T-Shirt Wars

One of the brilliant minds on my new creative team shared this video with me:

Obviously, awesome storytelling (thus why I'm sharing it) but one of the things that makes me smile is the end with, basically, commercials to sell youtube subscriptions, t-shirts, design capabilities, even an actual t-shirt company. Lee Clow, chief creative officer of Chiat Day (and if you didn't know that you should burst into flames instantly), once said, back in the 90s, that we don't work in advertising, we work in entertainment. That our job was to create discussion around the water cooler (I'm paraphrasing, it was the 90s). In the new era we live in, Twitter is the new water cooler and success is measured in "Likes" and re-tweets. But at the core is still entertainment, or creative storytelling (you didn't think I could bring it back around, did you!)

And just to stay true to the mantra of this blog and peal back the story behind the story, here's a fun Making-of video:

projeqt

One of my new CDs already knows how much I value great storytelling and just shared a site with me: projeqt.com

And I was hooked.

Playing Hard to Get

I have a theory that people liked to be challenged whether it's in movies, reading or advertising. This goes against everything Hollywood and ad agencies would tell you. Keep it simple, Stupid. I'm a big fan of simple, Stupid, but I also think it's more engaging when you can challenge people to think. Here's a perfect example I read about from Rick Mathieson where the new Batman movie is not only challenging people to engage but dragging them into participation:

Here's another great example where the great, (yes, I am a fanboy) J. J. Abrams hid an interactive trailer for his new movie "Super 8" on the PC version of the game Portal 2:

And a Jay-Z/Bing book promotion:

Now the first question I'm sure we'd all hear is, "Why not make it easier for everyone?" Kevin Roberts, CEO of Saatchi, would tell you that you have to build mystery. I believe K-Rob (as I like to call him) is absolutely right in that mystery builds brand loyality. And J. J. (as I like to call him) talks about how his whole approach to storytelling revolves around mystery:

I personally am so ready to start challenging our consumers. To challenge them to engage. To quote my old CEO, to "invite them to participate."

Roast Traditions

We've all been in those situations where you come up with an idea and you get the response, "We've never done it that way before." or "The client will never do that." I was talking to my wife about this particular frustration and she laid this bit of creative storytelling down on me:

A woman was baking a roast for her family and she cut both ends off the roast before she put it in the oven. When her husband asked her why she did that, her response was that she didn't know why. It was just how her mother always did it. So she went and asked her mother why she always cut both ends of the roast off before she cooked it. Her answer, "Because my oven wasn't big enough for the whole roast to fit in."

Moral of the story: There's a reason why you've "always done it that way." Just make sure it's the right reason.

Pink Ponies

Right now I'm having the great fortune to work with a creative team in Connecticut. I already like everyone I've met. Well, one of the copywriters had just gone to the One Show Interactive Awards in New York and he was telling about this "Case Study" that won. If you've read my previous post, you know I like to watch the award show entries for the "creative storytelling." This one... ah man...

Keep kiip.me

I remember as a kid my mom clipping coupons because there'd be this moment of jubilation when she'd "discover" a really great discount on something she loved that would be accentuated by a rather loud, "Ohh!" It's a little bit of the classic "adrenaline rush of the hunt." Weird as it sounds that's the first thing I thought of when I discovered kiip. It's a great new advertising program that rewards you for winning at your favorite mobile games:

Here's what I love about it, I've been racking my brain trying to think of how to tap into the $50billion industry that is gaming beyond the traditional banner ads and forced clips to watch. It's a great strategy and, I guess, the new adrenaline rush of the hunt!

Nostalgic for High Tech?

I'm one of those people who have a huge book shelf full of books but I'm not a big reader. It's the texture and the warmth of the books that I love. I was talking to a set designer once who also did interior design and she had rich clients who would buy books by the pound just to fill up their library! So I'm not crazy. So when I discovered this book wrap for your laptop from twelvesouth.com, I was in:

So then I started looking around and discovering other interesting products to take the edge off your cutting edge tech like this woodgrain iPhone cover from miniot.com:

And this is one of my favorites, iPad desktop screens of vintage Apple images from graphicleftovers.com:

So what does this have to do with creative storytelling? I believe in this wonderfully cool high-tech world we live in, you still have to make sure you're making a human connection. I know, I know, it's sounds like a Rick Springfield song but I now have the Mac Classic desktop image on my laptop because I remember sitting in front of that very computer back in college for hours and hours. We don't sell technology, we sell moments.