The World's First Interactive Print Ad (For The Moto X) Breaks In This Month's WIRED magazine.

To drive home the 'customization' concept behind Motorola's Moto X Mobile phone, Digitas, with some help from T+Ink Technology, has created the very first interactive print ad. Select copies (only 150,000 distributed in Chicago and New York) of the January edition of WIRED magazine will feature a print ad that allows you to begin designing your own Moto X phone by simply pressing on colored buttons to change the color of the back of the smartphone's case.




This animated gif (courtesy of FastCoCreate) gives you a peek at the technology:


Then the viewer is directed to a site where they can complete the customization process and order the smartphone, if they so desire.

See how it works in the video below:




Motorola

Two Cool Calendar Kits To Stitch for 2014 From Heather Lins

These two nicely designed and beautifully packaged calendars for 2014 allow for some fun interactivity. The 'Stitch The Stars' and The 'Year In Stitches' kits from textile designer Heather Lins are simple enough for anyone to do and include everything you need. At $25 each, they make a perfect gift for friends, co-workers and Secret Santas.
Bonus: the stars calendar actually glows in the dark.

2014 Stitch the Stars Calendar Kit





Each month is screen printed with the corresponding constellation from the zodiac (eg. January is Capricorn). Connect the dots using the embroidery thread and needle provided. Just poke and stitch; it's super-easy! No embroidery skills required. Plus, with glow-in-the-dark ink and thread, the constellation gently glows after you switch off the light.

One 2014 Stitch the Stars Calendar kit includes:
• 12 5" x 7" calendar cards (Heavy, recycled card stock screen printed with glow-in-the-dark ink)
• 1 embroidery needle
• Glow-in-the-dark embroidery floss (It really works!)
• Instruction sheet
• Packaged in a kraft paper box


$25 buy it here


2014 The Year In Stitches Calendar Kit





Stitch a pretty design each month and create your own calendar. Using the needle, embroidery floss and calendar cards provided, just poke and stitch your way through the year. No embroidery skills are necessary to complete this easy calendar kit.

One 2014 The Year In Stitches Calendar kit includes:
• 12 calendar cards screenprinted on heavy, recycled paper (5" x 7")
• instructions (printed on recycled paper)
• an embroidery needle
• embroidery floss
• packaged in a kraft paper box


$25 buy it here

All The Channels On That Cool Interactive Bob Dylan Like A Rolling Stone Video (and How It Was Done)

If you follow tech, music and media news, you've probably already heard about, if not seen, the engaging interactive music video for Bob Dylan's classic "Like A Rolling Stone."



Created by Interlude (along with Sony Legacy/Columbia who produced the Bob Dylan: The Complete Album Collection V.1), the music video for Bob Dylan's classic "Like A Rolling Stone" consists of various tv shows on multiple channels in which the hosts, stars or participants are mouthing the lyrics.


above: the brand new Complete Album Collection of Bob Dylan was released on Nov. 4, 2013

So what, you say? Lip-syncing is nothing new. But in this case, YOU control the channels. And there seem to be so many! So how did they get all the folks on those tv channels, in game shows, sports and movies to simulate singing the song?

Actual shows in the video:


There are seven 'real' shows: The Price Is Right, History Channel's Pawn Stars, HGTV's Property Brothers, podcast Maron (WTF), MTV's Girl Code, YouTube channel Look TV and sports channel ESPN. For these, especially filmed clips in which the actual hosts participated were executed.

The rest are fake (although many contain cameos by real entertainment personalities) and were created to simulate popular shows and channels on national and cable stations.

Some of the faux shows in the video:


All The Available Channels in the Interactive Bob Dylan Video:

• Music 1 Classics (a spoof on VH-1)
• Music 1 BASS (a faux music show featuring real rapper Danny Brown)
• Shop TV (a spoof on HSN, the Home Shopping Network)
• History Network (a parody of The History Channel)
• Love Is Love (a made up Rom-Com)
• Bachelor's Rose (a spoof on ABC's The Bachelor)
• MTC- Financial News (a fake financial show)
• Cooking Show/ Cuisine (a faux cooking show)
• Pawn Stars (a real show on the History Channel)
• Look TV (a real youtube channel)
• Girl Code (a real show on MTV)
• The Price Is Right (a real game show, duh)
• Maron (WTF) (a real podcast with Marc Maron)
• Tennis Match (a simulated tennis match)
• Property Brothers (a real show on HGTV)
• Zoey and Socks (a phony animated children's show)
• BCC News (a spoof on CNN News)
• ESPN (the real sports show with Steve Levy)

The video itself was created with Interlude's own self-service HTML5 web app, Treehouse:


You can sign up and get started with Treehouse to create your own interactive videos here.

A lot of people put time and effort into this very cool production and below are ALL the credits for each channel and cameo appearance.

FULL CREDITS
Written & Composed by Bob Dylan (C) 1965 Sony Music Entertainment Inc.
Created By Vania Heymann
Director & Additional Editing, VFX and Cinematography: Vania Heymann
Writer/Producer: Natan Schottenfels
Executive Producers: Lihu Roter, Tamara Harel-Cohen
Produced by Pulse Films and Walter Pictures
Producers: Lia Mayer-Sommer, Stacy Vaughan

Interlude
Executive Producers: Yoni Bloch, Alon Benari
WPP Strategy Director & CEO: Mark Read
Design: Tal Baltuch, Alizarin Zroob
Programmers: Eric Baukhages, Patrick Griffith
Creative Technologist: Austin Beer
Interactive Supervising: Hilah Almog, Therese Moriarty
Interactive Director: Tal Zubalsky
Interactive Engineer: Tomer Lahav
Creative: Daniel Barak
DP: Michael Blecher
Additional Editing: Roy Kafri
Concept Advisory: Gon Ben Ari
Production Manager: Elise Majorossy
Producers In Israel: Shir Zehavi, Amir Tal
Production Designer: Nicholas Tong
First Assistant Director: Marc Kelly
Costume Designer: Melissa Vargas
Art Director: Brian Rzepka
Hair: Ami
Make Up: Hiro Yonemoto
Gaffer: Aaron Smith
First Assistant Camera: Dave Brickley
Second Assistant Camera: Mike Ashley
Best Boy Electric: Justin Deary
Grip: Joachim Glaser, Charlie Pearson
Art Assistant: Thiago Martins
Wardrobe Assistant: Melissa Infante
Production Assistants: Charles Carter, Darryl Akins, Brandon Polanco, David Bain, Sabrina Sahraie, Adam Chitayat
Drivers: Eric Bellomo, Kyle Clark, Matt Iafe
Post Production Services: The Artery VFX
VFX Executive Producer: Yfat Neev
VFX Supervisor: Vico Sharabani
Post Producer: Lynzi Grant
VFX Artist: Jake Nelson
Graphic Design: Carlos Soler
Animating & Compositing: Adam Deutsch
Editors: Danielle Katvan

Channel Credits

Music 1 Classics
Filmed by D.A. Pennebaker, Edited by David Tedeschi
Re-Edited: Vania Heymann

Music 1 BASS
Starring Danny Brown
Animation: Dima Tretyakov, Nadav Embon
Composting: Chem Weinberger
VFX: Vania Heymann

Shop TV
Female Host: Darly Wayne
Male: Steve Garfanti
Editor: Bill Stepanoski

History Network
Prof. Martin Child: Martin Pfefferkorn
Prof. Sarah MatterHorn: Victoria Nahorn
Dr. Michael Ryder: Joseph Cornacchia
1930's Don Juan: Roy Kafri

Love Is Love
Male Lead: Ben Kahre
Female Lead: Kat Seelos
Waitress: Susan Feiman

Bachelor's Rose
Contestants: Perla Murray, Anastasia Vazhava, Ty Hayes, Chi Chi Obi, Nadine Van Ashbeck
The Bachelor: Soren Du Hoffman
Editor: Tamar Glezerman

MTC- Financial News
Anchor: Paul McGuire
Field Reporter: Marisa Bramwell
Producer: Kerry Vaughan

Cooking Show
Host: Adeena Sussman

Pawn Stars
Hosts: Rick Harrison, Austin “Chumlee” Russell
Seller: Derek Stonebarger
Editor: Tamar Glezerman
Executive Producers: Brent Montgomery, David George, Matthew J. Braley, Joel Patterson, Rick Harrison
Supervising Producer: Peter Van Pelt
Director: Jairus Cobb
Director of Photography: Joe Murgia
Producer: Shannon Biggs
Field Associate Producer: Nawara Blue
Audio: Ben Sortino
Production Assistants: Jill Delaney, David Gardner, Chase Johnson, Sam Zapiain

Look TV
Host: Victoria Floethe

Girl Code (on MTV)
Hosts: Carly Aquilino, Nessa, Nicole Byer, Jessimae Peluso, Tanisha Long, Shalyah Evans
Executive Producers: Paul Ricci, Darin Byrne, Ryan Ling
Talent Manger & Casting: Lauren Zins
Production Manager: Katie Schwartz, Dan Kuvalakis

The Price Is Right
Starring: Drew Carey, Rachel Reynolds, George Gray
Contestants: Ty Fanning, Theresa Robinson, Jason Sarayba
Editor: Will Reyes
Production Supervisor: Raphael Laski
Production Coordinator: Ruth Du
Associate Director: Rich Preuss
Stage Manager: Jonathan Marks
Technical Director: Glenn Koch
Video Operator: Rick Labgold
Camera Operators: Wayne Getchell, Ed Nelson, Quinn de Varona, Brent Roberts
Jib Operator: Bob Smith
Recordist: Glen Penland
Post Associate Producer: Jazmine Eckenberg
Hair & Make Up: Carol Wood, Annet Ackerman

Maron (WTF)
Marc Maron & Ryan Singer
Cinematography & Production: Raphael Laski
Camera Operator: Daniel Batteles
Assistant to Marc Maron: Samantha Varela
Editor: Bill Stepanoski

Tennis Match
Anchor: Steve Levy
Diovesky: Shahar Rot
Plotnivich: Doron Amit
Bench: Niv Majar, Nimrod Rothem
Production Team: Eyal Goldman, Tamuz Roberman, Dana Standel,
Achiya Schatz
Casting: Sharon Angelhart
Wardrobe:Anat Svirsky

Property Brothers
Drew Scott, Jonathan Silver Scott
Boyfriend: Michael Davies
Girlfriend: Jennifer McKune
Sub Contractor: David Banks

Zoey and Socks – JUST FOR KIDS
Animation: Leigh Lahav
Editing: Or Paz

BCC News
Anchor: Danny Kushmaro
Weather: Gemma Harvey
Producer: Amir Tal
Director: Natalie Ezra
Executive Producer: Anaelle Heymann
Camera Operator IL: Camel Ibrahim
Camera Operator US: Austin Beer
Media: Yoav L. Wazana, Ziv Ben Gal
Sound: Nir Saado

ESPN
Producer: Tim McHugh

Special thanks go to:
The BBYO Beyond Group, The Israel Tennis Center-Ramat HaSharon, Eyal Taoz, Israeli Television - Channel 2 News

Buy the Bob Dylan: The Complete Album Collection V.1

Get The Most Out Of Today's Interactive Earth Day Google Doodle

Today Google celebrates Earth Day with an interactive doodle that captures a slice of nature's subtle wonders. Click around and you'll discover tons of fun and cute options. Day or Night (the sun and moon act as pause and play buttons when clicked upon), Animals walk in and out of the caves, rainclouds you can control, even dandelions to blow upon.



Use the sightseeing checklist below to make sure you do not miss anything!



Google Doodler Leon Hong and collaborators Kris Hom, Mark Ivey, Greg Capuano, and Ryan Germick were responsible for the concept and design. And a very special thank you goes to Kris's high school teacher, Dr. Juan Fernandez, who served as their science advisor.

http://www.google.com/doodles/earth-day-2013

What The Top Luxury Brands Did (Or Didn't Do) To Wish Customers A Happy Holiday.

What did the top Luxury brands do this year to connect with their fans, engage their consumers and wish them a happy holiday season?  Well, I'm going to show you.

Besides e-mail blasts to those on their mailing lists and in their databases, some of the world's most well-known luxury brands created special short holiday films or flash videos (Burberry, Cartier, CHANEL and Dior) they shared on their own websites, YouTube and Facebook.  Some built interactive apps (Moet & Chandon, Hennessey and Mercedes -Benz), some reinforced their brand by posting holiday branded images on Facebook's timeline cover and on their pages and Twitter channels (Tiffany & Co., Hermes, Gucci, Louis Vuitton) or engaged in some geurilla tactics (Tiffany & Co. in London) and some, sadly,  did nothing except push their own products (BMW, Rolex and Prada).



I compiled the following examples from the top luxury brands according to Millward Brown and Interbrand (as well as a few additional brands such as Dior, Porsche and Mercedes Benz). I checked their websites (some global, some US), Facebook pages and Twitter feeds to share with you what they created and shared via social media for the Holiday Season*.

BURBERRY



As always, Burberry knows how to take advantage of digital media. In addition posting the above imagery on Facebook with heartfelt greetings, they created a "Magical Burberry Festive Card" a flash greeting card you can view and share.




TIFFANY & CO



Kudos to Tiffany & Co. for not only posting Christmas wishes and imagery on Facebook but for wrapping 100 taxicabs in London and offering free Christmas music downloads at their website from She and Him (no longer available):




CHANEL


In addition to some lovely CHANEL imagery posted on their Facebook page like that shown above, they created this special holiday video:


Although not listed as one of the top luxury brands, Dior also created a Holiday Wishes video worth sharing:


CARTIER


Cartier has a 'Wintertale" section on their Facebook page which allows you to watch this short film or create and share a wishlist:


MOET & CHANDON


In addition to many festive holiday images featuring their products on their facebook page, Moet & Chandon has an interactive app on Facebook and their own site that let's you pop the cork for the holidays. And see how many have before you.




HENNESSEY


While it's not holiday music (and I wish it were), as a gift to their Facebook fans and Twitter followers, Hennessey compiled a spotify playlist with the following message: "The Hennessy #WildRabbit Spotify playlist is our gift to your ears. Listen now, listen for free. Happy listening, and Happy Holidays!" (For this you do need to add the spotify app to your Facebook page).

MERCEDES BENZ


Mercedes Benz featured a holiday image and greeting on facebook and created the custom Naughty or Nice card, a facebook app that let's you you customize a card to send to the friend of your choice.




HERMES


Hermes had this nice banner, shown above, on their Facebook page. And posted some of their illustrated greetings by Alice Charbin on Facebook, but that's all. More holiday illustrations by Charbin, who creates all the illustrations for Hermes' emails and website, can be found here on Pinterest:


GUCCI


Sadly, Gucci simply posted this lame greeting card on Facebook. But at least the theme of gold ribbons is echoed on their website for some branding consistency.

LOUIS VUITTON
LV posted this season's greetings image to their facebook fans:


I was disappointed that Louis Vuitton is pushing their Luck Collection under the guise of Holiday Inspirations. While their site allows you to 'share your luck' while exploring the collection by turning a wheel with Christmas music playing in the background and adding items to your wish list, it's merely a way to sell more product.

PORSCHE
At least Porsche had this cute holiday image posted on their Facebook page, but that was about it.



BMW, ROLEX & PRADA
The most disappointing were BMW, Rolex and Prada. None of these brands posted or shared festive holiday greetings or imagery on their respective Facebook pages, websites or pinterest boards. Wouldn't have taken much to do. FAIL.

*While some of these brands have Pinterest boards and some do not, I did not include images from these in this post.