What the fuck is social media?


A good way to think about social media is that all of this is actually just about being human beings. Sharing ideas, cooperating and collaborating to create art, thinking and commerce, vigorous debate and discourse, finding people who might be good friends, allies and lovers – it’s what our species has built several civilisations on. That’s why it is spreading so quickly, not because it’s great shiny new technology, but because it lets us be ourselves – only more. so.

Picture from this bold, interesting, in your face presentation

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Brand Butling

"It has never been more important for companies to turn their brand into a service. Jaded, time-poor, pragmatic consumers yearn for service and care, while the mobile online revolution makes it possible to offer über-relevant services to consumers anywhere, anytime. Basically, if you're going to embrace one big consumer trend this year, please let it be 'brand butlers'."


More interesting thoughts on the matter, here

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STOP SAYING "VIRAL"

As mighty ninja, Faris put it, spreadable media is a more accurate term. If it doesn't spread, it's dead. Spreadability as a concept describes how the properties of the media environment, texts, audiences, and business models work together to enable easy and widespread circulation of mutually meaningful content within a networked culture.

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Talent imitates, genius steal

De cum am vazut noua reclama Timisoreana - Ceasul, mi s-a parut familiara. De parca am mai vazut-o. Nuo mai vazusem, dar o idee similara (identica) mai vazusem intr-o reclama pentru SPDR State Street Global Advisors cu acelasi nume, Clock Tower, facuta de The Gate Worldwide in 2009.


Judecati si voi.

SPDR



Timisoreana

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Brand Activation - Heineken

This is, by far, one of the best examples of successful brand activation I've seen!

I would have loved to take part in the event.
Such a great, engaging experience! Bravo to all parts involved in the creation!

The video is a bit long, but worth watching.




>DIV

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Logorama

Spectacular car chases, an intense hostage crisis, wild animals rampaging through the city... and even more in LOGORAMA !



The short was created by directors within H5, a French graphic studio renowned for its CD front covers (Superdiscount, Air, Demon...) and artistic direction (Dior, Cartier, YSL...). Members François Alaux, Hervé de Crécy and Ludovic Houplain directed many music videos (Alex Gopher, Massive Attack, Goldfrapp, Röyksopp...), and are regularly invited to exhibitions for their artistic talents (2007 Nuit Blanche, Beaubourg, MoMA).
Is nominated for best animated short at this year's Oscars, so take aprox. quarter of an hour to watch it. And is full of corporate and brand logos (around 2,500 of them) Brilliant!

*Update Just won the Oscar! Well deserved!

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How clients can create a shared agenda

Things a client can do to inspire trust and create a shared agenda:

Have lunch or a drink with the key people on your agency brand team. Talk about communications in general. Get alignment on models of how communications work.

Take a half-day with the agency to review ideas. Take 10 ideas you think are great, ask them to bring 10 ideas they think are great. Discuss.

Organise team-building events.

Inspire the team. Before briefing their new agency, Berghaus sent a box of their outdoor clothing and a map reference. The briefing took place up a mountain.

Give information when asked for it. “You don’t need to know that” is demoralising.

Ensure that the originators of the ideas, whether you get to meet them or not, are fully briefed on your business situation rather than just your communication needs. This way you may get a creative business idea rather than just a new campaign.

Negotiate the brief with your agency, don’t just deliver it as a fait accompli. Use their market knowledge and insight to add value to your own ideas and work with them to build a platform for creative thinking and originality.

Apply the normal rules of courtesy. Regularly keeping your agency waiting in reception for an hour will not make them want to go the hard yards for you.

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The Sexiest Music Video Around



This has to be the sexiest music video around! Shot in classic black and white, fashion photographer Victor Del Toro follows around a beautiful model who can't decide whether or not to keep her clothes on. Song is "Say It Ain’t So" by Weezer.
Personally,I would have loved more storyline, but is hot enough as it is.

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New decade

At the beginning of the new decade I'm going to do any prediction about anything, because the thing is, one can't predict a thing. And that's fine.
I'm not going to make any list of future trends to watch or any gadgets that will make our lives better.
I'm just going to encourage you to live, as you please and enjoy it.



Peace

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The Morgan Freeman Chain of Command


click for larger version

With an authoritative voice, and calm demeanour, this ever popular African American actor has grown into one of the most respected figures in modern US cinema.

Originated from Maxim.com, this chart is depicting the hierarchical ranking of characters Morgan Freeman has played throughout his illustrious career.
Great stuff, Maxim!

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Ten ways to kill creativity

  1. Always pretend to know more than everybody around you.

  2. Get employees to fill in time sheets.

  3. Run daily checks on progress of everyone's work.

  4. Ensure that highly qualified people do mundane work for long periods.

  5. Put barriers up between departments.

  6. Don't speak personally to employees, except when announcing increased targets, shortened deadlines and tightened cost restraints.

  7. Ask for a 200-page document to justify every new idea.

  8. Call lots of meetings.

  9. Place the biggest emphasis on the budget.

  10. Buy lots of computers.

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The only way is forward


photo by

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Tweets on a Watch

Twitter on a Fossil Bluetooth Watch!
From Bill Geiser, VP Fossil watch Technology

Bulky, though interesting.

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Oxford Street Fla(e)sh Walk



For designer clothes at discounts that you would walk across Oxford Street naked for, check out BrandAlley now.
The online fashion retailer, BrandAlley, held an impromptu fashion show on November 20th on one of the most fashionable streets in the UK. The models wore nothing but a whole bunch of body paint.

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Creative Review - UNKLE's Heavy Drug video

Director Matei-Alexandru Mocanu has won genero.tv's competition to make the official music video for the latest UNKLE track, Heavy Drug. Congratulations to Matei! Well deserved.



Creative Review - UNKLE's Heavy Drug video

Posted using ShareThis

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Agency of the future

I found this interesting quote today:



The seamless life of agency can be reflected in the way we organize ourselves into flexible and versatile teams and collaboration across different disciplines is the key. socialhallucinations.com, Social Hallucinations, Nov 2009



You should read the whole article.

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Agencies in Romania

Winning industry awards is sometimes the primary concern of the agency’s creative staff, and because of this, clients often accuse agencies of ignoring their needs in favor of creating work that appeals to judges who sit on awards panels, usually fellow practitioners.

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Book covers


If you are interested in book covers and editorial in general, there is nice project called «Daily book graphic» by Julian Montague, an artist and graphic designer living in Buffalo NY.
«Everyday I post some sort of graphic element from a book that I own. My plan is to do this for a year – February 21, 2009 to February 21, 2010.»

Very interesting

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Joy

Ieri, 20 oct, la invitatia celor de la Trado Motors, am participat la BMW xDrive Tour.
De dimineata, pe o vreme de stat in casa, am ajuns la locatie, unde dupa o cafea si o scurta sedinta de socializare, am intrat in "paine". Vorba lor, bucuria nu are timp sǎ se îngrijoreze de condiţiile meteo şi de drum.

Tre' sa marturisesc ca eu sunt un mare fan BMW, inca de pe vremea lui E21, prin urmare eram nerabdator sa vad noul seria 5 GT si sa experimentez tehnologia xDrive. Ar trebui sa vorbesc si despre premiera in Romania a modelului X1, dar mie nu-mi spune nimic. Este un compromis facut de constructorul german, pe care-l inteleg dpdv al marketingului, dar nu il voi sustine.

Buuun......Dupa o scurta prezentare video a ce inseamna BMW xDrive, am trecut la dezvelirea monstrului! O combinatie intre un SUV, un MPV si o berlina de lux, modelul de baza, 535i GT fiind propulsat de un motor cu sase cilindri in linie de 3.0 litri supraalimentat ce dezvolta 306 cp. Aveam furnicaturi pe degete si tare as fi vrut sa-l incerc. Cu alta ocazie...

Fara sa pierdem timpul, am purces la o demonstratie a sistemului xDrive in conditii de on-road si off-road. Asa ca insotiti de cate un reprezentant BMW, ne-am urcat cate 2 in masini si ....of we went. Traseul ne-a purtat prin imprejurile orasului, iar la intervale regulate opream pentru a experimenta alt model din carvana.

Eu am condus un x3, un 320, al lui Claudiu David ( care mi-a oferit cateva tips-uri de condus extem de utile) si un 750i de 5l, 407 cai, cutie automata. Ce sa zic....Masinile astea parca au fost construite ca o prelungire a mea. Reactioneaza precis la reactiile mele, de parca au in ADN urme din mine. Incredibil cum accelereaza de te infunda in scaun si cum reactioneaza pe o sosea uda, chiar daca nu le-am solicitat la maxim. O incantare!

Odata ajunsi la showroom, am trecut la experimentare sistemului xDrive pe un traseu ingenios, amenajat in curte. Eu am condus un x6 si un x5 si marturisesc ca inca nu-mi vine sa cred ce poate sa faca tehnologia mentionata. Sistemul inteligent xDrive transferă putere către roţi într-un mod hotărât – şi în doar câteva milisecunde, în momentul în care sistemul simte o pierdere excesivă a tracţiunii, inversează subit cuplul, pentru a se adapta condiţiilor schimbătoare; iar astfel oferă tracţiunea maximă disponibilă şi o manevrabilitate superioară, pe toate suprafeţele. Si a fost un traseu plin de denivelari!

Una peste alta a fost o experienta minunata si parca nu as fi plecat. In concluzie trebuie sa admit ca BMW este Joy. O bucurie savurata resposabil, si traita in siguranta. Multumesc gazdelor si ii anunt ca voi raspunde cu drag si altor invitatii.

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Intangible value



Rory Sutherland does an excellent job of selling what he calls "intangible value".
By the end of this talk, he will have persuaded you to the notion that intangible value is good, because it prevents people from only wanting more all the time, and instead enables them to appreciate what they already have.

A very valuable and insightful talk - sometimes it is a bit over the top - but we can give that licence to him - he is an advertising man and speaks his business well.

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Have you seen this AIR video?



Absolutely brilliant! I love the constantly changing creative interpretation. wow! Music an image. Biology here is a fabulous treat.

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Logo redesign

A change in the logo, affects buying decisions.

"Currently, most companies use a mass approach when they change their logos. Worse yet, most companies presume that their most precious customers—those having strong brand commitment—will be more accommodating to changes.

"Our results show this is likely a mistaken assumption—one that can alienate the core, the most committed of a brand’s customers. In contrast, weakly committed consumers respond positively to logo redesign. Naturally, a more nuanced approach is needed to ensure that logo redesigns appeal to both groups.

"One strategy may be to manage the reactions and expectations of strongly committed consumers by actively soliciting their input and perhaps pre-notifying them before the changes are revealed to the broader public. Giving the strongly committed such a feeling of being an 'insider' may strengthen their self-brand connection and mitigate the potentially negative effects of logo redesign." - Dr. Vikas Mittal, Rice University

via

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Design agencies - nursery playgroups


Design agencies are like nursery playgroups, except that the chairs are a lot bigger and designers don't go over the lines when they're colouring-in.

Like children in a playgroup, designers are never stuck for things to draw. This is because they have grown-ups who give them things to do. These things are called jobs and the grown-ups are clients.

Hilarious! And a lot close to reality.

from here

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Nu exista brand-uri ideale

Am avut de curand o polemica cu un client in care el sustinea ca exista brand-uri ideale, si doar acele brand-uri pot avea succes.

Eu nu cred ca exista branduri ideale. Ideea face parte dintr-un sistem de gandire pre-digital, unde posibilitatile de constructie a brand-urilor se limitau la un set de instrumente inguste. Potrivit acestui mindset, se poate spune ca unele marci erau mai potrivite decat altele pentru a face cele cateva lucruri pe care marketing-ul ti le permitea. Dar astazi, in era post digitala, acest lucru nu mai este valabil.

Inainte existau un set limitat de oportunitati si toata lumea a trebuit sa forteze brandul lor in aceste mici cutii de instrumente de marketing in scopul de a comunica si a se conecta cu audienta. Acest lucru nu a facut bine pentru multe brand-uri si se poate spune ca existau brand-uri ideale sau mai putin ideale in functie de care se potrivea mai bine la instrumentele disponibile. Azi - exista o oportunitate de marketing geniala pentru toata lumea - atat timp cat market-erii sunt interesati sa o descopere.

Astazi este mai mult vorba despre înţelegerea marketing-ului prin prisma valorii companiilor (ce valori oferă, in ce context si cum?), decat incercarea de a potrivi marketing-ul intr-un set predefinit de unelte.

Prin urmare, un brand ideal este un brand care exploreaza, care gaseste instrumentele cele mai potrivite contextului lor (situatiile in care produsele lor sau brand idea furnizeaza valoare), pentru audienta lor şi pentru organizatie. Si inţelege ca marketing-ul este o parte a experientei de produs sau de utilizare, nu ceva ce ai adauga la sfarsit doar pentru a spune oamenilor ca produsul este disponibil.

Nu exista brand-uri ideale, ci doar strategii geniale.

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Tarantino's dialogue



Tarantino’s talk is not just the fuel of his movies: it’s the engine, the wheels and most of the frame. It’s where the real dramatic and philosophical action takes place. The gunshots, car crashes and torture scenes are punctuation.

Great rant about Tarantino!

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Slow Food

"The second assumption is just as dangerous: it is the dangerously linear assumption that the best way to build a brand is to set out to build a brand. I really don’t believe this. I think if you set out to build a great business, you’ll stand a fair chance of building a great brand. I am not equally confident that someone aspiring to build a great brand will build a great business." - Rory Sutherland


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Joy is BMW

BMW a lansat o noua platforma de comunicare la nivel global. Imi placea mult "Pure driving pleasure". Parca era mai aproape de spiritul brand-ului.
Dar, cum spun chiar ei: "Is very important how you make people feel, but is more important what you make".
Si ei fac masini incredibile.


Pentru mine "Joy" de la BMW este clasicul 507. O bucurie de masina. Sper sa reusesc sa conduc una o data.

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Ieseni la Cannes Lions


Exceptional! Dragi ieseni, colegi publicitari, anul acesta dulcele targ a avut reprezentare la Cannes!
Dupa cum vedeti in imaginea de mai sus, este vorba de agentia Christi Leon. Marturisesc ca nu am auzit pina acum de ei.
Va transcriu mai jos minunea de script cu care s-au inscris. Observati ca nici topica limbii romane nu o stapanesc, ca sa nu mai vorbim despre creativitate, care lipseste cu desavarsire.
Enjoy it!

Radio Lions Script
A18/78 00231 ROMANIA
Title: HARMONY
Advertiser: ASCOR
Product/Service CHRISTIAN TRAVEL ORGANISATION
Script In English:
SFX: Busy traffic
SFX: Whistle
SFX: Baby's cry
SFX: Thunder and lightning, heavy rain
SFX: Traffic returns

ANN: Nature asks for a change
Nature invites us all to live in harmony with it!

SFX: Birds chirping
SFX: Horns of cars
SFX: Baby giggling
Script In Orginal Langauge
SFX: Ocupat trafic
SFX: Suierator
SFX: Bebelus tipetele
SFX: Trasnet si fulgere, ploaie torentiala
SFX: Trafic revine

ANN: Natura cere schimbare!
Natura ne invita sa traim in armonie cu ea!

SFX: Pasari ciripitor
SFX: Sirene de autoturisme
SFX: Bebelus surazator

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Holiday


I've been away for a week. A much deserved vacation. This year we've been to Bulgaria, in Albena.
The main criteria was the price and the vicinity to Romania. This way we were able to take our 10 months daughter with us.

I didn't have high expectations beforehand. To my surpreise, the Bulgarians have a decent tourism, with clean beaches, good accomodation, great food, smilling people and beautiful scenery.
It was great!

Unfortunately, although Romania has a great seashore, I don't dig the quality of the service and the prices they have. It's a rip-off!
So, until there will be significant improvements in the quality of services, I'll never go to Romania sea resorts.
And for all of you willing to visit Romania, I'll recommend to go to the mountains or up north to visit the monasteries. You'll have decent accomodation at good prices and beautiful scenery.

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Come play!



Australia’s world cup soccer bid is heating up ahead of the official submissions in 2010. Starting with a very cool video showing people playing soccer across the country in all sorts of beautiful places.
This is one of the elements of the campaign to come. The campaign's website is an clever comms platform where, among other things, one can play and eran points for Australia's bid.
As they say, football dares to dream. And I salute and support aussie's bid.

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Renault Logan - Legea Atractiei

Pentru lansarea Renault Logan in Columbia, Publicis a dezvoltat campania "Legea Atractiei" cu trei executii diferite.








Agentie: Publicis Colombia/Publicis CB
Productie: Rhayuela

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Financial crisis explained

click to enlarge

Design studio Cypher13 explains through iconography the financial mess we live in right now.
Beautiful!

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Mea culpa


It has indeed been an eternity since I put forth enough time and effort to comment on our fascinating world. For that, I can only offer an apology to the few people who flick back from time to time.
I’ve been wondering, “has anyone even noticed?” I mean, with so much stuff being written every day and seemingly less and less time available to just casually “browse the web,” who would notice, much less even care, if another blog just sort of fell by the wayside?

The reasons for my long hiatus are both personal and professional.
Nine months ago Mara Cezara, my beautiful daughter (picture above) was born and came to make my life a constant source of wonders and happines.
In the same time, I had to take care of my new professional endeavour which is Wunderkid, a small, creative agency with big ambitions. We've been doing well lately and I'm satisfied with the way things go, both internally and externally.

So, I decided today that not only do I have the time to speak softly but I may even find the time to shout about a few things. I would like to take this blog in a somewhat new direction. It will include anything and everything that we can think of. Probably, I'll post more in Romanian.

I look forward to jumping back in…

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