Oishii Creative was honored to produce this open for the first annual Sports Media Marketing Awards (SMMA).

Oishii Creative would like to congratulate all of our clients, including the NFL Network, who were recognized at the first annual Sports Media Marketing Awards (SMMA) in New York City, November 18, 2010. We were honored to be asked to provide the open and graphics templates for what turned out to be a very memorable evening.

We recently collaborated with Ovation to help Otis students produce brand ID’s for the network. The challenge offered by Ovation was to test the creativity of students through ID’s that celebrated humanity and accessibility to the arts category. We are providing these next generation of designers access to our facilities and instruction to help get their ID’s broadcast ready, extending the traditional boundaries of the classroom to give them real-world/hands-on experience. We are excited to share their finished work in the coming weeks.

Companies have sprung up selling accessories to support early adopting professionals. Oishii has itself picked up camera rigs like the one in the video above. It is now possible to shoot many projects faster, better and cheaper than ever before. Part of our philosophy is to constantly watch emerging tools and trends and look for opportunities to bring them to our clients’ projects.

We came home with a Gold and Silver at Promax/BDA for our work with Ovation in the Integrated: Content Promotion categories. Our creative for the Free Tuesdays Campaign won Gold and inspired work by Retna for the American Revolutionaries Campaign brought home Silver.

What can we say, Mocap is awesome! from Oishii Creative on Vimeo.

As many of you know, this technology helps to create more natural, realistic movement for CG characters… so we decided to try out and see who / what was out there and partnered with a studio that uses the PhaseSpace Motion Capture System. This cutting-edge mocap process relies on LEDs instead of old school reflective “ping pong balls,” resulting in killer raw data that is so precise, very little clean up is necessary, capturing even the most subtle motions like breathing. Not only that, this system is the same system used by the U.S. military, often “in the field”… now how cool is that? They also have a CG scanner we can’t wait to use!

In celebration of the Ovation rebrand, Ovation hosted had a party to christen the new identity. Wanting to do our part, we brought in a crew of silkscreeners, who worked individually with attendees to create “One of a Kind” T-shirts for everyone. All of the shirt artwork was based on the new logo, and the eclectic content of ovation. No two shirts were alike and it was great to see the unique design that each partygoer created.

<

1. Plan your panels… but be adventurous.

SXSW interactive is a cross-section of the interactive world.  This makes the panels incredibly diverse.  Try to get the most from the panels in your specific area, but also attend a few outside your field you think might be helpful.  If you’re a developer, try a user-experience panel.  If you’re a designer, a content strategy panel could give you new skills.  And don’t forget to network in the sponsors’ lounges or hit the trade show to meet vendors.



2. Consider time and distance

The panels are spread across the Austin Convention Center and nearby hotels, so remember that it could easily take 10 to 20 minutes to go between meetings and panels.   Depending of how far your next panel is, you may want to head out during the Q&A to make it on time.



3. Dress comfortably

Between the distance you’ll walk and the time you’ll be standing at events, parties and waiting on lines at restaurants and venues, you will definitely be walking and on your feet a lot.  Don’t repeat my mistake of wearing a nice pair of patent-trim Oxford lace-ups to my first SXSW 3 years ago…  It was as painful as it was unforgettable!



4. It’s a conference not spring break

SXSW is known for its parties, and you should definitely hit more than one a night to network with the stars of the interactive world. Make sure you RSVP if possible to all the parties you want to go to.  But don’t go crazy!  Remember, you’ll have to wake up the next day to attend the panels and get the most out of the conference. Take vitamins several weeks before the event to ward off the flu and colds.  You’re going to meet a lot of people, and some of them might be sick.  I caught the flu during my first night in Austin, but got a healing hair cut and complimentary beers from the friendly folks at Birds Barbershop. This retro, modern, rock-n-roll inspired spot delivers top notch service and cuts. Did I mention the free beers?


5. The internet is your friend and Twitter your concierge!

You’re at an interactive conference, so make sure you know how to use your toolbox.   All the official events will be posted at SXSW’s official site.   But there are plenty of other can’t-miss events published in other sites like Meetup and Facebook.  Make sure you check these sites regularly. Also save a custom search in Twitter for SXSW and check it often.  If there’s something really cool going on, you’ll find out there. It will also tell you what events are trending and help you find the most popular venues and parties.  

We are so excited to share some frames from our comprehensive rebrand for Ovation, the only network dedicated to arts and contemporary culture. The new identity will debut online and on-air Monday, March 1st.

In addition to a new logo mark, we developed the positioning statement, “Art Like Never Before. TV Like Nothing Else” and created new design for the website, ID’s, promo’s, interstitials, stunts and other supporting launch materials.