The agency for whom I work as an Art Director, Cactus has recently been behind an ad campaign exclaiming that ‘The Cigarette is Dead” The ads have literally blanketed Denver. The campaign was created for the Colorado Department of Public Health. The campaign has been hard not to notice. Especially since the ads have come in the form of posters, spraypaint and wheat pasted posters over cigarette billboards. It has been an interesting thing to watch unfold since the campaign was approached as more of a social movement than a traditional ad campaign. The motion piece above was created by local motion designer Adam Espinoza. You can learn a little more about the campaign at the official website thecigaretteisdead.com.
I have written about Zip Design before but it appears they have since updated with a few new exceptional pieces of work. They have a fantastic portfolio.
Wow. Stumbling upon the work of Johan Prag was far and away the most inspiring thing I discovered all day and probably so far in the last several weeks. All of the work on Prag’s site is absolutely amazing. Sensational work.
Chandler Owen and William Boyer recently formed a new motion studio called Signal, in Charlotte, NC. Signal writes, concepts, sketches, designs, produces, directs, shoots, animates and edits for projects created for all screens including film, television, video, internet and DVD.
They have some big named clients already in their book, no doubt from prior experience. Their production is top quality though and I would say they are definitely off and running already at a sprinter’s pace. Excellent work.
This viral video was created for the Diesel XXX party. The spot was directed by Keith Schofield and animated by Big Animal. I gotta say I just about fell off of my chair the first time I saw it. The video is of course meant to be ‘viral’, ‘viral’ being one of those words like ‘guerilla’ that if I hear one more time in the context of advertising, I will most surely throw up a little in my mouth.
This one breaks the mold though. The production is quality and so is the animation, not to mention it is one of those ideas that I am sure a lot of people have had but been afraid to present or execute. It is also doing it’s job so-to-speak by ‘virally’ (ugh), by spreading across the internet like a wildfire. It is one more reason why I remain interested in Diesel and would love to one day knock out or I guess in this context ‘pound out’ a little creative for them.
Sorry that was a really bad joke there at the end. Oh well.
Commercial Art is located in Southwark, London. They work closely with their clients to understand and assess their needs and their work is underpinned by research, structure and attention to detail.
People ask me sometimes what it is like to be in advertising and I often stammer trying to find the best way to explain it. The words ‘over’ and ‘analytical’ often surface but sometimes and illustration works better. I found one that you can watch above. It is like that sometimes, minus the swearing anyway.
Directed by Eben Mears and Mate Steinforth
3D by Florian Witzel (Lead), Alvin Bae, Jan Bitzer, Jae Ham, Miguel Salek, Jeff Dates, Rich Magan,
Jacob Slutsky, Jason Vega, Goo-Shun Wang, Lee Wolland, Andreas Gebhardt (R&D)
After Effects by Doug Purver, Jason Conradt, Elliot Blanchard
Produced by Michael Neithardt, Tarun Cahraipotra (assistant) Lucia Grillo (EP)
Designed by Mate Steinforth
Storyboard by Ben Chan
Music by Prison Diet
via Ogilvy, New York with Jonahtan Isaacs (CD), Tracy McFarlane (CD), Lisa Savage (CD), Melanie Baublis (EP), Chris Beeby, Keith Higbee
Crush sent me word of their new website this morning. Good stuff in their portfolio.
About Crush:
“Formed in 1998 we are a creative agency working with a diverse range of clients from international names to niche markets, creating bespoke solutions rather than using one house style. We are passionate about design and ready for our next challenge confident our next piece of work will be our best! “
