I helped lead this entire project from start to finish, and this is but a mere summary of it. I was the lead and only Art Director on the project. I’m going for a TRUE summary here, so don’t hesitate to ask me if you want to know more. I can assure you I’m more than capable of an extemporaneous 1+ hour presentation on it, as long as I have a few props & pictures.
And now, may I introduce eight months of pure madness in my life, glorious I would do it all over again madness…
Larry’s (apparently too psychedelic) Dairy and Mad Cows were both named and created in less than 48hrs, and I’m not even showing the Strawberry flavors. After a revision, they both made it easily into the final rounds of focus group testing. The clear favorite was Mad Cows. After a name change demanded by the clients in London, (apparently it’s not as funny over there) Raging Cow was born. Well actually that was the easy part, because now we had to design the whole brand and decide how to market it, in four months.
Raging Cow was the first product that bloggers helped launch. Quite controversial in it’s day. The bloggers were flown in to meet the cow in person at an elaborate event. They would slowly introduce the cow and her whereabouts to everyone else. There were other barnyard friends that provided some content for bloggers to interact with. Eventually website takeover ads and other web ads directed you to the official website. It later hosted some Photoshop challenges, which had a few ringer submissions. The whole online component even won a gold pencil.
Rather than try and show ALL the work that went into getting the printed pieces to launch date, we’ll just start with the Taste Samplings and materials. As per the blog’s hints, the posters would go up first in city X near the target demographic’s hangouts, then a 8ft tall cow would burst onto the scene for a short while, then leave, then a Farmer Bob and his many beautiful daughters would follow shortly after looking for their beloved prize dairy cow, asking which way she went, and all the while handing out cold samples and stickers.
Don’t fret, the convenience stores also got awesome Sales Kits plus many other fun signage, POS, stickers, shirts, toys and milk dispensers.
But in the end, there wasn’t enough fire power, nor cleverness to stop things, and even our direct clients didn’t completely understand why it died.
PLEASE Note and USE the <SLIDERS> to see Before & After images. Best viewed on a desktop!
Nor was their enough money left over to properly photograph and retouch ALL the pieces. But it does give me some great examples of my retouching capabilities from the spring of ‘05. They still look good enough to drink. I was almost driven to drink much harder things than milk, when I struggled with these. I’m so much faster and better now…
The Barn brochure was a bit of a production miracle in itself. The weird die cut, that folded perfectly into the shape of a barn, that roared a “Moo” upon opening. The costume even roared with some embedded desk speakers, with a hoof triggered MP3 player. In case you were wondering I often played the role of the cow, and NO they didn’t let me keep a costume.
I could go on and on, but alas Raging Cow and all of it’s greatness are locked up tight in a padded barn. I’m told it could see the light of day again, but not to hold my breath.