sparking curious mind

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

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

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.

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!

"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

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.

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!

A18/78	00231	ROMANIA
Title:		HARMONY
Advertiser:		ASCOR
Product/Service		CHRISTIAN TRAVEL ORGANISATION

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.

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.

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








Agentie: Publicis Colombia/Publicis CB
Productie: Rhayuela

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…

Stefan a facut o lista de cuvinte dacice si le-a postat in Wordle. In spirit Apolod'or!

Am facut un nou spoof pentru Adfel- Grand Spoof!

De data asta parodiem Coca-Cola Train si Cava D'oro. Totul plasat undeva in anul 106 i.Hr.




Aceeasi echipa care a facut celebrul Budai Beer. Plus Alex asociatul meu de la Wunderkid, care s-a ocupat de productie si filmare.

Ave!

For many years Beck's have been supporting young talent and showcasing the established artists by offering them to use Beck's label as a canvas for their work. Artists whose designs appeared on Beck's bottles include Damien Hurst, Tracey Emin, Jeff Koons, and many others.

2008 saw a beginning of partnership between Beck's and the Royal College of Art, which resulted in four promising RCA graduates having their work put on Becks' Canvas.

The four successful Beck’s Canvas artists are:

• Riitta Ikonen, 27, who is studying a two year MA in Communication Art and Design at the Royal College of Arts and graduated last month.
  
  
• Tom Price, 26, is an alumni of Sculpture (2006) who received a First Class BA (Hons) Sculpture degree from Chelsea College of Art in 2004 and currently works from his Brixton studio.
  
  
• Simon Cunningham is an alumni of the MA Fine Art, photography course (2007) who lives and works in London.
  
  
• Charlotte Bracegirdle, 34, is an alumni of the Masters degree in painting (2006). Originally from Devon, Charlotte spent seven years applying to art schools across the UK before accepting a place at the RCA.

One of these collectable bottles can be yours - they can only be purchased in the UK during August and September.

“The campaign vividly illustrates that Beck’s is different by choice. The updated ads should act as the start point on a ‘discovery trail’ - building intrigue and interest for the viewer - which will be rewarded when they see the bottle in a pub, bar or off-licence or experience the campaign on-line.” - Will Morris, Senior Brand Manager for Beck’s at InBev UK

Excellent