“Open your eyes. Voice your opinion. Move towards a cure.” These are the challenges posed by the recently launched ActionAlz, a microsite for the Alzheimer’s Association aimed at building a community of Alzheimer’s champions. These champions can be informed and take action to support the 5 million Americans who are currently affected by Alzheimer’s. Through the microsite, visitors can join a memory walk, contact congress, donate funds, share their story, and more.In collaboration with Undisclosed Location, Mike helped design the microsite to complement the parent site, alz.com and emulate the purple ribbon used to signify the Alzheimer’s Association cause. Celebrities were photographed and featured wearing the campaigns Voice - Open - Movt-shirts. Each visit to the website prompts a new celebrity on the home page.Working with photographer Christopher Jacobs, we created the commerce section of the website, which features the popular Voice, Open, and Move T-shirts. Good Morning America featured the shirts and drove visitors to the microsite.Programming for the Actionalz site was implemented by the Turtols, a newer website programming and design company in Chicago we recently began collaboration with. One of the features built by the Turtols is a template for a user-driven community blog, where Alzheimer’s survivors and supporters can share stories and build a network. Also programmed by the Turtols is the Custom Ecards section, which enables friends, family, and survivors to send personalized notes in support of a worthy cause. At launch, ActionAlz received considerable press, notably an ABC news interview with David Hyde Pierce regarding his experiences with Alzheimer’s disease.
The M’s, one of Chicago’s favorite band of recent years, have legs. Their recent tour with Chicago’s beloved Wilco and their appearance at Lollapalooza last month have established that their position of growing popularity isn’t going anywhere but up. With sound compared to T-Rex and harmonies with suggested reminiscence of The Kinks, The M’s sound is anything but typical.
Working on the next edition of the extremely successful Sky advertisements for Resolution Digital Studio, we decided to give it some local, rockstar appeal featuring Josh Chicoine, lead singer of the M’s, as the model for the project. This seemed appropriate considering that one of Resolution Digital Studios many offerings is the ability to record sounds and videos for rock bands.
We needed to illustrate a product distinction between RDS’s high definition and standard products. Mike concepted and designed a visual that would give accurate distinction to the products. The close up and far away shots made a strong impression on the viewer, as they were both aesthetic and ethereal while driving home the point, i.e. the unique advantage of high definition. High def shows you what you are missing.
For those who haven’t been privy to the CTA’s latest Spring projects, they have essentially rerouted the major arteries of the city’s North side transit in an effort to redesign two major stations. The result: long delays, crowded trains, frustrated passengers, and, hopefully, a more effective train at some point in the foreseeable future.
When Motowork’s Chicago asked us to come up with an idea for their promotions on Kymco Scooters that would be featured in the Onion, a beloved news source for the sarcastic and sardonic, we decided to appeal to the thousands of disenchanted public transit patrons of Chicago. Our ad poked playfully at the Chicago Transit Authority’s branding, urging riders to be their own transit authority instead.
Although we could have highlighted many other advantages of the Scooter (i.e. low gas mileage, ease in mobility and parking, not to mention the immeasurable cool factor), it seemed more poignant to entice the Onion browsing audience while being held captive on a train in route to their nine-to-five. Autonomy is key when it comes to personal transit choices.
Harald “Bluetooth” Gormson heralds his nickname for uniting Denmark, Norway, and Sweden under a single king. While this reign was only for a short period of time, old Bluetooth will not soon be forgotten. A new type of technology, called Bluetooth after the king, draws an analogy between the kings expertise in uniting warring factions with the ability of Bluetooth technology to unite many different types of technology, such as mobile phones, computers, and automobiles.
Bluetooth technology has become one of the most popular forms of advertising communications. One example: through instant messages to mobile phones, advertisers can instantaneously connect to their target audience with time sensitive and situationally pertinent information. Not surprising, Bluetooth technology made a number of appearances at The Cannes Lions Advertising Film Festival, the quintessential designator of the most creative ads in the world.
Mike collaborated with Undisclosed Location, partners with Mobizone and Elias Art to design an interactive trade show booth that promoted creative content and Bluetooth delivery systems. As delegates passed by the trade booth, they had the opportunity to scan their blue tooth phone over the sexy posters to get a message teaching them how to say something coy in French, German, or Spanish. Mike’s design elements included not only the trade show booth itself, but also postcards, posters, and phone wallpaper that was unique to the Cannes Festival.
Ringing true to the mission of Bluetooth, the interactive trade show booth traveled across a number of mediums. In fact, it even traveled from Cannes, France to Times Square in New York. On June 18th, 2007, a PR News wire featured the UNLO, Mobizone, Elias Arts’ Bluetooth booth as the wire described the goings on at the Cannes Festival. If only Harald “Bluetooth” Gormson could know that his name would become synonymous to global communication.
“Don’t preach, don’t bore, don’t brag,” explained Stephen Kim, Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions’ director of media research at the Cannes Lions Film Festival. In order to catch the eyes and mind of the one-third of people between the ages of 17 and 35 who claim they don’t pay attention to advertising, “…you must offer them a pleasant surprise,” stated Kate Sirkin, Starcom MediaVest Group’s executive vice-president and global research director. Sirkin and Kim co-hosted a session at the Cannes Lions Advertising Film Festival entitled “How to Engage Consumers in the Age of Ad Aversion.”
Mike collaborated with Barbara Gorder’s Undisclosed Location to concept and design the dual-screen PowerPoint presentation that accompanied Sirkin and Kim’s session. The informational and entertaining session parleyed a joint survey between Leo Burnett’s media buying giant, Starcom MediaVest Group, and Microsoft.
“Talk to the hand” was the visual representation of people who claim to avoid advertising, as well as the image used for posters, postcards, and t-shirts that enticed delegates to attend the seminar and learn the secret to effective advertising to those who don’t want to listen.
The informational session was promoted through viral videos sent to mobile phones using Mobizone Bluetooth technology. Attractive women wearing the “Talk to the hand” t-shirts and back packs sauntered up and down La Croisette in Cannes, France. In their backpacks, a Bluetooth device “pushed” the videos and promotional teasers to any passerby with a Bluetooth phone.
When we met Alan Quarry for coffee, we knew we would love working with Quarry Communications. In town from Toronto and working with his Chicago team, Alan struck us as an extremely hard worker and smart businessman, easy to talk to with a passion for life. We talked congenially about Canadian politics and attempted several times to make colloquial language jokes, eh.
Our challenge: to create a compelling presentation that would assist Quarry Communications with their client, Seven, a white label technology company specializing in mobile communications. Seven came to Quarry with a new product that would be globally pitched to different mobile characters. Because the audience included people from so many different countries, cultures, and language backgrounds, we needed to create a stimulating presentation that would visually communicate the new technology.
Mike’s design was true to his unique style: clean and simple. Mike sifted through hundreds of screen shots and mobile phone simulation images to arrive at a concise number of illustrated steps that communicated the installation and user set-up process.
A partnership with First Marker, an interactive design company started by Michael Chesta, further animated the project. Michael Chesta created flash components to accompany each stage of the Seven PowerPoint Presentation. He was able to step into Mike Z’s head and understand and exceed beyond the unique challenges of the process. The end product was a presentation that simply communicated the sales angle and implementation with a minimal amount of complex imagery and text.
Considering the complexity of the project, working with the team at Quarry was fantastic. They are one of the most professional and talented companies of size that Mike has ever had the pleasure to work with.
Six years ago, The Bottoms Up Blues Gang played at Borders Books and Music in St. Louis one Friday of the month at the six o’ clock artist series. Six years later The BUBG was voted as the Riverfront Times Best Blues Band in St. Louis. It seems like a bit of an understatement to say they’ve come a long way.
Mike designed their anniversary poster to make a slight departure from their existing marketing pieces. While maintaining some elements in order preserve consistency, he also wanted to open up the opportunity for their branding to grow and change as they continue to become more and more successful.
Every vintage beamer junkie in Chicago knows Johnny Scheff’s Motoworks Chicago. They take a tour of the shop and salivate over the gleaming rows of classic airheads, like the R75’s, that will satisfy just about any rock-star fascination. Mike happens to be one of those guys.
The Motoworks technicians know the intricacies, idiosyncrasies, and personalities of bikes. It would not be a stretch to say they are a bit obsessive. Lucky for them, in their line of work this is the highest of complements. They’re the masters in Chicago. While their specialty is sales and repairs of vintage BMW’s, they can find or fix just about any bike or scooter.
After Johnny helped him find his BMW Blue, 1981 R65, Mike took over redesign of the Motoworks Chicago website. He wanted a classic design that paralleled the sleekness, simplicity, and functionality of the BMW.
The website features detailed descriptions of Motoworks service team and capabilities, including tips from each tech on upkeep for your bike. The entire Ztechnik product catalog can be perused through Motoworks website, customized t-shirt purchased online, and current details found about upcoming track days.
Many oxygen breathers would agree that life can be accurately describe in terms of ebbs and flows. Perhaps that belief in the changing nature of reality has inspired everything from quick decision detours to entire religions.
Alas, The Ebb and Flow Control Kit cannot assist in solving these existential dilemmas. It can, however, move nutrient-enhanced water from reservoirs into a control unit. What does this mean? Basically it’s a blessing to any hydroponic system because it can link together a number of plants and ensure that all will receive the correct amount of water. The control kit is a step-by-step, do-it-yourself guide to success with your plants..
Mike’s design for the Ebb & Flow packaging worked with an existing color scheme and created a feeling of fluidity. The image is meant to represent the balance of the Taoist yin and yang, appropriate because the Control Kit works by means of creating a balance between the water levels and life of the plants. Playing with the already organic images of a leaf and a teardrop of water, Mike mirrored the yin and yang to promote the circular, self-sustaining image of the Ebb and Flow Control Kit.
For an online tutorial on the assembly and benefits of the Control Kit, see the link below:
From tuxedos to overalls, Front Paige Catering does it all. Their events range in formality and numbers, from one to ten thousand. Since their kickoff as a company in November 2005, Front Paige Catering has become the official caterers of the Florence Freedom and partners with the Cincinnati Jungle Kats. Taco bars, breakfast buffets, bbq, and soup and salad bars are just a few of the items the Front Paige fans crave.
The Front Paige Catering mission statement gives a clue into their success: “Create raving fans every day! Satisfied customers just aren’t good enough.” Paige Groen and her partner Roy Silcott started Front Paige Catering to offer a unique culinary experience that focuses on the customer. Both Groen and Silcott have graduate degrees from culinary institutes.
Mike designed the Front Paige website to have the look and feel of a classic newsprint. This style gives the content a vehicle to seem both up-to-date and timeless.
Cerise: cherry in French. Cerise Films: an independent Chicago film company. Working with existing artwork created for Cerise Films by Barbara Gorder, President of Undisclosed Location, Mike was asked to come up with an idea for the new company’s business cards.
The idea behind the design and color scheme he chose was “the ripening process of a cherry,” since Cerise is French for cherry. Additionally, this concept transitioned wonderfully into an animated intro for the company’s show reel.
Everyone has worked on a great idea that went terribly wrong. The April Fool’s Film Festival awards those bombed ideas. Originally founded in the 1970’s by Bruce Bendinger, the youngest creative director in the history of Leo Burnett, the April Fool’s Film Festival gave everybody a chance to blow off a little steam about the worst f***ing ad or commercial ever created.
Working with some of the top creatives in Chicago, we resurrected The April Fool’s Film Festival to showcase the worst ads of the 21st Century on Monday, April 9th at Rumba.
April Fool’s Judges:
Jack Klues - Chairman of Publicis Media Groupe
Lor Gold - Chief Promotions Retail & Advertising Officer of Draft FCB
Barbara Gorder - President of Undisclosed Location
Brigg Bloomquist - Copywriter from Element 79
In collaboration with Barbara Gorder from Undisclosed Location, Mike designed and art directed the look and feel for the print and web campaign, bringing the previously cartoon “Match-head Guy” into life. Chuck Shotwell took the photographs and Scott Giannini added the final touches. To correspond with the visuals, Underscore wrote an original music piece for the You Tube videos, which were edited by Avenue Edit. At the Festival, the first drink of the evening will be sponsored by Alias Arts.
Check out www.aprilfoolfilmfestival.com for You Tube videos, history, contest submission rules, directions, and more.
“Open your eyes. Voice your opinion. Move towards a cure.” These are the challenges posed by the recently launched ActionAlz, a microsite for the Alzheimer’s Association aimed at building a community of Alzheimer’s champions. These champions can be informed and take action to support the 5 million Americans who are currently affected by Alzheimer’s. Through the microsite, visitors can join a memory walk, contact congress, donate funds, share their story, and more.In collaboration with Undisclosed Location, Mike helped design the microsite to complement the parent site, alz.com and emulate the purple ribbon used to signify the Alzheimer’s Association cause. Celebrities were photographed and featured wearing the campaigns Voice - Open - Mov
t-shirts. Each visit to the website prompts a new celebrity on the home page.Working with photographer Christopher Jacobs, we created the commerce section of the website, which features the popular Voice, Open, and Move T-shirts. Good Morning America featured the shirts and drove visitors to the microsite.Programming for the Actionalz site was implemented by the Turtols, a newer website programming and design company in Chicago we recently began collaboration with. One of the features built by the Turtols is a template for a user-driven community blog, where Alzheimer’s survivors and supporters can share stories and build a network. Also programmed by the Turtols is the Custom Ecards section, which enables friends, family, and survivors to send personalized notes in support of a worthy cause. At launch, ActionAlz received considerable press, notably an ABC news interview with David Hyde Pierce regarding his experiences with Alzheimer’s disease.
The M’s, one of Chicago’s favorite band of recent years, have legs. Their recent tour with Chicago’s beloved Wilco and their appearance at Lollapalooza last month have established that their position of growing popularity isn’t going anywhere but up. With sound compared to T-Rex and harmonies with suggested reminiscence of The Kinks, The M’s sound is anything but typical.
For those who haven’t been privy to the CTA’s latest Spring projects, they have essentially rerouted the major arteries of the city’s North side transit in an effort to redesign two major stations. The result: long delays, crowded trains, frustrated passengers, and, hopefully, a more effective train at some point in the foreseeable future.
the Chicago Transit Authority’s branding, urging riders to be their own transit authority instead.
audience with time sensitive and situationally pertinent information. Not surprising, Bluetooth technology made a number of appearances at The Cannes Lions Advertising Film Festival, the quintessential designator of the most creative ads in the world.
over the sexy posters to get a message teaching them how to say something coy in French, German, or Spanish. Mike’s design elements included not only the trade show booth itself, but also postcards, posters, and phone wallpaper that was unique to the Cannes Festival.
“Don’t preach, don’t bore, don’t brag,” explained Stephen Kim, Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions’ director of media research at the Cannes Lions Film Festival. In order to catch the eyes and mind of the one-third of people between the ages of 17 and 35 who claim they don’t pay attention to advertising, “…you must offer them a pleasant surprise,” stated Kate Sirkin, Starcom MediaVest Group’s executive vice-president and global research director. Sirkin and Kim co-hosted a session at the Cannes Lions Advertising Film Festival entitled “How to Engage Consumers in the Age of Ad Aversion.”
the seminar and learn the secret to effective advertising to those who don’t want to listen.
When we met Alan Quarry for coffee, we knew we would love working with Quarry Communications. In town from Toronto and working with his Chicago team, Alan struck us as an extremely hard worker and smart businessman, easy to talk to with a passion for life. We talked congenially about Canadian politics and attempted several times to make colloquial language jokes, eh.
Quarry with a new product that would be globally pitched to different mobile characters. Because the audience included people from so many different countries, cultures, and language backgrounds, we needed to create a stimulating presentation that would visually communicate the new technology.
A partnership with First Marker, an interactive design company started by Michael Chesta, further animated the project. Michael Chesta created flash components to accompany each stage of the Seven PowerPoint Presentation. He was able to step into Mike Z’s head and understand and exceed beyond the unique challenges of the process. The end product was a presentation that simply communicated the sales angle and implementation with a minimal amount of complex imagery and text.
Six years ago, The Bottoms Up Blues Gang played at Borders Books and Music in St. Louis one Friday of the month at the six o’ clock artist series. Six years later The BUBG was voted as the Riverfront Times Best Blues Band in St. Louis. It seems like a bit of an understatement to say they’ve come a long way.
Every vintage beamer junkie in Chicago knows Johnny Scheff’s Motoworks Chicago. They take a tour of the shop and salivate over the gleaming rows of classic airheads, like the R75’s, that will satisfy just about any rock-star fascination. Mike happens to be one of those guys.
Many oxygen breathers would agree that life can be accurately describe in terms of ebbs and flows. Perhaps that belief in the changing nature of reality has inspired everything from quick decision detours to entire religions.
Mike’s design for the Ebb & Flow packaging worked with an existing color scheme and created a feeling of fluidity. The image is meant to represent the balance of the Taoist yin and yang, appropriate because the Control Kit works by means of creating a balance between the water levels and life of the plants. Playing with the already organic images of a leaf and a teardrop of water, Mike mirrored the yin and yang to promote the circular, self-sustaining image of the Ebb and Flow Control Kit.
From tuxedos to overalls, Front Paige Catering does it all. Their events range in formality and numbers, from one to ten thousand. Since their kickoff as a company in November 2005, Front Paige Catering has become the official caterers of the Florence Freedom and partners with the Cincinnati Jungle Kats. Taco bars, breakfast buffets, bbq, and soup and salad bars are just a few of the items the Front Paige fans crave.
Cerise: cherry in French. Cerise Films: an independent Chicago film company. Working with existing artwork created for Cerise Films by Barbara Gorder, President of Undisclosed Location, Mike was asked to come up with an idea for the new company’s business cards.
Everyone has worked on a great idea that went terribly wrong. The April Fool’s Film Festival awards those bombed ideas. Originally founded in the 1970’s by Bruce Bendinger, the youngest creative director in the history of Leo Burnett, the April Fool’s Film Festival gave everybody a chance to blow off a little steam about the worst f***ing ad or commercial ever created.