My Flickr
May
16
Yes, I am Precious is a wiener!
Filed Under Awards, Copywriting, LIVESTRONG, Personal Projects | Leave a Comment
It’s nice to get some recognition for Breakfast NY and quite frankly, for myself. Yes, I am Precious won a Silver Cube for Interactive at the ADC awards and as the copywriter, I got mah mitts on one. Read about the project here. Buy me a beer here (which would link to any pub near us both if it were linked.)
Congrats to Zolty and the team at Breakfast. And here is a gratuitous picture of Precious smelling the glove cube.
I should probably also mention YIAP was selected for the CommArts Interactive Annual 2011. Boy is gettin’ some play.
Jan
21
Yes, I am Precious
Filed Under Copywriting, LIVESTRONG, Personal Projects | Leave a Comment
YESIAMPRECIOUS.COM was conceived by BREAKFAST NY as a way to follow Precious the bike as he traveled across the USA in 2010. They built Precious a real brain, and while I wasn’t involved in the concepting or design of the site, my job was to fill that brain with the thoughts (above) that ended up on Twitter. Actually, if you think about it, I really powered the site. Literally! With my damn legs! HA!
This project did what I think any good digital project should do for any brand – tell a rich and compelling story. I essentially wanted to tell the story of my trip through my own blog and twitter, but then have Precious give a different POV and experience of that story. BREAKFAST sure took care of that wish. At the same time, we wanted to raise some dough for LIVESTRONG along the way, and that worked out pretty well.
Brief summary of the pieces and my involvement:
THE BRAIN/SITE
The brain, inside a box that sat in a bag under the bike seat, was loaded with bunch of sensors. These sensors measured things like temperature, speed, gradient, location and heading. All of this data formed the basis for readings on the site, while certain manual things would be ‘pinged’ in by me as I saw them (roadkill is a good example). I would also upload a new photo from the road every day to keep the background fresh and the site looking awesome. If you want to know how the brain worked, there’s a case study by BREAKFAST, and I also made an ‘on the road’ video talking about how it worked and what I did every day.
When certain criteria were met – a certain temperature, a GPS position – the system would would reach deep into the brain, find a thought that matched that criteria and send it out to all Precious’s followers on Twitter. I wrote all those tweets well in advance (examples above), and created the personality of Precious (more examples here). In essence, I was the copywriter and brand manager. :)
THE CAUSE
The site provided a direct link to donate. Milestones were also set up in the system to send out donation-based tweets when certain financial goals were met, as a way to encourage followers to get involved. During the course of the ride, Precious raised over $7,500 for LIVESTRONG and also got a shoutout from Lance on Twitter. Not too shabby. (It should be noted that this was a PERSONAL project on behalf of LIVESTRONG. They didn’t have anything to do with it, beyond Lance giving it a tweet after it was live.)
THE OTHER STUFF
Precious has essentially become a brand in his own right. As part of my Kickstarter Project, I made a ‘book of Precious’ for backers. The “Yes, I am Precious” book is now available to buy for anyone who became a fan of Precious during the trip, either on Twitter or on his Facebook page. He still tweets – mostly about how I don’t take him out of the house very much.
This is the book below. Buy it!
FREE FLAT RATE SHIPPING offer codes (expire Jan. 31, 2011)
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Sep
1
Betsey Johnson
Filed Under Personal Projects | Leave a Comment
Probably an odd thing to include, but here a side project that is kind of related. In one of those ‘know someone who knows someone’ moments, I ended up shooting the bike footage that was projected at the end of the catwalk at Betsey’s fashion week show. It’s also currently being used in her stores. Used a GoPro HD video camera strapped to my chest to shoot key NY scenes, such as Brooklyn Bridge, Times Square, and Central Park.
Feb
2
“My Best Khaki Pants” Kickstarter Project from Noodle on Vimeo.
It’s been a while since I updated my portfolio, and I do have some work for Motorola and Louis Vuitton to put up, but my life is also pretty consumed these days with planning a big adventure in my life. Starting in May, I’m going to be riding my bicycle across these great United States. This is actually going to be quite an experience for us all – I’m working out ways to digitally broadcast parts of the trip (although not live), and include people in the day-to-day in as many ways as possible. The first step in that process is the Kickstarter project “My Best Khaki Pants – a mini book“. Benefactors unite!
It’s an interesting experiment actually. Now I’m the product. The brand. How do I approach my own campaign? I’ll be trying a lot of things these next couple of months, and in particular, honing my quick video update process for when I’m out on the road. Feel free to back the project (there are exclusive ‘backer only’ updates), or just follow along with the planning updates at No Direction Known.
Hold on everyone. This is gonna be a ride.
Apr
29
I’m currently working at Ogilvy on Motorola, but in my spare time I’m faffing about with all sorts of arty things I have no business being anywhere near. You know, like making music, and painting, and designing. But I believe an engaged mind is a creative mind, and I’m always looking for ways to keep mine on the hop. I created the Speed Poetry Challenge as a way to get the ol’ brain to stretch outside its comfy little skull. Basically, take a poem written in 5 minutes and over the course of 5 months, create 5 new things inspired by that one poem. I’m currently working on the third piece (of five), but thought I’d post my progress thus far. You can follow all future progress at the Speed Poetry Challenge hub.
Output 1: “Bathroom”, the video How it was made possible by CC licensing
“Bathroom” from Noodle on Vimeo.
Output 2: Motivational Farewell Posters. I’ll only post two as tasters. More here
Dec
29
Personal project: Zephyr. The Movie.
Filed Under My Blogs, Personal Projects | 2 Comments
When you work in advertising, or any creative field for that matter, your creative powers are greatly influenced by what you do outside of work. You need to create stuff for yourself, then put it out there. Set and forget. That’s why I write the SHNoos, and why I made the following video.
I am not a professional (as the sound quality of my voice over will demonstrate), but I think it showcases something that has influenced me lately. For your viewing and listening pleasure, please enjoy Zephyr, the movie.