Interesthing Sharing Week #5: Unplugged

Go go Power Rangers!

And FINALLY... our man of the hour, pants full of power, too sweet to be sour... the man, the myth, the legend... JOESCHER CHEE!

Against all odds, Joescher triumphed against six other hopefuls to emerge as Week #5's VIP (Very Interesting Person). Making the task more difficult (or easier, depending on how you look at it), this week's special theme was INTERESTING SHARING: UNPLUGGED. Yep - no Youtube, no fancy videos, no slam-bang websites, no anything with a wire connected to it!

Joescher's winning sharing? A simple exercise for kicking off any bad habits. As the story goes, a man once wore a wristband on his left hand. Every time he complained, the wristband would be changed to his other hand. His mission: to have the wristband remain on the same hand for 30 days straight; in other words, quit complaining for 30 days.

And of course, like all good motivational tales, we were challenged there and then to apply it! Like obedient children, we slapped on our wrist-slash-rubber bands and made a pledge to quit an unhealthy habit for 30 days.

"Be at office before 9.30am every day."

"100% daily efficiency!"

"Quit smoking...Haha, no lah...reach office before 9.30am every day."

We'll see, we'll see!

Other Stuff: (for office use)

Chee Chiaw shared on the Rolex Mentor & Protege Arts Initiative.

Teh shared on shapes in design.

Zen shared on belief.

Mok shared on 'which side of the car is the petrol tank' indicator.

Sharon shared on hourglass riddle.

Chin Yong shared on the Secretani project.

Current Standings: Mok 6, Joescher 3, Zen 3, Chee Chiaw 3, Teh 0, Sharon 0, Chin Yong 0.

The Secretani Mission

Picture these, all ye faithful:

Dreary Monday morning. When suddenly...

RING RING!

"Joe, I need an ad for Garden Asia magazine!"

It was our beloved client, Zam from Secretani. (For the uninitiated, Secretani is an organic spray to enhance plant growth.)

"Ohhh-kay. When is it due?"

"Erm...tomorrow."

WAH-LAU-WEH.

Welcome to CC+J Adhaus, where creativity isn't sold in juice, but buckets.

So first things first, we gathered the brightest minds in CC+J, ahem ahem, and sat down to discuss who we wanted this ad to speak to, and how. Originally, we had planned for the complete brand identity to be defined this week, but now had to do a quick one based on gut feel and simple research.

Eventually, we narrowed the audience down to 2 groups: gardening enthusiasts who spent hours daily caring for their plants, and casual gardeners who kept a few potted plants at home just for greenery.

As the product was new and without A&P yet, it made more sense to go for the former group. The ones who would actually seek out the best fertilisers for their plants, and understood the joy of seeing them bloom.

And of course, what did this group want to hear most? 'Enhanced plant growth' was a powerful proposition, but difficult to convey in a print ad without credible facts to back up. 'Convenience' was too flimsy as well; hardcore plant lovers wouldn't mind if they had to move mountains for lovelier plants.

As we probed deeper, the answer became apparent enough: what users really wanted was a natural, safer alternative to common fertilisers. By sharply highlighting the contrast between the organic and synthetic, here's the final ad we came up with:


And all's well ends well... The client loved it! Another day saved, by the CC+J team. =p

The Captiv8 Saga Ends (For Now)

Yee-ha!

Another CC+J baby is born. This past week, we finally handed over all Captiv8 collaterals and CapTV marketing materials. Just for info: Captiv8, one of our dear clients, is a media owner specialising in innovative advertising media. And of such medium is CapTV, an interactive advertisement screen found in reputable lifestyle outlets such as Low Yat Plaza, Finnegan's, Yoga Zone and MyFitness.

Captiv8 logo, name card, letterhead and envelops. Nice and simple, just the way we like it.

The complete stationery set. Hats off to Chin Yong for his trademark user-friendly design.

CapTV brochure, neatly tucked into a stylish Captiv8 corporate folder.

Now here's a design solution for you: The CapTV brochure, which needed constant updating on media rates and screen locations.

The answer? A unique rubber band spine which allowed pages to be detached for future editing.

But it ain't over yet, boys and girls... keep your senses tuned for more upcoming CapTV news!

Interesthing Sharing Week #4

And STILL our champ-pee-yon... MOK!

This time around we have an action-packed, heart-thumping and thoroughly crazy animation titled "Animator vs Animation".

Have you ever felt like you were fighting against your own work? As though that ad, spreadsheet, proposal or whatever took on a life of its own, and pissed you off so much that you just wanted to kill it?

Fret not, this animation says. Always learn to have fun with your work, and see it in ways you've never done before!

Note: This week, we also welcome a new player on the block... Chin Yong!

Other Stuff: (for office use)

Joescher shared on 'The Power Of Thinking Big' book.
Chee Chiaw shared on brijit.com website.
Teh shared on Kyouei Design website.
Zen shared on street perspective paintings.
Sharon shared on animal hand paintings.
Chin Yong shared on Enlarge-Your-Logo cream.

Current Standings: Mok 6, Chee Chiaw 3, Zen 3, Teh 0, Joescher 0, Sharon 0, Chin Yong 0.

Welcome Chin Yong!

Note: This is an old photo. Actual product may differ from visual shown.

At long last, our beloved Design Director is here!

One of the best-kept secrets of the local design industry, the highly-talented Chin Yong has come a long way since graduating from The One Academy with top recommendations from his lecturers. Plying his trade in two of Malaysia's finest design firms, Chimera and Axis, he has along the way worked with brands such as Genting, Macrokiosk, The Gardens Mid Valley, The Curve, Sivanathan Advocate & Solicitors, Hotel Maya, Burj Dubai, Sepang Gold Coast, Selangor Dredging Berhad Property, Ameeira Residences, Sapura Crest, CIMB Bank...the list is endless!

If you've seen his work, you'll surely agree that Chin Yong is a master when it comes to minimalist-style brand design. Which is exactly why he's made fans out of us, and will prove to be a TREMENDOUS piece of the puzzle as we strive on to Make Brands Famous!

The CC+J team posing pretty. Remember these faces!

Interesthing Sharing Week #3

Our man of the week...MOK!

He shared this week on the irresistible 4 singing horses. Click on each one of them to mix n' match your own horsey orchestra - right down to bass, tenor, alto and soprano!

On a separate note, it's a wonder how many melodies you can create with just 4 notes. Allow us to demonstrate using some simple calculations:

With 1 horse, you can create 1 melody.
With 2 horses, you can create 4 melodies. (1, 2, 1-2, 2-1)
With 3 horses, we now have 15 melodies. (1, 2, 3, 1-2, 1-3, 2-1, 2-3, 3-1, 3-2, 1-2-3, 1-3-2, 2-1-3, 2-3-1, 3-1-2, 3-2-1)

And guess how many we would have with 4 horses?

64!

With just that 1 extra horse, the amount of possible results QUADRUPLES. No prizes for guessing how much more we could get with 5, 6, 7 or even more horses!

And that's what creativity is really all about, isn't it - possibility of combinations. 1 art director might produce 10 ideas, as would a copywriter. But stick them both together in a room, and you'll have ideas bouncing off the walls in no time.

So guys and gals of CC+J Adhaus - let us never limit ourselves with what we can do! And let none of us consider ourselves less important than anyone else - if 1 of those 4 singing horses thought he wasn't such a great singer and left, we would have a lot, lot less to play with.

Other Stuff: (for office use)

Joescher shared on fire safety tips.
Chee Chiaw shared on Chore Wars website
Teh shared on 'Smile, & Life Smiles With You' book.
Zen shared on Hard Gay.
Sharon shared on Facebook 'Donate A Grain of Rice' project.

Current Standings: Chee Chiaw 3, Mok 3, Zen 3, Joescher 0, Teh 0, Sharon 0.

Happy Birthday To Mok!

Some things are best explained without words.

Interesthing Sharing Week #2

Rolling into Week 2...here's CHEE CHIAW!



And it's something mightily interesting: A 5000-year history of the world's religions in 90 seconds. Watch how and where they spread, when specific wars broke out, and the rest of the juicy details.

As Chee Chiaw noted, periods of religious wars often had the result of both religions not growing. Ironic, since the reason for starting wars was to propagate their respective faiths in the first place. To quote a renowned CC+J personality: Stupid humans.

Other Stuff: (for office use)

Joescher shared on Cahan & Associates website.
Teh shared on an old man in China writing 870 metres of calligraphy with a single stroke.
Mok shared on the JC's Girls ministry.
Zen shared on Capoiera.
Sharon shared on www.inc.com

Current Standings: Chee Chiaw 3, Zen 3, Joescher 0, Mok 0, Teh 0, Sharon 0.

Interesthing Sharing Week #1

And the prize for Week 1 goes to... ZEN!

Makoto Nagano is your average Japanese fisherman, but not-so-average winner of Ninja Warrior, a downright CRAZY Japanese TV endurance gameshow. Famed as the most consistent participant in the show's 10-year history, Nagano has reached the final stage no less than 4 times. Watch the video to understand how amazing that is!

As Zen shared, Nagano may not be the strongest person in Japan. Nor the fastest, most agile or most durable. But what made him stand out from 127 million other Japanese was his initiative to try out. Though others might watch and think to themselves, "Cheh, my uncle's friend's neighbour's sister's daughter's boyfriend's colleague also can do lahhh...", he had the guts and self-believe to get his butt off the couch and just do it.

Indeed, success doesn't always go to the most deserving. But more often than not, it goes to the most determined.

Other Stuff: (for office use)

Joescher shared on the 3-minute project.
Chee Chiaw shared on perspective of size.
Teh shared on Star Wars in MS-Dos format.
Mok shared on Volkswagen 'Hand Shadows' ad.
Sharon shared on Create Your Superhero site.

Current Standings: Zen 3, Joescher 0, Chee Chiaw 0, Teh 0, Mok 0, Sharon 0.

Interesthing Sharing League

Stand back, all you famous Leagues of the world.

From the creators of the world-renowned Interesting Sharing, now comes...the INTERESTING SHARING LEAGUE!

How It Works
• Points are recorded after each Interesting Sharing session. Sole winners receive 3 points, joint winners 1 point each (draw), non-winners 0 points.
• After 15 rounds, the person with the most points is the WINNER!
• In the event of a tie, decision will be based on Votes Received, followed by Wins.

All ritey then... LET THE GAMES BEGIN!

"Oi! Hire you to play games ah?"

Introducing... ZEN LIEW!

Muka banduan

Ya tuan-tuan dan puan-puan sekalian...say hello to our brand-new smashing, flashing and dashing Brand Manager... ZEN LIEW!

He's another of the 'hidden talents' that CC+J has been pursuing for a while. Worked here for a month last December, giving us a glimpse of the value he brings to the company. At that time, he teamed up with Sue to prepare the E-Barter project, which set the benchmark for all future CC+J job proposals.

Since then, he's sharpened his skills with big corporations such as The Star and Alliance Bank. Though he's joined us for less than 2 weeks, his natural ease at slipping into the role and eagerness to learn, learn, learn is clear to see.

Welcome aboard, Zen-san! Let's make brands famous.

Finally...The Crab Speaks

i typed 'crab' on the internet and this popped out. those sick, sick humans.

it's been a while since i blogged. sorry, been busy looking for fish to eat. and after three months, i finally realised that those stupid humans removed the fishes. so now i'm supposed to eat just fish pellets? harlowww, there's a reason why they're called FISH pellets okayyyyy...you stupid people don't eat cat food do you?

sigh. it makes me so sad. last month the other crab crawled out and dried up again. they found him in the morning and put him back in the water, but it was too late. he died after five minutes in the water. i thought i heard him say something just before he died. something like: you're way too beautiful girl, that's why it'll never work. then i remembered that crabs don't speak. it was probably those ampee-three things from the humans. (in case you don't know, ampee-threes are brutal devices humans use to lock other humans in to sing for them).

those stupid crabs. they never learn. i mean, how hard is it to understand that if the humans don't come into our tanks, we shouldn't go into their ampeee-threes and sipi-yous and stuff.

anyway, i was waiting for them to buy another new junior crab. waited, waited and waited for weeks, still nothing. finally...they brought in a new human.

how stupid.

if i recall correctly, there are already one, two, three, four, FIVE other humans in the office. five humans, one crab. and what do they do? bring in another human. real smart, people. no wonder they need so many of you to care for just one crab.

just when i thought things couldn't get any worse, they did. recently, they brought in some new creatures. nothing as disgusting as more humans, but still pretty disgusting. and get this: they're called SUGAR GLIDERS. ooh, what darlings.

like the humans say, a picture speeds a thousand worms. feast your eyes on my supposed new friends.

cute?

sweet?

NOT!!!!!!

crabs have beautiful shiny shells. these little monsters have ugly hair all over them.
crabs are still, silent and intelligent. the monsters crawl all over the place like brainless prawns in a frying pan.
crabs hunt for fish and tear them apart with their ferocious claws. and these brats eat - guess what - GRAPES AND APPLES. HAH! only humans and donkeys eat such rubbish, morons!

and the nerve! these things actually have NAMES. i was here long before crabs made ccplusj cool, and never once did they give me cutesy names like 'chewie' and 'suggie'. i wish i had a name. when i was born, my mom called me 'son'. then they sent me to the pet shop, where the people called me 'new stock'. and now all my life in ccplusj, i've only been called 'the crab'. sigh.

oh look, they're playing with the monsters again. i bet even if i wore a clown suit and break danced, they wouldn't care. so sad.

i wish i was a human. everyone loves humans. except for me, of course.

humans are never alone. they're always surrounded by other humans, eating together, doing things together. they get happy so easily. when they leave the office. when they talk on the telephone to 'cly-ens'. when they receive a paper that comes every month. all crabs can look forward to are fishes. or sadly in my case, fish pellets.

well, that's enough crabspeak for a day. till next time, stupid humans!

Gerak Day 15th Sep 2007!

Haven't posted up any Gerak Day pics so far! But for the benefit of those who weren't with us on these wild, wacky n' wooly adventures, here's the low down on what we did out-of-office the past few months.

April: Fishing at Taufoo Pond, Sungai Buloh

May: Picnic at Zoo Negara

June: Kite Flying at Metropolitan Park, Kepong

July: Sleep at home!! (meaning, takde)

August: Excursion a.k.a. Rombongan Sekolah to Royal Selangor

September: Cycling + Unsuccessful fishing + Supposed 4-seasons house which turned out to be a flower garden with full blast air con @ Taman Pertanian, Shah Alam. Featuring a special guest! =p

More pictures coming soon! Hang out here to catch them.

My philosophy of Career. (Bo Le & Thousand-Miles Horse)

Legend has it that some very rare horses are capable of traveling a thousand miles in a day.
These rare animals are known as "Thousand-mile horses".
Bo Le (伯樂) of the Warring States period is regarded as the Master who discovered these rare and highly prized horses.

Story Begins.... It happened in year XXXX...

When I was an intern, I always see myself as a "Thousand-miles horse".
During my internship in a talent casting studio working as a talent casting photographer, there was once I work continuously for 36 hours. (Don't do it, It actually harm your body badly)

Then I went back to my advertising world. I read, eat, sleep, think & breathe about it.

What I was waiting for, is the "Bo Le" of my life.

And when I started CC+J Adhaus with CheeChiaw, I knew my role has changed from a "Thousand-miles horse" to "Bo Le".

I've been spotting for Thousand-mile horses for CC+J, thus we have the Team members with CC+J now & we will do this continuously .

BUT...we don't want them to be Thousand-miles horses always, we want them to be "Bo Le" themselves one day.
We train, we provide the platform... & most importantly, we provide chances.

Teh is now Head of Interactive (from Interactive Designer), he is slowly transforming into Bo Le from a Superb Thousand-miles horse, (In fact, he really did physically ran Thousand-Miles for the Team & CC+J, truly appreciate it.)

In CC+J, everyone has equal chances to be a "Bo Le"!

Looking forward to see the NEXT.

Cheers!

THE RAT!

Ratatouille!

Great! It was such an inspiring movie for me. I was so overwhelmed after watching it.

You can make a difference! You can make a stand!... no matter how small you are, or how small you think you are.

This movie really lights up my soul.

You can be whoever you want to be if you stand for it.

TPA & TTC

I've just had a drink with a girl, the girl who I set as the title, Truly Potential Art Director.

Since her college time, she was doing really well, graduated as one of the best student. 1 thing amazed me about her is her persistance on doing great work.

I see that 1 thing can make her Fly is her level of confidence. And the freedom of speech, she can definitely excel in an environment that allow her to boldly speaks her opinion and express her creative ideas.

I can see a FANTASTIC Creative Team with Her & *Mok (Truly Talented Copywriter). SEE? =P

I won't say her name now, but I do foresee in near future, she will join us and grow with us together as a team!

Looking forward to see that...

*See the blog Mok wrote, I admire his fresh angle on looking at things (Especially 'Crab Speaks'.) I love it.

Awal Day

In addition to our CC+J-exclusive Gerak Day, now comes... AWAL DAY!

Before the cock crowed, before the newspaper arrived, before the roads were jammed, 5 bleary-eyed people walked into office, ready to begin a day's work.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen...on August 1st 2007, CC+J Adhaus worked from 5am to 2pm! (No clients were harmed in the making of this, of course)

So, team, how does it feel like going to work at 5am?

"It's like going fishing!"

"Remarkably productive. No pre and post lunchtime syndrome, and lunchtime itself of course."

"At last I can see the sunlight going home. I feel human again."

"Hah? 2 o clock already?"

Conclusion: Going to work at 5am sucks. Going home at 2pm ROCKS! In your face, agency life! :p

Note: The extremely well-received Awal Day has since become a weekly affair, though switched to a more humane time of 7am to 4pm. Unfortunately, people still oversleep every time.

Crabdolences

Starlit wishes

Half-eaten fishes

That cloudy morning
You stopped crawling

Why did you leave us?
Weren't you happy in CC Plus
J?

We'll always love you
Though you stupidly escaped and crawled under the CPU

Now we need to fork out money
To buy a new crab for the agency

Stupid crab, you'll be missed!
Rest in peace.

The Incredible Mystery Of The Crab

Here's a curious incident which happened in the office last month:

There we were, trooping in for a good morning of crab-play (before, you know...work?), when something seemed terribly amiss.



What's wrong with this picture? Nothing?

KEPALAK HOTAK KAU!

There are only TWO crabs in CC+J!
(One died in June and was never replaced. Not like the other two are gonna miss him and blog about it, haha.)

Anyway, back to the story...

Apparently, one of the crabs was dead. We fished it out for closer examination by the resident crab experts.

Already an unnatural orange colour.

But still...HOW COME SUDDENLY GOT THREE CRABS ONE?

As advertising people, we were quick to analyse the situation and draw out possibilities.

Scenario #1: Joescher was the last one to leave office last night. As he left, he saw one of the crabs dead and promptly bought a new one to replace it. Forgetful bugger that he is, he just left the dead crab there.

Scenario #2: The 2 crabs mated and gave birth to a baby. Or laid an egg, whatever. Strange hormones in the water caused it to mature into an adult overnight.

Scenario #3: In the Most Touching Story Of The Day, the dead crab is last month's supposedly-dead crab. It survived! And embarked on a heart-wrenching journey from the DBKL landfill back to CC+J. Finally, after weeks of perilous travel, it arrived just in time to utter its last words:

"I'm...home."

*collapses dramatically from exhaustion*

*********

A quick call to Joescher wasn't much help.

Chee Chiaw: Wei, yesterday you bought new crab ah?
Joescher: No ah.
CC: Then how come got three one?
J: You ask me, I ask ghost ah?
CC: Eh, serious lah! Got three crabs!
J: Very funny.
CC: Sei fei chai...

Upon Joescher reaching the office...

J: UIK?! Why got three crabs one?!
CC: I told you just now...you dowan believe me...
J: Don't play already...I know you all bought a new one!
Us: YOUR HEAD!
J: ...
Us: ...

*********

Eventually, we discovered the truth.

You ready for it?

You think you can handle it?

Okay, here goes.

We tapped on the dead 'crab'.

It was HOLLOW!

We tapped on one of the live crabs.


It was SOFT!

The crab SHED ITS SHELL!

OH EM GEE~!!

FREAKEE~!!

The whole crab had come clean out of its shell, even cleaner than when we eat them in restaurants. The shell was completely whole; even the eyes were covered with a contact lens-like film!

All together now...

OH EM GEE~!!

Scorpion Crab. Muahahaha.

Spider Crab. It's fun, really!

Moral of the story: Crabs are weeeeeird.

Myrelo Goes Local

Some pics from last month's Myrelo launch at Souled Out Hartamas.

To refresh: Myrelo is an international relocation company, now kicking off a domestic moving service. And one of our beloved clients, of course!


Event media kit: Press releases, speeches, door gifts, flyers.

Door gift: Custom-made wooden boxes for our invitees. Containing a 10% discount voucher for your next Myrelo move!


The man behind the movers...Craig.


And the woman behind the man...Isma!


How's the food, people? Must've been pretty good, judging by how difficult it was getting seconds. Or maybe 'cause we were yapping away too much.


Launch time! The Myrelo crew marching out to 'I Like To Move It, Move It'. How apt.

Myrelo...Goes...Local!

Also on display that night, the unmissable Myrelo ads.




Keep an eye out for them in The Star Classifieds (under 'Lorries-for-hire / Moving Services'), iProperty magazine/site and the Yellow Pages site!

And whaddaya know...the launch event was covered in the local dailies as well: Star, Sun, China Press, Sin Chew! Will post featured articles pretty soon.

Till then...great job team! I'm proud of us.

CC+J Adhaus Joins The Club!

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, bring out the glasses and pop the champagne...CC+J Adhaus is officially accredited by the 4As!

Of the numerous agencies in Malaysia, only 65 are members of the 4As (Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Malaysia). Together, this select group creates over 80% of advertising seen locally.

To find out why most advertisers prefer 4As agencies, get a copy of the ‘Why Choose a 4As Agency’ handbook from us!

Now that's one down for our 2007 Goals.

And next... *points to orange words*


KANCILS... HERE WE COME!

The Crab Speaks...Again

oMg I lOoK fAtFaT iN tHiS pIc~!!! aDd Me iN fReNsTeR pLzZzZzZz...~

hi it's me again, the crab in ccplusj.

sorry that you haven't seen me around for a long time. it's been a difficult month for me, having to hunt for my own food everyday. but god has been gracious, he's provided me with yummy pellets which fall mysteriously from the sky twice daily.

there're some other fish in the tank, but they swim much faster than me. i thought of taking swimming lessons from them, but they keep avoiding me. maybe they're anti-social. or maybe because sometimes my crab friend tears their heads off and eats them. so unrefined.

sometimes those silly humans will grab a fish, whack its head against the table, and throw the dazed fish back in my face. then they stare with stupid smiles on their faces. i mean, what am i supposed to do? give the fish cpr?

they seem very busy these days. but i don't see any food on their tables. in fact, i never see them eating, apart from something called 'kofi'. my partner says they're rearing us to eat when we grow older. i think he's crazy. how are the humans going to eat us if they only eat kofi? anyway, i don't think crabs taste good. the humans always refer to bad things as 'a piece of crab'.

see, i'm learning a lot here.

anyway, something sad happened few weeks back. one of the other crabs crawled out of the tank when we were sleeping, and wandered off. he never came back.

last i heard, the humans found him, all dried up under the sipi-you. (a sipi-you is a machine humans use to work. something like a keyboard, but bigger.)

they wrapped him up in a tissue paper and just threw him into the dustbin, along with their A4 papers and nescafe 3 in 1s. no funeral service. no black clothes. no crying. some of them even joked.

that night, i think i cried for the first time. not really from sadness, rather insecurity. i started wondering about that other crab. what happens after you die? what do you see? how do you feel? where do you go?

i wish i knew. then i could laugh at the face of death, like humans. how nice to be a human, confident and certain of everything. sigh...

i think i'm thinking too much. till next time, the crab has spoken!

Trafik (france interactive agency)

Hey Team. Check out the URL below.

http://www.apple.com/pro/profiles/trafik/

while u guys wait for the video...i make a short introduction on what it is all about first. It is an interactive agency that located in France, they called themselves as a group of "artist of programming", want to know why? (spend me dinner, i tell you...KAM GUAI FEI...)

The video is about how they using mac Xcode to build the illuminated canvas box shown at the contemporary art center.

this is their website. www.lavitrinedetrafik.fr