Two guys, a car and a TV spot

Production of our latest TV spot is happening this week. And since we are casting, shooting and editing all in the same week, we thought we'd take you behind the scenes as we go from concept to commercial. Here's a taste. We'll post updates from 'Casting' to the big reveal of the final spot. Stay tuned.

The actors

Will one of these duos be 'Dude 1' & 'Dude 2'?

The car

David at RPC can get us pretty much whatever we want. But what will be the better fit: Muscle or modern?

The locale

This parking lot will be our playground.

IT_Behind_the_Scenes

NASCAR fan experience: A party from front to back

Recently, we helped create the Metropolis 400 - a NASCAR fan experience a few miles from the Speedway leading up to this weekend's Brickyard 400.

Metropolis outdoor mall in Plainfield played host as fans lined up to race tricycles through obstacle courses and for their chance to zip around in an official street-legal NASCAR 2-seater.

The kids even got into the act with their own Mini Metropolis 400, racing remote control cars.

Street thug terrorizes street with art

Lock your doors, residents of Raleigh, North Carolina - there is a criminal on the loose. The perps name is Joseph Carnevale, a sticky-fingered college student with a penchant for preying on innocent victims. Carnevale, willingly and knowingly, came up with the idea to take orange traffic barrels and turn them into a sculpture. Motorists were amused. Even the construction company whose $365 worth of barrels was stolen thought "it was pretty neat." Well, Officer Hourigan wasn't amused, charging him with larceny and destruction of property misdemeanors. "If someone destroys property, we're going to take care of that situation." She also said that despite the public support of the art, that charges will not be dropped. The sculpture was immediately taken down the next morning. You get 'em Hourigan! Do whatever it takes! Get Chris Hanson from Dateline NBC if you have to.

C'mon, what do you expect an art major in this economy to do?

First-class ideas from Once Upon a School

It is no secret that our schools are underfunded. And with the slashing of education budgets as states work to make ends meet, there has never been a greater need to find creative solutions for schools from their communities. Enter Once Upon a School, the site that helps you find fun and engaging ways to support your local public school.

A response to the wish of TEDizen and author Dave Eggers for a place where inspiring stories of how people are working to improve learning environments can be shared, the site is as charming as it is chivalrous.

One idea that especially caught our attention was 'Traveling the World Through Chocolate' supported in part by Katrina Markoff of Vosges Haut-Chocolat (you have to respect someone who can create a Dark Chocolate Bacon bar).

GreenGraffiti cleans up the ad business

GreenGraffiti has powerwashed Domino's logos into dirty sidewalks across America as part of the pizza chain's 'American Legends' campaign. Laying a stencil down on the street, they spray the self-proclaimed eco-friendly images into the grime on the street using a high-pressure water hose.

Now, before the skeptic in you scoffs at the environmental claim, our internal cynic already did some digging and found things like GreenGraffiti invests in a water harvesting project for each liter of water they use, and the stencils are made from recycled materials. Heck, they even claim their web site is powered by the wind.

More than 200 of these Domino’s ads currently litter the streets of New York, L.A. and Philly.

Eternal Moonwalk of the spotless mind

Group 94 and Mortierbrigade have created the Eternal Moonwalk for Studio Brussels - a spot-on tribute to Michael Jackson complete with virtual tape measure.




Using a simple video-extending concept similar to soccer juggling videos from Nike and JogaTV, these bad-ass Belgians have made it super easy to add your take on the coolest dance move this side of, well, the moon.

Don't have the moonwalk down? Take your refresher course here.

UPDATE: Make your own MJ playlist off Grooveshark, get some Caffeine and you've got a sweet party backdrop.

Design in the land of Ahmadinejad

With the current unrest in Iran, we thought it would be appropriate to revisit the Seattle-Tehran Poster Show, originally on display last year at Bumbershoot.

This design-driven gesture of good will compares the visual approaches artists from these adopted sister cities use to interpret the local culture from music to movements.




The show was to go to Tehran after Bumbershoot last fall. We wondered if the show did, indeed, make it there, so we tracked down show curator David Smith.

“Months ago, my co-curator and I thought it best to wait until after elections because the political environment was becoming more difficult there," shared Smith. "We haven't given up hope yet, but clearly it will be some time before the exhibit can possibly go to Tehran.”

You can also check out Seattle-Havana and preview the new Seattle-Moscow show.

Skin is the new denim

Proving the universal truth that selling jeans is really about seeing more skin, two major jean companies have recently used the same provocative photographer for their new ad campaigns.

Ryan McGinley, buzz-worthy photographer known for his carefree, and often clothes-free, photographs of youth frolicking through nature, is the chosen visionary for both brands.

Levi's launches its new campaign today with the tag “Go Forth.” And Wrangler recently launched a rebranding with “We Are Animals.”

Even though McGinley’s voyeuristic lens captures images for both, the campaigns are quite different in tone.

Levi's takes a rebellious, young American approach, while Wrangler creeps darker and more primal to say the least. Pictured is one of the tame ones (more here)…thank goodness it's only appearing in France. Americans are not prepared for something so very…how you say…French.

Case in point, the removal of a recent Calvin Klein Jeans billboard from Houston Street in New York City. It’s nothing new for Calvin’s imagery to make the grown-ups nervous, but this made even jaded New Yorkers blush. Judge for yourself. Now go immediately to church.