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

Levi's Integrates Facebook's Like Button On Their Own Site

Levi's is betting on the fact that you care what other people think. More specifically, what they 'like'. One of the first brands to utilize the social networking concept of the thumbs up "like" button found on Facebook, they've integrated Facebook's new social plug-ins into their online shopping site.



the press release:
The Levi’s® brand today announced at Facebook’s f8 conference the introduction of an innovative new way to shop for jeans online. With the launch, the Levi’s® brand is among the first companies to integrate with Facebook’s new Social Plugins. The Levi’s® brand will provide shoppers with an interactive, customized shopping experience on levi.com (based on consumers’ “Likes”), information about “Top-Liked” products across consumers’ networks, and an easy way to find and share relevant Levi’s® products.



“We’re creating a new social shopping experience that will change the way people shop online and, frankly, make buying jeans more fun. We’re excited to pioneer this new technology and help our loyal fans connect with our brand and share their favorite Levi’s® products with friends.”

Jodi Bricker, Vice President of Digital for Levi’s® Americas said, “We’re creating a new social shopping experience that will change the way people shop online and, frankly, make buying jeans more fun. We’re excited to pioneer this new technology and help our loyal fans connect with our brand and share their favorite Levi’s® products with friends.”



As part of today’s announcement, Facebook introduced a new set of Social Plugins that can be easily integrated into a website to make the user experience more personalized and social. Powered by the Open Graph, these new plugins include a “Like” functionality, Activity Feed, and Recommendation widget that bring friends, social activity and relevant interactions to any site off of Facebook.com.

The Levi’s® brand is integrating the “Like” functionality on its e-commerce site – levi.com. In addition, the Levi’s® brand is building a Friend Store in which consumers who are logged into Facebook can see a list of their friends’ favorite Levi’s® products and seamlessly shop with their friends.

The Levi’s® brand is innovating with social and digital media on its Facebook page, in advertising and on its e-commerce website. Last month the brand leveraged its Levi’s® Facebook Page to amplify their ninth annual Levi’s®/FADER Fort event – a music festival in Austin, Texas. This initiative grew the fan base by 60 percent and garnered more than 780,000 live streams of the event.


test it out here:


You can explore how other sites integrate Facebook here.

Pet Names For Your Pussy Promote The Mooncup, An Alternative To Tampons.

The Mooncup, a reinvention of a centuries old concept by entrepreneur Su Hardy, is a smart eco-friendly alternative to tampons. Made from medical grade silicone, without bleaches, dyes or pesticides, the reusable menstrual cup leaves no fibers behind like other sanitary products.



The first sanitary protection manufacturer in the world to be awarded Ethical Business status, Mooncup Ltd. is guided by people and environmentally-friendly business practices.

But what is equally as smart as the product design is the advertising poster campaign and website promoting the Mooncup, created by St. Lukes in conjunction with the company.

The Advertising
Posters with euphemisms for lady bits began appearing around the London Underground signed off with a url that read loveyourvagina.com.


above photo courtesy of Uplift Magazine

The five advertising posters:




The Website

Equally blind and compelling, the posters lead you to a website where you can not only get information about the Mooncup, but as is smart engaging behavior these days, invites the audience to add their own vaginal moniker to the many other hilarious ones posted by others.




Above are just a few of the submitted nicknames from their site. You've got your expected ones -- coochie, va jay jay, beaver, muff, etc. and some very unexpected ones. Some that may make you cringe and some that will make you crack up... my personal favorite being "The Downtown Entertainment and Dining District." You can visit loveyourvagina.com and add your own nickname.

Kath Clements, Campaign Manager for Mooncup, says: “We hope the ads will get women thinking, smiling and talking about their vaginas. We’re up for women feeling good on the inside too!”

Clearly, this humorous approach is getting some serious attention. With lots of blogs, women's sites and magazines, such as Marie Claire, writing about the campaign... the relatively unknown product is reaching larger audience than it otherwise would have. Mooncup Ltd also has a facebook fan page and a twitter account, intelligently using social media to further promote the product.



Mooncup was launched by Brighton entrepreneur Su Hardy in 2002 and is now stocked in Boots, as well as independent health food stores and through the mooncup.co.uk website.


all images and information courtesy of Mooncup, Ltd.

Newcastle Brown Ale Invites You To Design Your Own Label

above: six examples of submissions to the contest

Newcastle Brown Ale, America’s No. 1 imported ale, recently announced the launch of its “Your Beer. Your Label.” program. Aimed at celebrating the personality of its fans, Newcastle is turning its label into a blank canvas for adult consumers to change their individual bottles into a one-of-a-kind artistic expression. Consumers may use any type of tool – pencil, paint or computer – to create their unique label.



Digital labels submitted through the microsite will be considered during the designer search, with the chosen concept featured prominently on the Newcastle Brown Ale Web site.


above: the actual Newcastle Brown Ale label

“The Newcastle logo, with its unusual ‘cottage loaf’ shape and its iconic blue star, has inspired hundreds of photo collages and tattoo designs. We’re encouraging Newcastle drinkers to tailor individual labels with their own uniquely different, personalized touches,” said Colin Westcott-Pitt, Brand Director, Newcastle Brown Ale. “Our online program gives fans a chance to show off their artistic skills and, for one designer, on our Web site. We expect our judging panel will be inspired by the variety of designs our fans will submit.”

For designs to be considered, U.S. consumers 21 and older must submit their digital concepts on NewcastleBrown.com before March 14, 2010. After the entry period, fans are encouraged to vote for their favorite design until March 30, 2010.

The 10 designs with the largest number of votes will be judged by Newcastle team members on the basis of creativity, originality and brand personality. The selected designer will have their label prominently showcased on Newcastle’s Web site.



For additional rules, a template to download or just to get started, please visit here

Levi's 501 Project Connects With Consumers

This online design project , a component of Levi's and Bravo's Project Runway co-op marketing plan, was an inventive promotion that ended up exceeding Levi's expectations.

The Jan. 23 episode of Project Runway, according to the Nielsen Co., drew 3.2 million viewers, including 410,000 women ages 18 to 24.

Levi's was the first brand partner on the show to drive viewers to a separate online contest focused on a challenge that would resonate with target consumers.

The site received 500 submissions in three days. Sharon Greenwood, Avenue A/Razorfish's creative director on the campaign said " In all, it attracted more than 20,000 registrants — two-thirds women — and 2,500 designs".

The contest was promoted with ads on some online fashion blogs, some gossip blogs and social shopping network sites.

Greenwood's team also incorporated a feature allowing designers to embed their submissions on their own Web pages, blogs and social-networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook.

This placed a 'badge" with a Levi's logo and invitations for viewers to vote on the design at Levi's "Project Runway" site.

See an example of the "badge" below:

The feature put the badge before about 30,000 viewers, about half of whom clicked through to Levi's "Project Runway" site, Greenwood said.

In the weeks following the "Project Runway" episode, Levi's nontraditional styles, normally not among its top sellers, took over the top 10 women's styles on its retail site.

By the way, the winners were announced last month and here they are :
First Place:

Above: The first place winner, Jehan.
His/her design will be produced and sold by the Levi’s® brand and sold on levi.com, plus a $501 gift certificate on levi.com.

Levi’s says..."Love the turn back cuff on the sleeve. Cool asymmetrical opening and nice clean tailor details. This design reinvents the trucker jacket with a feminine flare."

Second place winner:

Submitted by Sharpietattoo. Description: Girly pleating gives a softer appeal to this military-inspired dress. Along with Levi’s buttons and rivets, the dress also has the hand pockets from the Trucker Jacket. Gold bodice stitching and a 50’s inspired neckline keep the hip look classic and clean. Zip back, with a functional back button.

Levi’s says...

This is a classy, vintage 50s look, with flattering neckline. Like the back seaming, reminiscent of a trucker vest. The buttons really tie this product back to the 501® Jean in a fresh contemporary way.

Third place winner:

Submitted by Claire
Description: The GOLD RUSH DRESS, comes in dark blue denim with gold metallic top stitched flat felled seams, OR light blue denim with silver metallic topstitching. The Levi's Button lace-up bodice can be worn with the attached modesty panel under the lacing, or flip the panel back under and show some skin.

Levi’s says...
The gold trim and modesty panel are lovely. Really like how this brings the heritage of the Levi's Brand to a flirty new fit.

Second place winner, sharpietattoo, gets a $501 gift certificate for levi.com, and third place winner, Claire gets a $250 gift certificate for levi.com.

So, Congratulations to not only the winners, but also Avenue A/Razorfish, Levi's and Bravo!