No Country For Old Men - watch it before it goes
It's not new news that this is a great film. We are big fans (especially of Josh Brolin's performance) and recommend you go and see it before it leaves the big screen.
It's not new news that this is a great film. We are big fans (especially of Josh Brolin's performance) and recommend you go and see it before it leaves the big screen.
Last week we presented at Shots Forum 2008. Here are just some of the interesting thoughts that emerged.
Scott Prindle, Director of Technology at CP&B, made a presentation based around the premise that the closer the relationship and input between creative teams and technology teams, the better the digital output. We agree with Scott. Part of the role of the tech team is to inform creatives on emerging platforms as new media opportunities. As Scott observed "Interactive technology is a creative team sport".
Other interesting observations:
The technology anxiety of having an ever-increasing challenge of filtering irrelevant tech junk and to focus on the relevant, is a necessary by-product of working in digital. We could sense the empathy from many in the room.
Tech teams must play a key role in driving momentum, and the agencies ability to be more responsive, by developing the ability to skip presenting wireframes and focus on building prototypes at idea/ concept stage.
The necessity and opportunities of embracing large-scale architecture and development of corporate web sites to inject what is so often lacking in such sites…brand values. Check out the 600-page VW site that embraces transactional, experiencial and CSR content with a consistent tone of voice. Nice work.
Agencies have to learn to find creative ways of managing or manipulating data. Using algorithms and database driven tools that can take data and transform it into a functional utility for a brands’ consumer will only increase.
Interesting examples of work provided were Domino’s Pizza Tracker, Bracket-o-matic for Coke Zero and BK Western Whopper.
Spencer Hyman, COO from last.fm, presented on the innovations occurring at last.fm. Now with 21 million users in 200 countries, last.fm is essentially the largest music database on the planet with 8bn tracks available and 200k artists wiki’s. With its API available for use, expect to see last.fm playing a role on many a brand sites.
Something else to look out for is their innovative ad format where the ad creative can replicate the rhythm of the selected track. Thomas Roope ( ex Tomato), from Rumpas Room presented some cool work they did for the Pet Shop Boys.
Craig Davis CEO of JWT, jumped on Chris Anderson’s “Free” bandwagon for his keynote and discussed the importance of “generosity, good karma and giving” for brands. One piece of branded content for Freixenet he presented was worth the wait.
Dick Powell from SeymourPowell made a presentation of true inspiration about the design development process and some cool radical design. We loved what he referred to as a “Crucible Event” - a one day workshop where design and creative teams work with clients to share the knowledge of the business issue or challenge, define an idea, build belief between the team and to create an initial embodiment of the idea. Fast track creative development from real pro’s.
Finally James Kirkham from Holler presented their Skins work for E4 where they created the launch campaign that broke conventional wisdom on promoting a TV series. They used social media to engage and embrace their target audience, build advocacy and expectation for Skins by treating it like a media event rather than an entertainment format. Mass awareness without mass media - we love it.
Console games like Halo 3, and films like The Dark Knight and Cloverfield, have invested in Alternate Reality Games. When McDonalds invest, then the industry has to start taking ARG's seriously. The Lost Ring is a joint initiative from the IOC and McDonalds in the run up to the Olympics. It's intriguing and well produced and looks like it's going to be fun. If you want to get up to speed, read their wiki here.
The Shots Forum 2008 was today. Mark and Tom from our place were speaking about how we've evolved and showing some of our new work for UPS and Xbox.
A great day of insight and intellect with fantastic presentations from people like Scott Prindle from CPB and Dick Powell from Seymourpowell.
This weekend saw the annual NSPCC Microsoft Charity football cup, played for the first time at the new Wembley Stadium. This year a combined Agencies team entered, alongside various Microsoft ones, & the celebrity packed NSPCC outfit. Our very own Valdemar Domingos (that's him coming up the stairs in the white) led the way for the Agencies, scoring in the semis to set up a meeting with the NSPCC team in the grand final. Try as they might, the Agencies couldn't get past a team containing a serious bunch of pro athletes - Amir Khan, Iwan Thomas and Darren Campbell to name but a few - alongside the standard issue soap opera mob, and the NSPCC triumphed to lift the cup in the Royal Box. More importantly, it was a great day out at an awesome venue, & lots of money was raised for a truly worthwhile cause.
