sparking curious mind

Above is a video put together by the son of a motorcycle owner. It is the greatest brand-building commercial of all time and BMW should buy rights to it immediately and show it all over the world forever.

The story behind the video is bellow.

This is a photo story of my father's 1958 BMW R50:
Boy meets girl, gets married, buys motorcycle. Rides it for 60,000 miles and has accident when wife is pregnant with 3rd child. (me) Wife orders motorcycle to be taken off road until all her children are grown and on their own. One day when bike is moved to a different storage location, son sits on bike and dreams of being a Jedi Master like his father. Couple grows old together and bike is not ridden for 40 years. Husband is now a grandfather of 7 and married for 50 years, when he dies of a stroke at age 71.
Son looks over the old rotting machine and finds note attached to it from his father to him. Son decides to restore the old 1958 BMW R-50 as a tribute to his father. With the help of many friends, especially Peter Nettesheim, world renowned BMW collector, bike is restored to look even better than it did when it was built in Germany.

I don't believe one can find something similarly moving about a brand.

Dan Pink examinează enigma motivării, pornind de la un fapt cunoscut de specialiştii în ştiinţe sociale, dar necunoscut de majoritatea managerilor: recompensele tradiţionale nu sunt întotdeauna aşa de eficiente cum credem. Ascultaţi poveşti edificatoare -- şi poate, o cale de urmat.

The soon to be published book by Wayne Visser, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business, argues that CSR, as a business, governance and ethics system, has failed. This assumes that success or failure is measured in terms of the net impact (positive or negative) of business on society and the environment. 


The reason CSR 1.0 has failed is not through lack of good intent, nor even through lack of effort. The old CSR has failed because our global economic system is based on a fundamentally flawed design. For all the miraculous energy unleashed by Adam Smith’s ‘invisible hand’ of the free market, our modern capitalist system is faulty at its very core. 
Simply put, it is conceived as an abstract system without limits. 


What is now needed is a new form of CSR - which the book dubs CSR 2.0. 
This combines five elements:
1) Creativity - Directing business creativity to solving the world's social and environmental problems
2) Scalability - A 'shining pilot project' is pointless if it can't be scaled for mass use
3) Responsiveness - greater transparency, through reporting mechanisms and through sharing intellectual resources (eg/technology patents)
4) Glocality - Understanding local contexts and applying local solutions without forsaking global principles
5) Circularity - Closed loop production - such as factories that produce drinking water as waste or materials that can feed into industry as high quality raw materials for new products


The end result is a new meaning for CSR - Corporate Sustainability and Responsibility. 


When all is said and done, CSR 2.0 comes down to one thing: clarification and reorientation of the purpose of business. It is a complete misnomer to believe that the purpose of business is to be profitable, or to serve shareholders. These are simply means to an end. Ultimately, the purpose of business is to serve society, through the provision of safe, high quality products and services that enhance our well being, without eroding our ecological and community life-support systems.


CSR is dead! Long live CSR!

Combine Sir Ken Robinson with nice drawing infographics about a fascinating subject like education reform and you have a captivating video you won't be able to stop watching... or thinking about it.

Speaking at Making Digital Work in NYC, Faris Yakob, Chief Innovation Officer for MDC Partners inspires us all with thoughts on how strategy has to evolve if it’s to inform work that’s interactive, shareable, and participatory.
Check it out! Time well spent.



Watch live video from bdw_live on Justin.tv



Watch live video from bdw_live on Justin.tv

To understand why people make things, you have to make things. Go play and do stuff.

1. Digital Cowgirl – the internet pioneer

• 51 percent of women say they love finding new and exciting websites on the internet
• 42 percent say they will go online even if they are not looking for anything in particular
• Where to find her: games websites

1. Digital Cassandra – the influential predictor of “what’s next”

• 43 percent of women say they tell all their friends about websites they like
• 22 percent claim they are usually the first of their friends to discover an interesting website
• Where to find her: news, finance, home & family and food & entertainment websites

1. Digital Diva – uses the “smartest” sites

• 16 percent of women say they use the Internet to buy luxury items.
• Where to find her: shopping, travel, health & beauty, entertainment & gossip and finance websites

1. Digital Debutante – new to the internet, but not a novice

• 20 percent of women state that although they are relatively new to the internet, they are constantly learning about new applications and websites.

1. Digital Detective – internet researcher

• 82 percent of women say the Internet is the first place they go if they need to conduct research
• 58 percent can spend hours on the Internet researching every aspect of an issue that they are interested in.
• Where to find her: news, weather, finance, home & family and food & entertaining websites

1. Digital Voyeur – uses the internet to anonymously observe

• More than 20 percent of respondents use the internet to look up old friends or boyfriends
• Where to find her: news, finance, games, home & family, food & entertainment and astrology websites

1. Digital Socialite

• 12 percent of women agree with the statement: “I use the Internet to help me plan my social life”
• 15 percent say they have used the Internet to meet new people
• Where to find her: travel, entertainment and gossip websites

1. Digital Shopkeeper

• Just over 10 percent of women say they have started an online business or have used the internet to generate income.
• Where to find her: news websites

Bloody Nora! Great find! The periodic Table of Swearing courtesy of Modern Toss. Available in print.

Infographic by PPC Blog

The pace of change in social media is fast! Extremely fast! Check out the following videos, made bySocialnomis. There is a 9 month gap between the moment they were made.

The first video


The second one (9 months later)

The Type Directors Club has asked a few designers to find a classified/personal newspaper ad from their local community to “hijack” typographically. When redesigned, the once banal and disposable classified ads will be reinterpreted by the designer into a one-of-a-kind collectible poster. Each poster will be auctioned, with proceeds to benefit the TDC Scholarship Fund

Hilarious example of how to create buzz and word of mouth for your brand. Diesel created this hard selling performance, in Piazza Della Scala, Milano, as part of the new "Sex Sells"campaign.

"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'."

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.

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

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

A fresh campaign coming from Brazil, for Delas, a website for women.
Agency: TBWA/Lew’Lara

VIA

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.

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

photo credit

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.

That's the reason they built those huge cars, back in the day.

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

By Ji Lee

Brilliant piece of advertising by W+K Tokyo.
Check out the whole case here. It's mindblowing!

Created by Online Education

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

Bulky, though interesting.

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.

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

6. When making presentations, account planners must dress up as pirates and hop around on one foot. Hilariously serious!

10 Ideas For Transforming Advertising

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.

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.

Freakish, flighty, yet very interesting video for N900. Great stuff!

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

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.

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.

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

Excellent diagram of online relationships. Made by David

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