Interactive goes analog with the launch of the new Abraxas beer ad in Lima magazine. Produced for SAB Miller by Wunderman Phantasia PERU, the ad is deceptively simple. Turn the flashlight on, on your phone, or just use a strong light source to reveal a secret message by suing the light through the back of the ad. I love this because it encourages you to use your smartphone, but requires no app, QR code, or any other digital device. Nice, simple, effective.
Today Toyota quietly brought their new 2015 FCV (Fuel Cell Vehicle) to San Francisco for a demo today. Along with it they launched a new micro site, and a fancy animated teaser video to go along with it. All of this came to my attention when I saw a couple of demo videos online and did a search for the car. This is actually pretty exciting as far as I’m concerned. I know there are nay sayers , and folks that quickly dismiss the technology, but anything to get us away from fossil fuel use is fine by me. The car is only going to be available in California at first, but hopefully it will roll out on a national level soon.
The video below was produced by Brighton based ATYP Studio and Droga5 with post and animation done by London based, Analog. Following a brief that called for “simplicity, elegance, and sophistication, while ensuring strong storytelling and the human hand” The team pulled off a really refreshing way of marketing a very ubiquitous item. Yes it’s new technology, but its still a car. The team uses a line as a repeated motif and visual connector that leads the viewer through the spot that weaves through the visuals showing archaic fossil fuels, crumbling carbon cities, and emerging as a blue hydrogen highway that represents Toyota’s vision for the future of car propulsion. It’s a nice teaser and one that got me to actually go to the Toyota microsite and sign up for more information.
In an ever increasing digital world bridging the gap between analog and digital can be tough. Coming up with a direct mail piece that grabs the attention of time starved creative directors can be just as hard if not more so. The video below actually dropped on YouTube back in May, but I just got an email about it last night from a friend. Kontor Records, the worlds largest dance label wanted to promote the new Boris Dlugosch to ad agencies.
Rather than send them a promo CD, or an email with a link to MP3 tracks on the album, they created “Back To Vinyl”, a physical record that you play with your smartphone. Housed in a well designed sleeve, that folds into a physical record player, “Back To Vinyl” generated some impressive results for a direct marketing piece. It actually got 71% of the recipients to scan the QR code and activate the player. From that they got a 42% click through rate to the Kontor online store. Not bad at all for direct mail.
Caroline Olsson’s Pencil Light is a lamp and a container. Something about it vaguely reminds me of the main character in Wall-e, or Luxo Jr. but that doesn’t bother me one bit. The purpose of the lamp is to ” accentuate your stationery, and has the desire to encourage you to write and draw more analog.” according to the designer. I can relate to this, since my day job is working as a designer for a company that produces ink on paper products.
The lamp is made from birch wood, and features copper and brass screw mechanisms that allow the light to be adjusted to a variety of positions. The box below functions as a container for your writing and drawing implements of choice, and when not in use the light can be closed to hide everything.
Materials: birch, aluminium, steel, copper, copper and brass.
Light: LED bulb.
Photographer: Kaja Bruskeland
Modular 4 