Smirnoff 'Moscow Mule' - The Launch Party

Last Thursday I had the pleasure of attending the Smirnoff 'Moscow Mule' Blogger Launch Event, which was loads of fun. Last night, however, was a whole other experience with the full Launch Party!

Fire Breathers, Stilt walkers, Jugglers, an amazing 'Hula Hoopist' and a great Ring Master - a really, really visually stimulating line-up of entertainers. Arveene Juthan and Dan Williams on the decks, and a special appearance from Jade Jagger - seriously good tunes too.

So the best part (baring in mind I'm a total geek)?

I love the creative behind all of this.

The outdoor went live - non-branded, slick looking creatives with a cryptic (non) call to action. The ad/visual fits in perfectly too (you'll have to wait for that - though I should have it very soon). Everything revolves around the idea of the 'extraordinary'. The guys behind this have done a great job of integrating the message across all platforms and really bringing it to life. For a drink that is so old it has been given a new lease of life, and it's a fun one!

So until I get the visual from the girls and can show you what I mean, check out this...



For those who haven't seen it, I also thought it'd be worth sharing Damien's video of Marty ('THE' Smirnoff Mule bartender - total legend btw) making a Smirnoff Mule...

Galactic Mail: FedEx vs. UPS

I spotted this over on [Geeks Are Sexy] and it blew my mind. It's a 3D short animation produced by French Animator Douglas Lassance (AsteroKid) in collaboration with Jonathan Vuillemin (Motraboy).

The piece took four months to get from storyboards to compositing, but there it took a slightly different route to the norm. The guys decided that Galactic Mail wouldn't be about generating impressive 3D renders using, what Jonathan calls, the Sigg Jones approach with proper global illumination shaded film,they concentrated on the pictures themselves and their composition, colours and overall coherence of the style.

Jonathan said, "I had this idea of making a movie with self-illuminated textures where all the shadows would be painted in already, and then combined with a “sliced” shadow system where you could really isolate how stuff are going to look when it’s in the shadow or not, nothing physically correct, but pretty controllable".

So check this out...

Space Shuttle Endeavour Passes Over Ireland

Street Performance World Championships

I was delighted to get invited to last night's Street Performance World Championships Corporate Evening, hosted by Emergent Events, in The Sugar Club. Going on last night (Tuesday 14 July) and tonight (Wednesday 15 July), the event is a corporate showcase and networking event to show off some the best street performers in the world.

The guys at Emergent Events are the official agents for some of the SPWC's best performers; including Beautiful Stu; Senmaru; Charlie Caper (winner of Sweden's Got Talent); Grant GoldieJack Wise and the world renowned Space Cowboy.

Mark, Conor and Dan are the gents in question, and I highly recommend that anyone hosting a corporate event of any kind gives them a call.

Check out the following videos as a taste of what we enjoyed...

Plaid Nation Tour 2009

I can't believe it's been a year since I posted about the Plaid Nation Tour (2008). But sure enough it has been and the guys will soon be back on the road doing what they love doing. I got an email from R.J. just there at the beginning of July to remind me the tour was fast approaching and to ask me to send him my details so he could post on the annual Plaid Nation Swag Bag.

Well today, as I sat there getting ready to start the working week, a nice little envelope dropped on my desk. As soon as I saw the address label I tore it open...




So for those not in the know, what is Plaid Nation and what is the Plaid Nation Tour?
PlaidNation describes itself as a "rolling celebration of creativity and a demonstration of social media in action". Picture an agency taking to the road in their fully customised, social media optimised, technology enabled Ford Flex, driving around the states to meet up with as many creative, marketing, brand and internet folk as they can. Their aim - to engage, interact and celebrating all the innovative things that Social Media has to offer. What's particularly cool is that the whole thing will be brought straight to your pc as a 'kind of' reality show (but better, they promise).

So what does it all mean and why should you be interested in it?
This is a seriously cool opportunity to connect and engage with the latest social media tools, the cutting edge of modern marketing, without so much Tweeting a Tweet or Commenting a Blog. Plaid will dish out their learnings and insights about how and why the world's biggest brands are using Social Media. In this wonder-tour the Plaid Flex will be visiting (and driving between) Detroit, Milwaukee, Chicago, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Kansas City, Branson, Memphis, Jackson and New Orleans. Though don't fear if you're a West Coaster, or don't even live in the US, as they also actively reach out to the International Interweb community (they found me!) to share what they learn from all the marketing, brand and creative people they meet.

In case I'm doing a poor job of conveying the coolness of all this, check out their video...



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