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Russian Standard Vodka appoints Collective London

Some more great news from all of us here at Collective towers, as Russian Standard Vodka appoints the agency to handle its global digital account.

Rebecca Heathcote, head of digital and PR at Russian Standard Vodka, said: “We selected Collective as our partner because they demonstrated a strong combination of digital strategic thinking, creativity and execution.”

You can read the first bits of coverage on the news over at both Campaign and The Drum.

Moments shorlisted for MW Engage Award

Yes sir, awards season is officially here and we’re raking them in.

‘Moments’, our viral video for EA’s Battlefield 3, has been shortlisted in the Gaming and Entertainment category by the wonderful people over at Marketing Week Engage. You can check out who we’re up against here.

And, if you haven’t already, watch Collective and Machinima legend Robert Stoneman break a whole load of cinematic boundaries right here.

Collective London Shortlisted for Two Rev Awards

We’re thrilled to announce that Collective have been shortlisted for not one, but two Rev Awards!

Our #SupportYourTeam work for the Olympics is one of only five shortlisted in the Sports & Leisure category, and our work with legendary Machinima director Robert Stoneman is up for an award in the Viral category.

You can check out the full shortlist here.

A massive thanks to the Rev Awards from everyone here at Collective, we’ll see you at the finish line.

Honda Do-More-New

Fresh from the creative brains at Collective comes an exciting digital experience supporting the launch of the new Honda CR-V. With the help of some stunning Google Street View backdrops, the Do-More-New portal transports you to one of 12 imagination-firing spots in the UK.
After choosing between snow, urban, forest or mountain, you’ll be whisked away to one of our carefully selected spots – offering details on an exciting alternative to your usual weekend trip away.
Are we there yet?
Each location has a wealth of detail for you to pore over – distance, weather conditions, places to stay – and also includes information on how the new CR-V can adapt to the local terrain. And the exploration doesn’t stop here. Every location comes with a downloadable PDF, so all the information can be taken offline and used to plan any future adventures.

Are you ready to Do-More-New?
Take a look at the Campaign article for more information.

Welcome to the Buggle

We’ve been very busy squirrels here at Collective. A few months ago we hosted the first episode of our quarterly graduate initiative, Upstarts. Students were invited to come down and pitch their best idea since Supernoodles – all in a 15 minute slot.They came, they pitched and they blew our socks off! Thank you to everyone who attended and took the time to meet us.

And so, without further ado, we have a winner to announce! Introducing Miss Sarah Buggle. Sarah’s idea focused on the power and diversity of music, which captivated pretty much the entire agency – we have two rock stars and a reformed pirate radio station owner in our ranks, so no surprises there. Sarah’s idea provides a brilliant solution to discovering music in a spontaneous fashion. All of us at Collective HQ are seriously excited at the prospect of working with Sarah to make her idea a reality.

Sarah has joined us from Hyper Island and when she isn’t running a B&B in France, she can be found making films as part of the collective ‘I Owe Youth’ – or probably down the pub. We’ll be keeping you up-to-date with the progress of Sarah’s idea, with more details to follow once we have the patenting sorted. Mum’s the word until then.

Oh, and if you’d like to take part in future upstarts events join the mailing list. Drop us an email at upstarts@collectivelondon.com and we’ll be in touch.

Meet Sarah:
1. What prompted you to sign up for Upstarts?
I have a blog where I write down some of my ideas. I normally have no intention of making any of them, but when I read about Upstarts on Twitter it sounded like a brilliant chance to create something.

2. Your top 5 things in your life right now?
My Brompton
Ebaying everything I own
Cooking for others
Couchsurfing
Tea (and a biscuit)

3. The most rubbish celeb you have ever met.
Peter Andre in a card shop in Covent Garden. He was being filmed buying a Valentines card for Katie and asked my advice. That worked out.

4. Live in the past or the future?
The future.

5. That thing you wish you thought of first?
Anything Dominic Wilcox does.

6. Your favourite internet meme?
Hello this is dog.

Exploring the Curious World of Honda

We’ve just launched the first stage of our exciting ‘Curiosity’ website supporting Honda’s new set of Channel 4 idents. Sponsoring C4 documentaries, the idents and digital campaign tap into Honda’s unique ability to look at the world differently, taking inspiration from unexpected places to develop innovative features across all of its products.

How curious are you?

To introduce the digital campaign we’ve created a tricky little test to measure users’ curiosity levels. If you’re equally good at recognising objects, picking out details and challenging facts, you’ll be as curious as a Honda engineer. Everyone who enters makes it through to a prize draw for some exclusive VIP tickets to the Paris Motor Show.

Then, on July 12, the campaign takes your curiosity to the next level. We’ll be delving into the innovative world of Honda and offering exclusive content from some of the most popular Channel 4 documentaries. New content and interactive experiences will be added throughout the year – so watch this space, there’s a lot more to come.

Our very own Creative Director Adam Cleaver had this to say: “Looking and learning translates brilliantly into creating a rich, surprising online experience. Launching on 14 June, the site will spark consumers’ curiosity, initially offering an intriguing quiz to find out just how curious you are. But there’s a lot more to come – the full experience follows on 12 July and will give consumers the chance to explore a feast of changing content within Honda’s Curious World.”

There’s a nice write-up on The Drum website here and you can check out the first stage of the ‘Curiosity’ campaign here.

Collective Upstarts

Hey you!

Are you a Creative Genius?

Do you have so many bloody marvellous ideas, they’re spilling out of your ears?

Ideas that are bigger than uni, bigger than lectures, bigger than SUPERNOODLES?

You are a Collective Upstart.

Collective London has teamed up with our good friends ShellsuitZombie to launch a one-day only initiative on Wednesday 27^th June for all graduates and bright young things.

Collective Upstarts will be a day jam-packed with ideas. Why? Because we want you to come along and pitch us your BEST digital concept.

And when we say pitch, we mean turn up at Boxpark Shoreditch (5 mins walk from D&AD New Blood) and chat us through it. Whether it’s on the back of a fag packet or an all-singing, all-dancing prototype, all we wanna do is meet you and your big idea – and maybe make it for real.

Because the winning Upstart will spend time in the Collective Studio, working with our award-winning creative minds, designers and expert tea makers. Together, we’ll bring your idea to awe-inspiring life. It’s an amazing opportunity to start your career with an enormous BANG!

If you’re interested, book a 15-minute slot NOW. There are only 24 slots available and we expect them to fill up fast. There’s also an open house session from 5pm-7pm where we’ll be around for advice, chat and beer… because we’re nice like that.

The details:

Wednesday 27^th June 2012

11am-5pm: 15 min pitch slots – just book a slot, turn up & chat us through your idea

5pm-7pm: Open house – meet the Collective directors, have a beer, get a book crit…

Uncontained, Boxpark Shoreditch, 2-4 Bethnal Green Road

(5 min walk from D&AD New Blood)

Book now by emailing upstarts@collectivelondon.com

INTERNS WANTED

Collective is always on the lookout for friendly people with good ideas. If you want to come and work here send us a portfolio or CV. We’ll get back to you with feedback or job opportunities (told you we were nice).

SSX fans defy reality for new film

To celebrate the release of the adrenaline-pumping snowboarding game SSX this week, Collective teamed up with EA Games to challenge fans to ‘race, trick and survive’ a dramatic 400-metre long zip-line night jump from Battersea Power Station in London.

Shredding the night

The ‘SSX Defy Reality: Live’ short film showcases the nerve-wracking moments game fans from across Europe arrived at a mystery location to face an exhilarating challenge: flying down from an iconic landmark from 60 metres up, at speeds reaching 80kph. And they’d be zipping over a giant video screen where more fans were getting hands-on with the game.

Recreating the gravity-defying gameplay and signature stunt action of SSX in an astounding urban landscape, the Live experience was a rush of emotions for the gamers who descended from the mountain of Battersea Power Station on the specially constructed zip-line.

With little or no real world snowboarding experience, nothing had prepared the gamers for anything quite like this. Each was equipped with full snowboard gear, along with a zip harness allowing them complete freedom of movement – plus, for the brave… flares!

Ascending to the roof of Battersea Power Station, they were strapped in to their decks and then took the plunge in to 20 seconds of heart-racing ‘big air’. Many pulled off spectacular tricks and stunts in the spirit of SSX on their descent. All of them defied reality – all became snowboarding legends.

See for yourself in film below:

Celebs, Charades and Christmas Jumpers

Last week was a festive flurry of Christmas jumpers, technical developments and long hours; an incredibly surreal week for the employees at Collective, who are still catching their breath from all the action. Our lives were graced with a little Christmas past and future, hosting our first ever ‘Live Twitter Christmas Charades‘ with the most electrifying man in Charades entertainment – one Mr Lionel Blair.

From building a 1970′s gameshow set from scratch through to some serious technical wrestling, it’s fair to say it was a challenge at times but all became worth it when the games kicked off. Across Twitter desperate players guessed each charades to win a signed photo from the charades master himself, with guesses coming in thick and fast throughout the three games.

We even got #LionelsCharades trending on Twitter in the afternoon.

The TV legend was chivalrous, well mannered and exudes more star quality than you can shake a stick at. Charming the hearts of everyone at Collective both on and off screen, with more than a few members of staff vowing to take up tap dancing after the dance-off with host Joe Fry. Now we have had a little taste of star quality, we can’t quite settle back into our daily routines…

If you missed out then catch up with the excitement here. Watch out for Lionel doing an impression of Mick Jagger, my personal highlight

Crysis 2 projection stunt featured in Cream Trend Report

With the increased use of digital content in the Out-Of-Home arena, projection has made quite a successful comeback. In Cream Global’s latest Trend report, ‘Screens on the Street’, they take a look at the recent examples of projected brand activity, including our award winning ‘Crysis 2: Live Alien Invasions’ work with EA. The report covers everything from 1950’s drive in cinemas through to Burberry’s much talked about 2011 catwalk projection.

To watch our behind the scenes video, take a look at the case study.