No Line on the Horizon for $3.99?

When was the last time you bought a CD? To be honest it’s been a while since I’ve set foot in a music shop, let alone bought a CD. So when I read that U2 were selling there new album, No Line on the Horizon, for $3.99 on Amazon (US), I presumed it was part of an offer, or perhaps even a typo - €13.99 would seem more realistic surely?

Well as it turns out, $3.99 is exactly what they are selling the new album for. In a week that has seen the 22 Grammy’d, 140 million albums sold, Irish God’s of rock take up a week long residency on The Late Show and have a New York road named after them, U2 have taken the bold move to release their newest works at a seriously discounted price.

So what do you think, clever marketing ploy or an attempt to connect with the masses during a tough economic time, by Paul David Hewson and co. Interestingly Lily Allen recently did a similar $3.99 pricing on Amazon.com for the debut of her second album, It's Not Me It's You, and landed at No. 5 on the charts. So there’s no reason the same tactic wouldn’t work for superstars like U2. Of course it could also be an interesting ploy to discourage illegal downloads of the album. At $3.99 why bother stealing it?

The physical CD is selling for $9.99, there’s a limited-edition boxed set with poster and film download for $64.99, and the digi-pack with the same perks is $22.99.

All in all it’s very similar to Radiohead’s "pay what you like" offer for the 2007 digital release of In Rainbows. Of course Radiohead weren’t under contract at the time (a fact people often forget). In this case, U2's label, Interscope, suffers the biggest burden of loss if most people simply go with the MP3 only option of Horizon's first week sales.

Could an Irishman get the 'Best Job in the World'?

For those of you who missed the fantastic Australian Tourism Board campaign for the “Best Job in the World”, you missed a craic'r! Imagine being paid AUS$150k to spend 6 months on a tropical island in your own private 3 bedroom house, complete with ocean views and heated tropical swimming pool. The catch? There wasn't one. Sure you'd have a job to do; feed the fish, clean the pool, collect the mail and maintain a blog of your day-today going-ons, but lets face it, that's hardly work.

To get this amazing job all you had to do was record a short video of yourself, explaining why you should become the new Hamilton Island Caretaker. Considering the position it's therefore not surprising that over 35,000 people applied, from over 200 countries.

From those people a short list of 50 has been drawn up to compete for a Wild Card to join 10 people already chosen by the tourism board. Impressively, an Irishman has made the final shortlist of 50. So what happens next?

Now it's up to the world to vote on who from those 50 people gets through. As of today’s results, our Irishman is at number 5 in the Wild Card Leaderboard…giving our man a seriously good chance of winning!

The gent in question, George Karellas from Bettystown, is a Meathman who worked for RTE in the 90s, before moving to Carr Communications and then on to a number of creative projects in Greece.

Paddy's Day is two weeks away - if ever there was a cuase to unfurl your Irishness to, it's this. I for one have cast my vote, and expect each of ye to do the same.

100 Musicians, 50 Locations, 1 Concert

I can't express just how much I'm loving this. Yesterday, the Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra took it upon themselves to create the largest concert hall ever! Bringing together 100 musicians, spread across 50 different city locations, Hamburg itself became the setting. Conductor Simone Young will set up her stand on the famous St. Michaels Tower, with her every instruction relayed to her musicians via a video feed. This effect will be to allow the public to either listen to the combined instruments via the Hamburg 1 TV station, or to experience the individual ocherstral parts around the different ares of the city.

Check out their website (click towards the bottom for an English version for non-German speakers) and this video...



Cheers to Stephen who sent this around the office

St. Patrick's Day Festival

With each passing day the ultimate Irish day of relaxation, indulgance and over-indulgance (particularly in relation to the pints!) is growing closer and closer. In two weeks time we'll all be wearing green and going a wee bit mental as we celebrate our Irish-ness, and encourage those not of Irish decent to do the same anyway.

However, something some of you may be unaware of is that there is a lot more happening on Paddy's day this year then just pints down your local. The St. Patrick's Day Festival has become a huge deal in recent years and this year may be its finest yet. With events all over the city, you can enjoy Irish mucis, Irish crafts, Irish cuisine and sure, even an odd pint or two. The best place to find out exactly what is on, where it's on, and of course when it's on, is the St. Patrick's Festival website, which has a convenient downloadable festival booklet, a newsletter you can sign up to, a rake load of competitions, and even a place you can volunteer, should you feel like really getting in the spirit of things.

In the spirit of the digital world that we live, you can follow St. Patrick's Day Festival on Twitter, Facebook and Pixie.

But remember, there's only two weeks to go, so make sure your best green geansaí is washed and pressed and you've polished up your brógs!

The Viagra 'Couple'

I doubt there's anyone in the western world who is unfamiliar with Viagra - our email accounts are bursting with spam promising cheap alternatives or herbal substitutes, tv regularly references it, and there's a new club culture exploring its highs. When it comes down to it though, Viagra is not a product you would consider easy to advertise considering the (legal) scenareos it is used. So what do you do?

Well, you need to imply what will being happening once the drug is taken but not show it, and you need to utilise an attractive demographic to show this. Phizer have managed to do this excellently. Watch while an elderly couple make the long trip upstairs. With each step of the way they grow flirtier, younger and more 'in the mood'.

The tagline reads "Like the first time" and suitably closes up the ad. All in all, a great concept and a very good execution.