Hasta La Creative!

HONG KONG – NSD International has expanded into China in a bid to bring new on-pack advertising options to mainland FMCG clients.

ASIA PACIFIC – US pharmaceutical and health care company Abbott Laboratories is believed to have called a pitch for its regional media business, worth an estimated US$20 million.

MANILA – Unilever has a awarded its estimated US$10 million Selecta ice cream brand to DDB in the Philippines after a pitch involving Lowe and incumbent McCann Worldgroup.

HONG KONG – The Dairy Farm Company has appointed Splash Communications to spearhead its ‘Little green ambassadors’ campaign, an educational initiative that focuses on school children encouraging their parents to be more environmentally conscious.

SEOUL – The Korean National Health Insurance Corporation (NHI) has handed Fleishman Hillard a KRW1 billion (US$1 million) brief to facilitate the launch of a new public insurance initiative for senior citizens requiring physical support.

A fascinating reading for experience designers comes this week from The New Yorker that has obtained and published time-lapsed security camera footage of a man who, in 1999, spent 41 hours stuck in an elevator, and accompanies it with a detailed feature about the history and specifics of the “vertical transportation” industry. The article also has a few great paragraphs of observations on human behavior and how elevators are designed to accommodate for it:

“Smart elevators are strange elevators, because there is no control panel in the car; the elevator knows where you are going. People tend to find it unnerving to ride in an elevator with no buttons; they feel as if they had been kidnapped by a Bond villain. Helplessness may exacerbate claustrophobia. In the old system—board elevator, press button—you have an illusion of control; elevator manufacturers have sought to trick the passengers into thinking they’re driving the conveyance. In most elevators, at least in any built or installed since the early nineties, the door-close button doesn’t work. It is there mainly to make you think it works. (It does work if, say, a fireman needs to take control. But you need a key, and a fire, to do that.) Once you know this, it can be illuminating to watch people compulsively press the door-close button. That the door eventually closes reinforces their belief in the button’s power. It’s a little like prayer. Elevator design is rooted in deception—to disguise not only the bare fact of the box hanging by ropes but also the tethering of tenants to a system over which they have no command.”

(TrendHunter.com) You know you’ve made it as a Super Star when NYC officials light up the Empire State Building in lavender, pink and white to celebrate your latest chart-topping album.

Starting Friday, April 25th the NYC landmark will be lit up for the entire weekend.

Did you ever see “Christmas Tree” by Clay Weiner? It’s this short online film where a dude, impersonating somebody’s ultra-New Jersey mom, hustles an invisible family through the dire process of buying a Christmas tree.

Californians often get called out or mimicked for gratuitous use of “dude.” But “dude,” like “snow” for Eskimos, is actually really expressive. (Also, when you’re frustrated and all sputtery, it feels so much better to go, “…dude” than “FUCKFUCKFUCK!”)