Applying to back to school and the workplace–the classroom and the office–3M has launched www.mypostitsecret.com, the Post-it brand’s Web site created by Ryan Broadband, a division of Ryan Partnership.
With the click of a mouse, visitors can discover product secrets that have helped Lauren survive a busy day at the office and Nicole organize her academic life, learn about an array of Post-it products, sign up for free samples and enter an exciting sweepstakes. The timing of the site coincides with the busy back-to-school selling period, but this brand immersive experience is meant to survive beyond that.
“The concept is based on two pieces of consumer insight: Both college students and office administrators often times appear to be messy, but somehow know where everything is,” explains Richard Coppola, VP, director of broadband for Ryan Partnership. “Everybody has their own personal organizational secrets. And Post-it is often a part of those organizational secrets.
“We wanted to provide consumers with not so obvious Post-it uses to help get them thinking about how Post-it could help them.”
The tips and ideas are embedded in Lauren’s office environment and Nicole’s desk environment, which visitors can explore. For example, by clicking on the telephone in Lauren’s office, a story pops up explaining how Super Sticky Notes stay put on hard to stick places like the telephone. Since Lauren’s senior project manager could not be disturbed on this particular day and she usually calls him 20 times a day, she put a Super Sticky Note on her phone to remind her not to ring the boss.
Click on a photo on the wall to learn why Post It Sortable Cards come in handy. Lauren explains that the real estate business changes quickly, so to track interested leads, she places the Sortable Cards underneath pictures of the properties. As situations change, cards are easy to shuffle, sort and put back up.
While poking around Lauren’s office, you also learn she has a five-year- old son who uses Post It Super Sticky Specialty Notes for art projects.
By snooping around Nicole’s desk, you’ll find out about her Post-it secrets, like how the Post It Flag Highlighter has helped her keep her grades up because she can take it wherever she goes. She explains that she doesn’t just study at her desk–she studies everywhere, even in the car en route to Vail for a snowboarding trip.
Every time you find a secret in either environment, you are rewarded with another entry into the sweepstakes for a flat screen LCD TV.
“We approached this project as if it were a traditional film or video project. We began with characters, plot and location,” Coppola said. “We created our two personas based on our target audiences. We gave them names, personality traits, motivations, basically an entire character write-up. Everything from their family background, to where they like to ski.
“We then created our narratives, weaving in Post-it products through every aspect of their lives. This ultimately informed us as to how to create their base environments and how to populate them with realistic representations of their home, work and school lives.”
To make the environments authentic, the creative team researched reference photos for each environment and created high detail realistic pencil illustrations very similar to architectural concepting. It allowed the team to begin visualizing the space needed to both populate the rooms with the Post-it products but also block the scenes where it needed to put animation sequences.
Once the sketches were approved, every element from the lava lamps to Post-it products to the folders and books–basically all the elements that make up the scenes–were modeled, rigged, textured, lighted and rendered out of Maya.
Each animation sequence was brought into Adobe After FX and composited to a master background with additional adjustment layers for color and shadow manipulation along with small particle effects. Each animation was then rendered out of After FX as either png sequences or uncompressed Quicktime sequences and pieced together and programmed into Flash.
The composited videos such as the television and character videos were compressed using the Flash 8 Encoder.
The character videos were shot on a green screen stage with the new Sony HD optical drive cameras. They were edited in Final Cut Pro HD then exported into After FX, where Advantedge Ultimatte software was used to create beautiful, clean mattes.
“Our biggest challenge was crafting a rather extensive narrative where we needed to weave together character traits, product attributes, product usage and then realistic product demonstrations within those contexts. It made for many moving parts that all had to combine to engage the consumer with a unique and fun experience,” explained Coppola.
He admits creating a site like mypostitsecret.com requires a team of talented people from many different disciplines: 3D artists, illustrators, videographers, sound designers, programmers, Information architects and producers.
“The collaboration, support and commitment to excellence among our diverse team was especially inspiring on this project. When you realize just how much further you can evolve this concept, the possibilities are endless. These are very exciting times.”
Rumor has it that eventually consumers will be able to share their own Post-It secrets on the site.
“This is the first of what we hope to be many iterations of this site,” Coppola said. “We are extremely excited about some of the things we are planning. However I cannot reveal at this time, what we are planning and when those plans will be launched. It’s my own Post-it secret–stay tuned.”
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More