The Tribeca Film Festival launched in 2001, founded by Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal, as a means of using the power of film to usher in joy and hope to a city reeling from the devastation of 9/11. Two decades later, as the world-renowned festival honors its 20th anniversary, the organization has undergone brand overhaul in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.The widely recognizable existing logo needed updating to reflect its revised name and to celebrate the festival’s 20th anniversary. Since its featured roster have expanded beyond film to include TV, art, comedy, talks, games, podcasts, immersive experiences, virtual programs, and more, the festival was renamed as the more media-inclusive Tribeca Festival. The new comprehensive celebratory rebrand (by Pentagram) features a bold and colorful anniversary logo along with a new bright color palette, dynamic typography (utilizing Druk and Basis Grotesque typefaces) and clever animations. It all screams celebration and is both distinctive and joyful. The new branding is comprehensive covering event graphics, advertising, promotional materials, posters, video and social media. While we continue to struggle through the challenges of the pandemic, the Tribeca Festival continues to entertain, celebrate the arts and give us a good reason to get together and enjoy the show. Bravo!!!
Category: Advertising
Luxury retail re-introduces itself
Neiman Marcus has been through a lot including significant team restructuring, refinancing, acquisitions and high-level design partnerships following its emergence from bankruptcy over one year ago. Its new campaign hopes to show the company’s growth and transformation, re-introducing itself to customers in a fresh new light. The new campaign to debut this fall is broad with both still photography and video, all communicating dramatic visual stories around the juxtaposition of customers’ re-emergence to work, life and nature. Digital campaign stories will be shared throughout the season on social media platforms and the retailer’s homepage, in addition to the brand’s own publication, The Book, which will feature a range of exclusive interviews with established brands, designers and creatives. New, exclusive brands are the leading force of the campaign with the retailer hoping to reach existing and new customers with new style perspectives in a dramatically changing world. Like so many things, time will tell. Curious to see if one of the old guards of luxury retail can stake a claim in the new world of fashion. We’ll be watching…
Packaging storytelling
New brand identity for international content and distributor. Simple brand mark and distinctive color palette lays the groundwork for a clean, bold presentation of the company’s strengths and capabilities. Quality storytelling fro this brand all about storymaking. Designed by Moving Brands. Bravo!
GM repositions for the electric car
GM follows fellow carmakers Volkswagen, Toyota, BMW, and Nissan in adopting cleaner, more digital-friendly branding in anticipation of a future centered around electric vehicles. The new brand’s redesign features a reversal from white-on-blue to blue-on-white delivers a lightness that may help consumers accept the brand as a more environmentally responsive company. Moving to all lower case as many have done is understandable (more user-friendly/accessible/technology-driven), but seems unconvincing for the once-almighty GM. The underscore has been slimmed down significantly, now positioned only under the “m”. Apparently, the negative space here is meant to suggest or represent an electric plug. The new logo’s rounded corners and blue color scheme including a gradient closely resembles a smartphone app icon. Not a bad thing, certainly. GM is also featuring inspiring influencers who promote change in print, tv and video versions of the ads. They include professional surfer Bethany Hamilton, gamer Erin A. Simon, fitness instructor Cody Rigsby, and author Malcolm Gladwell. All in all, a rationale move by the former largest carmaker in the world. Does it represent a brand or company committed to change and electric vehicles (phasing out internal combustion engines by 2035)? We say it does not. The typography, the colors, the underline and the app-like frame. While we often support the evolution of a brand identity, this one just leaves us cold. Not cold in a techy kind of way, but cold in a bland and undistinguishable way. Remember, the brand represents values and personality. And then there’s Tesla…
Good morning everybody
Brilliant online campaign (YouTube) for New Zealand Tourism. Everyday for 366 days, everyday Kiwis became global tourism ambassadors for New Zealand with a simple “Good Morning World”. Created by Special Group, the content was always shot in the morning and often was topical with what was happening in the world. It had to at times be sensitive to events of day like the heartbreaking events surrounding the White Island Volcano eruption. Every execution of the online campaign had 8 different formats, was subtitled in over 6 different languages resulting in over 2,700 versions. We love this simple, but relatively ambitious effort. A perfect example of using video to deliver a simple, impactful message over time. (source: Create with Google) ❤️ ❤️ ❤️
Thom Browne’s holiday fantasy
… mr. reindeer’s dream …
in the quiet of nowhere, a dream. empty but for a glowing house … up is down, down is up, looking up, a snow-flocked tree looks down, looking ahead, a blue-antlered reindeer enters the scene … a wooden dancer, at rest in black tie tails and tutu. mr. reindeer approaches, pulls out his grosgrain key and winds. one crank, two cranks, three… dancer, the masterpiece, springs to life … a plié, an arabesque, a grand jeté. dancer takes the stage, mr. reindeer applauds with delight, a magnificent show, soon to be shared … nearby, on mr. reindeer’s pebble leather desk pad, a list. a top secret, confidential, don’t tell anyone, very important holiday list … who gets what and what goes to whom, mr. reindeer takes note and examines his haul … four-bar holiday stockings … grosgrain ribbons … grey faille boxes … a tree trimmed with lights and grosgrain ribbon bows … the scene is now set, the guests enter, bundled in a holiday sweaters featuring holiday joys, bows and ornaments and hector in a hat a patchwork skirt, a patchwork sweater, a patchwork hand crocheted scarf … with a pirouette, dancer is at the pile of gifts. to you good sir, an aran cable classic crewneck. to you dear madam, a full set of fragrance. to both, a down-filled four bar scarf … floating through the air, another round of gifts, the guests are back for more … a holiday hector with snowman pullover, a prince-of-wales cardholder. for the study, a pen holder with gold pen and a black leather notebook … the guests once again, more gifts in the air, is hector wearing a tuxedo? it’s a black tie affair … with that, a “happy holidays”, and “thank you for coming” … “goodbye, my guests, see you next year” … for mr. reindeer and dancer, one last plié, one more arabesque. one more pirouette … before dancer winds down, he offers a note, with the gleam of a letter opener, pulled from its black pebble grain case. a flourish, a lightning swipe, the letter is clear … …thank you mr. reindeer… …oh no… …what have you done… …one tear… discover thom browne gifting now, on thombrowne.com
Perfect together
What is romance these days? The recently released commercial for Match.com from Ryan Reynolds’ Maximum Effort production company, with Satan himself meeting his perfect match in a petit, athleisure-clad woman, the hellish year, 2020 offers a humorous take on finding one‘s true love (or at least a date). Set to Taylor Swift’s 2008 smash-hit “Love Story,” Together, they romp around reveling in the decline of modern society, stealing toilet paper from public restrooms, catching a movie in an empty theater, and enjoying an empty football stadium in pandemic-ravaged America. Certainly captures today’s vibe. All set to Taylor Swift. Good for a few chuckles. May God help us…
Office party, 90s Gucci style
The celebrity advertising campaign lives on with Apple and the evolving Mac
Another installment of the under appreciated “Behind the Mac” advertising campaign debuted during Apple‘s “One More Thing” special event last week. The new advertising spot again featured celebrities, musicians, journallists or notable people who use the machine to create music, television, movies and more. Set to Raury’s “Take Back the Power,” the ad transitions between photographs and video clips of Kendrick Lamar, Gloria Steinem, Billie Eilish, RuPaul, Tarana Burke, Spike Lee, Stephen Colbert, Takashi Murakami, Iris Apfel, Saul Perlmutter and Lisa Simpson. They are all featured using a Mac (surprise, surprise) and according to Apple, have all participated in the commercial “honor” SMASH.org, an organization that seeks to build a diverse tech workforce by providing equal access to STEM for students of color. The commercial is another typically beautifully produced spot from the tech giant. We especially like the music and voiceover, “There’s a certain kind of person who doesn’t take no for an answer. They don’t walk in quietly. They parade in, trailblazing, eyebrow-raising, status quo-breaking, grazing greatness, braving hatred and taking up space. Never got a set at the table so we can’t sit and behave. We’d rather defy the rules and amaze. There’s a certain kind of person who doesn’t wait for greatness. They make it.” Yes, and btw, we love our new Macbook Pros…
With challenges, come progress + victory
After launching full-coverage swimsuits and hijabs to help make swimming more inclusive, Nike has just debuted a new Victory Swim ad that is another inspiring piece of advertising. The ad by longtime agency Wieden + Kennedy begins with a mom teaching her young daughter how to swim. It then cuts to women diving into pools, strapping into scuba gear, surfing the waves, and rowing along the water, showing all the places you can go and things you can experience when you learn to take that first plunge. As the daughter swims away on her own, her mom declares, “Don’t stop now!” Beautifully shot and scripted in signature Nike style. Empowering is a great thing these days. Girl power!
