Augment Your Amygdala

Augmented (hyper)Reality: Domestic Robocop from Keiichi Matsuda on Vimeo.

Well not unless you really have to. I can see some clever uses for augmented reality with some simple caveats. As little as possible and with the least amount of distraction. Unless you're one of those people who really needs another screen between you and reality. 

Oh you can't hear me? 

Well why not take that bluetooth earpiece out and I'll repeat it for you.

Via Ed.

Visible & Invisible Lines

I've been unpacking some stuff that hasn't seen the light of day for quite a while and I came across this classic email I received from Andreas after a meeting I think about a pitch for the German Railways (Deutsche Bahn) when I worked for BBDO in Dusseldorf. I hope Andreas doesn't mind (he's actually one of the more polished creatives I've worked with and was ahead of the curve on social media circa 2003) but I'm using it because it also highlights one of the pressures of what I've called parachute planning. 

That is, turning up in a new country in a new agency with a bundle of business issues that need to be resolved such as new pitches, saving existing accounts and raising the standard of work in progress, all with a bunch of people who are quite rightly suspicious of what you can do until you deliver. And yeah, in a different language sometimes. It's not for the faint hearted.

I've also got some sweet stuff from Hakuhodo in Hong Kong that will make your hair curl. Expect a few retro posts while I'm unpacking stuff I'd long forgotten about or otherwise.

We Are Animals

A while back I wrote 'Go Forth' was the best commercial I'd seen since since Freedom to Move by Levi. Actually the former ad has more qualities because to me it signalled a shift in the rasion d'etre of brands vis a vis the cul de sac logic of consumption. Most people I know disagreed with me about that but after seeing this latest Wrangler commercial I enjoy that this type of content is a break from tedious commercial breaks.

That is a long discussion about the possible emerging purpose of brands in a moral sense. Too big for me to go into now though I did have some ideas about all that when John Grant was writing The Green Marketing Manifesto. His new book is out now, and I think he may be writing a post about it here so keep an eye out for that.

Anyway, some might say the Wrangler work is derivative but I like the sense of basic necessities that is being communicated. The poetry if you will.

Update: Original Commercial deleted