Toronto Boards Creative Workshop trip by Claire Cottrell
Wednesday, May 28th, 2008The ‘boards Creative Workshop confirmed one thing. Advertising as we know it is officially over. Traditional advertising is dead. Toronto’s own, Steve Mykolyn and Jason McCann of TAXI, summed it up with an in depth analysis of the proclivity for Weird S*%t. However you may explain it, the industry is forging new paths.
I am going to take you down two paths that sparked my interest. The first being AKQA’s most impressive digital activity [their term, not mine] for Nike. “After six hugely successful years, Run London had earned a place in the hearts of 30-something occasional runners in London. This year Nike wanted to focus on a younger audience and put Nike+ at the heart of the campaign. AKQA’s answer was a brand new city attack. Supersonic invited London’s youth to prove their speed and to earn tickets for themselves and two mates to the ultimate 1K race and after party featuring two of London’s hottest underground favorites, Dizzee Rascal and The Enemy. (Creative Showcase. 2007)” AKQA Executive Creative Director, Lars Bastholm. Sounds like your standard 1K in a city? Not quite. The word ‘integrated’ took on a new meaning, and I finally get it. Integrated = experience. They took an annual event to whole new level. Speed. Night. Music. Music moves you. Literally. Nike+ technology allows information to be shared and experienced by not only the participants, but also all of London. Be the 50,016th fastest person in London. And let all of London know it. Genius.
The second thing is definitely the path less traveled. Merging architecture with advertising. President and Creative Director, Jakob Trollbäck, shared their venture into the realm of Environmental Design. Having conceptualized and produced content for one of the world’s largest high-resolution video walls, the project is more of an installation piece than it is advertising. The piece was commissioned by InterActive Corp. for their new Frank Gehry-designed headquarters as a means of building brand awareness for their primary businesses [Ask.com, Ticketmaster.com and Match.com]. The execution is both beautiful and smart, and the effect appeals to the subconscious in a seemingly unintentional way. Again, integration at its best.
I have to mention one last thing. A big thank you to ‘boards and the advisory committee for including VICE/VBS.TV/Virtue. And thank you to Virtue Founder, Spencer Baim, for answering what I feel is one of the most critical questions in advertising today: How To Stay Relevant. Everyone take note. For those of you who are not familiar with the brand, VICE is arguably the coolest identity in the world. [among other things, Spike Jonze is the Creative Director] I will let it speak for itself. Please check out
coming to select theaters in New York City and LA on May 23rd. This is but one project. I have included links below to learn more about the wonder that is VICE.
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