Hasta La Creative!

After the captivating and beautifully interactive Get The Glass, I was eagerly anticipating the next Milk campaign. I can’t say I was necessarily anticipating anything, but I was blown away by the newest campaign, White Gold.

I have yet to fully explore the site, yet the interactivity is pretty inspiring, and the campaign is bizarrely different. Odopod has done some impressive work once again. And the series of YouTube music videos with White Gold and The Calcium Twins defies words.

And as it should be, even the YouTube and MySpace pages are awesome. I have a good deal of exploring left to do, as I try to wrap my brain around the epicness of White Gold. Pretty interesting stuff for something as simple as Milk.

Sure, there are dozens of ways to judge advertising as “good,” but it’s important to remember that good advertising needs to grab the attention of the target. GSD&M|idea city certainly kept that in mind with this spot introducing the BMW V8 M3 – my auto enthusiast friends (and not advertising/creative-minded folk) have been talking a lot about it – which I’d imagine is the most important goal for BMW.

After touring Europe and visiting the BMW M factory in Munich to study the engine, idea city folks figured out how to take three of the Belgium-build V8 engines and cram cameras, lenses and lighting into ‘em. Then after filming for four 20-hour days, they captured (at 10,000 fps) what happens in a single revolution inside of the 420hp beast of an engine. Without any CGI. It’s amazing that something like that still happens. But it’s incredible, and certainly creating a bit of buzz in the auto world.

Regardless of whether or not it’s a 100% accurate representation of the engine under full running load, it’s an impressive feat in terms of cinematographic execution and in not falling back on CGI. It definitely makes a powerful statement for BMW.

I’m a typophile at heart and regardless of the project I’m working on, typography always plays one of the most crucial roles. Bad type is despicable and good type often near-orgasmic. For a quick refresher of the beauty of type, take a look at this short film:

It was Created by Vancouver Film School students Boca (a.k.a. Marcos Ceravolo) and Ryan Uhrich in the VFS’s Digital Design program. Impressive, to say the least. And inspirational. And just a quick & friendly reminder of the criticality of good type.

I spent the weekend moving, which took a good bit out of me, both physically and mentally. In my semi-exhausted mental state, some of the more complex thought processes and mental connections just aren’t happening, and I’m fully willing to acknowledge that. The same can be very true for any communication, advertising included. While I’m not always in the midst of catastrophic brain flatulence, sometimes the simple ideas are just easier to grasp. I’m all for complex, multi-stage campaigns that ask for a good deal on the part of the viewer/reader, but it’s important to realize that it isn’t necessarily the best course of action, and sometimes the complexity overrides the effectiveness of the message. Convoluted and deep might just yield more confusion (or complete lack of awareness). On that note, I wanted to point out a recent commercial I stumbled upon while surfing the internet that’s aimed to the young Japanese audience that speaks well to the idea of “simple,” and amuses me in my exhaustion.

The spot, done by Australian commercial production company Plaza, is so simple, it works. I got it. And the message sunk in. Quickly. Which is the ultimate goal, especially when promoting for groups like The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society. It could just be the classic Godzilla fan in me (and my mental exhaustion), but there’s something about the simplicity, the creativity, and the slight weirdness that just makes everything come together. And I payed attention. That simplicity and effectiveness doesn’t need to be reserved for children’s communication and simple messages. Sometimes the most complex ideas can be communicated unimaginably simply.

Full creative credits @ youtube, via Osocio.

In today’s environment, with technological advances, marketing strategies and celebrity endorsements, shoes have become much more than just footwear. Brands are scrambling to assert their top-dog status, and today finds Nike is in the midst of launching one of their broadest multimedia campaigns to date, including a :60 spot to air on American Idol and college basketball tournaments asserting that “my better is better than your better”:

The emerging Nike campaign is in direct response to the Under Armour Superbowl spot proclaiming “The Future is Ours,” announcing their entrance into the cross-trainer marketplace. Under Armour quickly rose to dominance in the “compression fitting apparel” category, and after entering the market less than a year ago, has taken a 1/5 market share of football cleats. An interesting article in today’s Oregonian has some interesting info and quotes regarding the Nike campaign and the shoe/athletic apparel battle:

“This was definitely an all-out attempt to stop Under Armour in its tracks,” said John Horan, publisher of trade newsletter Sporting Goods Intelligence. “They want to make sure they don’t get surprised on this category.”

Follow the jump for the Under Armour spot, a bit of Adidas, and some Pony action

This spot (by Saatchi, Moscow) introducing Russia to Gmail is certainly an orchestration of simplicity and visual presentation, impressive in it’s own right. I’m more interested, however, in the fact that the stop-motion bare bones style was used. Especially for something as digital as Gmail. Does it make it more human to have people entering the search terms and starring your messages? Does it become more personal and more accessible? I’d like to think there is a specific and logical reason behind it, and not just someone wanting to do some cool stop motion construction. Either way, it’s an impressive execution that’s fun to watch.