Branding worth spreading

Three great concepts from the Stockholm Design Week

2013-02-17T05:59:00.002-08:00

The Stockholm Design Week, characterized by simplicity, minimalism and functionality, has become a meeting point for the best of Scandinavian Design. For the last couple of years, its organizers have pushed the fair's concept further by merging their products into different and unexpected settings creating stories that go beyond design.

This year, the Glass Elephant installation was a unique, creative collaboration between Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair and ABB where robots were given human qualities as they interacted with delicate glass objects.

“The purpose of the installation is to diversify and vitalize Stockholm Design Week’s image as an innovative and dynamic meeting place for the best in Scandinavian design. We want to create inspiring experiences and added value for both industry professionals and interested members of the public," explains Cecilia Nyberg, Event Manager of Stockholm Design Week.

“I’ve chosen to concentrate on the rock and the forces living within it. That’s why I wanted to personify the robots, to make them as much human as machine. They could be about to engage in some kind of jerky wrestling match. There’ll be a number of glass objects around the robots, fetishes from the consumer society, including a giant pink diamond. This is intended to create a somewhat abrasive image of the love of consumerism, something that’s in the process of changing. The desire for material things is universal, but what exactly do we become without our fetishes and the props we surround ourselves with? Cave people?” wonders Åsa Jungnelius.

In 2012, the Beckhamm's school of Communication told us why we should care about objects through their exhibit "Never Mind the Object"which was about ideas which require the observer to dig a little deeper, penetrating the surface. Have a closer look at ten personal projects by final year students here.

Never Mind the Object #1 from Beckmans College of Design on Vimeo.

In 2011 for "20 designers at Biologiska", Frederick Färg and Emma Marga Blanche invited nearly two dozen other young talents to display their work in and around the dioramas in the city’s 118-year-old natural history museum. The pair worked with museum directors to install clay clocks, massive glass eyeballs, and aqueduct-like bookshelves among the taxidermied walruses and sea birds, and the stunning results celebrate both the old and the new.

I love the effort and creativity that have been allocated towards building brand Scandinavia as the producer of some of the best design worldwide.

Creative Director 2.0 | From Lee Clow to Justin Timberlake

2013-02-12T13:32:00.001-08:00

There used to be a time when a Creative Director looked like this:

Creative Directors Marcelo Serpa, Dan Weiden, Nick Gill and Lee Clow

And collaborated in building brands like this:

Lately, creative directors look like this:

The new creative directors: Justin Timberlake, Alicia Keys, Lady Gaga, Victoria Beckham and Marc Jacobs

And they 'build brands' like this:

Yes. Justin Timberlake has been appointed creative director for Bud Light Platinum, Alicia Keys creative director for Blackberry, Lady Gaga for Polaroid, Posh for Range Rover and Marc Jacobs for Coke Light among others.

What makes brands believe that because these celebrities are great music and fashion icons, they will be able to build their brands?
When did it become outdated to endorse a brand the way that Michael Jordan endorsed Nike? Is the 'creative director' title a real position, or is it just a way to attract media attention and latch on to the latest trends?

Building a consumer brand is craft that takes dedication and passion. It is a very different process from building a personal brand. A creative director needs to be committed to it as a full time job listening to what people think, what the product represents, and who it is talking to. This leads me to believe that this new generation of creative directors is just a fad that could take a considerable toll on the brands they are claiming to build.

What do you think? Do you believe these celebrities will be able to do something more than endorsing the brands they 'direct'?

Three ideas that will make you smile | Guerrilla Design Week

2013-02-10T10:42:00.001-08:00

Idea#1

Meet Tobias Gutmann. He is 'an illustrator, storyteller, artist and sometimes a graphic designer, but mostly a nice guy', as described on his website. He created the Face-o-Mat whose patented technology creates a portrait of the user. And yes, it's made out of pure cardboard and creativity.

Photos: http://tobiasgutmann.tumblr.com/

Idea#2

We could all use better design in our lives, and Erik Olevsson (below) is here to help. He graduated from design school last year, and ever since he has been touring Sweden looking for work on his own terms, and with the people he likes. His pop-up business offers everything from designing logos to printing menus for local businesses. He's equipped with everything he needs, and the van serves both as his home and studio.

Meet David. Photo: http://popupcity.net

The Design Buss becomes a music stage from time to time. Photo: http://www.eriksdesignbuss.se

Idea#3

Are you an expert sewer, or programmer? The fun part about knowing how to do something is being able to share it with others. That's the raison d'être behind HowDo.

'HowDo is a great new way to show how you do stuff in the real world. Take a photo, grab a sound and share a HowDo with your friends. We all stumble upon things we're awesome at, like eating crayfish Swedish style, making a hovercraft or fixing a squeaky door. On HowDo you can capture your discoveries, follow people, create a collection of your loved HowDos and find inspiration.

These are thought provoking ideas that were brought together by Jonna Dagliden and Josefin Vargö during the Guerilla Design and Art Week in Stockholm. Read more about it here.

The Seven Wonders of Selfridges | No Noise

2013-01-20T09:23:00.003-08:00

Pictures from http://www.selfridges.com

In the last couple of days there has been a lot of noise around the 'No Noise' campaign for Selfridges. As I was researching it, I came across a fascinating man with a surprising history. Meet Harry Gordon Selfridge, an innate American marketer who transformed the English shopping experience from a chore into a fun adventure. These are 7 reasons why he was a genius, or, as I'd like to call them, The Seven Wonders of Selfridges.

Wonder no. 1- While he was working at Marshall Field, he was the first to promote Christmas sales with the phrase "Only___ Shopping Days Until Christmas", which as you might have noticed, was quickly picked up by retailers in other markets.

Wonder no. 2 - He created the phrase "The Customer is always right". I'm sure you've heard that one before.

Wonder no. 3 - Have you noticed that the perfume and cosmetic departments of big stores are usually on the ground floor? It's nice to begin your shopping journey with a mix of premium smells. Guess who was the first store to do this? Today Selfridges is home to the largest beauty hall in the world.

Picture from http://www.selfridges.com

Wonder no. 4 - Even though Coca-cola was introduced in 1886, Brits weren't able to experience its taste locally until 1922 when Selfridges became one of the first stores to stock it.

Wonder no. 5 - In 1909, when Louis Bieriot became the first aviator to fly over water, his plane was put on display at Selfridges for four days, drawing crowds of more than 150,000 people.

Picture from http://www.selfridges.com

Wonder no. 6 - Mr Selfridge created visual story-telling through window displays, which has been a pretty popular idea ever since.

Picture from: http://www.selfridges.com

Wonder no. 7 - In 1909, the original Selfridges store had a Silence Room with soft lights, and comfortable chairs where shoppers could 'retire from the whirl of bargains and build up of energy'. This concept has been revived in the latest 'No Noise' campaign where the power of quiet is being
celebrated.

I love the fact that Mr Selfridges' ideas from the past are being revived, yet I don't believe that Mr. Selfridge would be proud of how it has been carried out. There's just too much noise around it, which makes it just another advertising campaign. It's not something that will be remembered for decades to come, like the rest of initiatives in the list.

Still, I do admire the power of Selfridges in being able to get iconic brands on board by asking them not to brand their products. I would love to get one of those Marmite brandless jars...

What do you think? Do you consider it a good campaign?

Funny Fact- Mr Selfridge also managed to get the privilege of having number "1" as its companies' phone number, so to call Selfridge's operators, people just needed to dial 1.

Help Remedies | Pop-up store

2012-11-20T12:48:00.004-08:00

If you want to build a great product, find a space where people experience anxiety and come up with a way to delight them. Help Remedies was probably created with this principle in mind in a time when most pharmaceutical products were focusing on doing the extra-dupra-forte versions of their medicines.

Visually and verbally, this brand speaks to your heart in the moment when you are the most vulnerable. They also find a way to make you feel good for choosing their products over the others. They are actually here to 'Help'.

They just opened their first pop-up store in Washington DC, and the design couldn't be more brilliant, plus the post-election/hurricane timing couldn't be better.
Enjoy the images below, and have a great week.

Images from Creativity-Online

If you want to see more detailed images of this great product, click here.

Cask of Dreams | Glenfiddich 2012

2012-11-05T13:31:00.001-08:00

One of the greatest things about human beings is that we are able to dream. We all look forward to something. That's part of what keeps us going. One day I will study marketing. One day I will work for great brands. One day I will write a blog about branding. One day I will visit Scotland. One day I will... All those 'one day I wills" are what bring us to this moment.

In celebration for its 125th anniversary, Glenfiddich has been collecting the 'One Day I will's' from hundreds of people on whiskey casks through the United States, Canada and now the Nordics. The casks have been rolling through the main streets of these countries filling up with the energy of dreams.

The signed casks are brought back to the Glenfiddich distillery and filled with 14 year old whiskey. Then they are left to rest for a few months before the release of this limited edition.

Check out this video of what they did in Seattle.

Last week I went to Scotland and visited the Glenfiddich Distillery. It was a wonderful experience. If you are ever in Dufftown, you need to go. The best part of it, was seeing the casks of dreams resting peacefully in their warehouse...

Endangered Species ® | Branding for good

2012-10-19T12:07:00.002-07:00

Coca-Cola ranks as the most valuable brand in the World. It is "a name that is more universally recognized than any other in the world", according to Interbrand.

Now let's think of these guys. You know their names. They were part of the books that you grew up with. They guarded your dreams when you were a child. Paintings of them hang on many walls.

They are highly endangered. Sadly enough no one has yet registered a trademark for them.

Their image has been used for profit billions of times all over the world. Isn't it just fair for them to finally get some royalties?

Imagine if all endangered species were part of a new 'Protected Brand' category at the International Trademark Association. Every time their image is reproduced for commercial purposes, one cent will go towards the preservation of their habitat.

If you believe in this idea help me spread it. Like, tweet, sign the petition and comment on this post. Together we could change their future. OUR future.

Monocle Magazine | Best of Brands

2012-10-11T04:33:00.004-07:00

The 'Best of Brands' series are profiles of some of the brands that I love the most.

On the 20th of October, a Monocle store will open in Toronto. I am devastated. I have dreamt of living in a city with a Monocle shop ever since I laid my eyes on this extraordinary specimen for the first time. Yet, as I moved to Stockholm almost a year ago I am 6,347 kilometers away from it. So sad. At least I am only 1,886 km from their London store *sigh*.

If you are not a Monocle subscriber, you might be really clueless about what I'm talking about, so now I'll share with you a bit of information on one of my favourite brands.

Monocle Magazine was founded in 2007 by Tyler Brûlé, who also created Wallpaper magazine in 1996. It is a lifestyle publication with news from all over the world. It is divided into 5 sections:
A- Affairs
B-Briefing
C-Culture
D- Design and Fashion
It has great journalists based all over the world, who report on very refreshing and unexpected subjects. The design is outstanding. You can't experience its magic online. The whole point is for you to have the physical magazine in your hands. They choose the right fonts, the perfect colours, wonderful paper and exquisite images.

Ads are a pleasure to look at, because they are specially crafted by the Monocle team to fit the magazine's style. The partnership and communication between Monocle and sponsors such as Lexus, Nissan, Rolex, Samsung and Hermes among others is so special that they must have one of the highest brand recalls among its readers. I usually hate ads in magazines. I never pay attention. But when it comes to Monocle it's so different. They are part of the experience.

This magazine is brilliant. Look at its logo. Smell it. Think of its name. Listen to their podcast and internet radio station. Visit one of their design stores in New York, London, Hong Kong, LA, Tokyo, and soon Toronto and Seoul. Attend one of their subscriber get togethers at the stores. Enfin. It's made with love.

In a time where most magazine publications are giving huge discounts on subscriptions, Monocle actually charges more: it costs $10 at newstands but $130 for a yearly subscription of 10 issues.

In exchange you get great customer care. I once ordered a map that arrived a bit damaged, and they immediately sent me another one to replace it. I've also changed my address 3 times in the last two years, and they always send me whatever issue I might have missed during the transition.

Check it out online, but if you really want a bit of the Monocle experience you need to buy the physical magazine or at least listen to Monocle 24, which is their internet radio station. This magazine is a real treat. It has proven that print, nor journalism are dead when done right. I hope you take the time to experience it. And if you are one of the lucky people that will be in Toronto on the 20th of October, here is the invitation to the store inauguration.

How Nike just did it (again) | Nike Flyknit

2012-09-25T10:05:00.000-07:00

You know you've seen them. They are the neon lights that moves across your tv when you watch soccer. They were a part of the attire of most of the cool athletes at the Olympics. They make you look down every time they pass you by in the street. Nike Flyknit. Impossible not to notice them.

But what's the big deal with those tennis shoes? Where do they come from?

When Martin Lotti was appointed Nike's global Creative Director for the 2012 Olympics he knew he was facing a big challenge; Nike wasn't sponsoring the Olympics. In order to get noticed, he needed to do something that hadn't been done before. What he needed was to put on a show.

His idea was to ask every member of the Team Nike across all the different federations to wear Nike's newest creation in an impossible to miss colour: Volt. This isn't only the coolest shoe Nike has ever come up with. It is also the most sustainable. The key differentiation of this product is its unmissable color, great design, and of course the element of repetition. If you watch sports, you can't miss it.

When you add up this to the "Find your greatness' campaign, you have one of the best marketing strategies ever created for the Olympics.

So voila! Nike did it again. Can you imagine the frustration of the Creative Director at Adidas? After spending so much money and sweat in sponsoring the Olympics, the brand that will be remembered is Nike. These brand interventions from Nike might become a big problem given that Adidas hasn't renewed its sponsorship deal for the 2016 Olympics. Obviously big bucks are needed to make these events a reality, yet Adidas seems to sleep on its laurels every time, thinking that having their logo everywhere will magically increase sales and share of market.

Poor Adidas.. this hasn't been their year. As of yesterday they were ordered to stop manufacturing their AdiZero Primeknit shoe, which was the direct competitor of Nike's Flyknit running shoe, for patent infringement.

The fact is that I see those shoes everywhere. I can tell you that I don't ever wear tennis-shoes unless I'm going to the gym, yet I want the pink ones. They look so good. The streets of Stockholm are a never ending runway and I've seen many people wearing them with dressy clothes and they are just awesome.

We will find you | Nestlé

2012-08-21T08:22:00.003-07:00

“Charlie Bucket is a poor boy living with his widowed mother and four grandparents in a dilapidated house in an industrial town. Charlie supplements the meager family income by delivering newspapers after school. One day he learns that the local candy maker, Nestle, has hidden six GPS trackers amongst their chocolate bars. Those who find these special trackers will win £10,000. Charlie finds a silver coin in a gutter and uses it to buy a Kit Kat. When Charlie opens the bar, he finds the GPS tracker. When he pulls the tab, an action team arrives to present him with the prize. And he lives happily ever after.”*

This is not Willy Wonka’s latest comeback. It's Nestle’s version of how it would be in today’s world. In their latest promotion, six people buying KitKat 4 Finger, KitKat Chunky, Aero Peppermint Medium and Yorkie Milk may find a Sat Nav device that will notify the company about their location. They will be tracked down, and receive a £10,000 prize.

There’s money, there’s chocolate, but there is no story behind the promotion. There is no magic. Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory made us dream, while Nestle is simply doing an average promotion using gps technology that aims to build short term sales, but doesn't do much for the brand long term.

Wouldn’t it be more interesting if instead of doing it for many different products, they focused on one in particular -- let’s say KitKat-- and created a Twitter account that sent tips about the location of the devices in riddles? This would allow the brand to show its personality and create a lasting link with the audience, instead of dying in the oblivion of average promotions. Each GPS device could have a different name that would be shared with a hashtag on each tweet related to it.

It would be pretty exciting to read an updates such as “So many people passing by. I just got tickled by a little boy that was begging his dad to take me home” #kitty.'

It's disappointing when brands use technology for technology’s sake. There is a big missed opportunity in this strategy, and a lot of money being spent. Sometimes being a big company with big budgets shrinks creativity.

*Willy Wonka text was taken from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willy_Wonka_%26_the_Chocolate_Factory)

Best Job in the World | Procter & Gamble

2012-08-02T23:42:00.000-07:00

To continue with the Olympic mood from yesterday's post, I'm going to share with you an ad I saw for the first time a couple of months ago, yet keeps appearing in my life. Dan Weiden showed it in the Cannes Lions and Sir John Hegarty made fun of it for being a corny idea.

In a way he is right. It must have been pretty hard to sell it to the client. If you try to describe it with words, it's not that good. The beauty of it is in the execution.

I still can't figure out what is it about it. The music? The subtlety of the product placement? The wonderful direction from mexican Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu? Or is the fact that I cry every time I watch it?

Not sure. What I am sure of is that it will be remembered as one of the best ads ever created for Procter and Gamble. What do you think?

By the way, I just discovered through a friend that the song is "Divenire" from Ludovico Einaudi. If you liked the ad, you have to download it. It's magical.

Find your greatness | Nike

2012-08-02T00:01:00.002-07:00

I'm in an Olympic mood today. I just watched "Find your Greatness" campaign from Nike and I love it, specially because I've been watching the Olympics and fell quite useless when it comes to dedicate-your-life-to kind of exercise. I do yoga, but I know I'll never be a super yoga star. I'll never win a medal. There's no such thing.

Yes. We are all great. We all fight for small things everyday. We get out of bed and face life, over and over again even when we are scared, or even worse, when we are tired of it all.

Nike is trying to achieve making August 12 the most active day in the history of Nike +. The Nike + digital ecosystem has more than 8.5 million members globally, and Nike is creating a series of digital missions through Nike+ to motivate people. Of course August 12 is also the closing day of the Olympics, but there is no reference of it whatsoever because Adidas is the official sponsor.

When Nike is not the main sponsor of a big sporting event, it makes its best campaigns. Remember 'Write the Future' during the World Cup 2010? I think many people actually think Nike was the official sponsor. Knowing Nike, they will make sure they own the Olympics as well. Great work from Wieden+Kennedy. Game on, World.

Curators of Sweden | The art of representing a country

2012-07-30T01:20:00.002-07:00

When it comes to social media campaigns for tourism boards, we usually find the same thing over and over again. Bla country is wonderful, visit us, ask us your questions and we will help you make the most out of your experience. @Sweden had a different idea. Their twitter space belongs to the Swedes. Every week a new "voice" speaks on behalf of the country. Writers, teachers, priests, lesbians, truck drivers, mothers.. everyone is invited.

As you probably know Sweden is all about consensus. The voice of everyone matters like nowhere else. Given that there are not many restrictions for the people that manage the account, some of them have created a lot of controversy. Sonja Abrahamsson, for example, made some comments about jews and aids that offended some people. This situation caused a postulation from Steven Colbert to take over the account for a week. Even though it would have created a lot of buzz, Visit Sweden declined the offer because the space is reserved only for Swedes.

Volontaire, the ad agency behind this idea, won one of the two Cyber Lion Grand Prix awarded this year. The second one was for Nike Fuel from R/GA. This is quite an interesting contrast when you consider that Nike Fuel is a technological achievement that took 2 years in the making.

With 69,000 followers in only 8 months I consider this account to be a great success. As a follower you never know what to expect. It's never repetitive and extremely forward thinking, just like Sweden.

La bolsita Coca-Cola | updated

2012-07-11T12:17:00.000-07:00

Editor's note (July 17)

Currently, there is no presentation of Coca-Cola in plastic bags in any country of Central America (“Coca-Cola Bag”). Recently, a video was circulated on different social networks, which suggests the existence of this presentation in the market. In this regard, it is necessary to clarify that The Coca-Cola Company is not the author of the video and is not responsible for its dissemination. The Company currently distributes Coca-Cola in Central America countries in cans, plastic PET and glass.

If you've ever been to Latin America, you've problably noticed that lots of people buy their sodas at their local tiendita, and drink it from a plastic bag with a straw. They do it that way so they don't have to pay the deposit for the bottle. That is obviously a missed opportunity for iconic brands such as Coke to show their presence.

As a solution to this problem, Coke came up with a wonderful solution: a branded biodegradable plastic bag. This is absolutley awesome. Please watch the video below. I am incredibly excited by this concept. It's one of those ideas I would have loved to come up with.

Thanks to Joana Mendes for sharing this idea with me.

My week with Bob | Cannes Lions 2012 (part 3)

2012-07-06T13:02:00.002-07:00

Bob Isherwood Creative Academy 2012 and Sir John Hegarty | Cannes Lions

This post is part of a trilogy. To read the first post please click here.

Thursday began with a visit from Steve Henry. As you probably know, he's one of the founders of Howell Henry Chaldecott Lury, which was the first agency to offer both above and below the line advertising as well as PR. Jeez! Using those words makes me feel old.

Anyway. Last year he founded "Decoded", a company that teaches everyone to code in a day.

Steve said that it's the best time to be a creative because with the tools we have we can bring any idea to life. He mentioned a bit of his experience at the academy in his blog.

After his talk we headed to see Alain de Botton. As expected, his seminar was mind blowing. These are some of the things he said:

"Get a skull and put it on your desk to bring perspective about death to your life."
"Learn to feel small in a good way"
"Everything that is worth in life creates unbalance"
"Success is about self knowledge"
"I love Japanese literature because it shows people who have lost themselves and are not failures"
"Learn to do Sabbath, and recognize you are not in charge of your destiny"

To make this day even better we went to see the Saatchi and Saatchi's New Directors' showcase. You can watch a video of it here, or see the winners here. But you need to be there to understand the significance of the show. Bob started it when he was worldwide director for Saatchi and Saatchi, or "the Saatchis" as he likes to call them. It was so full! The difference between this show and other film showcases is that there is an actual show around it. It makes all the difference.

Bob Greenberg from RGA was our next guest at the academy. It's no secret that Nike will own the metric in which sports are measured thanks, in great part, to their work. He was the only speaker that lived in the future. Everyone else was talking about the present or the past. He mentioned how related architecture and advertising are, and how useful it's been to follow architecture principles for building his company. Bob said that the agency of today needs technical people who have to be creative, and creatives that are technologically astute. In my opinion if you do not fit any of this criteria, and you want to make a career on advertising, it's time to start learning.

Our next guest was Paul Lavoie, founder of Taxi. Some of the interesting things that he said were:

"Creativity doesn't flirt when there are walls"
"Doubt the conventional, create the exceptional"
"Try to figure the real questions behind a brief"
"If everybody agrees, it's not special. No resistance means it's secure"
"I have a little secret. I've changed briefs adding a more complicated path. It leads to great ideas."
"We help people sell better"

"Stop thinking once you find a basic human truth"

We then went to Jack Dorsey's Twitter seminar, which wasn't too exciting. He basically explained how twitter works.

After that I was pretty excited to see CP&B seminar, but it was only promotion for a new initiative they were launching. Since Alex Bogusky left, the agency is loosing its edge.

Sometimes the big conferences at Cannes are not too good. That's why it was so great to have Bob. He made sure we got the best of it by combining the usual sessions with private conversations which were not sponsored in any way. Our guests were real and spontaneous.

Bill Clinton was next. I didn't even go to that. Hate to hear that Selena Gomez and him created the most conversations online. It's all because of their superstar halo. So superficial.

Time was running out. It was extremely sad to know it would soon be over...

Our first guest on Friday was Michael Conrad who is the President of the Berlin School of Creative Leadership. He talked to us about the school and about his German engineering system for advertising that consists of 10 categories. Consider that 10 is the most desirable quality and 1 is the least desirable. Anything between 5 and 7 is worth doing, less than that is basically a waste of time and money, but if you have an 8-10 you have to fight for it and make it happen.

10. Most inspiring in the world
9. New standard in communication
8. New standard in category
7. Excellence in craft
6. Fresh idea
5. Innovative strategy
4. Cliche
3. Non competitive
2. Destructive
1. Appalling

Every campaign ever created fits one of these categories. Work hard to make your campaigns a 10.

We then went to Dan Weiden and Sir John Hegarty seminar. It was great to see them discuss the industry like if they were old friends. Here is a small taste of what it was like to be there.

After the seminar, we went back to the Academy and Bob gave us one of the most interesting talks of the week. He spoke about some of the challenges he experienced during the transition from being a creative to being a creative director. In his words 'being a creative director is all about other people's work and making them be the most awesome.' For him success was when every one of his 7 teams won gold. He mentioned that when he first became a director he was role-playing as a teacher. "It's all about being yourself. Don't try to be what you think the role should dictate." he said.

We also talked about the importance of hiring the right people. "Hire your weaknesses", he said. "Having people that complement you makes you look round." When he finished his talk we headed to see Debbie Harry's seminar.

By then I was thinking about a ton of things. You have to give your heart and soul to advertising. Given that I am married and now have a baby, I don't know if I will be able to still make it.
It was a funny contrast to see Debbie Harry trying to relive her past right after such a powerful seminar about fighting for the future. As I watched her put her blond wig I couldn't help but wonder if I am not doing the same thing by trying so hard to keep my career going. Maybe I am just trying to be the person I used to be , holding on as hard as possible to the future I dreamt of.

Our last speaker of the day was Mary Lee. She is American, but lives half her time in Stockholm. She is the content director for The (next level) Storytelling Academy.

She made us come up with a choreography inspired by one of the ads we had seen at the festival in different teams. The rest of the teams had to guess what the ad was. It was a lot of fun. We had 5 minutes to create te choreography and the funny thing is we guessed all the ads. What she wanted to show us that storytelling is not a structure; its how you get an emotional response.

After this amazing day some of us went to the Project Re:Brief seminar from Google. I wrote about this project a couple of months ago, and I couldn't wait to see the final result. Check it out here.

It was awesome. We got to talk one on one with Harvey Gabor (Coca-Cola’s “Hilltop); Amil Gargano (Volvo’s “Drive it like you hate it”); Paula Green (Avis’ “We try harder”); and Howie Cohen and Bob Pasqualina (Alka-Seltzer’s “I can’t believe I ate the whole thing”). They demonstrated to us that while major shifts in technology have changed the way we consume media, the magic of storytelling is still at the core of every idea. It was so nice to be around these guys. Specially Harvey Gabor who was there with his wonderful wife. I believe wives deserve as much credit as their husbands. Behind a successful man, there is always an amazing woman.

Project Re:Brief seminar | Harvey Gabor, Me, Howie Cohen, and Bob Pasqualina

The last day we only had one guest: John Hegarty from BBH. Some of the memorable things he said were:

"A brand is the most valuable piece of real estate in the world: a corner of someone's mind."
"Our job is not to understand people, just to inspire them."
"Surround yourself with great things."
"Great brands have a point of view that doesn't change."
"You remember if your body remembers."

What I find the most amazing about this talk is that it was probably the last time he was at a seminar where he could present himself as the owner of BBH. As you probably know, this week Publicis bought the remaining 51% of the agency. The agency will never be the same without him, yet that's the normal cycle for agencies and especially for people.

After this great talk, we had our graduation. Bob gave us our diploma and we all went for lunch together. Later that night, we went to the final award ceremony and danced all night long at the closing gala.

Bob Isherwood, Sir John Hegarty, Paul Lavoie, Bob Greenberg, Dan Weiden... all these guys have made advertising what it is today. I hate long posts, and this has to be the longest post I've ever written. I know we all kind of have ADD, and it requires a lot of energy to read all the way through, but I really wanted to share this experience with you, hoping to pass along a bit of the fresh ideas that made my creative heart beat like never before. I hope I was able to inspire your future work in whatever field you work in, and more importantly I wish you are able to go to this festival and live the magic yourself.

For me this experience was a great way of confronting my fears, and getting enough motivation to fight really hard for the creative I want to become. The challenge is huge, being an expat that jumps from city to city, having a 9 month old baby and loving my family as much as I do. But I won't give up without a fight. In this connected world there has to be a way.

Bob Isherwood is 90% heart and 100% inspiration. Having met him was a turning point in my career.

As Henry Adamsone said, "Teachers affect eternity. They never know where their influences will be."

Bob and me

My week with Bob | Cannes Lions 2012 (part 2)

2012-06-28T12:51:00.001-07:00

Tuesday began with a seminar by Joseph Tripodi, Vice-President and CMO of Coca Cola. He had a very weird sofware that had some sort of recording of two guys doing graffitis that repeated what he was saying. It was a bit freaky. He mentioned how Coca Cola's advertising is now all about stories that provoke and promote happiness. Their philosophy is based on "share value", which is also DDB's philosophy. I wonder who chose it first. I really think it was DDB.

Mr Tripodi showed this ad, which has some great numbers that simply make us think positively. He also presented the 'Move to the Beat' campaign for London 2012. I will later write about this campaign in particular, but you can check it out here.

After the conference we all went back to the Academy where we congratulated Lorenz and Andrew for their lions. Lorenz, who didn't seem to have slept at all, brought his lions to the classroom and for a moment I felt the weight of the lion in my hands. I have to say, it felt great.

Our next guest at the Academy was Tim Mellors who after many ups and downs in his career is now Worlwide creative director for Grey. He showed us Andrew Wyeth's 'Christina's World', and asked us to tell him the story of what happened before that moment, what was happening at the moment and what would happen next. Try answering these questions yourself before you continue reading.

The answers from each group were very different. We created stories based on different visual clues. What he wanted to tell us is that we don't see things as they are. We see things as WE are. It's all about perception. His message was that before you start to work, you need to check who you are so you understand what you bring to the table. Know who you are because you are not selling products. You are selling yourself.

Tom Uglow

After this amazing session we headed to the TED seminar, which was not as interesting as I had expected. We then went back to the Academy for a private session with Tom Uglow who is a Creative Director for Google Sydney. I had already been to one of his seminars at a PFSK event in London. It was great to see him again in the comfort of our Academy. He took off his havaianas and started talking to us like if we were old friends. He mentioned how when it comes to story telling no one tells the story the same way as it was originally told. Millions of people just share the narrative in a different way. That's what social media is all about. When planning your message you should be very aware of this.

He also shared with us his vision of the future of digital. Here is his presentation in case you want to read more about it. Tom is a creative genious, and he is also extremly cool. He has a great blog that you should check out as well.

Our next Academy guest was John Bird. It was a unique opportunity to meet a man who was in orphanages since he was very young, became homeless and was later in prison a couple of times during his early teeens and twenties. He began by telling us that the greatest gift that we've been given is the responsability for ourselves. We rob the poor of the chance of growing up and being independent. With this in mind he created the Big Issue which is a magazine with great editorial content sold by homeless people in London. By selling it, homeless people stop being invisible to society. They are offered a way out of their situation and are given the gift of taking responsability for themselves.

We then went to a seminar with Paul Adams, head of brand design for Facebook. He was so nervous he left the stage 5 minutes after beginning his speech. Then he came back. This little incident made him win the audience in a very special way, because he suddenly became human. His main thesis was that the web is now being rebuilt around people.

We then relaxed for a bit at the Google Sandbox, and headed to the Creative effectiveness, media, mobile and outdoor awards. Lorenz won one more lion for his collection. At night we all went to the opening gala.

Wednesday was a bit less intense than Tuesday. We went to two seminars in the morning. The first one was supposed to have Forest Whitaker as a guest speaker, but he didn't make it to Cannes. The second one was about storytelling. It was great to see Michael Patrick King, (writer, director and producer of Sex and the City and Two Broke Girls), but it wasn't too engaging.

After, we had an Academy session with Bob Isherwood where we heard a bit more about him and his career. The phrase that stuck with me the most was "there is a cigarrete distance between being great at something, and getting things done." He is a great guy. I think that most of his success is simply a karmic response to how much he has helped people along the way. Of course he didn't say anything about it, he would never brag about it, But we heard it from other people, and we could see it in the way all the big legends approached him. I also noticed he is a hugger. Extremely sweet.

After this heart warming session we went to see Zaha Hadid's seminar. I love her work, but her conference wasn't good. It looked as if she had just recycled one of the lectures she uses when she speaks at architecture conferences. She said nothing about the creative process, and I'm almost sure she thinks advertising is stupid. It was very interesting to see her arrogance. In the end she is from Irak. It must not have been easy to get to where she is, especially being a woman.

While we had lunch we watched "The Fighter", another one of Amir BarLev's documentaries. It's about two Czech holocaust survivors rebuilding their past.

We then went to see JR's seminar at the Debusy theater. JR is a street artist that uses his camera to show the world its true self. I'd seen his TED talk from when he was awarded the TED prize. He repeated a bit what he said there, but it was so nice to feel his energy and to be able to see him. He said that one of the reasons why he doesn't work with brands is because he doesn't like limits. His only limit is his responsibility. He also said "I think ad people and I are competitors, although I don't just do it, I just did it"

Our last guest for the day was Amir Bar Lev. After having watched two of his movies I was very intrigued to meet him. He got comfy with us at the Academy and started sharing with us some details about his creative process. He shared great insights into how to get the best out of people when creating something as personal as a documentary. We had a great connection with him. More that a seminar, it was an intimate reunion. My key learning is that "all our stories are interpretations in search for a truth" and when making a documentary you need to allow spontaneity. Too much storyline will kill it. Too little storyline will kill it.

At night we went to the Press, Design, Radio and Cyber Lions. I was extremly impressed by the design winners. Check them out here.

By this time great friendships were being made. Lots of information had entered our system. And we were ready for more.

To read the third post of this trilogy, please click here

My week with Bob | Cannes Lions 2012 (part 1)

2012-06-27T12:13:00.001-07:00

Picture by Kryspin

After a very intense week at the Cannes Lions 2012 I'm back home. I have recharged my batteries like never before, even though I definitely could use some sleep.

Being at the festival opened my mind in an unexpected way. It was one of those life changing experiences that don't happen that often in life. It was also quite dangerous, because it made me question myself and the way I've chosen to live life in many levels.

I was lucky enough to be part of the Bob Isherwood Creative Academy. This means that instead of loosing myself in all the conferences and seminars from the festival, I had the most amazing curator to decide where I was going. Being a part of the Academy also gave me access to private sessions with some wonderful speakers. It also allowed me to get to know 22 likeminded creatives from different disciplines from all over the world and, most importantly, gave me a glimpse into the person behind the Bob Isherwood legend.

I arrived to Cannes on Saturday around 2 pm and went directly to register for the festival. I met with an old friend and and met a new friend that was also part of the Academy. As we walked through Boulevard La Croissette, we saw Bob for the first time. It was pretty easy to recognize him. Good creatives are usually great when branding themselves. Siver hair, perfectly fitted glasses, dark t-shirt and a childish curiosity.

The next day I finally met him. After getting lost for half an hour in the Palais, I made it to our classroom. There was absolute silence in the room even though almost everyone was already there. As people started presenting themselves Bob laughed and made some interesting remarks and questions to each of us. I loved our group. Everyone was extremly passionate about creativity. They were all incredibly special in their own way. From a guy who maximized every single piece of paper he used, to a YouTube mini series director. It was incredible to realize we all came from 19 different countries, yet we were united by creativity.

We walked around the Palais, had lunch, and went to an average seminar called 'Turning a fighter into a brand'. We then toured the print judging room and went back to the Academy.

Our first private guest was Patrick Collister, who was executive creative director at Ogilvy for 7 years and now owns Creative Matters. He spoke about his 7 ideas framework when working with a brief. He mentioned the importance of making people believe in an emotional level instead of in an intellectual level.

After our intense day we went for some drinks, and I returned to the Palais to attend PARTY's conference. PARTY is a creative lab based in Tokyo and New York which experiments with new ways of telling stories. As I watched their work I realized I've posted many times about their campaigns without realizing they were all part of the same agency. In one year they have created 3 of my all time favourite campaigns. They are amazing.

On Monday we began with a private session with Shekhar Kapur, who directed "Elizabeth" among many other great films. Every time he said something he made me feel like I needed to write it down somewhere in my skin so I would never forget it. When I asked him about his online persona he spoke about how technology drives creativity, and how important it is to tell stories in different ways. He mentioned how when stories were told in ancient times, there were no ends. Novels now have to end, but in reality stories never do. That's why he loves social media. It is bringing us back to stories with no endings.

After Shekhar's session, a Tibetian monk came to the classroom to talk to us about meditation. He mentioned how important it was for creative minds not to be broken by being caught with emotions, and the importance of helping others achieve. We meditated for aproximately 15 minutes, and once he left we shared our experiences and our point of view about meditation. Bob mentioned the importance of finding that moment of silence and solitude in our lives to keep ourselves equilibrated. For me it's very hard to find the time to do it, but I am definetly trying at least once a day.

We then went to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation seminar, which was hardly as amazing as the private sessions that we had that day.

After that we had lunch, and started watching "Trouble the water" which is a documentary directed by Amir BarLev, who was going to be a guest on our academy later in the week.

To finish our day we went to Ted Royer's master class. It took place in the Young Lions area because it was supposed to have a small crowd. Obviously, hundreds of people showed up to hear more about Droga 5. Check out the following summary of what he talked about. There is a lot to learn from what he says.

I loved his attitude. His presentation was very inspiring and he answered to all sorts of questions in a very passionate way. It's obvious that Droga5 is one of the most sought after agencies of the moment. As you know, the agency is called Droga because of its founder David Droga, but what you might not know is that the 5 is because David is the fifth son, and during camp his mom sewed numbers to each of his children's clothes. As he was the fifth son, he got number 5.

Later that night we went to the Promo & Activation, PR and Direct Lions awards. We were sitting on the border of our seats loving the work and really enjoying the ceremony, when to our surprise Andrew Maaldrink from Y&R Amsterdam, who was one of our classmates was being awarded a gold lion for his work for Philips. I was sitting with one of my friends from the Academy, and we went into a sudden shock. We were actually 'studying' with a guy that was already receiving a lion. Wow. We what's apped everyone in our group, including Andrew. We were so surprised and happy for him. He actually won a lion. Here is his entry. Extremly simple, yet genius.

Once the excitement was wearing down we saw Lorenz Lnggrtnr, another one of our classmates receiving 2 more lions for his amazing job at Serviceplan for Lego.

By that moment I almost got a heart attack. I had no idea I was taking classes with such outstanding creatives. We were shouting and clapping as he received his award, and again began

what's apping the group like crazy.

I basically have a blackout of what happened after. I don't think I even paid any attention to the remaining awards. Three lions for our class.

Once we left the Palais we congratulated them and partied for a bit with Andrew. It seemed that everything was possible when you were in Cannes...

To read the second part of this trilogy, click here.

Cannes Lions 2012 | Mercedes-Benz

2012-06-11T00:48:00.001-07:00

Innovating in car advertising is not easy. Even though there are usually huge budgets to work with, almost everything has been done. Mercedes-Benz found a great way to create awareness of the Viano at Friedrichstrasse subway station in Berlin by giving people the opportunity to activate digital billboards with their car keys. The billboards demonstrated how spacious the car is by showing what could fit inside.

Those who opened the car and discovered that it was empty, received a VIP trip where they could experience the Viano for real.

This is a unique way of test driving the car for potential buyers taking into consideration that it is not like the Mercedes CLK that calls attention on it's own.

The fact that people needed to have their car keys with them hyper targets it to residents of Germany, which is a very important consideration in a city like Berlin where tourists make up a big percentage of the human mass commuting in the subway every day.

So far this campaign has won a bronze pencil and a bronze out of home Clio. I belive it will do better in Cannes.

Cannes Lions 2012 | Smart Argentina

2012-06-01T12:31:00.001-07:00

This week I started posting some of my predictions for the 2012 Lions Festival. This is a continuation of the series.

Even in the most car crowded cities, there is always room for a Smart because of how small it is. It fits everywhere. It even fits within 140 characters.
By using different typographic characters, and the power of shortcuts such as using K and J to scroll through your Twitter feed, BBDO Argentina came up with the first ever Twitter Commercial. It was created to gain new followers for their new Twitter account.

Check out the video below, or try it yourself here.

It is for sure an unexpected use of the medium and I absolutely love it because of how well it answers the brief. The only problem is that after gaining more than 3,000 followers they stopped tweeting. I really hope they continue adding a storyline to the initial designs, or start using the same technique to create contests that keep up the momentum for the account.

Cannes Lions 2012 | Hellmann's Recipe Receipt

2012-05-30T09:22:00.000-07:00

I am happy to share with you that this year I will be going for the first time to the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. I am even more excited to tell you that I will be part of the Young Lions Creative Academy with Bob Isherwod while I'm there. Hopefully I will have lots of new branding ideas to spread when I'm back.
As a countdown to my trip, I will be posting some of the campaigns that I believe should win a Gold Lion at the festival. Some of them have been awarded different prizes in other festivals, and I am not specifying categories because that is a very blurry classification in my opinion.
The first one that comes to my mind is Hellmann's Recipe Receipt from Ogilvy Brasil.

How many times have you gotten recipies at the supermarket? I have tons of them, yet I never use them because when I'm trying to innovate on my usual cooking repertoire and I read them, I realize I don't have most of the ingredients. I get frustrated and cook what I always cook.

Hellmann's is aware of this situation, and found a brilliant way to give out recipes that makes a lot of sense. They joined forces with Saint Marche to install a special software on their registers that recognized when consumers bought Hellman's, and analyzed the rest of the products that were bought. Based on that information, it generated a recipe that was printed on the receipt. The results were amazing. Check out the case study below.

Download the band | Coke FM

2012-05-29T10:38:00.002-07:00

Downloading music is so 2011. This year Coca Cola Colombia gave music lovers the opportunity to download a concert. In order to promote Coke FM among teens, Coca Cola and Ogilvy made a concert 50 meters above the ground with one of the most famous emerging bands in Bogota.

Each time the crowd downloaded certain number of songs from the site, the band descended 10 meters towards the excited crowd. It was a very successful strategy that will now be used in other Latin American markets.

It reminded me of 'Dinner in the Sky' which was done by American Express Toronto a couple of years ago. Do you know of any interesting brand experiences that have taken place in the heights?

A History of Graphic Design for Rainy Days | Studio 3

2012-05-21T06:17:00.002-07:00

It's funny how sometimes to find great ideas from the place you live you have to travel the world. While I was in Istambul last week I visited Robinson Crusoe, which is a lovely little library located in the heart of the city. It has a great selection of titles written in almost every language. The book that conquered my sight was 'A History of Graphic Design for Rainy Days' by Studio 3, which is an in–school design agency run by 15 third year students at the graphic design department of WSOC in Oslo.

As the title says, it's is a graphic book of the history of design. The images are wonderful, and the narrative is simple and concise. It keeps the reader involved by including some elements of gamification such as making you draw things, join the dots to discover new images and solve trivia questions. It also has cute images on the back for you to cut and use to create avictorian package for your mermelade and lots of other cute things.

This is an awesome way of creating awareness of Studio 3, and presenting it to potential clients by showing them how good they are at what they do.
Think of how this kind of resource could benefit your profession. How could you show to potential clients what you do in a beautiful and self explanatory way?

Tide's unpaid product placement at Daytona 2012

2012-05-07T04:34:00.000-07:00

The 26th of February was a very special day for Procter and Gamble, as the epic Daytona 500 race had to stop after Juan Pablo Montoya's car crashed into a jet dryer on the track.

Who would have thought that Tide detergent could clean up jet fuel spilled on a race track. And specially, who would have thought Fox News would make a close-up to show the brand to an extremly valuable audience during the transmission of the Daytona 500.

The following day Tide posted both on Facebook and Twitter referencing what happened

The comments couldn't have been more positive.

The best part of it, is that Procter and Gamble decided to capitalize on what happened creating a very simple ad that went live on the 4th of March, only one week after it happened.

Considering the size of Procter and Gamble and the burocracy there is in order to take any decisions, I really admire the fact that they were able to react so quickly and take advantage of the unpaid product placement that is said to be worth more than 8 million dollars.

The only question remaining amongst Nascar fans is if Tide will officially sponsor the race now that all the attention is focused on it.

Creative and emotional branding for the 21st century

2012-04-30T07:50:00.001-07:00

On the 25th of April Kevin Roberts, CEO of Saatchi and Saatchi stated that both marketing and strategy are dead. As he says, today's currency is not strategy, but creativity and emotional branding. This is not news for anyone who has followed the shift on brand communication from the last couple of years where brand monologues have turned into conversations. Yet, I'm sure this speech was big news for the audience of business leaders present at the 2012 IOD's Annual Convention where he spoke.

Connecting brands with people in a deep emotional level is a basic necessity for a brand to excel. In order to do that you need good insights. Real insights don't come from a bunch of creatives stuck between four walls. They come from listening to the people that use the products or services. Creatives are able to transform these insights into successful branding efforts. It can't work the other way around. The only way to know how to speak on behalf of a brand is to live the brand 'in the flesh'. To 'feel' it. This unique opportunity is now given by social media.

What is still a big issue is that the people that incarnate brands online are usually too far down in the brands' decision chain. The big leaders are too busy to listen. Community managers just add whatever campaign is taking place to their daily content, instead of being a key decision maker when it comes to what the new campaign should be.

In November 2011, Coke released a couple of videos outlining what their new strategy will be for the years ahead. The strategy is perfect, yet when it comes to the making I wonder if the decision makers will really understand what it takes.

You can never be too generous | Anthon Berg

2012-03-27T08:29:00.002-07:00

Danish chocolate brand Anthon Berg opened a pop up chocolate shop for one day only, where people had to pay with the promise of a good deed, and not money.

The prices for the different products ranged from 'Not talking behind your girlfriend's back' to 'Serve breakfast in bed to your loved one'. The promises were sent through Facebook to make sure people stood to their word.

This is nothing else than a brilliant sampling strategy. Instead of just giving product away making the brand look cheap, Anthon Berg went one step forward to create a beautiful experience that is being widely shared both through Facebook and word of mouth.

It fits extremely well with the brand, which began in the 18th century in Denmark when Anthon Berg noticed a growing demand for chocolate and opened a store. Customers would wait in long lines to be able to get some of his delicious creations, and in order to keep their spirits high while they waited, he handed out some samples. The spirit of generosity of the brand has continued till today.

I can't help but notice how priceless sharing has become. These days, the word 'free' has a whole new meaning.