Hasta La Creative!

Vida Cornelious has joined cross cultural agency Walton Isaacson as executive VP and chief creative officer. Cornelious, who was named one of Ad Age’s Women to Watch in 2009, joins from multicultural agency GlobalHue, where she was chief creative officer. She led Jeep North America advertising efforts, including two Super Bowl spots: Jeep’s “Whole Again” featuring Oprah Winfrey and Chrysler’s “America’s Import” with Bob Dylan. Her 18-year career includes a job as VP, creative director at DDB Chicago where she helped create campaigns for McDonald’s, Dell Computers, JC Penney, State Farm, Qwest and Budweiser. At Walton Isaacson, Cornelious will report to co-founders Aaron Walton and Cory Isaacson.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Penske Truck Leasing today is launching its first national b-to-b campaign, designed to raise awareness of its truck leasing, rental and logistics services for businesses.

The campaign, which has the theme “Moving Forward,” includes print, online and social media. Online videos break today on ESPN.com around coverage of the NCAA “March Madness” men’s basketball tournament.

The ads use humor to show what can go wrong when businesses don’t use Penske for their critical shipping and transportation needs, from chickens hatching out of egg cartons to truckers with lousy horns. The campaign was created by The Martin Agency, Richmond, Va., and the budget was not disclosed.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

In a very unfortunate “scoop,” The New York Post’s always-reliable Page Six reports that the real party this past weekend was nowhere near Austin.

Commonwealth//McCann’s newest EVP and global strategy/research director Jonathan Disegi apparently chose the wrong time to visit Bergdorf Goodman’s upscale restaurant on Fifth Avenue.

Gossip queen Liz Smith does not tell us whether Disegi is a regular at the $30 salad spot, but a few unnamed onlookers seem quite certain that he “staggered” into the bar “completely loaded” early Saturday afternoon.

One of Smith’s witnesses claims that he “was bragging to strangers around him that he was in advertising” in a space packed with “a few top female media executives, shoppers and patrons arriving for the afternoon tea service” before a very early start got the best of him.

McCann signed Disegi in January as part of a standard New Year restaffing initiative; he previously spent nearly five years as global planning director at JWT New York after holding a similar position at Lowe and Partners from 2002 to 2010.

The executive got wind of the pending Post story on Sunday and asked Smith not to publish it, writing “I made a mistake, and I feel terrible.”

She declined.

(Pic via The Wall Street Journal)

Liam Neeson is a big softy when it comes St. Patrick’s Day.

The tough-guy actor provides a heartfelt voiceover for this 60-second Discover Ireland tourism spot, waxing poetic about his homeland.

“Every year, on St. Patrick’s Day, the world goes green,” he begins, as landmarks like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Sydney Opera House and Paris’ Moulin Rouge, all lit in emerald hues, flash by. “But here in Ireland,” he continues, “every day is bathed in green.”

We’re treated to shots of rugged coasts, crescent hills and verdant forests, along with city scenes of bustling nightlife, shopping and parades. #GoGreen4PatricksDay is the hashtag.

What would be an attractive if predictable spot really shines thanks to Neeson’s earnest, nuanced narration. The Oscar nominee provides a level of emotional resonance and authenticity often lacking from tourism work. Being Liam Neeson, his delivery is still intense and penetrating, though he sounds legitimately pleased to be talking up the green.

Though I kind of miss the smoldering murderousness he conveys when seeing red.

L’artiste et designer américain Ari Weinkle a conçu l’alphabet Feelers fait de lettres colorées en GIF animés qui imitent le mouvement des appendices et intestins d’animaux. Des lettres organiques composées de dégradés de couleurs vives et brillantes, à découvrir en images dans la galerie.

Garantir que um design bonito também é um design agradável de se usar não é tarefa fácil, e nem surge instantaneamente. Os profissionais de usabilidade desenvolveram diversos processos e técnicas para detectar e compreender como os usuários melhor utilizam diversas ferramentas digitais, mas muitas vezes nós não temos a menor ideia desse tipo de trabalho de bastidor.

Essa pequena série de GIFs ajuda a compreender melhor o que cada etapa ajuda a definir, e como é conduzida.

É o caso dos testes A/B, que ajudam a medir que escolha tem o impacto desejado. É considerado um dos favoritos do Google, que fez uso da técnica para, por exemplo, determinar quantos resultados de busca deveriam existir por página.

Outro método utilizado são os mapas de calor – veja na imagem de capa – para entender onde existe uma maior interação do usuário, focando as informações mais importantes (ou os anúncios mais caros) naquela região.

Os GIFs também aproveitam para ilustrar outras técnicas de UX, como a gravação de testes dos usuários, que ajudam a entender o comportamento dele dentro daquele design, e as pesquisas, que permitem que os usuários contem mais sobre a sua experiência com o modelo apresentado.

A criação dos GIFs é da empresa de webdesign Froont, a mesma que já foi responsável pela série de GIFs que esclarecem alguns termos sobre design responsivo. Vale conferir.

Post originalmente publicado no Brainstorm #9
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