Justin Lowe and Kevin Diller are making a book about a friendly, hopeful unicorn+octopus, and they want your help. Read about how this fabulous creature was created, and find out where he’s going next.
W+K and Joint’s Justin and Kevin are running a Kickstarter to raise funds for their project. We spoke to editor Justin Lowe about the genesis of this friendly, mythical beast.
Wieden+Kennedy: How was the Octicorn born, so to speak?
Justin Lowe: Octicorn started about a decade ago here in Portland, Oregon. This probably sounds ridiculous, but at the time I was always trying to figure out what the next hip animal was going to be in pop culture.
At that time it was definitely the unicorn. At least in an ironic way. And I started thinking the next hip animal would be the octopus. Then I opened a magazine, and saw a shoe advertisement (not one of ours) featuring a large octopus.
I thought, my ideas are right on time, too bad they are not ahead! Then I thought–wait, why don’t I just combine the unicorn and the octopus, and that lead to the invention of the octicorn.
The first thing I did was create a couple hundred stickers, and I started handing them out, or sticking them up places when I traveled. He ended up in some prominent spots. My parents took him to Washington DC and got pictures of him at the White House, he found his way onto the ticket jar at Doug Fir when that establishment opened, he went overseas with people. It was really cool.
My friend Chris Hutchinson built a little Octicorn website, and we were putting the pictures up at the time.
Years later, my mom started sewing Octicorn pillows that I would sell or give away. Extremely limited edition. I don’t think more then 3 dozen were made. And one of them went to Marni Beardsley and Kevin Diller, who gave it to their daughter Frankie.
Frankie absolutely fell in love with it, and started asking Kevin to read her a story about Octicorn at bedtime. So Kevin got the idea to write a children’s book, and approached me about illustrating it.
Q: Can you speak a bit about the book’s message, and about the fact that its protagonist is neither a princess nor a superhero?
JL: Octicorn is half octopus, half unicorn. Kevin had the idea, that although Octicorn tries, he doesn’t quite fit in with the other octopuses, or the other unicorns.
He’s different. It’s something that kids will be able to relate to. They usually see princesses, or superheroes – but what about a character who is a bit weird and doesn’t fit in?
The later drafts of the book really focused on this, and started having this theme, that you don’t have to fit in, that it’s ok to stand out. And it’s a good message.
You know, Octicorn is a lot like me. He’s weird. It took me a long time to figure out, that being weird was a good thing. I figured it out towards the end of the high school and started carrying myself with more confidence. But maybe with this book kids will figure out sooner then I did.
Q: How did you end up making your way to Wieden+Kennedy/Joint?
JL: I was an aspiring filmmaker in Portland, and I was working at a Pizzicato as a host. A producer who had worked with Joint’s Peter Wiedensmith back in the day, came in one evening with his family, and I happened to eavesdrop on their conversation. He was asking his son a video question that I had an answer to, so I piped in with an answer. We had a short conversation and I told him I was a making a movie. He happened to need someone to do some video editing right away.
I declined, because I was finishing up the movie (which was a no budget feature about a woman who falls in love with a ghost) but we exchanged info and later I got him a copy. He called me up and said he didn’t like the movie, but he thought it was edited really well and asked me if I would do an edit in Hawaii. Next thing you know, I’m in Hawaii editing a corporate video and he was impressed with my work. He said, when we get back I’m going to call Peter and tell him about you.
That lead to me answering phones in Joint, then working in Wieden+Kennedy’s A/V department, then getting promoted to become a video editor in Joint. So you never know how you might end up at Wieden+Kennedy.
The Octicorn Kickstarter is in the home stretch. Check it out here and throw your support behind everyone’s favorite octopus-unicorn-friend.
