DYSTOPIA-GO-GO: The LO-FI TRANSMISSIONS or: Progressive marketing in the age of commercial indifference.

Let me begin by saying I am a huge fan of the folks at Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics, even before I was given the amazing opportunity to create the ad campaign for their new Spring line. They are a vegan and cruelty-free cosmetics brand made with love by the most talented punk rock entrepreneurs you will ever meet. Their Lip Tar product alone is a wonder. (This stuff does not wipe off, no matter how passionate the make-out session. Trust me.) So, when I was approached by head makeup artist and OCC partner Katie Pellegrino to brainstorm about their new campaign, I was ecstatic, so say the least.

What I was presented with was an idea for two things:

A new “anti-hi def” approach that utilizes the organic nature of analog, and
(And this was key to my involvement) It didn't have to peddle the product. In fact, I was told they “didn't care if the product or the makeup itself was in the image”.

That is when it hit me – what I have always wanted in a promotion – the desire to entertain and enlighten, not to have some overpaid celebrity telling me to drink some sugar-infused water. The new advertising is anti-advertising. (I feel the same way about music videos – Nothing bores me more than a video of a band in a basement or on stage. Consumers today are more savvy. We don’t want to be sold and image – we want to be introduced to the music, to an idea. In my opinion, the best music videos are short films based on the theme of the song...) Thanks to the exhilarating discussion and collaboration with OCC, I came up with this concept for their new campaign:

"Mankind has been nearly erased - the few who remain suffer on a dying planet. In a last ditch effort to seek help, one person is chosen to represent the human race in a series of analog broadcasts sent into deep space - a beacon of sound and vision. But, as the the calls go unanswered, we witness glimpses of the hopeless broadcasts through glitches in our remaining analog receivers."

OCC and I decided on a revolutionary new advertising platform based on the desire not only to introduce the public to our product, but to show them we genuinely believe the product is a creative force – something that transcends soulless commercialism and genuinely wants to entertain you, all while saying “Hey everyone, here we are! ...Where are you?”