Banksy and Sundance

Judging by friends' Facebook updates, I'm once again missing out on a good time again in Utah and the Sundance festival, especially curious about the documentary about Banksy, with a trailer such as the one below.

Google Sponsored? Ninja’s Unboxing Nexus One

Google has taken unboxing (the process of documenting a products removal from its packaging) to the next level with the latest promotion for its “superphone” the Nexus One: “NINJA’S UNBOXING”. Readers familiar with this blog will recognize the film as the work of Patrick Boivin (born 1975), a self-taught and fiercely independent filmmaker from Canada. Is it Google-sponsored or not? Who cares? That's the beauty of this new form of online (branded) entertainment.

Live Tip - The Phenomenal Handclap Band

NPR: "The Phenomenal Handclap Band makes music that’s as sprawling and unwieldy as its name: To watch the group on stage is to witness what seems like several bands at once. With eight members — from hipsters and beautiful women to long-haired rockers and what look like everyday office workers — the group has been painstakingly engineered to generate a big, bold sensory overload. Fortunately, its sound is outrageously danceable, fusing grimy funk with cooing disco, retro rock and sweet pop. The Phenomenal Handclap Band was the subject of breathless buzz well before its self-titled debut came out this month, and its live show makes it easy to see and hear why." Sounds like a band you would wanna see live, right? Be at The Echo on Wednesday. It seems like their material is a little uneven, but if they have more songs like the one below, it should be well worth the price of the ticket...

Lexus L Studio - Mixes Contemporary Art and Autos

In this excellent piece of branded entertainment, Artists deconstruct a Lexus, then use the parts to build their own amazing works of art. BMW has used online video featuring artists and cars for a long time, but Lexus has found an own story to tell and the website for the campaign L Studio is very scaled back and classy, which is the way to market an exclusive automobile. Well worth checking out. BTW, my company Viking's work with IKEA on Easy To Assemble was named as one of five best branded entertainment deals of the year for 2009 in Ad Age. Very happy about that. And last, but not least, Happy New Year!

Holiday Sweaters

Missed Santacon in San Francisco for the first time in three years, so no cools pics of hipster santas to share this time, but here's a video instead... Now time to do some holiday shopping!

Avatar - A Transmedia 3D Adventure?

Avatar premiered in London over the weekend and will hit theaters here in the US next week on December 18th. I saw a 3D preview on a Panasonic 103 inch screen at DMW's and Variety's Future of Film Summit last week, it was impressive, but didn't blow me away. The latest trailer (embedded below) gives a better idea of what the film is about. 3D adds another dimension to the experience, but the story is still the most important aspect of the movie. I think Jim Cameron gets that and he is more focused on using technology to tell the story in the best possible way, or rather a "symphony of narratives" as Jeff Gomez of Starlight Runner Entertainment puts it in an interview I did with him earlier this year. It will be interesting to see if he is successful with that aspect of Avatar, and if, for example, the video game will be as good as everyone is expecting the movie to be....

Subaru and DC Shoes - What Infomercial?

Walternaeslund.com reminds me of the fact that bad ass is just… bad ass. But there is more to it. The video below shows how well integrated branded entertainment can be just... entertaining. DC Shoes' website is very much like a media hub for all things cool (I wish Subaru's website was just as good.) I'm sure that this didn't just happen, but it looks so natural when you go there, doesn't it. BTW, the video below is approaching 10 million views on YouTube alone! Spoke to My Damn Channel's Rob Barnett about branded entertainment today as well, he gets it and I think he has built a wonderful platforms for brands to do cool stuff, like the IKEA-sponsored web series Easy To Assemble that my company Viking Digital Media has done the interactive and social stuff for. Stay tuned to see more of this in the future. At DMW's and Variety's Future of Film Summit yesterday, it seems like filmmakers are increasingly open to this as well and I think all this will come together nicely in 2010 and bottom line is -more great content for viewers to enjoy.