We wanted to point you in the direction of a cool resource the office just got access to. The below post is a rundown of Stylus, and what makes it so valuable. Special thanks to our Head of Design Camilla Flesche Kristiansen. For the heads up and contribution.
Ever heard of the third International Kinetica Art Fair? Now, with just a click of your mouse, you’ll be able to hear about it over your morning coffee.
Artists, organizations and thought leaders are on the vanguard of this new event, which brings together and showcases work in the area of kinetics, electronics, robotics, sound, like, time-based and multi-disciplinary new media art, science and technology. It sounds an awful lot like the mystery, intimacy and sensuality, the stuff that Lovemarks are made of.
I didn’t know about it until last week, when it came on my radar thanks to Stylus, a global information and inspiration resource for the consumer-facing industries. Why should you be interested? Because we now have global unlimited access to the site, and it is a great way to not just stay on top of ideas in culture, but to get ahead of them.
Here are just a few of the topics that popped up in my inbox today:
A spotlight on artist, designer Max Bill, one of the most noted of the School of Bauhaus artists, whose career spanned five decades and features exuberant use of color and color-blocking
Metabolic Design, including a two year collaboration between five Nobel prize winning scientists and design students from Central Saint Martin’s College in London, unexpected pairing of artists and scientists is leading to some breakthrough thinking and ideas like a textile structure that allows for soil-free farming methods—perfect for future urban food production.
Los Angeles, a city guide to ‘what’s new’, ‘where to eat’ and ‘where to stay’, the ultimate insider’s guide for those of us who have reason to be on the road.
Fashion TV (FTV) to launch the Fashion TV hotel in Dubai 2014, the extraordinary five –star, 60-storey tower and resort will offer guests a chance to live the glamour and excess of the FTV lifestyle.
Mariam Farooq is an Art Director for Toyota at SaatchiNY. For more information on her, her work and her love of lmography, follow her on Twitter (@muthafarooq), check out her website or peruse her Flickr page.
WHAT DO YOU DO AT SAATCHI & SAATCHI?
Art Director on the Toyota account.
WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST JOB?
Junior year of high school I had a mall job at Miller’s Outpost/Anchor Blue. I still fold t-shirts and jeans quite well. I guess I got something out of it.
WHAT LED YOU ON THE PATH YOU’RE ON TODAY?
I was an only child for 12 years and had to keep myself entertained. I would waste a ton of paper on random drawings and comic strips but my parents never held me back. In high school I realized I could make a career out of it with design/art direction.
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE AD (ALL TIME OR CURRENTLY)?
Amp’d Mobile’s “Busted” makes me chuckle every time.
IF YOU NEVER HAD TO WORK AGAIN, WHAT WOULD YOU WANT TO DO?
I would be a nomad. Pack a bag and live in different countries for a while and explore.
FAVORITE PLACE YOU’VE BEEN TO?
So far, Thailand. Ayutthaya and Chiang Rai were my favorite cities but hopefully more international travel soon to come.
WHAT’S YOUR MOST PRIZED POSSESSION?
Childhood photographs of my parents.
DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE YOUTUBE VIDEO?
The Avalanches ‘Frontier Psychiatrist’ never gets old. I bet it was super fun to shoot too:
WHAT’S SOMETHING YOU MAKE REALLY WELL?
Pakistani food. My mom’s a great cook so hopefully one day I can master her recipes. But please someone help me with French macaroons, I’m failing miserably.
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE WARM-WEATHER NYC ACTIVITY?
Outdoor shows.
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE LUNCHTIME SPOT NEAR THE OFFICE? Snack Taverna. Their chicken sandwich is delicious.
WHAT’S YOUR GO TO KARAOKE SONG? (COME ON, WE KNOW YOU HAVE ONE).
Hmmph, ‘Private Eyes’ by Hall & Oates. Don’t judge
WHAT’S THE BEST MEAL YOU’VE EVER HAD?
Not sure about the BEST but a recent great meal was at Extra Virgin on Perry and W. 4th. I highly recommend the pistachio crusted goat cheese salad and truffle mac and cheese tart. Yum.
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE CREATIVE PURSUIT?
I like to make random cards and animated gifs. I made this for friends for Valentine’s day:
WHAT’S THE LAST GREAT EVENT YOU WENT TO?
I saw Little Dragon a few months ago and they were even better live. Probably my favorite show so far this year.
WHAT’S THE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED?
Do what you love.
WHAT’S YOUR GREATEST NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE STORY?
I moved to New York within 4 days. I set up 6 interviews and found a sublet and freelance all in a week. I don’t know how it worked out but it did. I feel very lucky.
Osher Assouline (@MarketMePlz) is director of Analytics and creative learning for the Toyota Dealership Association here at Saatchi NY.
Save the date! Saatchi & Saatchi is proud to announce that we will host a special event here on October 6th, in cooperation with Influencer Conference and Miami Ad School. Influencer is a three day global conference, with events held in London, Berlin & NYC. It’s designed to bring together thought leaders in media, marketing, technology, entrepreneurship, and the arts, with sponsors ranging from the NY Times & Heineken.
Last year’s inaugural conference hosted such notable speakers as Toby Daniels (founder of Social Media Week), Molly Crabapple (artist & Founder of Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School), Dario Meli (Co-Founder Invoke & Hootsuite), Afdhel Aziz (Brand Director for Heineken) and Adam Farrell (Marketing Director at Beggars Group).
Join us October 6 for creative conversation about technology and/or a techie conversation about creativity. More details to come/ Stay tuned.
Awkward Interns is an ongoing summer series featuring the funniest (and most uncomfortable) intern-related stories from the world of advertising. Are you an intern with a story? We want to hear about it! Are you a seasoned veteran who STILL cringes at something that happened during your first summer and advertising? We’d love to hear that too! All entries are anonymous and welcome. All you have to do is email us your story.
As interns, we really want our supervisors to like us. We wouldn’t go so far as to call it sucking up … but we are nicer to them than other people, so take that as you will.
Example #1: You tell her that those heels she’s wearing are so cute and her legs look miles long. You absolutely need to know where she bought them.
Example #2 – That joke he just told is so funny. You are laughing so hard and tell him that he should be a comedian. That joke is your Facebook status, your latest tweet, and was email blasted to your advertising club’s list serve.
This week’s awkward intern story is about the opposite of these scenarios.
THE PRESENTATION
Last week Jane found herself in the middle of a presentation to her supervisor and team. Things were going well. She was on script, people seemed to be following her logic, and she was a few minutes away from being home free. Following her notes, she started talking about a competitive brand’s creative work as an example of what not to do.
As she tore apart the aforementioned campaign campaign (“literally, the worst campaign I have ever seen.” “My grandma could write a better commercial than that” and so on), she noticed a fellow intern motioning frantically from the front row. Then she noticed the scowl on her supervisors face. Not knowing exactly what was going wrong, she tried to finish her thought, only to be stopped mid-sentence by the supervisor and asked tersely to “move on to the next point.”
Nothing more was said until after the meeting, when she was her fellow intern informed at her that their supervisor had created that very campaign while working at her previous job. Yikes.
THE LESSON
Know you supervisor’s work history. If you don’t, at least pay close attention to the visual cues and body language of coworkers.
Authors note: During a recent conversation with the Miller Team, it came to my attention that in a recent post I incorrectly mentioned an interns work experience included “working in high pressure environment dodging soccer balls to the head kicked by men on Miller Team.” As it turns out, they’re typical routine is actually flicking bottle caps that interns must dodge. My apologies for any upset this may have caused the team.
The below posts comes from three of our awesome interns: Kelisha Menon, Catherine Wright, Eve Pollet.
Here’s the thing. ‘Going Green’ means that you have to change your whole lifestyle and that’s hard. It’s such a big ask that it’s actually not efficient at all. You don’t want hard and overwhelming. You want easy and efficient. You want positivity. You want to feel like you’re already a part of something awesome. That’s why Saatchi wants everyone to Go Blue. True Blue. It came to our attention recently that a lot of people around the office haven’t even heard of True Blue, let alone know what it is. But the fact is – it’s awesome! So do your good deed for the day and check out the 101.
WHAT’S BLUE?
A lot of people care green issues but very few actually act on them. Blue is better than green. It’s sustainability, and at the heart of sustainability is people. Sustainability is about working together to make sure we can all coexist, but it’s also about being realistic. After all, it’s not the earth we need to save per se – the earth would do just fine without us – it’s humanity we have to save. True Blue puts people at the center.
Our approach to sustainability is broken into 4 pillars; environmental, society, cultural, and economic efforts. These pillars are used to inspire people to make good choices that may benefit the planet, but also their personal well being. Going blue is attainable. It goes beyond the political to personal. You do not have to be a barefooted granola to be blue, you just have to care about yourself and the world around you – which hopefully isn’t too hard.
THE HISTORY
Saatchi & Saatchi S was founded in 2008 and was the birth of blue at Saatchi. It is designed to inspire clients and “activate companies for good” by encouraging them to engage in and promote Blue practices.
THE IMPACT
True Blue has significantly impacted the way that Saatchi does things and efforts have already shown effect. First of all, Saatchi headquarters is the first (existing – meaning wasn’t built since LEED certification came around) building in the city to be LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) gold certified. That means alternative wind energy, low-flush toilets to reduce water consumption, and sorting garbage, just to name a few. We also have the beautiful Roof Top Garden (RTG:375), organic options in the atrium, a reusable mug program, and affiliations with charity organizations. Just by being in the building, you are already part of the True Blue effort.
Our normal contributor for “Links” has been traveling the country on client meetings all week, so we’ve asked our pal Cristina Pansolini to fill Rosie’s shoes. Without further ado, some of her favorite stuff online this week.
SCREENR
Screenr helps businesses build and promote their web presence. It creates screen-capture videos, with audio, easily and for free. According to Tim Ware, CEO of HyperArts Web Design, “Creating an instructional video on Screenr is just about as easy as it gets, allowing you to record, pause (while you rearrange what’s on your screen) and then click “Done” and that’s it! With a few click, you can post the video plus comments to your Twitter account, or download the file as an MP4.”
DAILY BOOTH
DailyBooth provides a fast-growing social networking site that allows you to easily upload and share pictures in seconds. Lewis Howes, author of two books on LinkedIn and founder of Sports Executives Association and SportsNetworker.com, states “As an online/social media marketer, its easier to get more sales or transactions from potential customers if those individuals feel like they know, like and trust you. A great way to let them get to know you better is simply by letting them see you daily.” Like our resident digital media expert Rosie Siman always says, you have to be a presence to make an impression.
POSTEROUS
Posterous.com allows you to post to 20 or so social media channels all through email. Photos, video, blog posts, even podcasts can all be distributed throughout your network just by sending one email. The simplicity and manageability are the driving forces behind this outlet!
ARGYLE SOCIAL
Use Argyle Social to measure and track results. It’s a URL shortener that has an elefant suite of measures around it, a bookmarklet for easy use and the customization you would need to separate your shares on Twitter from those on Facebook to deliver different messages around the same content. LinkedIn, Posterous and Tumblr are soon to join, making ArgyleSocial the tool for sharing and measuring impact of that sharing.
Steve Nowicki is Lead Creative Technologist at SaatchiNY. If you’re interested in learning more about him, check out his LinkedIn Page. Photos taken by the ever-awesome Brian Davidson
WHAT DO YOU DO AT SAATCHI & SAATCHI?
I weigh in on discussions of how to properly construct a user experience that deals with someone getting punched in the groin, and I’ve worked on a project that involves 512 ways of putting you into a speed-metal band. I love my job! They pay me to be head techno dork for the digital team in NY and to be involved with the integrated planning group, but it’s more fun when described the first way.
WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST JOB?
When I was 14, I worked as a money collector and prize hander-outer at a carnival game called Fascination. It was my first and to this day most stressful. Truly horrible. I ran a department of 20+ people in a foreign country during the dot-com collapse. That was less stressful than working Fascination.
WHAT LED YOU ON THE PATH YOU’RE ON TODAY?
One summer of working Fascination will put anyone on a path to something, literally anything other than that. Also, I spent way too much time in high school and college writing software, and happened to find myself in New York City at the peak of the dot-com boom with some skills that companies were willing to exchange for lunch money.
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE AD (ALL TIME OR CURRENTLY)?
Any ad that’s part of a fully integrated campaign with sound strategy, clever creative, and measurably effective executions online, in print, OOH, in-store, and I guess a TV spot wouldn’t hurt, either.
IF YOU NEVER HAD TO WORK AGAIN, WHAT WOULD YOU WANT TO DO?
I’d spend more time writing; it’s been years since I’ve had time to write another book (the first three haven’t lost their efficacy as an insomnia antidote, so the world isn’t yet demanding I make more). I might also try to pull off the geek’s version of the premise behind Julie & Julia, attempting to get through all the recipes in Nathan Myhrvold’s “Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking”
FAVORITE PLACE YOU’VE BEEN TO?
Other than 375 Hudson St.? I loved living in London, the desert southwest in the US is really haunting and beautiful, there’s this tiny park in Paris with a waterfall and small pond that seemingly no one else ever goes to that I love sitting in, but my happy place since childhood has always been Sylvan Beach, NY during the summer (but not the evil Fascination game they play there!)
WHAT’S YOUR MOST PRIZED POSSESSION?
The keys to my apartment. Without them I can’t get to any of the other possessions.
DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE YOUTUBE VIDEO?
I don’t have an all-time favorite, but I was just watching one of KipKay’s really awesome videos on how to make really wacky stuff. This time, it’s a laser-guided slingshot/pistachio cracker.
WHAT’S SOMETHING YOU MAKE REALLY WELL?
Software. I also have a way with roast pork loin, red snapper in salt crust, anything with puff pastry. I’m really good at making a mess.
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE WARM-WEATHER NYC ACTIVITY?
Love all the outdoor arts activities, Shakespeare in the Park, various things at Lincoln Center, etc. I also take every opportunity I can to sit outside and watch people go by doing their thing. It’s the best entertainment in town, and you can’t beat the ticket price!
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE LUNCHTIME SPOT NEAR THE OFFICE?
If not one of the great street-meat options from the food vendors in front of the building, then I’m usually getting a salad from Hudson Food Court (aka that-place-with-the-blue-awning-who’s-name-no-one-knows).
WHAT’S YOUR GO TO KARAOKE SONG? (COME ON, WE KNOW YOU HAVE ONE).
Fine, I’ll fess up. Most anything by Cole Porter, Arlen & Mercer – basically anything the Rat Pack guys would have done. This is probably the least interesting response anyone has ever given to this question.
WHAT’S THE BEST MEAL YOU’VE EVER HAD?
I’ve had amazing incredible meals at fancy-schmancy restaurants all over, but my favorite meal is good red wine, interesting cheese, awesome bread and maybe olives for good measure, with lots of friends (where “lots” is strictly defined by the quantity of wine and cheese), preferably outside. I wouldn’t cry if some smoked duck breasts made their way into that, either.
IF YOU COULD BE THE WORLD RECORD HOLDER OF ANYTHING, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
I’m assuming I’m already fairly close to being a world record holder for most number of failed attempts at angry birds level 3-12. I’d rather be known for enabling more fully integrated campaign concepts than anyone else.
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE CREATIVE PURSUIT?
I love to cook. I have far too much stuff in my kitchen. I’m one of those weird people who will obsess over the presentation of food that I’m only serving to myself. It’s bad when more room in your apartment is reserved for storage of Kitchen-aid attachments than for shoes.
WHAT’S THE LAST GREAT EVENT YOU WENT TO?
I’m more interested in an upcoming event: Meatopia. Run by a friend and terrific food writer Josh Ozersky, Meatopia is 45 chefs from around the country cooking lots of yummy animals in Brooklyn Bridge Park, July 23rd.
WHAT’S THE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED?
“Don’t put your finger in that light socket.” Serves me well every day of my life.
Wednesday morning, SaatchiNY Chief Strategy Officer Claudine Cheever was up bright and early for an appearance on Bloomberg Television (video above). She was asked onto “In the Loop with Betty Liu” to chat with Carol Massar about the recent price hike for Facebook advertisements, what it means for social media ad buys and how it effects the industry as a whole. As always, she had lots of insightful thoughts to share.
