It is always very touching to see when big brands like Volkswagen take a step back, slow down and just do something nice for humanity.

Obviously, the amount of positive feedback after such operations is highly beneficiary for any brand, nevertheless the effort of giving is worth it. In this case, Volkswagen created the Wishwagen for the 24h of Tremblant annual ski marathon that benefits sick children in Canada. People were able to send their good wishes to children, wishing them all the best, sharing their own experiences with illness, and trying to make them feel better.

Credits:

Agency: Palm + Havas, Montreal, Canada
Client: Volkswagen
Creative Director: Pascal De Becker

Date: Jan, 2012

Forget the lame sponsor and brand appearance in music videos. OK Go’s new clip was made in partnership with Chevrolet, but with a very clever solution.

The band recorded its Needing/Getting song with over 1,000 instruments, with a car, and with Chevy Sonic. It’s insane, isn’t it? But the craziness and ambition worth it. The clip was released only a few days ago and this not-so-famous band has already got over 6 million views on YouTube.

What and how did they do it? Out in the desert near Los Angeles, a two miles long pathway was set up with over 1,000 instruments such as pianos, guitars, glasses. A Chevy Sonic was outfitted with retractable pneumatic arms designed to play the instruments. The video took 4 months of preparation and 4 days of shooting. Damian, the singer, even had to take stunt driving lessons for everything to go smoothly.

Good music, a car filled with crazy guys playing in a band are exactly what girls melt for. So, challenge is laid down for the other boy bands.

Credits:

Client: OK Go
Director: Brian L. Perkins & Damian Kulash, Jr.
Producer: Luke Ricci

Date: Feb, 2012

The spots appeal to the ‘how you don’t want to end up’ circumstances and showcases hilarious scenarios when you make bad decisions. Obviously, absurd ways of happenings are pictured, but exactly these ridiculous incidents give the ‘whoa-factor’ to the ads.
I’m wondering whether any of these have happened to the copywriters ever. Anyways, hats off.

Credits:

Agency: Grey, New York, USA
Client: Direct TV
Chief Creative Officer: Tom Myhren
Executive Creative Director: Dan Kelleher

Date: Jan, 2011

If you think winter is only snowboard-time and wakeboarding is just for summertime, you are wrong. This cool video illustrates not just breathtaking images of the Alaskan landscape, but also the craziness of Team Hydrus. Ignore the cold and get out there to experience the wildest things. Be prepared for the wind to pick you up.

The Nelly Furtado song in Bassnectar’s remix is surprising in the video. Surprisingly good.

Credits:

Production: UpDown Prod.
Music: Bassnectar

Date: Jan, 2011

What is also great about Beckham creating for Hennes & Mauritz, that he himself can pose for the ads of the collection. As a result, the footballer decided to draw a line of men’s underwear for the fashion brand, and also to be the face of the collection. Talk about multitasking.

The subtle but sexy black and white spot aired for the first time during Sunday’s Super Bowl night, which is always a main attraction for advertisers.

Credits:

Client: H&M
Music: Nina Simone

Date: Feb, 2011

The spot shows Little Red Riding Hood getting lost. A little bit of cliché up until now, but the creepy-modern-ghetto ambiance and the tension is set up so well, that we forgive about that. Photography supports the concept perfectly, the realization is artistic. The spectator is tuned finely for an explosive climax… But do you get the answer that you expected? It is a little bit disappointing; it hardly measures up to the potential.

Creativity, to its core, is about connecting the unrelated cunningly. This time the gag is only for its own sake, it does not support the drawn relation. It seems that Little Red is either fleeing in paranoia, or she is simply dumb. Great product, bad ad.

For this one it was pointless to take her out to the woods.

Credits:

Agency: Co Plus, Denmark
Client: Bang & Olufsen
Creative Director: Claus Møllebro
Director: K-Roll

Date: Jan, 2012

Apart from the heart-warming story, this film is remarkable because it is old-fashioned and cutting-edge at the same time. The movie reminisces back to silent films and MGM Technicolor musicals. The new technology and also a challenge for competitors is that this animation blurs the features of a picture book and an ebook, thus, being turned into an app-style eBook for iPad that will have readers rethinking their engagement with the device as a storytelling machine.

The protagonist of the narrative is Mr. Lessmore who is a humorous allegory of what a healing power books may have. Books are our friends, our listeners and our advisors. This is a beautiful illustration of how books bring color to our lives and they create the unbelievable, and also they take a large part of one’s life to produce, to invent and to build. The best we can do is to let them go on their ways; from hand to hand and from heart to heart. This genuine animation pays tribute to books, to imagination and subtly touches upon the theme that our world without fantasy and thoughts would be like it was after the Hurricane Katrina.

After watching this brilliant work of art, I’m convinced that the Oscars-nomination is well-deserved and I wish the best of luck to the authors.

Credits:

Creative Direction: William Joyce, Brandon Oldenburg
Production: Moonbot Studios

Date: Jan, 2012

Brilliance of art directory! Cooking is indeed a form of art, and it is vibrantly expressed in the new spot of Lurpak Lightest Spreadable.

Wieden+Kennedy prove that eating vegetables doesn’t necessarily need to be boring.  Moreover, they make healthy food a cheerful and vivid image, which is obviously transmitted to the butter.

Photography is distinctly spectacular and exciting to look at. This parade of colors just makes you want to rewind the spot until you get completely hungry. The accompaniment of a jovial little tune, which stays with you for the rest of your day, just assures that you never get tired of this film… and, presumably, of healthy nutrition.

I would ramble on gladly, but instead I’m gonna fix up a quick salad. Who’s with me?!

Credits:

Agency: Wieden+Kennedy, USA
Client: Lurpak
Director: Dougal Wilson
Art Director: Andy Kelly

Date: Jan, 2012

Dare Vancouver came up with the concept of ‘Never Stop’ for Milk that keeps young athletes in good health.

Milk not only gives you good health, according to Dare Vancouver, but also can help you find yourself and be able to choose what’s the best field for you.

Credits:

Agency: Dare Vancouver
Client: Milk
Director: Mark Zibert

Date: Jan, 2012

Mike Matas and his girlfriend spent one week together in Japan travelling around the country and having the ultimate Japanese experience.

Just like anyone else, Matas took about 4,000 pictures out of which he selected enough good ones to edit and create this amazing time lapse video. Nice work, especially with the dynamic of the pictures following the flow of the beautiful piano music!

Credit:

Director: Mike Matas

Date: Nov, 2011

Young Ben Joyner made this video summarizing his cross country trip around the USA last summer.

Joyner travelled across 13 states and documented his adventures and experience, which he later put together in this short film to the tunes of “Hearts” by I Break Horses. The original video directed by Alex Southam for the song was the actual source of inspiration for Joyner’s film.

Credits:

Director: Ben Joyner
Music: I Break Horses

Date: Dec, 2011

Kien Lam quit his job, packed his bags and bought a one way ticket to London. That one flight let him to more, 17 countries to be precise.

During his trips, he took almost 7,000 pictures and this is how this beautiful short time lapse film was born. The pictures of the incredible landscapes are put together to the original music composed by William Lam.

Credits:

Director: Kien Lam
Music: William Lam

Date: Jan, 2012

This is a documentary film about extreme sports: skate, ski, snowboard, surf and bike.

Why is this different from the other extreme sport videos? Because it’s not just about the beautiful images, well-executed tricks, exciting moves and performances. It tells a story. A story of friends, for whom a country was unknown and decided to discover it, to live it and to use what the country has to offer. This is a tribute to the landscape of Chile. It is a journey made by friends, who are passionate about sports, to an unknown destination.

These are the core intentions of this movie. To show the joy of discovery, friendship and sport. Exquisitely photographed and edited movie with great music choices and with a flowing dynamic. The Chorus project made it possible to see a country like Chile through the eyes of Europeans.

Credits:

Direction: Guilhem Machenaud
Sponsors: Btwin, OxeloSkateboards, Wedze & Tribord

Date: Jan, 2012

This video had a double purpose. One is to present what an amazing capacity and features the new Nikon 4D has and to seek some answers for the ultimate question ’Why?’

Extreme sportsmen are often faced with the question ’why?’ Why do they need the thrill? Why do they seek the risk? In a world where everybody seems to play for certainty and tries to take a minimal level of risk, thrill lovers are somewhat outsiders. They see things differently and have an inverse priority. So, it is worth to raise the question to them ’why?’ and ’how?’, this is what Corey Rich does. He filmed three adventurers—a kayaker, a mountain biker and a mountain climber. Besides the breathtaking images, he got his answers.

Extreme sports and nature are all about diversity. Every waterfall, every rock, and every mountain is different. You have to adapt yourself to those changes in situations, turn the voices of the outside and inside world off and go on ’auto pilot’. Because nothing else matters, only the moment you are in. These are the purest and most distilled moments, where only you and the challenge exist. Fear? Yes, there is fear in life. But without fear, it wouldn’t be the same.

Overcoming the fear makes it worth to do it.

Credit:

Direction: Corey Rich

Date: Jan, 2012

This is a time lapse video made by Alexander Began. Time lapses are not new or original, but the perspective the photographer has is always different than the others.

This time, the urban Murmansk was in the focus of the author and its mechanical scenes. My favorite is how the derricks move. It’s like being in a futuristic city where everything is ruled and done by robots. Freak! It’s easy to immerse in the urban sights of the video because the music About You by Moonbeam even enhances the effect of the images.

The video was entirely filmed with Canon 5D Mark II.

Credits:

Direction and Photography: Alexander Began
Music: Moonbeam

Date: Jan, 2012