Your Country, Your Call

I was invited along to Guinness Storehouse on Monday evening to give input into a new Social Media focused project that is being launched. I had only been told bits and pieces about the campaign and, to be honest, I really didn't know what to expect. However, there were a few key things that I knew and they were enough for me: Dr. Martin McAleese was the main person behind the campaign's idea and it was all being patroned by his wife, President Mary McAleese. Aside from this, I had been told that all work on the campaign, by all parties, was being done on a pro bona basis. Considering the global economic situation we all find ourselves in, this was a pretty stand out point.

The evening began with an an overview and background from Dr. McAleese and then a general open floor discussion / Q&A about everything to do with the project from the overall strategy through to the site design.

The campaign microsite, which will be the main focus of all activity is www.yourcountryyourcall.com/.

So what is it all about? This is a international competition (anyone in the world can enter) that is being driven by a hope to ignite imaginations and inspire thinking. The overall goal is to find two ideas that have the ability to fuel prosperity and jobs for Ireland. The ideas could be anything – absolutely anything, the only caveats are that they must focus on Ireland and should be so robust and expansive that they will be looked on in a decades time and seen as true turning points in Irish history.

The two winning ideas will secure their ‘thinkers’ a prize of €100k each and the ideas will then have a €500k implementation fund (as well as the expertise of a host of world class people from all walks of industry) to get them off the ground.

The competition also has a second side to it – Your Ireland Moment, which is a call for people to submit their personal moment that they most felt proud to be Irish. This can be found through the main site.

The whole project will have an extremely strong focus on Social Media and will be driven heavily through both Twitter and Facebook. however, there will also be event, radio, print and television used across the campaign duration to help boost awareness and participation.

This is Dr. McAleese’s brainchild and something he is truly passionate about. Personally I think it is really exciting, and well worth a look. In fact, I already have 4 ideas scribbled down on paper that I need to flesh out a bit. Check out the following video from President McAleese about the campaign...

Recognizr

Big hat tip to PlanBStudios for sharing this video...

A TAT Cascades powered prototype of the Augmented ID concept. Accurate mobile face detection and recognition using Polar Rose's FaceLib. Recognizr shows how powerful computer vision and 3D graphics can be used to create fast, precise and aesthetic augmented reality. This prototype runs on Android.

NCPC: Dolphin Boy

Stunning work by Saatchi & Saatchi (US), this is a YouTube video with a difference. Although this isn't the first "out-of-bounds" use of YouTube, it is definitely one of my favourite.


Check out 2008's Wario video that used the same concept of "out of bounds".

Ballygowan: Be Part of It

Today, Sunday February 14th, Ballygowan unveiled their new campaign to raise funds for breast cancer awareness across Ireland. The campaign, in support of the Marie Keating Foundation, or Action Cancer in Northern Ireland, is called ‘Be Part of It’ and promotes the early detection of breast cancer to help save lives. Phase One of the campaign sees the launch of a range of new pink bottles of Ballygowen through both off-trade and on-trade channels. Each bottle of of the new Ballygowan Pink that is sold will make a contribution directly to the foundations.

The ‘Be Part of It’ will be supported by an integrated marketing campaign across all channels and is patroned by Ronan Keating. The campaign will, however, be primarily driven by a new campaign microsite and facebook page. During the next eight months the campaign will also run a series of events to involve consumers in raising funds for the charities, in the lead up to Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October.

Ronan Keating, speaking about the campaign, said; "The Marie Keating Foundation is very close to my heart, as you know. I am delighted that a brand like Ballygowan has come together with the Foundation and our Be Part of It partner in Northern Ireland, Action Cancer, to help raise much needed funds. What’s really exciting for all of us is that this campaign is not only about fundraising, but also raising awareness and education. I am thrilled to be part of it".

The Ballygowan Pink bottles, in 500ml and 2 Litre bottles, are now available from all grocery and convenience shops, while special glass bottles, in 250ml and 750ml, are available in pubs and restaurants nationwide.

Leonie Doyle, Head of Stills Marketing at Britvic Ireland said; "We are delighted to introduce our Ballygowan Pink bottle, as the first part of our ‘Be Part of It’ campaign. Breast cancer affects 1 in 12 people in Ireland. We hope that our campaign can play a key role in raising much needed funds for the Marie Keating Foundation, as well as educating woman on the importance of early detection in beating this disease. There will be lots of ways for consumers to get involved throughout the year and raise more money for this great cause".

Media Monks

MediaMonks is the biggest independent digital production agency in the Netherlands. They work for national and international agencies across various different market segments (B2B, B2C and government). They develop for multiple formats and platforms and, imho, produce some of the best digital media out there. Seriously, just sit back and watch...

To be honest, even their ad is pretty cool...

This Is Irish Film

As a regular visitor to The Irish Film Board website, I was delighted to see their latest addition to their digital suite - http://www.thisisirishfilm.ie/, a media hub for all things Irish Film related. Although the hub offers all the latest news and coverage of the entire Irish Film Industry (work information, upcoming events, competitions, short films, box office information, podcast links etc. etc.) and is sure to be highly useful to all those works in Ireland's Film Industry, it is hoped that the site will be of benefit and appeal to a wider audience, providing a place that film enthusiasts can reference and learn more about Irish film.

Simon Delaney in Zonad directed by John Carney

Personally I'm loving the Short Film section. While I have a number of close friends who work as actors, directors, producers and more, it is often almost impossible to find out what's good and what's worth catching when it comes to Irish Shorts. In particular, the site gives a great look at Ireland's up and coming film talent that don't get the mainstream coverage to bring them to general public attention.

Ondine directed by Neil Jordan

From a technical point of view, the site is fresh, easy-navigable, and ultimately does exactly what it says on the tin, just very well! The IFB Twitter feed is pulled in directly to the page and there is a clear and obvious link out to Facebook. Both great indications of the IFB's adoption of Social Media and willingness to move with the times - something often not so forthcoming with Irish national bodies.

DoneDeal.ie - A Case Study

Last week saw Trinity College play host to the Dublin Web Summit. The event, which was beyond sold out, brought together a fantastic panel of speakers to discuss the lessons & direct experiences of scaling up companies, inspiration for Irish tech start ups and a round house debate on the implications and expectation of Social Media and the advent of user curated news and content. The Summit's speakers were Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist, Matt Mullenweg, founder of Wordpress, Wired’s Editor-at-Large, Ben Hammersley, and former Iona CEO, Chris Horn. The Summit was presided over and MC'd by Mark Little.

I was lucky enough to attend the Summit as a guest of one of its sponsors, DoneDeal.ie.

The conference was, to say the least, one of the most informative and thought provoking events I've been to in the last 5 years. To start I would commend Mark Little on being one of the finest MCs I've had the pleasure of seeing. Mark not only knows what he's talking about inside and out, but he shows a genuine passion and interest in the people speaking and what they are speaking about. On the otherside then, it should be taken into account also that the line up of speakers was just brilliant. Craig Newmark, Matt Mullenweg, Ben Hammersley and Chris Horn all displayed an insight into a world that both enthrals and intrigues me. I live Social Media and online content, it's a passion, and I am lucky enough to be able to work with the things that I find most interesting. These people were, in one way or another, all part of that world down to its core. Newmark and Mullenweg: the creators and innovators. Hammersley: the critique, moderator and commentator. Horn: the technologist and advocate. While the room may have been filled with geeks much the same as myself, there was not a single person present who wasn't captivated.

Watching and listening to these people talk, I realised that the entire landscape of the world I work in, is primordial in its nature. Nothing is concrete, nothing set in stone, and nothing that is beyond question. Opinion rather then fact prevails in the majority of circumstance and everything we accept today could easily be idiotic to even consider tomorrow. The web and Social Media are changing so rapidly that the only way to stay with the leading edge is to immerse oneself in everything to do with it. Surround yourself with like-minded people and make sure to listen to everything they have to say, because every suggestion or idea is worth considering. I do quite a bit of freelance work but I would never consider myself to have owned my own business. Listening to the panel got me thinking about this. How would I approach the modern digital world if it were my own business I was driving?

Speaking to my host at the Summit, DoneDeal.ie seemed like a good place to understand what the trials and difficulties faced by a start-up are. Fred, a Swede who married an Irish girl and now lives in Wexford, was full of good suggestions and commentary on how he and his wife took their digital idea and created a seriously impressive business. The best thing, however, that Fred and Geraldine, his wife, offered was a Case Study (available to download here) that the company has created on exactly how they have become Ireland’s biggest and fastest-growing classifieds website. Reading through the case study I was thrilled. Here is a company that has realised how Social Media works. It's all about sharing. Giving away knowledge and learnings makes you stronger. Other businesses succeeding makes the market stronger. Here was someone who actually saw the benefit of giving away information that others would hold tightly to their chest and do anything to keep secret. Bravo!

DoneDeal.ie, from a standing start in 2005, has experienced an average of 10 - 15% growth in visitor traffic and ad placements per month. At the end of last year the business had reached a company turnover of €1mil and is hosting more then 50k of active ads. According to Google Trends, the business is now the number one place to buy and sell things in Ireland. Consider that all that was achieved in less then 5 years. This hasn't gone unrewarded or unnoticed though. Last year Fred and Geraldine received the Net Visionary Internet Marketer award from the Irish Internet Association and DoneDeal.ie was short-listed for the All Ireland Marketing Awards 2009 in the Small Business Category.

As of November last year, DoneDeal.ie had the following metrics:

• Visits per month: 2.8 million
• Unique visitors per month: 776,000+
• Traffic increase per month: 10 - 15%
• Active ads: 54,000
• New ads placed per month: 30,000
• Turnover: €1 million
• Revenue growth year on year: 400%

No one can say this isn't extremely impressive. For anyone who is started, has started, or is just thinking about starting their own business, I would recommend reading the DoneDeal.ie Case Study (download here). It is full of good advice, practical suggestions and solid information on how one of Ireland's best success stories came to be.

Aside from the website, DoneDeal can also be found on Twitter (here or here) and Facebook.

Google Buzz

TechCrunch said, "If Google Wave Is The Future, Google Buzz Is The Present". And that means what exactly? Well I'll assume you've heard of Google Wave. You may not know exactly what Google Wave is or what it can do, but I'll presume you remember everyone going crazy about Wave towards the end of 2009. Well, Google Buzz is the new 'next big thing' from Google.

Before I throw too many words at you, check out Google's video explaining what Buzz is...

I have to agree with TechCrunch on this one. Consider Google. A huge global mega-corp with interests in virtually every part of the modern web, from video hosting (YouTube) to email (Gmail) to image hosting (Picasa) to software/OS (Chrome) to hardware (Nexus One). The big glaring gap in that list, however, is Social Networking. In the grand scheme of things, Google do not have a presence within the hierarchy of favourite Social Media Networking sites. So why not fix that?

And you know what, Google are going to try just that.

Google's latest venture, Google Buzz, is designed to bring together elements of Twitter, Foursquare, Yelp, and Facebook together in one convenient location, accessible by either desktop or mobile. Google Buzz is described as the ultimate feed, a kind of FriendFeed on steroids. Through the "convenience" of your Gmail account, you will now be able to stream your status updates, pictures, links, and videos from your friends. In a similar fashion to Facebook you can then “like” them and comment on them. The service will also suck in feeds from Flickr, Picasa, Google Reader and Twitter. Beyond this, Google Buzz will then also offer the added functionality of making recommendations of feed items that you might like based on friends’ activity.

So if this is all about a "super feed", what's the big deal?

Well, Google want Buzz to be different in one fundamental way: Buzz is about Social Curation. As most of us are probably (painfully) aware, there is just too much content being created to be able to filter through to the stuff that is of real genuine interest. Buzz will do this. When importing content from something like Twitter (import only to begin but Google say the service will eventually allow you to fully manage services like Twitter directly from Buzz), Buzz will filter out content so that you only see the best bits. Admittedly this sounds very controlling and perhaps not of immense value to begin with but Google do promise that the service will be as open as possible.

So what are the downsides to all this?

Well as has been seen with Google Wave, just because something is from Google does it automatically mean it's got universal appeal. Google Wave is a phenomenally powerful tool but it's simply not of use to everyone, and there are plenty of people who will go their whole life without a need for it. Google Buzz is really facing the same problem. Can it be of use to everyone? Because that's really what it's about these days. Niche is just that, niche. And for a company like Google to spend the time and money in development and promotion, they need to have something that we all use/need.

When it comes down to it, for me, it's too early to draw any conclusions. Give me a month of using the service and I'll come back with an educated review.

Google Search - Parisian Love

Love this video shared by Dermot yesterday on Twitter...

Lyons Tea - Secret 'Ingredient'

It's so very true that things come in three's, and so with little surprise I find myself writing about a new tea advertisement just a day after I wrote about two others. The reason I find myself wanting to share this ad is, however, very different to yesterday's post. Tomorrow Lyons Tea will launch their latest campaign. The campaign reveals that ‘talk’ is the secret ‘ingredient’ in its tea. Not only do I think that this makes perfect sense for brand association, but ultimately I think the ad is very good.

The new ‘The Master Blender’ TV ad launches tomorrow, 8th February, with a humorous tongue in cheek story all about the Lyons Master Tea blender and his apprentice. The two characters describe how different types of talk are added to the tea, which results in conversations for all the people who drink it. The campaign shows us the wonka-esque magical tea factory where Lyons create their famous tea. The Master Tea blender and his apprentice are seen in a huge hallway lined with row upon row of specially labelled drawers of tea, each with a different type of talk. For this ad, the Master Tea blender selects ‘Footy Talk’ and proceeds to show his young apprentice how it is added to the tea. With their job done, the ad cuts to a scene of two older women sitting on a couch about to enjoy a nice fresh brew. As they each take a sip the conversation immediately turns to ‘Footie’.

What I particularly like about the new add is the detail that we are shown. For me this is very much on par with Coca-Cola's Open Happiness. Production and performer budgets are clearly miles apart but Lyons still create the same magic. A wonderful sense of 'something more' that you can enjoy as you make and drink a nice cuppa. Serious hat tip to Lyons of this one - well done!

Liz Finlay, Lyons Tea Marketing Manager, commented on the new campaign, “It’s no secret that Irish people are both big talkers and big tea drinkers - the secret is we, at Lyons, have been adding talk to the tea! The talk combined with the best blends of the finest tea makes for the best tasting, conversational cuppa! We’re delighted with our new TV advertisement and we think consumers will find this is just the right blend of fairytale, magic and humour! We’ll be supporting the new campaign with some really exciting activity in store, radio promotions and lots of PR over the coming months, giving Irish people plenty to talk about.”

The campaign is primarily driven through tv, in three executions, with support from three radio ads and a 48-sheet element. The campaign has been created by Rothco with the tv ad directed by Stephen St. Leger. Production was by H2 Films with post-produced by Windmill Lane Pictures.

"I Like Drisco" - Haiti Charity Single

Thought this worth sharing as it's a worthy cause and, lets face it, who doesn't like Brian O'Driscoll?

Check out the charity single, "I Like Drisco", (video on the way apparently) from Johnny Rayge & ITO. All proceeds from sales are going to Haven.

Sex & Tea.... How Odd?

It seems that an odd new trend might be developing, which sees our favourite hot beverage suddenly becoming linked to sex. Both PG Tips and Yorkshire Tea have new ads hitting the small screen that rely on something that I can't imagine being further from a cup of tea in any way. Don't get me wrong, I'm not bothered by the subject but I'm not sure I'd want my tea brand linked to sex. It seems like an odd coupling to me (pardon the possible pun there?). Anyways, the ads are live so I'll let you judge for yourself.

PG Tips

Johnny Vegas and his pal Monkey do the Meg Ryan "fake orgasm" scene from 'When Harry Met Sally'. The spot, which was created by Mother, is all about just how excited Monkey gets over his cup of PG Tips when johnny asks him to describe just how good it tastes. The scene is done as an almost 100% imitation. It is set in a cafe very similar to 'When Harry Met Sally' and sees Monkey shouting "Oh yes!", to have a woman at a nearby table tell the waitress: "I'll have what he's having". The ad finishes by asking viewers to find their way to best describe the taste of tea.


Yorkshire Tea

Yorkshire Tea have just launched a new ad for their 'Teatime's Important' campaign. The ad sees a young couple stop what their about to do to enjoy a nice cuppa. The ad, created by Beattie McGuiness Bungay, shows a Yorkshire couple enjoying a very passionate embrace before the young man whispers (in an extremely prominant Yorkshire accent) "would you like a cup of tea?" His counterpart is delighted by the offer and the pair put things on hold to have a cup of Yorkshire Tea before continuing their fun.

Nike Red - Lace Up, Save Lives

I am absolutely loving this new campaign from Nike to support AIDs campaigning. It's not fantastically original, in my opinion, as it's essentially a rehash of the Make Poverty History - White Band campaign, but at the same time it's great to see someone like Nike using their sponsorship commitments for something so worth while. The influence that these lads have is just so huge that I think they're the perfect people to promote this kind of topic. It helps bring it out into an arena that a lot of young people, blokes especially, wouldn't talk about or openly support otherwise.

Basically Nike have recruited some of the biggest sports stars from their sponsorship ranks to help raise awareness of HIV and AIDS. The campaign uses the tagline 'Lace Up Save Lives', and features a cast of athletes including Liverpool footballer Javier Mascherano, Chelsea's Didier Drogba and Arsenal's Andrei Arshavin. All profits from the sales of the new Nike (Red) laces goes to The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

This is just one of a series of partnerships that have been launched between major international brands and (Red), which launched last November to create awareness and a deliver a sustainable flow of money from the private sector into the Global Fund. Partners of the fund are allowed to add the (Red) mark to their products and in return make a significant percentage contribution of the sales/profits from that product to the Global Fund.

There's also a nice slideshow of images from the campaign:

Tweetup In An Elevator

I was reading through my RSS feeds earlier this morning and I came across this great post by Jeff Pulver.

On Monday afternoon, Jeff unexpectantly found himself part of a 75+ minute tweetup in an elevator, at the New York Times. Jeff was at the offices to attend a discussion on social media and the Haiti Disaster (which incidentally was really good according to Jeff). Andrew Rasiej, founder of the Personal Democracy Forum, moderated the discussion and a number of Jeff's friends were there as speakers; including Ann Curry from NBC News and the Today Show, Rob Mackey who is a staff writer The New York Times, Erik Parker who is a journalist that was in Haiti when the earthquake struck, and Jason Cone who is the Communications Director for Doctors Without Borders.

Following the meeting, Jeff was chatting to Ann Curry as they made their way, with 9 others, to the elevator. Without too much thought the 11 passengers boarded the elevator on the 15th floor and awaited the short ride down to the lobby. The doors closed, and their decent commenced. Oddly though, the elevator missed the lobby by about one and half feet below the lobby. What transpired then couldn't have been scripted. Jeff found himself trapped in an elevator with what he describes as an amazing cast of characters. The group included: Ann Curry; Jennifer Preston, Social Media editor of the New York Times; Geo Geller, Jeff's friend who documented the experience; Ann Blinkhorn, an executive recruiter; Phil Thomas DiGiulio, Co-founder of @pegshot; Alex Howard, Associate editor at SearchCompliance.com; Todd McCarty the new Senior Vice President of Human Resources at the New York Times and just a single individual wished to stay anonymous.

The alarm was immediately sounded and building maintenance confirmed they were on the way. What surprised Jeff most was that almost just as quickly, the cameras came out and photos and video were captured. Although signal was bad Jeff was finally able to tweet "Stuck in the elevator with @anncurry @geogeller @holaphil and 5 others in New York Times building." Jeff also commented that the conversations in the elevator were fun and enjoyable, and the experience turned into a pretty amazing and unplanned tweetup and a chance to get to know a bunch of people whom I would never would have otherwise had a chance to spend time with. 75 minutes passed and the doors opened, and everyone went back to their various tasks and chores.

When Jeff woke up yesterday morning he was a little startled to read about his experience in Gawker. Further to this, the story took on and even more surreal feeling when Ann told the story in the opening of the Today Show by sharing the video captured by @holaphil.

If this isn't a clear indication of the level of interconnectivity that we now have as a society, I don't know what is. While people may not know each other in person, may not have a clue what someone else does or even looks like, there is a common thread connecting us. A kind of digital shadow that allows us to all share our experiences and become part of something larger. I think it's safe to say that it is an evolution of the human condition, facilitated by technology.

On Social...

At the end of last year, Giles Rhys Jones spoke at a being digital mashup event. I've unfortunately never had the opportunity to meet Giles but I reckon if this video is anything to go by, there's a serious interesting conversation to be had.

BBC: The Virtual Revolution

This is the introduction to The Virtual Revolution, a new BBC four part series about how the web is changing the world. The show's presenter, Dr. Aleks Krotoski, has already created quite a buzz throughout the Twittersphere with the shows conclusions and comments, and while I wouldn't agree with all of them, I think there's a lot of food for thought. The first episode was on BBC2 on Saturday and there is a repeat this evening. For full details, visit the BBC Virtual Revolution website.

Thanks to Damien for reminding me to blog this :)

Things I Like...

I'm not sure where this came from, or who the original author is, but I absolutely love it!

The Wolfman Facebook App

As the launch of Joe Johnston's remake of The Wolfman, staring Benicio del Toro, Anthony Hopkins and Emily Blunt, fast approaches, Universal Pictures have just launched a brand new element to their online campaign. The Wolfman Facebook App is a pretty cool game that allows you to choose the side of Humanity or that of the Wolves, and battle to become the most fearsome killer. In the style of a classic AD&D combat game, each battle sees your character grow and develop to become stronger and better equiped. In short..... addictive stuff.

New York Festival's International Advertising Awards

For over fifty years The New York Festival's International Advertising Awards has represented the pinnacle achievement that any advertiser or creative could receive. The awards honour the World's best advertising from over 70 different countries, across all media and platforms: television, cinema, print, outdoor, interactive, design, mixed media, collateral, radio and student advertising. The 2010 deadline for submissions has now passed and the countdown is on to the Oscar's of the advertising world.

There are two things that make the awards stand out from all others. First, the awards draw on the experience of over 250 jury members from 60 countries. Secondly, the awards are judged completely online with each entry assured it receives the proper amount of time and attention, free from outside distractions and unsolicited opinions. The system is specially designed to prevent any scam ads, with the judges encouraged to flag suspected scam ad and write confidential comments supporting their suspicions.

This year the awards have expanded to include the 'Boutique Agency of the Year' award that honours agencies that are not affiliated with a network and have less than 75 employees. A second addition sees the creation of the 'Best New Agency' award to recognise new agencies that have started up in the last 24 months. The new award allows " agencies in business for less than two years to compete and be recognised for their creative achievements, their ability to garner international exposure and the impact their work has on the marketplace".

Details on the 2010 New York Festivals International Advertising Awards for Digital and Interactive can be found here. To get an idea of the calibre of entries that the awards pull in, just take a look at the judging panel!

Digital & Interactive Advertising GrandJury:

• Mark Addy, Digital Creative Director, JWT, Auckland, NZ
• Fernando Barbella, Interactive Creative Director, BBDO, Buenos Aires, Argentina
• Ana Caralt, Creative Director, TribalDDB, Barcelona, Spain
• Orlando Cristofalo, Digital Planning & Creative Coordination, GLUE, Argentina
• Christian Daul, Creative Director, Scholz & Volkmer, Wiesbaden, Germany
• Pal Dobloug, Creative Director, Mediafront, Oslo, Norway
• Niklas Fransson, Creative Director, Rebenga, Sweden
• Martin Garrocho, Interactive Creative Director, Grey, Santiago, Chile
• Niklas Fransson, Creative Director, Rebenga, Sweden
• Srdjan Gulic, Chief Creative Officer, Zagreb, Croatia
• Kevin Lee, Executive Creative Director, OgilvyOne, Shanghai, China
• Jungwon Lee, CEO/Strategic Director, PostVisual.com, Seoul, Korea
• Anto Noval, Director/Chief Creative Officer, Hungry & Foolish Creative Products Pvt. Ltd., India
• Edu Pou, Creative Director, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• Frédéric (Fredo) Sanz, Executive Creative Director, DoubleYou, Barcelona, Spain
• Doug Schiff, Executive Creative Director, OgilvyOne, Beijing, China
• Gabor Spielmann, Executive Creative Director, Grey, Budapest, Hungary
• Raphael Vasconcellos, Executive Creative Director, AgenciaClick, Sao Paulo, Brazil
• Greg Whitham, Interactive Creative Director, Ogilvy, NZ

Google Xistence

Too busy to Tweet?

Feed up with Facebook?

Just not enough time in the day to record and upload a new video blog?

Or. perhaps all you want to do with the web is play computer games and send emails?


Well fear not, Google Xistence is here to help you out...

Ok, so Google Xistence isn't real, but this video does beg the question... what if it were real? Would you actually know whether it was your friend updating their various Social Media profiles? With the development of the Semantic Web (Web 3.0) and the ever increasing sophistication of artificial intelligence programs, could we one day find ourselves unsure as to whether we were talking to a real person or not?

Probably. At least in my opinion.

Augmented Reality: T-Shirt

Ever wanted to play Rock, Paper, Scissors with your t-shirt? Well, maybe not, but it's a pretty odd idea at the very least. Well guess what, the clever folk over at T-Post, the world's first wearable magazine, have brought their 51st issue with this augmented reality, 3-D interactive game...

For those asking themselves, what's T-Post? Here you go!

Cheers to Nick to this one :)

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

Subaru Legacy 2010

Loving the new ad for Subaru Legacy from Tribal DDB...

Creative Director: Dre Labre
Art Director: Barry Lachapelle
Writer: David Horovitch
Director: Ron Gervais
Post-Production: The Electric Company
Flash: Wojtek Arciszewski

Return Of The Wolfman

In 1941 Hollywood made what would become one of the all time quintessential monster movies, The Wolfman. Although this was Hollywood's second outing with a werewolf movie (the first having been 6 years earlier with Jack Pierce's Stuart Walker's Werewolf of London), it was by far the better movie and offered not only the writing talent of Curt Siodmak and direction of George Waggner, but it brought together a truly magnificent cast: Lon Chaney, Jr., Claude Rains, Evelyn Ankers, Ralph Bellamy, Patric Knowles, Béla Lugosi, and Maria Ouspenskaya. Waggner's Wolfman really is brilliant cinema, even 68 years on.

The story follows Chaney as Larry Talbot, a man returning to his family home following a long absence. Talbot quickly becomes enamoured with a local girl, Gwen Conliffe, played by Ankers. In their first encounter, Talbot goes to Gwen's antique shop and ends up buying a silver-handled walking stick, decorated with a wolf's head and pentagram. Gwen explains that this is the sign of the werewolf, and recites a local poem:

Even a man who is pure in heart

and says his prayers by night

may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms

and the autumn moon is bright.

That evening while visiting a gypsy fortune teller, Talbot becomes involved in a wolf attack in which Gwen's friend is killed. The wolf turns out to be one of the gypsies who is a werewolf. Although he kills the animal, Talbot is bitten and so starts the misadventure that ultimately leads to his own death.

Last night I had the pleasure of being invited to the Denzille Cinema by Universal Pictures for a private screening of The Wolfman. The evening was absolutely great, and if you haven't had the pleasure of visiting the Denzille Cinema I highly recommend it. Of course this wasn't just a random screening of a classic movie just for the fun of it. Universal Pictures are currently gearing up for the upcoming realease of their remake of The Wolfman.

The remake is directed by Joe Johnston and stars Benicio del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt and Hugo Weaving. The movie largely sticks to the original plot but adds a number of extra dimensions to the tale through stunning visual effects and an extended overall storyline. As someone who isn't a die hard horror fan by any means, I will say that the remake looks brilliant. Not only is it a cast made up of some of my favourite Hollywood stars but it offers a production ensemble of equally exciting people such as Scott Stuber (production), Danny Elfman (music direction) and Shelly Johnson (cinematography). Filming was done between 3rd March and 23rd June 2008 at Pinewood Studios, to a budget of US$85 million.

'The Wolfman' A Look Inside Featurette

'The Wolfman' Trailer (HD)

Correction
I incorrectly attributed the direction of Werewolf of London to Jack Pierce, who was of course WoL's Makeup Artist (one of Hollywood's greatest infact, having created such legendary creatures as Dracula and Frankenstein). Cheers to Niall for pointing out my error :)

adidas Originals - Star Wars Collection

Back at Christmas I posted about adidas's new range of clothes and shoes inspired and featuring Star Wars. Taking the most iconic moments and favourite characters from the Star Wars story, adidas have translated them for the streets. To do this, the sports brand launched a virtual 3-D world that is accessed through the new line's men’s shoes through three Augmented Reality games. Basically, each shoe design gives the user access to the virtual world and acts as the controller for interacting with it. Chris Barbour, head of digital marketing for adidas Originals, described the new initiative as, “[taking] a real world item and adding a fantastic virtual world on top of that." He added, "We are not trying to mimic a real-world look, we have a more stylized, pop-up book creative approach.”

For the next stage in the new Originals 'The Street where Originality Lives' ad campaign, adidas is kicking off 2010 with three fantastic developments in the campaign. Not only is the adidas Originals site packed with a whole heap of exciting (and exclusive) videos from Estelle, the Ting Tings and Method man & Redman (just to mention a few), not only will the Star Wars range of clothes and shoes be launching in the Irish market through Champion Sports, but there is also a new addition to the online campaign in the form of a seriously cool, Facebook Connect enabled, online app that lets you take control of the Death Star and blow up the homes of your closest friends.

For all the information you'll need, just go to the official adidas Originals Facebook Page and check out this video of the Imperial March remix; featuring Snoop Dogg, David Beckham, Calle 13, DJ Neil Armstrong and Daft Punk...

Social Media & SEO

Last August Adam Singer wrote this excellent post on how Social Media has become inextricably linked to SEO. Adam talks about the reinforcement that each gives the other, in a continuously, self-perpetuating cycle. In the last five months I've seen Adam's theory proven true time and time again, both on commercial endeavours and private websites and blogs. Very simply, the links between Social Media and SEO are undeniable.

The 10 key points that Adam laid out are:

• Search Engines become more sophisticated and powerful
• An active Social Media push of content builds ever stronger links
• Regular, original content creates more opportunity to be found through search
• Search Engines like very regularly updated sites
• Social Media use drives increased successes
• Social Media can be build on
• Beyond links it's also about Digital PR
• Social Media Communities help grow themselves
• Content discovered through Social Media is more likely to be shared
• Engaging, well thought out content is the best

Whether you have your own website or work on a website(s) as part of your job, I highly recommend going and reading Adam's full post.

The Rise Of Google

A great little video showing the story of Google...

"A (very) quick look back at the Google story over the last 11 years. From Stanford to Mountain View and around the world, featuring many different products, starting with BackRub (Search) up to Google Wave, StreetView and Chrome." - Google

Where Do You Go

Where Do You Go is a cool mash-up by Steven Lehrburger that creates a heat map of your Foursquare check-ins.

This is my 'Where Do You Go' map of Foursquare activity...


The app runs on the Google App Engine and was created for the Mashups: Remixing the Web class on New York University's Interactive Telecommunications Program.

Besides his blog, Stephen can also be found on Twitter.

Google Toilet

They know what you search for, they know what you email, they know who you call. What's the next step for everyone's favourite global mega brand?

Google Toilet!

via Geeks Are Sexy - cheers guys :)