Posts Tagged ‘Buick’

Design for Dreaming – 1956 GM Motorama

Posted: March 22, 2011 in Car Shows, General Motors
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This is a lovingly-restored short film produced to promote GM’s 1956 Motorama car show.  In the ’50s, GM was the largest corporation in the world and it was the growth engine for post-war middle-class Americans. What was good for General Motors really was good for the country.

1956 Buick Centurion from GM's Motorama Dream Car Show

Pontiac (1954 or 1955) Firebird I from GM's Motorama Dream Car Show

1956 Pontiac Firebird II concept from GM's Motorama

What was unthinkable in 1956 happened in 2009 when GM slipped into bankruptcy.  While both the economy and the automotive business have changed dramatically in the past 57 years, GM is still an essential piece of the US economy and it’s one of the last employers still providing middle-class wages and benefits for blue collar workers.

Design for Dreaming is a 1956 musical ephemeral film about a woman (played by Tad Tadlock) who dreams about a masked man taking her to the 1956 General Motors Motorama and Frigidaire’s “Kitchen of the Future”.

It is one of the key Populuxe films of the 1950s. The film was directed by William Beaudine and was Produced by Victor Solow. It starred Tad Tadlock, Marc Breaux, Thurl Ravenscroft. www.wikipedia.com

Digitally enhanced by Retro-matic™ LLC., Hollywood, California. www.retro-matic.com

I desperately want the jet-age Firebird concept car and that Frigidare round, rotating glass-door refrigerator.  I wish that kind of high-concept industrial design was more visible today.  It’s really worth your time to watch all nine minutes of this short film (you have to click-through to watch it on YouTube).

Buick gets creative with Google Goggles

Posted: March 8, 2011 in Buick
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As part of its uncoordinated Quixotic mission to attract younger buyers, Buick is one of several companies using Google Goggles, Google’s amazing visual search engine, to connect with potential customers.

Currently, the Google Goggles app is only available on Android-based smartphones.  That makes sense since Google gives away its Android operating system free to mobile phone and tablet PC manufacturers.  To the consternation of many, it’s not yet available on Apple’s iPhone. I guess it’s up to Apple to approve the app, but right now, it’s an exclusive selling feature for Android smartphones.   The strained relationship between Apple and Google doesn’t help.

You open Google Goggles, point it at something you are looking at like a poster, print ad or even a building, snap a picture and then the app, using Google’s proprietary image recognition technology, searches for information on the subject.   It’s pretty amazing. Check out Google’s demonstration video:

Here’s a video that highlights how a few pioneering advertisers, T-Mobile, Buick, Disney, Delta Airlines and Diageo, are experimenting with an “immersive digital experience” when users of Goggles point their lenses at a print advertisement.

I think the concept is innovative and has exciting potential.  I’m not so sure that it will sell more Buicks, but it does connect a potential customer directly with Buick’s online interactive content. I expect many other car manufacturers to  jump on this bandwagon.

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