[ paul isakson ]

sony bravia play-doh countdown

Many wrote about it or covered it in other ways when the spot was being shot. Now Sony has released the above teaser along with the following statistics on the play-doh downloads page:

2.5 tonnes of plasticine on set
40 animators
3 weeks
189 2ft bunnies
150 1ft cubes
10ft x 20ft purple wave
30ft giant rabbit.
6 cameras.
40 animators working through 4 hours generated 4 seconds of footage.
40 animators working on the same scene had never been attempted before.
The 60 second spot will be constructed of approximately 100,000 stills.

It's interesting how the annual release of this advertisement has become somewhat of an anticipated event. (At least among those in the brand building business.) So much so that this spot gets a trailer video like an upcoming movie or new TV series. Are there any other advertising series/campaigns out there that only release one major spot a year have a site dedicated to them and get this much attention? I can't think of any, but if you know of them, please share in the comments.

Personally speaking, the Balls spot is one of my favorite ads of all time, if not my most favorite. (Part of that is surely because it introduced me to José González - who has a great new album out btw.) Paint let me down a bit. Seeing this video has me looking forward to the new one. We'll just have to see how it comes together on October 5, 2007.

Also, if you know who is singing in this, please let me know. It sounds a bit like Múm, but I can't tell for certain.

found here

clean is happy

 

Found this on Flickr today when Tristan contacted me about the pics I posted from my trip to New York this week. Then went here and got a laugh or two from the "Happiness" and "Washlet 101" sections.  I think they're being serious which is what made it humorous to me. But they could be trying to do something like Philips did. Anyway, take a look when you can. It's quite refreshing. (Bad pun intended.)

listen to sally hogshead

Sally Hogshead has written an interesting post over on Hog Blog calling for bigger thinking and big ideas. Here's an excerpt:

...To be successful over the long haul, your career can’t be founded upon trendy epiphanies or shiny new executions. Just as a pun wasn’t a concept in the late 80s, a typographical treatment wasn’t a concept in the mid 90s and shock value wasn’t a concept in the late 90s, so does new media need a core idea in order to reach its full potential. Most new-media revelations will seem laughably quaint in a few years. But true human insight will never go out of style....

Read the full post here.

found here

good business cards

view source

write this down

“The other guys think the purpose of communication is to get information. We think the purpose of information is to get communication.” - Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO of Facebook

view source

wtf?

Seriously, WTF?

(If it gets taken down from YouTube, you can find it here.)

write this down

"I don't mind being off the wall as long as we're not off the mark." - Charles "Chick" McKinney

peter callesen paper sculptures

Found these while looking at the relatively new Sukle blog. Very impressed with Mr. Callesen's talents with paper and an exacto. (Or however he does these.)

new eBay work - shop victoriously

While watching football (U.S. kind, not soccer) tonight, this spot made me look up from the laptop. I like it. I think it does a good job capturing the emotional high one can get when they win an eBay auction and it does so in a funny and engaging way. I'll be very interested to see how this idea plays out across other mediums and in future TV spots.

Side note: How good are the Patriots going to be this year? They made the Chargers look like high schoolers and San Diego is supposed to be one of the better teams in the league this season. Yikes!

getting back on track

I apologize for being gone so long. This whole moving from Denver to Minneapolis thing got in the way a bit more than I thought it would. Haha. But, I'm all unpacked now, have broadband hooked up at home and have my first week at the new job under my belt. I'm excited to be up here and for all that lies ahead. And I'm very much looking forward to get back to sharing things, ideas and thoughts here. Thanks for your patience this past month. - paul

p.s. - all those boxes and the paper that things were wrapped in went into the appropriate recycle bins.