Bunn-invasion.

Speed Rabbit Bravia


Have a look at this commercial. You might have already seen it on UK television as it was released very recently, but please watch it again. This is the third opus of the Sony Bravia campaign created by advertising agency Fallon London. After Balls and Paint, the color.like.no.other slogan is now demonstrated through a wave of play-doh rabbits in the streets of New York. Neat, creative, original... Well, there is some controversy around this later adjective as you can read it here and here, but this is not the purpose of this post.

I indeed want you to have a second look at it. Watch, and pay strong attention to details. Have you noticed now? No? Then have a third go... Focus on the first scenes. There, yes, on time-code 00:15. Indeed in the background... The red and white patch of colour. This is the real invasion of the TV commercial. Who cares about clay rabbits when aliens are amongst us... The bespoke patch is in fact a mosaic by French street artist Space-Invader, laid in 1999 in the street of Soho, in NYC (a better view is available here).

Addiction to invasion

I can already hear some of you in the back saying that I am probably the only one to have noticed this elusive presence in the back. The artist himself confirmed to me that he was not aware of his work being integrated by Sony, although he assumed that the director would have probably selected the location on purpose.

To a certain extend I agree, this is quite a furtive presence and you need to be trained to noticed such an invader in a urban surrounding. However I am not the only one to hunt these little space-invaders inspired by the eponymous video-game. More than a training this is an addiction shared by numerous street-art fans around the world who for instance keep track of their encounters on FlickR:

One of my own pictures, "Space-Invader is Watching you", more FlickR shots available here

When I use the word of "addiction", this is not too strong a word. I discovered the artist in the 90s in my home town of Grenoble, but was properly contaminated in London when I started taking pictures of the various mosaics I was seeing here and there. Since I have completely modified the way I walk in the street.

At every corner, I give a quick look over my shoulder, just to check that I have not missed one. Space Invader depicts is work as an "invasion of the (public) spaces", and you can read more details about his approach here. So, potentially, every location can host one of them... In Montpellier, for instance, the locations of mosaics were chosen so that, when placed on a map, they would form an image of a character. In London, their infiltration seems to be less systematic, and more random. It is consequently even more challenging to find them, especially since they are short-lived. Two of my discoveries in Farringdon and Brick Lane have already disappeared, stolen or taken down by the city services...

Convinced or interested in this artist, let me suggest to have a look at the street corners of your own city since Invader has already been active in more than 35 cities around the globe. There might be one of his mosaic just next door, looking at your car. Alternatively, for the lucky London readers, you can opt to visit the exhibition dedicated to his recent work at LAZARIDES gallery 8, Greek Street Soho, London W1D 4DG. Though don't expect any Sony camera there, unfortunately! However if you are really into Bunnies, I then recommend the current exhibition at Cosh Gallery, with some modern graphic design works on this animal ("The bunny show", until octobre 22nd, exhibition featuring Ben Frost, Hydro74, Bemodern, Mudwig, Si Scott, Airside, Pure Evil, Keith Watts, KozynDan, Mr Ian Wright, Pandayoghurt, Sean Alexander, Slinkachu, John Cossey...).

The bad education.

Let me introduce this apparently nice lot: from left to right, Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Laalaa and Po. If you have young children at home, you probably think you know too well those creatures and their very special language made of weird onomatopes. Well, you think and you are wrong. Under the furry cover hides the evil: the Teletubbies are in fact double-agents...

Liebst du Sie noch?

I personally discovered them in 1998 when living in Germany. I know that was two years after they went out of their Tubbytronic Superdome for the first time, but I had an alibi: I was 22 (slightly overage to be an early adopter). In Germany, like everywhere, the 4 characters were a phenomenon. Every child was in love with them... And I was curious. As a man of image, I was interested in the signs vehicled by these new icons.

I reckon I am no literate semiologist, however, there are some signs that were too obvious to be ignored:

• "Po" in German means Arse, and when you look at the Antenna of the relevant character... well, it is self-explanatory;
• Dispy's antenna, on the other hand, would be the centre-piece on any Dali's painting as the perfect phallic representation;
• The colours of this TV shows are reflecting the same spectrum as the Gay Pride flag;
• The TV programme was bought in France by Canal+, a paid-for TV broadcaster who was successful through football and Saturday night porn (there is obviously no ball in the Teletubbies...)
• And moreover, the episodes were infiltrated by what can be perceived as subliminal demonstration of Kamasutra positions:

Stop the conspiracy

So when last year, Reverend Jerry Falwell, former spokesman for America's Moral Majority, denounced the BBC TV children's show because Tinky Winky would be gay, I was relieved. I was no longer isolated. I knew that there were forces elsewhere to fight on my side against this conspiracy to turn our children into sex-slaves.

Seriously, I have decided to boycott this TV programme. So now every time I hear Itsy Bitsy catchphrases, I lock my daughter, Emmanuelle behind the green door of her room so that she can finish her essay on French literature... What was that book again? Oh, yeah... "Justine, ou les malheurs de la vertue" by Marquis de Sade. Now if with that kind of leisure time she does not get AAAAaaaaaah's at school, I don't understand anything at child education.

Mixing the cultures

Bacardi is well known for its tradition of mixing... They have launched a new TV commercial recently that illustrates this habit. Well executed in the below stated version, unfortunately the edited version that can be seen on the screens is less engaging:



Just looking forward to seeing how these brands can investigate other territories than music mixing which is now an overused cliché. When will they look at mixing the cultures for instance?

Burma, the world is watching

As a mountain dweller, I happen to go down in valleys. I am currently in the Thames' but I happen to have visited a few others, including Pagan's and its million of pagoda. This is probably one of my most enriching experience as a traveller.



Burma is a magnificent country, full of magnificent people who are there to open their heart, their homes... So it hurts me badly when I see what is going on there. So yes Burma, beware, the whole world is watching you!

Blade Runner in Nappies

As you can see on my mugshot, I am a great fan (and consumer) of razors. You could also read here a previous posts on this exciting topic of shaving. But in any case, I could not avoid relaying this commercial found on Sandrine's blog:

Fight For Kisses //// www.ffk-wilkinson.com
envoyé par killafather

A great execution enriched by many cross-references. As mentioned by Stephen Johnson in his book Everything Bad Is Good for You, that kind of multi-layered stories has a great chance to succeed in a society looking for increased complexity. And Johnson is true: as a matter of fact I am contributing to this viral campaign because it inspired me...

All under one roof

At the superMAZEket

After a year in London, I am still amazed by the way supermarkets are organised. Obviously the layout of the aisles has nothing to do with either what I experienced before in other countries, or with my merchandising classes... The aisles dedicated to canned beans or sliced bread are enormous but there is very little room left to baby food for instance (which is surprising when you see the number of pushchairs that are populating the British streets). It took us 3 months to find the pastries which were with the margarine, while we were looking for it on the pizza, puffed sausages... shelf, which was of course on the other side of the shop. And what to say about the presence of a pet food section in the middle of the food alleys?


But beyond the shop map, I am also surprised by the shelves themselves, and how products are displayed or organised. If you are a frequent reader of this blog you are probably aware my devious mind tends to see evil in grocery baskets (read here and here to catch up), but the latest experience was all the more eloquent.

Medicine man


This is the shelf I faced yesterday morning when doing my groceries (yes, I have more free time currently to do my groceries outside office hours:-P).


And another quirky smile on my face. With all these medicines, you have all in hands to handle your intimate life. A self-explanatory Anusol, a toothpaste for fresh breath, and a whole lot of aspirin tablets against the Saturday night "migraine". Ultimately, I am wondering whether this shelf implementation is not more efficient than the one I am used to. It is all under one roof. But on the other hand, if the way you work reflects the way you live, I pity the husband of the section manager. It must not be that funny every night.

Paper tigers

High-Low technology

It's amazing how technology can infant its own counter movement. As a matter of fact, the more hi-tech Internet becomes, the more it offers low-tech activities that empower the Internet users. Craft activities have indeed boomed thanks to the Internet... And although one of the key promise of the digital world is a paper-free world, several examples have demonstrated, on the contrary that Internet can encourage paper consumption. And I am not talking about people printing their emails or maps to this brand new night club their colleague mentioned at the coffee break. No. I am referring to brilliant craft ideas that echo the offline momentum around origami and other paper-based, basic fun.

I mentioned in a previous post that Kodak has launched a new home printer and accompanied this product release with some online activities. Part of this project was to offer parents some peace of mind when they are stuck at home with their kids. Kidscanprint.com is an activity centre that allows the struggling mothers to entertain their kids with craft activities, of course all printer-based (but as Kodak's advertising says, the fun is even funnier when it does not cost a fortune, referring to their promise that their machine could make you save up to 50% on everything you print). Anyway, this site makes you to dive back into your childhood and play finger football again...

Origamilitant

If you have not got enough with this pitch workout, you might consider Paper Critters. This site allows you to configure your own little paper robot. You fill the guides with loads of forms, images, colours, etc. Ultimately you create your very-own printable critter that you can fold and display on your desk as a proud representant of its online colony.

When you look at the gallery of paper critters, you realise that we are no longer talking of child's play here. This is serious business. Some very talented graphic designers are playing around with this little character. Just like origami is not a matter of making a plane of a boat, it can become way more complex.

Of course everyone has heard of the regressive trend that characterises the Generation-X. These young adults who enjoy partying on the rhythm of the cartoon soundtracks from the 80s. But I think that this is more than the Peter Pan syndrome, there is also a celebration of DIY in this phenomenon. It is all good to allow the machines do more and more, but sometime it is so great to realise that you can also do things by yourself. I mean beyond switching your computer on.

Hand-made has its own appeal. It might not be as perfect and flawless as a CAD product, but it has its virtues. It is yours, with your own efforts and sweat in it.

Amazing enough, an upcoming film celebrates this trend. A movie by one of the greatest commercial, video-clip, and now cinema director, academy-award winner Michel Gondry. In its upcoming feature, Be Kind Rewind, Gondry tells us the (his own?) story of two guys who decide to re-shoot the blockbusters of their video rental shop after one of them accidentally erases the originals.

This trailer is extremely promising, and totally backs up this article. Home-made is a growing trend and meets a very favourable response from the public who sometimes feel overwhelmed by the fast-paced technological development. So take out scissors and glue from the drawers, they are not over yet.

Corporate kitchenware

Fine-tuning the differences.

It has been more than a year since I arrived on the British soil, and I think that I have learned a lot. Obviously I am less and less surprised by the most obvious oddities of my daily life in London, but to a certain extend, I feel more acute to other disparities. For instance, I start picking up differences in the various Anglo-Saxon cultures.

I already published a post about how Kiwis, Yanks, Brits and Aussies are approaching life, but this time I wanted to focus on a short idiom I bumped into recently and which opened new horizons. I happened to read this book on pop culture by Steven Johnson (that I strongly recommend, by the way) and an American expression raised a great interest to me: "water cooler talks".

Every droplet of yesterday TV show

For the non-initiated, a "water cooler talk" is a casual, random discussion that occurs in an office. Why "water cooler"? Because, in the US, that is probably the best place to kill some time with cliches while your thirsty, and apparently faster, colleague is pouring his own cup of chilled water.

I was interested in this expression because I was trying to identify the most accurate translation. And I suddenly realised that I had my finger on a new cultural disparity. Water cooler are yet not very common in France. After all we are exporting some of the most sold mineral waters (Evian, Perrier, Volvic...) that must be because our sources are good enough for not being processed by these refrigerated columns.

So, as I am not questioning our ability to be on par with our American cousins when it comes to bullshitting about the yesterday TV show, I was wondering where these chats would take place.

For instant break, press 2.

In France, the central social place in a company is consequently not the water cooler, but the coffee machine. We are addicted to the black beverage, this machine is probably the best loophole for French workers especially since the smoking ban. People are queuing for their disgusting, industrial, instant coffee, but here is not the point. They are queuing for an instant of social life.

The coffee machine is an agora, an area of free expression, where you can mention the lightest things without constraints. Two French actors have capitalised on this social phenomenon and created a TV comedy, Camera Café, which depicts the life of a Small Business through the "eye" of the company's coffee machine. The chav sales rep, the pseudo psycho-socio-HR manager, the body-built chauffeur, the nympho secretary... All these grotesque characters converge to one point: the coffee machine.

It has been a success for several years on the French screens, and the success has now been expanding in other countries...

Caméra Café across the world (France, Italy, Belgium, Ireland, Poland, Quebec, Spain...)

Kitchen rituals

So why this televisual success and why there has been no English adaptation yet? The consumption of coffee on mainland Europe is more than an hydrating process, it is a cult, a sacred moment during which the barriers are falling. This ritual does exists in England, but the beverage is different. Although water coolers are populating the British open-spaces, they are not the central appliance of the company. The kettle is. No revelation here. Tea is anchored in UK traditions, and is consequently a central part in the company's life (see this previous post).

Kitchenware seems to be playing a critical role in a company's life and that must please my University friends working for the major houseware manufacturers: Seb, Rowenta, Braun and co. However, how come we are not referring to "kettle talks" then? Or "coffee machine discussion"? Probably because in Europe the social life of coworkers does not happen in the office, but elsewhere. The best equivalent to "water cooler talks" is indeed "Discussions de comptoir" in France (counter chats) or "Pub talks" in the UK if my readings of this sociological book on the English is accurate.

Should we see in this vocabulary a reflection of our perception of the role of companies in our social life: very central in the US, more secondary in Europe? Sorry, I won't provide you with a definitive answer on this one, we are Friday now, and it's about time for me to go debate less implicating topics at my local pub. Cheers.

Watch your language...

The Swedish company Locum thought they would bring some "love" into their logo for some communication. They might have brought a little more than expected... That is the trick with words: they might mean something in a country, but they can also convey other meanings in other countries. All this because of the Babylon tower and the end of the adamic language. The guy up there did a great job so that cross-cultural experience is always a delight...

Axe me this Lynx

Spread the fragrance, and the word.

Lynx in English-speaking countries, in the rest of the world, the male bodycare brand has been setting a new standards in brand management in the recent years. They have managed to turn a pretty dull to an iconic brand. I still remember the TV commercial for this brand when I was younger: a men coming out of a plane being welcome by a clumsy female bomb on the tarmac. She will drop her notes and when realising the tantalising fragrance coming from the man torso will drop them again to repeat the pleasure...

Nothing to compare with the current campaigns, except that the brand promise remains the same: the seduction power. To achieve this shift, Unilever has been working with some of the greatest ad agencies in the world, including BBH and Lowe Hunt. And these brilliant partners have brought the brand to other spheres beyond traditional advertising.

From the bathroom to the Internet

Axe was indeed one of the first brands to enter the digital era by creating MySpace page, having some blog-friendly activities to seed branded content in the blogosphere, fantastic online activities such as feather or blow to engage their customers in fun branded experience... Their latest campaign "bom chicka wah wah" has even allowed the brand to own a verbal gimmick that echoes in the schoolyards. After all, which brand would not dream to have future endorsers enrolled that young?

And what can contribute to seduce these young, not yet customers? Attitude definitely, but also uniting codes. Vocabulary and slogans are definitely part of them, but music has always been a strong unifier too, especially for the MTV Generation. This is probably the reason why the music has been at the core of the recent campaigns:

A first intrusion in the music territory

But with the new campaign, they have gone one step further: they have created Pussy Cat Doll like girl band that will simply deliver their brand proposition during 2'56"... That's is a nice way to get around the constraints of traditional advertising, and to break another mould.

A 2'56" TVC

And since I am talking about the Axe advertising saga, I cannot resist sharing with you this brilliant Australian integrated campaign developed by Lowe: Lynx Jet. No need to explain or comment, this little video is quite self-explanatory...

By doing all this, Axe has become a modern and empathetic brand in synch with its fun-loving consumers. However I am slightly concerned. As a marketer. The brand promise is indeed being diluted. It is less and less a matter of seduction power, but a slow drift towards blond semi-naked models... So please dear advertisers, keep on entertaining us with your creativity but do not fall into easy-winning but less relevant communication pieces.

PC attack...

It was about time that someone informs the public of the risks that we computer heavy users are facing...

A well-polished site is displaying videos and photos of laptop attacks. Videos, photos, advice to escape the threat... Apparently following the launch of the new Nokia smartphone, computers around the world have decided to unite and to strike back. They would be jealous that we would pay less attention to them now that the new Nokia toy is out.

That's probably I keep on petting my laptop, cuddling its keypad, feeding it with new digital pictures and MP3, etc. Nice PC, nice...

This is not a method!

Shaking Chirac

There are some moments of history that simply impact you forever. One of those was a Jacques Chirac's visit in the Gaza Band while touring Middle East. Protected by the Israeli secret services, he was enjoying one of his favourite hobbies: human bathing and hand shaking.

On the one hand, understandingly enough, the Israeli bodyguards were very nervous about protecting a foreign president in a critical area. They were consequently pushing away the crowd, sometimes a little bit too vehemently. On the other hand, Jacques was stretching his long arms to reach Palestinians' hands and shake them fraternally...

And suddenly our former president could not take it anymore. He turned to the bodyguards and shout at them in English: "Stop this! This is not a method, this is provocation... What do you want? Me... Me to go back to my country?" (EDIT: see here)

Agent Provocateur cola

Well, funny enough, this quote came to my mind immediately when going to the tube, I saw this scene:

On the left, Coca-Cola British headquarters in Hammersmith. Opposite the street, on your right, a Megabanner for their rival, Pepsi asking to put some to the taste! Now if this is not provocation... And Pepsi does not stop at cola brands, they also get rocking with other industries like fragrance as you can read here.

American dream...

Who said that the US were hating France? Well, some of the American overtly enjoy my home country. Sometimes even more than myself. Enjoy the fun...

From the Bill Maher Show

A brief story of time

Every morning litany.

The London Tube is class of its own. You have to live the experience to really appreciate its sweet melody that tries to make your commuting seem shorter than it actually is. Because it is usually quite a long journey that you have to endure when traveling from home to your office, and vice-versa.

Thankfully, Transport for London (TfL) has come up with a solution: they try to hypnotise their travellers with a recurring lullaby whose lyrics sound a bit like: "Mind the gap", "Let the passenger off the train first", "minor delays", "report any unattended items", "mind the closing doors", "part closure", "touch in and touch out", "no service between...", "move right inside the carriage", "use any available space", "CCTV is in operation in the station", etc.

You got it, the tube is a nightmare. And if you add to the high temperatures, the noise and the smell (no reference to our former president J. Chirac here), then the nightmare can rapidly become hell on earth. Well, you can argue that calling the underground hell is to a certain extend rational. But still...

Killing time.

So everyone tries to turn this pain into a positive experience. Some digest junk information from cheap newspapers, they gulp gossips and football transfers as they sip their latte ; some look at the public transportation as a photo studio and multiply the snapshots about the tube ; some write emails on their blackberry and some write songs. And sometimes some IT guys develop programs to materialise how much time they waste in public transportation.


Found on Tom Carden's blog this Flash application is quite interesting: click on the desired station, and you will instantly see how far it is from the other station of the network. Interesting, clever, smooth, nice but theoretical and consequently useless since this application does not take into consideration "signal failures" or "customer incidents".

Sorry, but even if you use a keyboard to compose such a program, the cacophony from the TfL orchestra will cover you efforts. Nice attempt though...

Street advice

When I came across this billboard, I could not avoid smirking... As a matter of fact, I was not aware that builders could also be great sexologist! But, after reading their motto, you must acknowledge that it could indeed save you "hundreds" on expensive consultations with conjugal advisers. Thanks Arriba Scaffolding!