David LaChapelle

If there's one thing you do in the next 6 weeks, this should be it!

David LaChapelle, one of if not my favourite photographers of all time, is here in Dublin with his “American Jesus” collection. The exhibition is at the Sebastian Guinness Gallery until the end of October and offers the chance to experience, first hand, one of the greatest photographers of the last 50 years.

Lachapelle is widely regarded as one of the best fine art photographers working today, particularly for his treatment of iconic celebrity images for some of the world's most renowned fashion magazines. His work has featured in Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone and Vogue. LaChapelle has also directed music videos for artists such as Christina Aguilera and Moby.

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!

Display Advertising: Utilising Twitter

This is an example of an that pulls in two customised Twitter feeds, based on keyword searches of the micro-blog. It was created by Weapon7 for the charity FAS Aware.

The banner aims to increase awareness of Foetal Alcohol Syndrome. It pulls in live tweets that includ the phrases ‘I need alcohol’ and ‘I am pregnant’. The call to action is: Block Alcohol. When clicked, the message "When alcohol is removed, so is the risk of Foetal Alcohol Syndrome" is displayed.

What's really interesting about the ad is that you are accessing content that has actually been generated by the general public, and is always updating and refreshing itself. From a technical point of view it was necessary to create a tool that would search Twitter for tweets containing the phrases required.

Weapon7 describe the digital strategy as creating connections with young women, and, as Twitter has got sa large and continuously increasing usage, they thought it would be a powerful tool to tap into to make the point. They started with it in mind to find a way to use authentic tweets, as they have stand-out and authenticity.

Creative Director at Weapon7, Jeremy Garner, said "[The campaign] was about real people and how alcohol and pregnancy fits into their lives. We wanted to create an ad that made people think, and allowed them to draw their own conclusions".

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.