DDB has focused an enlightened eye on Chicago as it seeks new local graphics design talent?at least for one of its clients, and hopefully for others as its recent quest yielded a mother lode of inspiration.
To see what’s out there, DDB asked six large and smaller local post houses to come up with a fresh approach to a Dell plasma TV screen, as part of the computer company’s electronics and accessories spring campaign.
After two rounds and a total of 60 submissions, Daily Planet emerged on top. It won the assignment of designing and animating the 10-second design intro to the 30-second “Transactional TVs” spot that broke nationally March 21.
DDB associate producer Keith Kaminski called on Optimus, Avenue, Sol, Ki, newcomer ProtoKulture and Daily Planet to submit ideas via six-second design animation pieces. All were paid for their two rounds of work.
The Daily Planet team, led by motion graphics director Jason White, working for four weeks, submitted a total of 17 pieces. The team consisted of Jonathan Adler, Lindsay Zimmerman, Nik Braatz and White.
“From the beginning, Daily Planet’s ideas were the most diverse and distinctive among the submissions,” Kaminski said.
White said his team “attached ideas from all sides.” Their motivation was “to do something that Dell hadn’t done before, so we threw everything we had against the wall.” DDB obviously liked what it saw.
Winning the assignment also reintroduced Daily Planet to the agency. “We worked with DDB in the past on commercials, but not for a while,” noted White, who’s been with Daily Planet for three years.
Although Daily Planet started out as Chicago’s leading test spot house, over the years it transitioned into what White called “an editorial house plus animation and graphics.”
White said that while test spots remain a good business base, “I’ve had an agenda to take Daily Planet into different areas, such as TV show and movie intros. We’re now doing a music video and a couple of spots that are pure graphics. Our Appleby’s spot was full-up animation. We’re in a serious position to compete.”
Agency credits: VP/CD, Dan Fietsam; A/D, Larry Ziegelman; writer, Jay Manheimer; associate producer, Keith Kaminski.
Postproduction credits: Motion graphics, Daily Planet; postproduction/finish, Sol Design; audio sound design, Hoffman Sound; composer, Tom Schultz/Das Music; VO talent, Matt Walters.
Daily Planet’s staff of 13 is located at 455 N. Cityfront Plaza; phone, 312/670-3766. See www.dailyplanetltd.com.
