When I drove into Sedona, Arizona, one of my very favourite places to recharge, I was surprised to see the main road being completely redone to make it into a more congestion-preventive, cycling friendly and nicely integrated two way street. While driving to my hotel, I passed one of the larger – and more unique – souvenir places (Son Silver West Gallery) along the road – it happened to be on the side of the road that is hard to access since it is still under construction. I thought that, eventough better for business in years to come, they must see that inconvenience reflected in sales over Thanksgiving.

When I drove by again today, during business hours, it made me smile to see that there is always a reason why great businesses survive despite tough times: They understand the situation, analyze it, and come up with a solution that might, like in this case, be a bit out of the box.

It seems like it is the largest playground where creatives get to design posters (For non-designers reading this blog: us creatives love designing posters), yet the Hollywood movie industry is also famously the most uninspiring and boring place to be a poster ‘designer’ or ‘Hollywood Photoshop Expert’, as I lovingly refer to the chosen ones. I did it myself a couple of times and it’s worth the experience, yet 100% unfulfilling as a creative (I can’t wait for your comments on this post – ouch!). These two new posters for soon-to-be blockbusters are such a rare sighting of actually creative (= no headshots, or, in Angelina Jolie’s case, no lips) hollywood posters that the horizontal Valkyrie poster (not shown) was enough to catch my attention when driving down the roads of Hollywood boredom…

(I took inspiration for the title from one of the first vinyl singles I ever bought back in the 80’s. If you are not familiar with the song ‘being boiled’ by Human League from 1978, take a listen and remember that this was recorded in 1978!)

After my Pepsi re-branding fiasco post, the new Holiday Inn mark follows suite. I just don’t believe a hotel brand should feel like an inexpensive shampoo label or days-marked-off-a-prison-cell-wall (at least it was only a three day stay). Scary to think there surely was a big brand strategy, hundreds of thousands of dollars and a significant brand bible behind this re-branding effort…

A 20 second iPhone application download later you find yourself creating music. Or music re-creating your environments. Or you find yourself under the influence of digital drugs, as the creator of the software puts it. A very exciting, creative and stimulating, yet simple, idea that is hard to explain, so i let the creator struggle through it himself.

Too bad I did not know about this two nights ago when I found myself proposing to my then-girlfriend, now-fiancée, because I would have recorded the whole situation. It would have surely made for a unique wedding song…

Our President-Elect continues to cater to a new generation by launching an official web site to have the country participate in the change to come. Where should we start in saluting the fact that the campaign is over, yet Obama’s team understands that the 2.0 campaign will be best leveraged right this moment to not lose any viral capabilities of the 3+ Million ’subscribers’. The fact that the site gets Geyrhalter Design’s approval and praise for the UI as well as design aesthetics, is, of course, just an added benefit.

While the new administration starts doing, we start watching (in awe) how this historical campaign continues to do the right thing at the right moment.

We will also try to not make this an Obamarama blog, because that is one thing the world does not fall short of at this point in time… 

Last night was powerful. It was the most magnificent moment of positive change I have felt since I moved to the U.S. 12 years ago. I do not know when the last time was in history, or if ever there was a time in modern history, where so many Americans cried out of joy at the same very moment. Imagining that the reason for this sensation is watching a president, who most Americans have not even heard of a little while ago, being elected, is mind blowing to me. A moment that clearly went beyond two people running for president. A moment that shaped history in so many ways, too many to mention, and not the right outlet to do so.

Quite appropriately though is to state how last night affected agencies around the world, as strategic ad campaigns of all sorts, shapes and forms will have to be compared to this all encompassing and fully integrated brand building spectacle. A campaign that was cleverly crafted and superbly executed. The day the first book going in-depth on this stunning lesson in marketing (and there will be many) will be released, will be the day I will head to the stores. If nothing else to you, this has been the best example of Brand Atmospheres I will be able to give you in a long time, unless our clients amp up the budget a bit more into the Obama campaign direction…then, maybe, Geyrhalter Design too can say ‘Yes, we can.’

After Coldplay’s videos have been unbearingly bad lately, the director had to pull out a special trick to stun the masses with the video for ‘Lovers in Japan’, which premiered yesterday. It turned out being a plain unimaginative copy of Picasso’s classic piece. Sadly it will still be a huge hit because most main stream music fans will not even know Picasso’s genius experiment.