It is manna to anyone with a creative bent and a sense of curiosity and invention – of looking at things differently.

During his career as a newspaper cartoonist – his legacy was his ‘invention cartoons’ where he looked at inventing incredibly elborate machine inventions to perform simple tasks such as pencil sharpening, or washing windows, avoiding bill collectors, peeling apples, putting toothpaste on a toothbrush. He was about creative problem solving in unconventional ways and having a lot of fun in the process .

Since his passing in 1970, his creative approach has continued to be celebrated in the form of his postcard format book called the “Rube Goldberg’s Inventions”.

IN essence these inventions over engineer very simple tasks in a very very complex fashion and usually features a series of chain reactions.

The Perdue Univeristy, Indiana USA, started the annual Rube Goldberg Machine Contest (RGMC) in 1987 and the results have been creatively intriguing and always entertaining in terms of human ingenuity. The name of the game is to solve a problem in the MOST CONVOLUTED AND COMPLICATED MANNER POSSIBLE.

Now when you to take this Goldberg approach and mesh it with a very creative and quirky musical group OK GO – the result is a masterful visual and audible event. Memorable and fun.

OK Go’s song This Too Shall Pass” and it’s Rube Goldberged all the way. Enjoy.

Hope you enjoyed that as much as we did.

Of course this is not the first time this musical group have delivered on a memorable video clip experience.

A previous music clip, very very simple in execution and concept, was superbly delivered on the back of some fabulous choregraphy using treadmills. The clip is called “Here It Goes Again”.

Just fabulous… Rube Goldberg and OK Go… fantastic. The applications within the special event environment in terms of team building, in regards to stage showcraft, out-of-the-box thinking and creative innovation is wide ranging and excites the heck out of the FACTOR168 team and never fails to recharge our mojo.

Now for some Goldberg trivia.

Some Goldberg trivia – Rube Goldberg’s machine inventions were the inspiration for the much loved classic board game “Mouse Trap“. Compare his artwork, compare the board game… yeah, you can see it too huh?

PLUS in 1931 the Merriam-Webster dictionary adopted the word “Rube Goldberg” as an adjective defined as accomplishing something simple through complex means.

Source Notes: More on the creative world of Rube Goldberg and for more music got to OK GO.

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I understand there is some Gridiron football involved and apparently today the New Orlean’s Saints had a famous win… but for the rest of the western world, the superbowl is all about the sideshow event – commercials.

This year was not any different and the Forbes website have been kind enough to provide a digital selection of some of these television advertising commercials for you to review, consider, muse upon and hopefully enjoy. Oh, and buy their stuff!

Which ad worked best for you?

And importantly which ad worked best for the company commissioning it.

We think the E*Trade one wins hands down. The ‘wolfie’ online brought a smile to our face and the line about his airplane travelling pal dancing style being described as… ‘haunting’ made us laugh out loud. Instant classics.

The Doritos ad with the nimble dog venting vengence ran a relatively close second. Hmmm… man… there’s so many people I’d love to collar and bark at… jus’ sharin’.

The not-so-great ads? There were a number.

Keep an eye out for the Dr Pepper Cherry flavoured soft drink (‘soda’ in American-speak). It wasn’t the worst but it was far from good. Even with Gene Simmons from Kiss in it… or because of it – it was just plain lame. Pity.

Anyhoo, feel free to check out the superbowl 2010 ad’s below and see what you think.

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Almost everyone else, certainly all my peers,  saw it as witty and funny and just plain smart viral marketing in action.

What do you think?

Does this seriously promote and celebrate negative practices or is it yet another victim of political correctness run rampant… and do you think the makers of this clip kinda knew it would attract a consumer and media firestorm around it and banked on the upside of drawing more eyes to Air NZ as good thing regardless of how it is achieved.

* Just a quick clarification for those that have been living under a rock and don’t actually know what a ‘cougar’ refers to. It is often employed to describe a sexually active woman in her 40′s who are so desperate for affection and the pursuit of robust sexual encounters that they tend to target young often inexperienced men in bars and clubs.

And this is what this clip is sending up with tongue firmly planted in cheek. Cougars stalking their younger prey. Anyway enough of that – check out the video and be prepared to enjoy it… or be offended… or perhaps both in equal measure.

Look I am sorry but personally I thought that was just brilliant.

Is it PC? No of course not. Offensive? Not to me.

I can see similar on mainstream media during primetime. Just not as amusing.

The American ABC network is airing a popular show based on this very phenomena. With that in mind, I kinda figure the notion of “Cougars” has firmly sidestepped PCness and been accepted by mainstream community social mores.

The show is called ”Cougar Town” and stars the very cute blue-eyed brunette Courtney Cox, previously of ‘Friends’ fame’, as she stalks her younger toy-boyish prey. Check out episodes from the official website here.

Look in all seriousness I think Air NZ deserves a big gold star for cutting through all the competing media clutter with a storng dose of humour and has achieved their marketing objective of elevating their brand profile amongst social media savvy consumers at little cost and in doing so also produced a moment that can withstand repeated viewings.

Big tick to Air NZ. In fact in a very backhanded compliment manner – it is very ‘Virigin’ of them in many ways.

Some source credits -

The little postit image at the top of the post advertises a show from Donna Moore.

The clip is courtesy of Youtube (but I suspect Air Nz had a huge hand in it).

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His advertisements for this chocolate bar with the wafer innards really spoke to us… he engaged and his message resonated like all good branded experiences. And it was smart and funny in a very understated English way.

Check the video clip of his TVC to see exactly what we are banging on about and then brew up a nice cuppa english breakfast tea and crack a Kit Kat or two. Then take a deep breath and thank your lucky stars your not a burnt out single-goal-driven Salmon. Not so far anyway.

On a slightly more serious note, you should always try to feature more fish in your weekly diet. I’ve been reliably informed by the health food store lady that Omega 3′s (sadly not code for a super small Dennis Quaid looking spaceman travelling around in your body) found in fish oil is meant to be fabulous for your brains and your bloods and so on. Cool. Anything that gives us an improved edge on the design and delivery of great event experiences that is legal and good for the heart can’t be all bad.

It should be said however that while writing about this – I have not eaten any fish or taken any fish oil capsules. I have however managed to polish off yet another Kit Kat… and in fact on passing glance, it also looks like the little line drawing of the Salmon at the top of this post has also developed a hankering for Kit Kats. Oh dear.

OK from tomorrow it’s fish for lunch for the entire events team!

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No not that one… nor the one with the Salsa dipping sauce and Mojo Webb soundtrack… no. It is my Finnish pleasure.

I can’t recall exactly when I cam across this musical… umm.. phenomenon… and I can’t remember who introduced me to them but I am externally grateful. They always brings a smile to my dial and when the creative well is a little shallow, this outfit always seems to refresh and re-energise me.

They are a Finish Rock Band created by a Finnish (you’ll notice that I really like using the word Finnish where ever possible in this paragraph) film director Aki Kaurismaki (seriously that is his name, cool huh?) who featured in his Finish film cunningly titled “Leningrad Cowboys Go America” starring a fictional Finish progressive rock band with a taste for polka – the Leningrad Cowboys. Finished with laboring the Finish.

After the film, the band not expectantly took on a life of its own. Recording music, making videos and giving concerts. The band appeared in two other Aki Kaurismäki films, “Leningrad Cowboys Meets Moses” and “Total Balalaika Show”.

This second film featured the band in concert and for the first time with the 160-member Alexandrov Ensemble. It was in Helsinki and it was magic.

The Cowboys followed this up with a slightly smaller ensemble, about 70 odd Alexandrov member. They played at the 11th Annual MTV Music Awards in New York to an estimated global audience of 250 million people worldwide. Not bad at all.

This strange musical fusion of Finnish Art-Pop and Russian Military gave birth to some of the oddest cover renditions I have heard, but nothing more so than their glorious take of “Sweet Home Alabama” – the signature hit song from one of the most famous airplane crash band’s Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Check out the wacky glory of the Cowboys and the Alexandrov’s in action below.

About ten years after this concert film the Cowboys and the Ensemble got back together for a concert imaginatively titled “Global Balalaika Show“. And they were still popular! They have since toured regularly including private corporate functions… although I suspect seeing them perform without the Alexandrov Ensemble would be a little disappointing in some ways. For me anyway. The clash of stiff Cold War feeling military uniforms with the pop-art explosion of the Cowboys loud-jackets and Cirque de Soleil inspired pointed hair and shoes. It’s this visual and audible clash set to music that makes it all work so wonderfully.

As a general rule, the Leningrad Cowboys consist of eleven cowboys and two Leningrad Ladies. Their songs indicate a strong thematic preference for Genghis Khan, Russian folk standards, tractors and rockets, Led Zeppelin and the Beatles, and of course vodka.  Naturally.

That’s not to say that they haven’t tried their hand at more contemporary-ish songs.

The second clip embedded below is their version of that late ’90′s hit from punk-ish group Offspring. In some ways I like this song “Pretty Fly for a White Guy” more so than their other offerings. If for no other reason than it features the Ladies auxiliary of the ensemble opening the track by singing “Give It To Me Baby” in heavy accented English. Adorable and fun.

AND check out the way they have gone about staging the concert. Tiered stage levels and an elevated catwalk flown through and above the audience. Transferable to a memorable corporate environment? Yes sir.

The Leningrad Cowboys official site can be found overrrrr….overrr… here!

and the wonderful Russian Choir and Backing band is the Alexandrov Ensemble… and their site can be found……over….. there!

As a special added bonus for 168′ers – we have organized, kinda, for their entire site to be presented totally in Russian for a greater cultural experience. Awwww pretty.

Your most welcome.

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Some were voted because of significant popular culture reasons – like Jackson’s performance of Billie Jean at the Motown celebrations. This was the performance that introduced the world to the moonwalk and that glove. And of course it is an outstanding pop song with it’s driving baseline.

Love it almost as much as Smooth Criminal which introduced the anti-gravity foot lean dance movement. Sheer entertainment musically and visually that put many of it’s contemporaries of the time to shame. I’m talking about you Van Halen.

Others were unanimously nominated because they are plain and simple fabulous songs. Notably two of his earlier hits fall into this category -  Rock with You and Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough.

He was a very handsome man back then – young, black smiling, and with a ‘softness’.

Other songs were considered very good but the larger than life big budget of Black and White pushed it up the rankings and crowned Jackson as the undisputed Pop King of music video blockbusters.

You’ll note some songs didn’t make our top 5. Notably Thriller and Bad.

Sure – they were better than okay, sensational production values, and those group dance moves were something else buuuuut… well over time they didn’t seem to hold up on their own merits as well as the less ‘flashy’ efforts from Jackson. And Man in the Mirror and Dirty Diana were considered way too creepy, even for us fragile souls.

The number one track was selected because of it’s timeless quality, it’s sheer energy and groove, and as event professionals we well know that if you ever want to fill a dance floor quickly or lighten the mood – cue this track. It is our favorite.

The Top 5 Michael Jackson Songs

Number 5. Rock With You (1979)

4. Black or White (1990)

Number 3. Billie Jean (1982)

Number 2. Smooth Criminal (1987)

Number 1. Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough (1979)

SPECIAL MENTION goes to one of the best live performances with Jackson performing at the American NFL Superbowl with a ‘medley’ of his hits.

and in keeping with the Top 5 list – the best of The Jackson 5 with Michael up front.  “Blame It on the Boogie” (1978)

With thanks -Lean-to Image from Wikipedia, Rock with You courtesy of DailyMotion.com, Black and White from MetaCafe.com, Billie Jean from French site Wat.tv, Don’t Stop Till You Drop from MySpace Video, and all others from… you guessed it… Youtube.com.

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Inspired by your NZ, Brisbane, and Vegas experience marketing TVCs, I thought I’d share this little conversational accented gem with you. This is not the very worst tourist genre advertisement out there (feel free to post your suggestions in) but gee it would have to be in contention. And this also serves as a good example of why a musical soundtrack or in this case the almost virtual absence of one can be so mission critical. By comparison the 100% Pure NZ ad is a masterpiece. Go on… en-joy.

I kinda don’t really get it. Is the ad trying to attract tourists? Business investment? Convince Albertans it’s good to be Albertans? Where is Alberta? You’ll find a handy map here but just think Edmonton or even better Calgary – they are full of Albertans. Think the middle of Canada and bang! you’re pretty much on the money… think of this ad… and your not.

And since we are talking about money – the non-conformer’s Canadian weblog last post back in Feb this year chronicles the mass media response to the “once golden goose of the Canadian economy, Alberta is now shedding jobs like feathers, Albtertains were hit last week with…(yada yada yada)” The thing is… during this time of economic recession, this is not Alberta specific… everyone is posting a deficit.

But let’s not go there today. Today it is all about being in a state of Alberta. And a quirky thing that screams Alberta to me is this giant roadside billboard (below) advertising the Naval Museum of Alberta. Which is really cool and very creative in terms of using the periscope… and yet so very very Albertarianly odd.

You see the thing that unhinges me here is that Alberta is landlocked. Between the Rocky Mountains and foothils, and a huge spread of forested plains – covering almost 90% of the area I’m so told. Sure. That’s what I was thinking – where the heck are the oceans for these Albertan submarines… ‘eh?

And now that I have settled a little, it just occurred to me that I have been referring to Alberta as a state within Canada but perhaps they prefer being called a province? After all some refer to it as the Princess Province – named after the fourth daughter of Queen Victoria… ummm… Princess.. Alberta. Any ideas. State or Province? And where are the subs?

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A beautifully shot advertisement showcasing the diversity of ‘the long white cloud’ in it’s locales and it’s people. The legendary story of this nations birth and the soundtrack of ‘forever young’ – it’s powerful and it works. I’d go…

This advertisement would have to be best in genre.
It’s a pity that their website lets them down so very badly.

Cluttered and difficult to navigate, and let’s be frank – just not that visually appealing. It has all the standard tourism site tools – the travel planner, event calenders and so on. I did however like the extension of the strong storytelling device evident in their advertisements with the send-a-friend a postcard and the the showcasing of visitors, residents, and fans home made films uploaded as 100% Pure NZ video experiences.

Fantastic ad, ordinary web presence. This should serve as a lesson to all of us. It’s not really good enough if there is no branded experience consistency across all facets of a project.

It would be akin to sinking the majority of your event budget into an expensive headline act and neglecting the event environment, high care table service, or even fundamentally a smooth and warm registration process. It never fails to amaze me that even today, some people spend a fortune on staging an important event only to neglect setting aside within their budget and site times for adequet presenter and techincal rehearsals and then wonder when things ‘happen’ or worse… don’t. Seriously talk with us or your current professional event management partner to best determine how to strike a considered balance between all aspects of an event so that you and your guests are assured a consistent and impactful experience across all aspects of the event cycle. It just makes sense.

Since we are on the subject of tourism style advertisements, a good one creates an expectation of a unique or at least a memorable experience and motivates the viewer to act on it. Consider the next clip which had the very hard task of promoting one of Australia’s east coast cities commonly regarded by many as a big country town – Brisbane. I think they did a pretty good job although would it compel me to holiday there or just make me feel warm and fuzzy about living there?

And finally, a personal favorite of mine. An advertisement for Las Vegas. What I like about this advertisement is it doesn’t show the Vegas most of us know – the shows, the strip, the neon lights, the gambling tables, the dancing and so on… no it just presents a little story and you fill in the ‘blanks’ with your own Vegas experience. Smart, fun, and effective. I’d go… for the shopping of course. Enjoy.

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Consider this if you are in anyway fragile, remotely prudish, or just not too keen on the French or watching people walking a lot.

For the rest of us – here is a great music track with a catchy driving beat and addictive chant like lyrics supported by a very simple concept and memorable vision.

In brief – a series of girls take turns striding down a series of streets in Paris, relieving each other relay style with Dylan-esque lyrics repeatedly masking out their genitals. Okay then.

Sure sure there is a certain degree of titillating shock value to be found here I guess but I’d counter that in this day and age… it isn’t actually all that shocking. Just enough ‘shock’ I’d imagine to ensure it reaches a global audience. The fundamentals of viral marketing appear to be all ticked here (let’s face it – this very post is testimony to this) ensuring a greater enhanced profile for this band.

As evidenced by their extensive touring now being undertaken it seems to be working out just fine for them… and having good music in my humble opinion certainly can’t hurt.

Artistically there is a lot to like about this project. It’s smart and simple.

And I love the effortlessly smooth transitions the ladies perform between each other. To be honest, I didn’t even see the first relief girl enter the scene until her dress came up.

From a purely commercial point of view, what I really love about this project is that for a relatively modest budget outlay – an allocation for a camera mounted vehicle or motorbike (or even a scooter), talent fees, and a reasonable block of edit time, this almost no-cost exercise has delivered a great result with huge ongoing potential for the band.

It is fair to say that this particular approach is not for everyone or for every business. But this notion of creating a strong vibe through an experiential event staged within the public arena is well worth considering for some.

It can certainly ensure media coverage. It can generate genuine word of mouth buzz  around the brand or product. It can seriously elevate profiles through the ‘compounding magic’ of viral electronic marketing.

A number of things to be mindful of in considering this style of experiential marketing. Safety above all else.

If staged in the public space and your undertaking a guerrilla approach like this clip – then speed and surprise are everything. If not, expect to either be shut down very quickly or even worse – public reactions may be much more studied and contrived and let’s face it this isn’t so hot. Forced moments invariably consign video productions to the edit suites as a ‘fix-it-in-the-edit’ casualty. Suddenly there’s CGI everywhere and a budget bled out all over the floor.

Other elements to consider are -a practical budget and a strong sense of what is ‘appropriate’ and what isn’t in terms of general public sensibilities and brand identity.

You’ll also need a seasoned experiential events partner to help produce, navigate, and execute the project at hand to ensure maximum value and impact is achieved from the ‘moment’.  Of course, above all else, you and your organization will need to demonstrate courage and conviction.

The music clip is not so surprisingly called “Baby Baby Baby” and is courtesy of the bands myspace website – Make the Girl Dance

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Some of us have lucky socks or undies, perhaps a handful of sunflower seeds… or a jangly keyring doo-dad…a single well worn poker chip… you know what I mean. Lucky stuff. Just to be sure.

One of our founding creatives, Darren Kerr, has a very odd ‘lucky’ practice he harbours when delivering a special event. Once he has conducted his Q2Q rehearsals, done his site walk through, greeted and briefed speakers and talent alike, and ensured everything is as it should be … he feels the need to play his lucky track through the room’s PA before he is content and good to ‘go-for-doors’… that track is “Funky Town”.

Importantly – we are not talking about the classic Lipps Incorporated 1970′s disco hit version but rather the 1980′s cover version by Aussie synth band Pseudo Echo.

We suspect it is the ‘funky’ Korg keyboard slung over the shoulder that seems to appeal most. In fact he loves the track so much he has attempted to book the band a number of times for clients eager for a really fun ’80′s themed retro event… thankfully he has so far been thwarted by the FACTOR168 good taste style police. He has however successfully engaged other ’80′s musical warriors such as ‘Air Supply’ so you can’t win them all. Oh dear.

‘Funky Town’ fast approaches. Strap in.

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This video ‘mash’* has creatively cut together a number of period Jazz musicians together and married them to a funky psychedelic soundtrack. The results are great. Love it.

This sense of taking the old and reinventing with a fresh new take is very liberating and can be applied to all sorts of things. Reinvent a product or a service, perhaps a business process or even a brand identity – I suspect most things could do with a thorough ‘mashing’ from time to time.

A great ‘mash’ opportunity is the much loved and anticipated ‘happy-faces’ event video clips we are often asked to produce and run at the conclusion of incentive styled events. A ‘mashed’ approach could work really well here. But of course like most things, be mindful not to over do it as the impact of this stylized effect can be lost or become…well… annoying.

* This videoclip is apparently called a ‘mashup’.

I wasn’t sure what this was but have been reliably informed it is a technique where as number of different data sources are are brought together to produce an integrated result that was not the original reason for producing the raw source data.

Ummm okay… so ‘mashing’ is where a collection of video images are edited together as a running montage to a cool soundtrack…. new words old meanings. Man do I feel old.

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In an office poll – his recent marathon effort “Australia” with Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman was declared to have sucked the big one for being too self indulgent and long. And yet – everyone loves and admits to owning a copy of the iconic “Strictly Ballroom” starring a very young Paul Mercurio.

His other two efforts are also either adored or loathed -  “Moulin Rouge” again with Nicole and a strangely cast Ewan McGregor, and “Romeo+Juliet” with a pre-Titanic Leo DiCaprio and the Gwyneth Paltrow double, Claire Danes.

For myself personally, I can’t help but feel that Baz isn’t so much a great storyteller or a fabulous film director but rather his is a uniquely visioned cinematic stylist. His films are all stamped equally with the rich visual dimensions of his visual signature. Interestingly his partner in crime and wife Catherine Martin, is a three time Oscar nominee and a winner on two occasions for…. you guess it – costume design and art direction. Hmmm.

In any case – Baz (and or his muse Catherine) illustrate well practised artistic skills in re-visioning and re-packaging. Skills that are central to good business theatre practices. To take the familiar and the pre-existing in terms of set performances and audience expectations, and to revision (or as our Disney friends are want to say – reimagnieering) these elements into a newer, fresher and more impactful experience.

“Moulin Rouge” and “Romeo+Juliet” are both very good cases in point.

The well known Shakespeare story of forbidden love is expertly placed into more contemporary settings while “Moulin Rouge” draws heavily on the Toulouse Lautrec inspired historical Parisian setting threading musical sequences laced with distinctive and iconic pop music lyrics. I can assure you it was not just Ewan McGregor who appeared a little perplexed at this… but it worked. Which is a forced segway to today’s show and tell moment.

This music clip was employed at the time of the “Moulin Rouge” film as a great cross-platform promotional effort and what a great effort it was. Taking on a classic 1970’s dance floor hit “Lady Marmalade” by Labelle – this refreshed version starred the four biggest popstars at the time – Christina Aguilera, Lil’Kim, Mya, and the FACTOR168 fav’ Pink.

The results: a great musical cover version, a great cross-promotional experience, strong Baz inspired visuals, and a collection of distinctive thumbnail personalities presented by the girls. Not surprisingly – we’ve designed similar “Lady Marmalade” experiences and delivered them within the event context. Taking affectionately memorable moments and artfully redesigning them into even more powerful updated experiences. Good fun for all.

Enjoy the clip and the sisters in action!

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Listen carefully and for those that have worked or crossed paths with event production crew in all their strange and wonderful forms – you’ll know that Obama is on the money.

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Again – enjoy responsibly.

We really digged this clip as it had all the right ‘mix’ of components that translated into a good communication experience. Strong characters, a good storyline, a strong sense of humour, a fresh take of pop culutre (preps rapping!) and above all – much like the product – it was all good fun.

Enjoy. But of course in moderation.