We love a challenge. Particularly when it involves our favorite pastime: Creating human-animal hybrids. In the new film, “Dinner for Schmucks,” Jemaine Clement plays a Mathew Barney-esque artist name Kieran Vollard. It’s no secret that we’re big-time Jemaine fans—so when director Jay Roach asked us to help create the artwork to represent Jemaine/Kieran’s warped artistic vision, we jumped at the chance.
Our good friend Jeremy Dimmock (of Polyester in Toronto) joined us for the project and, well, that’s when things got interesting. Two photo shoots, a little animal taxidermy, a frozen octopus, and a whole lotta Photoshop yielded the final pieces and we even got to hang out on the set the day that Kieran’s gallery show was shot for the film.
With that problem solved, we got to work on the animated title sequence for the opening of the film. The task was both strange and challenging: Complement (but not compete with) a massive dead-mouse diorama that plays a prominent role in the film. Somehow, we pulled it off. To say that it was amusing and unusual just doesn’t quite do the project justice. Then again, aren’t those the very best kind?
Want more? “Dinner for Schmucks” opens today and you can catch the complete title sequence, Kieran’s artwork and lots of other really funny stuff at a megaplex near you. For now… check out Jemaine’s righteous/riotous interview (including artwork!) with Jimmy Fallon:
Creatively, this was an exciting challenge. We not only needed to reflect the new self-serve direction TCBY was taking, we also needed to respect the 30-year, category-creating history of the TCBY brand. We explored some throwback options, looked to Europe and Asia for emerging trends, delved into market research and consumed a lot of amazing frozen yogurt.
While several unique design directions were created, each expressed a few givens: the new brand should be friendly, suggest health, and remain simple while incorporating a memorable twist.
A winner quickly emerged. The proprietary typography is simple and approachable, while the cup shape within the “Y” provides the hook. Indeed, the empty cup reflects the self-serve concept perfectly, encouraging customers to fill the cup with their own masterpiece creations using the country’s best yogurt.
We were stoked to be invited to speak on branding for the Evo’ 10 Social Media Conference. Our own Heather and Scott hit the stage to breakdown our branding and social marketing philosophies and had a fantastic reception. As part of our assignment, we were also given a small online retail company/social media participant to rebrand called Touch’d. Here’s the team’s stellar results. Looking forward to next year’s conference!
What’s the easiest way to get a band label? Hard work? Kissing up? Paying people off? False.
The easiest way is to film your band and throw it up on YouTube and let the free world vote on how good or “ungood” you are. That was the idea behind freecreditscoreband.com. Virginia-based Martin Agency came to us to help bring the idea to life, so that bands across the nation could subject themselves to the scrutiny of each other, and have their family vote for them as much as they could.
A few samples:
Turns out Darth Vader used to be really into GWAR, and also good financial knowledge, allowing him to high-kick his way into fame:
While SLC rules in quantity (and general NO FEAR-ness), PDX brings the creepy heat when it comes to Mustache May. Max decided to keep it authentic with a little Unabomber style and Abe… well… Abe has always been a big John Waters fan. To top it off, we just couldn’t help but offer our own take on Mr. Bangerter’s mohawk madness. ‘Til next year!
It’s been a long, grueling month… Mostly for those of us who’ve been watching innocently from the sidelines, but the time has come to comb through the options and pick your best (worst) mustache grown in the month of May.
Warning… this post may make you feel dirty, as well as creating an insatiable desire for Mountain Dew Code Red.
Forgive us if we’re having a bit of a hard time focusing at work this afternoon but we’ve been seriously teased today. The Utah Office of Tourism launched their Summer 2010 campaign this morning with a speech by Governor Herbert (like sherbert with no ’s’). The crowd was greeted outside the capital building by the star of the campaign himself! And now all we can think about is warm weather, red rocks, raging rivers and green canyons waiting for us to explore them. (Not that we’re complaining about the snow that’s been dumping on us, cuz we’re definitely not.) Check out some of the campaign here or here!
When our friends at PepsiCo (in connection with our other friends at Undercurrent) contacted us about an interactive installation piece for their Senior Management Meeting, we knew two things: 1) We didn’t have much time; and 2) We wanted to build something beautiful and intuitive. I suppose we also knew something else: We could do it.
In just a few short weeks, PepsiCo asked us to help them visualize some of the social conversations happening around the PepsiCo brand. What we delivered was a simple, elegant multi-touch installation—packed with information. During the multi-day conference, PepsiCo executives could walk up to the 60-inch screen and use their hands to navigate the virtual space. In addition to the conversational excerpts, execs could also dive into a single conversation to read the full text. A Twitter panel also illustrated the real-time conversation.
We’re not too humble to say that our installation was among the most popular in the venue. With a business-minded focus on online conversations about nutrition and the environment and a fun factor that bordered on futuristic awesomeness (A 60-inch touchscreen! Grab the jetpacks!), this installation is set to evolve. Stay tuned!
