Pushing Peeps. A New Peeps Store, Easter Peeps Contests, & New Peeps Products.

More Peepular than ever.
Those colorful sugar-coated marshmallow Easter treats shaped like bunnies and chicks continue to expand their cult-like popularity. More colors, chocolate dipped, bite-sized and sugar-free versions are now available. In response to the public Peep demand, Just Born has opened their first Peeps & Company store and have launched a new dedicated e-commerce Peeps site.



About the store
PEEPS & COMPANY® is located at the very center of National Harbor's dynamic main plaza. Directly in front of the PEEPS & COMPANY® store is Seward Johnson's famous statue, The Awakening, along with sweeping views of the beautiful Potomac River. The store's location is at a converging point for residents and thousands of visitors arriving by metro bus, car, and ferries, which dock at the piers in front of the store.





In a joint statement, David Shaffer and Ross Born, Co-CEOs of Just Born, commented, "This is a momentous occasion for Just Born, our family of associates, and fans of our candy. For years, we have seen tremendous growth and excitement for our brands, and received many requests for a store in just the right location. PEEPS & COMPANY® is proud to join the community near our nation's capital."

Inside the store:

above: The Corcoran Ceramics faculty was picked by Chicago’s RTKL to create the signature tile wall for the Peeps® Company flagship retail store at the National Harbor

The stores and site are being promoted with a Peepmobile (actually called the Peepster Car for some odd reason).


Here's a little news story on the new store:


Annual Peeps contests in which people create scenes and dioramas using the Easter favorites keep on growing. Several major newspapers now sponsor Peeps contests. Instead of showing you images of multiple entries like I have in the past, there are just too many, so instead I will show you the winning entry from the Washington Posts's contest along with links to the other contests so you can view the entries and winners on your own.

The Washington Post's 2011 Peeps Contest Winner: ‘Chilean CoPeepapo mine rescue’

above: This year’s winning diorama is called "Chilean CoPeepapo Mine Rescue." It was created by Mary Jo Ondrejka, Margaret Hartka, and Bryn Metzdorf. (Narration by Holly E. Thomas) (/Video by Evelio Contreras and Akira Hakuta)

•The Washington Post's 2011 Peeps contest
•Denver Post's 2011 Peeps Contest
•Chicago Tribune 2011 Peeps Contest
•The Seattle Times' 2011 Peeps Contest
• Pioneer Press' Peeps Diorama Contest submissions
•"Valley of The Peeps" contest, Allentown, PA.

Not only are the contests gaining more popularity but more and more non-edible Peeps products are being marketed. More peeps stickers, mugs, mouse pads, plushies, apparel and even golf accessories join brands like Lenox to create more branded items available from the Peeps online store.

Peeps golf balls, head covers and golf towel:

Lenox Peep tea light holders:

Peeps Silly Bands!

Mousepads:

Peeps Stainless Steel water bottles:

Peeps Jewelry:


Peeps apparel:






Visit Peeps and Company's new dedicated website which offers the above items and many more.

The Gooey origins of Peeps (courtesy of CNN):


Don't forget to see my many past Peeps Posts:

• Peeps As Pop Culture: The Peep Show II Winners & More

• PEEPS Peer Pressure! You Want Peeps Art? Here's Some Of The Best

• Washington Posts' Annual 2010 Peeps Show IV Winner, Finalists & Semifinalists

• Non Perishable Peeps Products. Everything Peeps But The Edible Ones.

A Viagra-Laced Beer Is Launched To Toast The Upcoming Nuptials Of William & Kate

Bottled virility for the Monarchy. Raise a glass, and a body part, to the soon to be wed Royal Couple with this Viagra-laced beer from Brew Dog. The Royal Virility Performance is a limited edition artisanal brew made with various well-known aphrodisiacs in honor of Prince William's upcoming nuptials to Kate Middleton.




According to the specially commissioned label, the Royal Virility Performance contains Pfizer's magic blue pill (aka Viagra), chocolate, Horny Goat Weed and ‘a healthy dose of sarcasm’. The beer is a 7.5% ABV India Pale Ale and has been brewed at BrewDog’s brewery in Fraserburgh.



With this beer, the folks at Brew Dog wanted to take the wheels off the royal wedding bandwagon being jumped on by dozens of breweries; The Royal Virility Performance is said to be the perfect antidote to all the hype. Brew Dog claims "A beer should be brewed with a purpose, not just because some toffs are getting married, so we created something at our brewery that will undermine those special edition beers and other assorted seaside tat, whilst at the same time actually give the happy couple something extra on their big day."



James Watt, Head of Stuff at BrewDog commented:
“We put a bottle in a jiffy bag marked ‘Prince Willy, Buckingham Palace’. We sent it by Royal Mail as we presume they are most likely to know where he lives. As the bottle says, this is about consummation, not commemoration, so we hope he gets it.”




*The beer will be shipped on the 28th of April* Better snap some up, they only have 1,000 bottles available! Buy it here.

Drill Inc. Creates Xylophone, A Commercial For The Touch Wood Mobile Phone

A lovely and inventive three minute commercial, Xylophone, for a new wooden encased phone, the Touch Wood SH 08C from Docomo of Japan.




Japanese agency Drill Inc. (the same agency responsible for the website design of the Epos 100 artist Visa credit cards) and creative director Morihiro Harano hand crafted a giant wooden xylophone in the woods of Kyushu, Japan. As one little wooden ball rolls down the giant microphone, it plays Bach’s Cantata 147. The agency claims that no artificial music was used.



A joint project with Sharp, Olympus and Docomo, the phone is beautifully designed, as is the packaging

as well as the wooden charging unit by More Trees:


Be sure to see "the making of' the commercial here.

Here's a dedicated microsite for owners, the phone and accessories.

You can shop for the Touch wood Phone and the More trees charger here

Modernista & Shilo Ask You To Answer An SOS With A Touching & Clever Short Film

The filmmakers from U.S. creative production company Shilo are very proud to detail their latest project. Working in association with advertising agency Modernista, Shilo engaged Cassidy Gearhart to direct "SOS: Save Our Supplies," a visually poetic, live-action, 1:52 short film that is a central piece in the agency's cross-media campaign for the Brooklyn-based non-profit Doc to Dock, Inc. The film recently went live earlier on the new website created by Modernista at www.doc2dock.org.



"Doc to Dock was started in 2005 by Dr. Bruce Charash as a commitment to the Clinton Global Initiative," said Gary Koepke, Modernista's co-founder and executive creative director. "Essentially, the organization collects unused medical supplies through its network of medical professionals and volunteers, then they sort, ship and redistribute the supplies and equipment -- enough to fill over 25 40-foot shipping containers so far -- to meet the specific needs of hospitals in the developing world. So far, this organization has brought hope and care to more than two million people while simultaneously reducing waste in the U.S., and we have crafted our new campaign to raise awareness and advance their cause. For this important short film, we turned to Shilo, which is well known for producing deep and incredibly thoughtful visual messages that leverage and unite all cinematic crafts. To say the least, we are all incredibly proud of the finished film."

To respond to the ideas presented by Koepke, Modernista's creative directors Will Uronis and Davi Liu, copywriter Lorelei Bandrovschi, and director of production Liz Shook, Shilo called upon Gearhart, whose first collaboration with Shilo's co-founder, creative director and director Andre Stringer was the hip hop documentary "Open Transport" released in 2000. The two worked very closely together at B.E.T., and over the years, Gearhart has contributed his talents to many major Shilo projects as a director, editor and artist.






"The Doc to Dock project's script called for very graphic live-action shots, and great art direction," said Shilo's executive producer Tracy Chandler. "We knew that Cass was the right director for this job because of his strong graphic, live-action sensibility, and also because he really knows type design well."

In the agency's original "SOS" script, powerful words are written on supply boxes, where those boxes fill up a shipping container using stop-motion animation, and in the process, tell Doc to Dock's story and convey its call-to-action. "After reading that great script," Gearhart explained, "I fell in love with the idea of interpreting the film as a visual voice-over, where we could use live-action cinematography of the boxes to present a unique type-treatment and storytelling approach."

To heighten viewers' emotional connections to the story, Gearhart proposed showing some human hands at work moving the boxes, and also, visually setting apart the script's two separate sections. "As our ideas for the production took form, those changes allowed us to set all the action for 'the problem' section in a warehouse, then set 'the solution' section inside the actual shipping container."

Throughout the development phase, the designs on the boxes became another key focus. Together, everyone decided those designs should be consistent with real-world shipping graphics. "The style of packing labels, stickers, marker writing, and the type of printing you normally see on boxes made us immediately think of the work of Mike Cina, an accomplished typeface designer well-versed in grid-based graphic design," said Gearhart. To the group's delight, Cina signed on to provide art direction for all the shipping box graphics.

The project's detailed prep-work also involved a full two weeks of pre-production, where Gearhart first produced a "word-o-matic" (an edit of the script's messaging timed to music), and from there, storyboards and a detailed previs. To dial-in the timing and message composition for the time-lapse sequences showing the walls of boxes being built, Gearhart, Julian King, and Shilo producer Jeremy Yaches rehearsed and captured numerous takes in Shilo's studio.

When production day finally arrived, the crew assembled on a set built inside a Brooklyn warehouse. Gathered together along with 120 custom-made boxes, another 100 "extra" boxes, a 40-foot Doc to Dock shipping container sent in from New Jersey, and their on-camera talent while an intense blizzard raged outside, Shilo's crew captured their principal photography using the RED MX camera system. Time-lapse footage was shot using a Canon 5D.

"One of the shots that came out of all our pre-production testing was the container door closing shot," Gearhart added. "We came up with the idea of rigging the camera to the door so that the camera tracks with the door as it slams shut. In the end, we felt it was perfect for bringing our message home with a bang."



Credits:
Client: Doc to Dock, Inc.
Advertising Agency: Modernista
Executive Creative Director: Gary Koepke
Creative Director: Will Uronis
Creative Director: Davi Liu
Copywriter: Lorelei Bandrovschi
Director of Production: Liz Shook

Production Company: Shilo
Director: Cassidy Gearhart
Co-Director: Julian King
Director of Photography: Tristan Sheridan
Production Designer: Jeff Everett
Box Art Direction and Design: Mike Cina
Editor: Julian King & Cassidy Gearhart
Color Correction: Julian King
Executive Producer: Tracy Chandler
Producer: Jeremy Yaches
Music: Zoe Keating "Optimist"
Sound Design/Mix: Mike Secher, Soundtrack


About Shilo
Shilo is an Emmy Award-winning creative production company representing a group of filmmakers led by directors Jose Gomez and Andre Stringer. Internationally known for creating original and commissioned work that is powerful, provocative and visually extraordinary, Shilo's deeply held passions for design-infused storytelling and their innovative applications of live-action, design, and animation techniques deliver breakthrough experiences for screens large and small. From its studios in New York and California, where recent projects have spanned short films, commercials and music videos, Shilo has the capacity and experience to originate ideas and handle all aspects of production. Shilo published its first book, We Make It Good, in 2007, and also also curates and produces content for the blog www.WeMakeItGood.com. Their sibling company WMIG is a creative think tank offering services in ideation, writing, and art direction. For more information, or to request a reel, please contact Tracy Chandler at +1.212.219.4700, or visit Shilo online at www.shilo.tv.

Jen Aniston's Sex Tape For SmartWater

Mocking some of the most popular youtube videos, Jennifer Aniston, playing dumb about social media, stars in one of her own. Puppies, Dancing Babies, Double Rainbow and a kick to the crotch help create a virus- er, viral video for the bottled water owned by Glaceau.







I just wish it had ended with her riding bareback saying "I'm on a horse"

DDB Auckland Makes An Impression Selling Shorts For Superette

To promote the shorts sale at fashion retail store Superette, the New Zealand ad agency, DDB Auckland, turned unwitting thighs into billboards by creating benches with reverse embossed lettering that when sat upon created an impression reading "Short shorts on sale Superette"



The plates were placed upon inner city and fashion district bus stop benches, mall seats and park benches. The branded seats were an ingenious way to take advantage of free media space with the impressions lasting about an hour.




Credits:
Ad agency: DDB Auckland
Executive Creative Director: Toby Talbot
Creative Director: Regan Grafton
Creative: Damian Galvin and Rory Mckechnie
Account Director: Jenny Travers
Project Manager: Andy Robilliard
Models: Jen and Jen