FILTERED > by Gregory James Brown

is a blog dedicated to showcasing inspiring creative from around the world. ART / DESIGN / TECH / ADVERTISING / PHOTOGRAPHY / FASHION / DIGITAL.
Greg is a British born Digital Creative and Strategist residing in Stockholm, Sweden. Working professionally since 1998 both online and off, he has created communication & creative solutions for global brands such as: Lee Jeans, Budweiser, Orange, Sony Music/Levi, Converse, Diet Coke, adidas, Volvo, BMW, Universal, H&M and the BBC - to name a selection. His focus today lies within people centric digital channels, creating more meaningful experiences and solutions, helping brands to realise their position by creating strategies, driving brand direction, raising awareness, assisting brand vision, and pushing core values.

Thursday 29 January 2009

LINDSTROM - Tonight NYC. + Chicago & San Fran



Lindstrom kicks off his mini US tour tonight in New York, get there!
+ Chicago on the 30th Jan, followed by San Francisco the night after.


TEASE + HONESTY = Desire & Trust = Loyalty With Brand



Last night I caught up with Miriam from the Insider's Journal - The Björn Borg Blog. We always get caught chatting
(amongst other things) about social / blogging etc. The conversation was mainly based around what a brand, especially
a clothing / fashion brand should show on their blog, in this case her blog. I backed her up and told her it was great
being this open and transparent, it's the right balance without giving too much away.
I understand this may be a sore point within the creative industries, especially with older CDs / CEOs who maybe don't 
understand the power of community and being open, or how that can feed back into the brand in a positive way.

Anyway you get the picture, I could talk for ages about this subject...

but strangely this morning a mutual friend sent me this link... from Walter Naeslunds blog... saying basically the same 
thing about the same post and approaches we had been talking about last night.

It's gonna be a very different world in the near future, once this way of thinking is standard. Maybe it will go
round full circle with some form of secrecy being the best strategy, will openness become too obvious? Telling our
ideas on blogs before we've even created them is already here, whatever is next... I look forward to it :-)

Wednesday 28 January 2009

SOCIAL COMMUNICATION - Quote!



I've been dropping this quote a lot in presentations lately and it's been going down lovely ;-)
I usually bring the name of who said it up after, just to bring it home and add some extra weight.

Tuesday 27 January 2009

X GAMES - Jon Olsson









With snowboarding taking a back seat over Freeskiing these days, and the X Games taking place last week I thought
I would post a little project I worked on at the end of last year. The video blog for Jon Olsson has been hugely successful, 
since December 10th we've had over 700.000 page-views, 150.000 visits, peaking on Sunday with over 14.000 hits.

It's not necessarily the amount of traffic the site has created, but more the amount of comments left I find interesting.
The site was created on a very short timeline, with a small budget where most of it went into creating the back-end.
Last year Jon won the title and this year he missed out coming in 2nd, but a good result anyway for his competing age... 
sorry Jon ;-)

There are some design tweaks to sort here and there (scroll being one). 
But stay tuned as this is Phase 1 of the project and a much bigger picture ;-)

RVCA - Erin Wasson


I love good collaborations, ones where like-minded people team up to create something passionate, not the ones
where large commercial brands team up with a current cool player to piggyback on their hype... depends who, what etc.
Erin Wasson's collab with über layback San Fran based label RVCA is one such favorite, they compliment each other
perfectly. Released Feb 1st, her natural L.A. bohemian look and style is something I look forward to filtering down
to the streets and beaches this summer :-)

The Spring / Summer 09 release party...



Check Erin's lovely house out if you missed it...
via one of my fav sites at the moment, The Selby ;-)

Sunday 25 January 2009

TDR - Closes :-(



On Tuesday last week The Designers Republic closed for business :-( The highly influential design company inspired
a whole generation of graphic designers over their 23 years in the game. One thing I always admired about the company
was their refusal to move to London, or open an office there to be closer to their clients and industry. I'm sure there
will be a lot of retrospectives to them this month, so I won't go into the iconic work they have created over the years.
For me the company was never the same after Michael C Place left and set up Build, after helping to create such
an iconic look and style it was hard for them to then find their voice again.

More info and statement from founder Ian Anderson over at CR...

NEW - A glass and a half full production...


After the success of Gorilla, Fallon must be able to get away with anything they want?
This new spot may not be as impactful, but it's still entertaining, engaging and will get people talking.
I also think it will have a huge playground appeal, which is a must when selling chocolate :-)

And if you haven't seen them, check out some of the Gorilla remixes...


ZENITH - Zero G



Limited edition, this is the PVD coated El Primero Zenith Zero-G Multi-Dimensional Tourbillon. 
Yours for only $500,000. By luxury Swiss watch brand Zenith.

Tuesday 20 January 2009

OUT WITH THE OLD - In With The New



Bye Bye Bush! He can certainly say he went out on top, the top of a load of shit for someone else to clean up. It's not
gonna be hard for Obama to gain golden points with the people by CHANGING problematic things that are currently in 
place. He will move fast to put CHANGE into action, backing up and enforcing his concept and approach.
My main worry is the expectations of the American people maybe too high, but then again any change is good.

The CNN / Facebook collaboration has been really good, this type of technology and pair-ups will now become 
the norm. A nice detail is the anchormen / women reading out the Facebook statuses, which you can update in the same
window while you view the live footage, as well as seeing your friends feelings and comments. Clever way for CNN to
get live comments / feedback on their coverage and big it up back to the viewers. 
I will see what info is around tomorrow / today regarding it, but the power of social networking is vast.

Obama throwing out the garbage...


T-MOBILE - Life's For Sharing


This is a prime example of a brand making the most out of the credit crisis, developing their humanistic payoff and
approach, utilizing and associating themselves with FUN ideas ;-)

Although borrowing from the flashmob concept that took place in Grand Central a couple of years back, T-Mobile
kill it in this piece of guerilla adverting. 350 recruited dancers + PR value = priceless!

Monday 19 January 2009

TERRY RICHARDSON - Raw Start



Terry Richardson created a style and look I like to call raw, which through the 00s has been so copied and almost
become overused, especially in editorial / fashion. When you see his work these days, it still has that edge and
beauty (just more shinny maybe). Check this clip above where he talks about the start of his career. Sticking with 
the style after being ridiculed shows real passion and dedication to something you believe in. Nice one Terry ;-)


MINDFLEX - Think It, Move It, Believe It



Although this looks a bit hit or miss, I do believe there is more scope in this technology / idea. Also by using these
methods of concentration, over time it should have vast results on how products are made and how we interact with
them. This is another example of sci-fi creating shifts in technology, human behaviour and our everyday world around
us. Over greater time this may also lead to a evolutionary shift in how our mind and brain powers work, hopefully...
if you believe ;-)


Sunday 18 January 2009

TONY HART - Dies Aged 83 :-(


For 50 years Tony Hart inspired children to create art all over the UK, me being one of those. I can't even imagine
how many creatives working today he has probably inspired in some way and how that inspiration has been filtered
into the things we see around us? A sad loss! More info...

Friday 16 January 2009

ID MAGAZINE - Boy's Own



Following on from the post on Tuesday (scroll down) about the Boy's Own / Firmament collaboration.
ID this month (Feb 09 issue) features an article about the project. Download it here...

Thursday 15 January 2009

DAN GILBERT - Exploring The Frontiers Of Happiness


My first post of the year from TED. An interesting talk/presentation from Dan Gilbert, well worth watching all the way
through if you've got the time. Some focus on why people buy things and errors in value, comparing with the past...
or possible. He touches on the emotion level of buying into things without saying it which I feel is missing, but a guy
in the audience brings it up. Stand out quote...

''What space is to size, time is to value'' - Plato

Tuesday 13 January 2009

YO SUSHI - Service Provider




I was back in the UK during the holidays and one thing I always do is pop into YO! Sushi for a bite. Not only do they
have a vast fresh menu (not just fish) but the fact that it goes round in front of you, giving you more choice to try
different things is appealing. The colour plate (cost) system also makes the experience quick, easy and simple.

One of the best elements is that if you find you want to order something hot and can't get the chefs attention in the
middle, there is a BIG red help button right in front of you to call the waitress. These attentions to detail and great
service is something many brands and companies should take note of, especially in these current times.

Good service and customer care is a classic and proven strategy, especially if there is no budget to produce fun,
innovative ideas and concepts, I guess some of the best innovation comes from no money ;-)

THE RETURN OF TYPE - Welcome Back


Not that type ever went away, but over the last few years we've seen a trend in interesting or minimal beauty shots
and raw illustrations taking centre stage (as the pull) with smooth minimal typography as pay-off. 2008 has really
seen an increase of self-initiated (mostly online) type projects, music-videos, illustrations etc all utilizing typography.
Of course there has been the odd commercial type driven piece here and there, but nothing like how it used to be. 
Well everything goes in circles right (but with new twists hopefully) and mid last year we saw the real return of type
back into editoral, with the magazine... Very Elle, designed by Non-Format

Remember the work of Neville Brody for The Face magazine in the 80s, or David Carson for Raygun in the 90s,
Tomato, Frost design etc, will it go this far? How will it be done online if at all? 

Something I do believe is that type will start to become the pull again, or more focus will be on type that illustrates...
within more commercial communication, design and advertising. Check this new TV commercial, by legendary
typographer/designer
Jonathan Barnbrook, through Grey London.


There is also always the fact that budgets have been cut (goodbye expensive photo-shoots etc) and what better 
way to communicate as a result than with strong copy and typography? The new twists or innovative ideas will
stand out and be the winners.

BOY'S OWN / FIRMAMENT / DAVE LITTLE - Collaboration



During the late 80s and early 90s one record label that helped form the house and balearic scene we have today...
was Boy's Own. With a fanzine and their one-off parties, they influenced a whole generation of todays best UK djs
and producers. One of the main underlying reasons for their success was the focus also on visuals, with the help
of Dave Little. At the time I was also getting into the music and scene and remember how his graphics stuck out
in a unique and quirky way. Most other graphics were trying to go for modern typography and a tech feel, which
made his (mostly) hand dawn style really stand out.

Now comes a great collaboration, where over the course of 2009 top Berlin fashion store Firmament will be releasing
several T-shirts using Dave Little's designs, plus they have had full use of the Fanzine archive, so expect some 
really great prints. There will also be some Boy's Own parties, and exhibitions, - All the DJs who played and
attended the parties are all onboard, so it should make for some fantastic events. The T-shirts will be released in late
January / early February, with a free Boy's Own mix done exclusively by Soft Rocks, nice!

This how collaborations should be, from the heart and not hype or money driven. See more Dave Little classic designs below...






Friday 9 January 2009

FEVER RAY - Music Video


Following on from my post in December, here is the first video from Fever Ray (Karin Dreijer Andersson of the Knife)
Dark, moody and odd, this engaging video fits really well with the music. If I Had A Heart, directed by Andreas Nilsson. 
I'm looking forward to hearing the whole album due to be released in March.

Thursday 8 January 2009

WHOPPER - Facebook App



More and more brands feel they need to have their presence felt on Facebook, and why not. It's a quick and simple
hit, which if handled in the right way can create a fun experience with the brand. Like this Facebook app for Burger King,
which allows you to delete those old classmates that you never talked to at school anyway, delete 10 Facebook friends 
and you get a free Whopper! Nice idea which plays and connects well with Facebook, only valid in the US though :-(

HAPPY NEW YEAR - To All My Readers



Well I'm back into work mode now, sorry about the lack of posts over the holiday period, I was having an extended 
holiday away from blogging. I'd like to take this opportunity to wish all readers of the Filtered Blog a Happy New Year...
thanks for the support from the following countries...

Sweden, United Kingdom, United States, France, Australia, Denmark, Italy, Germany, China, Thailand, Spain, South Korea, 
Netherlands, Ireland, Taiwan, Portugal, Canada, Belgium, Serbia, Mexico, India, Turkey, Malaysia, Finland, Argentina, 
Singapore, Estonia, Brazil, Hungary, Japan, Hong Kong.

Have a prosperous 2009!

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