Forget Twitter: Puma campaign wants you to communicate via dance

This article first appeared on Mashable

 

Among today’s modes of online communication, we’re well-versed in the use of text, images and video. But what about dance?

In a campaign for its new Sync fragrances, Puma is proposing a new form of digital expression through movement rather than words. The sportswear brand has set up an interactive platform dubbed Dance Dictionary, where users can communicate with each other by encrypting specific sentences into physical dance moves. Its slogan: “Don’t say it, move it.”

Phrases like “Will you be my girlfriend?” or “Mondays make me want to scream” are translated into a series of choreographed gestures by 25 of the world’s better-known dancers, including Storyboard P, King Charles, PacMan, Ron Myles AKA Prime Tyme and Krumpers Big Mijo, Outrage and Worm, and LA choreographer Super Dave. Each word has a different move. Certain words in each sentence are interchangeable (try swapping ‘be’ for ‘retweet,’ and ‘girlfriend’ for ‘cat’ for amusement), resulting in 10,000 different combinations by Puma’s count.

While each piece can be shared via Twitter, Facebook or e-mail, the aim from Puma is something higher. “Choreographing a new language,” might sound like a lofty ambition — and certainly one that is unlikely to have mass application for you and me — but within its target 16 to 24-year-old demographic, it’s not unreasonable to imagine these moves being practiced in real life.

Beyond being a social tool, the Dance Dictionary is designed to be an inventory for any would-be freestyler to learn from. Words like “celebration” and “spaceship” are broken down into their own videos incorporating definitions and easy-to-follow demonstrations. A campaign that’s shareable both online and offline isn’t a bad aim, and that’s what makes it smart.

Anchoring the whole initiative is a music track called “First Time” from Dre Skull featuring Megan James and Popcaan. Its video, directed by Daniel Wolf, will also appear as a TV commercial in Europe. Grey London, the agency behind the initiative, is schooled at such a method — its 2011 Lucozade spot featuring “Louder” by DJ Fresh became what was then the highest pre-ordered download in global iTunes history, according to the agency.

The trick with both, says Grey London Executive Creative Director Nils Leonard, was bringing in genuine talent, whether that be the dancers, the music act or the film director. “Everyone involved with the Puma Dance Dictionary is from those worlds. They’re not in advertising; they’re famous in their own right. To make it credible that’s where we have to go, the audience can smell it out otherwise.”

Digital snippets: Nike, Bloomingdale’s, Michael Kors, Marc Jacobs, Armani, Sephora

A round-up of stories from around the web surrounding all things fashion and digital over the past week:

• Holographic ad gives live demo of Nike shoes on the street [PSFK]

• Bloomingdale’s installs body scanners to help you find jeans that fit (as pictured) [Mashable]

• Michael Kors releases limited edition sneakers to celebrate reaching 500 million fans on Facebook [Web & Luxe]

• Marc Jacobs to dress famous Japanese holograph, Hatsune Miku [Fashionista]

• Armani touts brand personality in latest Frames of Life eyewear campaign [Luxury Daily]

• How Sephora differentiates in digital [Digiday]

• The Business of Fashion is nominated for a Webby Award [BoF]

• This Bond No. 9 ‘digital fragrance’ is only sold via QR code [Styleite]

• Tavi Gevinson creator of The Style Rookie is the next big media mogul [AdWeek]

• Menswear e-tailer FreshCotton creates drug cookbook to promote Stüssy’s spring line [Campaign]

• Fashion e-commerce flowers in the Middle East [BoF]

• Japanese luxury market evolves to keep up with digital generation [Japan Daily Press]

Hermès opts for playful with sports-themed stop motion campaign films

 

If there’s one way to bring a touch of character to a French luxury house, it’s with a series of stop motion films filled with nothing but props and accessories.

Enter then Hermès, which has released a total of four short spots featuring classic items from the company (scarves, ties, homeware) alongside sports-themed equipment that comes to life to beautifully show off the eccentric, playful and quirky nature of the brand.

China plates play ping pong while handbags spectate for instance (as above), or pairs of shoes are seen emerging from a picnic basket and leapfrogging one another (as below). The croquet spot then features silk ties coiling into hoops through which the balls travel, and in “No Sport”, pétanque balls are seen delicately snoozing on cushions under a tree (both also below).

The films were directed by Simon Cahn and are part of the brand’s spring/summer 2013 “Long Live Sport” campaign.

An interactive segment of the Hermès website has also been released, which invites users to navigate an illustrated garden map to find the sporting activity, and accordingly the video, of their choice.

 

 

 

Lacoste film envisions intelligent polo shirts of the future

 

Lacoste is celebrating its 80th birthday and honouring the visionary spirit of its founder, Rene Lacoste, with a video short that highlights how future technology might impact the classic polo shirt.

Created by agency MNSTR, the spot sees the item reinterpreted as an intelligent and dynamic piece of design – one that can change colour to its surroundings, adjust its crocodile logo at the touch of a finger and even add longer length sleeves or better fitting shoulders appropriate to the occasion.

“[It's] an intelligent polo, a connected polo, one that listens to its environment… a polo with no limits,” reads the write-up.

As though the surface of a tablet or smartphone, the models are seen effortlessly swiping, pinching and adapting various features of the styles they wear throughout. A tennis player keeps score on her front in another frame for instance, while a cyclist turns her horizontal stripes into portrait ones.

And that’s not all… While the spot highlights an “attainable future”, a dedicated microsite at www.lacoste-future.com encourages consumers to imagine “possibilities [that] are endless”. Accordingly, they are invited to send in their own vision of tomorrow’s polo shirt via Facebook.com/Lacoste. The most original and unique ideas will then be featured on that page at a later date.

Appropriately, the initiative launches for December 12, 2012, otherwise known as 12.12.12, which also ties in with the code name Rene Lacoste first gave to the polo shirt in 1933: L.12.12.

You might also like this story: Bloomingdale’s pushes wearable technology with Microsoft Printing Dress for #FNO and this infographic on wearble tech

Olympic pixel tablets create giant 360˚ screen, inspire live events worldwide

From The Queen’s cameo alongside James Bond to the reunion of the Spice Girls, there’s no doubt Danny Boyle’s approach to the opening and closing ceremonies of the London 2012 Olympics, was sheer creative genius. As Jeremy Hunt, secretary of state for culture, Olympics, media and sport, said, it proved the occasion to be “as much a celebration of creativity as sport”.

But so too was it a feat of technical brilliance. Thousands of participants, dozens of vehicles and endless video cameras, but better yet, some 230 miles of cabling to enable 70,500 tablets, and a total of 634,500 pixels, to turn the audience into one enormous digital screen.

Yep, in case you hadn’t realised, the digital animations that appeared as though overlaid on the spectators throughout both ceremonies, were in fact the result of high-powered paddles attached to every seat.

Created by Tait Technologies, each one had nine full colour lights that, when controlled by custom-designed programmes from digital solutions company Crystal CG, sent multiple images around the bowl-shaped arena. In doing so, they not only achieved Boyle’s vision of wanting those in attendance to feel more involved in the action, but also created the world’s biggest ever screen; a 360˚ and seemingly “human powered” one.

During the closing ceremony, more than 75 minutes of digital animations were seen in this way. One example was a psychedelic 1960s sequence that took over 500 hours to produce. Do watch the video below to see some of it action.

“No longer limited by large flat screens, we were presented with the challenge of creating animations to bring the stage and the spectators together,” said Will Case, creative director at Crystal. “We delivered. The live audience and those watching at home were drawn into the action. We are witnessing the death of the traditional video screen – this will transform the way event content is presented in future, becoming a more immersive experience.”

Boyle added: “Every Olympic Ceremony aims for a major technical breakthrough. Our remarkable audience pixels have opened up amazing new images, effects and spectacle, but most of all they have enabled our live stadium audience to be part of the ceremony in a way that’s never been possible before.”

What fantastic crossover that could have for the fashion industry, let alone live events around the world full stop. Imagine catwalk stands that instantly become immersive displays for the collections as they come out; a reflection of the season they’re in, or the inspirations cast by the designer. As the late Alexander McQueen said back in 2009 in reference to live-streaming: “This is the birth of a new dawn. I am going to take you on journeys you’ve never dreamed were possible.”

Let’s hope so…

 

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Digital snippets: London 2012 #Olympics special!

London 2012 has been dubbed the “social media Olympics”, and rightly so given the overwhelming growth seen all things digital even since Beijing in 2008.

All the usual platforms are proving relevant, from YouTube to Instagram, and of course Twitter for real-time updates. Facebook launched a special page featuring links to athletes, teams and sports, while so too is there an official Olympic Hub from the IOC, and a partnership between LOCOG and Foursquare. There was even a dedicated hashtag to keep what happens during the opening ceremony a secret: #savethesurprise.

And then of course there are the brands. Official sponsor or not, the online space is awash with those tapping in as closely as they can to sporting fever.

It all kicks off officially from tonight, but until then here are a couple of the best campaigns we’ve seen across the digital space so far:

• adidas and David Beckham surprise fans: This one might be a real-world activation, but there’s nothing quite like a viral video to get everyone talking about it: 2.3m views and counting of adidas surprising shoppers having their pictures taken in its #takethestage photo booth with a guest appearance by David Beckham (as below) [YouTube]

• Coca Cola’s Move to the Beat campaign: In the aim of connecting younger people to the action, Coca Cola teamed up with Mark Ronson and turned to music. The Grammy Award-winning producer recorded the sounds of five different Olympic sports and used the resulting beats to create a track, as shown below. The brand is also inviting fans to have a go at remixing themselves via a dedicated app [Coca Cola]

• EDF uses Twitter to dictate colour of London Eye: London’s infamous Ferris wheel is set to become a giant mood ring as EDF Energy teams up with Sosolimited to display different colours based on the sentiment of tweets around the Games [Mashable]

• Nike’s Find Your Greatness spot pushes Olympic advertising rules: The first non-sponsor to mention is of course Nike. An expert at ambush marketing (Write the Future a case in point), the brand has launched an ad that references other places around the world also called London (as below). “Greatness is not in one special place, it is not in one special person; greatness is wherever somebody is trying to find it,” says the narrator. It is also backed by a Twitter campaign using the hashtag #findgreatness [Fast Co]

• Visa invites consumers to send in cheers: Part of Visa’s Go World campaign for the Olympics invites fans to submit a cheer to the participating athletes in the form of a click, post or video via Facebook. A lucky few will go on to feature in special-edition spots celebrating the achievements of Team Visa athletes in real-time [TheInspirationRoom]

• Nastia Liukin pushes Fantastic Gymnastics Dora doll and app: The latest doll from Dora the Explorer is a London 2012 gymnast special being promoted by Team USA five-time Olympic medallist Nastia Liukin. It also comes with an augmented reality app for kid’s to watch her come to life [BrandChannel]

• Harrods welcomes everyone to London: A very simple one here, but nonetheless noteworthy. Harrods posted a collaged picture featuring multiple icons of London associated with its own store as well as the Olympics on Facebook. The accompanying text read: “Over the coming weeks, London will play host to many visitors. We would simply like to say… Welcome to our wonderful city. #LoveLondon” [Harrods]

In case you haven’t seen them, there’s also the incredible Best Job spot from P&G (almost 5.5m views), Specsavers’ response to the Korean flag blunder, and the giant Jessica Ennis #homeadvantage image from British Airways on the Heathrow flight path (as pictured top).

Spot any more? Do add them to the comments…

 

 

Stylist mag launches interactive #Olympics issue with Blippar

Stylist magazine launched its first augmented reality issue today with an interactive cover featuring Great Britain’s synchronised swimming team.

Enabled through a partnership between the UK free weekly title and image recognition app Blippar, the cover can be scanned to trigger a video of the Olympic hopefuls performing an exclusive routine.

“We knew we wanted to do something really special to mark the Olympics, and when we spoke to the Blippar team it became apparent they could help us create something innovative that would totally engage our readers and celebrate this incredible event,” said editor Lisa Smosarski.

The issue has various additional scannable pages throughout (recognisable by the Blippar logo), giving readers access to more videos as well as social media content and a “Style List” you can shop directly from. There’s also an Olympic medal leader board due to be updated daily throughout the Games.

“There’s so much to see, do and play with in this issue,” Smosarski adds in a video explaining how to use the app, here.

Stylist follows in the footsteps of Tatler and Asos who have previously made their magazines come to life using augmented reality.