Des Temps

Category: Our World

  • Prankster

    prankster.jpg
    The good people at Improv Everywhere have just launched the new site Urban Prankster. It will

    …feature pranks, hacks, participatory art, flash mobs, and other creative endeavors that take place in public places in cities across the world. If someone does something awesome in the public space, we plan to cover it.

    So we’re talking Ikea Dinner Parties, Subway Living Rooms and meta-Protests. Love that. This site is also part of our event capturing zeitgeist. Equally important to the actual is the act of recording + sharing the event. The wedding photographer has supplanted the minister. And even more important than the ‘official’ wedding shooter are the pics from the 25 friends who had digital cameras at the event.

    Within the space of brands/adverts, we’ve reached new ground in the past 3 years. The micro, if well executed (the actual, the recording, the distribution), can become macro. Next up is the race to see how this morphs and plays in the mobile space. And I think that events like those we see on Urban Prankster, combined with Big Game/MMO/ARG strategies, is where we’re going.

  • VDay Redux

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    Our ace fotog Sean found some dusty prints that shine more light on 7 Minutes in Heaven. Ever amazed at how black + white teases out different moods.

    who-is-the-hero.jpg

    so-emotional-baby.jpg

    dallas-and-claire.jpg

    spin zee bottel

    smile-with-eyes.jpg

    And been thinking about how polaroids are automatically imbued with narrative heft. The lighting? The framing? The fact that its process makes us know the moment is gone?

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  • The Body Electric

    bucktown

    While I connect cognitively with people online, I find that thinking this way has limits. I still subscribe to the school of thought begun by Walt Whitman, that the mind and the body are one. To “lack one, lacks both.” I thought of this thanks to Johanna’s blog post on how New Yorkers rarely look up when walking.

    This spring I started a habit of looking people in the eye as we pass each other on the street. Afterall, we are in the business of understanding people. Truth be told, it began while on a flirtatious kick, but has since become second nature. I look into all eyes. I do it with no intention of conversation. And it has never translated into the verbal. But I have found that the aggregation of these fleeting moments builds a unique energy, one that moves my mind into new thoughts + directions.

    connection planning

    UPDATE
    6/16 Culture and People come before Technology

  • The Posse Cut

    mashout posse

    A group photo is one of the best party favors we know. It’s also a white whale, rare to see all folks winning at the decisive moment. And so the shooter’s gotta keep saying Yeah Baby and snapping long after the subjects think they’ve got it made. From the many, you can then find the few.

    fisheye

    Flat Mug

  • Batman Creeps Up Park Avenue

    Slow Growth in Gotham

    On the northeast corner of Park Ave and 23rd Street, a massive advertisement for the new Batman film is being painted. It’s an event that’s been unfolding over the last few weeks at the speed of slow food. And therein lies the genius – the film is advertised by the creation of its advertisement. This media buy could have been easily achieved by unfurling a banner one morning, though days later that space would be just another part of our city’s commercial tapestry. But instead of being static, the painting’s progression is a daily reminder to passerby that The Dark Knight soon comes to Gotham.

    Say My Name

    This meta-act of an advertisement’s creation being part of the ad has been done by Sony with both success (Balls) and a thud (Foam). But so far this billboard has only an air of paint-by-numbers calm. Too calm? Given this film’s brilliant ARG themed marketing campaign, will there be some disruptive activity toward the end of this painting? Have we Gothamites been lulled to sleep, prey in the hands of a Joker?

    All Your Base...?

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    More Stuff That People Want to Watch via Gareth Kay

    Overiew of the entire Batman ad campaign

  • Balls

    i rock the spin cycle

    Last night at Shoot’s New Directors Showcase I dipped into a great conversation with publisher Gerald Giannone about the future path of ad industry magazines. At the end of our chat he noted the copy of Creativity I had tucked under my arm. “You know you’ve got a lotta balls coming in here tonight, holding that magazine.” Hell, somedays that’s all you’ve got.

  • The Internet Celebrities

    quarter water for my daughter

    Our friends The Internet Celebrities just released their new short Checkmate. Ad industry people take note, their Ghetto Big Mac clip served over 1 million on YouTube, and creator Dallas Penn’s blog gets 6K uniques daily. Give a shout if you want an introduction, the dude is a wicked copywriter.

    iAKJKBCyPUY