The music box, by Daniel Cloud Campos

It's time to go back to the genius art called dance in its pure manifestation - no commercial purpose, no brand or advertising campaign behind it.

Here is a short movie by one of the best dancers worldwide nowadays - Daniel Cloud Campos. But be careful, "only those who listen can hear"... Check it out by yourself:

The PRADA Dance

Prada is a fashion brand with very distinctive artsy personality. That's also shown in their communication.

The Spring/Summer 2011 campaign is a great example how this brand keeps its consistent image. Just imagine Prada was a dance - it would look like that:

The Samsonite acrobat commercial - made in Italy

Some days ago I visited an Italian advertising agency named "Hi! Comunicazione"... As I didn't hear the name before I did a small research on their work and found something I liked - the Samsonite Cosmolite commercial:



To be honest, Italian agencies are not on the top of my list with Favorites, but this case made me consider the potential of every creative team, no matter where are they from or how big are they.

Institutional campaign for Eni with Ilana Yahav, realized by TBWA/Italia

4 or 5 years ago I saw for the first time the incredible work of Ilana Yahav, an artist drawing with sand. The video absolutely amazed me:



Now I remember her because I see her work again - this time in a commercial for Eni. It's always a good solution to use talented artists in advertising. For sure this campaign will get more "likes" because of Ilana's art. Good news for Eni and for TBWA/Italia that realized the project.

A soft spot for Nike Women campaigns

Recently people around me reminded me about my favorite campaign. It's for Nike women and my favorite contemporary female dancer Sofia Boutella is starring by coincidence.

Just to remind you how all that starter for Nike Women:



And this is how it evolved:



Respect!

Creative directors of the year: Lady Gaga for Polaroid and Will.i.am for Intel

Music artists nowadays are working in a way much wider than ever. The ones claimed as the most talented even have their new important role in the serious corporate world.

Obviously, being creative and serving corporate goals at the same time is not anymore just for advertising agencies. Creativity widens in any possible way, through every possible art form and this trend is probably about to define the new brand communication rules.

Two careers to follow up during 2011 are definitely Lady Gaga's as a Creative director for Polaroid and Will.i.am (Black Eyed Peas) as a Creative director for Intel.

iPhone apps conquered the world: the BEP 360° experience

When discussing a communication strategy for almost any brand today you will probably hear one very "innovative" suggestion: "Hey, let's create an iPhone App!"

I would say that apps for smart phones became what TV spots were ten years ago.

Here is a new app from Black Eyed Peas, a band that has a strong brand-orientated approach towards their work. And why not - in the end, music and entertainment is a business like any other business. I would even say that Will.i.am and co. are playing better Brand Managers than the someones working for big international brands.
Take a look how they promote the Black Eyed Peas brand:

Logorama - an Academy award for the World of brands

These days I was shown a short movie with Academy award 2010 in Animated short movie category. It was shown for the first time at Cannes Film Festival 2009 and opened the Sundance Film Festival 2010. Yes, I'm talking about the Art of the short movies. Key word here is Art!

But... the creators use an interesting metaphor - a world of brands and logos.
It's absolutely fascinating to follow the movie and discover all the brands presented through their logos and to observe each brand role - who are the bad guys, who are the heroes, who are the victims?
The story is fun as well. Well, in the end the world of brands falls apart and the reason is that brands destroyed each other just like in an American action movie!

I mentioned already the metaphor of the world of brands, right? Or it's not a metaphor at all? As I said it's about Art here, so Brand managers shouldn't take it personal.

Just see Logorama, search for your Lovemarks inside and think about what you've seen in the end. Also think about is it better for your brand being there as the bad guy destroying the world, as the victim killed in one second or not being in Logorama at all?

Logorama from Marc Altshuler - Human Music on Vimeo.

Who owns the Heaven - Lavazza vs. Nespresso

After the long Christmas and NYE holidays people are full of hopes and bright expectations, thinking about the essentials in life - love, friendship, happiness. Being so idealistic is a rare and good mood and if you ever felt into it I would like to ask you a simple question:

Who owns the Heaven?

Here's an epic battle: Lavazza vs. Nespresso (Yes, it's again about brands!)

Lavazza chose the divine theme long time ago...



Nespresso jumped into the Heavens as well, starting the big battle on who has the right to be in clouds (with George Clooney their army seem to be stronger, don't you think?)



Lavazza fights back with a divine smile by Julia Roberts (who was paid an incredible amount of money to play an angel without saying a word)



Another question: if brands are already in Heaven, is there forbidden field for them? Just drink an espresso and wait for the answer during 2011.

T-mobile, Welcome back

T-mobile are probably the best example of a flash mob with commercial purpose, and one of the first ones with the T-mobile dance one year ago.

This one is still on the same track but refreshed in a very nice way and going one step further switching from dancing to singing:



Conclusion: once you get a strong communication tool it's not necessary to change it but just give it some freshness and make it work for you more than once. People like to follow good stories and it's engaging. What's more they will share the story with others. ("Life's for sharing", indeed!)

New short movie for Dior: luxury fashion gets compassionate?

During the last two years luxury fashion brands like to create touching short movies aiming to strengthen the brands giving them emotional human aspect. That trend in the communication of luxury fashion brands is maybe related to their ambitions to conquer bigger market going a bit more mass market and leaving behind the glamorous image turned once only around rich and famous but still saving the magic and the dream behind the brand.

Is that assumption true?

Let's search for an answer in the latest short movie released on-line for Dior:

Art engages. This time for MINI

The graphic artists from Rinpa Eshidan (Japan) were asked to paint a MINI car in Tokyo. They got inspired from the idea behind MINI as a brand and gave their best for the project. The result is a captivating mobile artwork. Yes - Art, not Advertising!



In near future I expect more and more projects like that circulating the web as viral videos for smart brands rather than adv spots.