Nike disappoints with its new site
It’s not often that Nike disappoints, so I was supprised at my reaction to the new Air Jordan 2009 website. Don’t get me wrong, great execution (as always), powerful use of well-known athletes, etc etc… but I wanted more. I found the whole experience shallow and almost arrogant from a brand that got to where it is by being intouch with the people.
Love to know other people’s thoughts?
‘Made For Each Other’ by Frito-Lay
Check out the latest offering from the good folk at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners for Frito-Lay. A cute, beautifully illustrated environment where the user’s task is to play match-maker between the chips and dips - hence the campaign, ‘Made for each other‘.
I had a lot of fun hunting around, interacting with the various characters and playing some of the hidden games. Some elements were slow to load, but hey, blame Australian infrastructure for that.
The combination of 2D and 3D illustration is really well done and the characterisation pretty cool. Some of the ‘blobs’ even reminded me a little of the ‘Sensibles‘ campaign for Spring Valley.
Ikea tries something different…
Checkout Ikea Sweden’s new storytelling site for their PS range of eco-friendly solutions (thanks to Adverblog for the heads-up). The site mixes, beautiful cutout-style animation with video and audio in a really successful manner.
Through a rather bizarre setting of flying objects, the user is encouraged to make a selection and watch a short video about the object through its designer’s eyes. Each of the settings is different and appropriate to the ’story’ being told.
Not being fluent in Swedish makes certain elements within the navigation difficult, but you do get the general gist of what’s going on. Upon a second viewing, I discovered the slide-up navigation on the bottom which stopped me from returning to the ‘weird flying objects’ scene each time - much easier!
I challenge you not to click
I really don’t want to be the spoiler, so watch the clip and see how you go. For me, the temptation was too great.
If you are tempted, here’s the site.
The Christian Bale remix
If you’ve missed Christian Bale’s tirade on the set of Terminator Salavation, then you’ve been living in a hole. You’ve got to feel for the Director of Photography on this one. Anyway, there’s T-shirts, appreciation societies, petitions and so on, and YouTube is swamped with clips - none funnier than this, the ‘Bale Out Remix’:
Australia - the bit that broke off
Great little video done for Kea - a New Zealand-based talent community. Good example of some really simple (cheap) animation being carried by a clever idea, great copy and humour.
Hyundai - ‘Edit Your Own’ Campaign
Hyundai have just launched a very impressive site for their new Genesis Sedan and Coupe. Running alongside a series of TV spots (launching during the Superbowl), the site puts the viewer inside the car for a ‘hot lap’ and then challenges them to edit their own version (using Adobe Premier Light) online and share it with friends. Worth checking out - beautifully executed.
Video / Photosynth demo - AMAZING
This will blow you away… guaranteed. A video demo of Photosynth, the likely product to transform the way we experience digital images - think spatial and relationship modelling of all things visual.
Video / Digitas show-reel and future of advertising
Interesting QA session with digital agency execs. The Digitas show-reel runs from 03:30 and Chris Clarke the Global CEO of Nitro gives an interesting vision from 10:00.
Watch it at Scribe Media
Website / Oz in 30 Seconds
Get Up, Action for Australia, the political lobby group have launched ‘Oz in 30 Seconds‘, an online contest for filmakers to create television commercials that promote a better, fairer and more progressive Australia. Winning ads will be aired on commercial television and online (YouTube etc) in the lead-up to this years federal election.
From the site: In 30 seconds, show us a slice of your vision: perhaps it’s a call to action on an issue close to your heart; or maybe an idea that brings us closer to the Australia you want to live in; or your take on a major policy or event, rather than the spin you’ve been fed.
The concept is based on ‘Bush in 30 Seconds’ which ran in 2003 and generated over 1000 submissions and 2.9 million ratings from viewers.
Check it out at: Oz in 30 Seconds