Letterhead Evolution

Long before people have been sending messages to one another. Before paper was invented,  people used different materials for their letters, they used leather, clay, plant leaves and papyrus.  As time went by and paper was discovered, people began creating their letters in a more formal way. It was not until the Industrial Revolution during the 19th century that letterheads that we know today came to life.

The existence of printing presses and the advent of Industrial design – which could’ve been a precursor to the minimalist movement of the 1960s – caused the ubiquity of letterheads among prominent people and businesses during that time. It may have also caused the departure from the bourgeois and intricate style of Art Nouveau and the Victorian style of design.

The departure from Victorian style and Art Nouveau led to a change of heart in design. With the guiding philosophy of Industrial design – functionality over form – people began adopting simpler designs that was easier to produce and cheaper.

It was during the 20^th century that we saw the bloom and importance of the letterhead. It allowed people and, especially, companies to create an identity for for their business. It gave way to different ideas and application of advertisements and new art movements that came after the 19^th century.

Early Part of the 20^th Century

During the advent of the 20^th century, people and businesses used varying designs on their letterheads. With most prominent people using simple and minimalist designs, and businesses used differeng images that can be attributed to their industry.

Latter part of the 20^th Century

We saw the rise of radio and television during the latter part of the 20^th century. With the rising advertising industry, the need for a corporate identity becomes more apparent. During this period we saw different changes and the rise of rebellious youth, which could’ve influenced the different design styles that were used during this period.

The 21^st Century

The current designs of letterheads has evolved – from the functional minimalist to the radical post-modern style of design. Designers today have a knack for combining different influences derived from past art movements; from Minimalism to conceptual art to post-modern styles of design.

Letterheads has become played a pivotal role for a lot of people – from personalities to businesses – it has allowed people to create an identity for other people to know who they are, and what they do. It has provided an avenue for businesses to explore and reach out to the people.

McDonalds Baby»»»I nominate this Ad for Most Outstanding Commercial

McDonalds “Baby” is one of the nominations for Most Outstanding Commercial at the Primetime Emmy Awards being held on September 18 in Los Angeles. The commercial, launched in April 2010, features a dad whose attempts to keep his baby asleep involve driving around in the car in the night. He manages to get an order into the McDonald’s Drive Through attendant, but only by circling a few times.

Credits

The McDonalds Baby ad was developed at TBWA\Chiat\Day by chief creative officer Mark Figliulo, copywriter Erik Fahrenkopf, art director Anthony Decarolis, executive producer Matt Bijarchi, senior producer (Media Arts) David Fisher.

Filming was shot by director Fredrik Bond via MJZ, Los Angeles, with director of photography Joost Van Gelder, executive producer Eric Stern and line producer Anita Wetterstedt.

Editor was Gavin Cutler at Mackenzie Cutler with assistant editor Mona Salma and executive producer Melissa Miller.

Music was produced at Human Worldwide.

Brands Now Direct Their Followers to Social Media

By ANDREW ADAM NEWMAN

MARKETERS promoting their products online have followed a fairly standard arc historically, first buying digital ads and building their own Web sites in the early years of the Internet, and more recently amassing followers on social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

Published: August 3, 2011

Now, companies increasingly are running online ads that focus less on pitching their products than promoting their Facebook pages and Twitter accounts.The ads, which have menu tabs and increasingly resemble mini-Web sites themselves, allow users to click within the ad to see a brand’s Twitter messages or Facebook wall posts in real time, or to watch a brand’s video content from YouTube — all without leaving the Web page where the ad appears.

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Ritz crackers, a product of Kraft, used in-text ads to highlight its Facebook contest promotion with the television show “Glee. A recent online ad for Mrs. Meyers, the cleaning brand, for example, said, “Clean should smell better” and instructed users to “Hover to expand.” When a cursor is placed over the ad, it extends downward to expose an area that, depending on what button is clicked, displays real-time Facebook wall posts, Twitter users posting about Mrs. Meyers, or a video from the brand about Thelma Meyer, for whom the brand is named.

Although Internet users rarely click on an ad to be taken away from a page — only one in a thousand do so, according to Google — they could engage with all those tidbits in the Mrs. Meyers ad without leaving the Web page they were visiting.

And engage they did, according to Flite, the media and technology company that produced the ad.

Consumers on average spent 30 seconds interacting with the ad, compared with an average of what, according to Google, is just 11 seconds. In addition to spending more time on the ad, consumers were more likely to click on a “learn more” button to go to Mrs. Meyers’ own Web site, with 35 of every 1,000 users clicking through, compared with an average, again, of just one in 1,000.

“Brands are building a great presence on social networks and are looking at ways of making it more accessible,” said Giles Goodwin, president for product and technology at Flite.

The company refers to its technology as a “cloud-based ad platform” because it infuses ads with live content from other sites including Facebook and Twitter, and it has produced such ads recently for brands including Coca-Cola, Lancôme, Volkswagen and AT&T.

Another media and technology company, Kontera, is taking a similar approach with in-text advertising, where advertisers pay for keywords to be hyperlinked within an article or blog post. While clicking such words often takes users to an advertiser’s Web site, with Kontera, ads pop out in a window on the same page, and many ads that Kontera is doing these days highlight advertisers’ social networks over their products.

In recent ads for Ritz crackers, the Kraft brand, for example, the brand wanted to highlight a promotion with “Glee” that included a sweepstakes to win a trip to meet the cast of the Fox show on their set in Los Angeles.

On the Kontera network of sites — which include those for the magazines U.S. News & World Report, Shape and Men’s Fitness — words in content likely to relate to the show, including of course the word “glee” and the names of both the characters and the actors who play them, were highlighted. Positioning the cursor over those words caused an ad to pop out in a window that promoted the sweepstakes and highlighted posts on the Ritz Facebook page about the show and contest.

“Social media is not a tactic that stands alone from your advertising campaigns,” said Chris Karl, a senior vice president at Kontera.

The “Glee” in-text ads presented themselves to fans of the show when they were most likely to be reading about it, then ended up signing them up as followers of the brand on Facebook, which was required in order to enter the sweepstakes.

As for why Ritz aligned itself with the television show to begin, the crackers, often served at social occasions, share the show’s spirit of being “all about fun and a champion of fun,” said Sheeba Philip, the marketing director for Ritz.

“A program like Kontera’s is really effective for reaching consumers with common and shared passion points,” Ms. Philip said. “It really was a push to drive people to Facebook to learn more about the brand.”

For other in-text ads by Kontera for Verizon, the brand did not even promote its own social network account, but rather that of Will Power, the race car driver who competes in the Indy Racing League, and whom Verizon sponsors. While Mr. Power is not, of course, likely to send Twitter messages with Verizon slogans, in the photo of the driver posing alongside his car on top of his Twitter page, the Verizon logo is prominent on both his uniform and car.

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Andy Smith, a co-author (with Jennifer Aaker) of “The Dragonfly Effect: Quick, Effective, and Powerful Ways to Use Social Media to Drive Social Change,” said incorporating live content from Facebook and Twitter allows online ads “to feel less static,” and even to be “at least as current if not more current” than adjacent editorial content.

Even if those live snippets in ads include brands apologizing about missteps or customers griping, it still could benefit advertisers because in an era when consumers actually become friends with companies on Facebook, those consumers may expect some warts-and-all human characteristics.

“There is transparency in being willing to say, ‘This is what people are saying about us,’ ” Mr. Smith said. “And with the relationships that people have with brands today, the more honest and human they seem, the more likely consumers are to like them and stick with them.”

A version of this article appeared in print on August 4, 2011, on page B3 of the New York edition with the headline: Brands Now Direct Their Followers to Social Media.

iPhone 5 Website Leaked

Beach-Volleyball Stars| QR code Assvertising.

Here are two QR codes that might not get lost in the shuffle. Zara Dampney and Shauna Mullin, the British champion beach-volleyball players, have struck a five-figure deal to give gambling company Betfair sponsorship rights to their butts. Specifically, the pair will have QR codes on the backs of their bikinis—which will send people to the Betfair website when they take a photo of the players' backsides with a smartphone. The not-at-all-skeevy client rep Andy Lulham explained: "As far as we're aware, this is the first time QR codes have been used in in-play sports advertising, and what better way to test its effectiveness than by putting them on one of the places that is likely to get photographed the most." This seems like an OK idea—except Dampney and Mullin recently complained about people sexualizing beach volleyball. "Here in England we are still stuck at the stage where people think beach volleyball is about sex, not a sport," said Mullin. (She has a marketing degree and probably just couldn't help herself with the Betfair deal.) Dampney and Mullin will represent England at the London Olympics next summer, but they'll have to restrict their marketing to other events—any form of sponsorship is banned at the games.

 

Andes Friend Recovery

Andes Beer has provided men in Mendoza, Argentina, with a way to spend time with both their girlfriends and their male friends with the Andes Friend Recovery campaign. The project followed on from the success of the 2009 Andes “Teletransporter” project, using a cutting-edge robot with human features, installed in the main bars of Mendoza. The campaign, online atandesfriendrecovery.com, won a Silver Outdoor Lion at Cannes International Festival of Creativity.

The AFR was installed in the most important bars of the Mendoza, during October and November 2010. During that time, the Andes Friend Recovery website received over 2 million visits, 5000 of which were “recovered” friends. The campaign was launched on traditional media; TV, out of home and radio advertising. How does it work? Your friends go to a bar and sit at the Andes Friend Recovery table. They ask for a password which is sent to you via an SMS, while you fulfil your boyfriend duties. Wherever you are you have to log in to the AFR page and use the webcam to map your face. Then you appear at the bar, via the Andes Friend Recovery robot.

Andes Friend Recovery is an installation based on TelePresence via video conference. Using interactive facial recognition software, the webcam cuts the face of the person in front of the computer, and applies it exactly inside the robot’s face. The robot sits at the bar, and also uses an audio system to enable hearing and speaking. Users can turn the AFR’s head using a computer keyboard, to get a panoramic view of the situation. Visitors to the AFR website were able to join in at the bar witness the conversations among different friends.

Credits

The Ande Friend Recover campaign was developed at Del Campo Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi, Buenos Aires, by executive creative directors Maxi Itzkoff, Mariano Serkin, creative director Fernando Militerno, creatives Charlie Lanus, Pedro Porcaro, agency producers Adrian Aspani, Camilo Rojas and Patricio Martinez, account team Jaime Vidal and Patricia Abelenda, working with Inbev marketing team Ricardo Fernandez,
Eduardo Palacios and Benjamin Mountford.

The AFRecovery Installation was produced at Sake Integrated Company by producers Sonia Caputo and Pedro Saleh.

Filming was shot by directors Luisa Kracht, Nico & Martin via Primo Buenos Aires, with executive producer Caro Cordini, director of photography Leandro Filloy.

Post production was done at Pickle. Sound was designed at Supercharango.

TV Commercial for Kuwait's Maqtab Al Shaheed

if i am not mistaken this ad might rank TOP of BAD Arab ads..
are they serious? do they call this an  ad? anyhow WTF the idea here ...

Levi’s Go Forth Campaign “Now is Our Time”

The Levi’s brand introduced the first global campaign in the brand’s 138 years of history, “Go Forth - Now is Our Time” is now launching in 24 countries around the world.



The campaign tag line is “NOW IS OUR TIME.” It presents a message that anything can happen in our life, but no matter what happens, we should accept our time and keep a positive attitude. It’s a phrase representing positive feelings of those who try to move forward in their jeans. “GO FORTH” is Levi’s brand message. Through the message, Levi’s is transmitting the spirit to survive the modern world while reminding us the pioneers who carved out the frontier (New World) in jeans during the period of development and settlement of the American West.



Levi Strauss is running “Now is Your Time”, the latest instalment in the Go Forth advertising series, featuring “The Laughing Heart”, a poem by Charles Bukowski. The commercial, print ads and the website, goforth.levi.com, bring together glimpses of hopeful Berlin youth in an effort to inspire positive engagement with the future. The campaign, launched globally, is not yet running in the UK, due to the resemblance of some images to the current wave of riots in British cities.

The Laughing Heart

Your life is your life
don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission.
Be on the watch.
There are ways out.
There is a light somewhere.
It may not be much light but
it beats the darkness.
Be on the watch.
The gods will offer you chances.
Know them.
Take them.
You can’t beat death but
you can beat death in life, sometimes.
And the more often you learn to do it,
the more light there will be.
Your life is your life.
Know it while you have it.
You are marvelous
the gods wait to delight
in you.

Credits

The Go Forth campaign was developed at Wieden+Kennedy by executive creative directors Mark Fitzloff and Susan Hoffman, creative director Tyler Whisnand, creative director/art director Jeff Williams, creative director Eric Baldwin, copywriter Antony Goldstein, art director Julia Blackburn, producer Sarah Shapiro, agency executive producer Ben Grylewicz, with writer Charles Bukowski.
Filming was shot by director Ralf Schmerberg at Radical Media by executive producer Donna Portaro, director of photography Daniel Gottschalk and line producer Munir Abbar.
Editor was Tommy Harden at Joint Editorial, with post producer Ryan Shanholtzer, and post executive producer Patty Brebner. Visual effects were produced at Method Studios by VFX executive producer Robert Owens, Flame artist Claus Hansen, VFX producer Ananda Reavis. Titles and graphics were produced at W+K Studio.
Music, “Anjos”, was composed by Julianna Barwick. Sound and music were licensed and produced at Search Party. Sound was mixed by Jeff Payne at Eleven Sound.
Photography was by Jeff Luker and Randall Mesdon.

Hipster Essentials

Hipster: \hip-stur\n. One who possesses tastes, social attitudes, and opinions deemed cool by the cool. (Note: it is no longer recommended that one use the term “cool”; a Hipster would instead say “deck.”) The Hipster walks among the masses in daily life but is not a part of them and shuns or reduces to kitsch anything held dear by the mainstream. A Hipster ideally possesses no more than 2% body fat.
 

Fake Swimming Pool

This is the swimming pool art installation in 21st Century Museum of Art, at Kanazawa Japan by artist Leandro Erlich.The top surface is filled with 4 to 5 inches of water that looks like a realistic pool. The people underneath the swimming pool can actually look above with realistic water effect on top of it.
A layer of water only some 10 centimeters deep is suspended over transparent glass. Below the glass is an empty space with aquamarine walls that viewers can enter.

MORE INSTALLATIONS HERE!

The Swimming Pool has the size of 280x402x697cm (HxWxD), and the separating layers were made using two clear acrylic glasses about a foot apart and the space in between are filled with water.

Ikea site from 1998