Taken by Surprise: Cutting-Edge Collaborations between Designers, Artists and Brands

by Robert Klanten (Editor), Sven Ehmann (Editor)

Today, the most clever brand communication is self-promulgating. Anyone currently working in brand communication is facing fundamental yet compelling challenges. In an age in which we are flooded with information, consumers are becoming more critical and discerning. They are deploying ever finer filters so that only the most relevant pieces of information ever reach them. Because of this development, traditional brand and advertising messages are far less likely to be seen. Taken by Surprise is a collection of communication measures that are innovative and relevant enough to overcome these hurdles. It features projects ranging from radical to glamorous, from flashy to subtle. They include limited special edition products resulting from collaborations between brands, artists, and designers; impressive corporate mailings and publications that have become collector’s items; as well as guerilla urban interventions and exclusive events. The brand communication measures introduced in Taken by Surprise are so cleverly planned and disseminated that they become self-promulgating― either through word of mouth or in the flow of digital information. Target audiences become brand ambassadors, customers become collaborators, and consumption becomes an experience. Taken by Surprise offers advertising agencies, designers, and marketing departments inspiration for the development of more original, more creative, and more attractive brand communication than ever before.

Genres: Design, Art

280 pages, Hardcover

First published April 25, 2012

About the author

Robert Klanten has been a key figure in the global creative industry for more than a quarter of a century, helping to reimagine the way we approach publishing. He has driven over 800 publications and commercial projects.
Robert is the CEO of gestalten, the company he founded in 1995. Under his leadership, gestalten has established itself as a pillar in the field of contemporary visual culture, design and architecture, by immersing its readers in creative landscapes, cultures, people and art. gestalten regularly collaborates with the biggest names in the creative world and is known and loved by millions around the globe for its iconic books.
He has shown how creativity has no limits in the digital age: through inspiration, inclusivity and promoting understanding; and by connecting the global and the local through storytelling.