Twitter Mosaic

I'm sure everyone knows where to get a Twitter mosaic at this stage, but just in case, drop by here.

8 Year Photo Project

For 8 years JK Keller took a photo of himself, everyday. I would love to have the patience to do this.

From Eyebrows to Breakdancing Cursors

This is the newest ad from Cadburys, as part of it's Eyebrow campaign.


Personally I love it, and I think it fits in really well with the campaign even though it doen't feature a single eyebrow. What do you think? - let me know.

Fallon's Comic Relief Ad

Fallon have brought together just about every recognisable character from modern advertising - Captain Birdseye, The Honey Monster, the Pepperami etc. etc.

Definitely a must see for anyone who has ever owned, or stood near, a tv!

3D Baseball Cards

There has been a definite move by a number of high profile business to encorporate augmented reality / immersive visual elements to their products, and I for one am seriously excited about it. Lego and GE Smart Grid have both done it fantastically, but it may be Topps Baseball Cards that are set to blow eveyone out of the water. Their new '3D live' Baseball Cards are being billed with the ability to 'put players in your hands'.

While on the Topps site, if a user holds one of their '3D live' Baseball Cards infront of their web-cam they will be able to see a 3D representation of that player come to life. News is that the player will also perform a number of 3D animations - pitching for pitchers, batting for batters etc.

Total Immersion, the guys behind the '3D live' Baseball Cards technology have a great site, filled with more info on the hows and whys.



Thanks to Sheena here in the office for sharing this one :)

The Return of JD Quench, Again!

Check out Richie's coverage of the return of our favourite thirst quenching hero, JD Quench.

No designer necessary!

Google's words, not mine; but this is the main focus of the call to action for Google's new display ad builder tool. Having said that, any way that costs can be kept down are worth considering these days. Having tried it, I can, however, say that this is definitely not one of them.

I find the tool itself lacking. No matter how good your design skills the functionality is simply not there to produce ads worthy of any brand I know of. Not surprising then that Google have launched a competition to encourage its use. There is $1,000 of Advertising up for grabs from Google to let them see just how creative advertisers can be using this tool.

The first place winner, based on the creativity of their ad and innovation in using the tool, will win $1,000 in AdWord credit. So if you fancy a go just fill out their entry form. Entries close March 24.

USB Cable Card Reader

For once I've decided to share a bit of technology not because I think it's awesome or cutting-edge, but instead because I think it's totally pointless. Someone has come up with the idea to combine a USB cable and the memory card reader - the 2-in-1 SD(HC) Card Reader Cable. All I ask is why?

This is a mini USB cable containing an integrated SD card reader lying mid-way between the two ends. So basically you have a regular USB cable but when you put a memory card into the reader data transfer is disabled between the connected USB device and the PC, however charging will continue as normal.

Some Great Reading

Just thought I'd throw together some links of the interesting things I've read lately...

• Seth Godin talking about how and why he does what he does, over on More Then Market Research
• Coverage of this months Vanity Fair shoot with Jonah, Paul, Seth and Jason (among others) on my modern Metropolis
• Ninja Bunnies on technabob
• Crazy small USB Key on View Gadgets
• Awesome photo
• Harper's Index of 'marketing'

Sunday Links

Check out the following sites that didn't cut the Friday's Best of the Web grade........

New Heineken TV ad
UK Tribes
Right Music Wrongs
Doodle Bra

LG Watch Phone

I posted a little while ago about the LG Watch Phone. At the time it wasn't clear if the watch would really make it into production, but it has now been confirmed that the LG G910 watch phone will be available on the Orange network in the UK before the end of the year (no price or contract details are available yet).

Unlike other watch-cellphones it won't require a Bluetooth headset, and will be equiped with a built-in speaker, microphone and 1.43 inch screen. The watch will also be internet-enabled.

International Women's Day

Now in it's 98th year, today, 8th March, is International Women's Day. So do something nice for the women in your life - buy your girlfriend dinner, pick up some flowers for your mum or just call your sister and say hello. Check out this website for more news, info, events etc.

Shave Your Yeti

Something funny and stupid for Saturday afternoon!

Overcoming the Economic Climate, in China

The current economic climate isn't isolated to the British Isles and America. Unfortunately the situation is global. However, many Asian business are looking to overcome the current market conditions by expanding their businesses and growing new promotional channels.

Market Research firm Analysys International have just completed their annual advertising white paper on the state of the advertising landscape in Asia. Statistics from the research show that the size of China's outdoor digital display market has grown to €755 million in 2008 from €127 million in 2005, the compound growth rate exceeding 80 percent, making it the fastest growing sector on China's advertising market.

Fu Xinghua, new media analyst from Analysys International, said, “China's out-of-home digital display market is showing a tendency of robust growth and development. We [Analysys International] expect the market to reorganize and merge at the same time with leading enterprises inclined to join hands in dominating sub-markets, by stretching their businesses to other media, including traditional media, the internet and handset media, paying more attention to two-way communication.”

As an example, VisionChina, the leading operator of outdoor digital TV advertising networks on mass transpiration systems in China, recorded total revenues of €27.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2008, hiking 185.1 percent year on year. Its net profit soared 158.6 percent to €11.7 million. For the whole year of 2008, the company's total revenues and net profit amounted to €82.4 million dollars and €37 million dollars, respectively, up 254.2 percent and 398.4 percent.

This growth has been driven by positive market outlook and a move that saw the company partnered with Hangzhou New & Mobile Media in January; signing an exclusive advertising agreement to expand its network coverage to Tianjin.

ThruYou by Kutiman

Another fantastic find from Stephen. This is ThruYou, a collection of YouTube video's mashed and remixed by Kutiman. A lot of time has been spent on this and it certainly shows. Really nice work!



This is just the first video, so make sure to check out the site for the full playlist and all the credits.

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.

Mash-up: Linus Sings The Police

I couldn't pass this one by without sharing...

Bavaria Walk-in Fridge

By now I'm sure you've all see the great Heineken Walk-in Fridge ad and the spoof follow up. But now Dutch Beer brand Bavaria have come up with their own version - funny stuff, you can excpect to recieve this by email several times!

No more FREE banking!

Interesting insight from Cormack McCarthy (Ulster Bank) via Nick Webb.