When one campaign needs to top the last.

To be very honest with you, I don't think we always came out with stuff that we really like or that we're really proud of.  Because that would be really ideal.

Yesterday we launched the new Civic in Malaysia, and I'm very very very proud to share with you the fruits of the entire team's hardwork.  Team includes the clients and our business partners.  The campaign took one year to complete because of the unfortunate incidences that hit Honda in both Japan and Thailand.  It was a risk that we took because we've never dared to pushed the boundaries with what we can or cannot do with our precious car.  I'm glad we took the leap and did not look back.

It was a lot of hardwork, a lot of frustration, a lot of laughter, a lot of 'I-so-wanna-punch-you' moments but you know, every single bit of it is worth every single bit of it.  Here's the TV commercial that's on air right now :)



So go on and witness for yourself what happens when you simply allow your intuition to take control.  It truly is an adventure and I promise, an amazing joyride :)

Click here to experience the all-new Civic's web movie, starring you!

UNIQLO - From Tokyo to Kuala Lumpur campaign.

The new UNIQLO Malaysia campaign site pulls user-generated content from Panoramio which is basically GPS-tagged photos taken by its community. How it works is, you provide your address and the computer will generate a trail from it to Fahrenheit 88. The trail is formed via a collage of the above mentioned user-generated photos where a surprise coupon is mixed into the pile with a series of other UNIQLO products. I thought it was simple and a neat way to get people onto their mailing list. And then I found this:

Notice the guard house that's toppled over the car? What has this got to do with UNIQLO? Hmm...

Which is why… I think it’s still debatable if we should really solely rely on using UGC albeit it's free. It’s just the connection between the content and the brand that raises my eyebrow. Uniqlo design is dynamic through simplicity, clean, user-focused, no unnecessary décor, and while I think the initial site delivers that, it loses that concept right when the user takes the actual journey through the idea. UGC should be used if it adds value back to the people, not when the intention is to get content for free.

Hmm…

Social media: Chatroulette - Dating 2.0.

Came across this site from one of the Twitter I'm following:

Chatroulette is like the new dating 2.0 via a webcam-enabled chatroom. When connected, the system will automatically link you to a stranger whom you can chat with through the chatbox or microphone. Can't seem to make anything out of this yet, but it's probably a beta to something bigger and more established kind of chatroom. We have had the mIRC, the ICQ, the Yahoo Messenger and MSN, and what not. So let see where this brings us ;)

Advertising: MILK turned sour.

It's Christmas, I don't want to be mean. But I think this is what happens when you get any Tom, Dick and Harry to design your 'marketing' campaign and website. It's 'strategy-less'.

I was browsing through this month's TimeOut and came across a teaser ad announcing the soon-opening new club called MILK. On the ad, it says: Sign-up now to become the first batch of MILK's exclusive V.I.P members and get invited to the glorious grand opening in Feb 2010. www.milk.my. Limited spaces available! (no extra points for spotting spelling errors). That's quite a common call to action - I get it, you want database, you want my name. No problem. But what really irked me was this:

Fine print says: MILK is due to mesmerize in Jan 2010. Please check back soon.

Sign up? Where? Notice both the ad and the website are saying essentially saying the same thing? There's a cool club coming, so sit tight. Then why do you need both? It is a common tactic to have a supporting website for teasers, but they should be communicating different things no? Otherwise, you leave people like me, pissed. Cause I did as you told, I went online and all I got was a splash of milk that left a bad sour taste. Hmm.

Having said that, cool logo though. But substance yo, substance. Show me the calcium.

Advertising: The GTi Project.

Let's get rolling!


The VW GTi Project was nominated for by the Favourite Website Awards (FWA) for May's best website. Best of the twelve best will be voted by the public.

The test drive simulation is an extraordinary way of presenting Mk 6's sports handling USPs. Technical without an overkill of information.

Engage @ loading.

Time and time again, I get frustrated when people tell me, there is only one way of doing things. In our beloved country where broadband is at snail speed, web designers/agencies/clients/project managers are always sceptical in producing heavy duty web stuff for fear of inducing unnecessary bounce rate due to a 9-month equivalent waiting period for the page to load.

But doesn't that tell us something? Instead of reducing the heavy duty web stuff (which, I don't know... some stories are best told in heavy duty web stuff?), can't we engage users at loading point instead? Why wait till the page has finished loading? We all say 'hello' the minute we pick up calls, don't we?

I don't know if I will wait forever for this. I just think it's kinda cute to watch the origami car inching towards the finishing line in Malaysia's broadband speed. Ganbatte!

Yellow Bird Project.

Sparks >> Who are you?

Yellow Bird Project >>We are a Montreal-based nonprofit called Yellow Bird Project. We work with an amazing range of indie rock musicians to create unique t-shirt designs that benefit an array of charities, each chosen by the musicians.

Sparks >> Huh. Tell us more?

YBP >> We don’t care if it’s shaken or stirred, our mission, and yours - should you to choose to accept, has three fundamental aims:

1) To raise money for charities directly through the barter and trade of our fab tee-shirts. Unfortunately we no longer accept goats; money proved to be an easier currency to store.

2) To raise awareness for charity organizations and their aims through artists’ endorsement. YBP is a very different venue for these charities. It brings in a lot of younger people and encourages philanthropy from treble and bass clefts. It is definitely more work to have multiple charities, rather than one fund, but we think it allows the artists to pick something that is truly important to them.

3) To raise the profile of artists we like. We by no means want to or presume to have the ability to make artists into marketed machines and different versions of Ms. Spears, but we want to help raise their profiles and get them the attention that they deserve. We hope YBP can in some way help artists and music to prosper, and in turn help those less fortunate.

Sparks >> Wow. We're inspired. Your creativity is contagious and we will follow you! By the way, good sense of humor ;)

*Click on jpg to visit them.

Burberry: The art of trench.

Awesome site we love.

Autopsy of details:

- Music volume grows softer and louder depending on content emphasis, bringing in relevant 'live' sounds from the street just to transport users closer to the focal 'object'

- Content organisation is well-structured and simple in navigation - by what is relevant to the art of wearing a trench which makes perfect sense: kind and harsh public sentence, who you are naturally, accessorized or not, different shades for different days, moods and weather. Compare typical fashion classification: Gender, size, colour

- Dispersion capability of content is only two clicks away. Yea, get done away with layers!

- A great example of controlled content versus UGC. Some form of quality in photography needs to be in place yea? Afterall, it's Burberry.

- Single minded message, no frills: One trench, infinite possibilities, real people.

Nissan 370z new campaign site.

New campaign site for the 370z. I think it's a cool concept - mysterious thief, heated chase sequence, mind challenges, accompanied by a er... Japanese named chick (hmm... でも。。。ビミオだね). It's all good except I didn't think it quite fit the Fairlady. While I don't think I know enough about cars but I do have some knowledge in brand planning and certainly that image projection of the 370z is disturbing. We're talking about buyers who will be forking out more than three hundred grand for this Japanese version of a Porsche. It certainly lacks that aura that it should carry (or comes with the price tag, as a matter of fact).

But what irks me most is the... PIXELATED CAR(!!). Gosh. Sorry, it. Just. Irks. The. Hell. Out. Of. Me. Please, not any jpgs. Certainly not the 370z.

Kerepek Online.

Being a proud Malaysian (who's equally frustrated but not jaded), I have to post this.

Kerepek Online is for Malaysians, who once in awhile get a nostalgic crave for local crackers. Normally, these are sold in markets and kedai runcits (neighbourhood sundry shops). You can hardly locate any of these traditional crackers in big foreign supermarkets but now you can find it online to ease that crave anytime, anywhere (in Malaysia).

I applaud the idea because this isn't just about entrepreneurship but it's about conserving a part of our heritage that is slowly eroding before our eyes. Something about the mismatched use of fonts and colours in this website that is SO... Malaysian (haha!). I don't think we've ever been the design bestowed bunch except for a few chosen and very talented ones. But it's this very 'graphic disorder' that somehow gives the site a feeling of local authenticity.

My interpretation:

A clean, well-designed, visually engaging flash site that's wired in all sorts of imaginable (and unpronounce-able) social networks with weird multi-coloured humanlike organisms who don't resemble any animals or aliens or monsters which any human can recognize, just won't do. It gives people the impression that the these Kerepek-ians behind the screen are just some 20 something anti-government UK graduate designers with spare family cash who think they know how to produce crackers the authentic makcik way because they did it over tea on Sunday afternoons in London or in an easier way, who know someone who knows how to produce crackers, decide to mash Kerepek with the Web in an experimental sort of way to see what comes out of it since they don't have to wake up for 9am meetings the next day.

However, the irregularities in fonts and patterns and the super enthusiastic and unedited style of writing perhaps says a lot more truth about the owner: a sub-urban/rural boy (or girl) who finished tertiary education in a local uni who is passionate about his (or her) family/relative's business or feels responsible to takeover the business and sees the potential in expansion yet understands that things cannot remain the way they are, tries his (or her) best to bring Kerepek-dom from Kampung to Kuala Lumpur, truly believing that this business method will bring in the bucks. Somehow.

I haven't bought anything yet. I'm still a sceptic over transactions online (unless it's an air ticket, room reservation, concert or movie tickets and Amazon.com) but I promise I will support at least one packet of Kerepek ;)

Long live Kerepek!

Change your perspective.

Awesome awesome site by Saab - Change Perspective. The multiple senses experience is phenomenal. Guiding but non-intrusive, multiple points but non-linear navigation, fun but informational, simple but engaging. Awesome.

Smart way to link information back to corporate site so that it's a clear distinction between campaign and product (what you need to communicate versus what you want to communicate). Awesome.

Socialism x MJ.

Eternal moonwalk - A tribute to Michael Jackson.

Finally finally finally, a tribute that wipes tears away and puts a smile back on people's face. But still very heartwarming ;) Nice job.

Ingenius web design - Uniqlo.

Change the way you browse web catalogues. Change the way you shop. Heck. Change the way you think and the limitation of your possibilities.

Also, the Uniqlo Calendar. I'm not sure the purpose of having two sites but, I think I give them full marks on breaking boundaries. Every click has a purpose. Don't waste user's time. Say no to click wastage. It's not worth it.

Use It Better™ - Analytics get interesting.

Thanks ericcsz for the tweet lead :) So far, all the digital agencies which I've been working with depend almost, almost fully on Google Analytics. While I must admit that it's pretty comprehensive but there are certain things which it doesn't tell us. It tells us which links are attractive but doesn't tell us the blind spots. So what caught my attention from Use It Better™ is this:

Mouse movement and mouse-related actions, keyboard events, actual frame rate, movie stage resizing, URL change. Hmm. Provided if the movement is within the Adobe Flash movie. I'm a planner and by no means have any technical expertise on these things but what I understand is, we should have embed-able technologies which give us more insights to user behavior versus content interest (okay, I'm pretty sure Google already has that (somehow)).

Building sites these days are like any new product development. Prior to mass manufacturing, we conduct a hell lot of researches in terms of usability. And we identify areas for improvement (much like what I mentioned a few seconds ago about site 'blind spots'). If a really important content was placed in that deep dark pocket of invisibility, then we lose the user. But your argument could be: "Hey, if it was really that important, then why didn't you smack it up front like a press headline on the page? Or how about making it blink?" Well, yea, technically we could do that but would you create a product that's fully functional but ugly as hell? There.

Late night.

My eyes're stinging, my mind's out, my breathing's abnormal. But something like that will make anyone smile.Doodle bread. Hmm, hybrid of food and art. Hybrid is a product of which the end value always amount to more than when two items are put together. In a hybrid equation, one plus one never equals two. The third (or subsequent) value is what innovation is about.

So doodle bread. Bread + art. What's the third value? Eye candy? A playful consumption experience? The praises, oohs and aahs that's gladly received when shared? Hmm.

Rassa - A little taste of Malaysia.

This is a free advertising spot for a friend's friend: Paid for simply by passion ;)

Simple design. Straightforward navigation. Almost-zilch user frustration. Interesting at all the right and unexpected places. Engaging copywriting. And most important of all, Karipap (Curry Puff) looks irresistable. Yes, that is what ultimately brings in the dough! (no pun intended)

The all-new Honda City.

I totally forgot all about the our latest launch! I vaguely remember working for very long hours and then it was time to pack and leave. Was hardly able to catch my breath. But anyway, for those who missed the launch event, you can join the 2009 Honda City Facebook group to check out some photos. Or similarly, here's our new TVC which represents a New Dawn for compact sedans. Now on, all else is a downgrade.

Similarly, no need for introduction - http://www.excitementinthecity.com.my/

Google Chrome

Something nice is brewing.



Watch the brains behind Google's latest offering. A webvolution - Google Chrome is no longer a web browser but an application browser since most of the stuff we do online these days involve some sort of app or another. Well, that really makes sense because as infrastructure moves ahead, softwares get improved, and even the web has turned 2 (or possibly 3 or maybe 3.5, I lost count!), how could something as important as the browser still runs like same old same old?

Gone are the days where we open thousands of tabs to 'read' information, only to stare in horror when our browser cannot support the little patience we have. Today, we get involved, we interact with artificial intelligence as well as those located from afar (truly different from the web we used to know) all connected in a network of information. And browse at top speed while ensuring individual tab's stability in that. Sounds pretty awesome. I'll be downloading the beta version and see if it's any good. Will post my review then.

Honda Racing NSX-GT

Click to go.

The sleepless nights only get better and better.

Honda FCX Clarity

For those of us who remember the mind boggling 'cog' campaign done for Honda by Wieden + Kennedy, this is a follow-up for the recent FCX Clarity launch. I still prefer the 'cog' commercial but this one is quite nice as well. It's got a 'fun' tone in it which is so unlike Honda. At least in this part of the world. But I'm all for its strategic idea of 'when you like solving problems, every one of it is a playground'. Kinda neat. Watch the video:

Hang on. You must must must check out its website. I don't know what this kind of web structure is called (some net wizard, please enlighten me). But I definitely do see a trend of having this sort of 'skeletonless and free flowing' websites. It's like navigating through a canvass (feels more exploratory now) versus navigating through folders (like 90% of the websites now). Interesting.