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.

Tim Burton at MoMA and Pop Surrealism

We all know Tim Burton for his stylistic movies such as the Corpse Bride pictured above, but for all of you who are as curious as me as to what else he has been up to in his life, there is a great show going on right now at MoMA in NYC. Taking inspiration from popular culture, Burton's work on display include drawings, paintings, photographs, moving image works, concept art, storyboards, puppets, maquettes, costumes, and cinematic ephemera from such films as Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Batman, Mars Attacks!, Ed Wood, and Beetlejuice, and from unrealized and little-known personal projects that reveal his talent as an artist, illustrator, photographer, and writer working in the spirit of Pop Surrealism.