September 2009
2 posts
Leo Burnett and Contagious Presented Wildfire...
Wildfire attracted a full house for its debut at the inaugural Asian Advertising Festival, Spikes Asia 2009. Again themed “Wildfire Stories: Pass it On”, the seminar unveiled the secrets behind the art of story-telling and scrutinized some of the most enticing brand stories from Asia and around the world. Close to 700 brightest minds in the advertising and branding community and enthusiastic...
Technology and Narrative
This week over in NYC, hipster toy and clothing brand Kidrobot teamed up with Weareplus to run a treasure hunt coordinated through the use of QR codes to promote the launch of its 2009 ‘Dunny’ collection, designed by a collective of artists including SupaKitch, Travis Cain and Kozik. Posters invited players to download the necessary QR reader and then take pictures of the codes hidden throughout...
August 2009
4 posts
A picture...
…is worth a thousand words. Corbis is asking celebrities and the public alike to tell the stories behind famous photographs, and the moments they represent.
Henry Jenkins / Transmedia Storytelling
Attention all agencies - your brightest future hires will be graduates of media guru Henry Jenkins’ new course in ‘transmedia storytelling’, starting at the University of California this autumn. Details and syllabus here:
http://henryjenkins.org/2009/08/transmedia_storytelling_and_en.html
Apologies for the length of the quote, but we think Jenkins tells his own story better...
Extraordinary storytelling - John Hughes
This link’s been doing the rounds today, but Alison Byrne Fields blog post on her penpal relationship with the recently deceased director John Hughes proved a story within a story - a human face to a director known for films as successful as The Breakfast Club and Home Alone.
http://wellknowwhenwegetthere.blogspot.com/2009/08/sincerely-john-hughes.html
Whatever you think about...
Wildfire @ Spikes
Yep, we’re doing it again! this time it’ll be happening at the Spikes in Asia, on Thursday 17th September at 4-4.45pm. Those of you coming to the festival in Singapore, put it in your diaries now!
For background:
Wildfire, the phenomenally successful seminar conceived by Leo Burnett in conjunction with Contagious, is now into its fourth year. This year, the theme is ‘Wildfire...
June 2009
7 posts
Apple pips the competition to the post!
Thanks to everyone who voted for their favourite brand story - over 300 votes were cast altogether - but Apple stormed into the lead.
The seminar might be over, but we’ll be posting more content in the coming week, so keep your eyes peeled!
One more day to go!
We’ve rehearsed thoroughly, and the presenters are gargling with honey and doing voice exercises in preparation.
We’re going to be breaking down some successful advertising campaigns according to the ‘seven types of narrative’. These are:
Comedy
Tragedy
Overcoming the monster
Voyage and return
The Quest
Rags to Riches
Rebirth
Any ideas which ones we may have chosen for each section?...
Two more days to go!
The Contagious and Leo Burnett teams are in Cannes as we speak, limbering up and studiously avoiding the rose in preparation for this year’s blockbuster wildfire seminar. In case we hadn’t rammed it far enough down your throats, here are the details: Wednesday, 24th June 16:00-16:45 Debussy Theater Palais des Festivals, Cannes We’ll be looking at campaigns with a strong talkability factor to...
Branded Storytelling
Which brand has the best story?
For our Wildfire seminar at Cannes in a couple of weeks, we’re going to be debating what makes some brands’ stories more meaningful and memorable than others. In order to be slightly more scientific about the way in which we compile a shortlist of brands with the best stories, we’d like you guys to chip in.
Some Contagious favourites:
Harley Davidson -...
Words fail us.
http://www.wired.com/underwire/2009/06/sex-galaxy/
From wired - the world’s first 100% recycled film, ‘Sex Galaxy’, made entirely from stock footage. The title should tell you everything.
Despite the dubious subject matter, we like this. What other stories could be told from reclaimed material?
Tiananmen: a picture's worth a thousand words. →
The same shot, from several different angles. Still heart-stopping stuff twenty years after the event.
Animation Upstarts
Lovely piece in the New York Times describing the rise of animation in storytelling. Apparently, Coraline reached an adult audience and racked up $85.2 million in ticket sales.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/03/movies/03anim.html?ref=movies
Also - arguably the most endearing animated franchise sees its third installment coming next year. Toy Story 3 will be coming out in 2010. The characters...
May 2009
2 posts
Seven Stories
In 2005, British journalist and author Christopher Booker published a book based on years of literary criticism and his own writing, in which he identified some common themes in literature throughout the world. His conclusion? That although the nature of storytelling itself is as infinite as that of language, there are only really seven stories that we ever tell, and that anything outside of this...
