FACEBOOK - Ad Battle Application

This smart little app lets users vote between 2 ads, giving the top % voted for, so make sure you vote correctly and

earn those points. The app comes from a collaboration between Buddy Media and Atmosphere BBDO's Jason Culbertson.

You can expect more companies and brands to be creating these type of apps, brand loyalty by interaction...

online banners just aren't enough to reach people these days!

NON FORMAT - Update

Non Format have updated with some more lovely design work, typography and image manipulation.

CARL CRAIG - Goes Orchestral

Nuf said! See the whole show over at Grandcrew...

KEVIN ROBERTS - Ideas As The Currency Of The Future

Kevin Roberts, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi (also founder of Lovemarks) has plenty of wise words! Many of these things 

you may have read or heard in books, blogs, presentations etc. What's interesting is we keep hearing them again and again! 

Really like his comment about consumer research and analysis - If you wanna know about lions go to the jungle, not the zoo!

SHOOT - Behind The Scenes

No I haven't had blog block the past week, I've been really busy with this advertising shoot below.

Although it had a very stressful timeline it all went smoothly, with a great team including acclaimed

Swedish advertising photographer Alexander Crispin and Agent Bauer on production.

I'll post the finished ads up when the campaign is released in a couple of weeks.

THE DESK - Lexus Leading In Content

This video (The Desk) is from the Lexus Lstudio site, which is packed full of interesting ideas, content & entertainment.

More brands need to adopt this marketing model, the brands that are thinking this way are the ones striving in these odd, different 

but exciting times! Apple, Google, Nike, Skype and so on! Giving things for free that is :-)

Then: (Old model) Ideas about brands: Faster, safer, cheaper... etc
Now: (New model) Brands about ideas: Live well, have fun, real beauty... etc

Lexus have now adopted this ethos - BRANDS ABOUT IDEAS... 

Giving the customer/user more than just a car, giving experiences and ideas/entertainment, 

which then feed back into the brand vision and consumer perceptions, proper branding!

AGENT PROVOCATEUR / PIRATES / HELENA CHRISTIAN - Avast!

It was the day before Christmas 2001, Soho, London. I walked past the shop first to check it out a little, nervous I would be 

attacked by aggressive nympho staff. I rang the doorbell, was let in and greeted by 2 friendly smily girls dressed in pink. 

They then continued to help my shopping expierence all the way to the cash desk and saying goodbye at the door. 

I left with a smile on my face and the girlfriend was very happy that xmas;-)

I have been a keen follower ever since, mailing list etc! Their web presence has always been high and forward thinking, creating user 

experiences and collaborations way before most fashion brands. So when I heard about this theme with one of my other favourite things - Pirates, I couldn't wait! 

They could have even released this on Talk Like A Pirate Day... Arrrrrrr!

BANKSY - Boosts Pub Sale Price

The Whitehouse pub in Liverpool is on the market for £495,000, but the 20ft-high Banksy rat - could see the pub 

sell for £1m. Banksy! Please come and paint something on my apartment! 

Story here... 

MTV - Turn The Clock Back

MTV have now launched their rival to YouTube for music videos, search through all those classics...

This is probably a little too late with everybody naturally seeking out stuff on YouTube, plus they have a lot 

of music to add, they didn't even have Scarlet Fantastic - No Memory :-(

The design is obviously better than YT, but it could do with a little more functionality. Would like to see this 

site develop more and marketed, then they could be onto something. But I was stuck for sometime there :-)

Also it's good to remember these days that without MTV there would be NO YouTube. As well as many other things?

MONKEY BEE - Behind The Scenes

Following on from the post earlier, check out more Monkey content on the YouTube page...

PEPSI - Making Future Look Nice

For the past couple of weeks, the design and industry news has been full of the new Pepsi logo & rebranding.

At first I liked the new logos (slightly tweaked for each product) and with the of idea of referencing smiles, giving

a more humanistic and emotional approach (although it doesn't really come across in the logo design)

But with Pepsi in so much trouble these days I felt like it was a desperate move to play catchup to Coke again.

Then last week I saw the can (sexy) and this movie (above) and my thoughts changed. I'm really glad to see Pepsi taking 

a more minimal approach to their design, we've seen many commercial brands all fall into the 3D effects trap with their logos.

Visual trends come and go but I've always thought that there will be a shift back... simplicity is best and this seems like 

a good move towards the future :-) Good strategy against the Coke Classic approach ;-)

FONTS - Hidden Meaning?

Lars Willem Veldkampf explores hidden meaning in the typefaces we use...

MONKEY - Journey To The West

Explore the world of Monkey: Journey To The West, the new project from Jamie Hewlett and Damon Albarn.

After the success of the Gorillaz project, this time the duo turn their creative touches to opera!!!

Conceived, Written and Directed by Chen Shi-Zheng - Composed by Damon Albarn. Visual Concept, Costume,

Design and Animation by Jamie Hewlett.

There is loads of great, fun content in this project, something for everyone... even a video remix comp for all you

animation lovers! The show starts this month in London, wish I could catch one, looks great as well.

Nearly forgot to mention the TV series it's based on. All UK kids grew up loving this in the 80's, cult TV show...

iPHONE - + Table

In the near future we will all have coffee tables like this, showing images, ambient moods or whatever we want.

This type of thing isn't that new, but I can't wait until you can buy them for the home. Product designers should

now be embracing these advances, so the products become aesthetic and not just functional. 

Check out more Interactive from Seeper...