If BP Spilled Oil Over Your Home

My friend Nina shared a link that puts in perspective the size of the BP oil spill by comparing it to your hometown or city.  I am disgusted to see that the oil spill is larger than Oahu, the Hawaiian island that I am from.  Besides the dying wildlife and polluted water, I am even more upset about the recent failure of 'Top Kill', the most-promising solution at stopping the gushing oil.

If 'Top Kill' can't stop the oil, there's little we as individuals can do to stop it; however, for ways to help clean the oil spill--from purchasing dish soap to donating hair--click here .

Sex and the Prom Dress

I attended a pre-viewing of Sex and The City 2 last night with Tremor Media (Thanks Carrie!).  Attendees were encouraged to dress up for the event (I love when invites request specific attire), so I DECIDED to take out my high school BCBG lime green prom dress!  The viewing was at a theater in Chelsea and the lounge was packed with mini cupcakes, pop chips (!), nail polish and drag queens.  Very SATC.  Spent some quality time with my girlmate Hannah and met new friends.  SO SATC.  I'll recap more on the movie later!

Summary of my feelings about the movie: Better than the first (and the arguing begins!)

Long Live The Long Form Ad

The trend of the long form ad is catching on.  I love the limitless possibilities of creating video that's longer than 30 seconds.  Here are great examples of long form (branded content, call it whatever you want) ads that are very successful:

Gatorade's "Replay" by TBWA/Chiat Day


Chanel's "Remember Now" by Karl Lagerfeld

**Updated (thanks to Jason)
Dior's "Lady Blue" by David Lynch

Adult Swim Upfront Featuring M.I.A.

Adult Swim just one-upped the upfront game with an awesome party last night at Gotham Hall featuring M.I.A.  Big thanks to Sam and Tony (and the combined effort of Patrick & Eric) for letting me go!  Gotham Hall is like the Colosseum... ridiculous.  High ceilings, large columns, a glass dome--in conjunction with the laser light show and projected animation on the walls--my eyes were tripping out by the beauty of it all.  It was like a cooler version of Disneyland that served endless booze and cocktail shrimp.  Gold bars of chocolate stacked on the bar, snarky napkins that say 'Show Your Love With Your Money' and a dress-up photo booth emphasized that Adult Swim is NOT like other networks.  It's edgier, fun and appeals to a more 'interesting' demo (adults that don't want to grow up).

The night ended with a performance by M.I.A.  As expected she rocked but the acoustics of the building did not.  I couldn't hear her sing and the music echoed.  Nevertheless, I danced like a crazy person and loved every second of it.  Nights like these make the 10 hour days worth it. 

We All Need To Know Diaspora

joindiaspora.com

Soda Pop Was Never So Cool

Probably the coolest business model I have seen in a while: At Wild Bill's Olde Fashion Soda Pop Booth at the 9th Ave International Food Fair today, you buy a stainless steel collector mug and help yourself to all-you-can-drink 'olde fashion soda' in flavors like Vanilla Cream, Root Beer and Sasparilla made with pure cane sugar!

Spotted, A Really Cool Art Exhibition

British Sculptor Antony Gormley has scattered 31 human-like, iron sculptures on the rooftops of landmark buildings surrounding the Madison Square Park area in an exhibition called Event Horizon.  Until August 15, you can play Where's Waldo with the eerie brown men overlooking New York (or if you're lazy here's a map of all the statues).  Gormley's Event Horizon is definitely a lot more engaging than Olafur Eliasson's Waterfalls two years ago, especially when you look up and are surprised to see one of the mysterious men standing at the edge of a building.

There is a weekly photo competition hosted by Ace Hotel for the best photo taken of the sculptures.  I really recommend checking out the amazing photos--and looking up when walking through NYC.

My One Chance At An iPad, Gone

One day a year, my office closes and spends the day helping the community--we call it 'Community Service Day'!  CSD is one of my favorite days out of the year (rivals the Halloween Party and possibly Marathon Monday), and this year, Digitas held an internal t-shirt design contest which the winning design would win an iiiiPAADDD (iPad).  From my long history of late technology adoption, specifically products that start with an 'i' (I have yet to own an iPod and my phone looks like a toy), this was my ONE chance at owning an iPad and proving to society that I too can be cool.

Lucky for my office, I have experience designing t-shirts (from 6 years ago in high school when I designed Carnival and Skip Day shirts).  Some lessons I learned: 1) The more colors you use the more expensive your t-shirt will be 2) Intricate T-shirt designs don't always look the way they do in your photo.  Conscious of these requirements and avoiding a design that looks generic non-profity, I decided to make shirts inspired by MAD MEN!

Yes, I am obsessed with Don Draper, but how funny (I mean 'cool') would it be to see 700+ people in skinny black ties and pearls getting all sweaty and dirty from gardening and painting murals.  I agree the one lame factor of the design is that they are a bit hipster/emo-like, but that is not what I am going for.  I am going for playful, outrageous... 60s.  Girls could have colored in the pearls with markers.

The winner was announced last Friday, and I didn't win (big surprise).  I heard the Mad Men shirt came close to being a finalist, which makes me really happy that someone else shares my sense of humor or is also crazy.  

Here are the Mad Men shirt designs:

This was my alternative sane design, which I provided different color options:

I might have been more successful if I didn't restrict myself to cutting costs by using fewer colors and creating images that were solid shapes.  Maybe next year, and hopefully by then the iEverything will be out.

Kelly Cutrone Does It Again

If sound bites had a mother it would be Kelly Cutrone.  After last week's 'average people' comment, Kelly leaves us with this:

"Do you know where nice people end up?

On Welfare."

Shatner, Saget & Gunn: The AETN Upfront

I never thought David Hasselhoff, Tony Danza, Tim Gunn, William Shatner, Bob Saget (!!), Tia & Tamara, John Legend and The Roots would ever attend the same party, but A&E Television Networks did it last night at their Upfront (so I've learned, it's an event where networks showoff the exciting shows they have in store for the next season to advertisers) held in Frank Gehry's IAC building in Chelsea.

A&E--known to me as the channel of the addictive show Intervention--is a part of a very diverse network that includes Lifetime, History Channel and Bio.  Honestly, any event with Danny from Full House doing perverted-humor stand up, an endless sushi bar and John Legend & The Roots can do no wrong.

I think Summer Roberts from The O.C. said in an episode that 'the History Channel is the NEW Food Network'.  WHO DOESN'T LOVE HISTORY?  I was happy to see high energy and optimism from the Network as it showcased its many new original shows (America The Story of Us) and some existing ones (Project Runway, Army Wives, Dog the Bounty Hunter).  

The crowd was filled with good-looking suits, Tory Burch-esque dresses, blow outs and then, us, the digital people in our kicks and cardigans.  John Legend performed new tracks off his upcoming album featuring The Roots, and of course, Legend performed "Ordinary People" and "Green Light".  My first Upfront was a success, and I can see why Digitas held the first ever Digital Upfront/Newfront last year, because events surrounding new, innovative content are awesomeee.  
   
Photos:

What Does GAP Need To Be Cool Again?

Sponsoring a major fashion exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum seems like a good start.  This Monday, A-list celebrities and models attended the annual Met Costume Gala in extravagant (not so crazy this year) ensembles, many of which were designed for GAP by big name designers Alexander Wang, Thakoon, Sophie Theallet and Rodarte.

Photos from Gap.com and NYMag.com

Starting today (Happy Cinco De Mayo!), you can bid on the gowns which Jessica Alba, Vera Famiga, Kirsten Dunst and M.I.A wore and proceeds will benefit the MET Costume Institute.  There will also be a pop-up store on 54th and 5th Ave.  With the exception of Riley Keough's cream candle wax-like gown, the GAP gowns don't scream a comeback for the retailer but remind us that GAP is still struggling to regain retail dominance.

Big name designers, museum sponsorships--this is all starting to sound a bit TARGET-y.  The MET Gala is a prestigious event but does not have the mass reach the brand needs (unless they are only looking to target NYC Upper East Siders).  I know GAP has had guest designers before and continues to do so, but Target owns guest designer collections by its heavy marketing and hype of it.  What made GAP, GAP, is blue jeans and a white shirt.  Even that GAP identity is lost in their recent bold Helvetica font American Apparel-esque ads.

The GAP we love so dearly represented true American fashion--comfortable, classic and stylish clothes.  Whether its finding a designer that can create clothes we want (J. Crew!) or rethinking its marketing strategy, GAP needs to stay true to its roots (those great music-inspired ads with Missy Elliot) and maybe think more outside of the box.