Gestalten Taken by Surprise: Cutting-edge Collaborations Between Designers, Artists and Brands

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.