Archive for the ‘Music’ Category

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My final love letter to Scott Pilgrim. I promise (maybe).

Friday, August 13th, 2010

A little over a year ago, I posted my first blog entry here—about an atypical comic book hero named Scott Pilgrim who was in the process of getting a movie. Now, today, that movie hits theaters. I feel like this is all coming full circle.

Scott Pilgrim attempting conversation with the girl of his dreams, Ramona Flowers.

During my annual pilgrimage to the West Coast, I was fortunate (let’s not kid ourselves—I was beside-myself-excited) to see a special advance screening of the movie. San Diego’s Balboa Theater was packed, every level, every seat filled with someone who was already invested in this movie, one way or another. Seeing a movie you’ve been excited about for over a year, with a theater-full of other people who have also  been that excited for the same movie? It’s unlike any other movie-going experience I’ve ever had. Especially when the director and cast are on hand to introduce and close out the experience. A surprise performance from Metric doesn’t hurt either.

Anyway, this is an advertising blog, right? I’ll bring this around, trust me. If there’s a marketing textbook out there looking for examples of fun, non-traditional approaches to marketing a movie—please pay attention to the  following…

Scott Pilgrim dominated Comic Con. Dominated. I mean look at it… Scott is literally towering over the convention center.

Scott Pilgrim VS Comic Con (Via SpacePirateQueen @ Flickr.)

The Scott Pilgrim panel closed out the first full day of Comic Con, with the infamous Hall H filling with fans. Edgar Wright moderated his own panel, introducing his cast, fielding questions from the audience and showing new clips from the movie. Nearing the end of the panel, he asked the audience to look at the buttons they were handed at the start of the talk. If they had buttons with a 1UP on them—they were to follow him to the screening. And I mean it—follow him. Edgar jumped off the stage at that point and like the Pied Piper, led the lucky 1UP-ers 6 blocks up San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter to the Balboa. Those who couldn’t get into that first screening would be given two more chances over the following two days. I kid you not, as I passed the Balboa on my way to Day Two, there were already people in line at the theater. This was at 7:30 in the morning, the screening wouldn’t be until 6 that evening.

Across from the convention center, there was Pilgrim pandemonium in the courtyard of the Gaslamp Hilton where the Scott Pilgrim Experience was being staged.

The Scott Pilgrim Experience the day before Comic Con opens (via Rkbentley @ Flickr.)

This was your one-stop for all things SP. Like anything at Comic Con, there was a line to get in (for the Fire Marshal’s sake). The first stop in the Experience?

Pick your shirt, pick your design...

Custom Scott Pilgrim t-shirts. You pick your shirt size, color and the design you want screen printed on it while you wait. This was one of the coolest promotional ideas ever. And have I mentioned that everything in the experience was free? Yeah, all free.

My Ramona doodle shirt getting the once-over with a swipe of electric blue ink.

After that, you could star in your own flipbook. Act out a little scene for a few seconds in front of a camera, the video was turned into pages and this awesome little machine printed and trimmed your own flipbook with a Scott Pilgrim cover.

Another flipbook is brought into the world.

Ka-pow!

There were faux-sets from the movie to pose in front of, a kiosk to send a greeting to your friends on Facebook, a wall to sign or doodle on, live music and places to try out the new Scott Pilgrim video game (which is a must-have for any old-school gamer. River City Ransom, anyone?).

And then there were the chances to meet the cast. Not only were there signings…

Edgar Wright, Michael Cera and a mustachioed Jason Schwartzman.

…but cast members were also out in the Experience mingling with fans, helping to make t-shirts or guest starring in filpbooks.

Brandon Routh takes a break from screenprinting to take a pic with a Superman fan.

There was also a STUFF booth outside of the experience that gave away swag bags to passers by and was also the home-base for a special iPhone/Droid app promotion. For those who had downloaded and explored the recently released Scott Pilgrim Punch Out game for their mobile devices, they might have uncovered a special Comic Con section—instructing them to show a secret image to the folks at the STUFF booth for a special prize. Those who followed the instructions were rewarded with a full set of pins, featuring all the different characters in the story.

If there’s a better way of igniting excitement for a movie, I don’t want to know about it. Wait, maybe I do.

What about the folks not at Comic Con? Well, the SP crew has been on the road, hosting screenings in other cities, getting the word out via Twitter and Facebook. In Atlanta, stars Michael Cera and Jason Schwartzman did the weather (note Cera’s SP Experience shirt)

And then there’s the interactive trailer. It’s like if a video game and VH1’s Pop Up Video had a baby made of pixels and awesome— a trailer with it’s own DVD features built into it.

And the regular trailers are everywhere.

I want this movie to do well, I feel invested in it despite having nothing to do with it—which may be some side effect of all the stuff above this paragraph . It’s fast, fun, hilarious and above all, a love story. Like it has from the start, it pays tribute to all the things I love: music, video games and comic books. It breaks the comic book movie mold, from the story to the style in which it was shot. It’s a movie shot in Toronto where the city’s playing itself and not standing in for New York or some other metropolis (my music nerdiness went into overdrive seeing Clash at Demonhead play at Lee’s Palace). The soundtrack is killer with songs from Beck, Metric, Frank Black and Broken Social Scene to name a few. The creativity behind this movie, from the source material to the film is the only thing that dwarfs the innovative approach of the marketing that has gone out into the world to support it.
Go see Scott Pilgrim.

Other awesome Scott Pilgrim things in our universe not mentioned in this post (until now):

Scott Pilgrim series by Brian Lee O’Malley

Scott Pilgrim Avatar Creator

Lucas Lee Posters

Mondo Screenprinted Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World poster for the Alamo Drafthouse

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Posted in Advertising, Comics, Cool Websites, Current Events, Innovation, Inspiration, Interactive, Media, Movies, Music, Pop Culture, Social Media, marketing | 1 Comment »

Mad Men man and madam

Tuesday, April 6th, 2010

Season 3 of Mad Men is out on DVD and Rose and I have been racing to catch up. While we can’t seem to find the time to see the series when it originally airs on AMC, we make the time to watch two or three episodes in a row when the DVD comes out. I have nothing new to add in the praise of the show and there are other folks in advertising—the ones who work for those giant NYC/Chicago/LA firms—who could provide more insightful comments on Sterling Cooper as it relates to modern monster agencies, but there is something I noticed that’s really cool about the DVDs that you just gotta try.

After the DVD boots up, instead of hitting the play button or the scene selection option or clicking on Extras, just let the music play instead. It loops forever (at least on my cheap DVD player), it’s wonderfully hypnotic and the perfect soundtrack for mixing cocktails.

Season 1 is the theme song which we’ve all heard too many times and season 3 is a quiet, reflective little piece that fits the overarching theme for most of the episodes.  But it’s the toss-away music on the menu page for season 2 that’s my favorite. The whimsical melody and the mindless la-la-la vocals connotes a sense of early 60s optimism and inspires a desire to shop for things like snap-brim hats, white gloves and skinny ties. And I defy anyone in a grumpy mood to listen to this music and not instantly feel that little ant that moved the rubber tree plant.

I know I can buy the soundtrack, but does anyone know where you can buy the menu screen music?

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Posted in Advertising, Music, Pop Culture | No Comments »

I want my MTV

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

Music Television, that is. Not the unpalatable programming that’s taken over the once-revolutionary video channel like a cancer and rendered it virtually unrecognizable to Generation X. But I guess it’s a pipe dream of mine now that the network has officially dropped “Music Television” from the logo.

the new MTV logo and the original 1981 design

Seriously, people. “Jersey Shore” is more riveting than watching artists’ visual interpretations of songs, good and bad? Sure, there’s You Tube for all that now, but it lacks the personalization that Martha Quinn and the other veejays possessed. Yes, I may be living in the past, but it rocked the Casbah.

So what exactly does the “M” represent now? Mystery meat, school cafeteria style. Hand me a barf bag, like totally.

Read about the MTV logo story here. And let’s keep hope alive that maybe someday music videos will find their way back into pop culture.

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Posted in Art, Brand Experience, Logos, Music, Pop Culture, Pop Culture Throw-Back, Television | 4 Comments »

The Empire Sings Back

Wednesday, February 10th, 2010

As you no doubt have heard, a whole bunch of super-talented recording artists have remade the classic We Are The World to help the efforts in Haiti, but what you may not have heard is that a equally super-talented group of British recording artists (and a few American stars) remade R.E.M’s. Everybody Hurts to do their part. The video was released during the Super Bowl and call me a rank sentimentalist, but I think it was the best spot I saw all day. And some guy named Simon Cowell produced it.

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Posted in Current Events, Inspiration, Music, Volunteer | 2 Comments »

Pass the Chutney: Music + Cuisine = Brand Experience v.2

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

photo_india21

Let’s talk Indian cuisine this time around…one of my favorites.

I’m a sucker for the International aisle at Wegmans and I’m always looking for a quick, delicious meal when I’m on the run or need a fast lunch in the office. When I saw individually boxed Indian cuisine meals on the grocery store shelf, I knew I had to sample every type of curry they had. I reached for Kitchens of India, a brand that “captures the diversity of ethnic Indian cuisine” and brings it to you by the simple touch of a microwave button. 1-2 minutes later, you can feast on a delicious Rajma Masala, Palak Paneer, or Dal Bukhara.

I opened my box to prepare my meal, and was pleasantly surprised with a music CD. This production by Virgin Records is of authentic Indian classical music to accompany my ready-to-heat-and-eat meal. (Someone from Kitchens of India must have been reading my last entry!) Oh how excited I was to know that while enjoying my Rajma Masala, I could pop in this CD and compliment my Indian meal with 1 hour, 1 minute and 44 seconds of Indian classical duets with flute & drums.

I thought this was an interesting approach for the Kitchens of India brand to promote their food product. Talk about brand experience – it’s a fun way to introduce the culture of India to folks who may want to try something different from the normal daily grind of sandwiches and salads for lunch. Kitchens of India sure has taken the extra step by providing me an experience of Indian cuisine and traditional classical music where flavor and music blend together to give me the authentic taste and sound of India.

My senses have been treated!

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Posted in Brand Experience, Food & Beverage, Music | 3 Comments »

The Power of Music

Thursday, September 10th, 2009

One of my favorite things in the world is music. If we lived in a world without music, I wouldn’t survive! Artists have provided us with entertainment for years and send out important messages through their lyrics. There’s always a song to listen to for when you’re down, when you’re thinking about love, when you need to get pumped up for a workout or when you’re simply on your way to work.

I appreciate the work of so many different artists out there including Jay Z, John Legend, India Arie, The Fray, Dawn Richard, Dave Matthews Band, Alicia Keys, Beyonce and the list goes on. My favorite song is appropriately titled, “Music”, by Joss Stone. It also features Miss Lauryn Hill, another one of my favs!

The last line of the song sums it up best, I just can’t be without my music!

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Posted in Music | 1 Comment »

Blink 182 + AR ‽

Monday, August 24th, 2009

This past Friday I was so excited because in 24 hours I would be watching one of my favorite bands, Blink 182, rocking out at Darien Lake. To psych myself up I spent the day listening to some of my favorite tracks and checking out some of their live videos on YouTube. At one point I came across this:

Wait, Blink 182 is doing an augmented reality concert?! I’ve gotta see this!

If you haven’t yet heard of augmented reality (or AR), it’s one of the newest, exciting technologies hitting the web over the last 6 months or so. In order to get AR working you need a web-cam, a computer with the Internet and a printed black and white image called a glyph. You navigate to the AR website, turn on your web-cam, hold up the glyph and watch what happens.

ar_glyph

AR has been showing up on baseball cards, cell phones, and even video games, but there are just a handful of examples of AR in advertising on the web. One of the first, and my favorite up until now, is on the GE Smart Grid microsite. They have used the coolness of AR to extend their campaign and draw attention to the site. However, while I think their use of AR looks cool, it doesn’t use the technology beyond it’s basic functionality.

This Blink 182 AR website takes it a little further.

It turns out that Doritos is behind this Blink 182 AR experience promoting their new line of flavors titled Doritos Late Night. I won’t spoil the whole thing for you, but basically it’s a concert and your ticket in is on the back of a bag of any of the Late Night flavors.

What I like most about this AR website is that when you enter the site you are treated to a short intro that sets up the whole experience. It’s not a long drawn out video, but instead the visuals and the ambient sounds really bring home that late night feel — it reminds me of the kind of place where you would see a live band. And relating your experience to the audience is what you want in an experiential website, right?

Another thing that differentiates this site from the usual AR fare is that the instructions are minimal and graphical. I like this because the usual AR website provides the user with a long list of steps in order to get the experience working. This site has taken note of their younger and tech-savvy audience and integrated boring instructions into the aesthetic look and feel of the rest of the site.

ar_instructions

Finally, they have made the AR 3D scene interactive (here’s a hint – give the glyph a shake while the band is playing). Well done Doritos. They have taken one of my favorite bands, combined them with the latest technology, and done it all really well.

Don’t take my word for it, however. Grab a bag of Doritos Late Night and check out their site: http://www.doritoslatenight.com. While you’re getting the virtual experience, I’ll be rocking out to the real thing! Go Blink!

AR is popping up on the web everywhere these days. If you have a cool example of AR, post the link in the comments section. Can’t wait to see what else is out there!

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Posted in Current Events, Events Around Town, Food & Beverage, Innovation, Interactive, Music, Pop Culture | 1 Comment »

3 things The Beatles taught me about great copy writing

Tuesday, July 28th, 2009

The Beatles were masters of music…and they were masters of language. I imagine their late night brainstorming sessions to sometimes be like those we have here at Dixon Schwabl…some great ideas, some not so great ideas, some far-fetched and some predictable… But the lyrics that made the final cut had a profound impact on those listening…they tugged heart strings, they motivated social action, they made a difference. The Beatles were magicians of the sung word, and their music taught me many things about writing powerful (and effective) copy. Here are just 3 of those things:

1)    Go ahead, get emotional.

We’re all human, and the music of The Beatles reached us in the 60s—and still does today—because we felt the emotional side of what Paul, John, Ringo & George were singing about.

John sang “Julia” as a tribute to his mother, a painfully touching story of love and loss. Paul sang “I’m So Tired,” clearly exhausted from the years of screaming girls, late nights and musical collaborations. And in “Blackbird,” he spoke of injustice and prejudice, using lyrical copy that wowed us with its subtlety and insightfulness. And he got emotional.

Sure, we write copy for marketing campaigns (not song lyrics)…but at the end of the day, we’re humans talking to humans, just like The Beatles have spoken to us for more than 40 years. If we’ve got the best product/service/offering in the world, we’d better get emotional about it.

2)    It’s OK to ask questions.

The Beatles were great at asking questions… “Ain’t She Sweet?” “How Do You Do It?” “Do You Want to Know a Secret?”

And lots of times the questions they were asking weren’t really questions. When Paul asked, “Why Don’t We do it in the Road?” I’m pretty sure he was making a suggestion.

Now this makes me ask myself what kinds of questions we should be asking in our copy… “Do you struggle with…?” “Are you ready for…?” “Are you looking for a new…?”

Maybe all the answers we seek are out there, and we just haven’t asked the right question yet. And maybe the power of suggestion is best done by asking a question.  Wow…could The Beatles be the most insightful music group in history?

3)    Let the people know what you want!

Sure, we all love a well-designed and well-written ad/website/billboard/brochure, but at the end of the day we can’t forget to tell people what we want them to do after they’ve read our materials. The Beatles were sensational storytellers—often taking us on dream-filled journeys through their music—but they weren’t ones to beat around the bush.

Here are a few prime examples of messages that The Beatles told us, point-blank: “Money (That’s What I Want), “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” and “I Wanna Be Your Man.”  No misinterpretations, no stumbling, no cloudy messaging. In other words: we mustn’t forget a precise, coherent, step-to-it call-to-action.

I said it myself: The Beatles were masters, magicians, and just plain magnificent. What have they taught you?

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Posted in Language, Music, Pop Culture | 1 Comment »

When viral turns pandemic: Happy Birthday, Dr. Horrible!

Wednesday, July 15th, 2009

One year ago today a website crashed.

He has a PhD in horribleness.

Most of the time a website crashing isn’t even new, or if it is, it’s bad news. But not this one, not entirely anyway. One year ago today, the professionally shot/produced short film Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog (Part I) went live. The massive amount of traffic that swarmed the site caused it to crash— receiving up to 1,000 hits per second.

(more…)

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Posted in Advertising, Cool Websites, Media, Music, Pop Culture | 2 Comments »

Now I’ll tell you something, I hope you understand…

Monday, July 13th, 2009

I’m going to be totally and completely upfront about my bias on the video I’m about to link you to by giving you a short list of (some of) the things I love.

Things I Love

  • The Beatles
  • Video Games (namely Rock Band)
  • Sweet, sweet animation

So, in my opinion, this is nothing but 100% pure awesome. Behold, the cinematic intro for Harmonix’s The Beatles: Rock Band:

Investing in a beautiful game trailer like this as just pushed my existing excitement from high to off-the-charts. Harmonix didn’t need to do this. People are going to buy this game. They already have a dedicated audience that’s only going to get bigger by the Beatles being the focus of the game. So why put the effort in? I don’t have any actual insight into the company, but I like to think it’s a nod to the people out there who are as excited as I am. It’s like they’re saying, “We get how big this is and we’re just as pumped up about it as you are.”

I’m going to need a lot of coffee on September 10, because with The Beatles: Rock Band, releasing on the 9th, it’s going to be a late night of good friends, great music and some squeaky, plastic guitars.

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Posted in Art, Cool Websites, Music, Pop Culture | 2 Comments »

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