Ok, so not exactly, but check out Seth Modeling during today’s AdPerk/Rite-Aid/Phillips shoot..

7:00 pm – 9:30 pm / 30 Sep 2009

Downtown Independent Theater

251 S. Main Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Two Blocks from The Groop offices

View Map
Register Now

Wish you could get the coolest event tickets in town? Ever wonder what graphic designers from the U.K. are doing to revolutionize the graphics and media world? What happens when you combine art, media and music? Join us for “An Evening with Tomato,” presented by Michael Horsham, Dylan Kendle, and John Warwicker. Tomato members Horsham, Kendle, and Warwicker will cross a continent and an ocean to share their secrets on all aspects of art ranging from commercial print to music and sound to architectural design. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet and gain insight from an amazing group with valuable experience with cross-platform art. Horsham will present a general selection of work, Kendle will present film work and Warwicker will discuss process – Tomato’s philosophy and approach to making work.

Time
7-8pm Cocktail reception
8-9:30pm Presentation

Tickets
Members $20
Non-members $30
Student members $10
Student non-members $15
Tickets will be an additional $10.00 extra when purchased at the door.
(no cancellations or refunds)

Parking
Paid parking lot for $9 north of the theater is available as well as street parking.

About Tomato
Tomato, formed in 1991, also includes members such as Karl Hyde and Rick Smith, dance music idols of Underworld. While Tomato members are from various arenas, many collaborations and blending have resulted from such creative diversity. Recent works of Michael Horsham includes branding work for a new art museum in Italy, rebranding of the UK government body design for London, and a campaign for Chevrolet with Simon Taylor. Kendle, designer/film director, has directed numerous commercials, music videos, and film title sequences including Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting. His recent print work includes campaigns for Ford and the French act Nouvelle Vague. Warwicker, one of the original founders, has directed several film projects and consulted for the governments of Britain and Sapporo on creative industries. He has also written and designed two books with Underworld’s Hyde. Warwicker is the first foreign member of the Tokyo Type Directors Club and adjunct professor of Architecture & Design at UTS Sydney.

www.tomato.co.uk

AIGA LA

The new downloadable Groopies are up! Check out our Groopie page where you can download various Groopies such as Dorky Groopie, Catalyst Groopie, and Wrangler Groopie. Great for your desk, computer monitor or dash board.

Click the link below, and follow the instructions to build your very own Groopie!

Visit Our Groopie Page

Thank You For Helping Make The Groop Summer Bash a Success!
Here is the first round of pics. More to come in the AM.

Lawn Chair Panel details:
Join us from 7:30 to 8:30PM for an animated discussion moderated by The Groop’s Chief Visionary Jose Caballer.

Our Topic will be Advertising in the Digital Landscape:
What role does creativity play in digital landscape?

We will answer the following questions:

1. Who drives? The strategist or the creative? Could they be one in the same?

2. What is the role of the Digital Agency vs. Traditional Agency. (i.e. The Groop vs. Young & Rubicam) in the current landscape? In the future?

3. How do we as a community (Advertising, Creative, Technology, Business) better listen, communicate, collaborate and learn from each other?

4. How do we make technology more beautiful? More human? How do we bring art to it?

Panelists to include luminaries from academia and agencies.

Previous panels moderated by Jose Caballer:

Creating Green Brands Panel at the Opportunity Green Conference

Do you sometimes need a beer (cocktail), a hot dog, taco, soft serve ice cream or great music after work?

Are you often concerned with the future? The media industry or advertising industry?

Could not knowing about the most cost effective and powerful video delivery and content management systems potentially cost you your job?

We can help.

Join us on Thursday July 16th for The Groop’s 2009 Summer BBQ with Workhabit.

Featuring the world’s first Lawn Chair Panel discussion.

Our topic:
The Future, How cost effective and powerful video delivery and content management systems can make your life better.
More details and panelist to be announced soon.

To summarize:

You get:
- Free Beer / Cocktails
- Hot Dogs
- Tacos
- Soft Serve Ice Cream
- Music

And there is more:
- Networking
- Panel Discussion
- Awesome Moderator

Here is what people have to say:

Jose you’re a regular Jerry Springer. Thanks for keeping it lively.
ps – My only disappointment is that I didn’t get to throw a chair. Next time.

When: Thursday July, 16th 2009 at 7:00 PM.
Where: The Groop’s Downtown LA Headquarters

Feel free to send invite to friends, but space is limited so please RSVP at: thegroop.net/bbq
See you there!

PS. RIP Billy Mays

The Opportunity Green VIP Party was crazy fun. Sorry if you missed it. Check out the sexy pictures.

Join The Groop and Honorary Ambassadors Natalie Portman, Mike Myers, Don Cheadle, Amy Poehler, Sarah Silverman and Kerry Washington
for the Millennium Network event to benefit the William J. Clinton Foundation.

When: Thursday April 30th Where: Roosevelt Hotel Blossom Room, 7000 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles
How Much: $150

The Millennium Network seeks to engage the next generation of leaders and philanthropists in the work of the Clinton Foundation.

April 30th promises to be an inspiring evening with remarks from President Clinton and a live performance by Will.i.am. Remember that all contributions are tax-deductible and help the
Clinton Foundation continue to tackle some of the world’s most pressing challenges such as HIV/AIDS, global warming, economic opportunity worldwide and childhood obesity.

For Tickets Go To:
http://re.clintonfoundation.org/millennium

By now you have seen this video. But I wanted to add it to our blog because I think that it is a great example of simplifying a very difficult subject.

They both have to “get some traction” before cutting deals and getting funding.

An insightful article titled Musician Finds a Following Online in The Wall Street Journal Shelly Banjo and Kelly K. Spors tell the story of how bloggers, myspace and new promotion platforms such as TuneCore.com, CDBaby.com, Sonicbids.com, Slicethepie.com and Musicnation.com are changing the landscape of how music is produced, distributed and monetized.

The article chronicles Justin Vernon a musician who after recording an album in “his parents cabin” posting it to MySpace and sending it to key music bloggers was able to garner a good deal of traction with fans get on David Letterman, form a new band and get signed to a major label.

“Mr. Vernon’s rapid success shows how small, relatively unknown artists can gain fame via the Web without the large marketing budgets and backing of a major record label. The exposure on blogs, YouTube, social-networking, marketing and other sites can allow them to nurture a following quickly and cheaply.”

To me the takeaway is simple: Give a musician a record deal and he will eat for a few years, teach a musician the mechanics of the business and give him the tools, and he will eat for a lifetime.
Digital technology, the internet and the ever lower learning curve that creatives have to to create micro-enterprises will soon enough replace the macro-enterprises created by the economy’s of scale driven corporations of the 20th century.

I would dare to posit that once more talented (artist) musicians like Just Vernon discover and begin using the (rather simple) tools available to them to create, distribute and monetize their product (art) the music industry as is today will give way to micro-enterprises with the artists as CEO’s of their own destiny.

Lets look at some of the tools outlined in the article:
TuneCore.com: Create, upload and distribute your own music to iTunes, Amazon, eMusic and more. Keep 100% of your royalties.
CDBaby.com: The largest seller of independent music (CD’s) on the internet.
Sonicbids.com: Brings musicians and promoters together. Musicians pay $5.95 to $10.95 a month or $50 to $100 a year in membership fees.
Slicethepie.com: Allows musicians to raise money to record and promote their albums. Anyone can invest including the fans. Slicethepie keeps a 10% fee and a percentage of royalties for 2 years.
Musicnation.com: Connects musicians to fans by giving them tools and a platform to market themselves. Also gives contracts to to top talent.

This is only a small slice of the pie of what I know is out there.
It is unavoidable that new business models like direct sales, corporate sponsorship, touring and merchandise and others yet to emerge will make the 21st century the century of the creatives.
To quote (one of my favorite authors) Daniel Pink in his book A Whole New Mind:

“The last few decades have belonged to the computer programmers who could crank code, lawyers who could craft contracts, MBAs who could crunch numbers. But the keys to the kingdom are changing hands. The future belongs to creators, designers, storytellers, caregivers, big picture thinkers – will now reap society’s richest rewards and share its greatest joys.”

And I believe this so much that I am betting on it. I created an education company to help educate creatives on business. I even called it:
Evilbusinessman

Can I get a “muahhahahahaha” from all my fellow creatives.