least.
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