Allan Peters | Minneapolis Advertising and Design Blog: January 2009

Saturday, January 31, 2009

Small Deer

I absolutely love the simplicity of these Nike spots. See more great work from Manny Bernardez at Small Deer.

Friday, January 30, 2009

The Best Interactive Firm in MN is Puny

And the winner is Puny. Here's their acceptance speech:

I asked them a few questions:

Allan: What advice can you offer Ad and Design shops about pulling together resources to get votes? How did you guys get so many votes?

Puny: We initially put it on our Facebook profiles as a status update then forgot about it. Checking back, we saw our numbers rise and noticed that we were neck-in-neck with Sevnthsin. We had to taunt them a little bit, as we used to share a wall in our mutual first studio spaces and have worked together in the past. Jamey returned the taunt and a little two day rivalry kicked up. Vote-getting got a little slutty. Their numbers jumped from Sevnthsin's University classes, MN Rollergirls and some of their client base. Our plea for votes was heard by the Yo Gabba Gabba fans and the screen printing community. They were leading us at 10 p.m. on the final night so we sent a mass email, and the night owls and client group in Egypt put us over the top. You can't beat Puny after dark.

Allan: Give a short summary of your shop and plans for 09.

Puny: We've been asked to sum up Puny plenty before and it shakes out to a couple of hundred page capabilities presentation. We call ourselves a convergent media shop but what we really are is a mess, an abomination. We take a lot of smart people from different disciplines and throw them against problems with a little controlled chaos and see what happens. Will S. the comedy writer who used to work for Saturday Night Live, various Adult Swim Shows and writes for the Onion; Mitsuru with his Master's Degree in Theoretical Physics; Mike the bitter cell-era animator; Vincent the cartoonist with a background in big agency advertising; and Joe International DJ and computer science/physic major programmer... the design whiz, the instrument maker, the pirate, the banana plantation heir... it's an eclectic mix of 24/7 creative with insights that butt up against each other to come up with ideas that area little fresh across a few different industries. Interactive is the most appealing because we can all throw-down, it's the most collaborative. Our ultimate goal is to create Interactive television. Not broken linear, where users piece a story together again, but story-lines that see, hear and understand you.

2009 is a mystery for everyone but we're optimistic on the project front with really conservative estimates on the financial. We want to stay in business! We've got six television development deals or pilots in the works at various networks and many crossed fingers. It's very fun work that may never see the light of day. We're getting a lot of game requests, and just finished one with Erin Esurance and the new Star Trek movie and an on going client relationship with Scholastic Books. We're waiting to hear about Yo Gabba Gabba Season 3 production and are eager to keep pushing their web presence so that fans get everything creators have planned for years. This is also the year that we open our gallery, PINK HOBO, at 507 E. Hennepin Ave in Minneapolis. We'll have impromptu effortless shows as an excuse to hang out together and have shows with art that we dig... generative, interactive, hacky, indy comix, lowbrow, and maybe a couple touring shows. We're looking for a couple great direct clients, another restaurant project would be fun, while we keep working with agencies and other boutiques on online campaigns. Oh and we took over some social networking for clients. It is a fun and interesting new realm where our casual voice seems to fit. ANNNNDDDD... like everyone... we need to re-do our website... huh.

Thanks to the people who voted for us and thanks to Allan for creating another cool local design resource.

Some Work Samples:

Link 1

Link 2

Link 3

Scott Dahl

Scott Dahl is one of the many talented people I get to work with everyday at BBDO Minneapolis. The type in the last ad was screen-printed printed on jersey material.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

We have a winner. Raise your coffee mugs for Puny!

Expect a more robust story later in the week, but I'd like to announce that the winner in a neck to neck race for the best interactive firm in MN is Puny! Thank you everyone for your votes. We'll have to make this an annual thing. It was fun.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Jesse Kaczmarek

Jesse Kaczmarek. Dude is brilliant. Started here in MN. Did the whole Periscope, CLT, Fallon thing. Then he went to BBDO NY Design Works for a bit. Now he's at Nike. F'n Nike. Living the dream. See kids, it is possible.

New P.O.S. Packaging

Watch this video to see the depth of this packaging. Designed by Eric Carlson at YWFT.

Cadbury Eyebrows

Fallon London kicked out another great Cadbury Spot called Eyebrows. Love it.

It's not over yet

Because it is so random, I decided to post the closing date and time of the Interactive Design Firm Poll. Keep Voting.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Guy Seese

Quite possibly the best body of work I've seen in one man's book. Check out Guy Seese over lunch today.

Peter Hahn

Recent Graduate Peter Hahn is out looking for work. He seems to have a solid book and a good attitude. Check out his new site.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Cancelled : Apply for The Best Designer in MN

I'm going to cancel this one. After talking with friends, this seems a bit too personal. I started this blog to talk shop with friends, not to hurt feelings or reputation. Anyone who was collecting work for me, please feel free to send it and I'll give you a nice big post. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Studio on Fire

Went to a killer party last night at Studio on Fire. These guys are the hub of modern letterpress printing in the Midwest. Plus they do amazing design work.

Friday, January 23, 2009

Wisconsin Week: Shine Advertising

Shine is a 24-person advertising and interactive agency located smack-dab in the middle of fly-over country – Madison, Wisconsin. Just the way they like it. Their work has earned them kudos from CA and The One Show, as well as landing them in "one.a.magazine" – which named Shine one of the country's up-and-coming creative shops.

David Schwen

Local design tallent David Schwen recently joined Fallon as an Associate Design Director. Fallon has been making great decisions over the past year. Congratulations David.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Wisconsin Week: The Little Friends of Printmaking

Want some fresh posters? Go buy some at The Little Friends of Printmaking. Here's a link to the shop.

This Ain't No Disco: Hartung Kemp

Local design agency Hartung Kemp's space made it on This Aint No Disco yesterday. This Ain't No Disco is a blog of some of the best agency interiors in the world.