In a city best known for its manufacturing, tourism, defense and agriculture industries, you would be hard pressed to find a concentration of innovative, creative, and inspiring professionals looking for way to change minds and spread good ideas, right? Wrong! At Jacob Tyler Creative Group, just one of many great agencies in the heart of downtown San Diego, we jump at any opportunity to positively influence the exchange of creative ideas and facilitate effective collaboration.

This explains why our office has been beaming with excitement since the announcement of an independently organized TED event coming to San Diego and the opportunities that come along with it. We are not only looking forward to listen, learn, and collaborate with this great independently organized not-for-profit design and technology based discussion, but we are hoping become more involved as well.

For those who aren’t in the know… TED prides itself on this core foundation: “We believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world. So we’re building here a clearinghouse that offers free knowledge and inspiration from the world’s most inspired thinkers, and also a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other (Source).”

Visit, Tedx-sandiego.com, to nominate an inspired San Diego thinker to speak, share and influence the spread of ideas and the power of collaboration at the upcoming Tedx Conference. TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out in 1984 as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, and Design.

“In November 2010, San Diego will host its inaugural TEDx event, The Next Wave at Anthology. Participants from throughout southern California and Baja are invited to interact in a sea of change of new ideas and shared passions. TEDx San Diego brings together innovators, explorers, teachers and learners in an environment that encourages collaboration, conversation and interaction. Join us at TEDx San Diego and come prepared to be the change that makes a difference. TEDx San Diego is a not-for-profit event organized entirely by local, unpaid volunteers (Source).”

Talk about a GREAT SEO landing page campaign! I always give props to agencies that do great work and Agency Fusion really came through with this. As a graphic designer for the past 20 years, I always joke with my team about how most clients LOVE to see their logo big. By watching this video…you all now know that it’s not just me (or you for that matter if your a client watching this right now)! Not only is the video well executed, but the script is fantastic playing off the TV ads we all know and love (or can’t stand). I have to say though…my favorite line is “You paid your neighbors nephews friend a whopping 50 bucks for that logo“… cause we all joke about that too Well done!!

By Les Kollegian

When I visited the approximate 480 employee staff of Weiden & Kennedy in Portland Oregon last year, I was beyond amazed and in awe of my surroundings there. I mean… they have stadium seating for their meetings. Really?!?! I have 11 people in my small Web design firm. All I could do was think of what their monthly overhead is and I needed aspirin before I left the building.

This Super Bowl commercial written by two talented dudes over there deserves a hand shake and maybe a golf clap. This video below shows the making (it’s 20 min…but totally worth it if you’re into this stuff) and the Director and Actor just did an amazing job. What’s real and what’s CGI? I never would have guessed. See below.

by Jonathan Marshall

We have certain expectations of products and of brands, both natural and conditioned. By breaking traditional aesthetic and behavioral boundaries challenger brands are blending the senses, creating synesthesia-type experiences to stand out and define their difference.

This is a pretty clever way to make consumers temporarily stop and think about the advertisement, whether they are shocked, intrigued or even scared. It’s about taking our expectations of brands for a ride, and showing us that they don’t want to be predictable. For some San Diego Marketing Companies that have been around longer, that might not be the safest approach, they most likely need consistency. But, for the new and undiscovered- take a chance and put some pressure on the typical consumer experience and thought process. Sophie Maxwell of Pearlfisher discusses this unique concept and advertising strategy in her blog below.

There is a moment in the Karl Lagerfeld documentary Confidential where its maker answers a “call of nature” in the House of Chanel to find the following placarded mantra: “Si tu pisses partout t’es pas Chanel du tout” (pissing everywhere isn’t very Chanel). Quite right too I think, as this is evidence of three good things: the fashion industry for once taking itself less seriously, a rare return from said overt glitzy glamor to the famously blunt form and natural style of the house’s original founder, and the fitting extension of this original trademark elegance to their lavatorial standards.

I’m referencing it here not just because it’s a funny little clip, but because it made me think about my main point this week: whether it registers or not, we expect certain behavior from certain brands. We form preconceptions and then levels of expectation (as above) through our relationship to and engagement with their products. We like them to meet our standards and ideals. And this is as it should be, especially for brands that we have come to know and trust. However this shouldn’t stop new blood from challenging the status quo, both in reinterpreting our expectations and experiences and in capturing our imaginations.

While true synesthesia is involuntary–like when people describe being “hurt by” shouts–the idea or theory of one form of sensory stimulation blending with, or suggesting, another offers exciting new creative territories. Here are some interesting examples of new approaches not all following the same principles, but all nonetheless challenging what we know and how we know it. We’re anticipating (and hoping for) more…

Scent by Sight:

Boudicca, the London-based design duo is a favorite. By launching a paint as their first perfume they stayed true to their inspiration–their namesake queen Boudicca–who with her warriors marked themselves with wode, a blue dye, before battle. The blue spray may disappear minutes after spraying (leaving a powerful scent that includes notes of juniper berry, cardamon, nutmeg and amber) but its lasting effect may be to change what we expect from a perfume by bringing sight, not just scent, into the equation. The pack structure is a hardy: a beautiful paint can, rather than the slender dispensers typically used by fragrance houses.

Tasting by Whiffing:

Scent is being used in two revolutionary and quite vice aversive ways. Le Whif is a chocolate inhaler created by Harvard professor David Edwards. Le Whif comes in four flavors and is, he explained in an interview with UK publication The Daily Telegraph, inspired by the opinion “that eating was tending toward breathing, so, with a mix of culinary art and aerosol science, we’ve helped move eating habits to their logical conclusion. We call it whiffing.” As it contains zero calories the diet market can’t be far from his thoughts.

Inhalation/Scratch-and-Sniff Cinema:

“Breathe responsibly” is the disclaimer ingenious duo Bompas and Parr greet their visitors with upon entering Alcoholic Architecture, their pop-up bar in London’s Soho. Here, they revolutionize the intake of alcohol by letting you inhale rather than drink, specifically a nice gin and tonic. Forty minutes of exposure apparently equals consumption of one cocktail.

And that wraps up today’s blog, so in the spirit of synesthesia- smell you later.