While Hollywood insists on producing movies that resemble something you’d find at the end of a rock concert in a portable toilet – the world of documentary film making continues to improve.

As you would expect, brands have spotted the opportunity to associate themselves with the trend and getting involved under the label of ‘branded entertainment.

Levi’s has released a new art-inspired product as part of its ongoing collaboration with the MOCA museum started in Los Angeles in April—the jeanswear brand opened its new Levi’s Workshop at the ‘Art In the Streets’ exhibition of the museum and on May 24 it has released a hilarious short movie ‘Outside In: The Story of Art In the Streets,’ which showcases the process of arranging the event and interviews with graffiti influencers, “documents the artist’s creative process, their pitfalls with the law, the poetic impermanence of their craft and the artists’ evolution from the back seat of a cop car to the walls of a well-respected institution” as the synopsis states.

More about: Outside In- The Story of Art In the Streets here

It’s like a traditional TV ad, just a lot more expensive and useful.

Levi’s [the jeanpant people - not some dude from the Bible] reckon that if you don’t wash your jeans, you’ll save the planet a bit better than if you had to maintain your social network by pitching up smelling like roses.

We maintain the same theory for the washing of hair. It’s a marketing ploy that says that you should wash it once a day – twice.

…it turns out the stunt is a ‘viral’ ad for Levi’s… and the web let’s out a collective groan of despair.

A video of a man trekking from the Brooklyn Bridge to the Golden Gate Bridge was this weekend’s viral sensation on YouTube, racking up half-a-million views since its debut on Tuesday.

The video is popular not just because it’s a trek past American landmarks both major and minor, but because of a unique visual effect created by a combination of stop-motion and time-lapse video. The finished project consists of 2,770 still frames shot over 14 days. [via]

So why are people so holy about quirky ‘amateur’ looking videos on the web not being funded by huge, consumerism-promoting corporations? The final ‘back pocket hold shot’ should have alerted you to the fact from the beginning.

[More and more]

Goats and chimps like steri stumpie too!

Just moments ago the Cherryflava team went on a bit of a field trip to check out the Steri Stumpie Tee-party that took place on Kloof St. today.

The whole idea of the event was to check out the new t-shirts that Steri Stumpie had developed with various local artists and Levis. Everyone that showed up was given the chance to win three of the new t-shirts if they took the best photo of the day. Models were sporting the shirts with either crazy animal masks or colourful costume headpieces, and the group traipsed up and down Kloof St. in search of the next designer shirt.

Models sporting flavoured t-shirts

The overall concept was good. With the aid of branded t-shirts, free drinks, and a guided tour Steri Stumpie was able to get their product out to the public in a creative, seemingly inexpensive, and simple way. By encouraging those in the tour to take photos, they basically got the public to do their PR/advertising for them.

Vanilla Custard, Strawberry, and Toffie

When we first arrived they got a bit of a vibe going with a live marching band, but unfortunately they ended all of the ‘excitement’ there. With big brands involved like Levis and Steri Stumpie, they really could have taken this campaign to the next level. It would have made much more of an impact for those who showed up, as well as for attracting the attentions of the average Joe just passing by.

Hopeful contestants

Maybe a little bit more oomph next time.

Not your typical tea party

This just in – Steri Stumpie will be hosting a ‘Tee Party’ of sorts along Cape Town’s Kloof Street this Friday (16th) at 11:30am.

After pairing up with Levis and a few artists, Steri Stumpie has produced a new line of crazy t-shirts that they want to show off.

The basics from their website:

•We find 9 models, scatter them throughout Kloof Street (pretending to be just hanging out)
•Each of them wears one of the new t-shirt designs
•We issue a map of their locations
•And at 11:30 we’ll be hosting a guided tour of all the designs (freaking out innocent bystanders no doubt)
•Best photo taken during the show wins 3 of the t-shirts (your choice of design)
•We’ll also be armed with lots of Steri Stumpie and other goodies
•It will be frickin amazing

So, if you’re unemployed, have the day off, or just plain want to go and check it out, give Jenn a shout to confirm jenn@steristumpie.com. They’ll send you back a link inclusive of all the nitty-gritty.

[Thanks Jenn]

We here at Cherryflava have never believed that a social media strategy should just be restricted to having a Twitter feed and something arb on Facebook. Like all other media, creativity plays a huge role in making these potentially powerful tools really effective and remarkable.

Creating a completely immersive media experience is a good way of doing that – and here are two current ARG [alternate reality game] campaigns that are making us sweat like a serial killer in a mortuary…

Asylum 626 is the sequel game to last year’s very successful Hotel 626 campaign for Doritos. Hotel 626 captivated over 2.5 million people in 136 different countries since its launch last Halloween. Only accessible between 6pm and 6am (during hours of darkness) it required participants to use their web cam and microphone to deal with demon babies, psychotic guests and a stalking serial killer in their attempts to flee the hotel. Without the appearance of one single corn chip, the campaign resulted in two flavours which Doritos had ‘brought back from the dead’, selling out in just three weeks…

Again accessible only at night, Asylum 626 also makes impressive use of the user’s webcam. For example, head-tracking technology is employed so that you can dodge left and right, avoiding the frenzied lunges of a chainsaw-wielding attacker. A picture is also taken of your face at a particularly opportune moment and using distortion mapping, later shown to you as a reflection in a sink of dirty water…

The use of layered, cutting-edge social media technology – high production values and ultimately a compelling story line that respectfully incorporates the product into the campaign is the reason that this thing really works. Plus the ‘late night’ aspect of the thing totally adds to that ‘Silent Hill’-type feeling that just gives it that polished experience overall.

More:

Blink 182 goes all Augmented Reality crazy on a chip packet – Cherryflava

Doritos – Aslyum 626 – Contagious

Rabbithole of the Levis ARG

Then from Levis in the US – an ARG called Go Forth where players go on the hunt for US$100 000 that’s buried somewhere in the United States.

Part scavenger hunt, part story puzzle game – the campaign is once again a multi-layered experience across the Internet and reality that rewards the players that are prepared to undertake the extended challenge. Everything you encounter could be a clue to the treasure – or something to either put you off-course or frustrate the hell outta ya.

Go find it...

ARG production is not simple – we should know – but when done right and supported with a big enough budget to seamlessly create a quality, believable secret mind-trip – it’s higher grade social networking for brave brands.

More:

Levis Go Forth ARG – NOTCOT

Levis Go Forth website