content break: Vans

Great content for Vans, for their #livingoffthewall campaign. Honest, candid, cool - it's just people that are doing their thing, no matter how crazy or weird it is. I love the passion.  Check it out.

#LIVINGOFFTHEWALL - Aaron Draplin & The Art of the Side Hustle Pt 1 from Vans OffTheWall.TV on Vimeo.

For more, check out their Vimeo page.

The Moth storySLAM winning story

I've recently taken a shining to story slams. I started to attend a bunch and instantly fell in love with the rawness everyday people shared with absolute strangers. One evening, I was heading to a local Moth storySLAM here in Boston when I found myself making bullets in my head of a story a would tell based on that night's topic: school. I took this as a sign and decided I would throw my hat in the ring; why not. See, these events sell out every week and they only pick 10 names out of a hat to tell stories during the show. Only when I signed up, sure I would never get picked, I did! And even more so, I got the high score that night and was declared the winner.  Here's that story:

It was absolutely terrifying, but felt right (at the risk of sounding like a total ass). So, now I'm on the hunt to continue to do more storytelling events and explore what might come from it.  I do know that from this, I will go on to compete at a grandSLAM against other winners. Yikes! We'll see what happens next in this story...

content break: Perlas Negras

A short doc film about an all female rap group from the slums of Brazil. All heart, just being them. Read more here.

Pearls Negras: The Girls from Vidigal on Nowness.com


content break: My Mom's Motorcycle

Really loved this video a coworker sent me - a charming look into one man's thoughts on connection.

blank on blank

My brother sent me a video of an old Gene Wilder interview because he knows how much I love Gene Wilder. The interview had been animated and I thought it was such a delight.

At the end, I saw I could click to watch more animated interviews and saw one on John Updike. He lived near my grandmother and I grew up seeing him around town, a local celebrity, of course, so I clicked his:

Then I saw one from the dazzling Grace Kelly:

It's a whole series from Blank on Blank (which broadcasts old interviews of historical icons) and in conjunction with PBS Digital Studios, they animated some of them. The interviews have been given new life, yet retain their integrity and grit. So charming.  Watch more here.

content break: intel

I just saw this video from Intel (even though it has over 2 million views - have I been living under a stupid rock?) and was so moved. The director was tasked with doing a 2 minute profile on him and the result was way more thoughtful and moving than just that. Take a look:

content & travel: Bali

I've been dreaming about going to Bali for years.  Not in an Eat, Pray, Love kind of a way, but more in an Exotic, Serene, Beautiful kind of way. My father used to go to Bali for work when we were kids and he would bring us home the most curious treasures (I still have a quirky paper stick puppet I think is so cool) and there were always tales from people in California going there to surf.

And while I am going on an incredible trip in less than two weeks now (stay tuned for those adventures!), I can't help but thinking about stowing away to Bali, especially when two cool things that relate to Bali popped on my radar already this week.

The first is this video my boss sent me, which we both really enjoyed, about building bamboo cities in Bali. Not only was it well done in tone, pace and story, but it just made me want to go see this structures! Check it out:



The other cool thing I saw was this great coworking space, Hubud, which gets it's name from "Hub in Ubud." Expats from all over the world come to work here and I have been thinking about it all day - wouldn't it be great to take some time, not off, but to work in such a different environment? Imagine the creativity that could pour out...  Check out their video:

on the road: SXSW

PHEW.  I returned from SXSW a week ago and only now feel like I've recovered. It was my first time and I went during the film and interactive portion.  Why you ask? To do some learning from some killer presenters and because... we had a film premier there! Yes, my team made a film called THE HOME TEAM for one of our client's last year and we decided to submit it to SXSW and it was selected.  We were very excited and I was excited to attend.  Check out the trailer:



But boy, was I exhausted.  There are so many things happening that you're racing around from one event to the next and you're not really sleeping much and there's so much to do and it's just GO GO GO.  But it was a great time, the film was received well (we didn't win, but oh well), I met some great new friends and caught up with old ones, and I even snuck in some awesome barbecue.  Here's some fun shots from the trip:

 (a friend was part of the Game of Thrones exhibit, so Mike and I snuck in on the first day and I had to pretend to be Joffrey. Mike doesn't watch the show, but I think he got it).

 (really fun beer garden over on Rainey St. It's been two years since I've been to Austin and this whole neighborhood has been built up).

 (damn I miss Jo's breakfast tacos...)

 (THE HOME TEAM team - well, those of us that were in Austin - at the premiere)

 (director's Q&A at our short doc screening)

 (oh hey, our poster out in Austin!)

 (a great NPR #Storied event we got invited to)

 (incredible barbecue at La Barbecue...take me back)

(Silicon Valley screening and Q&A with creators and cast - it was hilarious)

great content in 2013 and looking forward to 2014

I saw this great roundup of the best branded content of 2013from Digiday. I always post my favorite stuff for you here (see Whole Foods' Dark Rye, American Express's Passion Project, and J.Crew on Film), but I saw this film from cycling retailer Rapha from the article that I loved. The visuals and look & feel were spot on and it was a great experience piece of their brand.

Rapha Gentlemen's Race: Adelaide from RAPHA on Vimeo.


Although, I realized I never posted about one of my other favorite pieces of content: Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. I remembered this during their quick and quirky Superbowl commercial. The concept is exactly what you think it is, hosted by Jerry Seinfeld and sponsored by Acura.  They run a quick preroll commercial before diving into the content and it's a great way for a brand to get somewhere in a space people already love-- comedy (check out the Chris Rock one, my favorite).

Even Coca-Cola is joining the trend of beautiful content about their brand when they scrapped their corporate website, hired some journalists and started Coca-Cola Journey (read about that here).

I started in content two and a half years ago and pretty much used to explain it to people by saying "you know how Redbull makes films and such not about Redbull? That's what I do."  Now, more and more people are understanding content and not only do they want it, they know they need it - the numbers are pouring in on how creating content that doesn't interrupt people's lives, but creates films, experiences and websites in which their consumers seek them out is a much more positive and successful form of advertising.

And while I still use my Redbull analogy, I use it less and less as more great content emerges.  I'm looking forward to seeing content continue to grow and in the different ways it manifests itself (and what I'm most interested - how it makes a difference). 

2014: this just in

This year, I will explore people, accept myself instead of working on myself and just be, live, love, grow. Let's see what happens.