“Wow….[silence]”. That is what this commercial for Asics, made by Amsterdam Worldwide, did with us. It is directed by Mischa Rozema (PostPanic), a Dutch director specialized in high quality productions that create a magical world. With this ad Asics clearly positions itself as the technical running shoe – away from the other sports brands that mainly talk about the person inside the shoe. And on top of that it reconfirms the meaning of the brand; a sound mind, in a sound body. Other than that is doesn’t need much explanation. And to us that is always a good sign…

PostPanic and director Mischa Rozema never fail to impress us. Take this beaut of a TV commercial for the Finnish soft drink Jaffa – commissioned by Finnish agency Sek - using a blend of 2D and 3D animated graphics, vintage stock footage, and a live action shoot at the studio of the 85-year old graphic designer Erik Bruun – an institution in Finland. Bruun has been responsible for Jaffa’s iconic logos and posters since the 50s – the brand was founded in 1949. Jaffa – nowadays owned by Heineken – is still in the top 3 of most popular soft drinks in Finland. Rozema about the project: “The story needed to be told using the actual posters of Erik Bruun. This meant we had to create an imaginary landscape to allow us to move from one poster to another. I was particularly inspired by the simplicity and retro feeling of Bruun’s designs, which actually reminded me of Saul Bass’ work. Bruun’s work has that same contemporary feeling and use of textures that makes it stand out and feel very tactile.”

Just announced; hybrid production agency Post Panic is organising the next long-awaited, 5th edition of Panic Room on the 7th of June. Panic Room is an evening during which Post Panic invites international names to come and share their current inspirations with a relatively small creative crowd, primarily made up from Amsterdam’s agencies. Past speakers have included Shynola, Si Scott, Dvein, Pleix, Lucy McRae and Niels Shoe Meulman. The next edition is featuring Belgian photographer and film maker Vincent Fournier, Eindhoven design duo HeyHeyHey (it wouldn’t surprise us if Mini Melvin makes an appearance) and LA-based director Andrew Huang, who has been causing a sensation with his short film Solipsist. Unfortunately the Panic Room is invite only, but we’ve managed to get our hands on 5 tickets to give away. We thought it might be nice to give them to some younger creatives who haven never been to a Panic Room – it’s usually the senior creatives ending up on the guest list. If you fancy going then please send us an email with your age and reason why you deserve a ticket. We hope to see you at the whiskey bar on the night.

Dutch directing duo HeyHeyHey (aka Elske van der Putten and Erik Sjouerman), who recently joined the directors roster of PostPanic, created the world’s smallest ever Rube Goldberg machine, dubbed Melvin the Mini Machine. We find it extremely cute. The idea of the stamp at the end is that the installation is designed to travel the world; each time a ‘run’ is completed a postcard is stamped, ready to send. The two suitcases are at the moment exhibited at the prestigious Salone Internazionale del Mobile. HeyHeyHey also created a much bigger Rube Goldberg machine last year for the Dutch Design Week. That one impressed us a little less, since we couldn’t stop comparing it to the amazing video clip ‘This Too Shall Pass’ by OK Go from 2010. In any case, it’s always good to see ‘agencies’ creating their own work – not being bothered by clients who want the logo bigger.

‘Go Forth’ is Levi’s new brand proposition. It supports positive change in the world and celebrates today’s “pioneers who are taking action to build a better future”. In this dramatic mini-documentary, created by Wieden+Kennedy and directed by Sanne van Hecke, we see Portuguese street artist Alexandre Farto (aka “Vhils”) nonchalantly wearing a pair of baggy Levi’s and creating a series of street murals that capture the faces of some ‘Berliners’ who embody the ‘Go Forth’ spirit. This branded content made us think of both the Sartorialist film for Intel (by Amsterdam Worldwide) and the mobile printer film for Océ (by Lemon Scented Tea) – though the latter was a fictional documentary. We’re spotting a trend here, in which everyday people are portrayed as heroes. That is, they all do something special and this is enlarged in a documentary-like piece of long(er) form content. It merges real life with the smooth exaggerative qualities of an ad agency and thus subtly incorporates brands into society. It makes (or at least should make) these brands more authentic, credible, and sympathetic.

Last week we wrote about the new FBTO logo, today we share the insurer’s new advertising, created by Only and Qi. Ilse’s voice over tells us how she enjoyed her vacation in Spain with her 4 best friends; they met cool people, went out every night, did some dangerous stuff, and checked out the scenery. A bummer though: mom and dad were there too [end of paraphrase]. The new logo, the kaleidoscopic animation – created by PostPanic – and the catchy score – created by Audentity – give the brand a very refreshing look and tone. And using the distinctive circle from the logo as a brand element in the commercial is also smartly done. The only thing that gave us a small ‘syntax error’ is the radical plot change at the end. The male voice-over: “If you’re world, just like Ilse’s dad, doesn’t revolve around insurances, you should go to FBTO”. As if the record player jumped a few grooves. And we wonder: are there any dads with teenage daughters that have made a hobby out of insurances?