Nike True City iPhone App

Last week Nike launched a new iPhone App, True City. The App provides users with user-generated content on six European cities. Nike bill the app as "making the hidden visible through the knowledge and insight of Nike Insiders—local tastemakers". Basically local 'experts' provide the information on each city. Nike considers these individuals as being at the forefront of their cities.

I downloaded the app and had a play around with it, and it's definitely worth a look. My only negative would be that it's only six cities and there's no immediate indication that it will be expanded. On the plus side, however, the app does integrate very well from a social media point of view.

You can download it here.

For those that don't want to download the app to have a look, check out the following video...

Guardian iPhone App

On the 14th December last year, The Guardian Newspaper launched an iPhone App offering users full access to all Guardian content through the convenience of their iPhone; including news, comments, features, photo galleries and audio. There was never a question that this was a smart move by The Guardian, what was a question for many people was the fact that The Guardian were not going to offer the App for free. It would be paid for. Admittedly this is not a unique situation for a news provider; BBC World News Live, BBC News Mobile, iCNN News Reader and even the Irish Independent and Irish Breaking News, all offer iPhone Apps that are paid for. However, it's also worth noting that Sky News, ITN News, Thomson Reuters News and The New York Times, all offer their Apps for free.

Was it the right move?

In short, yes it was very definitely the right move for The Guardian.

Since its launch, The Guardian iPhone App has been downloaded nearly 70,000 times. That's over 2,300 times a day, every day! That's extremely impressive for a paid App.

Emily Bell, Director of Digital Content, Guardian News & Media, said: "We are thrilled with our download figures for the first month of the app. The feedback we have received from users has been excellent, yet also extremely informative in terms of features and functionality that can be improved in the future. Over the Christmas break the app became available in many areas of mainland Europe, as well as in Canada and Australia for the first time, so we hope our global audiences will enjoy using the app as well."

The App was designed by The Guardian's in-house team and then built by 2ergo. It is available for the iPhone and iPod Touch. It is available for £2.39 and can be accessed by users in the following countries:
Finland, Latvia, Romania, Austria, France, Lithuania, Slovakia, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Greece, Malta (Republic of), Spain, Czech Republic, Hungary, Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Poland, Estonia, Italy, Portugal, Australia & Canada, UK, Ireland, US.

The App is available for download here, and the following video demonstrates all the App's features...

Guinness Storehouse: 10 Years & 1 Million Visitors

Today, Guinness Storehouse made the monumental announcement that it's 1 millionth visitor has crossed it's doorway. Not only does this go to re-enforce the Storehouse's position as Ireland’s No. 1 visitor attraction, but it also solidifies it as the 3rd biggest brand experience in the world (Source: Economic Research Agency 2008).

Speaking at today's announcement, Managing Director, Paul Carty said; “We are delighted that we had the opportunity to welcome over one million people through our doors in 2009. It was no mean feat with the year that was in it. The Irish tourism industry is under severe pressure, closing the year with a 12% fall in overseas arrivals. Within this context, it is reassuring for us at Guinness Storehouse to record a positive performance that still achieves and surpasses 1 million visitors.”

Mr. Carty continued, “ If we zoom in on our performance, up until October last year, Guinness Storehouse had actually increased visitor numbers exceeding the past year by 1,000. November and December delivered a weaker influx, hence generating an overall total of only –1% visitors in 2009 on 2008”.

Considering the current economic climate, and even more so the climate of the last year, this achievement is made even more noteworthy. Certainly one of Guinness Storehouse's strongest contributors to this success is its aggressive and highly coordinated PPC activity. By driving PPC advertising across a global platform, Guinness storehouse targets visitors who are in a "shopping" frame of mind, searching for things to do when they come to Ireland. In 2009 the Storehouse saw US visitors increase by 12% and European countries increase by 19% - within Europe, France, Italy and Spain showed the highest increases in visitor numbers with +26%, +21% and +23% respectively.

2010 will also see another huge milestone for Guinness Storehouse as it celebrates 10 years since first opening its doors in November 2000. To mark the anniversary, Guinness Storehouse has issued 1000's of ''Ambassador Cards, which allow fans to gain free access for the year. Furthermore, the Storehouse has also promised that 2010 will be jam-packed with even more photographic exhibitions, food demonstrations, live music and interactive tours then ever before!


A few interesting Guinness Storehouse facts:

• Guinness Storehouse building was erected between 1902 and 1904 for use in the fermentation process
• The building is 125 feet high, 170 feet long and 151 feet wide.
• It would take 14.3 million pints of Guinness to fill the giant glass atrium in centre of the Guinness Storehouse building
• Gravity Bar is the highest bar in Dublin located 46 metres off the ground

Irish Blog Awards Nominations Now Open

Nominations are now open for the 2010 Irish Blog Awards. This year there will be a total of 21 different categories for you to submit nominations:

• Best Popculture blog
• Best Food/Drink Blog
• Best Fashion Blog
• Best Music Blog
• Best Photo Blog
• Best Technology Blog/Blogger
• Best Sport & Recreation Blog
• Best Blog of a Business
• Best Arts and Culture Blog
• Best Blog from a Journalist
• Best News/Current Affairs Blog
• Best Group Blog
• Best Political Blog
• Best Blog of a Politician
• Best Use of the Irish Language in a Blog
• Best Specialist Blog
• Best Newcomer
• Best Youth Blog
• Best Personal Blog
• Best Humour Blog
• Best Blog Post

The event itself will be held on March 27th in Galway. Stay tuned for more details!

RBS 6 Nations In 3D!

I wrote back in December about Sony's announcement that they will be using next year's World Cup to showcase their new 3D television technology. The move by Sony will see 10 of the tournament's matches filmed and broadcast in 3D. This is just one example of 3D TV that is being talked about for 2010. Personally, I know what I'm especially looking forward to...

News has broken that on 6th February O2 (UK) will celebrate 100 years of rugby at Twickenham by letting English and Welsh rugby fans enjoy one of the years first jaunts into this new 3D technology. Across England and Wales fans will be invited to enjoy the second game of the RBS 6 Nations tournament at over 40 Odeon and Cineworld cinemas for full 3D screening of the England vs Wales game. This will be Europe's first broadcast of its kind using the technology.

Sally Cowdry, Marketing Director at O2, said: “As England team sponsor we’re committed to enhancing the experience for rugby fans. With these screenings we’ll be using the latest technology to let thousands of fans across the country get closer to the action and join in the excitement of celebrating 100 years of England Rugby at Twickenham”.

O2 customers in the UK can book priority tickets to the event from 25th January by texting 3D to 2020. The general public will have access to tickets from 29th January from £12.50.

For those of us here in Ireland, it may interest you to know that the second 3D match that will be screened will be England vs Ireland on the 27th February. There are no details at all on this match but I assume it will follow a similar mechanic, with O2 Customers getting access two weeks before, and the general public four days later. I for one, if I can't get a ticket to the game, would definitely consider going over to experience this.

Paul Vaughan, RFU Business Operations Director said: “In Twickenham’s centenary year, this demonstrates that England Rugby has a rich history and an even richer future with exciting new developments such as O2’s 3D screenings. Rugby fans will be proud of England Rugby celebrating 100 memorable years, and I hope they will pack cinemas across the country to support the team and mark this milestone”.

For more details on cinema locations and how to purchase tickets visit www.3Drugbylive.com.

Facebook & YouTube - Instant Fads & Overnight Hits

In the last week there have been three Social Media phenomenon that have really grabbed my attention. Three "campaigns" that have, by all accounts, sprung up completely organically and engaged the public in a way that no one could have predicted.

Paul Cunningham's Winter Hat
The first is the Irish internet sensation that is Paul Cunningham's hat. For those who don't know who Paul is; Paul is RTÉ's Environment Correspondent. While doing a report as part of the Nine O'Clock News on RTE1 on 7th January, Paul wore a rather..... noticeable hat. What no one could have predicted was just how much the public would latch onto this little fashion misadventure.

The 'We love Paul Cunningham's winter hat' already has 3,420 fans. Just one of several YouTube videos of the news feature has 3,082 views. Admittedly these aren't huge figures but at the same time, it's a Christmas hat.

Facebook Status My Bra Colour
Finally we have this, non-video related, entry to my little list of three stand-out internet phenomenons of the last week. You may have noticed female friends or acquaintances updating their Facebook statuses recently with colours or patterns. These updates usually carried no information or explanation, and there didn't seem to be anyone offering any, anywhere. The trend or meme, which I haven't actually been able to verify, was seemingly started by a group of women in Chicago to help raise awareness of Breast Cancer. The campaign had a small level of uptake but then a girl named Kimberley Griffiths created a Facebook Page for the campaign.

The Page was founded on the 7th January and has exploded in activity with 60,196 fans already joined up. I think the number speaks for itself. That's just 4 days!


So what's next? What video or tv moment or charity activity will grab us and capture our attention? Who knows! (That's not a question!) The truth is, there's a 'little something' about each of these "campaigns" that can't be planned and can't be predicted. They're also three examples from an otherwise very short list when you consider exactly how many Facebook Pages and YouTube videos get uploaded and created every week. So is there a point? There is, and it's fairly simple. While I believe it's not massively difficult to create real campaigns that engage with your audience and create a greater public resonance beyond simple awareness, planning them is another matter. Budgets aside, there are various techniques to drive engagement. Competitions, free samples/trials/products or any number of other ways to get the public to hand over personal details. However, while it's easy to engage, or to at least create an appearance of engagement, it's not easy to create that public resonance.

My conclusion: the "viral effect" (a horrible term and one I don't really use) of a campaign can certainly be manipulated or augmented, but at the heart of it all you need something that simply can't be thought up. I can't tell you exactly what it is, because no one can. It's that thing that will drive people to pass it on to their friends. That thing that will make people become a fan or friend for no logical reason whatsoever. Most importantly, it's not something you can buy. Not every product or brand is even capable of it. Sometimes it requires huge amounts of money, and other times it's achieved by someone with a camera phone for nothing. Either way, beware of anyone that says they can get it for you through a planned approach. It just happens for you or it doesn't.

DJ Earworm - A Mashup of the Top 25 Hits of 2009

Absolutely lovin' this mashup by DJ Earworm, simply class!

In case you can't pick them all out, here's the list:
The Black Eyed Peas - Boom Boom Pow
Lady Gaga - Poker Face
Lady Gaga Featuring Colby O'Donis - Just Dance
The Black Eyed Peas - I Gotta Feeling
Taylor Swift - Lover Story
Flo Rida - Right Round
Jason Mraz - I'm Your's
Beyonce - Single Ladies (Put a Ring on it)
Kanye West - Heartless
The All-American Rejects - Gives You Hell
Taylor Swift - You Belong With Me
T.I. Featuring Justin Timberlake - Dead And Gone
The Fray - You Found Me
Kings Of Leon - Use Somebody
Keri Hilson Featuring Kanye West & Ne-Yo - Knock You Down
Jamie Foxx Featuring T-Pain - Blame It
Pitbull - I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)
T.I. Featuring Rihanna - Live Your Life
Soulja Boy Tell 'em Featuring Sammie - Kiss Me Thru The Phone
Jay Sean Featuring Lil Wayne - Down
Miley Cyrus - The Climb
Drake - Best I Ever Had
Kelly Clarkson - My Life Would Suck Without You
Beyonce - Halo
Katy Perry - Hot 'n' Cold

Meteor Irish Music Awards: Nominees Announced

Just before Christmas I wrote about the upcoming Meteor Music Awards and the announcement of a brand new, publicly voted, award category: 'Most Promising New Artist'. Today I had the pleasure of attending the launch of the Awards in Dublin's Balzac Restaurant at the La Stampa Hotel on Dawson Street.

The big news today was the announcement of this year’s nominees and live performances. Hosted this year by Amanda Byram, the Awards promise a truely star-studded event to celebrate the tenth year of Meteors sponsorship of the Awards. Guest performers on the night will include; Westlife, Snow Patrol, The Script, Florence and the Machine, Paolo Nutini, The Coronas and Pixie Lott, to mention just a few. There will also be a host of additional performers announced during the coming weeks.

The nominees for the publicly voted categories are as follows:

Best National D.J. Ian Dempsey, Today FM Damien Farrelly, 2fm Tony Fenton, Today FM Ray Foley, Today FM Larry Gogan, 2fm Dan Hegarty, 2fm	Best Regional D.J. Leigh Doyle, Beat 102-103 Jim & Niamh, FM 104 KC & Lenny, Red fm Michelle McMahon, Spin Southwest Jon Richards, Galway Bay fm Shona Ryan, Spin 103.8
Best Irish Band Bell X1 The Coronas Delorentos Snow Patrol U2	Best Irish Male Colin Devlin Jerry Fish Jack L Christy Moore Mundy
Best Irish Female Wallis Bird Julie Feeney Valerie Francis Laura Izibor Dolores O'Riordan	Best Irish Pop Act The Blizzards Delorentos Laura Izibor The Script Westlife
Best Irish Album Bell X1 - Blue Lights on the Runaway The Coronas - Tony was an Ex-Con The Duckworth Lewis Method – The Duckworth Lewis Method Snow Patrol - Up to Now U2 - No Line on the Horizon
Best Irish Live Performance Bell X1 Christy Moore The Script Snow Patrol U2

And finally, The Most Promising New Artist for 2010. Of course I can't list the nominations here as it's up to you folk to make it happen. Some great news I can give you here, however, is that the entry deadline has been extended to the 15th January. So there's loads of extra time to get your videos up on the interweb! The remaining 9 awards will be decided by representatives of the Irish music industry.

All the category links above will bring you directly to the Meteor website, and as public voting went live from today, you should click over (as soon as you've finished reading) and get your votes in. Votes can also be cast directly from your mobile phone and all details on how to do this may be found on the Meteor website.

The event itself will air on RTE 2 on Sunday 21st February 2010 at 9pm.

Nivea XOXO Chain

It's the start of January and everyone's good intentions should probably still be strong. Give up this this, stop doing so much of that, avoid unnecessary..... etc. etc. New Years roles around and it's up to each of us to decide what we're going to do less of, in an effort to make ourselves better people. Is this such a good thing? Don't get me wrong, there's nothing bad about making your life style more healthy, about stopping smoking or getting more exercise, but for many of us I reckon we could do a whole lot more for ourselves if we looked at what we could be doing more of.

It seems I'm not the only one thinking this way. With the aim of encouraging the public to "have more love, hugs and kisses in 2010", Nivea has launched its New Year's Resolution, XOXO Chain campaign.

The campaign, which will run until Valentine's Day, was kicked off by actors Nick Lachey and Vanessa Minnillo. Centered around the Nivea website, users are asked to upload a digital hug or kiss, fo which Nivea will donate $1 to Big Brothers Big Sisters for each one.

"Nivea values the importance of human connections, an inherent aspect of the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization, We felt this was the perfect fit for us as a brand", said Nicolas Maurer, vice president of marketing at Beiersdorf, Nivea's parent company.

The campaign was launched via the onsite Times Square activation, a digital advertising suite, a number of Public Relations activation and during NBC's live New Year's Eve programme hosted by Carson Daly. The NBC element included promo ads and online banners. The Times Square activation was similarly part of a larger marketing initiative. Nivea were also official sponsor of New Year's Eve in Times Square, and as such had a branded stage called the Nivea Kiss Platform. this featured musical performances by Taddy Porter and Delfina.

In relation to the campaign timing, Maurer commented, "2009 has been a tough year for a lot of people, and New Year's Eve is a great time to share love with friends and family and look forward to starting off 2010 with the best foot forward."

Nivea are also promoting the campaign via in-store at point of purchase displays, sampling and specialised photo booths. The XOXO Chain Booths allow consumers to get their photo taken while hugging and kissing. These images are then shared and uploaded to the store's electronic billboard. A number of these booths also tied into the many large screens that lined Times Square on New Year's Eve.

Specsavers: 'Spermsavers'

To celebrate their 25th anniversary, Specsavers has created a comedy ad about a blind sperm. The ad, 'Spermsavers', is currently being shown on the Specsavers YouTube channel and will also run on the brands Facebook Page between 11th and 14th January.

'Spermsavers' tells the story of a sperm swimming to be the first sperm to get to an egg. Unfortunately it swims straight past the egg. The blind sperm then turns around to give it one more try but again swims past and this time ends up trying to impregnate the Specsavers logo that has appeared.

While it is primarily being driven online, the ad will also be adapted for cinema and TV.

I Am A Geek - The Society for Geek Advancement

I blogged this about 6 months ago but in the spirit of the New Year I thought I'd share it again. This is a collaborative video project by The Society for Geek Advancement, all about embracing your geekiness. The funny thing is, this is exactly how every geek I know would describe themself.

Society For Geek Advancement
The Society for Geek Advancement (SGA) was founded upon the principles that we should all embrace our inner and outer geek and have fun while doing it. As individuals who love learning, innovating and believe in possibility as well as change, the second step of responsibility is to be the geek that keeps on giving. As a member of SGA, we work together as a global community to help others realize their true potential too!

You can also find the society on Twitter.

Royal Navy: Life Without Limits

The Royal Navy has been a strong adopter of digital channels in the last year, to drive both recruitment and awareness. Now in their latest campaign, Royal Navy Careers has unveiled a new tv/web ad and a host of online and mobile interactives. Perhaps there's nothing surprising about a military force using online channels, but what's especially interesting in my opinion is their use of social channels. While so many mainstream businesses and brands are scared about using Social Media, here we have an organisation that, under certain circumstances, is directed to kill people, and they're using Social Media. It makes you wonder why a confectionery brand or soft drink would have any reservations?

Questions aside, I really like the new Royal Navy ad. The ad is based around the tag line “Life without Limits” and uses a voiceover inspired by the opening of the 1996 film Trainspotting. The voiceover is provided by Royle Family actor Ralf Little and uses two-word phrases to describe the defining moments in a Royal Navy recruit’s life. The full length version, titled 'Heartbeat', will be supported by nine 10-second adverts that each highlight specific Royal Navy job options.

A Royal Navy spokesperson said, “Digital channels are a key component of the Navy’s communications strategy. In the next two years the Navy will be re-launching its corporate site and is committed to exploring its use of the semantic web, email, mobile and various social media channels that are key to their audiences.”

The ad is part of a new £1.5m recruitment drive; with media planning/buying by Carat, digital development by Glue and 26 London, and digital media planning/buying by i-Level.

The campaign has also seen the introduction of a cross-platform interactive 'Engineering Challenge'. The challenge is available on the Royal Navy site, its Facebook Page, and as a iPhone App.

CA.LL - California Calling

I'd be very surprised if you haven't seen the 'California - Find Yourself Here' ad that is part of the VisitCalifornia.co.uk. As far as ads go, this may have the most impressive array of stars packed into a mere 30 second ad.

But so what you ask?

Well, California Tourism’s latest campaign has gone live and it's taking that ad to the next level. Introducing a seriously cool prize through a user generated competition mechanic, the campaign looks set to follow in the foot steps of a number of recent UGC campaigns that have proved extremely engaging. So what is this one all about? Check out Adam Buxton explaining exactly what's going on...

So essentially members of the public are being invited to audition for a part in the commercial by uploading videos. All you have to do is explain why you should be chosen to appear in the ad and then it's all down to a public vote. A winner will be selected in March and flown out to California to experience full VIP treatment whilst filming their part in the ad, which will be aired next April.

As well as the microsite and YouTube channel, the campaign is also live on Facebook and Twitter.

What you're really wondering though, is what's the prize? Well, as I said, it's a whooper. Basically it's first-class everything with a full VIP treatment to boot. You and a friend will be given USD$1000 and sent on a whirlwind tour of the Golden State. Full details are here.

Finally then it's just a matter of checking out the competition, so to speak. Here's the videos already uploaded.

Guinness 250: New Year's Eve

Following up on my earlier post, here is last night's live Guinness ad. Absolutely brilliant stuff. Hat tip to Guinness.

Guinness 250: New Year's Eve

I hope to get a video of the live ad up a little later, but for the moment here are some photos.

2009: A Review (Briefly)

I had hoped to write a big post giving a full review of Digitology's 2009 but unfortunately I'm running late to drive up to Carlingford for New Year's Eve, so instead here is a quick review of all of you who visited me in the last year. A huge thanks to each and every one of you who took the time to read some of my ramblings :)

Visitors

• Visitors 39,348
• Unique Visitors 27,150
• Pageviews 55,792
• Average Pageviews 1.42
• Time on Site 2min 12secs
• Total Time on Site 60days 2hrs 45mins 36secs

Visitor System Specifications

• Browsers
• Firefox 53.25%
• Internet Explorer 26.60% (of which 6.7% using version 6.x or below)
• Safari 12.96%
• Chrome 5.20%
• Other 1.99%

Operating Systems

• Windows 67.00%
• Macintosh 21.76%
• Linux 9.47%
• iPhone 0.96%
• Other 0.81%

Screen Resolutions

• 1280x800 20.07%
• 1440x900 17.12%
• 1680x1050 15.96%
• 1280x1024 15.42%
• 1024x768 15.14%
• 1920x1200 3.17%
• 1152x864 1.31%
• 1600x1200 1.31%
• 320x396 1.15%
• Others: width less then 800px 1.57%
• Others: width greater then 800px 6.78%

Flash Version

• 10.x 84.98%
• 9.x 14.76%
• 8.x 0.09%
• 7.x 0.09%
• 6.x 0.07%
• 5.x 0.01%

I hope, whatever you're doing tonight, you have a fantastic New Years Eve and a brilliant 2010.

Guinness 250: New Year's Eve

Two weeks ago I wrote about Guinness's plans for New Years Eve. To mark the end of their 250th Birthday year, Guinness are planning a spectacular live TV ad to be broadcast on RTÉ 1 at 17:59 on New Year’s Eve. Little is known about the ad except that the 60 second event will feature a visual recreation of Arthur’s famous signature in a 'dramatic way'.

Funny thing is, in the last fortnight I've heard so much speculation and talk as to what this will be. Some folk have said it will be trained toucans flying in synchronised formation, while others have suggested a giant artificial cloud in the shape of Arthur's signature. Personally I just don't know what to expect, but I'm definitely excited.

Regardless of what fantastic thing Guinness produce, it's worth remembering that the entire year of celebration hasn't just been about Guinness's 250th Birthday and the famous signing of the 9,000 year lease on the St James’s Gate Brewery. This year saw the establishment of the Arthur Guinness Fund. A fund established as a thank you to the people of Ireland, which will be used to create opportunities for communities throughout Ireland by supporting social entrepreneurs.

You have to admit, that that's pretty decent.

So........ To Arthur!

-----UPDATE-----

I spotted this on RTÉ and thought it was well worth sharing. This is Guinness's 200x200 island placement from it's New Year's Eve advertising campaign. Essentially it just a simple countdown, but how extremely appropriate. Great idea, great execution.

Blue Moon Partial Eclipse

Every New Year's Eve I like to get out of Dublin, or at least out of the city centre. Usually it's just nice to be able to see the stars and the sky and be outside when you're ringing in the New Year. This year, however, there's an especially good reason to be outside looking up at the stars.

On December 31st 2009 there are a number of really cool things happening. Not only is it the end of the decade, not only is it New Year's Eve, but it will also be the night of a Blue Moon Partial Eclipse.

As the Lunar Calendar is shorter then the Gregorian Calendar (the standard calendar that we use), every 2.7 years there is an 'extra' full moon. There are 13 full moons during the year instead of 12. The exact timing of this changes and there is much debate as to which full moon during a year should be classed as the Blue Moon.

In this regard there may be those who would say that next week's full moon is not a Blue Moon but the romantic in me has made up his mind. Considering that it's such a rarity to get see a Blue Moon and a Partial Eclipse (it's happened just 4 times in 20th century), I will happily defend my position based on nothing other then my own ideas.

The Eclipse shadow will peak 7:22pm (Greenwich Mean Time) and will be visible in most of Europe, Africa, Asia and Australasia, as per the following rough guide:

• North and South America: Blue moon, but no visible eclipse.
• Europe, Africa and Middle East: Blue moon, visible eclipse
• Asia and Australasia: Full moon (not blue), visible eclipse

On one final point, if this rare lunar event wasn't special enough as it is, you may find it a little weird to that December 31st will be the final day of the International Year of Astronomy.

Check out this video of the 2007 Blue Moon Eclipse...

A Day In The Internet

This is a really cool visualisation by Søren over on RoBoilr.dk, showing a day in the internet and exactly how much data we move and create (via the always excellent Nick Burcher).

The Perfect Christmas Story

This year for Christmas Vodafone have launched a huge online campaign centred around Facebook and three cool apps: the Pressie Picker, the Selection Box and the Perfect Christmas Story. Basically they're just fun little apps that work out who you are from your Facebook profile and come up with some quirky insights into you and your friends. They work around Facebook Connect.

The Pressie Picker pretty much does what it says on the tin, and will analyse who you are and suggest the best pressie for you or a friend. Of course you have to let it know if you’re naughty or nice. The Selection Box is a fun collection of gadgets to help you count in Christmas and prepare for whatever may be in store ;) Finally then, there’s the Perfect Christmas Story. If you’ve seen the Vodafone Christmas ad then you’ll get this – no point in spoiling it though, pop over and have a quick gander.

This is a Cybercom campaign so if you have the time I'd love to hear what you think.

Augmented Reality: Adidas

The next few months will see Adidas release a new range of shoes. What sets this range apart is that Adidas has created a virtual 3-D world that is accessed through the line of five men’s shoes. On top of this, Adidas will also introduce three Augmented Reality games as part of the new virtual world. Each pair of shoes will give the owner access to the virtual world and act as the controller for interacting with it. All you have to do is go to the Adidas website and hold up a code embedded on the shoes tongue to your webcam. The virtual world then pops up on your screen as part of the shoe.

“The foundation of augmented reality lies in adding a layer to the real world,” says Chris Barbour, head of digital marketing for Adidas Originals. “That’s what we have done. We have taken a real world item and added a fantastic virtual world on top of that. We are not trying to mimic a real-world look, we have a more stylized, pop-up book creative approach,” says Barbour. “The neighborhood is displayed on a two dimensional computer screen, but you can use your shoe to control the angle and depth of view and zoom in and out, giving a 3-D sense of perspective.”

The campaign will offer a skateboard game, played around the virtual city’s alleys, a Star Wars-like game and a music-based game. The games have been developed for Adidas by xForm.

LBi: Mobile Mobile

Mobile Mobile is described as "a joyous seasonal story of re-cycled phones, collaboration and derring do".

Basically, after LBi upgraded all the mobile phones in the agency, they decided something should be done with their old handsets. They came up with the idea to re-cycle, or “up-cycle” as they described it, the phones in the form of an interactive sculpture.

Each phone was assigned a tone and tied into a computer to each play a single note. The following video demonstrates their favourite but you can also create your own personalised version through the campaign microsite using your keyboard.

The Best Agency Christmas Card Ever?

Just watch this...

Smirnoff 'Be There': The Carnival Experience

During the last month I've been very excitedly covering Smirnoff's various activities around there new 'BE THERE' campaign. Not letting the momentum slow for even a moment, Smirnoff's next competition is already up and running, and this one is seriously cool.

How would you like the chance to take 3 friends and go to Carnival. You could be spending 5 nights in Rio de Janeiro with all your hotel and travel expenses covered, during the biggest party in the Brazilian calendar! Even if you're not the main winner there are runners up prizes, and every single person who enters get s a free download of the Layo & Bushwacka! track The Longest Day, from their Shake It Brazil compilation.

So what do you have to do? Just pop over to the Smirnoff Facebook page and enter your details. Done. Like that.

The closing date is the 9th January 2010 and you can find all the details about the competition and the prizes here.

Meteor Ireland Music Awards: Most Promising New Artist 2010

December isn't over, the jolly fat man hasn't come down your chimney, and not a single chorus of Auld Lang Syne has passed a pair of lips, but even so there are many people already thinking about January. The music community will shortly be gearing up for Ireland's annual celebration of national and international musical artists. This year, however, there may be a slightly longer list of nail-biters when it comes to the big night.

Today, Meteor announced that there's a sunny January for one lucky unsigned artist in search of their big break. Next year's Meteor Ireland Music Awards are introducing a brand new category, the Most Promising New Artist 2010. The brand new category will celebrate the best original song from an individual or group, who is currently not signed to any record label (small independents excluded) or publishing house.

The winner will be determined by composition, lyrics, melody and originality, and will receive the prize a host of seriously, seriously cool prizes, including:

• Live performance on the New Band Stage at Oxegen 2010
• One day of recording in Grouse Lodge Recording Studios
• One day of Mastering in Masterlabs
• 150 copies of the CD single
• Designed CD sleeve and photo shoot with top celebrity Photographer Barry McCall
• Radio/PR distribution

On top of all that, the lucky winner of the new category can also look forward to being presented with a gong, as the winners of The Most Promising New Artist for 2010 award at the award show in January.

Entry is simple and all hopefuls have to do is upload a video of themselves performing their song to www.themeteors.ie. From there it's all down to public vote for the top 10 shortlist, then on to an industry panel to select the top 5 acts to become the official nominees for the Most Promising New Artist 2010 award.

The closing date for applications is January 11th 2010 so if you're interested get cracking now!

Augmented Reality: Avatar iTag Toys

James Cameron's new film, Avatar, is without doubt one of the most anticipated movies of the year. Between Cameron's own goliath status and ability to make record-breaking movies, Twentieth Century Fox Film's global marketing activities, and the overall promise of new, never before seen, ground breaking fully immersive next generation special effects, this movie is going to be BIG. There has been more talk and speculation about this film then probably any other in the last 24 months. Special extended trailers were shown to select audiences around the world. Strategic partnerships were developed with leading technology providers. Basically if there was something that could be done to promote this, it was.

So with the film now in the cinema, what's next?

In my opinion the coolest thing coming next is the Avatar toy line. Mattel’s Avatar toy line is set to revolutionise toy play. The Avatar range of toys marks the industry’s first range of toys to incorporate i-TAG technology. This is essentially Augmented Reality enhanced toys. When held up to a webcam, each toy's unique i-TAGT creates a three dimensional, Augmented Reality image on your computer screen.

Here is a video of exactly how the system works...

Panic Attack!

Panic Attack! is a shortfilm Animated, Directed and Produced by Fede Alvarez. Basically it's stunning and is a must see video...

Oh, did I mention he did this on a total budget of $300!

Unsurprisingly, the amazing shortfilm and catapulted Fede to the attention of Hollywood, and he has reportedly now signed a deal with Sam Raimi’s Ghost House Pictures to develop and direct a full lenght feature project. The deal with Ghost House has been speculated to be worth a six to seven figures.

Ballantine's Rock Bottle

When it comes to the spirits market, getting your brand, your bottle, placed in a position of prominence behind a bar is essential. This is especially true for whiskey's as the vast majority of drinkers will order by name, and it can be next to impossible for a brand to break a seasoned whiskey drinkers brand preference. So what do you do?

A simple solution is to grab the drinkers attention. Do something to make them want to give your brand a try. Ballantine's Scotch Whiskey have developed the "Listen to Your Beat" campaign, which, unlike other drinks campaigns, isn't based on point of sale creatives or engagements, it's based on a cutting edge new bottle design.

The new Ballantine's Scotch Whiskey bottle features a graphic equalizer that reacts to the ambient sound of its surrounding. Seriously.

Yeah, the Ballantine's seems to want to kill the competition by at least viral and word of mouth, as compared to consumers not think so.

Ballantine's decided that they don't want their customers to just dance with their drink when they drink their whiskey, they want their customers to dance to their drink. The gorgeous new black bottle with luminous blue bars that jump in time to the music is eye-catching and mesmerising. Designed by London-based design company, The Core, the bottle is being launched in bars across the UK as well as 35 other markets. In total there are 20,000 bottles in production.


This is the bottle in question...

Augmented Reality: Shopping (Part 2)

A while back I wrote about Zugara's Augmented Reality Shopping experience. Pretty nifty. As suspected the technology has now been adapted and put into full use. This is the Fashionista Augmented Reality dressing room service developed by Tobi.com...

Fashionista describes itself as a new social shopping tool combining the benefits of the fitting room with the convenience of online shopping and the power of the social web. Fashionista shoppers virtually model clothing via their own webcam, being able to instantly switch into recommended clothes and immediately share favourites via Facebook.

-----UPDATE-----

While this isn't an Augmented Reality application persay, this is a great example of online shopping striving to deliver a richer experience, and to offer shoppers a better way to see exactly what they are buying. KnickerPicker.com have created a flash interactive that allows the shopper to choose between a range of different virtual models so that they can view their product range on someone of the same figure as themselves. This is a great idea and something I really think adds to the online shopping experience. Admittedly the service is limited at present but with the right retailer this could easily be done for a large range of clothing, for both men and women.

Make It Snow In Oxfordshire

It's that time of the year when agencies and businesses decide it'll be a great idea to do a Christmas viral. As someone who's seen most of them, I can safely say that it's usually not a good idea. In fact, far from it.

However, every now and again someone does something that just works. Something smart. Something funny. Something genuinely entertaining. Torchbox have done just that.

Torchbox, an Oxfordshire based digital agency, have just launched a Christmas website called 'Snowtime'. Basically it gives visitors the power to make it snow over the company's employees right there in their offices. The guys initially developed the idea as an interactive Christmas Card for their clients. Following brilliant feedback they decided it deserved a larger audience, and I for one am very glad.

So what do you have to do? To make it snow, just pop over to 'Snowtime' and hit the 'Make It Snow' button. Simple. The button is rigged to a snow machine that will blast a member of staff with a flurry of fake snow.

Managing Director, Olly Willans said, "We always try and do something fun with technology for Christmas and we're really pleased with snowtime. Some of our team have been covered on a number of occasions and it is a bit like a blizzard in the office but we're happy with that as we know that the snow must go on."

'Snowtime' is available from 9am-5pm GMT on Thursday 17 December, Friday 18 December, Monday 21 December and Tuesday 22nd December.


About Torchbox
Established in 2000, Torchbox is an independently owned agency that offers digital design, development and marketing services. The agency's clients come primarily, but not exclusively from the charity, NGO and public sectors and include WWF UK, Breakthrough Breast Cancer, Greenpeace UK, Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, the University of Oxford, The King's Fund and The Football Foundation.

Also check out Torchbox's Director of Digital Marketing, Rob Salmon, on Twitter

Carlsberg: The Making of 'The Secret'

In 1883 Carlsberg's Brewer, Emil Christian Hansen, made a remarkable discovery that would change brewing forever. Hansen isolated the first pure brewing yeast and provided the first ever way to brew consistent quality beer. This was a 'Secret' that most other brewers would go to any lengths to acquire. Carlsberg decided to give it away!

This is the 'making of' video of Carlsberg's newest ad, 'The Secret'.



The ad was developed by Peter Owens Advertising and directed by Johnny Green. It was produced by Knucklehead and post produced by Framestore. The music for the ad was specially composed by Paul Raeburn.