What Fascinates Me

Logo Fails

2012-01-08T11:38:00.000-08:00

Sometimes a truly horrendous logo slips through the cracks and makes it into circulation. Who designed or approved of these logos, I am not sure, but I have noted that coincidentally several of them have a phallic appearance or sexual innuendos.

Locum, a Swedish property management company. No, it is not always a good idea to replace letters with hearts. In fact it is almost never a good idea.

Logo designed in 1973 for the Catholic Church's Archdiocesan Youth Commission. It won an award from the Art Directors Club of Los Angeles. Bravo.

Forget about bad cell reception. Mont-Sat's got you covered.

While not inappropriate, the sheer awfulness of these get me every time:
The Detroit Tigers logo 1901-1902 aka an amorphous blob that slightly resembles a 4 legged creature.

1927-1928 this gem was used. There are too many words.

They finally got it right 1934-1960 when this guy was let loose. Right?

Don't worry Tigers - you were not the only team to have terrible accompanying logos.
What is this you ask? Why it is a Red Sox player. You see it now, the red sock for a head - GENIUS POINT!

Or what I like to call the digitally remastered Cubs logo from 1916.

Poor font choice (Megaflicks)

Unfortunate spacing issues (Kids Exchange)

Layout fail (Parents magazine)

Just plain bad taste

I'm not sure what the appeal of these stick figures are, but they seem to be a surefire way to produce an unfortunate logo:

Right in the chest, that must sting.

Nothing quite gives you that feeling of security like someone cupping your breasts.

Not your average dentist.

The less said about this the better

(Insert penis joke)

Apparently not so speedy anymore?

Annnnnd just to finish things off why not throw in a few unfortunate ad placements.

Cinema Madness

2011-12-04T12:26:00.000-08:00

In the middle of a rather pleasant evening I found myself describing to my friend the movie Teeth. With potentially the worst plot ever, it is hard to believe that this idea had enough people get on board to make it a reality. I would've liked to hear that pitch. Unfortunately, this is not the only terrible movie premise of this day and age. It really is quite mind boggling how the heck some of these films got produced:

Teeth
Plot: Dawn, the unfortunate star in this travesty, grew up near a nuclear power plant. As a result she has a rare mutation, Vagina Dentata (teeth in her vagina). This set of vaginal teeth is controlled primarily by her emotions, and throughout the movie there are several "wrong-doers" that suffer Dawn's vagina's wrath. In the end, she uses her mutation as a way to rid the world of sexual abuse. Her first intentional victim: her stepbrother who is a perverted punk. In what may be the most ridiculous scene of the movie, she has sex with him, bites off his penis, spits it out (if you can call it that) on the ground where it is promptly EATEN BY HIS DOG. Pardon my language, but WHAT THE FUCK?! Watch out world, we have found our next great heroine.

Ridiculous. Unfortunately, I can say I have seen this train wreck in its entirety thanks to my dear friend Tim. While mildly hilarious and highly disturbing, I can't help but wonder who in their right mind dreamed up this disaster of a movie. Not to mention, the use of the tagline "every rose has its thorn". Poison. Really?

One Eyed Monster
Plot: Starring porn stars Ron Jeremy and Veronica Hart, this film takes place in some secluded area in North Carolina. The crew is working on filming a porno. During a break from filming, Ron Jeremy gets hit by a shooting star (a direct shot to his penis) and in the following scene his penis, now possessed by a sex-hungry alien, detaches itself, leaving Ron for dead. It runs rampant mass murdering the members of the cast and crew through various forms of essentially rape. The survivors soon realize that after the aliens climax it is at it's weakest and they construct a plan to guide the penis into a neuro-tactile simulator and then circumcise it with an ax during its 'refractory period'.

Preposterous. Not only is Ron Jeremy largely repulsive (keep in mind this was filmed in 2008), but there is no way someone could be involved in this production and 1. take it seriously or 2. not regret their choice in said involvement.

Rubber

Plot (from wikipedia): In the California desert, a tire comes to life and embarks on a killing spree as an audience watches the events unfold through binoculars. The tire kills by vibrating intensely and psycho-kinetically causing people's heads to explode. Settling into an obscure, desert town, the tire finds a woman that he is interested in. A sheriff investigating the murders is inside and outside the diegesis, sometimes participating in the narrative action and sometimes commenting on it.

Meanwhile, an accountant is ordered by his master to feed the audience a poisoned turkey, but the man in a wheelchair survives, as he doesn't eat any of the turkey, so the accountant tries to poison him with more food. When the food is turned down, the accountant eats it himself, and dies from the poison.

In the end, the tire is destroyed, but then reincarnated as a tricycle, and destroys the man in the wheelchair, causing him to explode entirely. The tricycle recruits several tires and rolls to Hollywood, where the film concludes.

Honestly, I don't understand what I just read. Those crazy French.

The Day of the Dolphin

Plot: A brilliant scientist trains his pair of dolphins to speak and understand English. They are stolen and he discovers the kidnappers are trying to further train the dolphins to carry out a political assassination by having them place a limpet mine on the hull of the yacht of the President of the United States.

This may very well be a brilliant idea actually.

Demon Island

Teens trapped on an island are haunted by a demon hidden inside...a pinata.

Enough said. Festive?

While doing a little research I also happened upon some fairly fantastic movie taglines:

"Science created him. Now Chuck Norris must destroy him." - Chuck Norris, the official badass.

"He was dead... but he got better."

"The only thing more terrifying than the last 12 minutes of this film are the first 92."

"Anna Planned To Propose To Her Boyfriend On February 29th. This Is Not her Boyfriend."

"Die Harder."

"Unwittingly, he trained a dolphin to kill the President of the United States."

"They came to SpaceCamp with the dream of becoming astronauts. Suddenly...Without warning...Before they were ready...They were launched into space."

"EX-COP. EX-CIA. EX-PLOSIVE." - If it has Burt Reynolds, its gotta be good.

"It happened to someone who knows someone who you know... You're next."

Vintage (and rather sexist) Ads

2011-11-29T21:50:00.000-08:00

The 1930's, the good old days of advertising, when an ad just wasn't an ad unless it came with a heavy dose of sexism. While perhaps these are rather offensive and demeaning, in this day and age I can't help but find them absolutely hilarious.

Is this not every woman's dream come true? Yes- Please do blow large quantities of smoke in my face while I gaze dreamily into your eyes.

I do enjoy cooking...

Shoes, yup that'll do it.

That just looks uncomfortable, a shirt and tie in bed?

I know you probably can't read this lavish story about a man trying to convince a woman that the postage meter is far superior to former methods of post, but she doesn't give in until she places a pink bow on the machine to make it "cute" - but the best line: "She acts like an early Christian about to be lunch for a lion."

Valid point. I would have had difficulties climbing a flimsy rope up the side of a mountain in whatever crazy getup I am sure that woman is wearing. Perhaps if she had been wearing a Drummond climbing sweater she'd be in better hands.

Obviously.

I do think women are generally worse drivers...

Heaven forbid!

"After one look at those Mr. Leggs slacks, she was ready to have him walk all over her."

This just looks wrong.

Was ketchup not twist off prior?

Was the thought bubble intentionally left blank?

I wonder if anyone used this...

I just love this one.

"Be the you he likes. Good to be around any day of the month." Don't take Midol for your terrible pain, take it so that you can be a little more peppy and pleasant to be around for Mr. Feathered Hair.

Also, sexism aside, what was soda's thing for babies?

Annnnnnd just to wrap things up, lets throw in a modern day ad:
Dr. Pepper 10, it's not for women.

Catvertising. Yes Please!

2011-11-13T21:24:00.000-08:00

John St., an ad agency in Toronto, seems to be getting a lot of buzz through the humorous videos they released this year and last.

Last year they created a case study on how to make Chelsea Bedano's 8th birthday a big hit. There were many tactics including a pre-party sleepover and a strategic invites to the most popular girls in the class. Ultimately, it was the mini pony that really made the event memorable. That Chelsea Bedano is one lucky lady.

Following suit with last years video, this year John St. created a video on catvertising. This video capitalizes on the extreme popularity of homemade cat videos on the Internet. Catvertising - it's win win.

While very entertaining, people are downgrading the agencies creativity while pointing out the videos similarity to another youtube wonder that was created a few months prior:

While these videos may seem like a bit of a time sink, they are drawing a lot of attention to the agency as they are being featured by large ad publications such as AdWeek (also my blog - it's a big deal). Also, they are showing the agencies capabilities and better establishing their overall brand. Entertaining. Self promoting. Genius?

Not a Bad View

2011-11-11T21:15:00.000-08:00

Over the past few weeks or so I have been getting some pretty great shots of the view from my apartment downtown Portland.

Not too shabby, eh?

A Dose Of Augmented Reality With Your Coffee?

2011-11-10T16:08:00.000-08:00

The season of Gingerbread Lattes and Spiked Eggnog Lattes (no Starbucks does not serve this, unfortunately) is upon us. And what a better way for the company to get an unnecessarily early start on the holiday season than releasing this new AR app this coming Tuesday to go along with their seasonal red cups (November 15).

First off, I would like to point out that the festivities for Christmas seem to be starting earlier and earlier each year, not that I'm opposed, just noting. I actually saw one of the TV networks have a countdown to the 25 days of Christmas countdown starting on November 20. A countdown to a countdown. Interesting. Soon we will just bypass Thanksgiving altogether, which would be a shame.

Anyways, Christmas ranting in the past and my red Starbucks cup and Spiked Eggnog Latte in hand, here is the video of what this app will do and how you can enjoy it for the season!

How it works:
-Download the app
-Point your smart phone at these red cups (or other branded Starbucks objects)
-Watch in SHEER AMAZEMENT as characters come to life and interact with your beverage

You can "collect" all 5 characters to qualify for a prize of some sort and inevitably there is some social media sharing involved.

Unfortunately, I am still stuck in the dark ages with my un-smart phone so I won't be able to enjoy this delightful app, but in the words of Starbucks, "Let's merry."

Skechers BOBS Rip Off TOMS

2011-08-06T22:40:00.000-07:00

Skechers recently released a line of new society enhancing shoes, BOBS. Essentially, Skechers copied the exact same concept as the popular do-good company TOMS: Purchase one pair of shoes and a second pair will get donated to a child in need.

The problem with this, is TOMS was founded with a strong back story and purpose. The founder, Blake Mycoski e, traveled for a time in Argentina during which he encountered several barefoot children. He founded TOMS to benefit these children and the emotional appeal to help a child in need caused TOMS to have wild success. However, the message of TOMS is still pure and the company does not spend much money on marketing campaigns or other forms of promotion.

With BOBS, I worry that many people will view Skechers recent business decision as a marketing ploy that is unoriginal and a huge rip off, down to their very name: BOBS. I mean, you can't really get too much closer, one syllable names- BOBS, TOMS, JOES, etc... same difference really. Not to mention, the BOBS shoe is IDENTICAL to a TOMS shoe, albeit at a slightly lower price point of $42 compared to $54ish for a pair of TOMS.

While I am sure Mycoskie doesn't mind the copy cat as it ultimately is working towards the greater purpose, I think TOMS advocates and the rest of society will view it as stealing some thunder. I mean, with the exact same design and promotion (buy one, give one) the only market I really see for the new Skechers is to take some of TOMS potential buyers that are perhaps looking for a cheaper model or love the Skechers brand.

Perhaps a far better way for Skechers to help, would have been to find an equally generous way to help those in need that fit their own model and used some originality. Within 24 hours of releasing this product internet forums were covered with disapproving patrons.

I will be interested to see if Skechers will be able to do any good with this new product. I guess any publicity is good publicity?

Google's Email Intervention

2011-07-28T22:06:00.000-07:00

Recently Google has begun an email intervention, to switch users from outdated accounts from providers such as Hotmail, Yahoo, and AOL to a clearly superior Gmail account.

Gmail began, as so many other of Google's services, as an invite-only beta program. Google gives its employees 20% of their work time to work on independent "pet" projects. And if they like them, they get a test run through invite only beta programs. Many programs such as Adwords (Gmail delivers text-based Google AdWords ads that are relevant to the content of users' email messages), Music Beta (which if you haven't checked out it is really cool), and the recent Google+ social networking site were created through this flex time.

The Gmail intervention allows users to send their friends/family an intervention email through http://www.emailintervention.com/.

While it seems like everyone I know uses Gmail, Microsoft's Hotmail and Yahoo Mail both currently have more subscribers. Perhaps this is due to people like me, that keep their Hotmail account around to sign up for things they are not sure they want to get emails from...

Google's Twitter account announced that 100,000 interventions were sent within the first 24 hours.
Microsoft soon retaliated with a video poking fun at Google, in particular Adwords:

It's actually fairly entertaining.

I think this is just another small step in Google's world takeover.

Mano A Mano in El Bano

2011-07-27T21:06:00.000-07:00

Wieden + Kennedy has started off the internet duel of the century! Between new Old Spice guy, Fabio, and old Old Spice guy, Isaiah Mustafa.

First of all, yes, Fabio has apparently taken over as the new Old Spice guy. His ads focus on his superiority to old Old Spice guy and involve a lot of hair blowing in the wind and expected bad Fabio acting, or talking, or whatever you will call it. Although I suppose it is just who he is...

The event began as Fabio challenged Mustafa to an Internet duel Monday morning.

Which was soon accepted by Mustafa.

And so began Mano A Mano In El Bano

Isaiah laid down the rules for the duel:

And so it all began. The challenges included staring, rap, mad libs, whistle, and pushups contests.

And all the while Fabio and Isaiah replied with youtube videos through the Old Spice channel to twitter followers trying to outdo each other in areas such as leaving a better message, naming a baby, and answering any other question posed to them.

Working out.

How to get a hot date.

Leaving an out of the office email video.

Overall, I am not super impressed with the duel. It has received a fair amount of hits (30K + per video), but I am not sure it has hit numbers W+K would brag about yet. I am not sure if this duel has ended... so perhaps there is more to come?

As for Fabio as new Old Spice guy, I guess it will certainly draw attention, but I think a lot of people will not like this new representative. I think Isaiah has won a place in people's hearts (or heads at least) as that orginally, refreshingly, quirky, manly man. And Fabio just can't quite keep up...

Although one thing I don't like about Isaiah's take in these duels. He has apparently now elevated himself to an unhumanly, godly status. Which poses the question, could he still be the manly MAN? He still has some of his randomly put together phrases, but they don't quite have the style they usually do.

Basically, I think perhaps W+K should have let a good thing die. But we will see, maybe I will be proven wrong.

Breakthrough Magazine Ads

2011-07-20T22:39:00.000-07:00

Print ads are having to find ways to be unique and interesting in order to stand out. Below are some of the most innovative and interesting magazine ads that are out there currently...

This ad for the Peugot's superior airbag system was shown in 50,000 Brazilian Magazines. When you hit the front of the car on the ad, the airbag slowly begins to inflate. Check it out below.

The use of QR codes has been increasing in advertisements. The group Reporters Without Borders ran these ad to show dictator's speaking to media censorship through the voice of the reporters. It works by scanning the QR code with your phone and placing the phone on the marked off section on the dictator's mouth.

This next ad promoted green energy by actually being solar powered! When in the magazine the ad is just black and white, but when exposed to sunlight it fills with color. I have no idea how one would even go about creating something like this, but it is pretty darn cool.

Danish brewery Carlsberg (the good ole Danes) have created an ad that when appropriately constructed turns into a bottle opener. The caption is right - this probably is the best ad in the world.

Volkswagen has done a series of creative ads from their quirky lemon ad to their recent"test drive" ad using a smart phone. This ad follows Volkswagen's trend of being an advertising trendsetter with their edible ad reading: Eat the road. Seriously, eat it. Offering a page constructed of glutinous rice flour, water, salt, propylene glycol, FD&C colour, glycerine. Maybe not the best tasting thing, but I suppose it won't kill you.

Also from Volkswagen is their new Beetle's Happy Pills campaign.

This one reads: Instant cure for cynicism.

WonderBra has an ad out where you can tighten a bra and give a little extra lift in the middle of your reading.

While this next ad is a bit disturbing, I find it oddly hilarious. A fertility clinic in Australia created this ad that causes the pages in a magazine to stick together. Once pulled apart a sexy lady in minimal clothing is exposed with a heading reading "Don't waste your sperm" (instead donate to the sperm bank).

Here are some others:

This ad bothers me as it reads Pepsi with a touch of lemon, but the ad is clearly a lime...

Alka Seltzer: Hangover is dangerous

Pringles Hot and Spicy: Balloon

Companies Look to Follow in Old Spice Footsteps

2011-07-11T21:37:00.000-07:00

Ever since Old Spice had their campaign with Isaiah Mustafa, the randomness of the manly man has caught on.

However, while the Old Spice commercial was refreshingly original, these new commercials are starting to wear on people's nerves.

Some companies following suit include:

Edge

Pledge

Dairy Queen

While these commercials are attention grabbing, they can't help but remind me of a rip off of Old Spice every time I see them!

Now That's Stylish! - Huggies

2011-06-28T22:09:00.000-07:00

So I had previously heard that Huggies was starting to make "Jeans" diapers. I thought it was a joke initially, but I recently caught the new commercial for the diaper.

Fantastic right? This just cracks me up! These diapers run $19.99 for a pack of between 52-72 (depending on size) which when looking at my very limited research seems very comparable to other Huggies diaper prices.

Personally, I think these diapers will do well. With a lot of mom's looking to stay fashionable and wanting the best for their child, these diapers seem like a fun way to set their child apart. Give them a little extra confidence on the playground. Also, it seems most other disposable diapers are rather plain in comparison. One thing that may hurt this denim diaper is that with the recession still hanging around, parents are looking for the cheapest diapers, etc. for their children in order to save some money.

Pioneering Beering

2011-06-26T16:34:00.000-07:00

In the 1980's Chuck Hahn founded an Australian beer company, Hahn Beer, with an experimental and innovative style. Although the brand is now owned by Lion Nathan it has decided to return to its roots and has since created the tagline "Pioneering Beering". In their latest ad the new Hahn beer is brewed in a very futuristic yet retro brewery where "'super-ness' is brewed into the beer by glam bodybuilders, a heavy-metal drummer, a playboy with a beer-filled plastic tiger, and a bottle-capping ferret, among other characters".

For a more detailed look into the ad and the art direction and creation check out: adweek

Been gone too long!

2011-06-26T16:19:00.000-07:00

This past month of my life has been crazy - and unfortunately without blog posts! I have in the past few weeks graduated from college, moved back home with the parents, gotten into summer school for advertising, had an interview and got a job with a company that works with entrepreneurs to create business plans/websites/logos, dropped said summer school classes, moved onto my sisters couch in downtown Portland, found an apartment to move into with my sister and her boyfriend come August, and finally I just got back from a long weekend of hiking and camping at Silver Falls!

If you have never been to Silver Falls it is a really cool area. We did a hike that was 8.7 miles and walked past/under 10 different waterfalls. The campground was also really nice (best camping showers I have ever seen). Also, highlight of the hike, I found a four leaf clover! I have never even seen a four leaf clover before.

Also, we stopped at the local Silverton brewery and I think I found my new favorite beer. It is called Emily's Ember by Seven Brides Brewing! And on their website they have a list of where you can find there beer - and there are a few places in Portland!

Anyways... Now that my life is starting to get semi-figured out I will be able to get back to my posts :)

Volkswagen

2011-05-28T19:13:00.000-07:00

Lately Volkswagen has been making their name by doing different and rather strange advertising. Recently they published a Norwegian ad in which you could "test drive". The ad consists of a stretch (2 pages wide) of road in which you can download an app and "test drive" your phone through the ad. You can try out three different features of the car: lane assist, adaptive lights and cruise control.

Even more recently Volkswagen has come out with an edible print ad by Ogilvy Cape Town. VW South Africa's Auto Trader magazines have shown these ads with copy that reads, "Eat the Road. Seriously, eat it." The ingredients are listed on the side as "glutinous rice flour, water, salt, propylene glycol, FD&C colour, glycerine."

Other recent Volkswagen ads, although perhaps not quite as unusual:
Volkswagen: The Force

Volkswagen has a history of having ads that have reinvented the industry and are truly fantastic:

I could keep posting these all day there are just so many!
To see more great Volkswagen ads you can pick up a copy of Remember Those Great Volkswagen Ads? for about $999.98 on Amazon (it is a pretty rare book). Or more realistically you can type that into google and see a fair amount of the ads on the image search.

New website!!

2011-05-28T18:13:00.000-07:00

So I haven't written a blog in a few days because I have been obsessed with updating/redoing my portfolio site. It looks so much better now though!

Check it out: http://www.wix.com/sarahaagesen/portfolio

Student Project - eHarmony Waffle Maker

2011-05-24T10:56:00.000-07:00

I am currently in my capstone marketing class, Marketing Policy. In this class we are given a term project and a group to work with (3-4 people). The project is to create a marketing plan. Each team is given a brand (we were given eHarmony) and a random product which they do not currently produce or compete within the industry (we were given a waffle maker). Then we are given the term and a few milestone presentations and papers to get us in line. At the end of the term we have to do a presentation and turn in our final marketing plan for the eHarmony Waffle Maker.

For our project we created a personalized waffle maker in which a couples names will be placed on the waffle iron plates, thus creating imprinted names on each waffle. One guy in my group, Dale, actually created a prototype waffle maker, which we used during our presentation to make waffles for the class.

I also pieced together a few ads targeted to our main three market segments (Newlyweds segmented based on age).

And then.. we pieced the whole thing together into a marketing plan!

eHarmony Waffle Maker

Another group member and I just finished putting this together this morning and it feels great to be done!

Friskies Cat App

2011-05-23T21:24:00.000-07:00

Friskies has developed a serious of games for the iPad2 and Android tablets that are meant specifically for your cat (and don't worry, Friskies assures the tablet screens are scratch-proof).

"Friskies is excited to feed your cats’ senses with three new games made just for cats. The colors, movement, and game-play have been researched and tested for maximum feline fun."

With apps for everyone in the family, why not create a game for the cat? Great way to keep it entertained (not to mention keep yourself entertained).

Social Networking Meets Beer Contest

2011-05-22T21:40:00.000-07:00

Two German students, Max Arlestig and Maximilian Gebhardt, created a project entitled "The Invite" in which they incorporate a bottle opener with Facebook.

The opener has a bluetooth connection which it uses to connect to Facebook. Every time a beer is opened using the opener, a Facebook event is created at your location and invites your friends that live within close proximity over. Friends are then encouraged to RSVP to the event. Whoever ends up with the most friends RSVPing wins a free case of Heineken!

Below is the student pitched campaign concept.

While this is a project and not a real campaign, it does have some pretty cool ideas within it. Definitely a fun way to get involved with the Heineken brand and to get people involved (I mean it's free beer). However, I also see several drawbacks with this idea. First of all, do you really want an event being posted every time you open a beer? What if there are multiple people using the opener; would you have 10, 20, 50 events created in a night? And also, would you really want all your friends in your area to be invited (or any for that matter)? I mean, lets face it everyone has some of those Facebook "friends". And, if you were to have say all your friends RSVP and show up, are you going to be able to handle the party (I mean I live in a small apartment - it'd be a disaster)?

While perhaps this project isn't perfect, it definitely has some great ideas buried within. These types of interactive social campaigns are starting to become popular among companies, trying to find the most creative way to interact. One company that is trying to campaign on this social level is Pepsi.

Flash Mob!

2011-05-20T17:41:00.000-07:00

Flash mobs have been becoming very popular lately. A flash mob is made up of a group of people that gather together in a public place and perform some type of usually song of dance. The group randomly assembles and people that seemed merely spectators join in. The group disperses once the song is over.

The T-Mobile Flash Mob Dance

Modern Family - Flash Mob!
By the way this as of late is one of my favorite shows! It is hilarious and if you have not seen it I highly recommend changing that pronto.

Christmas - Hallelujah

AT&T is playing off of this trend in one of their latest ads.
AT&T - Flash Mob

Besides flash mobs, there are some other pretty cool music videos out there that I would like to share.

Double Vision - 3OH!3
The video is meant to look like a web page that you scroll down.
The thing that is really cool about this video is the entire thing is made when people are laying down.

You should really check out the behind the scenes making of the video below.

Ok Go - Here it Goes Again
This video is also pretty impressive! I am really curious how many times it took them to get this filmed (you will notice it is filmed through in one take - and at one point one of them almost falls at about 1:00 in the front left).

LMFAO - Party Rock Anthem
Dance Zombies!!
This is a great song and when I was walking to class the other day after listening to this I was just waiting for everyone to spontaneously bust out the shuffle... would make for such an entertaining class. Maybe next time!

Google Car Drives Itself

2011-05-15T21:37:00.000-07:00

Google has developed a car that drives itself!

As of October 2010, test cars had driven over 140,000 miles with only occasional human control. This includes San Francisco's Lombard Street (which is one of the curviest and steepest streets in the U.S.). There had been one accident reported with the vehicle, when it got rear-ended while stopped at a red light.

While this car is years from mass production, it is still something to be excited about. The engineers are saying that robots have a 360 view, do not get tired/distracted, and could save thousands of lives. Also, with the decreased probability of car crashes, cars could be built lighter and more fuel efficient.

The car is rigged with GPS and sensors as well as access to all speed limits, etc.

There are of course a few drawbacks with this car as well. Currently, the law requires that a human operate a vehicle, so until the law is changes this type of vehicle could not be used. Also, in the event that an accident were to occur, who would be liable? The person behind the wheel or the car manufacturer? Also, I think that if the car were to get into an accident, it would be a very big deal/lawsuit.

So while this is still somewhat a car of the future, it is still pretty neat to see where things might be headed. I am not sure that people will ever really feel comfortable enough to put their lives in the hands of a robot car, but perhaps someday.

The One Show

2011-05-14T14:07:00.000-07:00

The One Show 2011 Awards are put on by the One Club each year to recognize and promote excellence in advertising. The 2011 One Show Festival was recently held on May 9th - 13th. With winner recently announced I decided to include some of my favorites below.

Agency: W+K
Wieden + Kennedy scored big this year at the show.

Old Spice: Questions

Old Spice: Boat

ESPN: This is Sprtscenter

Nike: Write the Future

Agency: Deutsch L.A.
Volkswagen: The Force

Agency: kempertrautmann gmbh / Hamburg
Goertz 17: Shoelace Box

Agency: Crispin Porter + Bogusky
Burger King: King Pillowcase

Agency: AlmapBBDO / SÃ£o Paulo
Billboard: Music. See what it´s made of.
These are awesome.

Agency: Mother
Target: Kaleidoscope Fashion Spectacular
The Target Fashion show took place in New York's Standard Hotel. It included 60+ dancers, a vicual program created by Daft Punk's light designers, 155 rooms at the Standard Hotel, and lasted 20 minutes. While this was going on the fashion show for target was happening on the ground in front of the venue. Spectacular!

Agency: Y&R Dubai / DUBAI
Microsoft Corporation Xbox Resident Evil 5: Zombieland
These print ads are for the New Resident Evil 5 game for Microsoft's Xbox. The people featured in the ads are wearing shirts with their name and nutrition facts on it.

Agency: Euro RSCG New York
Dos Equis: Dos Equis Radio - The Most Interesting Man in the World
The One Show: Euro RSCG New York / New York | Dos Equis Radio

Agency: BBH New York
Google: Chrome Speed Tests

Agency: Ogilvy
IBM: Watson
The One Show: Ogilvy New York / New York | Watson

Agency: BBDO New York / New York
AT&T: The Last Text Integrated Campaign

Agency: DDB Stockholm
Volkswagen Sweden: Speed Camera Lottery

Heineken goes to Wieden + Kennedy

2011-05-13T22:08:00.000-07:00

In 2008 Heineken released their Walk in Fridge commercial created by the UK's King Cross agency.

I think this commercial is great! Funny to both men and women and I just love the surprising twist at the end the first time you see it.

For a while W+K managed Heineken's account. However, it was lost to Euro RSCG in 2009. In 2009 W+K came up with the Give Yourself a Good Name campaign.

This campaign was carried over to RSCG with the below commercial that was released in 2010.

I'm not too crazy about this campaign. It is alright, but I don't think it really did much to boost Heineken shares or increase brand loyalty and I think it was minimally discussed among consumers.

In 2010 they turned to some guerrilla marketing. They also launched a viral campaign called Men with Talent in which men could showcase their many beer drinking talents for the internet world to see.

Now the Heineken account is back with Wieden + Kennedy and they have began the Open your World campaign.
This commercial, called "The Entrance", rolled out earlier this year.

I absolutely love this commercial! It is entertaining and brings a whole new look to Heineken that I think could really work for them.

However, one thing I can't help but notice is this ads similarities to the Dos Equis Most Interesting Man in the World campaign that was created by Euro RSCG. One more thing to note is that in early 2010 Heineken bought Mexican beer companies Dos Equis and Sol.

Also great ads. I am more of an IPA gal, but these ads make me want to drink a Dos Equis!

Both ads (Most Interesting Man in the World and The Entrance) use international mystery men as the main appeal.

Perhaps this is just coincidence? Perhaps Heineken and W+K are trying to play off this past campaigns success?

Audi

2011-05-11T07:27:00.000-07:00

Audi's latest ad takes a bit of a different approach than it's prior ads. While this ad is for the new A1, which is one of Audi's smaller cars, it is still an Audi. The A1 has not been released in the U.S. yet. I think that with this ad they are perhaps trying to appeal to a different crowd and maybe attract a bit of a younger, more energetic crowd. From this ad I see the target being young, hip Apple enthusiasts (maybe a bit of a hipster).

Don't get me wrong, love the new ad. Although I am not entirely sure it is consistent with their past ads, it really gives the brand a personality and I think it will attract young, affluent buyers.

This years superbowl ad. Escape old luxury. This seemed to be kind of the prior Audi message and direction and I thought it really worked for them. I thought these ads were great; entertaining, different than a typical car commercial, and brought in that differentiation factor to Audi (new luxury). And they had a bit of that old mob feel to them.

Audi Goodnight (earlier this year - January).

I will be interested to see if this new strategy will carry over into the U.S. market at all.

Microsoft Home of the Future

2011-05-10T21:26:00.000-07:00

The Microsoft Home has been around since 1994. It takes a peek 3-15 years into the future and looks at how technology will be a factor in everybody's life then.

Microsoft Home is created as sort of a testing ground of products. Currently some of the objects that make the home futuristic are interactive digital wallpaper (with internet connectivity), a charging plate that charges any electronic (phone, watch) as well as provides information about them, and a large interactive screen that holds music and information (as well as many other things). If that doesn't make much sense just check out the videos below!

On a related note. Microsoft also has videos released on what they envision the future to be like in 2019.

You can also find extended videos on YouTube of 2019 visions in specific areas (i.e. offices, manufacturing, etc.).

Pretty cool and very technology oriented. I am not sure we will quite be there yet in 2019, but maybe someday not too far from then Microsoft's vision will become reality.

Cute Anniversary Gift

2011-05-09T21:16:00.000-07:00

I recently read about an art director, Sean Ohlenkamp, that created an anniversary gift for his wife using his mac. It is definitely a bit nerdy, but it is really sweet at the same time.

Everyone likes a cute surprise!

Polaroid's Gone Gaga

2011-05-08T21:55:00.000-07:00

A little over a year ago, Polaroid named Lady Gaga their creative director.

"I consider myself to be a visionary, not just a songwriter and a singer. I am an artist," said Lady Gaga, Polaroid's Creative Director. "I brought my vision and love of fashion, technology and obsession with the future into all of my work with Polaroid."

Since her time at Polaroid, Lady Gaga has helped to create the Grey Label. The Grey Label is composed of three products:

1. Instant Mobile Printer

The portable printer works with mobile phones (minus the iPhone) via bluetooth. It will be available in June and is now posted online at the Polaroid website for $169.99.

2. Instant Digital Camera

The instant digital camera will bring together both the traditional Polaroid instant print camera with the new technology of a digital camera.

3. Camera Glasses

The camera glasses bring together fashion and photography. These sunglasses are actually able to capture digital images.

Below is a video of Lady Gaga unveiling her new products.

Polaroid's new Grey Label is definitely different. With the nostalgia and popularity of their original cameras, Polaroid is hoping to encourage young, fashion forward, and technology savvy people to invest in their Grey Label. While I think all of the products seem unique and pretty cool, I am not sure that any of them are something I would "need" to have. I think the item I would want most would be the digital Polaroid camera, as it would be a lot of fun to be able to do Polaroid's and print only the one's you want. I could see some really cool social projects and city projects being done with a camera like that.

While the Grey Label is somewhat old news at this point, the first item (portable printer) is about to be released. I will be interested to see how it does, and even more so how the whole line does once it becomes available later this year.

Creative Workspaces Part 1

2011-05-05T17:37:00.000-07:00

Creative workspaces have been proven to help increase worker productivity as well as enhance the creativity of work produced. After looking around to discover some of these spaces I have found an incredible amount of well designed and beautiful offices around the world. It was actually pretty difficult to decide which ones to post and which to leave out (and so you will find this post very large and with lots of pictures due to my indecisiveness - and followed by a part 2).

Google
First up we have Google. Of course with their Googleplex and lax rules, innovation is inevitable. Google gives their engineers 20% of their work time to work on independent projects. This time spent on individual projects has led to Gmail, Google News, and many other applications and games. Seems like their policy is working to me, I don't know what I would do without my Gmail and iGoogle. Google also offers their employees a ton of on-site benefits. In pictures below can be seen a massage area, swimming pools, gaming rooms, and relaxation rooms (with fish tanks).

Relaxation rooms, massages, slide, creative pod offices.

In place swimming pool.

Tech shop where you can have a drink while your computer gets fixed.

Meeting rooms inspired by igloos.

Pixar
Pixar, the animation studio that brought you films such as Toy Story, Monsters Inc., and Up, allows individuals to decorate their own workspaces and in effect has created almost different neighborhoods within their building.

Fornari
Fornari is a fashion company located in Milan. It was started in the mid 1940's and have progressed to be a fashion icon. Their new offices were designed by Giorgio Borruso Design of Marina Del Rey, California.

Dilbert's Ultimate Cubicle
Dilbert creator Scott Adams approached innovation firm IDEO with the task of creating what Dilbert's Ultimate Cubicle would look like. Included in the office space are hammock, an aquarium, and a hamster wheel as well as other more typical items.

Disney
Now it is only appropriate that Disney also have a very unique and creative work space as well.

Who doesn't want to work in a giant honey comb?

Coaxis
These last offices are located in Portland, OR. Coaxis is a leading software development and management firm. Group Mackenzie was the project lead in developing their offices.

To be continued...

Jim Denevan

2011-05-04T20:11:00.000-07:00

Jim Denevan is an artist that makes temporary drawings on sand, ice, and earth. They are incredible and I can't imagine how long it must take. It also really impresses me that he can think of things on such a large scale and piece them together so perfectly by what seems like free hand talent (I'm not really sure how he does it so perfectly).

"When I'm doing a drawing, I'm personifying the place that is empty. A place that is unmarked."

"People always ask how it feels to have them wash away," adds Denevan, "but who would want it not to wash away?"

Personally, I think I would have a difficult time spending so much time on something that does just go away, but I guess at least he gets a picture out of it! And what great pictures they are...

Here is some of his work:

SAND: Created through the use of a large stick

EARTH: Created using tire tracks

ICE: Created using various equipment and machines

To view more on the ice project visit: ice

To view more photos and the artist's website visit: Jim Denevan

Jim is also a chef and does a traveling farm dinner called "Outstanding in the Field".

Aluminum Foil for the Win

2011-05-03T14:21:00.000-07:00

So a lot of my friends have been obsessed with reddit.com lately. It is a site that provides posts from its members about just about anything. People can then up-vote or down-vote the posts and it creates a list of the posts that are rated highest by its users. A lot of the posts are rather humorous and some more informational. Recently I stumbled upon this little gem of a prank and I thought I should share it.

While one college roommate was out of town the other decided to prank his room. I can't imagine how long this took, or how much foil it used, but it is just ridiculous. Also, think of how long it would take to unwrap everything!

So here are a few of the photos:

Intense right?
To see all the photos from the prank: Aluminum

This reminds me a lot of an Office prank where Jim wraps Dwight's desk and belongings in wrapping paper. Or I guess he more so builds pseudo desk and belongings to wrap. Sorry for the poor quality video, it's the best I could find.

Also, this makes me think of this prank I saw a while back that I think is just kind of mean.

Pepsi's Social Vending Machine

2011-05-02T18:07:00.000-07:00

Pepsi has found a new way to make a social experience out of their product. They have created a touchscreen vending machine that allows users not only to purchase a soda, but also purchase a soda for a friend (that is not with them), send them a video message/text message to their phone (from the machine) and they can redeem their free soda at another machine.

The thing I love most about this machine is it has an option called "Random Acts of Refreshment". This option makes it so the buyer can purchase a Pepsi drink for a random stranger located at some other social vending machine. Refreshing indeed!

A prototyped version of the machine was supposed to appear at this year's One Show April 27-29.

“Our vision is to use innovative technology to empower consumers and create new ways for them to engage with our brands, their social networks and each other at the point of purchase,” said Mikel Durham, Chief Innovation Officer at PepsiCo Foodservice. “Social Vending extends our consumers’ social networks beyond the confines of their own devices and transforms a static, transaction-oriented experience into something fun and exciting they’ll want to return to, again and again.”

The machine supposedly offers 100 different flavors. Sounds like it must be a pretty big machine...

Overall I think this is a very innovative way to go about creating a stronger social network around the brand. Nothing like this has really ever been done before and I will be interested to see if it takes off. Sounds like a great idea to me, although I myself am not much of a soda drinker.

The below video shows how the vending machine will work.

To read Pepsi's press release on the machine visit: Pepsi

Harley-Davidson

2011-05-01T22:47:00.000-07:00

Harley has a well-defined brand image and a very loyal customer base that live for the brand and what it represents. To go along with this relationship, Harley also provides awesome advertising to help extend their brand values out to recruit new Harley enthusiasts.

This first set of ads was done by an agency in Sydney, Australia called FNL Communications. I think these ads are hilarious! The text reads, "Stop Dreaming".

These next ads are for Harley-Davidson parts and accessories. Created by Carmichael Lynch these ads are very creative and I get the message that it is really the accessories and parts of the bike that make the individual (thus encouraging people to customize their bikes to truly be one of a kind and show their individuality through their bike).

This ad reads, "May wind be the only product in your hair."

"Throw away your plans and get lost"

This ad that was done in Switzerland uses bike handles as grips on subways and buses to introduce new Harley models to the city.

"Life in the saddle will teach you one thing: life's a lot more fun if you live it while you're alive."

"I coulda got a smart, sensible, turdmobile."

For further readings on Harley's ads you can check out the book "100 years of Harley-Davidson Advertising". You can pick up a used copy off of Amazon for around $5. It has a lot of great ads that I was unable to locate images of online.

Ad Facial Recognition: The Next Frontier

2011-04-30T17:02:00.000-07:00

Recently, Immersive Labs located in New York City developed the technology for billboards or in-store displays to use facial recognition to identify age and gender. They also will take into account the location, weather, and other surrounding cues and based on all the information gathered it will present an ad that may appeal to that person. They can also detect if the person is directly looking at the ad or if their attention is elsewhere.

While some might find this slightly creepy, it does not violate any privacy laws as it claims that the devices do not actually store the pictures taken. Personally, I find this advancement really cool and it will pave the way to personalized ads and help companies more easily reach their target markets.

Check out the video below for more information on this new development.

Now I'm just throwing this out there, but recently I was discussing this new idea of mine with some friends. I think that someone should develop a cell phone that is essentially free, however the catch is that it will receive ads that will either be based on location or other factors. This way the phone is paid for by the people wanting to place their ads and not by the user. For this to be successful though, obviously enough people would need to want the phone in order for it to be worth the advertising investments. Like I said...just throwing it out there!

To see the full article on the facial recognition ads visit: Facial Recognition

Street Art

2011-04-29T09:09:00.000-07:00

So this entry is just a very large compilation of cool street art! Street art was one of my favorite things to find and photograph when I was traveling in Europe. I just love the contrast between the picture painted and the surface/area it is painted/constructed/etc.

So without dragging this on... lets begin!

These first several are shadow art, in that the picture makes more sense when a shadow is in a certain position.

These ice sculptures were placed in Berlin and used to demonstrate climate change.

Good stuff! To find more street art photos visit: http://www.streetartutopia.com/

Guerrilla Marketing

2011-04-25T19:03:00.000-07:00

I am a total guerrilla marketing advocate. I was going to define this in my own words, but best to let wikipedia do it for me:

"The concept of guerrilla marketing was invented as an unconventional system of promotions that relies on time, energy and imagination rather than a big marketing budget. Typically, guerrilla marketing campaigns are unexpected and unconventional, potentially interactive, and consumers are targeted in unexpected places. The objective of guerrilla marketing is to create a unique, engaging and thought-provoking concept to generate buzz, and consequently turn viral."

It brings a whole new challenge and has no real structure to follow. This medium tackles trying to place your product or advertisement in a unique place and situation in which no one has ever really done before. It also achieves a lot of recognition and sometimes media attention for relatively low costs. Also, my favorite thing is a lot of these strategies are really daring and some a bit controversial. Draws a lot of attention!

Folgers put a coffee mug sticker over steam vents in larger cities. This makes it appear as if the coffee is steaming when people walk by.

Mini Cooper put "Mini Cooper" boxes in trash piles throughout the city demonstrate their small size. Although I am not sure how environmentally friendly this is...

Amnesty international put these hands coming out of sewage drains reading "wrong" on one hand and "faith" on the other to raise awareness for human rights.

This ad is for dental implants.

Mr. Clean has the only white strip on the crosswalk.

This seafood restaurant left large clam shells covering the beach, which when are opened have a insert that reads, "Looking for seafood?" and includes their logo.

This ad for the Sopranos was seen on taxi cabs. There is a fake arm hanging out of the trunk and a sticker for the Sopranos on the bumper of the cab.

This idea is great! It is for a store having a sale on shorts. They have a panel of a bench replaced with engraving that reads, "Short shorts. On sale. Superette." This leaves the imprint on the legs of people wearing shorts for an ad for all to see! And the best part is a lot of the people probably don't even notice it.

This next ad I actually wrote on for my COLAB application entry. It is for truth and expresses the negative associations of cigarettes. The campaign created little orange signs to be stuck in dog poop which read, "Cigarettes contain ammonia. So does dog poop."

To see more ads like these or learn about them more in detail visit: Guerrilla

I have also found a lot of unique videos that show some of these things captured in action.

voyages-sncf.com - The Escape Service

This is so cool!

Here Tropicana powers a billboard using oranges and their chemical properties as people watch on.

Auditiva - Subtitled park

McDonald's - Dip Dip Nuggets

Using elevators to look like Chicken McNuggets

To see more videos featuring Guerrilla Marketing visit: Videos

For more on guerrilla marketing also check out my posts on:

IKEA

Outdoor Ads

Fanta Invades College Campus

2011-04-24T00:10:00.000-07:00

Fanta, the popular soda drink, has recently began working with Ogilvy to re-brand themselves. As a part of this effort the company invaded elevators at the University of Wisconsin. The elevator would repeat back what people said, make ominous breaking noises, and eventually open a hidden fridge full of Fanta soda and play music! The elevator also has a ceiling release in which it can release hundreds of small orange balls that overflow out of the elevator and into the nearby floors. It is very entertaining and the students seem to really enjoy their ride!

Definitely a fun way to mix things up and a good way to create a viral video!

You can view the video larger and read more about the Fanta invasion here: Fanta

Old Spice - A new manly man?

2011-04-23T08:22:00.000-07:00

I'm sure everyone is familiar with Wieden + Kennedy's Old Spice campaign with Isaiah Mustafa. They are hilarious and have become a viral wonder. From having Isaiah answer questions online and take on the radio this campaign has become a wild success. However, there is now a new Old Spice representative to market their Danger Zone products. He is an avid adventurer that seeks danger, but needs to smell good doing it. For now, the commercials are not airing in the U.S., but I am sure that they will be another viral explosion soon!

Below are some of the commercials from the Old Spice campaign with Isaiah.

One of the reasons for this new man, might be Isaiah going to Microsoft.

This video for Windows Phone 7 launch in Australia is very similar to the Old Spice act in the way it is written and delivered, however it seems to be missing a lot of its originality and spunk. I believe that maybe Microsoft was trying to keep the same personality, while not completely copying Old Spice. I do find this commercial to be somewhat boring in contrast to his prior Old Spice ads... and I don't think it is entirely clear what the product is.

Wieden + Kennedy and Old Spice have already found alternative's to Isaiah using Ray Lewis.
Below is a compilation of the new ads running with Ray Lewis.

Besides Isaiah somewhat betraying Old Spice, Axe is also attacking the brand.

However, despite all the hardships, with Wieden + Kennedy's genius and Old Spice's strong brand these things won't keep them down.

Below is the new ad for the Danger Zone line of Old Spice. Different man, same hilarious commercial! Instead of being the "Man your man could smell like" this new Old Spice man says, "Danger excites me. But I can't fully enjoy it when I smell like fear and body odor". Valid point in my opinion.

Thank you Wieden + Kennedy for another entertaining ad! I look forward to more from this new Old Spice man.

Earth Day!

2011-04-22T08:29:00.000-07:00

I have been saving this post on sustainability for today! Earth Day! I recently watched Matt Brigg's documentary "Deep Green". The documentary discusses several environmental problems we are currently having and proposes solutions to help cut back on carbon footprints and help better the environment.

At one point in the documentary it talks about OHSU and its efficiency. Going to OSU, we have a few LEED certified buildings on campus, but I had no idea how efficient OHSU is!

OHSU built their facilities to be 61% more efficient than required Oregon codes, and a ways above what is required for a LEED platinum (the best) certification.

Here are some unique features about the building:
-It treats 100% of sewage created by the building in a membrane bioreactor on site
-Energy saved in one year totals 5.1 million pounds of carbon dioxide (equivalent of removing 443 cars from the highway)
-Integrated day lighting system to cut back on lights needed
-Naturally ventilated stairs to save on air conditioning
-Radiant heating and cooling, also integrated with the swimming pools
-Eco-roofs
-The buildings rainwater and wastewater are harvested for landscaping, saving 150,000 gallons a day from going to the city's sewer system.
-Sunshades that double as solar electricity generators
-Gas-fueled cogeneration system
-Use of lower toxicity and organic materials in building interior and furnishings
-Aerial tram connecting the hospital with public downtown transportation to cut back on employees and patient driving

To read more about OHSU's sustainable facilities look here: OHSU

There are many other sustainable buildings popping up around the world. Here are a few of them!

Museum of Polish History in Warsaw
Has a park and green space covering the building.

Sky Garden House
Lots of green space and environmental materials and techniques used in construction.

Shipping container house
Created using 5 shipping containers. Shipping containers are in abundance and the use of them dramatically reduces carbon footprints from alternative materials that could be used to build a house. Shipping container houses are becoming more popular throughout the world!

Pod concept house
Saves space and materials. Contains kitchen, bed, and bathroom along with a lot of storage space.

Hanse Colani - Rotor House
Saves space and materials. Has a rotating bathroom/bed/kitchen area.

Proposal for rain collecting skyscraper
Designed by Polish architects. Rain water is collected on top of the building and along the sides.

Citadel
Eco-friendly floating city concept.

Greenpix Zero Energy Wall

Other green architecture projects

Some things I do to help out the environment include:
-Using a reusable water bottle

-Composting
-Recycling
-Walking when possible
-Turning off lights and electronics when not in a room
-Limiting use of heat and air conditioning

Also check out my previous posts on:
Urban Spaces - bringing green into the city
Sustainable Coke Bottle Idea

Alternative Art

2011-04-21T14:06:00.000-07:00

I have been finding my way to some very different, and interesting art lately and I love the creativity behind it!

First I have been seeing a lot of shadow art. Below is an example and here is a website that showcases a lot more installations, definitely check it out: Shadow Art
I love how the parts that make the picture mean little without the shadow they create. The work on the site is done by artists Kumi Yamashita, Tim Noble, and Sue Webster.

Next is artist Brian Dettmer who calls himself the "Book Surgeon". His art is created by cutting apart books to show words and pictures inside the book, while also creating unique shapes and pictures of the book as a whole. If that was confusing, best just look at the examples below to further clarify and check out more images and find additional information at: Book Surgeon

The video below is entitled "Going West" by Maurice Gee. Going along with the book theme this short is created by cutting out shapes and bringing them to life within a book to tell a whole new story. Love this! To see the actual link visit: Going West

This next artist, Bruno Catalano, I discovered while I was in Paris. I saw a collection of his sculptures in a studio and attempted to take some pictures (resulting in me getting threatened to be kicked out). So I will have to resort to these second-hand photos. The artist creates sculptures in which the middle part is missing and they typically have a small point of connection, making the sculptures sometimes seem impossible (see briefcase connecting in image below). To see more of his work visit: Bruno Catalano

Another paper artist, Peter Callesen, explores the connections between 2 and 3 dimensionality through the use of a single sheet of paper. I cannot imagine how long it would take to do some of these things, but they are truly amazing! To see more of his work visit: Peter Callesen

The final artist, Korean born Ran Hwang, creates her images using buttons and pins.

"My immense wall installations are extremely time consuming and repetitive manual work," says Hwang. "This is a form of meditative practice that helps me find my inner peace. Pins are used to hold buttons onto the surface to form a silhouetted image, or to disintegrate such image. No adhesive is used so the buttons are free to stay and move, which implies the genetic human tendency to be irresolute. I use buttons because they are common and ordinary, like the existence of human beings."

Her creations are very beautiful. To see more of her work visit: Ran Hwang

Innovation

2011-04-19T22:21:00.000-07:00

I am currently in a class in which we have to create a product and actually have the opportunity to develop and prototype it throughout the term. So, with this in mind I couldn't help but notice some cleverly designed products that are out there now!

Some of these are a bit silly.... and I may have gotten a little carried away, but bear with me.

First up we have a key lock that you can find easily in the dark! Just start at the top and slide down... I could really use one of these.

Next up! Mop slippers! Get exercise, clean floors, be comfortable, and look cool.

Cups that can sit at an angle so you can pour without getting foam.

Pizza slicer that is easier to use (so it looks-but maybe I am just really bad at cutting pizza the "normal way").

Oreo milk dipper... no more messy fingers!

Ok, now this one is seriously cool and I actually do want one of these. It is a side table/dresser, in which part of it rolls out to become a table that you can use in bed.

Stackable usb plugs.

Book and note taking chair. Not sure what the wheel is for, but it looks fancy.

The rolling bench. So when it rains you can roll to a fresh, dry space to sit.

So there you have it! Our idea is to make an automatic dry ingredient dispenser and I will just leave it at that. Don't want to spoil anything or give away any of our genius ideas.

To check out some more inventions check out: http://nedhardy.com/2011/03/10/34-cleverly-designed-inventions/

Newport, Oregon

2011-04-19T22:09:00.000-07:00

So I spent this past weekend in Newport, OR to celebrate Chris's birthday. We stayed at the Shilo Inn thanks to a Groupon present from Chris's mom that included a one night stay and $45 eating credit. We had a lavish dinner in which I ordered crab (I have never had a crab before, like where you have to crack and eat it) and Chris had seafood pasta. We spent the evening relaxing and watching the blazers game, which had an unfortunate ending.

On Sunday we got up and checked out and decided to try our luck at clamming. We went to Fred Meyers and picked up a clam gun and went to the jetty area on the beach to begin. We really didn't know what to look for and we thought we kept seeing every sign of clams, but had no success! It was close to high tide, so I don't know if that was it, but it was rather disappointing.

After an hour of hopeless clamming, we decided to head to Rogue for lunch and pick up Chris's free birthday shirt and beer. It was a good lunch, in which we followed up with a trip to the Rogue brewery for free shirt and beer number 2. While at the brewery we found out that they were having a Rogue garage sale. Now this is one of those miraculous weekends in which they sell a lot of their mislabeled and unsellable beer for really cheap. After picking out 2 cases of beer, we ran into some fishermen that we asked about clamming. They suggest we try the mud flats, as they said the beach is for razor clamming and they are really hard to catch.

So we decided to head to the mud flats and try again. We stumbled around and sunk into the mud, getting very stuck and we were slightly drunk. Our clam gun didn't work so well here, as there was a lot of rocks and gravel just a few inches under the surface. We were taunted by the surrounding area being covered in empty clam shells, yet we still found not a single one. We did find quite a few shrimp though...although just left them be.

Before too long we gave up and headed back to Corvallis, muddy and defeated. However, it was a lot of fun and now I am determined to try again, maybe up by Manzanita where my parents live, and I will conquer :)

Before I Die

2011-04-15T17:17:00.000-07:00

Chady Chang is a public installation artist, designer, urban planner, and co-founder of Civic Center who likes to make cities more comfortable for people, in particular her current residence of New Orleans.

She has many projects that I think help bring communities together and are pretty darn cool.

In particular, I found my way to her Before I Die project in which she places a large black board on a run down building in New Orleans with many lines that read, "Before I Die I want to _________________". And people would write onto the chalkboard to fill in things they would like to do before they die.

I also enjoyed the "I wish this was ____________" nametag project in which people would fill out the sticker and place it on abandoned buildings in New Orleans to determine where they would like certain things, such as the grocery store, to be placed.

There are a TON of really fantastic community projects to be found on her site. Please check it out!

Back to the Future

2011-04-15T15:56:00.000-07:00

So I have been absent for far too long... a mixture of a little unexpected life drama and a trifecta of school, work, and extracurricular madness. However, today I officially mailed off and submitted my video and application for the COLABORATORY internship in Portland, Oregon. Really, really, REALLY want it, so hopefully I will have a shot. Would be my dream come true as corny as that sounds.

Anyways.. A while ago I stumbled upon this really cool photography project. It is by Irina Werning and is called Back to the Future. The project takes old pictures of children and recreates the pictures with the now grown up children. I think it is so awesome and well done! Here are some of my favorites:

Here is the link to the project, and keep an eye out as there is a Back to the Future II coming later this year in June.

Brilliant IKEA

2011-04-03T08:19:00.000-07:00

IKEA is known in the advertising world for being innovative and at times a little risque. This makes them both memorable and rather entertaining. They have somewhat recently done a promotion that I find to be brilliant!

For a new store opening in Toronto, IKEA decided to set up a living room full of their furniture at a local train station. The furniture then had notes attached to each piece that read:

"Steal me. What better way to make a friend than to say, 'Excuse me, want to help me steal this sofa?' The two of you will then be able to look back at this day and say, 'Hey, remember that time we stole that sofa?' And you'll laugh. Of course, you and your new friend could always just go to IKEA and buy a Klippan sofa, seeing as they are only $250."

At first there were many skeptical people, but eventually someone took the bait, and after one person moved the rest of the furniture was taken very quickly. And the whole thing was filmed and placed on the web. IKEA repeated this event in another city as well. Before long the local news picked up on the story and gave IKEA a lot of free publicity.

Like the furniture gig, IKEA has done a lot of interactive advertisements that involve setting up their furniture throughout a city. Here is a link to some of their most clever advertising that you should really check out:

http://www.toxel.com/inspiration/2010/01/12/clever-and-creative-ikea-advertising/

Park bench:

Sample of IKEA drawers on apartment building:

Train in Japan decorated with IKEA furniture for seating:

Outdoor Advertising

2011-03-29T22:07:00.000-07:00

So lately I have been truly fascinated with all the unique outdoor advertisements and transformation of common objects to have a double meaning for a brand. As a result I have compiled some of my favorite outdoor ads I have discovered to share!

This first set of ads is one of my favorites! It is so creative and it would definitely catch my attention. It is for jobsintown.de, which is a German job listing site. There are a lot more of their ads, but the one's below are the one's I like best. The words on the machines read "Life's too short for the wrong job!".

This next ad is for Home Plus Supermarket. They put stickers resembling store shelves on pillars in the subway. From looking at the picture below I would have no idea it wasn't a grocery store.

The ad below is an anti-smoking ad, saying "What we see when you smoke". I think that a lot of the anti-smoking ads do a great job at bringing across that smoking is gross and this is just another of their ads that are attention grabbing and meaningful.

This ad is for Frontline flea medicine, and as you can see from above it appears that the people walking over the large floor picture are actually fleas. I love ads like this where there is an extra element to understanding it, such as having the right view! This also reminds me of adds the Economist posted on the top of buses that drove through town so people working/living on upper floors could see.

This next ad is for Sharpie. It is an interactive board where people can sign a cast using the "Sharpie". Ads that get people involved are almost always a great idea!

The last ad that I will show in this post is from a fitness center in Amsterdam (Fitness First). It shows your weight when sitting on the bench, which for some people might be embarrassing (and cause them to want to take a trip to the gym)!

That's it for now.. I still have a lot more I like, but I'll save those for another time!

Urban Spaces

2011-03-29T09:09:00.000-07:00

There are so many well designed urban areas popping up and I just wanted to share some of my favorites!

There is a park/walkway called the High Line that has recently opened in Manhattan, NY (2009). It is built on an abandoned railway stretch and is made up of concrete, the original railway, and plants added. With plants growing in between rail road tracks and trees popping up next to benches, this walkway is an artsy transition to green in the busy New York atmosphere.

The Paseo Marítimo de la Playa Poniente in Spain is also quite remarkable. Stretching approximately 1.5 kilometers along the seashore, the colorful pathways were created to help transition from the urban, busy lifestyle to the calm beach shores. It was also created to develop better access to the beach via the city.

This last space is in Pittsburgh I believe...
I wasn't able to find much information on it, but it looks like a nice place to go relax (and cool off) during the summer.

Ready for some redecoration!

2011-03-28T22:12:00.000-07:00

So I found this article on an apartment that was totally remodeled by an industrial design student in Tel Aviv, Israel and not only did it make me totally envious, but it gave me the redecoration bug! Not that it will be happening for me anytime soon due to lack of money, time, and space, but someday... I will live in a rockin' apartment as well :)

So here is the article: http://www.desiretoinspire.net/blog/2010/8/13/a-completely-renovated-first-apartment.html

Things I love:

1. Clock made of alarm clocks

2. Fantastic red cord lights

3. Awesome bathroom faucet/towel rack (genius point!)

4. Fancy wall indent thing (not sure what it's actually called...)

Impressive right? Some people are just so talented!

I love this! World Cup fan shirt.

2011-03-28T21:58:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure how I missed this last year during the World Cup, but this shirt is genius! Created for the Dutch Football Federation by the Willem de Kooning Academie advertising school, this shirt just cracks me up every time I look at it. Great to see such an original idea, although I'm not sure it's as entirely appropriate for lady fans...

Sustainable Coke Bottle Design

2011-03-28T16:40:00.001-07:00

So I stumbled upon this article a few days ago about a design student (age 19) that created a sustainable bottle design for Coke for his school project. It is able to collapse and its shape saves shipping room. Unfortunately, Coke has their signature curve bottles, so it is unlikely they will make this change. However, I think it would be appropriate to try and target this idea to Pepsi, who doesn't have a "signature" shape and this could be an opportunity for them to take a step towards sustainability and create a new look for themselves that will set them apart from competitors.

Article: http://www.minimallyminimal.com/minimally-minimal/2010/3/15/eco-coke-bottle-design.html

PBJ's Grilled

2011-03-28T16:40:00.000-07:00

I just have to rave about this food cart located in Portland, OR. They are located on 23rd near Kearney and are just about the most amazing place I have ever been to! Call me childish, but I LOVE traditional PBJ's. However, this stand has found a way to take the well-known sandwich and make it exciting again! With sandwiches on their menu being either sweet, savory, or spicy there are a lot of interesting combinations to choose from. This weekend I questionably tried a bite of my sisters "Hot Hood" containing peanut butter, cherry jelly, bacon, and jalapeno. A-Mazing! I will definitely be returning to their stand sometime soon and in the meantime will be craving :)

Check out their website at: http://pbjsgrilled.com/

Travel Book!

2011-03-27T22:10:00.000-07:00

I have decided to create this blog as a way to share the wonderful ads, architecture, and general stuff that I find with whoever is interested! I find myself constantly posting new things on Twitter, so hopefully I will be able to keep this blog going and post often!

The first thing I would like to share:

After returning from a term abroad in Aarhus, Denmark I have finally finished compiling my photos into a travel book to share with family and friends! I used blurb to create my book and they have an awesome book creating tool that you can download and customize to your needs. Will definitely be using it again...already have some new projects in mind :)

Enjoy!

travel by Sarah Aagesen | Make Your Own Book