Remember that really beautiful IKEA advertisement from last year, where the cats run around and play and sleep on things, just to remind us that we are “happy inside” (with IKEA furniture)? Well, it seems that that along with the behind the scenes video–Herding Cats–another video was released as part of the IKEA Cats promotion: Pussy People.

Pussy People isn’t about an IKEA store nor is it really an advertisement for a product itself. Instead, the video delves into the lives of the people who own the cats in the Happy Inside advertisement. We meet several cat loving people, namely Dorothy Woodhouse (a cat show president), Beryl Reeves (a cat sculptor), and–my favorite, champagne swigging mum–Ros Hamilton (a cat lover). We learn about their love for cats and what being a cat owner means to them. We also learn something very important: what the term “pussy people” means, which is actually a very existential look into what it means to call something a “person.”

This video is a hoot and such a beautiful, well shot, funny, bite-sized documentary to brighten up your day and make you rethink cats. It takes a lot to make a commercial for a company that isn’t about any of their products work, but Pussy People definitely does a lot of good for IKEA. And, for cats.

KYLE

I’m not a big football (soccer for us Yanks) fan though I know the majority of the world is, but watching this new Nike Football commercial for their upcoming Write The Future campaign totally gave me chills. The spot was directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, who you might also know as the director of movies like Babel and 21 Grams as well as the producer of football movie Rudo y Cursi. The story follows several of the biggest football stars out there, though I could only name Ronaldo, going through the “what if’s?” and potential outcomes of the matches they’re playing.

Watching it I was totally riveted and actually got a little emotional, it definitely hit all the right buttons for me. Iñárritu’s direction is spot and the team he worked with should absolutely be commended for creating such a rad commercial that nearly feels like a short film. I love when Wayne Rooney’s kick gets intercepted and all of England rejects him, tearing down his posters, the stock market crashes and all hell breaks loose… and he knows he has to make up for it quickly in order to divert disaster.

If you’re curious, the players in the commercial are Cristiano Ronaldo, Didier Drogba, Wayne Rooney, Fabio Cannavaro, Franck Ribery, Andres Iniesta, Cesc Fabregas, Theo Walcott, Patrice Evra, Gerard Pique, Ronaldinho, Landon Donovan, Tim Howard and Thiago Silva. Plus it’s fun to see Homer Simpson, Gael Garcia Bernal (who starred in Rudo y Cursi) and Kobe Bryant.

Bobby

While watching the Papercraft DVD (as mentioned in the previous post) I came across this really amazing commercial by the folks over at 1st Ave Machine and Passion Pictures. It’s a simple concept executed exceptionally well. A little felt-marker-doodle man pops out of a plain white cardboard box and starts folding it together, slowly turning it into an Audi Q5. All the little details are done perfectly and the song playing in the background makes the whole thing feel so charming.

Bobby

I constantly get catchy beats in my head, so I had to share this gem of an ad. It’s for the free discount/coupon paper Hot Pepper, featuring Snoopy and Japanese pop star Kaela Kimura singing the best song I may have ever heard. I just can’t stop listening to this! And she’s so cute too, dancing around in her little tights and oversized shirt. I dare you to not play this over and over.

Found through Jean Snow

Bobby

Absolut Vodka has teamed up with director Rupert Sanders to create a series of advertisements that absolutely (ugh) make me smile. The ad features a number of different locales, the forest, city, snow and so on, and in each place there’s a different word, which eventually creates the phrase, “Doing Things Differently Leads To Something Exceptional.” The overall effect is pretty stunning, I mean the creative direction behind it is really top notch.

I think my favorite scene is with the bottles in the forest. They were somehow able to raise and lower the height of the bottles, so when you see it at first they look about waist high. But then later you can see them from below, spelling the word ‘Things.’ Over 2,000 bottles were used to create the effect.

I’ve put behind the scene videos for each of the words under the cut, so don’t forget to take a peek at those as well. It’s really rad being able to see how they created each of these shots.

Bobby

Today is feeling a bit scif-fi (god I’ve been playing too much We <3 Katamari) so I thought I'd start the day out with a video inspired by Nike which was created by Big Lazy Robot Studios. The video features a robotic man, dressed in only a hoodie, doing parkour on the roofs of a city. The robots animations are quite fluid, and the design of the robot itself, even though you see mostly just his legs and hands looks quite beautiful.

The piece overall kind of reminds of the pieces that Neil Blomkamp created for Adidas and Nike (see Yellow and Crab) but they definitely created something new and fun. Under the cut I’ve posted a Making Of… video as well for a little behind the scenes action.

There’s a horrible song attached to this Making Of…, I apologize in advance.

Bobby

Holy crap, today is such a good day for posts! Check out this amazingly beautiful commercial for Flora by Gucci by the amazing Chris Cunningham. The commercial is a lot lighter in tone than most of Chris’ work, but it’s still just as exciting and brilliantly creative. The commercial was shot over four days in Latvia last year, and used over 20,000 fake flowers.

I just can’t get enough of this video, like my mouth was open the whole time. I really wish he’d make a full length feature. It would probably cost $100 million to make and you may vomit or seizure while you watched it, but shit it would be great.

Click here to read more about the project over on Dazed Digital.

Bobby

I first saw Grey Gardens based on a recommendation from an old friend of mine, who was absolutely in love with it. He was going to NYU for film at the time and had impeccable taste anyways, so I had to see it. The film definitely stuck with me, as Edie and Little Edie are two of the most amazing “characters” ever, and the Maysles did an amazing job of portraying this once beautiful women living in a run down mansion.

Well now Drew Barrymore and HBO are creating a film based upon the lives of the Bouviers, profiling they’re rise and fall. Drew Barrymore plays Little Edie while Jessica Lange plays older Edie. Overall I think it looks great, and Drew Barrymore looks and sounds pretty spot on, so I’m pretty excited. What do you think?

The HBO version comes out on April 19th, and you can read more about it by clicking here.

Bobby

I saw this commercial for British chocolatier Thorntons on today’s Very Short List and I had to post it for several reasons. The first is that Harmony Korine, the director of wonderful movies like Gummo and Julian Donkey Boy, as well as someone who I have a soft spot for, directed this spot. Second, it’s a really simple, but creative little idea that embodies the idea of ‘Stuck’ so well.

Watching this I can’t help but smile, especially how well the little boy moves at the very end of the commercial. An extremely cute idea.

Bobby

The folks over at Nike Labs have teamed up with W+K Tokyo and a52 to create this amazingly simple, but beautiful, commercial that I just can’t stop watching. The idea is simple, a spider crafts a web together that looks like a three dimensional shoe, but there’s just something about it that’s so crisp and fresh. There’s the way the camera shakes, although the footage was sped up and the quality of the light, like it’s a perfect spring day. Even the design of the spider is extremely beautiful, like it would mimic the colors of the shoe itself.

Just watch it and you’ll see what I mean.

Found through space invaders

Bobby