chiaroscuro

Hey I've Seen That Before! Scribble Drawing Ads

2010-09-12T10:11:00.000-04:00

Great package design - CRISP

2010-07-09T10:30:00.011-04:00

Not only are the falafel sandwiches at CRISP delicious, the packages are a great user experience as well. Falafel sandwiches can get a little messy, but these come in a neatly packaged and sealed box, where you pull open the tab to take off the top half of your box so that you have a nice neat place to put your sandwich back into between bites.

Random fact - Flounders can change to match patterns

2010-06-12T10:17:00.000-04:00

Did you know that some tropical flounders can change color to match their surroundings — and even match a pattern. A study in the 90s done by Vilayanur Ramachandran found that "when he moved the fish from sandy sea floors to black-and-white checkerboard and polka-dot patterns, the flounder quickly sported squares and dots."

Simply Orange Branding

2010-05-28T12:14:00.001-04:00

Today Simply Orange setup a tasting bar outside of Grand Central. Not only was it a nice morning treat, but it was a very unique giveaway stand. The stand was complete with banners, logos and a very simple untreated wood counter, designed to look like the crates holding the many fresh oranges surrounding the stand. I thought it was a great touch for the brand promise of natural, simple and fresh.

Then I began to wonder if Simply Orange had managed to implement this brand feeling on other consumer touchpoints - and they did. When I went to the website it had the same image of fresh oranges and an simple untreated natural wood in the foreground serving as a tabletop for the Simply Orange drinks. What a great user experience to continually see reinforcement of the brand promise through visual and design cues. Only problem with the site - the annoying bird chirping that automatically plays on open. Unless you are in the music industry and users are coming to buy your super sweet music, no brand should have music or sound effects autoplaying in the background of their site.

Trendspotting: Wax Stamp Logos/Icons

2010-05-19T15:45:00.001-04:00

What happens when communication breaks down...

2010-05-18T00:03:00.001-04:00

Found this on StumbleUpon here.

Hey I've seen that before! Papyrus Font Abuse

2010-05-11T11:28:00.001-04:00

The other day I noticed that Edible Arrangements uses Papyrus as their font in their logo and I thought "Oh no, what an overused font." I'm not alone in thinking this, check out papyruswatch.com or ihatepapyrus.info for numerous examples of the abuse of this font.

Why is papyrus so overused and abused? Because it's free and "unique" looking, so many businesses probably think they are being different. For the small businesses, maybe I can give you a pass since your budgets are smaller. But bigger businesses, have some pride and get your logo designed and a complete brand identity established. It's the visual that represents your company and what it stands for. What does papyrus say about your brand? Maybe that you stand for cheap quality or the easy way out?

Papyrus font masquerading as a script?

Air New Zealand - Coach Seats

2010-04-19T18:55:00.000-04:00

How has no airline thought of this before? Bringing the foot rest all the way up to make a couch. Amazing. If there are other airlines that have this please tell me so I can fly on them!

Hey I've Seen That Before! Let my hands show you...

2010-04-13T18:10:00.000-04:00

Another commercial with just hands showing the product features of a new phone or technology product? Almost. But this first ad is a little different than the others as it's for something that requires no battery or charger — a Moleskine journal.

Moleskine - Let my hands show you how I write in my wine journal

Here's the other advertisers in love with hand models (besides jewelers of course):

iPhone - Let my hands show you how to work an iphone

HP - Let my hands show you the cool stuff I keep on my personal computer

AT&T Hands - By far the most artistic use of hands

Check out the making of the AT&T ads here.

Hey I've Seen That Before! It's all about YOU ads.

2010-03-17T18:00:00.003-04:00

Yahoo! You campaign

HTC You campaign

Nintendo "Who are You" campaign

The Original You campaign

Hey I've Seen That Before! Fill in the _____ ads.

2010-03-15T03:33:00.009-04:00

As time goes on it always becomes a bit more difficult to have that really great innovative idea. But, sometimes there are certain themes and concepts that are used repeatedly because they are "trendy" or "buzzwords" this series attempts to document some of those I've noticed and have a resource for similar creative concepts that have been published.

Fill in the blank.
We've all seen them and usually those blanks are filled in with a handwriting font. Here are some of the most recent users and abusers.

North Dakota Tourism - "I am _____" ad campaign

Found online Jan 15, 2010

Wells Fargo - "With you when _____" ad campaign.
Found in New Yorker Mar. 15, 2010

National Peanut Board - "Energy to _____" ad campaign
Found in NYC subway Mar. 9, 2010

Merrill Lynch - "help2 retire _____" ad campaign
Found in NYC near Grand Central, Mar. 19, 2010

Maryland Tourism - "Maryland of _____" ad campaign
Found online on Jun 16, 2010

A Day of Tim Burton

2010-03-13T20:00:00.011-05:00

Because Alice in Wonderland is one of my most favorite books and Disney movies, I decided to make today a day of Tim Burton. The dismal weather could not have been more appropriate for a Tim Burton day as much of his work is moody, dark and somewhat twisted. The day started at the MoMA special exhibit and ended with the IMAX 3d Alice in Wonderland.

The MoMa exhibit was really spectacular and when you first walk in it is as if you are being eaten by the large freakish Burton character. You enter a room of complete darkness, only lit by black lights. Then there are sketches and 3D models of Burton's work from high school up through his most recent movies like Sleepy Hollow, A Nightmere Before Christmas and Batman. My favorite pieces included Burton's personal handwritten notes to the animators of the films or readers in general. One piece was called "Little Dead Riding Hood: A story of torment and demon possession."

Poor User Experience #1: Top 10 lists that have next buttons

2010-03-02T11:53:00.001-05:00

What annoys me as an internet user are the "top 10 lists" that I have to press NEXT to see each one and wait for the page to reload each time. I hate excessive clicking. I simply want to see what you have to say about the topic and move on and most of the time the lists are garbage anyway.
I know the site publishers think they are very clever and by creating the lists this way to serve me up different ads every time I press next, but now I know better and have stopped going to their sites and have started unsubscribing from their emails. See samples below:

Tuxedo Strawberry

2010-02-14T10:38:00.001-05:00

Goodbye Kindle and epaper

2010-01-27T16:12:00.003-05:00

The Kindle is toast. While e-ink and e-paper was a creative idea and interesting development, it is still very cost prohibitive for the masses to adopt and now users can opt for to read their morning paper on the new Apple iPad, which can also check email, watch videos, among other things. Although it is unfortunately named as an Always product, it sure does look sleeker then the other e-book options out there.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T09:05:00.003-05:00

Too Many Caroling Commercials

2009-12-16T12:03:00.005-05:00

Why do all advertisers find it necessary to make caroling commercials for the holiday season? The only one that may have been funny and I didn't see was a Dunkin' Donuts one with those clever and relevant anecdotes about life they create. Here's just a sample of the lame commercials featuring carolers.

Best Buy Twelp Force Carolers - I find myself especially annoyed by these carolers and I'm not sure why. This guy agrees with me. Watch for yourself...if you must.

TJ Maxx & Marshall's Carolers - I don't hate them as much, but the whole caroling-exploited-for-advertising is definitely getting old.

Any other companies out there annoying the masses with their faux Christmas songs?

Funny Malibu Rum commercials

2009-11-25T13:52:00.001-05:00

I always loved the "Do you want to be a fisherman?" Malibu Rum commercial from their "Seriously easy going" campaign.

The newer campaign - Mali 'Boom Boom' radio - is pretty good too. Definitely makes you want a Malibu rum drink or at to least dance:

Unique uses of QR codes

2009-11-23T17:36:00.004-05:00

A QR code is basically a bar code that contains encoded content that can be scanned by most cell phones. The cell phone needs to have a camera and internet capability. It has actually been around since 1994 and is highly popular in Japan, but is just gaining traction and greater awareness in the US. To use it:

Just download a QR reader to your cell phone, like NeoReader or Kaywa
Take a picture of the QR code - the embedded content is decoded at a high speed and sent to your phone. Things that can be embedded include website links, short text messages and phone numbers.

Here are some samples of it being used throughout the globe:

Get the nutrition facts on your mobile with a QR code.

Advertising call to actions.

Get destination info sent to your phone before leaving the airport.

A living book of QR codes

Best Pandora advertising wraps

2009-11-17T11:31:00.002-05:00

MINI convertible ad with ability to change the time of day:

Convertible clothing -- interesting.

2009-11-16T15:22:00.003-05:00

Great outdoor advertising

2009-11-16T11:31:00.000-05:00

Promoting coffee with art or promoting art with coffee?

2009-11-12T23:22:00.002-05:00

Grinders coffee just participated in a great outdoor stunt experimenting with coffee as art. They used 3,604 cups of coffee to recreate the Mona Lisa in Sydney, Australia. The process took cues from the pointillism style of painting, which uses small dots to create the illusion different shades and colors. The artists treated every cup as a dot of their "painting" and filled each with different amounts of milk to create the variety of shades. Who knew milk could also be white paint?

Thanks Clive for sending the pics!

Commercials that make you go hmmmmm...

2009-11-05T00:26:00.002-05:00

All too often commercials are disguised as ads that are "educating" consumers, but the messages and claims are just too outrageous to allow any viewer to perceive the ad as genuine. Two recent examples of these types of ads come from the Corn Refiners Association and America's Natural Gas Alliance.

The Corn Refiners' "Sweet Surprise" campaign attempts to highlight high fructose corn syrup as an equivalent to natural sugar by stating that just like sugar, it is "fine in moderation."

The campaign also plays off the fact that many people may not be able to verbalize why high fructose corn syrup is known as detrimental to your health. Well, this spoof video response clears that all up, with documented proof as to why HFCS is an unhealthy chemical. Too bad for the corn refiners, but you can't pull the wool over my eyes.

America's Natural Gas Alliance developed a campaign of Eureka Moments showing "real" people against a blue backdrop describing when they first realized that natural gas was the answer to all our energy problems (Eureka!). My major issue with this campaign are the ridiculous lines within the scripts including, "Sure solar and wind energy are part of the future, but it's not always breezy and the sun sets".

Another commercial from the campaign shows a mother holding her young child and enthusiastically proclaiming that there is a whopping 100 years of natural gas supply available in the US. Yet I wonder, is 100 years really that long in the grand scheme of sustainability and the energy crisis?

Veuve Cliquot - An Accesible Luxury

2009-10-01T10:40:00.017-04:00

Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin is a high-end champagne product in the LVMH Group. Clicquot was founded in 1772 by Philippe Clicquot-Muiron as a wine-making business and was taken over by a widowed woman in 1805 (veuve translates to widow in French.) This woman, Madame Clicquot, is responsible for the initial positioning of the brand. The brand continues to embody the values of Madame Clicquot including modernity and audacity blended together with an emphasis on quality and expertise that are second to none.”

This mission is truly applied throughout all the brand touch points. The merging of historical experience with innovation is done really well, allowing them to maintain the status of an established authority in viniculture while still being accessible to consumers. They enjoy the benefits of a long history without becoming an outdated luxury brand.

Visually, Veuve Clicquot stands apart from other champagnes with its signature orange color. Similar to the Tiffany blue box, the Clicquot orange packaging has become a symbol of status and is easily recognizable at public events and on consumer displays in liquor stores.

The Veuve Clicquot website further reinforces the brand as the leader in champagne and a top authority on wine making and tasting. There is a series of videos showing how to properly store the champagne, open and taste it.

Veuve Clicquot is involved with many new media initiatives as well as co-branding opportunities to remain top of mind with luxury consumers, particularly the younger demographic interested in art and design. Some partnerships have included a champagne bar at Harrod’s in London, collaborating with top designers on innovative box types and wine storage devices, and inviting top bloggers for tours and tastings.

The melding of old and new allows Veuve Clicquot to appeal to those aware of its history and status, as well as to those who may not. The brand has achieved the difficult task of interesting the future generations, while not alienating the current elite. They have made this champagne the most accessible and recognizable “luxury” champagne.