Hello Inspiration

Hello Inspiration is a collection of daily internet links. No text, no opinionated rants just image links to the best of web. The blog is open to the public, simply email Helloinspiration@gmail.com for an invite. Check it out at Hello Inspiration

Censorship

A couple of of days ago I was having a conversation with a friend about SEO and I started to wonder about the challenges facing companies and agencies while marketing their products online overseas. How does a company or agency reach an international online community when governments are filtering your message and is it irresponsible for agencies to find a way to subvert these filters in order to reach their target? The Advertising industry has a long history of pushing the envelop when it comes to public decency but what about political censorship? It's all well and good to run a human rights campaigns targeted at China here in the states in an English speaking magazine, everyone will applaud you, but what about actually using that "web-savvy" agencies are always patting themselves on the back for to actually reach your real target overseas.

Where's My Sign?

For someone who admits that they don't know how to use a computer, John McCain gets interactive with personalized "Joe the Plumber" signs available on his website. Simply fill in your name, occupation and email address and you receive a personal McCain Palin sign. I'm sorry but this is genius. It's easy, it's well designed and it illicits email address of possible voters. I filled mine out hoping I could hang it outside my door by the end of the day but it's been about an hour and no sign of my sign. Make yours here. Thanks Joe.

Via www.JohnMcCain.com

Al The Shoe Salesman Gets a Tax Cut

Joe The Plumber might not get a tax cut under the Obama plan but you know who does? Al The Shoe Salesman. How about you? Find out at Obama-Biden Tax Calculator.

Via Joe The Designer.

Bring the Payne

I'm really digging the new Max Payne trailers. With a fanatical video game fan base eagerly awaiting the film version of the uber violent Rockstar game, I was really hoping that the new Max Payne movie website would be equally as interesting and in-depth as both the video game and the trailer but alas, a splash page, two movie trailers and a couple movie stills and a registration page? Huge missed opportunity there.

Add-Art Now Available for Firefox 3

Introduction to Add-Art from Steve Lambert on Vimeo.

To be used while looking through all of the other Ad blogs out there that critique and criticize bad ads while at the same time enabling applications such as adsense and google search words to cover their page in crap banners and other mindless word generated web ads. You can find Add-Art at Add-Art.org Now if the new Firefox would just stop crashing...

via F.A.T.

The Progression of a Brand

DC Shoe company, has launched easily one of my favorite campaigns of the year. The campaign, "Progression" was kicked off with a $25 coffee table book, Agents of Change featuring photography chronicling the shoe company's rise to be one of the most influential athletic brands of all time. Says DC President Ken Block of the book,

"It puts it all in perspective...People involved in the sports can look at the book for the stories on the athletes and the photos, but its reach is huge beyond that."

The campaign is equally far reaching, a recent relaunch of the DC website matches the solemn black & White photography and elegant story telling of the book and sits in stark contrast to how the public viewed the alternative sports industry in the 1990's. In August the company aired the first commercial toting the progression tag line and an equally solemn yet elegant track "Figure 8" originally from the show, School House Rocks provides a surreal sound track. DC seems to have tapped into something amazing in that they have realized that their customers like the company itself, has grown up in the last couple years and that the 14 year-old year athlete in 1994, is now turning 28.

Designers for Obama

www.designforobama.com allows users to Rate Obama
inspired designs or submit their very own Obama art.


With the goal of supporting Barack Obama’s campaign for presidency, Design/ers for Obama will introduce new tools and opportunities to web-powered grass roots organizing that has already revolutionized campaigning. Design/ers for Obama is a community for Obama supporters, whether visually inclined or not, to aggregate and rate Obama poster art that is available for download in a variety of sizes that can be easily printed by any and everyone. At such a turbulent (yet exciting) time in our nation’s history, collaboration has never been more important.

via Design You Trust.

Bump & Grind

OK, so I'm not a huge fan of Grind House era B-horror movies but I've seen a fair bit and I can appreciate the art direction of the new Agent Provocateur interactive web movie but to be interactive the users has to be interested enough to at least stick around. After about 10min of cackling and tomato eating I had had enough so I attempted to purposely fail at the interactive game of "saving the virgin" and get the hell out of there only to be asked the choose-your-own-adventure style question a second time. I appreciate the idea and the nod to kitsch horror but the payoff here seems to be an endless reel of tomato fetish.

via Adverblog.

Nike Takes it to the Next Level

Take it to the Next Level


The Untouchables

Proving once again that Nike is untouchable when it comes to playing up the emotion of booth the professional and amateur athlete alike, NikeSoccer brings us this stellar first person soccer experience. Not a soccer fan? You are now.

Internet Killed the Video Star

Arcade Fire's Neon Bible

With more and more music fans looking for videos online, it was only a matter of time before the music video itself became interactive. For their new song Neon Bible, Arcade Fire tapped the director/action script programer Vincent Morisset for this dark vaudevillian inspired gem. The Neon Bible music video(?) seems like only the beginning for online music video's interactive potential. Expect big things to come from this still untapped corner of the web in the coming months.

Where Do You Think Yuri Going?

I'm really hoping Nike campaigns the new Yuri ads to other sports. I'm not sure if "run like you have never run before" really fits as the tag line here but I love the idea of the internal dialougue even though the Eastern European brogue comes off a little too Borat, we will excuse this for the excellent script and casting. What I can't forgive are spots that continue to direct the consumer to their website and then leaves the user to sift through endless content with little or no direction.


WTF?

The Yuri spot end with a simple claim, "Challenge Yuri at nikeplus.com". Fine. There is only one problem, the link takes you to the nike homepage. If you thought you were being directed to instantly interact with more of the lovable Yuri you better start clicking. After 5 minutes of searching through the Nike site and being asked to enter endless fields of information I gave up. Usually, the user has less patience than that. The lesson here is use the backslash (/)! and don't ask more from the consumer than what you are giving them. If they like the site, product or message they'll stay.

Also, if anyone actually finds the "challenge Yuri" section of this site, there is a reward.

SIRE Sees What Most Sites Lack

A good microsite, like any piece of advertising should unfold like a good mystery novel. It should target the emotions of the user, it should steadily build in anticipation and should always, always return the users patience and time with a good payoff. In The Netherlands, children play a game called ‘Ik zie ik zie wat jij niet ziet’, which translates as ‘I see I see what you don’t see’. The English equivalent of the game is ‘I spy with my little eye’. SIRE, a foundation for Non-commercial Campaigns has transformed this seemingly innocent children’s game into a beautiful and chilling interactive site to bring attention to child abuse. Full site here.

Underwater Music

web game by One Lucky Guitar Inc.

Most of the time web games are utterly useless. They have little to do with the product or service of a site and the user experience is often less engaging than Pacman. Of course there are exceptions to this rule. The new web game featured on the band, Pinback's website is by no means engaging. It's not particularly useful either but it does give users something to do while listening to the band's new album, Autumn of the Seraphs...which is ultimately the point. A web game isn't going to make me buy a new car (BMW, Scion) but it may make me buy it's soundtack.

Here's Stella!

The new integrated campaign from Stella Artois threw the book out when it came to traditional media with the “Gold Room”. One part dinner theatre mixed with one part brand strategy, Lowe Hunt, the Australian agency for the Belgian beer maker, recreated the famous bar scene from the movie the Shining in Brisbane Australia. Guests were invited to a special screening of the 1980 Jack Nicholson classic by following the bar tenders directions to room 237, leaving their contact details with an attendant and then registering online. “Guest” were then invited to a special screening of the film held at Brisbane’s Od Museum which was also decorated in the style of the film’s Outlook Hotel. The “Gold Room” campaign is just one of many film themed micro sites to come from Stella including this one for Fight Club. What do classic films have to do with beer? Absolutely nothing but these sites are beautiful.

Birds of a Feather

This new micro site for Marc Aurel's '07 Fall Line is a good example of how a little can go a long way. Note the lightly blowing hair of the woman on the interface and the unique role over menus. All and all there is nothing really that new or mind blowing here not to mention it's a bit lean on content (it is after all a site for a fashion line) but on the whole, the site does a really nice job of conveying an overall feeling and aesthetically speaking, It's a great looking site. Oh, and the models aren't bad to look at either. www.marc-aurel.com

Fantastic Voyeur

A truely amazing new website from HBO. www.hbovoyeur.com invites you, the voyeur into the strange and fascinating lives and complex stories lines of characters inhabiting a virtual cityscape. There is the seemingly, happy upper class family perched high above the city in their glass condo but not all is as it seems. Two neighboring apartments but only one is used for living, a curious meditation scene reveals that like many of the shows on the HBO network itself, there maybe more to the story than at first glance. Scored with the user's choice of moody instrumental tracks, this is one of the more addictive sites I've seen.

1:23 Engagement

10ton is a new online video shop from New York working with advertisers to produce web content and some great video shorts. They are elevating the quality of online advertising and I can see 10ton doing some great work in the future as evidence of this short promo. Nice work.

Swan Song

Full link below

This is perhaps the most beautiful and creepy Dutch porcelain website I have ever seen. Slow day at work? challenge a co-worker to sit through the backing track on this site and not go insane enough to buy Dutch Porcelain. Bjork who?

Pretty Dutch