NASA: Spacecraft 3D

NASA has launched a new app that lets you get up close with NASA’s robotic space explorers. The ‘Spacecraft 3D’ app shows you how the robots work and in addition highlights two actual NASA missions: the Curiosity rover that will touch down on Mars on 5 Aug 2012 and the twin GRAIL spacecraft, Ebb and Flow, currently orbiting the moon.

Using your iPhone or iPad camera, the app uses an AR functionality to display the spacecraft and then overlays content and information directly onto the 3D spacecraft.

Download the app here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/spacecraft-3d/id541089908

30-Hour Videogame Marathon Sets New Guinness World Record

----- Press Release -----

DUBLIN, Ireland – July 9, 2012 — With thousands of people watching worldwide, Laura Rich of Cardiff, Wales, and Kathleen Henkel of Oakland, New Jersey, set a new Guinness World Record Wednesday for Longest Videogames Marathon Playing a Card Game, and raised tens of thousands of pounds for charity: water in the process. The event, which took place simultaneously in London and New York, involved each participant playing PopCap Games’ latest social game Solitaire Blitz on Facebook for 30 consecutive hours totalling more than 1,500 hands. PopCap has also confirmed that Solitaire Blitz is currently in development for iOS, allowing more players to experience the Guinness World Record-setting game in a new dimension when it launches on iPad®, iPhone® and iPod Touch® later this year.

All proceeds from the related pledge drive, which garnered US$92,577, will enable charity: water to build 18 new wells that each will provide 250 people in developing nations with clean drinking water for at least 20 years. Combined with PopCap’s own pledges of $5,000 per player, marathon players Rich and Henkel utilized a unique pledge mechanism created for the occasion to garner pledged charitable contributions from more than 1,400 people around the world. Both women exceeded the minimum 25 consecutive hours necessary to establish the record, and both stopped playing after exactly 30 hours, thereby sharing the record.

The most significant innovation in more than 20 years of the beloved card game played by more people than any other, Solitaire Blitz has already attracted five million lifetime players and more than 600 million games played per month since its official launch on March 12. Combining the simplicity of standard solitaire with social camaraderie and friendly competition, as well as the bonuses, power-ups and beat-the-clock excitement of PopCap’s other hit social games Bejeweled® Blitz and Zuma® Blitz, Solitaire Blitz has seen two billion hands played since launch making it a game that is incredibly easy to play and impossible to put down.

"Laura has showed resilience and an unshakeable passion for gaming over the last 30 hours, and she has certainly earned her place in the Guinness World Records family. Congratulations to Laura and her support team for an incredible record-breaking accomplishment,” said Gaz Deaves, Gaming Editor for Guinness World Records.

“While achieving a world record today is an amazing feat, the thrill of helping earn nearly $100,000 for an organization as great as charity: water is arguably just as exciting,” said Laura Rich, 31-year old mom of three from Cardiff, Wales. “To know that my love for a videogame helped bring clean drinking water to thousands of people is an honour I will never forget.”


About charity: water
charity: water, www.charitywater.org, is a non-profit organization bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations. We raise awareness about the one billion people living without life’s most basic need and invite others to join our mission. Then, we use 100% of public donations to fund clean water solutions in areas of greatest need.

About PopCap
PopCap Games, www.popcap.com, is the leading global developer, publisher and operator of casual video games: fun, easy-to-learn, captivating games that appeal to all ages across PC, mobile, social and other platforms. Based in Seattle, Washington, PopCap was founded in 2000, was acquired by Electronic Arts in 2011, and has a worldwide staff of more than 600 people in Seattle, San Francisco, Vancouver, B.C., Dublin, Seoul, Shanghai and Tokyo. PopCap's games have been downloaded over 1.5 billion times by consumers worldwide, and its flagship franchise, Bejeweled, has sold more than 50 million units.

Carlsberg launches ‘Crate Escape’ in Ireland

Today, Monday 9th July 2012, Carlsberg have released the details of their latest TV ad 'Crate Escape'. This Thursday, 12th July, Carlsberg's humorous take on the film ‘The Great Escape’, will air in Ireland before any other market.

The ad is set in a remote health spa where a bunch of lads have been forced to join their partners on a luxury spa break. Obviously the lads in question would much rather be somewhere else. This leads to an ingenious plan to add a much needed element to the whole experience: a cold Carlsberg.

Our hero calls on his mates to break out and smuggle a crate of Carlsberg back into the spa, and just like Steve McQueen and the lads in The Great Escape these crafty chaps use a host of cunning and oddball methods to get the job done. To be honest though, you should just watch it...

Speaking about the new ad, Karen Murphy, Senior Brand Manager, Carlsberg, said: “We’re delighted with our new TV ad ‘The Crate Escape’ and to be chosen as the first market to air it. The commercial reinforces the Carlsberg brand message and offers some light-hearted entertainment as our hero steps up and comes good by his mates and his girlfriend. Carlsberg has a reputation for producing - memorable ads with clever wit and we believe ‘The Crate Escape’ will be really well-received amongst our audience. To coincide with the launch we are running a themed competition on the Carlsberg Ireland Facebook page to giveaway a weekend break to either Barcelona or Berlin for four mates.”

Developed by creative agency Fold7, the 30, 50, 80 and 90 second ad was directed by Peter Lydon whose work includes hit Channel 4 TV shows Shameless and Teachers, and features music from the Elmer Bernstein score for ‘The Great Escape’. The ad will be rolled out across Carlsberg's global markets, kicking off in Ireland, Sweden and Belgium on 12 July.

To view the new ad first and be in with a chance of winning some fantastic Carlsberg Crate Escape prizes, visit Facebook.com/CarlsbergIreland.

Electric Ireland: The Road To London

Electric Ireland have launched a new Facebook game to celebrate their involvement with Team Ireland at London 2012. There are lots of prizes to be won including an all expenses paid trip to the Olympics!

Check it out for yourself here.

A really nice feature to the app it that it also allows you to customise your Facebook cover photo at the end to show your support for the Irish Team.

Ogilvy Dublin Scoop Coveted Lion at Cannes Lions for ISPCC

Pictured (L-R) Lloyd Byrne, Director of Fundraising at ISPCC, Dave Smyth,
managing director, Ogilvy Dublin and Michael Duffy, managing director, Blinder Films.

----- Press Release -----

Ogilvy Dublin’s work for ISPCC was recognised on a global scale at the Cannes Lions where the agency picked up a Bronze Film Craft Lion award for Direction at Cannes. This award was the highlight of a number of accolades bestowed on the ISPCC’s “I Can’t Wait” campaign, which has garnered widespread praise and recognition on a national and international level. The ad was a collaboration led by Ogilvy Dublin working with Blinder.

The International Festival of Creativity, known within the industry as the Cannes Lions, is the world’s leading celebration of creativity in communication. The awards, which have been running since 1954, take place every June in Cannes, France. This year over 28,000 entries were received from all over the world with awards handed out in 16 categories. Ogilvy Dublin was the only Irish agency to pick up an award and furthermore was the only Irish agency to have work shortlisted in the awards.

Speaking on the agency’s success, Dave Smyth, managing director at Ogilvy Dublin said, “This is an amazing achievement for Ogilvy Dublin. The win is a credit to the incredible hard work that our team has put in and I am delighted that our work here in Ireland is being recognized as some of the best in the world. The Cannes Lions were a tremendous success for the wider Ogilvy family, Ogilvy & Mather won the coveted Cannes Lions 2012 Network of the Year Award and we were delighted to be a part of that win.”

Smyth continued, “We have been working with the ISPCC since 2009 and it is an organisation we have the utmost respect for. The work they do is paramount and we are proud to work with them. From the beginning the main aim of the campaign was to create awareness for this important cause and we believe we have achieved that.” Globally, Ogilvy & Mather topped off an impressive year with the most successful Cannes Lions in the company’s history. In addition to winning Network of the Year, Ogilvy won a record 83 Lions in total. Some of the award winning work included Lions for brands including: Coke, Hellmann’s, IBM, Sprite, Forbes, Carling and the ISPCC.

Lloyd Byrne, director of fundraising at ISPCC said, “We are very honoured to have picked up this prestigious award. In the creative process for this campaign our main objective was clear; to make an advert that would attract attention and highlight the cruelty of child abuse. From the awards and recognition this campaign has attracted we believe we have met that objective.”

Richie Smyth of Dublin based Blinder picked up the bronze for Director’s craft at the annual awards, which are regarded as the ‘Oscars’ of the advertising industry. “We are delighted to have been awarded with a Cannes Lion, the most prestigious award in advertising” said Blinder managing director, Michael Duffy. “It is testimony to the courageous creative work of the Ogilvy team and the willingness of ISPCC to embrace challenging ideas which has made this commercial such a worldwide phenomenon.”

In addition to the recent win at Cannes, the campaign was also recognised by the D&AD Book which is one of the most respected creative judging forums in the world. This was the first time that an Irish agency had been honoured in over 7 years. Business Insider also voted the ad as the number one ad in the world for 2011. The campaign was also honoured at the CLIO awards held in May in New York where it picked up one of CLIO’s iconic statues which are the most widely recognized and coveted symbol of the industry’s creative accomplishments. Other awards bestowed on the campaign include; a Gold Award in the “Public Interest” category at this year’s EPICA Awards; a Gold Award at the “Global Best Digital Advertising Awards” in Bangkok, Thailand; a Bronze Award in “TV Cinema/Online Film Direction” at the London International Awards (LIA). It was also named “Advert of the Year” on tvads.ie, and listed as the “#1 Ad Worldwide”. In Ireland the campaign picked up 2 Golds and 3 Silvers at the ICAD Awards. ICAD is Ireland's preeminent creative body - and the annual awards are the greatest opportunity for Irish creatives to have their best work recognised and rewarded by their peers. It was also awarded a Silver at the Kinsale Sharks. This collection of awards makes the campaign one of the most awarded pieces of Irish advertising in history.