The State Of The Internet

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VW PunchDub Ad

Sometimes I forget that if you don't work in Marketing, in one of it's many roles or functions, you may be completely unaware of some of the brilliantly creative work that is done every day. I say this because it was brought to my attention over the weekend that Volkwagen's recent Super Bowl ad and campaign went completely unnoticed by many Irish folk who are marketing types (or American Football fans). So for any of you who missed this excellent campaign, here you go...

For their 2010 Super Bowl ad, Volkswagen (US) reimagined the popular car game of “Punch Dub”. Most people will be familiar with the classic game of punching a friend's arm when you see a VW and for their campaign VW have updated the game to increase awareness and familiarity with the full 13 model range of Volkswagens now available. The “Punch Dub” campaign was launched with a 30 second commercial during the third quarter of the Super Bowl with cameo appearances by Tracy Morgan and Stevie Wonder...

Volkswagen also developed an online campaign about the creator of the game, Charlie “Sluggy” Patterson. As well as having a blog, Twitter stream and a series of videos on YouTube, the campaign was supported by an online game through the VW Facebook page. All elements went live on Super Bowl Sunday and encouraged people to explore the Volkswagen range with virtual slugs to friends and family. Essentially people were driven to hone their punching techniques and punch as many friends or family as possible. The more punches you got, the better your chances were of winning a weekly prize or the Grand Prize, a brand new Volkswagen. The campaign was developed by Deutsch, Los Angeles.

"Volkswagen is one of the most beloved brands in this country, but people have a misperception that it only sell cars for the young. We needed to find a way to let people know that Volkswagen makes thirteen different models, in a way that still felt right for the brand," said Eric Hirshberg, CEO/Chief Creative Officer of Deutsch LA. "Changing the game of ‘Punch Bug’ to the game of ‘Punch Dub’ and making it about all Volkswagen is the perfect way to do that. It tells you something nobody knows in a way that everyone can relate to."

"Punch Dub is a fun, engaging way to reintroduce Volkswagen and its growing product family to millions of Americans during one of the most watched television events of the year, the Super Bowl," said Tim Ellis, Vice President of Marketing, Volkswagen of America. "The campaign is a modern twist on a classic game that has been played on America’s highways for generations and will help consumers gain a new perspective on the breadth of our vehicle offerings, quality, performance and value."

As a taster, here is the first of Sluggy's videos...

Your Country, Your Call

I was invited along to Guinness Storehouse on Monday evening to give input into a new Social Media focused project that is being launched. I had only been told bits and pieces about the campaign and, to be honest, I really didn't know what to expect. However, there were a few key things that I knew and they were enough for me: Dr. Martin McAleese was the main person behind the campaign's idea and it was all being patroned by his wife, President Mary McAleese. Aside from this, I had been told that all work on the campaign, by all parties, was being done on a pro bona basis. Considering the global economic situation we all find ourselves in, this was a pretty stand out point.

The evening began with an an overview and background from Dr. McAleese and then a general open floor discussion / Q&A about everything to do with the project from the overall strategy through to the site design.

The campaign microsite, which will be the main focus of all activity is www.yourcountryyourcall.com/.

So what is it all about? This is a international competition (anyone in the world can enter) that is being driven by a hope to ignite imaginations and inspire thinking. The overall goal is to find two ideas that have the ability to fuel prosperity and jobs for Ireland. The ideas could be anything – absolutely anything, the only caveats are that they must focus on Ireland and should be so robust and expansive that they will be looked on in a decades time and seen as true turning points in Irish history.

The two winning ideas will secure their ‘thinkers’ a prize of €100k each and the ideas will then have a €500k implementation fund (as well as the expertise of a host of world class people from all walks of industry) to get them off the ground.

The competition also has a second side to it – Your Ireland Moment, which is a call for people to submit their personal moment that they most felt proud to be Irish. This can be found through the main site.

The whole project will have an extremely strong focus on Social Media and will be driven heavily through both Twitter and Facebook. however, there will also be event, radio, print and television used across the campaign duration to help boost awareness and participation.

This is Dr. McAleese’s brainchild and something he is truly passionate about. Personally I think it is really exciting, and well worth a look. In fact, I already have 4 ideas scribbled down on paper that I need to flesh out a bit. Check out the following video from President McAleese about the campaign...

DoneDeal.ie - A Case Study

Last week saw Trinity College play host to the Dublin Web Summit. The event, which was beyond sold out, brought together a fantastic panel of speakers to discuss the lessons & direct experiences of scaling up companies, inspiration for Irish tech start ups and a round house debate on the implications and expectation of Social Media and the advent of user curated news and content. The Summit's speakers were Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist, Matt Mullenweg, founder of Wordpress, Wired’s Editor-at-Large, Ben Hammersley, and former Iona CEO, Chris Horn. The Summit was presided over and MC'd by Mark Little.

I was lucky enough to attend the Summit as a guest of one of its sponsors, DoneDeal.ie.

The conference was, to say the least, one of the most informative and thought provoking events I've been to in the last 5 years. To start I would commend Mark Little on being one of the finest MCs I've had the pleasure of seeing. Mark not only knows what he's talking about inside and out, but he shows a genuine passion and interest in the people speaking and what they are speaking about. On the otherside then, it should be taken into account also that the line up of speakers was just brilliant. Craig Newmark, Matt Mullenweg, Ben Hammersley and Chris Horn all displayed an insight into a world that both enthrals and intrigues me. I live Social Media and online content, it's a passion, and I am lucky enough to be able to work with the things that I find most interesting. These people were, in one way or another, all part of that world down to its core. Newmark and Mullenweg: the creators and innovators. Hammersley: the critique, moderator and commentator. Horn: the technologist and advocate. While the room may have been filled with geeks much the same as myself, there was not a single person present who wasn't captivated.

Watching and listening to these people talk, I realised that the entire landscape of the world I work in, is primordial in its nature. Nothing is concrete, nothing set in stone, and nothing that is beyond question. Opinion rather then fact prevails in the majority of circumstance and everything we accept today could easily be idiotic to even consider tomorrow. The web and Social Media are changing so rapidly that the only way to stay with the leading edge is to immerse oneself in everything to do with it. Surround yourself with like-minded people and make sure to listen to everything they have to say, because every suggestion or idea is worth considering. I do quite a bit of freelance work but I would never consider myself to have owned my own business. Listening to the panel got me thinking about this. How would I approach the modern digital world if it were my own business I was driving?

Speaking to my host at the Summit, DoneDeal.ie seemed like a good place to understand what the trials and difficulties faced by a start-up are. Fred, a Swede who married an Irish girl and now lives in Wexford, was full of good suggestions and commentary on how he and his wife took their digital idea and created a seriously impressive business. The best thing, however, that Fred and Geraldine, his wife, offered was a Case Study (available to download here) that the company has created on exactly how they have become Ireland’s biggest and fastest-growing classifieds website. Reading through the case study I was thrilled. Here is a company that has realised how Social Media works. It's all about sharing. Giving away knowledge and learnings makes you stronger. Other businesses succeeding makes the market stronger. Here was someone who actually saw the benefit of giving away information that others would hold tightly to their chest and do anything to keep secret. Bravo!

DoneDeal.ie, from a standing start in 2005, has experienced an average of 10 - 15% growth in visitor traffic and ad placements per month. At the end of last year the business had reached a company turnover of €1mil and is hosting more then 50k of active ads. According to Google Trends, the business is now the number one place to buy and sell things in Ireland. Consider that all that was achieved in less then 5 years. This hasn't gone unrewarded or unnoticed though. Last year Fred and Geraldine received the Net Visionary Internet Marketer award from the Irish Internet Association and DoneDeal.ie was short-listed for the All Ireland Marketing Awards 2009 in the Small Business Category.

As of November last year, DoneDeal.ie had the following metrics:

• Visits per month: 2.8 million
• Unique visitors per month: 776,000+
• Traffic increase per month: 10 - 15%
• Active ads: 54,000
• New ads placed per month: 30,000
• Turnover: €1 million
• Revenue growth year on year: 400%

No one can say this isn't extremely impressive. For anyone who is started, has started, or is just thinking about starting their own business, I would recommend reading the DoneDeal.ie Case Study (download here). It is full of good advice, practical suggestions and solid information on how one of Ireland's best success stories came to be.

Aside from the website, DoneDeal can also be found on Twitter (here or here) and Facebook.

The Perfect Christmas Story

This year for Christmas Vodafone have launched a huge online campaign centred around Facebook and three cool apps: the Pressie Picker, the Selection Box and the Perfect Christmas Story. Basically they're just fun little apps that work out who you are from your Facebook profile and come up with some quirky insights into you and your friends. They work around Facebook Connect.

The Pressie Picker pretty much does what it says on the tin, and will analyse who you are and suggest the best pressie for you or a friend. Of course you have to let it know if you’re naughty or nice. The Selection Box is a fun collection of gadgets to help you count in Christmas and prepare for whatever may be in store ;) Finally then, there’s the Perfect Christmas Story. If you’ve seen the Vodafone Christmas ad then you’ll get this – no point in spoiling it though, pop over and have a quick gander.

This is a Cybercom campaign so if you have the time I'd love to hear what you think.

Smirnoff - BE THERE

I wrote recently about the Smirnoff Masquerade Ball, which was the first Dublin event in Smirnoff's 'BE THERE' calender. 'BE THERE' is Smirnoff's mission to inspire, facilitate and enable people to create more one-of-a-kind experiences. To create those experiences that you just have to be there.

To kickstart the whole initiative, the Smirnoff have launched two really cool ways for you to become part of Smirnoff 'BE THERE'; the new Smirnoff Creative Grants Initiative and the Smirnoff Consumer Competition. Both these activities are looking to engage the public, find out what we want and, ultimately, to ask for our advice on what Smirnoff should be doing next.

The Smirnoff Creative Grants Initiative enables creatives and promoters to make there vision and idea of an original, one-of-a-kind experience become reality. Smirnoff will be awarding a grant of €10,000 to one lucky person for the most unique proposal for a one-of-a-kind experience/event. The grant is open to applications from Ireland, USA, Canada and Brazil, and is as simple as pie. Just submit a 100-word proposal to the Smirnoff Facebook page. The winner will be handpicked by the Smirnoff global panel of experts, also including Brazil’s Bonde do Rolê, Canada’s Ryan Kruger (DAMN! Management, founder Cutting Edge Music Festival), USA’s Damon DeGraff (dGi Management).

Don't sit around just thinking about it though - the closing date for entries is 18th December. Winners will then be announced on 20th January, with the event taking taking place in March.

This is a seriously cool promotion and definitely worth entering if you are in any way creative. Just think of an event. It's that easy.


The second 'BE THERE' activity that has launched, the Smirnoff Consumer Competition, is equally as cool. Essentially, Smirnoff is challenging people across the world to get creative and answer the question “How would you create a New Year’s Eve revolution?” This is the first in a series of monthly competitions that will be run through the Smirnoff Brand Site and their Facebook Page. All you need to do is give a tweet-sized 140 characters describing how you would overturn New Year’s Eve convention to create a revolutionary end-of-the-year event. Smirnoff will be giving one lucky person US$1,000 and a Flip Mino HD video camcorder.

Again this is going to require some quick moving, but again it's well worth it. The closing date for the first competition is next Thursday 17th December, and it is open to Ireland, Australia, Brazil, Canada, US and Venezuela. The top five entries for a one-of-a-kind, New Year’s Eve experience will be selected by Smirnoff's esteemed global panel of entertainment industry experts, including Ireland’s very own Declan Forde (Pod Entertainment and The Electric Picnic) and Australia’s Brett Robinson (Future Promotions, Summadayze).

The best thing here is that even if you're not lucky enough to win the top prize, no one goes away empty handed. For everyone who enters there is a free download of the Simian Mobile Disco track “Turn up the Dial” featuring Young Fathers (Stankonia Mix). So remember to enter before the 17th December and then get yourself over to the Smirnoff Facebook Page between the 23rd and 29th December to vote on which of the top five entries should win.


About the Smirnoff BE THERE campaign
Most of us have been a part of experiences that are truly unforgettable and extraordinary. We talk about these experiences for years to come and revel in the fact that ‘we were there’. The word ‘there’ is often used to talk about amazing events or happenings. How many times have you heard someone say: I was there!? / Were you there? / I can’t believe you weren’t there! / Are you going there? / You’ve got to be there?!

Smirnoff’s global campaign is all about inspiring and enabling consumers to seek and create these unforgettable and extraordinary experiences – to BE THERE.

Augmented Reality: RSPCA Elephant

The latest RSPCA campaign has just launched with a pretty cool Augmented Reality element. The Big Stop Circus campaign is calling on the British Minister for Animal Welfare, Jim Fitzpatrick, to ban circuses from keeping wild animals. The Augmented Reality element allows users to print out a mask, which appears on camera as an elephant's head. Simple but pretty cool none-the-less.

The campaign is being primarily being seeded through Twitter, to drive users to a campaign microsite encouraging them to retweet the campaign and share the campaign through Facebook and other Social Media sites.

iPhone Halloween Custome

It's pretty common place to see Supermen, Doctors, Witches, Vampires and a huge assortment of celebrities and movie characters wandering around on Halloween night, but it takes someone with real creativity to do something really cool. In recent years a lot of people have chosen to dress up as internet memes or personalities, mimicking some of the various stupid things that people have done that have made them internet viral hits.

So what's left out there for people to be truly original this Halloween?

I spotted this over on Mashable, and it's definitely one of the coolest costumes I've seen. At least it's a costume that takes a lot of time, money and commitment on the night.



The costumes apparently took 3 weeks to build and each of them weighs 85lbs. Most of this comes from the 42″ LCD screen and car battery that form the guts of the costume. The visuals are powered by an iPhone 3GS which is attached to a LCD.

Co-creator John Savio writes, "This all started two years ago Reko Rivera and Bobby Hartman created a wearable large iPhone costume with a real 37″ lcd tv. An iPod was attached with a looping video of a real iphones screen in normal use. This time with the help of John Savio and John Matthews the team created yet another amazing rendition of the new iPhone 3GS…The team has about $2000 into the two costumes and has no regrets!"

This originally appeared on MacRumours.

Volkswagen Golf GTI 2010

When it comes to using the iPhone to promote a product or brand, there are now literally thousands of examples of how to do it, and how not to do it. Either way, most follow the exact same approach - create a free iPhone app, throw in a host of features and functionality, deliver at least one USP that will give you first mover advantage, and away you go. The kids will love it, you'll get hundreds of thousands of downloads and everything will be good in the world.

Boring!

What if you approached it from a whole new line of thinking. Consider that you're a car manufacturer in a marketplace of falling print readership, a marketplace where audiences are moving their TV viewing to the Web, and a marketplace that has been severely effected by the current economic climate. Volkswagen are such a car manufacturer but instead of going with the flow and doing what everyone else has tried doing, Volkswagen have decided to do things a little differently.

So in preperation of the launch of their 2010 GTI Golf, Volkswagen have done a bit of research. According to their findings there are 4 million 21-34 year old male iPhone gamers. This is the core GTI target market, and Volkswagen believe that while they may want this car, they simply don't know it yet. So they have decided to go after that audience in a very targeted, using the iPhone, but not as we know it.

Volkswagen have become the first car manufacturer to launch a car solely on the iPhone. Not as an app, but instead as an exclusive, playable element of the iPhone racing game Firemint Real Racing. This is a game that already has 70 million downloads since its launch in June. Available at the iTunes App Store for free, the 'Real Racing GTI' level lets you choose from six different 2010 GTIs and race them on a track laden with VW logos.


On top of being able to drive the car and experience its performance through the game, Volkswagen are also offering an added bonus. Players can compete to win one of six limited-edition black GTI Mach 6 Golfs; featuring special edition stitching on the floor mats and head rests, carbon-fiber finishes on the doors and mirrors, red calipers on the wheels, and special logos on the front and on the steering wheel. In addition, the 2010 GTI's sound system has been upgraded to include full iPod integration. Over six weeks (from last Thursday), players can race as often as they want and scores are automatically uploaded to an online leaderboard. The best score for each week wins the car for that week.

The game also lets you send Twitter messages straight from the game and upload videos of your best races to YouTube so you’ll be able to show everyone the race that got you a brand new 2010 VW GTI.

In itself this would be a fundamentally revolutionary way to drive awareness of a new car, but this is the only marketing and advertising that Volkswagen is doing for the car. By concentrating on a young and tech savvy, car loving audience, Volkswagen estimate that they will only have to spend a quarter of a typical print and television campaign budget.

This is the Volkswagen promo video for the campaign:


This is a video uploaded to YouTube by a gamer his actual Volkswagen GTI race:

Budweiser Lyrics... Sorta

Back in August I wrote about the new Budweiser Lyrics TV ad and the competition running with it. I'm a Beatles fan and I loved the use of an otherwise somewhat unknown Beatles track in an extremely fun and memorable way. In short I really liked the campaign execution and thought that the creative perfectly matched the intended reaction.

When it comes down to it though, for any brand that produces a new ad or runs a new campaign, the real sign of success comes from the engagement that it generates. All in all this campaign was a huge success and I have seen the ad referenced in numerous places, by many people. Then you stumble upon something that really highlights the engagement that the ad has generated. This is a video created by ijbellehy1981 as a spoof / tribute to the original ad:



And for those that may have missed it, this is the original ad:


Many thanks to Darragh for the heads up on this :)

MTV's Online Music Awards

I spotted this great story over on Revolution Magazine. The virtual world Habbo Hotel has teamed up with the MTV Europe Music Awards to create an online MTV-branded space for users of the site to hang out back stage and become pop stars, and they even have the chance to win a virtual award. The virtual awards allow Habbo members to visit the main stage, walk on the red carpet and access several back stage areas. Habbo members also have the option to vote for their favourite artists, and participate in a number of competitions and activities in the build up to the actual MTV Europe Music Awards.

Christian Batist, senior vice-president of marketing at Sulake Corporation, the creator of Habbo, said, "Music is the sole biggest asset that our teen users value in their lives, and thus we are extremely happy to partner with MTV Europe Music Awards. The highly involving activities in Habbo will allow us to activate a massive music-loving user base to take part in the awards. We aim to generate massive amounts of votes for the MTV Europe Music Awards from our Habbo audiences around the world."

Habbo Hotel, which is a virtual world geared towards teens, attracts over 14 million monthly unique visitors.

Everybody's Doing It

In Europe each year, 130,000 women die from Breast Cancer. This year Samsung Electronics Europe have pledged to help reduce that number.



Samsung has launched the 'Everybody's Doing It' campaign, an online campaign encouraging women in Europe to check for breast cancer and prevent the disease from spreading. The campaign microsite is a place where women can find an instant community of support and a place to view or forward the above viral movie called 'Everybody's Doing It'. The campaign is aiming to reach over 400,000 women, which is more than the total number that are diagnosed with breast cancer in Europe every year.

The video utilises simple yet stark imagery of each woman holding their arms across her chest, their gaze fixed on the camera as it pans around. The video ends with the message 'Everybody's Doing It: Join us on October 15th 2009'. October 15th is the date that has been chosen for women to be breast aware and to pledge to raise awareness for breast cancer.

Jaesun Yeon, a 30 year old woman featured in the video, is a Samsung employee. She said, "I took part because a good friend is going through chemotherapy. I met some amazing women on the shoot, including Simone Francis who had a breast cancer scare when she was only 17. Social media and blogging has been a hugely important way for these women to talk about breast cancer and to tell others to check themselves, no matter what age they are. What Samsung has done, is to create a powerful online platform to spread this message across Europe."

Ines Van Gennip, head of CSR at Samsung Electronics Europe added: "It's so important that global brands such as Samsung use their influence to give women who advocate breast cancer awareness an even louder voice. This isn't a disease that only affects older women, it can touch women of all ages and as many people as possible need to know."

The campaign also utilises Facebook, YouTube, Flickr and Twitter. For more information visit http://www.morethantalk.eu.

--- Up Date ---

As part of the campaign, Samsung has donated its famous Piccadilly Circus Screen to aid the promotion of the campaign.


The 60inch LED screen located in the heart of Piccadilly Circus will run the campaign viral video, reinforcing the campaign call to action, ‘tell all the women you know to visit www.morethantalk.eu'. This will be the first time it has ever been used to promoted a non-product campaign.

Interactive Advertising: Shelter - Be Happy At Home

These are two online ads for the housing and homelessness charity Shelter. The ads were launched as part of a suite of four different creatives for their “Be happy at home” campaign, promoting their online advice service, Know Your Rights. Each ad features a different scene of someone who is happy at home.

Each advert has the tagline “Be happy at home” with a scrolling ticker tape of things that Shelter’s Know your rights service can help you with, from your rights as a tenant to where to go if you are faced with homelessness.

Lean Mean Fighting Machine is the agency behind the campaign. The media plan concentrated on the social networking sites MySpace and Faceparty, with additional coverage across NME and MTV.

Imogen Wilson, Shelter’s head of marketing and brand, said: “Shelter’s Know your rights website is the only dedicated online housing advice service for young people. Since the site’s launch in 2005 we have successfully supported thousands of young people every year with housing problems. Lean Mean Fighting Machine has come up with a fresh, positive and engaging online marketing campaign which will continue to effectively target young people and make sure they get access to the advice and support they need to help keep a roof over their head.”

Know Your Rights, is supported by The Vodafone UK Foundation. It is the first ever dedicated online advice service for 16-25 year olds. It provides expert, in-depth and practical housing advice online on issues from rent arrears and deposit protection to preventing homelessness.

'Rage' Premier

Thursday will definitely be remembered as Arthur's Day but there was another pretty special event taking place across Europe on the 24th. Last Thursday saw the world's first multi-venue interactive premier take place for Sally Potter’s new movie ‘Rage’. The film was broadcast from London's BFI Southbank, live via satellite, to a host of cinemas across Europe, including Dundrum here in Ireland. The film screening was then followed by a live questions and answers session with the film’s writer and director, Sally Potter, and the film's cast. Simon Abkarian, who plays Merlin, and Riz Ahmed, who plays Vijay, were both present with Sally Potter, while other cast members including Eddie Izzard, Lily Cole and Jude Law, all of whom were in New York, participated live via Skype.

Although the film was first shown at the Berlin International Film Festival earlier this year, and was nominated for the coveted Golden Berlin Bear award, it also saw another interesting digital first as an episode of ‘Rage’ was then given a general release exclusively on mobile phones. As well as being premièred in the various cinema venues, people were also invited to watch the movie on their computers or mobile phones on the 24th. These audience members were then able to ask Sally Potter and the cast members questions via text message, twitter or live on Skype.

Sally Potter explained "[that she] instigated this method of having an interactive premiere because I wanted to make going to the cinema a more exciting place, I was inspired by my experience of 'the intimacy of blogging'".

The movie follows the story of a schoolboy who uses his mobile phone to shoot interviews with people working at a New York fashion house. He then secretly posts the videos to the internet. However when an accident on the catwalk leads to a murder investigation the videos and the boy are put under the spot light. Interestingly, none of the cast actually met while the film was being shot due to the one-on-one nature of the interviews. The film was produced by Andrew Fierberg and Christopher Sheppard, with Steven Fierberg as director of photography. The film was edited by Daniel Goddard.

TED: Jonathan Zittrain

This is Jonathan Zittrain's TED Talk from TED Global 2009. Here Jonathan discusses the notion that the world feels like it's becoming less friendly. As a Social Theorist, Jonathan thinks the opposite is true. He believes that "the Internet is made up of millions of disinterested acts of kindness, curiosity and trust".

I for one agree. I believe the internet's greatest strength is that people are willing to help other people for no profit or gain whatsoever. People go out of their way to share their own knowledge and expertise just because they now have the tools to do it. The internet is the great facilitator of 'helping'.

Obama's Digital Marketing

It may be tough to imagine Barack Obama not getting elected, but only 4 years ago he was virtually unknown both domestically and certainly internationally. So how did this unknown Junior Senator from Illinois get elected as the 44th President of the United States?

The folks behind Obama's Digital Marketing Strategy were Blue State Digital. They were responsible for designing and running all online marketing, and ultimately in charge of directing the technology and digital elements behind the campaign. Baring in mind, it was a campaign that generated record-breaking fund-raising and drove 13 million followers.

Here, Blue State Digital's Managing Partner, Thomas Gensemer, discusses the digital tactics behind the success of Obama's marketing campaign. All four clips come from Silicon Valley Insider as part of their Innovation video series, sponsored by Mercedes-Benz.

How Was E-Mail The Most Successful Tool Of The Obama Campaign?


How Did The Obama Campaign's Marketing System Work?


What Were The Three Keys To Success In Marketing The Obama Campaign?


Are Republicans Catching Up With The Obama Campaign's Marketing Tactics?

Darklight 2009: The Trailer

Darklight X is nearly upon us! Ireland's premier celebration of art, film and technology will be taking place in a number of different venues in and around Dublin's Smithfield from 8th to 10th October. Tickets went on sale last Friday and the full programme is available online now.

This is the Darklight trailer, created by Morten Vinther and the guys at Piranha Bar.



You can also follow Darklight on Twitter or Facebook.

Don't Stop Believing - Sam Tsui

You probably already saw Sam's Michael Jackson medley/remix which has been doing the internet rounds during the last couple of weeks, but it's worth checking out his other stuff. There's quite a few videos that I've come across on YouTube and they're all pretty good.

This is his version of Don't Stop Believing by Journey, with his customary approach of providing all vocals and musical accompaniment.

The Arthur's Day Petition

I wrote on Thursday about Arthur's Day and one of the things I mentioned was an on-line petition that is currently running on the Guinness 250 Facebook page. The petition is calling on the public to help make Arthur’s Day a national holiday!

Following a number of different pushes on Thursday, Friday was jam packed with coverage. All in there were no less then 6 high profile mentions of the petition; including The Irish Times, Ireland.com, BreakingNews.ie, The Evening Echo, The Irish Examiner, and Sunday Business Post


But what effect did any of this have on the campaign? As of 17.59 on Thursday there were:

• 26,795 fans on Facebook
• 6,618 signatures on the online petition

As of today at 12noon, it looked like this:

• 35,089 fans on Facebook
• 8,804 signatures on the online petition

That's an increase of 8,294 fans and 2,186 petition signatures in less then 66 hours! That is absolutely amazing. My only question, as it was on Thursday, is why have only a quarter of fans signed the petition? Seriously folks, all you have to do is click on the tab that says 'Petition' and enter your name. There's no other details required - just a name.

Arthur's Day is only four days away now - lets break the 10,000 mark on the petition. Tell your friends. Tell your family. Tell your co-workers. This is a big deal people - SIGN UP NOW!

Avast Ye Scurvy Doggs!

Ahoy lan'lubbers, unless ye be sailing the murky waters of the underworld, it shud be known to ye that this day, Saturday the 19th day in September, be International Talk Like A Pirate Day. Gar. What'ever business ye be carryin' on with be sure to remember that ye must do it in proper tone and language.

All the words that'd be there to explain it all can be found here, me hearties. Or if ye be not with the smarts to read, listen to Cap'in who be responsible for dis gran' day.



Aaarrrrrr for those first mates what be on the Book o' Faces, listen to me words carefully. Go to the bottum o yer page and look for the secret clicker that be marked with words 'English (UK)'. Press yer cursor over these strange words and a pop-up will appear there right before yer eyes. Find the place that be sayin' 'English (Pirate)' and press it. Then ye be seeing yer Book o' Faces in a whole new light. Good luck ye scurvy doggs. Garrrr.