David LaChapelle

If there's one thing you do in the next 6 weeks, this should be it!

David LaChapelle, one of if not my favourite photographers of all time, is here in Dublin with his “American Jesus” collection. The exhibition is at the Sebastian Guinness Gallery until the end of October and offers the chance to experience, first hand, one of the greatest photographers of the last 50 years.

Lachapelle is widely regarded as one of the best fine art photographers working today, particularly for his treatment of iconic celebrity images for some of the world's most renowned fashion magazines. His work has featured in Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone and Vogue. LaChapelle has also directed music videos for artists such as Christina Aguilera and Moby.

Don't Stop Believing - Sam Tsui

You probably already saw Sam's Michael Jackson medley/remix which has been doing the internet rounds during the last couple of weeks, but it's worth checking out his other stuff. There's quite a few videos that I've come across on YouTube and they're all pretty good.

This is his version of Don't Stop Believing by Journey, with his customary approach of providing all vocals and musical accompaniment.

The Arthur's Day Petition

I wrote on Thursday about Arthur's Day and one of the things I mentioned was an on-line petition that is currently running on the Guinness 250 Facebook page. The petition is calling on the public to help make Arthur’s Day a national holiday!

Following a number of different pushes on Thursday, Friday was jam packed with coverage. All in there were no less then 6 high profile mentions of the petition; including The Irish Times, Ireland.com, BreakingNews.ie, The Evening Echo, The Irish Examiner, and Sunday Business Post


But what effect did any of this have on the campaign? As of 17.59 on Thursday there were:

• 26,795 fans on Facebook
• 6,618 signatures on the online petition

As of today at 12noon, it looked like this:

• 35,089 fans on Facebook
• 8,804 signatures on the online petition

That's an increase of 8,294 fans and 2,186 petition signatures in less then 66 hours! That is absolutely amazing. My only question, as it was on Thursday, is why have only a quarter of fans signed the petition? Seriously folks, all you have to do is click on the tab that says 'Petition' and enter your name. There's no other details required - just a name.

Arthur's Day is only four days away now - lets break the 10,000 mark on the petition. Tell your friends. Tell your family. Tell your co-workers. This is a big deal people - SIGN UP NOW!

Display Advertising: Utilising Twitter

This is an example of an that pulls in two customised Twitter feeds, based on keyword searches of the micro-blog. It was created by Weapon7 for the charity FAS Aware.

The banner aims to increase awareness of Foetal Alcohol Syndrome. It pulls in live tweets that includ the phrases ‘I need alcohol’ and ‘I am pregnant’. The call to action is: Block Alcohol. When clicked, the message "When alcohol is removed, so is the risk of Foetal Alcohol Syndrome" is displayed.

What's really interesting about the ad is that you are accessing content that has actually been generated by the general public, and is always updating and refreshing itself. From a technical point of view it was necessary to create a tool that would search Twitter for tweets containing the phrases required.

Weapon7 describe the digital strategy as creating connections with young women, and, as Twitter has got sa large and continuously increasing usage, they thought it would be a powerful tool to tap into to make the point. They started with it in mind to find a way to use authentic tweets, as they have stand-out and authenticity.

Creative Director at Weapon7, Jeremy Garner, said "[The campaign] was about real people and how alcohol and pregnancy fits into their lives. We wanted to create an ad that made people think, and allowed them to draw their own conclusions".

Avast Ye Scurvy Doggs!

Ahoy lan'lubbers, unless ye be sailing the murky waters of the underworld, it shud be known to ye that this day, Saturday the 19th day in September, be International Talk Like A Pirate Day. Gar. What'ever business ye be carryin' on with be sure to remember that ye must do it in proper tone and language.

All the words that'd be there to explain it all can be found here, me hearties. Or if ye be not with the smarts to read, listen to Cap'in who be responsible for dis gran' day.



Aaarrrrrr for those first mates what be on the Book o' Faces, listen to me words carefully. Go to the bottum o yer page and look for the secret clicker that be marked with words 'English (UK)'. Press yer cursor over these strange words and a pop-up will appear there right before yer eyes. Find the place that be sayin' 'English (Pirate)' and press it. Then ye be seeing yer Book o' Faces in a whole new light. Good luck ye scurvy doggs. Garrrr.

Interbrand's Top 100 Global Brands 2009

When it comes to the world's biggest brands, the interesting stuff usually never involves the top 5. It's far more interesting to look at midtable battles. The ribvalries and one-up-manships that go on between 50th and 20th places. This year it looks like Google have scored the biggest rise in brand value, with a 25% increase on 2008 estimated brand value. Google now sit at 7th place with a value of nearly $32bn. Not far off them, Amazon grew an wxtremely healthy 22% to almost $8bn.

As has been the trend over the last decade, technology companies have seen huge growth, however it may be the retail brands such as Zara and H&M that are the biggest surprises, both increasing their brand value despite the recession. That said, the recession has had a negative effect on many brands; including Morgan Stanley, HSBC and American Express, who all saw major drops.

Sitting in the revered top five sector, Coca-Cola remains the world's most valuable brand for the 9th year in a row, at $69bn.

Rank	Brand	2009 Value $m	%change 08	Country
1	Coca-Cola	68734	3%	US
2	IBM	60211	2%	US
3	Microsoft	56647	-4%	US
4	GE	47777	-10%	US
5	Nokia	34864	-3%	Finland
6	McDonald's	32275	4%	US
7	Google	31980	25%	US
8	Toyota	31330	-8%	Japan
9	Intel	30636	-2%	US
10	Disney	28447	-3%	US
11	Hewlett-Packard	2496	2%	US
12	Mercedes-Benz	23867	-7%	Germany
13	Gillette	22841	4%	US
14	Cisco	2230	3%	US
15	BMW	21671	-7%	Germany
16	Louis Vuitton	21120	-2%	France
17	Marlboro	1910	-11%	US
18	Honda	17803	-7%	Japan
19	Samsung	17518	-1%	S. Korea
20	Apple	15443	12%	US
21	H&M	15375	11%	Sweden
22	American Express	14971	-32%	US
23	Pepsi	13706	3%	US
24	Oracle	13699	-1%	US
25	Nescafe	13317	2%	Switzerland
26	Nike	13179	4%	US
27	SAP	12106	-1%	Germany
28	Ikea	124	10%	Sweden
29	Sony	11953	-12%	Japan
30	Budweiser	11833	3%	US
31	UPS	11594	-8%	US
32	HSBC	10510	-20%	Britain
33	Canon	10441	-4%	Japan
34	Kellogg's	10428	7%	US
35	Dell	10291	-12%	US
36	Citi	10254	49%	US
37	J.P. Morgan	9550	-11%	US
38	Goldman Sachs	9248	-10%	US
39	Nintendo	9210	5%	Japan
40	Thomson Reuters	8434	1%	Canada
41	Gucci	8182	-1%	Italy
42	Philips	8121	-2%	Netherlands
43	Amazon	7858	22%	US
44	L'Oreal	7748	3%	France
45	Accenture	7710	-3%	US
46	eBay	7350	-8%	US
47	Siemens	7308	-8%	Germany
48	Heinz	7244	9%	US
49	Ford	75	-11%	US
50	Zara	6789	14%	Spain
51	Wrigley	6731	10%	US
52	Colgate	6550	2%	US
53	AXA	6525	-7%	France
54	MTV	6523	-9%	US
55	Volkswagen	6484	-8%	Germany
56	Xerox	6431	1%	US
57	Morgan Stanley	6399	-26%	US
58	Nestle	6319	13%	Switzerland
59	Chanel	640	-5%	France
60	Danone	5960	10%	France
61	KFC	5722	3%	US
62	Adidas	5397	6%	Germany
63	Blackberry	5138	7%	Canada
64	Yahoo!	5111	-7%	US
65	Audi	510	-7%	Germany
66	Caterpillar	54	-5%	US
67	Avon	4917	-7%	US
68	Rolex	4609	-7%	Switzerland
69	Hyundai	4604	-5%	S. Korea
70	Hermes	498	1%	France
71	Kleenex	4404	-5%	US
72	UBS	4370	-50%	Switzerland
73	Harley-Davidson	4337	-43%	US
74	Porsche	4234	-8%	Germany
75	Panasonic	4225	-1%	Japan
76	Tiffany & Co.	40	-5%	US
77	Cartier	3968	-6%	France
78	Gap	3922	-10%	US
79	Pizza Hut	3876	-5%	US
80	Johnson&Johnson	3847	7%	US
81	Allianz	3831	-5%	Germany
82	Moet & Chandon	3754	-5%	France
83	BP	3716	-5%	Britain
84	Smirnoff	3698	3%	Britain
85	Duracell	3563	-3%	US
86	Nivea	3557	5%	Germany
87	Prada	3530	-2%	Italy
88	Ferrari	3527	0%	Italy
89	Armani	3303	-6%	Italy
90	Starbucks	3263	-16%	US
91	Lancome	3235	N/A	France
92	Shell	3228	-7%	Netherlands
93	Burger King	3223	N/A	US
94	Visa	3170	-5%	US
95	Adobe	3161	N/A	US
96	Lexus	3158	-12%	Japan
97	Puma	3154	N/A	Germany
98	Burberry	395	N/A	Britain
99	PoloRalphLauren	394	N/A	US
100	Campbell's	381	N/A	US

Countdown to Arthur's Day

16th September, 17:59 - the countdown is really on now folks. In just one week’s time, Dublin will be transformed into the epicentre of music, celebration and excitement for Arthur’s Day. Across Ireland thousands of people will be coming together to enjoy live music in over 33 venues across Dublin; including a special concert at the St. James’s Gate brewery itself.

A 48sheet carrying a Guinness 250 ad
coupled with a digital countdown clock

To get into the spirit of the occassion, people all over Ireland have been adding their names to an on-line petition. The petition was born out out of the Guinness 250 Facebook page, where the suggestion was put to the public - make Arthur’s Day a national holiday!

The Facebook page already has 26,795 fans and the online petition has 6,618 signatures.

So do you know what that means?

Only a quarter of Guinness 250 fans want Arthur's Day to become a national holiday! Seriously folks, what's up with that? Get to the page and get signing now!

Now I'm more then willing to tip my hat to all the loyal fans who already joined the fan page, lets face it, there's been one fan joining every 30 seconds. That's three fans in the time it takes your favourite pint to be poured ;)

So come on fans - sign the petition, who doesn't want another public holiday, especially in honour of such a great man.


Arthur's Day 2009
So where will you be at 17:59 on 24th September? Where will you be for this once in a lifetime moment, to raise a pint of Guinness to Arthur. In fairness, Arthur Guinness and his family were responsible for some of the most well known acts of philanthropy in Ireland and to honour and continue this legacy Guinness have established the Arthur Guinness Fund. The Fund is to enable and empower individuals with skills and opportunities to deliver a measured benefit to their communities. So Guinness & Co. are donating €6 million to the Arthur Guinness Fund. Could there be any better reason to toast the Arthur Guinness?

So all you need to do to join in the Global Toast to Arthur at 17:59 on Thursday 24th September, is get to one of the following venues or pubs (if you want to enjoy world class music), or just get down to your own local, pause a moment, and raise a pint of the black stuff to a truly great man.

To Arthur!


Pubs and Venues
This is the full list of artists that are publicly confirmed for each pub or venue. Now I say publically confirmed because each Pub will also feature 1 or 2 surprise special guests that won't be announced. The only way to know is to be there! Get on to ticketmaster now and get yourself a ticket.

The Academy
Fionn Regan, Imelda May, Paolo Nutini, Richard Hawley, The Kooks

Tripod
Calvin Harris, Jamie Cullum, Mongrel, Soul II Soul, Republic of Loose, Roots Manuva

Vicar Street
Black Swan Effect, OK Go, Razorlight, Reverend and The Makers, Sugababes, The Blizzards, The Magic Numbers

Whelan’s
David Gray, The Hot Rats, Lisa Hannigan, Noah and the Whale, The Enemy, The Undertones, The Wombats

Bruxelles
Jay Jay Pistolet, Jerry Fish and the Mudbug Club

Hogans
Born Blonde, Oppenheimer

Sin É
Concerto for Constantine, Dirty Epics

South William
David Kitt, The Infomatics

Brogans
Jerry Fish and the Mudbug Club, Cherbourg

Café en Seine
Leopold, White Belt Yellow Tag

Pygmalion
Hoarsebox, The Chapters

Spy
Oppenheimer, The Infomatics

Dicey Reilly's
The Chakras

The Baggot Inn
Leopold, Nat Jenkins

The Auld Dubliner
Jay Jay Pistolet, Lumiere

The Palace Bar
Fiona Melady, Sharon Shannon

The Church
Spring Break

The Village
Golden Silvers, The Coronas

The Odeon
Dirty Epics, General Fiasco

Oliver St John Gogarty
Born Blonde, David Kitt

The Temple Bar
Johnny Flynn, Lumiere

Flannery's
Cherbourg, Concerto for Constantine

Dakota
The Chakras, The Chapters

O'Donoghue's
Sharon Shannon, The High Kings

Market Bar
Golden Silvers, Mick Flannery

The Foggy Dew
Noise Control

Eamonn Dorans
White Belt Yellow Tag, Noise Control

The Stags Head
Johnny Flynn, General Fiasco

Mulligan’s
Fiona Melady, Mick Flannery

Doheny & Nesbitt
Eoghan Colgan, Nat Jenkins

The Bank on College Green
Hoarsebox, The Coronas

The Brazen Head
Eoghan Colgan, The High Kings