Foursquare, in Your Newspaper?

The Metro News, Canada’s free daily newspaper, has unveiled a huge partnership with everyone's favourite geolocation-based, mobile, Social Media toy, Foursquare. Following in the footsteps of Harvard University and San Francisco's BART, the partnership with the Canadian newspaper will see Foursquare populated with an abundance of new content such as restaurant reviews, city tips and to-dos. Foursquare automatically offers up tips and to-dos for nearby locations when you 'check-in' somewhere. The programme will see Foursquare turned into one of, if not the largest, travel guide to Canada, with content constantly being added to and updated by the public itself.

Part of the deal has also seen the introduction of a new Foursquare badge especially for Metro. The badge is awarded to users who 'check-in' to locations that the paper is distributed from. To celebrate the launch of the new badge, the publication is giving away an iPhone 3GS to five lucky users who unlock the badge.

For me this is a major milestone and shows a new use for Foursquare that I've never heard anyone suggest. While there are many pubs and restaurants that have realised the potential of the service to draw in new customers, we (in Ireland at least) have yet to see anyone beyond this sphere of businesses even consider Foursquare.

Foursquare had been previously restricted to a set number of cities that it was steadily growing in short bursts, and essentially only users in these cities could use the service. However, following a recent fundamental change to the platforms backend engine, the service has seen a rapid growth as users have become able to 'check-in' and tag locations anywhere in the world. On the back of this, Foursquare has without doubt been looking for a way to fully capitalise on this new truly global audience.

Injustice: The Ballad of Sharon Ní Bheoláin

If you're not Irish you'll miss a few of the references, but I'm sure the humour won't be lost. This is perhaps one of my favourite YouTube videos of the last 6 to 12 months. A fantastically well written and well produced song, and video, celebrating one of Ireland's favourite RTÉ Newspeople, Sharon Ní Bheoláin.

The song was written by Katie Holly, and the video produced by Evelyn Quinlan. Major hat tips!

Great Advertising, Great Videos

Today I had the pleasure of attending Damien Mulley's Online PR Training Course. Expect a full blog on it tomorrow, for now however, there are three video that I wanted to share with you. These are great international examples of how top brands are approaching advertising in completely different ways.

First up is NikeFootball's latest tv ad from Italy. Nike's approach is a hi-tech combination of stunning graphics and straight out football skill.

The second video isn't actual an ad but is definitely brilliant (inho). Levi's sent these cool pop-up closets to six popular fashion magazines in the Netherlands and Belgium. The fold out drawers were filled with several items from the new Levi’s collection.

Finally, the third video I have for you comes from Diesel. Diesel have gone a completely different route, and while this is a proper video ad, it relies completely on copy. This is brilliant copywriting and shows that you don't necessarily need huge sums of money to make a great video.

"That's Advertising, Baby"

A startling insight into advertising and inspiration, Doug PrayArt&Copy is one of the best films that I've seen, not just last year but ever! Pray shows a true gift in being able to open up a world that many feel is inaccessible to those not part of our industry. This is a window into work and wisdom of some of the most influential advertising creatives ever - a glimpse into the genius of the people who have shaped the way we think about the world around us. These are the people behind campaigns such as "Just Do It", "I Love NY", "Where's the Beef?" and "Got Milk".

This is the trailer...

Ads of the World Ad Campaign

Everyone's favourite advertising archive and community, Ads of the World has just launched its own advertising campaign. Consisting of 4 stunningly detail, yet simple and elegant print ads, this is an adman's ad campaign. Ads of the World is owned by WebMediaBrands.

The Advertising Agency who created the campaign was 1789; with their Creative Directors Baptiste Clinet, Jo Dubruque and Nicolas Lautier all working on the job.





If you look carefully you will see the following ads referenced:
Cadbury 'Gorilla'
Advertising Agency: Fallon London, UK

Ikea 'Lamp'
Advertising Agency: Crispin Porter + Bogusky, USA

Sony 'Bravia'
Advertising Agency: Y&R Asia, Singapore

Philips 'Caroussel'
Advertising Agency: Tribal DDB, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Nova Radio 'Le grand Mix'
Advertising Agency: Young & Rubicam Paris, Boulogne Billancourt, France

Lego 'Imagine'
Advertising Agency: FCB, Johannesburg, South Africa

Greenpeece 'Boomerang'
Advertising Agency:DDB Paris, France