Tag Archives: Art

Characters Very Welcome

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WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT:

I am a big fan of USA Network’s marketing department.  Not only do they have one of the best taglines in the business – Characters Welcome – and not only does that tagline perfectly summarize their programming but they are constantly moving beyond the TV to bring consumers to their channel.   They took their tagline and created a roving art show – The Character Project – http://www.usanetwork.com/characterproject/ – and now they have turned a social media friendly war between two of their shows into extra content.  By treating shows as connective fabric of the network instead of individual  properties they drive interest in both programs.  Its smart business and opportunistic marketing.

Return to Long-Form

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As our culture evolves and our attention span expands and contracts, traditional advertising and media shift shapes to keep up.   Lifestyle brands like Absolut have started tapping artists to collaborate and do something truly different, hoping it will lead to something exceptional, and attract consumers at the same time.  Well Absolut, congratulations.  Absolut gave Spike Jonze a brief to write and direct a film depicting creativity conquering conformity, their very own brand vision.  What came of it? A 30-minute robot love story. www.imheremovie.com

And before that a 15-min documentary about Jay-Z’s “Answer the Call” benefit concert. http://creativity-online.com/work/absolut-nyz/19439

This video-slash-short-film-slash-advertisement is one of the most popular pieces of longer form content in awhile.  It gives us some intimate time with JHOV, and another reason to talk about Spike.  It gives Absolut a deeper and better brand experience for their consumers.  I consider it a win-win.

And if you need to drive some traffic to your site maybe try getting director, Romain Gavras. I hear he’s the new badass on the block.

- Ashlye Vaughn

Stories From the Masses

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WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT –

I am gonna get on my soap box for a hot minute.  There have been several projects revolving around crowd sourcing the ideation process for story.  Where the audience can help drive the narrative.  I think this is a gimmick worth passing on.  There is something intrinsic about the creator/audience dynamic that is lost when everyone is invited into the process.  Not to mention the idea of an auteur of a vision that is singular.   Now, some will say that there is a lot of crap on the market now and maybe the audience can do better.  While there is a lot of crap in the marketplace there has also never before been as much amazing material as well.  I will rely on an old adage from another field to sum it up best– ‘too many cooks in the kitchen’ equals trouble.

Video Game Theories

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I am not a gamer but I am fascinated with the evolution of video games.  This article gives interesting tidbits about visual clues, moral ambiguity and how realistic does not mean successful.

Most games are good guy/bad guy – but what happens when morality is inserted?  When you see the bad guy pleading for his life in the game – does that change your enthusiasm to kill him?  Interesting questions…

I Heart ACE

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WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT-

The Ace Hotel has done a tremendous job of designing every aspect of their hotels.

There is no space too small or mundane that should not be made into an artistic moment.

Murals in the stairwells? Check.  Macramé installations in the lobby. Sure.

Make your space a living and breathing item.  Give them life not cultural whitewashing like a chain hotel.  Homogenous is out.  Here is to the unique.

Cheers.