Two Cents: '09 Addy's

Last night, West Michigan celebrated the Addy's.

There's great work emerging from West Michigan. It's inspiring.*

Congrats, winners. The student Addy's we're equally impressive.

(*A special shout out to our friends at People Design. They won a Gold Addy for their "izzy is" video for Izzy Design. We helped in the process with recording + editing Chuck's voiceover. Watch People Design's magic below).



Our entry was Creo Boggle. No ice was won, but we're still proud of the idea.

Thanks for Crawling

Thanks to everyone who came out for the Ad Club's Creative Crawl. We had a great time talking with new and old friends. Let us know what you think about the space (and the sound of Finnish-American piano rock echoing from the audio studio). See you at the Addy's tomorrow night.

-Aaron, Andrew, Matthew and Derek

Message from the Ad Club

Creo note: We'll have our doors open on Tuesday from 4:30 to late. Visit us at 40 S. Division in Grand Rapids, MI 49503.

AD Fair 09': The Mardi Gras Creative Crawl: Tuesday, February 24

Area ad agencies, design firms, photo and video production studios and other ACWM members meet, greet and treat area business and community leaders, students, clients and other interested publics to a taste of West Michigan's creative side. With it being Fat Tuesday, hosts will bring a little taste of Mardi Gras to the event.

Can't make it to the Monday night presentation of the West Michigan Advertising and Design Hall of Fame but want to see the work?

Visit our Creative Crawl sponsor River House the evening of the Creative Crawl. All of the Hall of Fame inductees work will be on display.

Check out the list of Creative Crawl Participants.

This event is FREE and open to the public.

To see a list of other AD Fair '09 Events visit www.theadfair.com.

The Projection Initiative

In case you missed the short-film premier, here's Rapid Growth's story on Brian Kelly's Projection Initiative. Celebrate Heartside was the first piece projected on the side of a parking ramp in downtown GR. It was a great project to be involved in...



More information is available on mlive here.

Much Love for Heartside

There's another very interesting Rapid Growth article on the developments happening in Heartside.

(If you scroll down far enough, you can see a production photo of Andrew and I shooting on the set of Celebrate Heartside).

Brian Kelly's Projection Initiative

Rapid Growth and the GR Press ran stories about Brian Kelly's projection initiative downtown, which would have digital media (art, short films, etc.) projected onto buildings. We've had the privilege to co-produce the first short film Celebrate Heartside. We'll watch it unfold tonight at the Pre-Glow party.

February 12, 2009

Projection initiative could spotlight art onto downtown buildings

By: Deborah Johnson Wood

An art initiative spearheaded by Grand Rapids photographer Brian Kelly could light up the city nights, literally. The Projection Initiative, an idea to project the work of local and regional artists on the sides of select downtown buildings after dark, began with an idea from Grand Rapids artist Reb Roberts.

Roberts, founder of Sanctuary Folk Art, received city approval months ago to display a painted mural of his work on the multi-story west wall of the parking ramp at Cherry and Commerce. But the logistics created too many obstacles.

“Brian was in here talking about doing a promotion video for Heartside and wanting to project the film on the parking ramp,” Roberts says. “We said wouldn’t it be great to combine our ideas and to project art in the city?”

The proposed initiative would fund the installation of projection systems at some 10 locations to help boost downtown’s vibrancy.

Artists would submit their work—photography, short films, animation, paintings—any artistic media that can be digitized for projection. A proposed computer server system could store the digitized art and control each projection remotely. And none of it would cost the artist a dime.

“If you spend any time walking around downtown at night, it’s already a great experience, and with projected art it could be off-the-charts great,” Kelly says.

He envisions people walking from restaurants to pubs and museums or strolling across the river just to see the projections along the way. He has had encouraging initial discussions with potential funders and will soon have cost estimates for the project.

Locus Development commissioned the first projection art: Celebrate Heartside, a four-minute film Kelly created in partnership with Creo Productions. The projection will take place at 6 p.m. tonight on the west wall of the Cherry/Commerce parking ramp as part of Heartside Pre-Glow, a public celebration of the Heartside neighborhood.

“This initiative could create another type of energy in this community,” says Reb Roberts. “Grand Rapids could become a destination for art buyers and dealers; we just need more public exposure.”

GR Press: Honey, Don't Cough

The Grand Rapids Press wrote an article about Honey Don't Cough, 100 percent buckwheat honey that's used to help soothe children's cough. It's a new company founded in Grand Rapids by a family doctor and elementary school teacher with two young kids of their own.

The article mentions that we've been hired by the company to create an educational video on the dangers of over-the-counter children's cough medicines, and the benefits of using Honey Don't Cough.

We started shooting today and plan to release the videos in late February.

BONUS: Click for the WZZM 13 story on Honey Don't Cough.

Rapid Growth Article: Celebrate Heartside

Rapid Growth wrote an article about "Celebrate Heartside," the short film we produced with photographer Brian Kelly. It also talks about the premier party next weekend, and the great work Locus Development is doing downtown.

Read it here or below.

February 5, 2009

Creative groundbreaking for “38” to debut locally-produced short film celebrating Heartside

By: Deborah Johnson Wood

On February 12, Locus Development will host the public at a creative “Heartside Pre-Glow” party that serves as the groundbreaking for Thirty-Eight (38 Commerce), a fundraiser for the Heartside Business Association, and the debut of Celebrate Heartside, a four-minute film written, directed and produced by Creo Productions and Brian Kelly, owner of Brian Kelly Photography and managing photographer of Rapid Growth.

The event venue, the former EQ3 building at 130 Ionia SW, provides the perfect space to debut the film: above the building on the outer west wall of the Cherry/Commerce parking ramp.

The film, shot entirely in Heartside, celebrates the revitalization of the area as a one-of-a-kind entertainment and entrepreneurial community. Brian Vander Ark, of The Verve Pipe, wrote and performed the film’s score.

“Locus Development commissioned the film to show the vitality and uniqueness of Heartside in a fresh way,” says Kelly. “Heartside is becoming the place to be if you want to live downtown in proximity to hip artist lofts and galleries, innovative entrepreneurs, some of the most unique retail anywhere and fantastic nightlife.”

Click here to view a sneak preview of the film.

As to why Locus Development’s John Green and Andy Winkel chose such an unusual groundbreaking event, they wanted to do something that benefits Heartside as a whole.

“We’d much rather allocate the money typically spent on a groundbreaking event and apply that to a worthy cause like the Heartside Business Association,” Winkel says.

Before forming Locus Development early last year, Green and Winkel worked together on two Heartside developments: Hopson Flats and Founders’ Brewing. Green also worked with CWD Real Estate Investment’s Sam Cummings on The Fitzgerald.

Winkel and Green’s newest Heartside endeavor, the $26 million Thirty-Eight, is a creative interweaving of public and private properties into a city parking ramp camouflaged by privately owned “liner buildings.”

The February 12 event kicks off at 5 p.m.; Celebrate Heartside shows at 6 p.m. Brian Kelly and Mayor George Heartwell will be on hand for a few remarks, DJ Shannon Williams will provide music, and guests can sample Founders’ beer and Republic’s menu specialties.

Please RSVP to Jessica Geerling at jessical@locusdevelopment.com. The party is free; however donations to the Heartside Business Association are welcomed.

Small Firms, Big Creative

USA Today reported on the guys* who made the Doritos Super Bowl ad for under $2,000. It's a perfect example of the power of small firms (in this case, two friends) leveraging great creative.

*The "guys" are not us. But...it could be...