Celeste pointed out this one a while back. crgslst is a new development from Ian Coyle.
I was aware that Ian had started a new company but didn't know he had anything out there yet. I'm excited to see this type of thinking going on from his new venture. And from the superhero.es site, it appears he's up to more interesting things.
If Ian's name sounds familiar, it's probably because you are familiar with some of his previous work.
Got a late jump on this one, but all that means is you missed the opening reception last night. If you're in Denver or are going to be any time between now and February ninth, get over to Limited Addiction Gallery and check out the latest work from Jason Thielke.
Hope the reception went well, Jason. Sorry for not getting this up on Friday when you got it to me.
Side note to relate this back to brands and such...
A couple of lines that jumped out at me from Jason's about page:
"The physical environment in which we live is designed and built. However, it is incomplete until the people for whom it was designed interact with it."
Take that same text and think about it in regard to brands and the communications we create for them. Interesting.
On more than one occasion recently, I've been asked if I would be interested in posting something related to awards/award shows/an agency winning several awards. I'm not.
Generally speaking, I don't place much value on awards and award shows.* In my humble opinion, they can too easily encourage and reward bad behavior in this business.
Take for example, the New Denver Ad Club's new award show - the Denver 50. Their announcement talked a lot about how this new show is different than any other award show out there - that it's "idea centric." They've certainly put a lot of effort into it. (Which is no surprise. It's been one of their biggest priorities, if not THE biggest, since they started up.)
Maybe all that effort is why they got so excited that they announced it and the rules before they had the web site ready to accept entries and be a home for all the details. Maybe the over-excitement was the reason that they forgot to include anything about requiring actual results of the work, along with the strategy and insights behind the work, being submitted as part of the entry criteria/rules.
I'm all for recognizing great ideas that solve clients' problems and/or reach their objectives and are based in solid strategy and insight. If you're able to create something for a client that does all of this and happens to win an award also, then great. Good job. Nice work. You deserve to be rewarded.
But too many award shows are solely focused on the creative
execution. They forget to consider if the work actually did anything for the
client's business or was created out of any real strategy or insight. They end up rewarding work that creatively was great, but very likely may have never done a thing to help the client it was for accomplish their goals.
We don't need more of these types of award shows. In fact, we probably need fewer award shows. I've never seen winning an award as an objective on a client's marketing plan, agency assignment brief, etc. Nor have I seen it as a part of their metrics for judging the success of a marketing effort. With performance/ROI being a top priority among several CMOs now, we need to be focused on the things that matter. Winning awards is not one of them.
At the end of the day, it shouldn't matter how creative an idea was if it didn't do a thing to move the needle for the client. Rewarding creative for the sake of being creative is worthless. (Ooops, sorry. They're rewarding "ideas." Same thing still applies.)
*There are exceptions to this. Unfortunately, I can think of only one right now. I guess that's because I pretty much ignore anything that has to do with most award shows. If you've got others that are worthwhile, please let me know.
UPDATE: They've put up more details. Still no mention of results, strategy or insights, but they did pull out any and all mentions of the web site - Denver50.com.
August 16, 2007
Mixed Taste: Tag Team Lectures on Unrelated Topics
Prairie Dogs and Gertrude Stein
with Jonathon Proctor and Julie Carr
Two Speakers. Two Topics. Individually packaged.
The prairie dog is a small, burrowing rodent native to the grasslands of North America. Gertrude Stein was an avant-garde writer considered by many to be a pioneer in the development of modern literature and art.
The first speaker speaks on one topic for a half-hour. Then the second speaker speaks on a completely unrelated topic for a half-hour. Then there is question and answer together at the same time. During the first part of the program speakers are not allowed to make connections between the topics; during the question and answer anything can happen.
Special thanks to our Mixed Taste sponsor, The Residences at Belmar Plaza.
Reception 6PM
Main Event 6:30-8PM
Cost $10 ($5 members)
Register here.
[all taken from The Lab at Belmar's weekly email]
August 9, 2007
Local artist & illustrator Jason Thielke has a solo show at The 400, opening August 3, 2007. Swing by if you get a chance and see more of his great work.
The good folks over at The Denver Egotist sent me, as well as several others around town, an email last week to let people know about their site. I support what they're doing wholeheartedly, so I've added a sidebar link to them over there on the left.
The Egotist's manifesto says it all:
In order to promote creative growth in Denver, one must admit the city is conceptually stunted. It’s not on the tip of any tongues, and for good reason. Safe solutions, droll concepts. It is our belief, as creative participants in this city, that the opportunity for change lies at our feet and that it can happen by challenging one another, by holding each other accountable for our work, and by hiring and promoting local talent. This is our attempt to foster big ideas and radical thinking on a local level. To remind us all why we love this job. This is The Denver Egotist, a means to an end.
Their message to local businesses is worth a read too, for those of you in the Denver market.
To support all of this, they're calling out local agencies they feel are off track or have missed the mark. They're also doing their part to highlight some of the better work, people and agencies around town.
Don't think it's all just Denver stuff though. They're also using this forum to exhibit great ideas, work, talent and miscellany creative inspiration and information from around the globe.
For those of you in Denver trying to figure out who these guys are, you're focusing on the wrong thing. They've chosen to remain anonymous so that it is not about who is writing it, but what they are saying. It's the message that matters.
And if you happen to be one of the agencies called out for being off track, or work there, don't take it personal and fire back an angry message. Take it as it is intended and challenge everyone in your office to step up to the task next time.
Nice job guys. Keep up the great work.
Was flipping through the August issue of Wired today and came across these cool Readymech toys from Fwis. [Playlist section, page 62]
What is a Readymech? Here's their description:
Readymechs are free, flatpack toys for you to print and build. They are designed to fit on an 8.5"x11" page and printed with any printer. You’ll need double-sided tape, thick matte paper, and 10-15 minutes for build time.
Congrats to Fwis. It's good to see simple, smart, interesting ideas spread.
July 19, 2007
Mixed Taste: Tag Team Lectures on Unrelated Topics
Chinese Opera and Alfred Hitchcock
with Joanna Lee, Ken Smith and Thomas Delapa
Two Speakers. Two Topics. One Great Taste. May contain traces of nuts.
Dr. Joanna C. Lee is the honorary research fellow at the Centre of Asian Studies at the University of Hong Kong. She will be joined by Ken Smith, music journalist and regular commentator on Hong Kong's RTHK Radio 4 and frequent guest on WNYC in New York.
Thomas Delapa is the Film Series Curator at the Denver Art Museum and is the film critic for the Fort Collins Weekly. He has written for the Chicago Tribune, the Boulder Weekly, and Westword.
[ all content taken from The Lab at Belmar's weekly email. ]
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