Lights Fantastic. New Video & Interactive Site For LG dLite Mobile Phone.

A cool song, animated video and interactive website are all part of a marketing effort for the new LG dlite phone from Tmobile, a slim mobile phone in bubble gum pink or bright blue that has a customizable external screen with an LED matrix and fun sound effects.



The Animated Video:
To promote the new mobile phone, LG dLite, Sophie Gateau, of Paranoid US, directed a playful music video to showcase the phones character-based digital display. The video, via DOJO SF, tells a classic love story to the track, “White” by electropop artist, LIGHTS. The campaign features a website, the video, and other interactive elements.

Using the LIGHTS’ track as a basis for the pixelated boy meets pixelated girl storyline, Sophie created a 3.5 min animated piece. Sophie utilized her CG and motion graphic background, for the LED narrative. Sophie collaborated with Paranoid Design Studio’s Lead Artist Vincent Rogozyk to first develop the story as an animatic.




This solved the production challenge of finding a way to duplicate a few phones to appear as if they were in mass. Utilizing motion control to shoot the available 45 pre-production models , Sophie shot twenty passes--moving the phones along in each pass. The Paranoid Design Studio team then assembled the passes, tracked animated characters and environmental drawings, and composited them into the scenes. The LED look was then finished on Flame by Paranoid Design Studio VFX Artist Seb Caudron.



DOJO Executive Creative Director’s, Geoff Edwards and Mauro Alencar, share why Sophie was handpicked for the project. "Sophie has a unique way of creating a relationship between the audience and the story. Her work is personal and feels like someone is talking directly to you," said Edwards. "The combination of her willingness to collaborate with us and LIGHTS made Sophie the right choice for this program,” added Alencar.

The Website


But that's not all... To accompany this marketing effort, an interactive website allows you to create your own story by dragging and dropping animated lights to the tune of the song "White" and then share it with your friends.




You also have the option to allow the site to access your webcam and microphone and create your own music video by tapping and playing.




credits:
Title: LG dLite Brilliant Together
Client: LG Electronics
Assoc. VP, Consumer, Trade & Insights Marketing: Tim O’Brien
Agency: DOJO
Executive Creative Director/Partner: Mauro Alencar Executive Creative Director/Partner: Geoff Edwards
CFO/Partner: Jeremy Brown
Art Director: Chris Masse
Copywriter: Michael Leibowitz
Senior Producer: Annie Uzdavinis
Partnerships: Audrey Santamarta
Production Company: Paranoid US, Los Angeles
Director: Sophie Gateau
Executive Producer/ Partner: Claude Letessier
Executive Producer/ Partner: Cathleen O'Conor
Head of Production: Matej Purg
VFX / Animation: Paranoid Design Studio, Los Angeles
Head of Post Production/Producer: Guillaume Raffi
Lead VFX Artist: Vincent Rogozyk
VFX Artists: Michael Tavarez, Jahmad Rollins, Derek Hansen, Andrew Cook, Naime Perette, Joe Ball, Maggie Balaco, Alexandre de Bonrepos
Production Assistant: Julie Amalric
Track: “White” by LIGHTS
Mix: Lime Santa Monica, CA
Mixer: Sam Casas Asst.
Engineer: Jeff Malen
Executive Producer: Jessica Locke
Color: New Hat Santa Monica, CA
Colorist: Bob Festa

Advertising Concept For Cartier Combines Luxury With Violence.

A simple photographic juxtaposition of fine jewelry items by Cartier with a ball and chain (which has the wonderful double entendre given that it's a wedding band), a hand grenade, and explosives is a twist on the traditional and boring way that most fine jewelry items are presented in advertising and marketing.

"Weapon Jewelry" is another interesting concept from Diddo Velema (who goes by the moniker "...by Diddo" on his blog) that combines luxury with images of violence.

The ads as they would appear, if Cartier had the guts to run them:


This is not the first time the art director and media designer has combined luxury brand icons with images reminiscent of destruction. I previously blogged about his project in which he created Luxury Couture Gas Masks:



Diddo Velema creates branding and advertising ideas for freelance and personal projects in his Amsterdam studio and has an art direction and media design site in addition to his blog.

Pavé - The Luxury Liqueur Distilled Through Real Diamonds In Amsterdam.

An interesting unique luxury liqueur that is distilled through genuine diamonds, Pavé Amsterdam - The Luxury Liqueur™, had me intrigued from the start. I did as much research as possible and even contacted the owner multiple times for details, but I didn't learn much more than I had by poking around the internet. So, I will share with you what I can.



Nowadays the word "luxury" is tossed about quite carelessly. I've been guilty of doing so in this very blog. But when it comes to a luxury liqueur, Pavé claims to be the paragon. After all, it's said to be distilled and filtered through 500 carats of the finest grade earth-mined diamonds.



Pavé, the Luxury Liqueur, is described as an ultra premium, 60 proof clear fruit liqueur infused with a distinct blend of ripened citrus, tropical and passion fruits, hints of caffeine and delicate herbal notes. Distilled from organic fruits through genuine diamonds. It is said that Pavé is designed to be a standalone drink, though it can also be enjoyed with a splash of your favorite mixer.



The company says that Pavé’s finesse is in its elaborate creation process and secret family techniques that have been passed down for generations.



The bottle design:

From their website:

The ultra-lux liqueur is encased in its proprietary rectangular bottle. Standing strikingly tall and crystal-like, the bottle is fused with metal and Swarovski Crystals. The bottle was designed by founder Moghaddam* and inspired by the diamond distillation method used to produce the delicate liqueur. A 750ml bottle of Pavé weighs nearly 5 pounds.

The distillation process:


From their website:

Pavé is the first and only liqueur distilled with diamonds. For this “diamond-distillation” process, over 500 carats of the world’s finest genuine diamonds (category: IF/VVS1 – D/E) were examined and hand-picked by experts. After an elaborate distillation, Pavé is filtered through these flawless diamonds just before bottling, using a brand new batch of gems for every distillation. This enables filtration to 1.0 microns – conventional filters, on the other hand, only filter within a range between 30.0 and 15.0 microns. This fine, high-grade diamond dust makes this possible, removing even the most minute particles and impurities from the distillate. The sophisticated process gives Pavé its exquisite softness, exceptional clarity and clean, fresh finish - a liqueur of perfect purity and smoothness.

So, who is behind Pavé the Luxury Liqueur?



Well, this is not an easy one to answer. You may have noticed that the liqueur label and logo read Pavé Amsterdam, and when I asked owner Moghaddam*, I couldn't get a specific address nor pictures of the offices or distillation location. And from my own amateur research, I couldn't find any indication that it's created, owned, distilled or distributed in or from Amsterdam, so I am taking his word for it.

*Mehran Moghaddam, is named as the founder and President of the company, the designer of the bottle and as per his Linked In profile, a young entrepreneur who received a degree in Biochemistry at UC Davis in 1996 and a masters at UC Davis in Business Management in 2005.



The links to the "media" for Pavé on their site don't work, so I couldn't see any other articles about the trademarked "luxury liqueur". And when it comes to their social media presence, they are definitely a mess. On Facebook, one of their group pages calls it Pavé Vodka, but it is not a vodka and the marketing address for that is the Idol Music Group which is in New York. The business group page on Facebook lists Amsterdam as their location, but again, no working address or link. The myspace page for Pave is sparse and neglected and hasn't been updated in over a year.

This kind of makes me doubt the diamond distillation process. After all, 500 carats of Internally Flawless (IF) diamonds with D or E color would cost millions (unless they are chips, which is possible) and a new batch is used every time? Are there armed guards standing by during the process? And who are these 'experts' who hand picked the diamonds? Unfortunately, I could not find the answers to these questions.



Regardless of the veracity of its claims, the concept has an appeal and the bottle design is aesthetically pleasing. I can't comment on the taste because it's virtually impossible to locate in a retail location or online, with one exception -- it is available through Hi Time Wine. How did I even hear about it? Pavé seems to be most commonly present at music-related launches at the hippest events and parties.

all images courtesy of Pavé Spirits and Mehran Moghaddam

Nathan Love Animates The NBC Peacock For A Bit Of Broadcast Branding.

So how did the NBC Peacock get his colored plumage? That was the challenge that resulted in this cute (and I mean that in the good way) 30 second animated piece of branding for NBC by Nathan Love and NBC Artworks.

According to Joe Burrascano, Nathan Love's owner and creative director, "The brief was to create a stand-alone logo animation for NBC. The only guidelines were to make it our own, and of course, for it to be 'the best logo ever.'"



Project Name: Nathan Love's "NBC Peacock"
Project Length: :34

Client: NBC Artworks
Production Company: Nathan Love
Director: Nathan Love
Creative Director: Joe Burrascano
Art Director/Designer: Anca Risca
Animation & Rigging: Dan Vislocky
Additional Animation: Ryan Moran
VFX Compositing: Sylvia Apostol
Sound Design & Music: Drew Skinner

Be sure to check out the Nathan Love website. It's got a great interface and lots to look at.

Robert Longo Brings Back His 80's Art For Bottega Veneta's New Ad Campaign.

above: Robert Longo's charcoal drawing from the 80's and right, his new shot for Bottega Veneta

It was virtually impossible to live through the 1980's without knowing at least one person who had a poster of Robert Longo's twisted and contorted urban hipsters adorning their wall. Along with the likes of Patrick Nagel, Longo's graphic art was a staple in poster shops, contemporary art galleries and trendy restaurants.

Now, the artist/photographer/director brings those images back to life in the form of a new advertising campaign for Italian luxury brand Bottega Veneta's Fall-Winter 2010/2011 collection.



The ads:


Credits for above photos: Didier Malige - Hair Stylist Tom Pecheux - Makeup Artist Doug Lloyd - Art Director Stefan Beckman - Prop Stylist Robert Longo - Director

The Fall-Winter 2010/2011 campaign marks the first time that the Bottega Veneta men’s collection will receive its own advertising. Ads will run globally in select titles including GQ, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, Vogue Hommes and Brutus in Japan. The Fall-Winter 2010/2011 season is centered on the silhouette and characterized by contrasts of structure and fluidity, stillness and movement, and masculine and feminine. The palette is dark and rich, illuminated by flashes of moody iridescence. Both the men’s and women’s collections touch on questions of strength and power, exploring ways of dressing that express a multifaceted individuality. Robert Longo’s series “Men in the Cities,” created in the late 1970s and early 1980s, has influenced photographers for decades. The series, which depicts men and women in business attire contorted in extreme positions, began as photographs taken by Longo on his rooftop.  

Men In The Cities rooftop photos by Robert Longo:




 The artist then created large-scale charcoal and graphite drawings from the photographs.  

Men In The Cities drawings by Robert Longo:

 

Longo, who works in a wide range of media including sculpture, painting, drawing, photography, and film, has a virtuoso talent for evoking complex themes with simple, powerful imagery. His graphic style and ability to distill images to a minimum of elements were what led Bottega Veneta Creative Director Tomas Maier to seek him out for the Fall-Winter 2010/2011 campaign. “I have always admired the strength and individuality of Robert Longo’s ‘Men in the Cities’ images,” says Maier. “This collection, with its dark palette and emphasis on line and movement, seemed well-suited to his graphic approach. Also, this is the first time we are focusing on both the men’s and women’s collections and I thought Robert would be the ideal artist to bring the two sides of the brand together. I’m very pleased with the campaign — the images are quite extraordinary.”

Images from the Robert Longo Bottega Veneta ad campaign photo shoot:

 

Robert Longo joins a prestigious list of artists who have contributed to the creation of Bottega Veneta’s advertising portfolio. Previous collaborations include Nan Goldin (Spring 2010), Steven Meisel (Fall 2009), Larry Sultan (Spring 2009), Todd Eberle (Cruise 2009), Nick Knight (Fall 2008), Sam Taylor-Wood (Spring 2008), Annie Leibovitz (Fall 2007), Tina Barney (Spring 2007), Lord Snowdon (Fall 2006), Stephen Shore (Spring 2006) and Philip-Lorca diCorcia (Fall 2005). Bottega Veneta’s Fall-Winter 2010/2011 advertising campaign will appear in the August issues of select magazines globally.

 images and info courtesy of Robert Longo and Bottega Veneta.