YES! In collaboration with Swedish RBK Bsmart is on the shortlist hoping for a Golden Cannes Lions Award for the Natalia Project. Read more about it here

Since 1954, the Cannes Lions Awards have set the benchmark for excellence in creative communications. Here is where you can find out more about the Awards, the rules and who will be judging the work in 2013.

Electrolux – Prime PR

How do you explain what silence is? How do you capture silence visually? Together with Prime and Electrolux we’ve been working on how to portray the fact that their new generation of vacuum cleaners are extremely silent.
Firstly, we wanted to find the most illustrative way to instantly explain that the vacuum cleaner is silent. To achieve this we used the classic and iconic mute symbol in one image and in another image the vacuum cleaner is soundproofed with pillows – an image that will immediately create interest from viewers and editors.

PHOTO: Karl-Fredrik von Hausswolff
RETOUCH & 3D/CGI: Roger Sandberg
PRODUCER: Tomas Lestrup

RBK – Civil Rights Defender

A pro bono project for the campaign for Human Rights. The film says it all.

PHOTO: Hans Carlén & Petter Brandt
EDITING & MOTION GRAPHICS: Robert Fransson
PRODUCER: Tomas Lestrup

Electrolux – DDB / Made to Order

Stella Ulltin at DDB / Made to Order asked the question. Hilarious. All the reasons can be found right here. And so we went. (It was a pretty good deal since the South African Rand has never been cheaper). Great food. Fantastic wine. And of course, plenty of sunshine.

PHOTO: Karl-Fredrik von Hausswolff
RETOUCH: Anna Nordstedt & Philip Cederman
PRODUCER: Tomas Lestrup

Gröna Lund – Pool

Read more about it here!

3D/CGI: Roger Sandberg
PRODUCER: Tomas Lestrup

King Magazine

Here are five ways to go for a healthy lifestyle… Stone Age, Weight Watchers, ISO, GI or LCHF.
For more details check out King Magazine. Coming soon to a news stand near you!

PHOTO: Hans Carlén
RETOUCH: Philip Cederman
AD: Niklas Wendt
STYLIST: Johan Åkerberg
PRODUCER: Tomas Lestrup

PHOTO: Pekka Stålnacke
RETOUCH: Erik Hemmingson
PRODUCER: Tomas Lestrup

Roséspecialisten

Here are a few of the images we created together with Roséspecialisten that have now been published in their book ‘All you need 2013′ which celebrates their range of wines including Cuvée Madame. You can order the book here.

PHOTO & RETOUCH: Pekka Stålnacke
PRODUCER: Tomas Lestrup

Did you know that in Sweden alone McDonald’s has a staggering 157.000.000 visitors each year? Is it due to their hotly debated images, or a universal taste or a competitive pricing that McDonald’s remains so popular? Indeed, the question is highly interesting. I would claim that the images in the highest degree help create hamburger success in Scandinavia. For we scandinavians like it sleek and stylish, simple and uncluttered. If we compare with the clothing fashion, the intensively retouched fashion images of clothing brands absolutely contribute to the fact that we buy their clothes. In our daily lives we use makeup and hair combs and we dress nicely when we are going out on the town. So what’s the Big Deal? We will continue to create appetising and colourful images. Even if we cheat, just a little. Because we know its how you like them!

In October 2002 we carried out our first job for McDonalds via their former agency Leo Burnett.

Here you can see a film showing how McDonald’s hamburgers are made. I bet you are wondering how we create our hamburger shoots?

The Shirt Factory / Bold

For this challenging project from Bold/The Shirt Factory we could really show our skills in making taylor made, bespoke images. More specifically a taylor made, bespoke shirt in this case. Heading up the project was both CD Oscar Lübeck and AD Nick Greening, accompanied by Yvonne Rietz from Bold and excellent styling by Åsa Norin from The Shirt Factory.

PHOTO: Martin Brunn
RETOUCH: Erik Hemmingson
PRODUCER: Tomas Lestrup

Bold Stockholm

Bold Stockholm design agency has a pretty impressive client list and what could be a better way to illustrate this than these images that we created for them.
Click here if you want to read more about Bold’s projects.

PHOTO: Pekka Stålnacke
RETOUCH: Philip Cederman
PRODUCER: Tomas Lestrup

Skincode

3D/CGI & RETOUCH: Johan Svensson
PRODUCER: Tomas Lestrup

Skandia – Acne Advertising

PHOTO: Pekka Stålnacke
RETOUCH: Philip Cederman
PRODUCER: Tomas Lestrup

Rolex – Rob. Engström AB

PHOTO: Karl-Fredrik von Hausswolff
RETOUCH: Erik Hemmingson
PRODUCER: Tomas Lestrup

Skincode

For their latest products, Skincode contacted us to make some creative visuals. A super powerful re-energising booster to revive skin and a defining gel to keep legs and body in perfect shape. After several drafts testing different techniques to match the two very different briefs we delivered these illustrative images to a very satisfied client.

3D/CGI & RETOUCH: Johan Svensson
PRODUCER: Tomas Lestrup

Who said it was easy filming the new train SJ3000 in Sweden?

“Hi Tomas, It’s Lina Söderqvist here from King. We are closing for a holiday next week and I was wondering if you could help us with our client SJ (Swedish Railway Company). They need some help with a few projects while we are away.”

Bsmart opens its doors in Cape Town

Nine years ago I travelled to Cape Town to study the fantastic light and the beautiful locations that I had heard so much about. I was completely overwhelmed. Three years later I returned for a photo shoot for the book Tutti Frutti that I was planning with my friend Klas Lindstrand. Needless to say, I fell totally in love with South Africa once again. This new love together with a passion for visual imagery was the beginning of an idea for a new Bsmart venture. Commuting backwards and forwards to South Africa over the last few years has given me both time and experience to plan and prepare. Finally, this autumn we will be opening up a studio at Camps Bay i in the centre of Cape Town. All the services we offer in Stockholm will now be available there, on location. Cape Town is even in the same time zone as Stockholm! As well as photography, 3D/CGI and retouch we can help you find locations and local models and even take care of your whole production. Come and join us this winter in the south african sun!
Tomas Lestrup, CEO & Founder

Please contact tomas@bsmart.se for more details regarding our new services in Cape Town.

Big bold bonuses and a venture in South Africa

Sweden’s advertising branch magazine Resumé has written a great article about Bsmart’s ongoing success. The latest news being big bonuses for the employees and a venture in Cape Town, South Africa.

LOB design

LOB design are renowned for producing home accessories and table top articles in the latest Scandinavian design so we were more than happy to help create their latest catalogue for this Autumn/Winter 2011. Petra Östh was the stylist for the main images.

RETOUCH: Erik Hemmingson
DESIGN & FINAL ARTWORK: Martin Dickins
PRODUCER: Tomas Lestrup

Products in harmony

Swissline is a swiss born company providing anti-aging products.The debrief from Swissline’s AD Lara Wyss was to find a creative solution that would reflect the qualities of the specific products. Our 3D artists, retouch artists and photographers sat down to brainstorm some ideas. Some were a little too modern and some were a little too advanced. The final idea and image though was a great success and resulted in an extremely satisfied client.

PHOTO: Pekka Stålnacke
3D/CGI & RETOUCH: Johan Svensson
PRODUCER: Tomas Lestrup

Front page news!

There was a very nice surprise waiting for us in the inbox this morning. One of our images is covering the front page of the Weekend Journal of The Wall Street Journal. This gives us a great reason to celebrate (as if we need one). So Kalle Gadd (Art Director at Razorfish), when you read this, come on over and join us for some champagne. Cheers!

PHOTO: Pekka Stålnacke
RETOUCH: Johan Svensson
PRODUCER: Tomas Lestrup

Aftonbladet – King

PHOTO: Hans Carlén
RETOUCH: Bsmart
PRODUCER: Tomas Lestrup

Catch-22 (a no win situation)

We are quietly happy with our achievement in this years swedish competition Årets reklambild (the swedish ‘Ad image of the year’). With Press Stop’s image campaign ‘If you love music’ and ‘20 years of cars’ Bsmart together with Sweet Creatives shared 2nd and 4th place. We were naturally proud to have our president Tomas Lestrup in the jury but with him not being able to vote for the Press Stop image this was perhaps a bit of a catch-22 occasion…

We do however congratulate the winning photographer Peter Alendahl. We are looking forward to the challenge again next year. See more here http://www.resume.se/nyheter/2010/12/15/har-ar-arets-reklambild/

Red. Raw. Fashion.

RedDevil prides itself in stocking the latest fashion garments, often inspired by London’s Carnaby Street. You’ll find the RedDevil stores in the centre of Stockholm and Gothenburg. RedDevil has been a welcome client to us for over 10 years and in this case, as the saying goes, “Better the Devil you know!”

PHOTO & RETOUCH: Bsmart
DESIGN & FINAL ARTWORK: Martin Dickins
PRODUCER: Tomas Lestrup

Smoother than ever

Milda, the family butter by Unilever, has recently been given a new form by Lowe Brindfors. Lotta Nannmark and Joakim Norrman came to us with this mission to visualise this classic swedish butter.

PHOTO: Pekka Stålnacke
RETOUCH: Anna Nordstedt
PRODUCER: Tomas Lestrup

It’s not the thickness that matters

Is this as thin as it can get? What’s next, a virtual screen? Whatever, Samsungs design programme is always pure paradise for the drooling artists at Bsmart. Art Director Björn Ekdahl came up with this challenge for Bsmart to illustrate Samsungs new LED TV (Light Emitting Diode). Voila! (NIP)

PHOTO: Martin Brunn
RETOUCH: Erik Hemmingson
PRODUCER: Tomas Lestrup

Work and play

During a leisurely autumn walk in the city centre of Stockholm I was almost overwhelmed by emotion. Away from the studio, in the fresh chilly air, I was warmed to see these light boxes all over the city. Sometimes there is just no getting away from the work of Bsmart. In a good way that is.
/ Tomas Lestrup, CEO & Founder

As cute as kids can be

How can one resist these images! Its always fun to work with kids when it comes to photography – its like having a party in the studio. Art director Yvonne Flügel made it happen.

PHOTO: Bsmart
RETOUCH: Roger Sandberg
PRODUCER: Tomas Lestrup

Well burnt. Easily washed.

Yes! Today we had the opportunity to show off our barbecuing skills – turn on the grill and turn up the heat. A simple mission to bring to life an excellent idea from art director Lars Hörnström at Grey Stockholm.

PHOTO: Hans Carlén
Retouch: Anna Nordstedt
Stylist: Tomas Lestrup
Producer: Bsmart

Letters awake strong emotions

PHOTO: Pekka Stålnacke
RETOUCH: Roger Sandberg
PRODUCER: Tomas Lestrup