Filed under: Business, Eco-Friendly, MadMonk Projects, North Carolina | Tags: 21C-Systems, furniture, website design, NC, North Carolina, domestic manufacturing, Eco-Friendly, recyclable
“21C-Systems designs and markets its proprietary modular shelving solutions to meet the space management needs of home, office, business, and corporate environments.” So begins the “About Us” page of the 21C-Systems website. What really catches my attention is further into the copy: “The 21C-Systems’ product is “Eco-Friendly” with all components 100% recyclable. Our U.S. Patent Pending system is 100% produced in the United States utilizing the experience and skill of local artisans. Employing American workers helps to reduce the carbon footprint of 21C as it provides jobs to citizens.”
I admit, we at MadMonk Interactive designed and built the website so we have had the privilege of learning a lot about 21C-Systems the past few months. Given our beginnings and ongoing growth, we have a strong affinity for entrepreneurship in general, but more so when it aims to such ideals regarding design, domestic employment, and green corporate citizenship.
On a different note, one conversation we had during concepting and design pointed to the fact that in some instances, some “living spaces” break the traditional models of a room-by-room approach to home and work floor plans. Sure, a bathroom configuration is perfect for a bathroom…but say someone lives in a loft or works in a converted auto-body shop…where does one room start and another end? Privacy needs should allow clear room differentiations to rule, but modularization will continue it’s up-swing as evidenced by this product line and others sure to follow.
Filed under: Advertising, Online | Tags: bmw, brawny, fallon, georgia pacific, innocent escapes, juxt interactive
Newport Beach, CA based Juxt Interactive site for BMW is a fun and memorable experience. The Relearn To Drive website brings back memories of parallel parking in vacant parking lots, pulling into and out of every convenience store within reason, over and over and over again.
The first-person camera angle reminds me of other memorable online experiences, a familiar one that comes to mind is Brawny’s Innocent Escape campaign from 2005 (“Your Hair, It’s Perfect” still rings in my ear occasionally) . In my pre-MadMonk days, we worked some online collaborative initiatives with Georgia Pacific while their ad agency (Fallon New York) created a series of memorable video shorts with a central character talking to the camera. Paper towels went online viral.
But back to BMW and its commercial, goal: To inspire us to “Undo the damage” by participating in a BMW Performance Driving School.
Filed under: Human Rights, International | Tags: Amnesty International, Anti-Slavery International, Cattle Call, human slavery
“Every year an estimated two and a half million human beings are trafficked worldwide. Amongst them, 80% are women.” So begins the website for the Euro 08 Campaign against Trafficking in Women. In a powerful commercial spot, they state that 500,000 girls are sold into the sex industry every year, while the spot’s subjects are worked through an eerie cattle call. Well done spot.
We’re touched slightly by the presence of human trafficking through documentaries, news features, and movie story lines (two that come to mind are Crash and Eastern Promises), but it’s still shocking to hear that estimates of modern virtual slavery range from 27 million to 200 million worldwide. More information at the Anti-Slavery International website and for some history on human slavery, Wikipedia offers a launch pad for research.
Filed under: Economics, Shopping, Uncategorized | Tags: eating out, Fresh & Easy, Grauman's Chinese Theatre, grocery shopping, supermarket, to-go food
Written in the April 7, 2008 edition of USA Today, Fresh & Easy, the world’s third-largest retailer, is working on a supermarket British Invasion (video clip featured). “The WalMart of Britain” has plans thru 2020 aiming at giving grocery giant Safeway a run for its money. Research firm TNS Retail Forward details that their most important selling point is price as they claim to be up to 30% cheaper then conventional U.S. market chains. But they insist they are dedicated to being “neighborhood grocers”.
The story covers flagship stores in California, starting with one a few doors down from the world-famous Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. Before Safe & Easy started working the states, they spent a lot of time examining the lives of 60 U.S. families, following them through their day and more importantly, through their retail shopping activities. Thus far, overall sales don’t meet projects, but sales of “to-go” foods have been more than double of expectations which supports the ongoing debate of cooking at home versus eating out, with “to-go” the in-between.
Reminds me of a past bookmarked article titled “For not that much more, Americans opting to eat out” which dances in and around the debate, whether eating out is really more expensive then eating in. One interviewee said “It’s this cellphone generation that’s too busy to cook…” It’s interesting how people disect the economics of getting food on their plate. Value and savings are in the eye of the beholder.
Old news yes, but interesting work can stand the test of time. These Toronto video billboards were projected on different buildings throughout downtown Toronto (Quicktime required) between December 6th and 29th, 2007. They were created for Fido, a Canadian mobile provider. Strategically placed, ads like these demand attention. Two videos, relatively nearby, interacting with one another. Although it’s obviously commercial, the novelty and unexpected experience probably garners positive emotional responses and less cynicism then a straight, traditional billboard does. Web 2.0 + outdoor advertising.
The projection was performed by Media Merchants in British Columbia.
Filed under: Education | Tags: iTunesU, MIT, online learning, OpenCourseWare, Wired
“An MIT initiative called “OpenCourseWare” makes virtually all the school’s courses available online for free - lecture notes, readings, tests and often video lectures. (Gilbert) Strang’s Math 18.06 course is among the most popular, with visitors downloading his lectures more than 1.3 million times since June alone.”
“But it hasn’t been as clear what role - if any - elite universities would play in what experts call the “massification” of higher education. Their finances are based on prestige, which means turning students away, not enrolling more. How could they teach the masses without diminishing the value of their degree?”
Just a couple of parts of an interesting WIRED News read. It reminds me of some of the YouTube channels universities are putting together. Here’s UC Berkley’s for example (mentioned in the Wired article as well) where on the lower right, their playlists feature actual course excerpts, about Biology, Physics, and Search Engines (among others).
The article also mentioned iTunesU which features seminars and lectures, worth a look. It includes not only participating universities’ stuff, but public broadcasting articles from NPR affiliates among others.
So all that said, higher education online keeps rolling forward.
Filed under: Economics, Environment, Health | Tags: green, organic, cfl, compact fluorescent, new year's resolution
On a recent business trip, a conversation inspired a participant to voice that they’ve been in “green fatigue”, where everyone is touting they’re green. I responded that I can understand that feeling, but that within the upcoming years, it’ll continue but morph to “just business”, much like the “e” everything in the 90s and early 2000s are now just the way we do business, with the one constant being the presence of change. The much publicized story of Al Gore joining KPC&B to inspire and expand the “clean-tech” investments worldwide show this trend will continue and grow as more money flows that way, and another example will be written in history books on how progressives blared the horn and capitalists, with their free-market assertions, jump on the wave to increase its steam.
So all that said, Care2.com’s article “Resolution: Be Green in 2008″ caught my eye and attention. Which foods are highest in pesticide use? Hazardous chemicals in make-up and perfume? Reminders about CFLs among others included. Worth a look and consideration.
Filed under: Advertising, Health, Public Service | Tags: PSA, Canada Workplace Safety & Insurance Board, Prevent It, workplace safety, American Legacy Foundation
“There really are no accidents.”
So ends most of the messages from Canada’s Workplace Safety & Insurance Board’s latest campaign. To say they’re explicit is an understatement. The TV Spots called “Family Man” and “The Chef” cover ranges of genders, race, industries, and silent threats. Two not on their site but on YouTube was for a Retail Store incident and a Warehouse mishap. The print ads clearly catch one’s attention, dead people on a workfloor can do that. The attitude of the campaign is borderline sarcasm in tone but visually in-your-face in bold fashion. FWIW, it must get some people thinking and talking about it and therefore, more conscious about workplace safety.
It reminds me of the American Legacy Foundation’s various Truth campaigns, some over the top, recent Truth ads playing more with sarcasm and cynicism to prove their points about big tobacco’s past claims and marketing methods. Various articles have cited studies that found unlike numerous past anti-smoking campaigns, Truth actually had some positive results. Not easy for one ad to change someone’s risk behaviors, but it’s clear that marketers “…need to create messages that work for the target audiences, not for the practitioners…”
Filed under: Education | Tags: high school, top 100, U.S. News & World Report
“High schools are more than just places of learning. They are often centers of community identity, activity, and sometimes, as we recently saw in Jena, La., conflict. But what makes a great high school? Americans think a lot of things do, from outstanding academics or a supportive environment for students to a great football or basketball team.”
Having two children who eventually will go through high school, U.S. News & World Report’s Features on the “Best High Schools” caught my attention and their site has plenty of story in written, photographic, and video form. One catch phrase in the “What Matters Most in Measuring” story is “Promise and Challenge” - something that concisely captures what I as a parent consider for our children from an educational environment. Studies’ and rankings’ results depend on subscribed methodologies of course, so it’s good to note that USN&WR also lays out their ranking criteria. The fact not even one North Carolina high school was in their Top 100 was disappointing, but that is also peaking my interest further and giving me some good questions to keep in mind moving forward.
Filed under: Environment, Technology | Tags: ecology, solar power, car, automobile, global warming, air car, saab areo, iphone
Time Magazine’s November 12, 2007 issue features their picks for the best inventions of 2007. The iPhone got tops on their list, but pages right after should get plenty of excitement in the short term, and hopefully, at least one of these get excitement long-term. They highlighted items that may need practice and development time in foreign markets before taking the U.S. by storm (worked for The Beatles, and Jimi Hendrix), but signs are encouraging. A few to check out:
1. Venturi’s Eclectic Car runs solely on wind and solar power. When that’s not enough, a backup electric outlet can recharge the car in five hours. Specs, photos, and a video are available on their website.
2. Saab’s Areo X concept car is styled like a jet with a cockpit canopy instead of doors and suggests displaying information in 3D graphics on a dashboard screen (no conventional dials and buttons). It would run on bioethanol and quite frankly, the quick tour on their website rocks.
3. “During the first phase of development, Guy Negre, thought that he could develop an engine and sell it to the large automotive manufacturers. Unfortunately, because adapting an air engine to traditional cars meant changing bodies and production line the large companies refused and he was forced to change his approach.” So starts their web page titled “a car to dress an engine”…for a car that runs on air…and emits colder, cleaner air. The Air Car’s tagline is “lifestyle, ecology, economy.”
Filed under: Civics, Government, Politics | Tags: 2008 election, campaign finance, democrats, election guide, republicans
The New York Times has been running an “Election Guide 2008″ interactive micro-site with plenty of features including candidate info/links/video, schedules, issues, state profiles, and probably most notable, where each candidate’s financial support is flowing from, not only by geographic area, but down to the individual donor. You can enter the candidate and zip code to see who gave to whom in your own area. Data is reported to the Federal Election Commission quarterly, so check back every three months for financial updates.
Presidential campaigns aside, the interactive map is a nice piece of Flash work. You can use the slider to visually see how and where a candidate’s support grew over time.
Filed under: 3D, Culture, History, Motion / Animation, Video | Tags: 3d animation, hellgate, video game, zombie
We at MadMonk have a great affinity to 3D modeling and animation work. We actually try to work it into any project, be it delivered digitally or through print, when appropriate, trying to satisfy our inner-Pixar. That said, a MadMonk teammate passed along this Hellgate: London / Intel clip and of course, it’s modeling, humor, and memorability give it high marks. What I thought interesting were some of the comments below the video, showcasing again how online forums move people. Someone said ” So I guess if you’re from hell, you have a British accent. Interesting.” upon which someone mentions that ” The game’s called ‘Hellgate: London‘.” Again, things are deeper than they first seem. (Game by San Francisco based Flagship Studios.)
In a recent IM session with another teammate about this commercial, we reflected about zombies’ place in culture (mainly film) and recalled how deep some films’ social commentary actually goes. A classic example is George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. Considering today’s frenetic pacing, polished camera work, and incredible special effects, NoTLD feels archaic. But put an ol’ college try on it and it’s incredible how the genre was developed in a 1960s struggling with social, race and gender movements, the Vietnam War, publicity (and practice of) various religious cults, and the cyclical urgencies around the End of Days beliefs. No surprise NoTLD was entered into the United States National Film Registry with other films deemed “historically, culturally or aesthetically important.”
Just a spot that caught my eye and vibe. We at MadMonk Interactive have strong admiration for motion work that sets its customers apart. This ad by Leo Burnett Toronto just speaks creatively and emotionally. Another, fresher interpretation of “You Are What You Eat.” I may even give this cereal a look/taste next time down the aisle.
Filed under: Music
On a recent Day To Day radio broadcast, they ran an article covering some of Blender’s senior critic John Dolan’s favorite bad lyricists. Sting tops his list, but the 1970s turns out to be the worst decade for rock lyrics. A quick silly fun nostalgic listen for those of us familiar with the music, especially when it was new. Going down memory lane, how about Led Zeppelin’s Ramble On with “but Gollum and the evil one crept up and slipped away with her, her, her, yeah”.
Came across a blog entry that wrote about a map commissioned by Reporters Without Borders which points out the 15 countries where the internet is blacked out. No coincidence that in the rankings of press freedom, all of these are towards the bottom of that list as well. Some say that rock n’ roll (popular music) helped bring down communism…it’ll be interesting to see how internet usage/desire will fuel change in these countries.
“Perhaps most notorious among those countries is China, with its Great Firewall (and its insistence on self-censorship by non-Chinese companies operating within the Middle Kingdom). Other countries also maintain firewalls, notably Saudi Arabia, while less-developed nations might just not allow their citizens to own computers.”
