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Stuff I liked in 2010

Well, probably rather pointless and certainly late but here's a quick year in review (aka stuff I liked in 2010).

Campaign

It's perhaps an obvious choice but it has to be the Old Spice responses campaign.

It was a brilliantly simple way to turn an ad idea into something with far greater resonance and depth, something that became part of culture rather than an intrusion into it.  But perhaps the most overlooked thing about this was the way it was executed.  Rather than the usual production line process of most campaigns, this was a campaign delivered by a small, agile team for a trusting client that followed a simple set of principles and rules (you can read more about this here).  

App

The quite brilliant Flipboard.  Makes functionality and utility beautiful.

Website

google's Demo Slam is a lovely way to celebrate all that google's technology can do.  Not only is the google Creative Lab living up to its mission of 'reminding the world what it is they love about google', it's also arguably the 'agency' that has made the most interesting stuff this year from Parisian Love on the Superbowl to the quite brilliant Arcade Fire film.  It's full of amazing talent - people like Robert Wong, Aaron Koblin, Chris Wiggins and  Ben Malbon - and it's a crying shame that their only client is google.

Song

I love this band.  Along with the Chapel Club they make me excited about music this year.  

Brilliant single.  I sense their debut will be one of the albums of 2011.

Album

Easy choice - The Suburbs by The Arcade Fire.  Feels epic and small all at once.

On a personal note...

I've been very lucky to have a pretty amazing 2010 personally and professionally.  Thank you to all those (you know who you are) who inspired, provoked and supported me.  And thank you to my wife, Clare, and Esme, my daughter, for all their support and putting up with me.  I don't say that anywhere near often enough.

I hope 2011 can be an even better year.  It's up to all of us to make it as good as it can be.  Happy New Year.

Happy Christmas

Happy Holidays to everyone.  I'm not one for predictions but I think (and hope) this lot will be huge next year.

 

An amazing place

I was an incredibly lucky person last week to be able to visit Pixar.  

It's an amazing place, full of incredible stories and brilliant people.  

Inspiring to learn about how this talent gets combined to make the movies, and the process they go through.  Of how technology and story telling comes together to make some of the most pervasive cultural output of today,

The 'concept art' they use to shape their films

The complete color space of Toy Story

I kind of want to open an agency that is based opposite their entrance so you're permanently cajoled to try and break out of their cultural shadow.

London December 20

Doing my annual 'back home for Xmas, dash in to London for a day thing' again this year.  And this year it'll be on Monday 20th.  Would love to see anyone who fancies a cuppa at the Breakfast Club on D'Arblay Street at 930 or so.  If you're thinking of coming, maybe stick a comment below.

Tweet towel

This morning, I got the best thing I think I have ever got in my mailbox. It's a tweet towel from the lovely, brilliant folk at we are what we do, the movement to help people change the world for better through their everyday, small actions.

One of these would make a lovely gift for the mug dryer in any home.  You can buy them here.

A more thoughtful network

I've just started playing with Path,  a new network developed by some Facebook alums, Shawn Fanning and others and backed by some pretty amazing VCs.

At first glance it feels a lot like instagram, with easy sharing of photos that can tagged with people, places and things.  But what makes it interesting is the in built ceiling of 50 friends - it means it becomes a personal network for real friends where you can share much more meaningful stuff.  And it means as the user, you'll be a lot more choosy about who you want to be your friend.  Be interesting to see how the content and behavior adapts as a result.  

 

Release your inner Salvador

I don't normally blog about stuff we've been doing at GSP or I've been working on but I'm going to make an exception for a project that we've just launched as it's for a great museum and it's something we're really proud of, not least as it shows the fruits of a partnership between a brand, ad agency and technology partner.

A few months ago, we were asked by the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida to help them find a way to create interest in their new building that opens 1.11.11 (Jeff Goodby is a member of their board).  Unsurprisingly, they don’t have large budgets so we wanted to develop something that didn’t rely on the need for media investment.

We landed on the idea of helping people release their inner Salvador through a photo App that could create surrealist overlays, a modern day ode to the brilliance that is Dali. We decided to partner with someone to give us critical mass of users and distribution, so we reached out to Hipstamatic. They liked the idea so much that they have worked with us to create a lens and film pak for the app (the Dali Museum Goodpak), waved their fee and pledged to donate any income from sales of the pack (it costs 99c) to the museum. There’s a contest where the winner, judged by John Waters, will be flown to the new opening on 1.1.11, and 9 other finalists artwork will be featured in an exhibit.  And we’ll also be projecting images taken with the pak on to the museum’s new building on it’s opening night.

This effort will not only hopefully raise interest, but it will also raise money for the museum. All for zero dollars in production or media.

The Pak launched yesterday in the update of their app.  You can find out more here.  Here's a shot I took last night:

If you’re a hipstamatic user please think about buying the pak.  If you have an iPhone and have yet to discover the joys of hipstamatic maybe now is the time.

A lot of people worked really hard to make this happen but I want to say a huge thank you to Lucas and Ryan, the people behind Hipstamatic, for their smarts, collaboration and incredible generosity,

Gibson on social media

Terrific observation on social media by William Gibson: "I was never interested in Facebook or MySpace because they feel like malls to me. Twitter actually feels like the street. You can bump into anyone on Twitter."

Music for The Modern Age

So my best friend back in Boston, Aaron Perrino, has got his old band, The Sheila Divine, back together after a lengthy seven year hiatus.  One of those bands that should have been huge but serendipity chose to shun they built loyal fanbases in the three Bs of Boston, Buffalo and Belgium.  And now they're giving a brilliant demonstration on how the web can enable bands to make music and connect with their fans in more interesting and meaningful ways.  And in so doing regain control of what they do and break even more 'traditional' roles that record companies have played.

1.  Use kickstarter to get the recording budget funded - $5000 target reached in 5 days

2.  Go back to your base and remind them what they missed - this is some crazy Belgium singalong from the Crammerock festival

3.  Get back in the studio, but don't do it behind closed doors; you can watch, participate and even shape it.  Broadcast the recording sessions live on ustream

It's pretty awesome what musicians can do if they put their mind to it in the modern age.

What does all that mean?

In Sao Paulo, I ended my talk by suggesting planners, and the advertising industry, should live, and work, here.  It's a fun place - all the storytelling and craft of Madison Avenue combined with the agility, entrepreneurship and doing of Silicon Valley.

(Thanks for the photoshop skills Helvector)