Have you seen it yet?! Not only does it feature tons of exciting things to do in good ol’ St Louis, but on the cover is a great shot of Chuck Berry and Nelly together on-stage during the 2009 MLB All-Star Commissioner’s Gala.
Switch produced the St Louis themed event last summer…read all about it here if you’d like to refresh your memory or see more pictures.
Otherwise, you can check out the cover and the rest of the Official Guide here.
Okay, okay. The tan thing is optional and can probably wait until summer. But a few of us at 6th street are getting serious about getting toned. We’ve been sweating upstairs in the penthouse three or so times a week to Banish Fat Boost Metabolism with Jillian Michaels and her svelte sidekicks Kristen and Salima.
Want to get your ass kicked by Jillian from The Biggest Loser? Want to look less like Snooki (Sorry, Snooks) and more like The Situation? Then put that depressing lean cuisine back in the freezer for a while and come join us during lunch! You’ll look and feel better, and feel like less of a failure about your new year’s resolution.
Do these tennies and socks look like they’re messing around?
Didn’t think so.
Keep your eyes peeled or at least open for the next issue of Event Design magazine. Our Kicker Visitors Center will be in there somewhere. A half page blurb? A three page spread? The editors have been tight lipped but we’re hoping for solid coverage.
Our Exhibits and Environments group here at Switch sometimes seems to exist in another time zone from the rest of the company. Witness, this Kicker project began as an idea in 2006 and was finally completed in February of 2009! Long story. It was by all accounts a success: productive working relationship, happy client, good design, healthy bottom line. Here’s a quick look at what it was all about.
Kicker wanted to engage, immerse and inform a range of visitors from local schoolchildren to global business partners. The exhibits had to express the quality, technical prowess, swagger and fun that is the Kicker Brand. Our work needed to compliment a new steel and glass architectural addition to their headquarters in Stillwater, OK. while showcasing Kicker’s fantastically designed audio components. When we started, this new building only existed on paper. Kicker’s vibe is exuberant and muscular, more like Samurai armor than audio equipment. We gave each exhibit its own look and personality, from understated to lyrical to architectonic to downright aggressive, with Kicker’s Brand personality reflected throughout.
Once you walk through the entry doors, motion sensors trigger the Speaker Wall, an interactive sculpture comprised of 19 synchronized 15” subwoofers suspended along the wall in the form of a sound wave. Rather than immediately blast visitors with a wall of sound – wait for it – this whimsical greeting sends low voltage signals that activate the speaker membranes causing them to noticeably vibrate in a variety of pre-programmed sequences. From a few feet away the quiet air displacement actually rustles your hair!
Using graphics and multiple interactive elements the four Tower exhibits tell the colorful Kicker story – their speaker technology, company history, innovation and product development. Taking full advantage of the atrium’s height, they rise 11 feet high, radiating out from 4 tapered columns, arrayed like identical mini skyscrapers with different graphic facades.
Measuring 40 feet in length, the Art of the Install exhibit details the importance of a proper audio system installation. It follows the sweep of the window wall arc inviting leisurely exploration with its low-key presence along the perimeter.
The Wall of Boom is the elephant in the room, the biggest and loudest saved for last – of course. Part product display, part hands-on demonstration and all sound-and- fury, it is anchored on the far wall. Standing over 14 feet tall and 20 feet wide, it showcases 28 subs, 46 speakers and 18 amps. The cresting wave-like form holds the promise of a thunderous crash and with the press of the touch-screen controller, it delivers, vibrating nearby glass windows into rippling panes of viscous goo. While the design tries to respect the building, the subwoofers make no such promise.
Despite the range of work that went into this project from conceptualization, storytelling, graphic design, exhibit design, construction drawings, fabrication, printing and installation, Switch did almost all the work in house. Our outside help consisted of an AV technical specialist, an interpretive writer and an illustrator for a special comic book sequence.
I’m sitting in the Amsterdam Airport on a layover and I realized a good start would be to give everyone a summary of what we are doing, where we are going and why. Dan Reus, Creative Director, Tom Eisenhauer, Executive Producer and your dominating blogger Adam Hecker, Shooter & Editor are working on a project that is taking us literally around the world. We are creating multiple videos for our client NCR, that will play in their new Peachtree Facility in Atlanta, GA. The cornerstone video is titled “NCR – Day in the Life”. We’ll be shooting actors on location using NCR products around the world showing the company’s great global presence and how they are a part of many lives each and every day.
So where are we going? Our shoots will be in Mumbai, Chennai, Istanbul, London, Beijing and Tokyo. As we shoot and travel to each city I’ll be updating our status every day or two. *depending on your time zone
Be looking for our next update out of Mumbai or Bombay for all my old school cats.
We all know that Santa is coming to town next month…but so is Pecha Kucha. Started in Tokyo in 2003, Pecha Kucha (a term for ‘chit chat’ in Japanese) is an informal gathering of creative types interested in sharing ideas. Usually held in places to “drink and think”, the bottom-up platform and 20×20 format keeps it fast, fun and fresh.
Unlike more formal gatherings, like TED and others…it’s not about watching smarty-pants present amazing ideas for 45 continuous minutes. Each presenter gets 20 slides, and 20 seconds per slide, to present what’s on their mind. From amazing vacation recaps to grandmothers diving into professional cake-making, everyone is invited and anything is on the table.
Next Thursday I’ll be meeting with Jeannette Thompson from HOK and a number of other forward thinkers at Lucas Park Grille (yes, they spell it w and ‘e’) to talk about the first STL event.
Anyone interested in joining the discussion should drop me a line…
Iowa-based PowerFilm makes low-cost foldable and rollable solar panels in which the solar technology is monolithically integrated in a polyimide substrate that’s flexible and durable, yet as thin as 0.025mm.
With an absorber layer made of amorphous silicon, PowerFilm solar panels use as little as 1 percent of the amount of silicon used in traditional solar panels; they’re also cadmium-free. Since 2005 the company has been using its technology to manufacture solar field shelter tarps for military applications, and now it’s developed the ability to combine it with standard building materials as well. Standing seam metal roofing, single-ply elastomeric membrane roofing and architectural fabric can all be combined with PowerFilm’s flexible paneling for a variety of low-cost, building-integrated solar applications.
In such uses, the electricity generated by the solar panels is stored in local batteries and converted to 110 AC for general wall outlet use or—in some cases—used directly for low-voltage lighting systems.
via Springwise
If you’ve ever tried to hire anyone, you’d quickly discover that finding good talent is one of the hardest things you’ll ever encounter in your professional career. How are you supposed to know in a matter of 12 -16 hours you actually spend with a candidate that she is a perfect fit for the job at hand? It’s not possibly enough time to find out if this person is true to her word, passionate about doing great work or committed to building a great team.
Sure, you can spread out the risk. Make sure the candidate spends time with various leaders you trust throughout your organization, solicit candid feedback, define the specific criteria you’re looking for and ask smart, insightful questions that give you a little peek into the person’s soul.
But where does that really get you? How do you PROVE this person is the best candidate? How do you KNOW the candidate will play nice with others, present our work in a compelling manner and use influencing skills to better the agency? You don’t. At some point, you just have to take a LEAP OF FAITH. You have to TRUST your initial instincts and the feedback of others. You simply have to put a STAKE IN THE GROUND. And that’s hard to do…at least I find it is.
However, just because it’s a hard thing to do doesn’t mean I’m not up for the challenge. Or that I should stop looking for the perfect fit for the job. Or that it should deter you from applying for the job. Because when everything is right, it will fall into place. We just need to have a little faith and together we’ll get there. So, to that end:
Check out our latest job posting for an ACCOUNT DIRECTOR. Apply if you’re up for the challenge. I know I am. And I know I am still searching…
The giant suitcase Switch designed and built to help promote Southwest Airlines new ad campaign “Grab Your Bag. It’s On” and to create buzz about the new flights from Boston to Chicago and Baltimore. The suitcase is currently in Boston with Keith Evans, our on site technical director.
Here are a couple of pictures of the suitcase at Copley Place:
The suitcase is going to move around Boston to locations that have high traffic of business travelers and tourists including Copley Place, Faneuil Hall, The Hatch Shell, CambridgeSide Galleria. The suitcase’s travels end at Boston Logan Airport on August 16 for the inaugural flights from Boston to Chicago Midway and Baltimore airports. After Boston, the suitcase will travel to Dallas where it will be set up at SWA headquarters!
The recent IABC Bronze Quill Award ceremony featured enormous walls of glass crafted into awards. Not realizing the scale of these monuments, we attended the ceremony with the folks who actually made the “dreams come true” – our clients. Ascension Health, Children’s Hospital and HOK joined the Switch folks for an evening of celebration as we shared these lovely Bronze Quill Awards from the International Association of Business Communicators. Look for the crane to load them into our offices in the coming days – wow, this is big…
Mike O’Neill, John Nickel and Mayor Francis Slay share a few laughs after surveying the Switch-produced MLB All-Star Gala grounds. Switch worked around the clock after Sunday’s storms (and subsequent floods) to ensure the 70,000 square foot event space was ready to accommodate the 4,000 VIP guests set to visit during the All-Star Game.
