PC: The first few days in Cuzco were all about preparation. You arrive, do training, get your paperwork together; then they go through the selection process of you picking your mototaxi. They draw a key and match it up with your name, and you can evaluate it.

JA: They’re so small!

PC: They’re tiny. There were 38 teams this year, so they had to ship in more than usual. The first taxi we got had a giant oil leak, so we went to look at it, and the mechanic had literally taken epoxy and just smeared it on there like butter on bread. I’m about to go 1500 kilometers across God-knows-what, and I’ve got chewing gum stuck to the bottom of my motorcycle! So we traded it in.

There was no site-seeing. There’s a day that you have to go shopping for spare parts and all that stuff, and that’s the day that I lost my phone. I had put photo upload software on; I had bought a satellite receiver SOS device; I had this super battery that I’d bought; and the nexus for all that was my iPhone.  Once again, large excuse for males buying unnecessary toys. I lost it the second day in Peru—I left it in a taxi.

 JA: Oh no.

PC: You KNOW how bad I am with the gear. And I just felt lost. I was in the middle of this area like a mechanic’s alley, seeing the taxi turn the corner, and it was a slow-motion moment for me. The first thing that came to mind was that I’m not going to be able to get in touch with my family and let them know I’m alright. I was pissed; I was anxious. I needed to focus on buying the tools to get the mototaxi repaired in case of catastrophe, but I couldn’t get out of myself and my own misery. I couldn’t call AT&T to even track the phone or scrub it. Then there came a point in time when I thought Karma/God/Fate/Something made me lose my phone the second day. And it took about a day-and-a-half for me to say to myself, “I don’t have a phone, and I’m okay with that.” I was better than okay with that! I actually relished it, not looking at a single text or e-mail or anything like that. It was beyond liberating.

JA: So then you guys decided to detour to Macchu Picchu before the race started. What was it like?

PC: Well, the road to Macchu Picchu was completely rained out, so the only way into the city of Agua Caliente was through a train—there’s basically only one rail that goes into the city. So we chose to go there on a kind of “down” day, which was New Year’s Eve. It was an early drive to the local city, about four a.m., and away we go.

It was almost a two-hour train ride to the base of Macchu Picchu, and we saw the countryside of Peru, which was absolutely beautiful. There was no delineation of farm versus city—it’s all one, and it was beautiful.  And we saw—this was actually a recurring thing throughout—people had livestock as pets. We’re used to nice barbed wire, and pens and barns; these [animals] are just out roaming in the field. It made me think that the food there was going to be ultra-awesome, because everything is kind of “free-range.”  To us, Peru was sort of like the country of incompleteness; everywhere we went, there were buildings that were started, but never finished. There would be piles of bricks, but no second story added on. And they actually hand-made the bricks.

There’s this eruption of rocks and mountains; it was the first time we’d seen rocky mountains there. Before, everything was green and lush. And there are places where you literally see carved into a rock what looks like it used to be a house. Lots of locals selling wares, and very vibrant color—it was everywhere.

JA: What exactly is the story behind the construction of Macchu Picchu, and its purpose?

PC: Well, nobody knows exactly. We asked all the locals we could find about it: Was it a fort against the Spaniards?

JA: How were the Spaniards gonna get up there?!

PC: Exactly! The most interesting story that we heard about why it was there—and I didn’t do a lot of post-visitation research—was that Peruvians run a lot. The Incans had messengers run food in satchels, which is why you still see so many people carrying things. In the inlands, where you have a very lush landscape, you have tropical stuff—fish, etc. Then you have the farmlands, which have crops and animals. So they would basically run the food around. The environment is so inhospitable to any sort of road structure, so it was easier to run big groups of people to take food [to mountainous areas]. So somebody told us that he thinks that Macchu Picchu was the most sophisticated manmade refrigeration system. Because of its high elevation, it constantly stayed cool there. And it’s fairly central to Peru. The theory is that it was kind of like a Grand Central Station for food.

JA: So are the chambers  there dwellings or storage facilities?
PC: That’s the thing, they don’t know. It may be both. There were definitely temples there; there was a whole city and civilization that was there. But you can tell that there were [places of worship], large meeting areas, fields to grow stuff in, so it was obviously very sophisticated. It’s just beautiful.

JA: Okay, so the next day was Game Day for the mototaxi junket. Walk me through what that was like.

PC: Well, the local police were on strike that day, so midway through the city of Cuzco, they don’t allow mototaxis, so because [the police] had abandoned post, we were driving out of the city on our own.

JA: So how many days were you actually on the road?

PC: New Year’s Day was the official start day, and we were on the road all the way until the twelfth—that was when we turned our bikes in. The rides were amazing, but you literally have nothing to think  about except the safety of riding. James and I developed what we called Active Steering Control, ASC, so when we hit these turns—maybe you misjudge an angle, or you’re on a descent, or something’s coming at you—the person in rear needs to be able to compensate with a lean. We’d go into a turn and both of us were hanging off like we were on a sailboat. Otherwise, your bike starts making these weird sounds, and you start falling off. We did that the entire way. So there was never any backseat down time.

JA: There was no passive riding.

PC: Exactly. We were on all the time. We had to constantly push against the handle to the right. There was a pure physicality to it. The thing that I constantly thought about the most was my eyes and my hands. Our next destination was the city where we basically said we were either gonna take the red pill or the blue pill—Abancay.

JA: How frequently would you see the other teams? You’re responsible for mapping out your own route, right?

PC: Yeah, you’re totally on your own. But we’d see them in the cities along the way. We would relish seeing them in the other towns. Somebody [on each team] must’ve had the Lonely Planet guide, because we’d see them in all the same places at the same time. Even the hostels. You’d think “No one is going to sleep in this rat hole,” and then three teams were there.

JA: Because it’s the only rat hole in town!

PC: Exactly. The funny thing is sometimes, it’s a really nice rat hole. I mean, nobody had cold beer or anything, but it varied. I had never traveled to this degree overseas, so things like ice and refrigeration we totally take for granted. But I don’t want to make it sound like we were climbing in dirt and mud and such. There was a paved road. It was the ONLY paved road, but it was there.

So we made it to Abancay, and ended up spending three days there. We wanted to take the taxi for an oil change, but the guy kept finding other things wrong with it. Eventually, we had a blown piston. (points to picture) That hole is not supposed to be there! That was a critical point where our team was on the way to another city, and we thought we’d have to split up. But we realized that it was quicker to restart with a whole other strategy and be a support vehicle.

So we went down south to Chalhuanca, where we broke down. We got back to Cuzco and jumped on a plane—it was The Amazing Race all the way—we literally had to find someone to carry the bike on a truck for us. But we carted it back, turned it in, got our deposit back, ran to the airport, got the last two seats on the plane to Lima, flew to Lima and rented a car, and drove eight hours straight to meet up with the team in a city called Puquio. So now we’re back on our adventure together! We lost 24 hours, but the [other] motos were better than ours, and we’d have never known what we would’ve gotten with a repair. And I drove to Nazca, and that was basically it. I’d never heard of the Nazca lines before, but they’re these mystical lines created by aliens or God or someone, in the middle of the desert. (points to picture) There was an oasis, cliffs, desert, surf, you name it. The next few days were a race to the finish.

It was a long haul. You go from freezing to wearing shorts; from lush to barren to the coast. Every day was another adventure.

JA: Sounds amazing. And a little frantic! But what an awesome experience. We’re so glad you made it, and came back in one piece to share it with us.

To tell the story of VERA, Adcetera portrayed a series of intangible subjects: business connectivity, data overload, data optimization—as recognizable, attractive visuals. Add a compelling storyline, distinctive voiceover, animated infographics and tons of motion, and you’ve got a smart, eye-catching, and educational overview of how this complex technology allows companies to gain control of their monthly wireless spending.

To kick off the nationwide launch of the new Rain-X^® Fusion™ windshield wiper—a hybrid blade from parent company and client ITW Global Brands—Adcetera was asked to create a print ad for Sports Illustrated and ESPN magazines.

Our challenge was to explain what a hybrid blade is and why it’s a solid upgrade for the conventional blade user. So we took some product shots, sent them through the digital team for a shiny-new rendering, designed a classic comparative product stand-off, and wrote some catchy ad copy. The layout of the benefit statements delivers an at-a-glance view of the hybrid blade’s superior features, while the distinctive blue-and-yellow design ensures instant in-store product recognition.

The goal of the Flexible Plastic Packaging video Adcetera created for Dow was to introduce consumers to the wide range of benefits that flexible plastic packaging brings to the table—not just for those who use it, but for the environment, as well. We needed people to get to know this product on a personal level—to really connect with flexible plastic packaging. How did we do it?

Meet Sacky. That’s our name for the energetic, friendly new face of flexible plastic packaging. Part superhero, part tour guide, and 100 percent flexible plastic packaging, he was created by our design team to help people connect with the spirit of Dow’s flexible packaging products. This little guy flips, spins, and flexes his way through our informative video, showing (and telling) people about all the real-life scenarios that can be made easier and more efficient with the addition of flexible plastic packaging.
This video features 3D animation, colorful design, a bouncy music bed, and a comfortable, easy copy tone, drawing the viewer in and maintaining their attention while imparting somewhat “technical” information in a way that even a child could understand.

We hope this isn’t the last we see of Sacky. He’s so cute and energetic, we’ve kind of gotten used to having him around!

Like when we told my two-year-old he would get to visit the petting zoo in my office parking lot, he responded by listing the animals he was interested in petting: an orange giraffe and a black owl. He was very specific. I suppose if it’s normal that there should be a petting zoo in my office parking lot in the first place, it shouldn’t be out of line to expect an orange giraffe and a black owl.

When he arrived, there were no orange giraffes, no black owls. Only goats, sheep, a mule, baby chicks, baby ducks, piglets, and I honestly don’t remember what else. But he wanted to pet them anyway. Or more accurately, he wanted to want to pet them. But when I led him to the gate, he had a slight change of heart. He liked the idea of a petting zoo, he enjoyed watching the bigger kids running around in there, but when it became real, he wasn’t feeling it.

For a while there I didn’t think it was gonna happen, but I finally convinced him to let me carry him in. Once inside the gate, he wanted to see daddy pet the sheep, and daddy can’t pet the sheep while carrying a toddler. So I got him to stand in the petting zoo all by himself through one of those parental technicalities. He watched as I pet the sheep. He watched as I pet the mule. He watched as I pet the goat. He wanted me to pick up a baby duck, but he didn’t want to touch it. It was only when he discovered the baby goats that he found a zoo animal he was willing to pet. It was a thrill and a delight, albeit a short one.

From there we walked in the direction of the pony rides, which were met with the same hesitation. He liked the idea of riding a pony, and even went so far as to tell me he wanted to ride one. But when our turn came he was finished before it started. So we watched them go round and round, commenting on how we liked the yellow one and the brown one. I gave it some time, then finally pulled a daddy-knows-best maneuver and put him on top of a pony before he knew what was happening. Once on and moving, his cries alternated from shrieks of delight to shouts of, “I scared!” When the latter began to outnumber the former, I yoinked him back off that pony as swift as I put him on it.

This is the target audience of the new Adcetera Top Goat app. You tell them what it is and they immediately have lofty expectations. They think they know what they want—until they get it and realize maybe they don’t want it after all. They can alternately love something and hate it at the same time.  BUT—and possibly most important—they may not like the sheep or the mule, but they’re totally into the baby goat. So when you’re looking for a children’s book app, take my advice. Don’t search for Top Duck or Top Piglet, because the most approachable one is clearly Top Goat.

When he assembled the team, his name for me was “the Asian Danny Ocean.” He’s the guy who can get anything, figure out anything, negotiate things, and that’s kind of how he described it. So he ended up assembling a team with his sister, his father-in-law, a barista at the local Starbucks, and me. To go across Peru. And I honestly can’t sit here and tell you that there was deep-seated initiation of thought. As the time got closer, there were these moments of intense regret that I’d signed up for this thing.

JA: I can imagine it must’ve been scary.
PC: Yeah, especially as I read more and more information about it. As the months unfolded and we got closer to takeoff, we had these must-do logistics and these it-would-be-nice-to-do logistics, and then the ought-to-do logistics . There’s updating the passport, the motorcycle license. Then you have the male excuse to purchase any unnecessary object with a purpose. So under that label, I had purchased things like … a motorcycle?! … having spent time looking for the exact brand and relative engine size as is on the front of the mototaxi junket, so I could become familiar with the mechanics. I’d ridden motorcycles before, but not maintained them. Then I began amassing tools and chain-breakers and all kinds of stuff. I figured we would be out in the middle of nowhere, so I had solar battery chargers, water  filtration things, compression bags.

JA: “Space Bags”!
PC: Yeah! Now I know there’s a purpose to those. And I’m going to become an official hoarder using them.

There was a lot of prep work: getting shots, things you didn’t think about. Every step of the way was a little bit of a pause, I have to say, and in the rearview mirror was family, the obligation and sense of duty to the people I work with here—not only the staff, but the great clients we have—not to be egomaniacal, but I had this what-are-you-going-to-do-without-me kind of thing that I thought it might go to the grave with me because I was going to die out there. So those kinds of thoughts start hitting you day after day. I read lots of books about journeys and adventures, and the one that I thought was most relevant was Long Way Round, by Ewan MacGregor and Charlie Boorman.

JA: Oh, I read about that. The one where they took a huge motorcycle trip!
PC: Yes, from London to New York. The long way around the world. It documents everything, the thought process of the journey. The first thing about this was wow, this is fun, but then they started revealing points of emotions that I was at, that I was paralleling. Before they take off, there’s almost nothing but anger, because you don’t want to do it, you don’t want to get it over with; you don’t want to start it, but you’ve got all this prep work behind you. I’d never owned a backpack before, and who needs all these compression bags, and air filtration, and chlorine tablets … am I really gonna get malaria? You start running down this list of stuff and start updating your will, and telling the kids That Story, and then you start having this weird, “if this is the last day I’m going to live, this is what I want you to remember, son” moment, and you start thinking about the worst.

JA: How did your wife take it? Did it take a lot of convincing for her to be on board with it? Or was she ever on board with it? How did that work?
PC: You know, I think that successful relationships are about compromise, and negotiations. And she knows that I’m a classic over-committer. I am a tail-chaser.

JA: (laughing)
PC: My OWN tail. (laughing) My dad always said “always chase many rabbits, but be wary of the ones that go down the hole; otherwise, you’re going to hurt yourself.” So for me to say that I’m going to go do this means that I am going to do it. And I think she realized that. Plus, she knows that I’ve got 500 things going on in my head at one time, and for some reason, magically, she didn’t have a general sense of what [the Mototaxi Junket] was, and didn’t want to know. Because the more I talked about it, the more it competed with things that were relevant for us. So I had to be sensitive to that; I didn’t celebrate the journey. I wouldn’t say that it took some convincing her, but it took a lot of acknowledgement.

Fast forwarding, the two words that everybody used to describe the trip were “catharsis” and “epiphany.” I think that everybody was looking for that kind of experience, and the “aha!” that you would find out at the end of it. People can describe that to you and tell you that there are journeys you can take in life that result in that, or you can be a tourist. And I think that this was the first time in a long time  that I’d done anything absolutely for myself. I’m not in this to meet a deadline that a client put in front of me. I’m not doing this because [a creative team] needs be to do something before putting words on paper or thought to process. I don’t need to do this because my son needs to be somewhere by 8pm. Miraculously, [my wife] had complete foresight into that, even though she rarely read about [the trip], and was almost completely absent from wanting to participate.

The days up to the journey unfolded like just as Ewan had written about—frustration, isolation—you’d have these focal moments of “I’ve never done anything like this before.” There’s a difference between going out and hiking when you’re totally on your own; doing it with other people; and doing it with other people … on a mechanical device.

JA: Sounds like an quite an emotional journey preceded the journey itself. Up next: Pagogh loses his iPhone in Peru—AND LIVES TO TELL THE TALE. Stay tuned for details of mechanical adventure, Macchu Picchu, and some close calls!

IHS Connect combines many of IHS’ cutting-edge oil and gas mapping and decision-making programs into one streamlined dashboard—and IHS needed an innovative way to show new and existing customers this product would enhance their current IHS experience. From Adcetera’s point of view, there was only one approach. Two words: Rocket Cheetah.

What better way to demonstrate a combination of products, resulting in one AMAZING product? Our goal was to illustrate the way IHS Connect combines incredible technologies, resulting in an experience that’s faster, more efficient, and smarter than ever before.

Dynamic graphics illustrate these product benefits, with each execution featuring a combination of two elements, in each case showing fanciful combinations that would enhance both of the combined elements. These graphics, mixed with bold text and blueprint-like lines, work to show how IHS is combining ideas to give their customers the best experience possible.