The Whoopsters have been working with the University of Minnesota’s Early Learning Labs to rebrand and develop and the next generation of Individual Growth & Development Indicators (IGDIs) online measurement tools.  IGDIs are a quick and efficient assessment tool that is used to monitor the language and literacy development of preschoolers, 3-5 years of age.  The central theme that came out of our brand work was the idea of growth.  So, we worked with IGDIs to create an identity that exemplified its mission to get children started off on the right path for long-term success.

We enjoy the shows on the SyFy channel.  Take for example, Ghost Hunters International (GHI), a reality series that follows a team of paranormal investigators who travel around the world and document some of the world’s legendary haunted locations.  How cool is that!

So, we hit pause on our movie geek titles series to create something for GHI.  We wanted to trip the viewer’s emotions from the first frame as we lead them through a montage of locations that are melded together by images of the crew.  We also decided not to play into the stereotypical spooky-style typeface and instead used a cleaner font that is consistent with the show’s premise of using modern techniques to investigate those things that we can’t explain

See for yourself at Whoop’s YouTube Channel and enjoy.

Whoop Design has had the pleasure to work with the Twin Cities local AMA and AdFed chapters to brand some crazy and wonderfully successful events.  But, did you know (and this is for you out-of-towners) that Minnesota is also home to the oldest and one of the largest interactive marketing association in the country (maybe in the world).

Founded in 1998, the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association (MIMA) is a homegrown organization that has the freedom to bring together talented professionals and partner with members to elevate the quality of marketing practiced, the image, and talent available in Minnesota to the rest of the word…no joke.

MIMA will be hosting their 9th annual Summit 2010 on September 27-28, 2010 at the Hilton Minneapolis.  Seriously, this is going to be an awesome interactive marketing conference with more than 70 thought leaders in the industry, many with national roots (and the local folks presenting are all-stars as well), who are coming to town to discuss the latest thinking and trends about all things interactive marketing.

Did I mention that Gary Vaynerchuk (of Wine Library TV fame) and Baratunde Thurston (Web Editor at The Onion) are the keynotes?  I think I just did.  In short, it’s going to be an stellar two-days and I would encourage you take the time to check out the MIMA Summit Web site to learn more and register.

- Christopher Pollard

(Disclaimer: I’m on the board of directors of MIMA, but the Whoopsters have been fans of MIMA since 2003).

It’s no secret that the Whoop crew is a bunch of movie geeks, so we’ve carved out some time in our busy schedules to redo title sequences from some of our favorite classic films.  Third out of the gate is “Dirty Harry”.

We wanted our motion design to be a tip-of-the-hat to the gritty cop films of the seventies with a wink-and-a-nod to blacksploitation films of the same era.  Our challenge beyond the design was to remove the existing titles from the film, since most of the action happen on key beats of the movie.  We ended up re-cutting the intro to make it play better with our titles while still keeping the key points of the story intact.

See for yourself on Whoop’s YouTube Channel, and enjoy!

We know that we’re late to the game throwing in our two cents about the Old Spice video barrage (if you call 14 hours late). This day-long campaign redefined “A-game” for creative folks across the planet. 87 short comedic YouTube videos about Old Spice shot in real time, in a single day (oh, and throw in a voicemail message Web site featuring Isaiah Mustafa generated to your phone for good measure).

Isaiah Mustafa as the "Old Spice Man"

One word about the execution of this campaign, Brilliant! No doubt one of the most innovative (and should win a ton of awards) marketing ideas since Subservient Chicken by CP+B, BMW Films -The Hire series by Fallon, and the ShamWow Guy (we’re joking about the ShamWow thing). Thank you Wieden + Kennedy and Old Spice for creating a vehicle were Mustafa could share his confident words of wisdom.

Jonathan Goldsmith as "The Most Interesting Guy in the World"

Whoop imagines that at this moment, “Old Spice Man” is enjoying a Dos Equis with the “Most Interesting Man in the World“. Stay thirsty my friends.