February 2010

You are currently browsing the monthly archive for February 2010.

Great Creative: Old Spice

February 20, 2010 in Advertising, Creative, Design, Marketing | 3 comments

I remember Old Spice as "that funny smelling stuff" that all my friend's dads used... until it was replaced by Hai Karate...cuz face it, what man didn't want to have to fight off the women with their Crazy Martial Arts Skillz?

Anyway the point is, irrespective (or perhaps BECAUSE) of the fact that the word "old" is in the name, my perception of Old Spice was always that it was for smelly old codgers who were trying to hide something.

Apparently I wasn't their target market or something, though, being a girl and all of, maybe six, when I formed this opinion,  because [insert awkward seque into meaningful observation about marketing, here] I've since come to understand that Old Spice is a premium brand.

They do great advertising, across all media and this one in particular really got my attention. Just great... and yes, a true man should smell like jet fighters and punching.

Share

KEVIN SMITH, SOUTHWEST AIR AND THE ABUSE OF SOCIAL POWER

February 16, 2010 in Misc, Social Media | No comments

By now the story of how Kevin Smith was yanked off a South West Airlines flight because he was "too fat" has gone mainstream, but like all good stories these days, this one had it's beginnings in the Twitterverse.

Now, I don't follow South West Airlines, OR Kevin Smith, but I happen to follow a couple of people who do, and I can tell you that the story didn't end when South West apologised, in 8 different tweets, a blog post, and a couple of personal phone calls. Nor did it end when Kevin Smith gave interviews and uploaded expletive rants about his experience.

You see, Kevin Smith has upwards of 1 million Twitter followers, who gleefully latched onto the story and ran with it for hours, in an effort to...well, what, exactly?

As Sonny Gill blogged this morning: "We EXPECT, DEMAND, WANT big and small from companies online – but when it comes to us, the consumer, we apparently get a free pass when it comes to RESPECT, UNDERSTANDING and RESPONSIBILITY online."

I'm not saying that Kevin Smith deserved to be humiliated at the hands of an airline, but South West did apologise, many times and in many different ways, for singling him out. I take bigger issue with the social power game that played out by Smith and his 1 million + fans, who continued to badger SWA, long after it was appropriate or even necessary, simply because they could.

Share

Felix Thorn, Acoustic Synthesis and Objectophilia

February 14, 2010 in Creative, Misc, Music | 1 comment

Felix Thorn creates musical sculptures. With a background in fine arts and sculpture, an overriding love of electronic, breakcore and experimental music, and an intensely creative spirit, Felix builds machines that embody aspects of the mechanical and digital, creating music which is both acoustic and synthesized, as well as visually and aurally interesting. Not to mention beautiful.

Musical pieces are created with Apple's Logic Studio and sometimes Bidule (made by Canadian-based commercial software company Plogue Arts and Technology) and the sculptures are scavanged from a variety of sources and musical instruments (eg: an old piano, guitars, drums, an old shoe polisher brush, a towel rack...). Thorn also incorporates LED lights into his sculptures that flash on and off in time with various beats.

Parts of Felix's Machines frequently break, or come undone and this is all part of the natural process. (Sometimes double-sided tape can be a robot's best friend) Thorn, who was born in 1985 and lives in southeast London, UK, continually builds new robots, adds to and revises his existing machines, and is apparently in the process of developing a method of incorporating wind instrument sounds into his mechanical orchestra.

Why go to all this trouble when you could easily play your compositions on a computer and be done with it? Thorn explains that what drives him, is the desire to see music played live, without human intervention, in a way that matches what humans can do, and he does achieve that with his machines. Each note is physically hammered out or plucked and the experience of listening to and seeing the music, feels remarkably warm, human and emotional.

Click the first image for video ...

Felix's Machines Felix's Machines Felix's Machines Felix's Machines

Share
Powered by Netfirms