Some of you may already have seen this - yet another - step to cross platform media creation. Esquire magazine is celebrating its 75th anniversary by use of an ‘electronic’ cover for the special issue. We will hunt for it in the next days and comment with approval (or disapproval - will it look like an old-school gif animation?), but until then, you can watch the cover here.

Thanks to my student Strahan for bringing it to my attention.

First logos in the sky, now music on the road. Honda tested what they call a ‘Melody Road’ in Lancaster, CA. You can get a feel for it in this video. The concept was developed by researchers in Japan and it utilizes grooves that are cut into the road at different intervals creating the ’soundtrack’. Quite intriguing, but of course Lancaster residents complained and soon there will be asphalt trucks pulling in and it will be the day that music died. At least on that part of the road. A different kind of road kill, but an intriguing idea which I am sure will resurrect in different ways in the near future.

It is hard not to notice the new billboard campaign for the Showtime series Dexter. Makes you value the idea of brand building by use of typography and layout. How else could we quickly put names to these ‘Dexter’ magazines? A job well done.

I wonder how long it took Showtime to get the go-ahead from all the publishers’ legal departments before running this campaign…

Images found via my friend Google at showtimefan.com

I am sure we have all seen the amazing viral phenomenon, ‘The Mentos Experiment’. I saw the two gentlemen speak at an Art Center Conference earlier this year as they were talking about their next ‘experiment’ involving tons of Post-its. Well, here it is, in all its disappointment. A fairly lame idea, done in a way too polished manner - may I dare to mention it is ‘starring’ ABC’s ‘Samurai Girl’ - and to top it off, an ‘Office Max’ logo, with custom tag line, at the end. A fine way to ruin something that was truly unique. Yes, tons of people will watch it, but the leaders are now gone forever and Eepy Bird has been handed over to the followers, and the corporations to slap on their logos. Sad, when you think about what  could have been…

Watching the first 70 seconds of the Dior Homme Summer/Spring 2008 Runway show is a treat. An amazing reveal of a great location paired with a custom soundtrack (titled ‘Planisphere’), appropriately composed (or maybe better put ‘altered’) by french electro hipsters Justice, make this an amazing brand enhancer. You can view it on their web site, even though you will have to navigate to find it (deep linking would be a nice feature), or download the entire show as a whooping 87 MB file courtesy of the nice folks of Ohh Crapp here.

As of this season’s style, I have a feeling that I will be more impressed by the new John Varvatos collection, which we have the pleasure of rolling out via their (Geyrhalter Designed) web site within a week.