Honolulu-based Mobi PCS and Maui-based 808 Shells are inviting artists as young as 14 to draw a design that might wind up as laser-engraved artwork on an exclusive, limited-edition mobile phone case.
Only 250 of the cases will be produced, and the grand-prize-winning artist will receive the first case bearing his or her design, a free Samsung Galaxy S4 with free unlimited talk, text and data service from Mobi PCS for a year, and Beats by Dr. Dre Studio model headphones.
808 Shells founder Dan O’Brien credited Mobi PCS executives with the concept for the "Create Your 808" contest to solicit island-inspired artwork.
"We both share a real passion for the talent and creativity that’s here in Hawaii," and the contest will "give an artist who might have not had a channel like this exposure to a wide audience," he said.
The contest is open to Hawaii residents, and art must be in black on a white background with no color, but can be created by hand using any available medium, including design software.
Entrants can be "somebody who has a ton of experience with all the (graphic design) computer programs or somebody who sketches on a notepad," said Mobi PCS Senior Marketing Manager Erica Villanueva.
And there is "no need to mimic" 808 Shells’ existing artwork, O’Brien said.
Entries must be sent to social@mobipcs.com for consideration. From there, artwork meeting the basic qualifications (read: nothing offensive) will be uploaded to the Mobi PCS Facebook page for public voting. "Create Your 808" entries must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. Dec. 23.
The design with the most votes by way of "Likes" on Facebook by noon Dec. 31 will be announced as the winner on Jan. 6. The second- and third-place finishers based on public voting also will receive prizes.
Entries also will be posted for viewing on Instagram and the Mobi PCS website, Villanueva said. The website will promote the contest as will the eight Mobi PCS stores around the islands, including six on Oahu, one in Hilo and one in Kahului. Mobi products and services also are available at other dealerships around the state, including on Kauai and Molokai.
Since the beginning of the month, Mobi stores have been the exclusive local retailers of 808 Shells.
The retail ball got rolling when a Mobi executive saw coverage about the company in this space on a Friday in August. "Our vice president of sales saw it and reached out," Villanueva said.
O’Brien said he was excited to talk with the company about possibilities and is stoked that the contest could inspire a budding young artist to possibly follow an educational track and eventual career path.
"Even for people that don’t win, seeing those votes pile up, and that inspires them to keep going, to me that’s one of the most exciting parts of this," he said.
808 Shells’ designs normally are the work of a stable of graphic artists whose work is then laser-engraved onto the cases on Maui.
In the wake of Typhoon Haiyan, O’Brien created a design himself incorporating the eight-rayed sunburst of the Philippine flag and the Hawaiian island chain with the "o" in the word Aloha.
The Philippines Aloha shell is available in black, blue, green, pink, purple and light blue for the Galaxy S4, S3, and iPhone 4, 4s, 5 and 5s models.
808 Shells is selling the cases for $30 and will donate 75 percent of the proceeds, after materials costs, to Red Cross relief efforts.
"Mobi is also giving people free calls to the Philippines" to help Hawaii residents reach their loved ones in the wake of the disaster, O’Brien said.
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ON THE NET:
» www.808shells.com
» www.mobipcs.com
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Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com or on Twitter as @erikaengle.
