… well, maybe not anymore. This old saying and its close cousin “Nobody ever got fired for buying a XXXX” may be in serious trouble. Personal experience has taught me a harsh lesson with brands I should have been able to trust – those that create premium products, who have focused perhaps a little too much on cultivating an image. These, I feel, have forgotten the fundamentals and the magic of great product design (my hand-reared calf leather luggage that can’t be carried is testament to that).

While this process might have been happening for some time, there is nothing like the mother of all recessions to come along to completely dispel the myth of the indispensable brand. Recently a colleague told me to trust a particular contract because it was backed by an ABC Fortune 100 brand – but in days when Lehman can go under, GM is propped up with taxpayers’ cash and your IT supplier can be gone tomorrow, you have to do more than trust a brand. You have to do some homework and ensure that your company, your partner or your supplier can still walk the talk.

And this gives rise to a renewed focus on customer relationships and corporate communication for our clients. Reaching out to core customers and keeping an open dialogue about your business and the economy at large is certainly getting some renewed and much needed interest. Retention, retention – reassurance, reassurance – it is going to be a long ride.

Having attended a recent briefing where we were tasked by the client to 1) conceptualise and propose ideas dealing with emergent technologies 2) for the near future, we were naturally ecstatic about the possibilities. It was a dream project for anyone dealing with digital media. However, after the initial wave of headiness passed, we were faced with the problem of actually having to identify what could possibly still be considered emergent after any extended period of time. Technological advancements seem to be advanced for only for a week or two, if that. Everyday, announcements of new exotic gadgets would tantalise the geeks inside of us.

Intro: The Reality-Virtuality Continuum
To truly understand and to a certain extent, identify certain emergent technologies, a deeper understanding of the digital medium was required. The terms Reality, Virtual, and Virtual-Reality are by now very familiar and possibly dated ones. However, with the rapidly increasing pace of technological advancement, many creators of digital content do not stop to think about each of these concepts in relation to one another. These terms are commonly generalised as new media, even if they have been around for decades. With this key thought in mind, an obvious question surfaces: “Is New Media still new?”

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Here you’ll find a showcase of our work in 3D, motion graphics and live-action – and in many cases, a seamlessly engaging mix of all three. Like what you see? Our interactive showreel will be up shortly as well, so sign up for our RSS feed to be informed when that happens!

For all the details on the projects featured and more, visit our site.

Let me first start by saying my colleagues are well aware that I’m less of a writer than I am a speaker. Nevertheless, having been given the privilege of writing the foreword address by virtue of my being a founding member of the agency, I shall attempt to share my thoughts about the incredibly exciting world of digital, marketing and of course, the adventures of The Upper Storey…

Time flies. Rather cliché, I know, but I can’t begin to describe how quickly it has for me and our agency. Looking back at how far we’ve come in 8 years and how very much we’ve yet to achieve drives me and quite frankly frightens me as well. That’s the beauty and the curse of running a digital agency – which explains why a vast majority of folks in our business wouldn’t trade this for anything else in the world. It’s a drug. Why do I say this? Well, which other industry demands that you be in the know about the latest marketing, design and technology trends – all at once? In which other industry can one have the power to globally and instantaneously influence how a person perceives a brand, a product, a service, and these days, even another person? Yes, newly-elected presidents included. In which other industry, can one realise a dream of moving objects on a screen halfway across a room with one simple gesture of the hand in thin air? Need I say more?

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