An·nie·Lin
noun /eəni lɪn/
An uncontrollable force that can only be deflected or reversed if presented with many adorable kittens
Stereoscopy refers to a technique for creating or enhancing the illusion of depth in an image by presenting two offset images separately to the left and right eye of the viewer (Wikipedia).
I’ve noticed recently that stereoscopy has begun gaining popularity, jumping from its original photographic medium entirely and entering the artist’s realm.
I find it fascinating that one can now give their art the appearance of a live, moving 3D image without the use of 3D glasses to achieve the effect. I really want to try my hand at this technique! I can see this as some sort of street execution. For what product/organization? I don’t know, but I’m sure it would look amazing! Perhaps something that involves focusing on a single moment of time?
Seems like IKEA are really shaking things up this year. Looks like they’re going to release a digital camera made of cardboard called Knäppa (“Snap”). It’ll hold 40 photographs at a time and plugs directly into your USB port. While it’s not the prettiest camera the world has ever seen, I do love the idea of a screen-less digital camera that brings people back to the wait-and-see days of film. I’m especially excited to see how they would advertise this! My mind is already buzzing with concepts and usps that they could focus on. Makes me almost want to make this my 4th campaign….except that I should probably focus on the 3 that I have already.
A friend of mine on facebook posted this with the comment “Looks like I’m calling myself a fireman tonight!” which I thought was really amusing, especially after I watched the ad. The script is funny and well written without being too overbearing. I didn’t automatically connect this ad with Old Spice at first, which is an amazing achievement considering Old Spice’s proliferation in the advertising world. The ad is not too gimmicky, nor too boring. It’s somehow the perfect balance between the two. If they’d somehow tipped the scales in either direction even a little more, the ad would have had the misfortune of being labeled an Old Spice knockoff, but thankfully it didn’t. They completely nailed their target audience if I do say so myself! The attractive man would have been enough to draw in most women, but I have to say the kitten completely stole the show. Women love kittens.
The kitten in a beret still gets me every time.
After watching Nook’s new line of advertisements, I have to agree that they truly captured the nature of their target audience and completely nailed their USP. From what I gather after viewing their ads, I want to say their USP was ‘Versatility.’
The world is moving on and we are evolving with it. Our hobbies intrude into our everyday lives and we need the proper tools to handle them. In comes the Nook. Nook presents itself as an object that lives your lifestyle with you and makes doing so much easier. Need a cookbook? Nook’s got you covered. Want a quick tip on how to make your garden flourish? Look no further.
Essentially, Nook is as essential a tool to cooking and gardening as a whisk and trowel are.
I feel like artists are just as pressured as Advertisers to really push from the conventional and set their art apart from the masses. Artist Seung Mo Park does this by making art out of layers upon layers of wire mesh, cutting into the layers at different depths to show highlights and shadows. It’s truly fascinating to look at. If this face had been drawn on a traditional sketchpad, it would be appreciated, but there would be nothing very special about it. This is true for advertising as well. We as art directors really need to find our own unique way to show our ideas rather than in generic, ordinary ways that has been done before.
This image proves that there are an infinite number of ways to ‘say’ something, if only we would open our minds to it.
Love this idea! I can definitely see this working in a campaign for something like Amnesty International or a similar organization pertaining to freedom of speech. I wish I could say I thought this up!
Let’s Talk Instagram
Instagram, the current explosively popular smartphone photo app that nearly everyone is using.
But why the high popularity?
To be honest, I don’t have a smartphone so I can’t use the app, but I think that allows me to get an even better understanding as to why so many people have begun using it.
It more or less sums up to making your photos look cool and being able to immediately post them on facebook after taking them, showing off how cool you are because you’re doing cool things compared to your friends who are just at home surfing the web and going on Facebook.
At least, that’s what it appears to be on the surface. In reality, Instagram is much more complex than that.
Have you tried accessing the Instagram website? I have, and it’s either the most complicated viewing process I’ve ever experienced, or I’m blocked from seeing the content. My vote goes for the latter.
Instagram has disabled its photos from the direct public so that anyone without a direct link to a photo or account is unable to view anything. So how do you get an account? Can’t you just sign up and view the photos that way?
Instagram’s answer: hell no.
Instagram has built itself a highly tight knit community of smartphone users. Much like the exclusive brand community of Apple, Instagram users are bound by the idea that they alone are able to make cool pictures and people not cool enough to get a smart phone are banned from their little community.
And that, my friends, is brilliant marketing.
Everyone wants to be included and part of the cool crowd. By blocking their content from the general public, it forces people to purchase a smart phone and physically join Instagram’s community, creating a group of actively seeking consumers. Through this method, Instagram can market to these users with little effort because they’ve built their brand up in a way that users want to be kept up to date and have the newest, coolest looking photo filters in their Instagram archive.
Brilliant execution.
What is it about cats that we love? Their quirky, silly antics? Their sassy, in-your-face attitude? Their love for boxes?
Well, here’s introducing a new kind of cat. Meet Henri, le Chat Noir.
Henri is an existential cat who is struggling to comprehend his place in the world. Why was he put here? Is there meaning in his existence? Is there a bigger scheme to which he is a part of?
In fact, I see myself and the advertising world portrayed through Henri. When making a campaign, we have to keep in mind that this is but one part to a wider scheme of things. Does it fit? How do we find a way to make things flow more efficiently? Is there a different way of doing things?
In his introspective film, Henri proposes a contradictory idea “My thumbs are not opposable, yet I oppose everything.”
In effect, it’s as if he tells us, as advertisers, to oppse everything and never settle for the norm. What wonderful, insightful words.
That’s right, I connected advertising to a cat. Deal with it.
Really liking this new video showcasing Samsung’s line of new NX lenses. The execution was really clever and cute, a great video for Valentine’s day! I also thought it was great that they held a contest for viewers to get their Valentine’s day messages featured in the video as well.
Ironically enough, the other videos in the [Item]&[Item] series Samsung produced were more lackluster to the general audience. For example, The Piano&Melody video was a mere 35 seconds next to Bokeh&Art’s 2 minutes and 52 seconds. This video merely showcases the len’s focusing and depth of field capabilities with a slightly lackluster demonstration via a girl playing piano. Possibly the tame footage was deliberate so as not to draw away from the ‘focus’ (hah) of the product. However, I can only imagine that their target market must consist of avid, hardcore camera users because to the average viewer the video is nothing special.
This can easily be seen in the comments section for Piano&Melody. User cmgreen4 remarks “lol nice video, but what’s the point if she’s not actually playing? D:” (the sad face clearly meant to express their confusion at the overall message).
Meanwhile, user Tman27261 exclaims “very nice BOKEH! from that lens :D” accompanied by an incredibly happy smile emote to further show his appreciation.
These two users clearly show the definition between target market and nonusers
The Walking Dead Season 2 - Dead Man Walking (by toptvsa)
I absolutely love this style of advertising! Seriously, who would ever expect a zombie to come stumbling in through a romantic movie trailer? I’ll bet that was the highlight of an otherwise mind numbing chick flick for the boyfriends.
Very clever and innovative. I especially loved when the “trailer” interacted with the zombie leading to an unexpected, but awesome, ending.
