Old Spice Refreshes Stock Photography With New Product

Old Spice ran a microsite recently asking “ARE _________________ NEWER THAN SHAVING GEL?” It only ran for a day, but now, if you view the site, you’ll learn that even the link you clicked to get there “Ain’t Newer Than New Old Spice Shave Gel.

When the site was live, you could fill in the blank with a noun and the microsite would pull up a related Getty image, and announce that your “noun” is not newer than Old Spice Shave Gel.

It’s an excellent refresh of “targeted” ads.

It might seem silly in its infancy, but this looks like the seeds of the future of advertising: customizable ads made relevant to every consumer. Imagine you are a local restaurant, and your online ad features a family of four celebrating a sports game, eating your food, and dad is wearing a sports cap. But what if because of a user’s Internet habits, it was deduced that they loved the Pittsburgh Steelers? Yep, the dad is now sporting apparel matching that consumer’s favorite team. That positive affinity is immediately associated with your restaurant.

Obviously, we aren’t there yet, but Old Spice is asking people to type in objects and then comparing their product to something that the user conjured up. That’s a brilliant mnemonic device.

(more…)

Herman Miller Asks Famed Designers, “Why?”

You can find the 94%-recycled Aeron office chair everywhere, including MoMA.

Herman Miller, Inc. is based in Zeeland, Michigan and is a major manufacturer of modern office furniture, equipment and home furnishings. Under design direction of George Nelson, the company’s become the most prolific and influential producer of modernist furniture. If you’ve ever been in a Design Within Reach store in person, or online, then you’ve witnessed a Herman Miler design.

In a campaign launched late last year, the company launched a microsite/blog called Why Design, where, obviously, they asked famed designers like Gianfranco Zaccai, Yves Béhar, Sam Hecht + Kim Colin and more why they do what they do.

The answers are at times kitsch, sometimes off the wall. But, the videos are gorgeously shot and the site is, again obviously, well designed. (more…)

Pretend Your User is Drunk.

You Get What You Give With Feedback

Studio Playlist May 2013

* The Strokes – Tap Out
* Haim – Forever 
* Jazztronik – Voyage
* Papa – Put Me to Work
* The Dead Ships – You Were Young 
* Giovanca – On my way 
* Cayucas – Cayucos
* Lana Del Rey – Summertime Sadness (Cedric Gervais Remix) 
* Father John Misty – Hollywood Forever Cemetery Songs 
* Alkaline Trio – I’m Only Here to Disappoint
* Duologue – Get Out While You Can
* Cold War Kids – Tuxedos
* Otto – 6 minutos
* Black Kids – I’m Not Gonna Tach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You
* Those Darlins – Screws Get Loose
* Cloud nothings – Stay Useless