Colonel Sanders' Privacy

I've posted on Google Street View a couple of times, both about introduction of the service to Ireland and also the comic views that turn up sometimes. As I've mentioned several times, the major topic of conversation has always been about people's privacy when it comes to Google roving around taking photos of them in public. To counter this, Google introduced a feature that automatically blurs out people's faces. Interestingly, it's not fussy as to whether they're a real person or not!

A New Irish Agency: Radical

Thursday saw the launch of a new Irish Digital Agency with the merger of Captivate Digital and Interactive Return, to form Radical. The two companies were already both part of Publicis Media. This move is a clear confirmation of the continued increasing market demand for integrated digital marketing solutions.

Radical describes itself as offering client solutions for search engine marketing, online advertising, search engine optimisation, web design & development, web analytics, email marketing, social media marketing, online public relations, usability, and online marketing training.

"This is a very exciting time for us," commented Martin Murray, Managing Director of Radical. "Offline marketing spend is down 30% in 2009. Due to its greater measurability and accountability, online marketing is still showing steady growth in Ireland. Digital marketing is expected to grow to 27% of total advertising spend in the UK in 2009 and we expect Ireland to follow suit over the coming years."

John Dunne, Strategy Director of Radical said, "This merger makes a lot of sense for our clients. Radical will deliver integrated digital marketing solutions across all online channels."

News of the impending changes was first released as a teaser through the Interactive Return twitter account (now rebranded for Radical) with this post:


From here the following news was then tweeted on Thursday morning at the same time as the Captivate Digital and Interactive Return press conference:



Considering the recent Cybercom campaign in conjunction with Gavin Bate, this is yet another example of Social Media being put to the forefront of marketing. I don't think anyone can question the necessity for companies to pull up their socks and get with the Social Media (and Digital) program. It ain't going away, and is going to continue to increase in importance and prominence.

Good luck to the guys in Radical!

BBC's 'The Cut'

The BBC has confirmed the launch of it's latest youth orientated tv programme, 'The Cut'. The show takes the form of 5 minute online episodes with a weekly TV omnibus on BBC Two.

Tapping into the recent trend of online youth programming such as 'Kate Modern', the show has been a collaberative development between BBC Switch and 'EastEnders' writer Al Smith. Interestingly, both Pete Gibson and Sarah Walker, 'KateModern' producer and director respectively, are also involved with the show.

The BBC describes the production system as using "the latest tape-free digital video cameras and edited in house" allowing the show to be "fast and reactive, with an efficient digital production process allowing capture and broadcast to be just a few weeks apart." The main objective from this is that they will use viewer feedback to make decisions on future storylines and to choose new characters. All-in-all it sounds like an exciting idea at least.

Geoffrey Goodwin, head of BBC Switch, said: "This series reflects the way many young people want to consume content. We've united top British writing talent with the freshest and newest interactive ideas to make appointment to view content for soap loving British teens. The story is fast paced and relevant to young audiences, with secret crushes, family dramas and plenty of intrigue. The writing is quick, witty, and knowing, rich with pop culture references and with storylines suggested by teens themselves."

The show currently has an active discussion board to talk about the proposed storytline, as well as a form to drop in your email address to get notified of when it's all starting.

Continuous Digital Strategy

Here is a fantastic article by Gavin over on Servant of Chaos about the concept of a continuous digital strategy. I highly advise all digital professionals to give it a read, and then while you're over at the site, have a good look around. Gavin produces top content and writes one of my favourite blogs on the subject of branding and social media.

1 Million Twitter Followers in Less Then a Month

There has been loads of coverage about the Tweet battle that briefly rages between Ashton Kutcher and CNN to get to the 1 million follower mark. In the news today, however, their exclusive little club now has a third member, and she has managed to gain all her followers in less then a month!

Who is it?

None-other-then the Queen of Talkshow TV, Oprah Winfrey!

A few examples of Oprah's recent tweets:

• "Met Stella McCartney for the first time. Love her fashion. Loooved her even more!"
• "Worked out an hour. And now going to read the Sunday papers and have a skinny cow or 2!"
• Oprah also uses the service to mingle with fellow Twitterati, including Hugh Jackman and Shaquille O'Neal.
• "@RealHughJackman Hugh...I'm countin' the hours. Wanna do dinner the night before. Same booth? Or catch up fresh on the air?"
• "@THE_REAL_SHAQ thanks for being my twitter buddy. this is cool."

Ashton Kutcher now has 1,755,197 followers and CNN have 1,471,498 followers.