Every now and then

Every now and then something special comes along. However, in the shallows of the digital torrent, every “now” seems to be every five seconds and every “then” was 2 hours ago. Inspiring? Maybe. Numbing? Definitely.

 

But then, if you’re very lucky, something will cut through the morass. Something so coruscating and brilliant, that every fibre of your being is set alight with tiny twinkling pulses. The digital crusts nestling in the corners of your square eyes are sucked clear and you understand again. You comprehend how creativity is meant to make you feel (italicised here, because it’s easy to forget that this is the point – emotional mimesis; orchestrated compassion; feeling).

I am lucky enough to be able to say that such a revelation has recently occurred for me. I was making a cup of coffee the other day, when I bumped into one of our creatives. We started to chat and very soon I was listening to him rave about a little animation set-up he called “ Tokyo Plastic”.  This was my lead.

I logged-on to take a little flick through their web-page (http://www.tokyoplastic.com) and BLOODY HELL!  I feel like I need to resort to M&Sisms just to communicate how sodding impressive these guys are. “This is not just a little animation set-up; this is a style-soaking, innovation-drinking, genius-pissing little animation setup.” These guys make movies, short films, graphics and ads. They also design toys, t-shirts and dildos. They’ve worked with Microsoft, Aiwa, Mitsubishi, Guy Ritchie, Dreamworks SKG, AMD and Toyota; and have won the audience award at the Sundance film festival, the Flash Forward 3D category (three years in a row) and a D&AD pencil (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDguaz5I98Q).

 

"Well good for them!" I hear you bleat...

 

Yes, I agree, all of that stuff is bollocks. Just lists and claims. Just words. So, what you really want to do is click onto the site to have a peep with your own eyes. The work speaks and acts for itself. You’ll be converted much before you have the chance to read even one word. 

“Okay, but really does this really justify a blog post? Just paste in the link, god-damn it!”

Well, I get your point. But there is more… I promise.

Tokyo Plastic are a demonstration of something pretty radical. They are a glimpse, a glimmer, of the realisation of an idea that many of the sharpest minds in digital have only until now conceived of hypothetically.

“Oooohhh….big talk from the man at the keyboard!”

Maybe, but bare this in mind: they don’t have a central idea. They don’t have an umbrella thought. They don’t have a brand as we would understand it and build it. They just have lots of separate, brilliant, variously relevant and commercially productive pieces of content. All that sits at the centre is one intensely burning nugget of creativity (its founders- Sam Lanyon Jones and Drew Cope). This is what makes them different. This is what saves them from being buried. This is what makes them operate as a brand and is why they work as company.

 

“Okay…gulp, I get it, but surely you don’t think this is a model for all brands to follow”

 

Ho, ho, no! Far from it. I’ll leave that argument for Dylan Williams, thanks very much. But it is interesting to think, that it is a viable business model. Their set-up does work for them. That much cannot be denied. The rest of the inference, I shall have to leave up to you.