Digg This!   Tweet This!   Share on Facebook   Stumble It!

“In today’s society, our animal instincts are smothered by daily modern life, city-living and constant technological developments. Man is an animal, but he no longer knows it.“

The current European campaign for Wrangler, which launched this summer, wants to re-awaken our instincts. This is a back-to-nature campaign without tree-hugging, but truly interesting visuals instead. Check it out on YouTube and here.

Digg This!   Tweet This!   Share on Facebook   Stumble It!

When do you use models, and when don’t you use models? It’s a difficult question. Authenticity can be tricky to capture when you are staging a scene…especially if the subject matter is trend setting musicians and hipster youth culture, ala Santogold and Spank Rock. The shoot can easily go awry because of variables, such as, casting, styling, or art direction. Here are some images from a recent shoot gone right by The Smith Collection. The success of the shoot had much to do with the fact that the models cast are in a real band and already had their own personal style. To add a little more flavor, the photographer additionally hired a graffiti artist to create some original backgrounds for the group. The shoot also hits the mark because the subjects are performers and look natural and comfortable in what they are being asked to do.

Smith Collection/Getty Images

Smith Collection/Getty Images

Smith Collection/Getty Images

Smith Collection/Getty Images

Digg This!   Tweet This!   Share on Facebook   Stumble It!

Rainer Elstermann/Getty Images

This recent article in the NY Times just confirms how far advertisers and marketers have gone to “break through the clutter.” The proliferation of media and advertising is nothing new. We’re all feeling pushed to the point of overload…but it still continues, even to the point of silliness.

Advertisers are going to new lengths to capture the consumers attention, but as the article states, many campaigns, though novel, are just annoying.

Like TV screens placed in London subway riders armpits so when they raise their arms a commercial for Right Guard deodorant runs in the face of a fellow rider.  That just might drive me to violence… and trust me, I’m a mellow peace loving kind of gal.

Is getting people to talk and exposure enough?  Aren’t we in danger of turning people off all together?

How about some simplicity?

Digg This!   Tweet This!   Share on Facebook   Stumble It!

And improve your French ! France, land of better wine in the world, beautiful women, Tour de France, bling-bling president, Art of living. France which as a country can give birth to the better or worse.
Let’s talk about the better today, let’s open the JAK LAB #3 . Every quarter JAKLAB magazine offers a 360° vision about a theme or an aspirationnal trend. JAKLAB invites contributors and gives them room and time to explore and talk. Strategic planners, researchers, writers, artists, photographers, architects are creating an effervescent on line webzine. Monitored friendly by Just A Kiss  founders, a design, creative and strategic agency in Paris, JAKLAB is an open publication and platform.
After Desirable Sunstainability, Absolute Necessity , give a breath to your eyes and brain and involve your senses in Urbanity. If you want to contribute to the next issue, please feel free to “superpoke” this unique quartet on their Facebook group.  http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=11026998211 !  Have fun !  Brigitte Mantel .

Digg This!   Tweet This!   Share on Facebook   Stumble It!

Andersen Ross /Getty Images

Do you find that images used by creative, marketing or sales teams don’t always support your brand? Do you have efficient systems in place to store and share your imagery and make the most of your investment? Join experts Courtney Adamson of Getty Images, Mukul Krishna of Frost & Sullivan, Trish Sarno of ING, and Manish Mallick, a consultant to General Motors to learn:

- How consumer trends affect visual language

- How to select the right imagery to connect with your customers

- How technology solutions can help you keep your brand on track

- How ING and General Motors used imagery and created image libraries to elevate and manage their brands

Webcast Info

When: September 27, 2007 10 AM (PST)

Where: Click here to register.

Digg This!   Tweet This!   Share on Facebook   Stumble It!

Philip J Brittan

Interesting entry in jet-setting troubadour/intellectual Nick Currie’s (aka Momus) blog about the opening last year of a Japanese division of Pantone, New Jersey-based color coders who’ve become the ubiquitous industry standard in design and printing. Following just on the heels of the Japanese division launch, Pantone also unveiled a new global brand identity.
I just saw the line of Japanese Pantone cellphones last week which I thought was a cool new development in the ever-expanding Pantone Universe, but didn’t think too much of it until stumbling upon Nick’s blog entry, which contains amusingly brainy and acerbic ruminations on Japanese culture, proprietary culture/copyright, and marketing.

Momus (Nick Currie)

Digg This!   Tweet This!   Share on Facebook   Stumble It!