mindblob

Landing on planet RTBF.be

[Original FAB illustration by Sebastien Verliefde]

 

It's been a while since my last post, indeed, but as some of you might know, I was "up to something". That "something" was the preparation of a new job challenge that I will start next month. I will share with you a little more about it in a next post, but as announced on my Twitter and Linkedin profiles, I might as well relay the nature of this job here. I will be Online Marketing Manager in the interactive department of the RTBF.be (Radio-télévision belge de la Communauté française). I'm very pleased about it and really looking forward to the launch of this new adventure.  O )

So, yes... more Alien stories coming soon!

Yeti Hunting in Norway

Image posted by Loren Coleman on CryptoMundo.

  

If you are following me on Twitter, you might have noticed that I've been sending a series of #yeti hash tags, documenting our latest agency adventure... the Yeti hunt. Antoine Servais (copywriter - @Arkzel) and Cédric Minot (art director - @BillyTheKilt) have created a very nice TVC story for one of our clients. Well, the only challenge being, naturally... to find the Yeti. History or mythology? Well, it's about time to find out. ; )

So TRS, a dynamic Belgian film production company and their talented director Jan Boon  (see his work on TRS site) brought us a very challenging way to make this film happen. Go Yeti hunting around Turtagrø mountains, 400km north of Oslo, in Norway.

On the way there, I thought about documenting this quest on Twitter to bring a little "live" dimension to this work adventure. I'll be posting Twitter updates here and Twitpics there. And naturally, we'd love to have your feedback on this...

  

Any views on how we could find the Yeti?  

 

 

Drive and Talk - T-Rex fun

Nothing new really... just a little video found on a YouTube cruise. But this one caught my attention for 2 reasons. First, it's a special, fun, odd, fast, uncommon, sports vehicle... and yes... works with me like mouse and cheese. Second being... I just love these British TV presenters that nothing stops leading us into a few minutes of excellent entertainment. Introducing brilliant Tiff Needell from the TV series Fifth Gear on the British television channel Five, riding the Campagna T-Rex for a moment of hilarious, cold, wet & windy... glory.

   

Back to Planet Blog

Originally uploaded by micky mb - check the story of this picture - spaceship for sale in Texas! ; )

  

Well, it has been a while. Quite a while actually. Longest time away from blogging since I launched this blog. So, I owe you all my apologies for staying out so long. Time has been flying again and offline issues growing, linking and trackbacking each other faster than any brilliant post-without-comments from Seth Godin.

Anyway, I'm back into the control room of starship-mindblob... we've got our (green, sustainable) batteries filled with super-tonicflex-power, our galactic GPS is "ON" (well, almost actually) and all systems are GO, in... errrr... yes, in... Videcolor and Supermarionation! 

  

Please jump in, fasten your seat-belts and make yourselves at home...
...cauz'  the Blob is back ! 

 

Quest for the Ultimate Break

Well... I must admit I've been "out of blogging" for quite a while (and I'm really sorry about that). After being extremely busy sorting loads of "offline issues", I finally reach a little "break" that leads me... well... -what a paradox- offline again. Not to mention, Blogger Social in NYC (Yeeehaaa! Woops, sorry... couldn't hide my enthusiasm!). So, yes... I'm afraid the number of posts on this blog will not come back to cruising speed right now, but I wanted to inform you that it will be soon (as soon as I'm back from Social).

In the meantime, and talking about having a break, you might want to check this special action on the French Kit Kat site.It is not really new, but worth checking out if you haven't yet. They call it "The Quest for the Ultimate Break" (this link will lead you to the teaser film only on YouTube, in case you can't reach it on the main site). Will some of us see this situation -I mean the beginning of the film, of course- as a familiar "under pressure work conditions" déjà vu? I don't know. Due to the last rush I've been through, I must admit I just had to smile when I discovered it (hint, hint!).

Anyway, I really like the end of the film and the "goal of the quest" itself. It is in french, so I'll translate the idea behind it. It is contest with lottery-like numbers you get in Kit Kat and other Nestle candy bars. And guess what... the great price you may win is... a TRIP INTO SPACE ! ! ! (yes, a real one!). There is also an input channel where people can post their video vision of an "Ultimate break".

I really like the concept, because the price is quite innovative and insightful. And for the records, the french agency is JWT Paris, the very same that launched the excellent Wilkinson "Fight for kisses" site that you may remember. Last but not least -the producer's point of view here- when I investigated about who did the 3D animation, I found out that it was AKAMA Studio, the same post-production company that worked on FFK. This time they produced this trailer in about 2 and a half months... and that my friends deserves a fantastic applause, because it is not much time to achieve such a qualitative result. Thumbs up guys!

Now if you would excuse me... I have a lift to catch.  ; )

The sky is... NOT the limit !

   

For those of you who really thought I was kidnapped by Aliens when I was out of blogging for  while, here is the story. As a matter of fact, I was the one trying to make contact with them. And guess what... I found them. This is quite a long story. So I made a little pdf file to summarize and share this extra-ordinary encounter with you. All I can tell you is that although they may seem scary, Aliens are very nice beings. Hopefully they were open minded, and so really appreciated the Age of Conversation. Actually, with their help now, we may even reach Gavin Heaton's secret dream... and make the incredible come true (right Drew?).

 

Well, I'm afraid the sky is NOT the limit anymore... so if you have not bought a copy yet, here is another reason for you to do it : it'll help you engage conversation with Aliens (how about that?) and help a good cause. Talking about Aliens, did you know that they eat tangerine (I mean, just like "us"), dream about Big Macs (they do, they do), and use Twitter  (yeah, without any device, actually) to communicate? But please... know that they are not waiting for planes anymore... they use flying saucers, I mean... tractors (woops! Call me "lunatic").

 

PS : This picture  is not a Photoshop job... my Alien friend holds a printed copy of the AoC, because at that time I had not yet received a hardback book.  : )

PPS : Huge thanks to Gareth the Alien, without his passion and trust telling you this story would have never been possible. If you ever are looking for an Alien... I do recommend calling him -and unfortunately I can't show you the film we made out of this as it is not "on air" yet-

 

NYC walk on the Whack side

 

As you could read on my last post, my journey to New York was a “first”. The main idea was to “be there for CK’s Momma tree”. So this trip was planned short and compact... leaving me 2 days on location (just assuming that it would be just enough to cope with the jet lag – well, not really as you can imagine!).

Being in New York one day before the meeting, there was something I had in mind and didn’t want to miss: getting one of Roger von Oech’s Ball of Whacks. Believe me or not, I was curious about this object ever since I saw it on Roger’s blog. I had been trying to get one from Belgium and just couldn’t find the right site to order it from at the time (Sigh! I notice now that they are for sale, and apparently worldwide, on Roger's Creative Whacks Company site). And by the way, I strongly encourage you to read Roger's blog. It is full of creativity insights, ideas, brain food and also links to very nice people.

 

Anyway, here is my story... finding this exclusive item in New York city. To make sure I wouldn’t get lost between distances, taxi and timings, I prepared my day trip on Google Earth (perfect tool for NYC, plus viewing paths in 3D is both cool and useful for a visual mind like mine). All I needed was a store address where to find one for sure. At that stage, I made it simple... turned Skype “on” and called Roger himself (we know each other from blogging and exchanging mails every once in a while).

You see Roger was also involved in CK's Momma tree project, so he knew I was in New York for the event. This said, I understand I might have surprised him a bit calling to have a store address. Nevertheless, Roger was "there" on the phone and it was very nice talking to him for the first time (I’d love to do it to chat about another creative topic too, though!). Roger gently emailed me 2 addresses where I should be able to find the Holy Grail... woops... I mean, the Ball of Whacks (BoW) : FAO Schwarz and The MoMA Design Store.

 

At the end of a long shopping list day (family goodies list always comes first, right!)... there was one item left -guess what!- and a few minutes before stores close. See what I mean? Feet on fire, but I made it just on time to FAO Schwarz. I fly in...  (“Hi guards!... What? Guards? Ok, guards...”) and start scanning the store, speeding through the alleys. No BoW in sight. Suddenly something happened, don’t ask me why. My mind just... zapped (you see, like when reading a book and without notice, your mind flashes out of it to create another side story):

Back to normal speed. I just realized that I was not focusing on target and that I was running out of time. Let’s go ask the concierge :

 

- Him :     “Haaa! That thing? Yeah... we had plenty just a few days ago, then something happened... and... woosh!... ALL GONE!”

– Me :     “Errrr... may I ask you what happened?”

- Him :     “Sure... See, we ran out of Rubik’s cube and were looking for a good replacement in the central shelf and thought about that Ball of Whack –not to say the BoW should have never been displayed there- Then we thought it would be good to have a demonstrator there to show what could be done out of that thing.”

- Me :     “Excellent, and then...?”

- Him :     “That’s when people went crazy... When they saw a squirrel, a sun, a frog, and all the possible combinations... they started to buy them by packs of 3. They were like: ‘And take two more for your brothers’... kinda thing, see wat I mean? Within a few hours we were sold out. Geeee... I’m sorry Sir, there isn’t ONE left”.

 

I was happy to hear such a great “sale” story and to bring it back to Roger... but a bit disappointed not to find a least one left. Hopefully after checking with the concierge, I realized that I was not too far away from the MoMA and so continued my quest in that direction. Outside the store (“Bye Guards!”)... I saw a yellow tricycle parked in front of FAO. The guy sitting on it seemed to be very expressive and was laughing with a friend cyclist. So I thought I’d just double check the way  to the MoMA with him. My simple question seemed to be like an MIT clue to him. He started to talk in Turkish with his friend who obviously was giving him the directions (4-5 blocks away!). He was so nice trying to translate the information to me in English –I mean with a wonderful accent and smile- that I decided to ask him to give me a ride there.

He turned a ghetto blaster on (hidden under passenger seat) and started to paddle full throttle. As we were ridding our 150 decibels of Latino hip hop RnB around 5th, I realized we were not just playing music... there was also the video clip, right between my feet, on an LCD screen ! ! ! (...found that clip on YouTube : "Jagged Edge ft Voltio: she SO amazing") - Amazing New York city indeed! (check it out).

 

   

End of the ride... MoMA Design Store. Open doors... eyes scanner “on”. Left, right, left... “Meep!”... found it: “The Ball of Whacks”! Yeeehaaa! Music, please!

Okay, this story is indeed a little “off the road”. Off regular posts maybe. But I thought I would bring it back to Roger, because I never imagined that on my simple quest to get a red rhombic triacontahedron, I would go through : Google Earth, Skype, FAO guards, giant candies, giant pianos, super-heroes, magic eyes, concierge stories, Turkish tricycle ride, Latino hip hop RnB, MoMA design and innovative items. Since none of this would have happened without aiming to the Ball of Whacks, I want to say thank you Roger for this unexpected extra-ordinary journey! Of course, I’ll come back to the Ball of Whacks in another more dedicated post... In the meantime, my learnings through all this?

 

- Conversation leads to very nice discoveries,

- Product demonstration (still) helps sell products,

- One product might be bought for different reasons (hint, hint!),

- People buying make more people want to buy,

- Magic... may detour us from our most determined goals,

- Surprises may be found looking down (*).

 

Now, if you don’t have a Ball of Whacks, go get one right now...
And if you do, go get it, because this object is magic and if you can figure out how... it will reveal its hidden secret.

Any idea of what it is?   ; )

 

(*) PS : Maybe when we cross people in the streets who are looking down, it's because they are trying to find a surprise. Then maybe we can help them find it?

 

Galactic (Space) Marketing

This message seems to come straight out of a science fiction film, an Arthur C. Clarke book (Mmmm, just between 2001 and 2010, right!) or a Star Trek film. But wait a minute, this is happening today, well tomorrow, actually.

Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group, brings this dream into reality.  Although the Virgin Galactic site is not new, it was recently upgraded. Whoever has $200,000 to spend and wants to travel into space, can now order tickets online directly from the site.

Even if all this may seem to be a crazy eccentric challenge today, I wonder how people felt back  in 1919 when Henry Farman, proposed the first commercial flight between two cities with his F.60 Goliath. 11 passengers could experience the flight between Paris and London and back on a daily basis. History tells that comparable, and even more ambitious airlines spread within the next few years. From airline to spaceline, here we are now.

Besides that, while listening to Branson's promotional trailer on Virgin Galactic site, I was almost gone into dreaming of this extraordinary voyage, when suddenly one detail attracted my attention out of the blue. In the promotional film, I noticed Mike Melvill, test pilot of SpaceShipOne pointed something quite interesting out. While describing the experience passengers will go through, he mentioned one brand : "... I'm sure with everybody being loose in there, they'll be letting go M&M's ...".

Then the film shows a camera view of the pilot in flight, releasing M&M's out of his arm pocket. Was it prepared that way? Pure coincidence? It could have been Skittles or Jelly Beans... Or is it a sign that some brands are already interested in space advertising or space product placement linked to SpaceShipTwo? After a quick search I found that M&M's had already been in space in 1981 (thanks to Fresh Creation)

Anyway, if we look a little backwards (article of CNN.com/space), Pizza Hut did also think about it in 2001, with their logo on Russian Proton rocket. So did RadioShack with the first live advert in space station Alpha. This pushed me into thinking of the new advertising opportunities linked to space travel and its future evolution. I dreamed myself in such a flight, trying to check through the windows of SpaceShipTwo if I could see the first floating space billboards, while listening to a gentle cabin announcement : "Virgin Galactic wishes you a pleasant flight. Free snacks brought to you in space by M&M."

I wonder what brands will be next to think about space marketing? Many could... and probably should. From cameras, camcorders, to glue, sunglasses, even vacuum cleaners... (yep, to help you clean the M&M's mess!).

Well, the sky is the limit. Woops! Not anymore!
Thank you Mister Branson.

The era of the electric cars

(Zapworld’s Obvio 012 and 012E – Fantastic eco cars are on their way)

Time to think green guys. It’s a fact, we are desperately watching the prices of petrol and gas going crazy and there is not much we can do about it. The forecast of future prices is definitely not optimistic for all car drivers. I can hear you scream already... "Oh nooooo, need my car… don’t want to pay so much for gas!” Any idea? Yes, turning to alternative electric or ethanol cars… maybe? They are definitely out-of-the-ordinary cars (for the moment!) and some of them will blast your expectations.

If you've already been considering alternative power, maybe you’ve already seen Ian Wright’s incredible, absolutely stunning, X1 electric car. As mentioned indeed, unfortunately still in the category “prototype” (0-60mph in 3sec. beating Ferrari 360 Spider and Porsche Carrera GT - listen to Ian Wright’s interview for Discovery Channel & take a ride with him on board). Estimated price : $100,000. So you thought : “Mmm... still a bit pricey and what if it rains?”  ; )

(Ian Wright’s X1 prototype)

Then, of course you fell in love with the ultra-sexy Tesla roadster… with a Lotus Elise mod feel, this one is convertible, comes with a roof... tops a 0-60mph in 4 seconds and has a range of 250 miles, top speed 135mph (video from Associated Press here). Still have to pay $90,000 to get one, though. Although electric cars have had terrible range and embarrassing styling, the X1 and the Tesla turned to history the stereotypes of slow, low performance vehicules some previously had in mind. Plus, and this is probably even more important, these technologies are a lot cleaner for our planet than gas engines.

(The Tesla roadster - Tesla Motors)

“Ok ok, but what about the price, then?” Well, don’t be disappointed, more new ecologic and economic cars are coming your way, with 4 seats, still stunning performances and... cheaper prices. 

ZAP World located in Santa Rosa, California has more than one solution to propose. Whether you'd like to drive electric or ethanol, several car models are there to please you. The great thing about it is that these car designs are going in a direction worth attracting our attention. The era of ugly-odd-looking electric vehicles is definitely over.

There is an interesting article on CNET with interview of CEO Steven Schneider.

Article refers to testing one of their actual models, the Xebra, a little plug and drive funny looking electric car. Let's call it the starter. Because of both its performances, look and price. The Xebra top speed is 40 miles per hour, it has a range of 40 miles and sells for around $9,000. Deliveries to begin Summer 2006.

(Zapworld’s Xebra)

Now, the most sceptic of you will say… cool, but we want more. Well, just take a look at this other car the Obvio 828 and 828E. This one (still on the funky looking side, indeed) aligns performances you might like better (view video here). With this car, you’ll be able to choose between ethanol and/or gasoline engine (up to 250HP) or totally electric motor (0 to 60 < 4.5 secs with 200HP’s and CVT transmission system – distance range : 200 to 240 miles). On pre-sales only for the moment, the Obvio 828 should come out end of 2007. Price of Obvio 828 around $14,000. How about that? Electric 828E estimated around $49.000.

 

(Zapworld's Obvio 282 and 282E - to check the set of pictures from CNET, here)

That’s not all folks… Last but not least the same idea is under development for yet another model. The Obvio 012 (ethanol/gas) and Obvio 012E (electric) – top picture of this post. We’re now talking about a microsport car with outstanding performances. No toy colours, but a stylish silver paint. The Obvio 012 is capable of top speed of 160mph. The Obvio 012E will reach top speed of 120mph, and punches a noble 0-60 < 4.5 secs. This post wouldn’t be long enough to feature all the equipement of this car… iMobile Carputer : GPS, internet and email access, personal organizer, satellite radio, digital multimedia player, DVD player and other fantastic things. On pre-sales, of course… delivery to be determined. Estimated price : $59,000.

(Zapworld's Obvio 012 and 012E) 

So, please Mr. Schneider, if you need test drivers for ZAP electric vehicles, don’t hesitate to send us a mail, we’re definitely ready to wizzzz for you!