It also totally fits with RRL’s overall aesthetic, which focuses on rugged American old-West classics that look authentically, convincingly vintage-y and distressed. I’m not usually a fan of pre-distressed clothing, but again, RRL does it so wellll.

If you like this, check out this post about an artist who is bringing back collodion process photography.

Maybe y’all have already seen this, as it was on TV, but I don’t watch TV really (except whatever my dear roommate has on in the background while I blog, or series that I get way obsessively sucked into via Netflix instant, but then there’s no ads) so I miss out on all the ads that get raved about. And I don’t really care if you’ve already seen it. Watch it again.

The team (who I think are brilliant) behind this spot for Sony Bravia TVs wanted to connect people to the product in an emotional, rather than rational way, which is SO smart– it’s what Apple does all the time.  TVs are traditionally sold by bragging about the specs and high tech this or that. This spot said absolutely nothing about the product other than “Color like no other,” as part of their larger “like no other” branding campaign, and they made you feel something instead of telling you something.

I also loved this behind the scenes/making-of video, as I was very curious about the details! Here are the basics: 250,000 bouncy balls, 23 cameras. (Tangentially, did anyone else get really thrown off when the theme music from NPR’s On Point came on??)

Also, the images at top are available for purchase as prints– photographer Peter Funch was at the scene and captured these amazing shots.

PS- Happy birthday to my sister Kaki and my niece Ginny! Festive post for your birthday, no?

via WTF

Those pieces of art above are representations of runners’ routes, as documented by Nike Free technology. YesYesNo, the company that created the software, describes the project below:

For the launch of the Nike Free Run+ 2 City Pack series, YesYesNo was invited to develop software that would allow runners to create dynamic paintings with their feet using their Nike+ GPS run data. During the two day workshop at Nike headquarters, we invited the participants to record their runs and then using our custom software we imported the metrics from their run, to create visuals based on the speed, consistency and unique style of each person’s run.

Using the software the participants were able to play with the mapping and adjust the composition of their run which was then outputted as a high resolution print for them to take home. We also worked with the Innovation Lab at Nike to laser etch the runner’s name, the distance they ran and their run path onto a custom fabricated shoe box, which contained a pair of the ‘City Pack’ shoes from their city of origin.

[via Creative Journal]

It’s based on the very literal idea that Voyages SNCF helps you escape, but the execution is a very clever, outside-the-box (literally) form of allowing people to “escape!”

This presence of this actual cube, and the resulting press, has got to be the most attention Voyages SNCF has gotten in a long time.

Check out the video… it’s so clever, and I promise it will put a smile on your face!

With a combination of a sort of travel journal/vintage photo album feel, articles, and outfit collages, they have definitely figured out a formula to creatively communicate their brand identity and to totally hook you on it!

I am really digging the aesthetic of whoever their artistic director is!!

Check out previous issues here and their online store here. You could spend quite a while browsing the Kultoramas. Really quite brilliant because often times I feel like when I discover a store/brand I like, I want to really delve into it, not just to browse the online store, because there’s no story or feeling there, but there’s nothing else really to do on the website. Kultorama certainly gives the consumer a way to delve into the brand…

Here’s the scenario: Volkswagen has just introduced three new innovations that they want people to experience, because experience is really the only way to understand innovations such as these.

The usual strategy for a car company would be to get people in for test drives, which in reality only a handful of people will actually do. VW had the brilliant idea to use a medium with a much broader reach– print ads– to get more people interested, and then to let them “experience” the innovations through an iPhone app!

So the print ad provides an aerial shot of a road that the user can “test drive” using the iPhone app! The app has three modes, one for each innovation– a sensor that vibrates when you get too close to the edge of the road, another for when you get to close to a car in front of you, and a third that lets your headlights bend around curvy roads.

Check out the video to see it in action.

I’d download the app and try this just to “test drive” the ad, even though I’m not in the market! Just to see the technology in action! Brilliant!!

PS- Did you know that not a single Superbowl ad featured or encouraged connecting to their brand via social media? Isn’t that remarkable?! What a missed opportunity… all those people sitting there with their cell phones within feet. Apparently, the big ad agencies are slipping behind when it comes to creative integrations of social media! I realize this is rather unrelated to the post, but in contrast to all those Superbowl agencies, VW’s agency came up with a very creative new media ad-integration.

The series has a photo-diaristic style at first glance, but there’s an added layer of voyeurism conveyed by the sense that the subject is unaware he’s being followed, and it is highly intriguing. My brain: “Why is this handsome man being followed around? Who is having him followed and why? A jealous wife? Is he a double agent?” So I might’ve taken that a step beyond what they intended. Or maybe not! Maybe they meant to send your imagination running wild trying to fill in the gaps!

Anyway… beyond that, the photos themselves are well-styled, classic, and really just gorgeous.

The photo above didn’t even make it into the campaign, I found it on the Kulte flickr account… too cinematic and staged-looking, not voyeuristic enough? I think that’s probably why, don’t you? But I thought it was wonderful enough that I had to share.

Check out the gallery for the whole “story,”…whatever it may be. (Fingers crossed for double agent.)

Shot by Jose Lamali.

After watching those, if I were to need a language learning program in the future, would I go to EF first? You know it! Am I a sucker for pretty things despite lack of content? You know it!

The cinematography is gorgeous and the use of typography really, really got me. I now want to design everything I’m working on using French signage as inspiration (all those lines around the words, the engraving shadows, the deco fonts, the angles of the words… oh la la).

The films were a collaboration between Gustav Johansson, Nicklas Johansson, Albin Holmqvist, and Camp David, all of whom I plan to research immediately (check back soon for results!), but I’m also just so curious what advertising/marketing firm EF hired that then in turn put this team together! I can’t imagine they sought these guys out on their own…

(And now they just need that same firm to redo their logo and their website so that it is all in sync with these videos…)

Two more films here.

First thing I noticed is that I love his logo and font! Then from snooping around in his portfolio, I found out he also art directed the Kate Moss for Isabel Marant print ads I love (and posted on Editor’s Chair a while ago)! He has also art directed tons of ads for brands like Celine, Balmain, and Et Vous, and I’m crazy about their style. The photos have a wonderful combination of intensity and personality with a heavy dose of cool, and the layouts are so wonderfully clean.

Isn’t it interesting to see these brands’ ads all together, where you see the commonalities, and hence the perspective of the independent art director, rather than just the brand?

PS- Franck Durand is also the husband of Emmanuelle Alt! (Thanks to Kellina for commenting to let me know.) Very interesting. Totally makes sense. I feel like the same kind of cool that Emmanuelle simply oozes can be found in these photos. The man’s got a type (of cool).