Google Wave's 2009

Google wave's depiction of most memorable moments from 2009.

Phew.

Flow chart friday

via the shallow end

Christmas campanology card

Three cheers for our Christmas campanology card which went live last week!

See us expertly tootling along to Ding Dong Merrily On High. Alternatively, have a go on our interactive ringers and recreate your favourite Cliff Richard carol to send to a friend.

On Sunday, people across the world will be ringing bells in support of Copenhagen and of course we at St Luke's will be ringing our handbells too.

Shiny and New

After lots of blood, sweat and tears, we're very proud to introduce our brand spanking new website.
We're very proud of it, stop by for a visit and let us know what you think of it...

ST LUKE'S GREEN POLICY

St Luke's is working towards its ISO 14001, here's our policy:

Our main objective is to formalise our current environmental procedures and gain certification as industry recognition of the environmental process inherent to St Luke’s. We need to gain a deeper understanding of how we work as an agency, which means monitoring aspects within the agency carefully. We will gather and analyse data, research alternative possibilities and where appropriate, implement new procedures.

Environmental awareness has always been inherent to St Luke’s company philosophy. We aim to refresh and improve our green awareness and target areas which can be improved.

Our key objective is to reduce our environmental footprint. Staff already have an understanding of carbon footprint and are mindful of it, but we need their support to continue to improve our green credentials.

The Green Touch

Things are still changing at St Lukes. I am sure you have all noticed the new bins are in place, the new labels are up and the pledge is on the wall. May I remind you, we have all pledged, “to always consider the environmental impact of our actions whilst at work and actively work to reduce our carbon footprint and that of the agency”.
There are no more excuses! Paper goes in the brand new recyclable bins, newspapers and magazines go in the kitchen and general waste goes…well in the general waste bin. However, the trick question is: “is it general waste?” You may have the same issue I have sometimes: “but what bin does it go in?” Do not get discouraged and opt for the General Waste bin, do not feel ashamed, ask a fellow friend!

PS: keep up the efforts, Mr Inspector will be around soon to check up on us!

Oh and don’t forget Green is definitely the new Black! Because we are worth it☺

The Day I Was Made into an App

I was pleasantly surprised yesterday to find that my Twitter book has been made into an app on the iTunes store. I think the guys at Mobikats have done a good job at converting it, and will be interested to see how it competes with the physical edition. On the plus side, it's a whopping £2.20 cheaper. On the minus side, you can't pick it up from the counter of Waterstones when you remember that it's your nephew's birthday tomorrow and you haven't got him anything.

Let's see how it goes...

Tim Collins

Who Loves ya baby!

I've been deliberating about where to go for a short break. I watched this short 1970's piece narrated by Telly Savalas and my mind is firmly made up!

Birmingham is the place to be!

Check this 5 min film out you will not be disappointed I promise you!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxZ1xn2ml10

ps Telly also narrated one about Portsmouth.....that's my next trip sorted! :)

Delphina x

Awesome Parents

Awww...

A rather sweet site about how cool your mum and dad were in their day.

Like a positive version of awkwardfamilyphotos.com

Sorry ladies - its official, he's off the market!

HUGE congrats to our very own Dan D dan dan dan, aka 'the Hulsinator' who got engaged yesterday!
Look forward to the champers Dan Hulse - she's a very brave lady! :):)

BRAWN GP TEAM: YOU'VE EARNED YOUR BOWTIME

Jenson Button has finally become Forumla One world champion and by gum have the Brawn GP team earned their Bowtime.

So we decided to tell them, placing ads in the Daily Mirror, Star and Sun.

In the words of Marcus Graftus, 'Your time has come!'

St Lukes’ ongoing Green transformation

As you all know, St Lukes is going the extra mile to make sure the agency’s carbon footprint is limited to the lowest level possible. We kicked off last Friday on St Luke’s day with Nimi’s presentation and posters have been put up to remind everyone of the efforts we each need to make. And of course, there is the pledge everyone has signed, if you haven’t, hurry! The pledge will be put on the wall, out of reach and for everyone to admire the commitment this agency has made.

The next step will consist in putting up signage to indicate recycling bins:

• Toners/ cartridges (between the couches and Roy’s station)
• DVDs/CDs next to TV
• Batteries (on top of one of the couches)
• And general waste bins at the end of each pod for all the rest
• Also, a new label in the kitchen, for glass/porcelain.

Hopefully, these will be put up as soon as possible and you are kindly asked by the entire EMS team to respect them if you do not want to be yelled at. I would like to remind you that an inspector will be coming around to check whether or not we are worthy of the ISO 14001 certification.

Beware Mum & Dad will be watching you…and to that you have to add the stalking intern!!

ST LUKE'S DAY

Friday saw St Lukers celebrating our namesake’s day. After bacon sandwiches, and with the image of beautiful new meeting rooms fixed firmly in our mind, we donned jumpsuits to rise to the challenge of those four dreaded words: CLEAR OUT THE BASEMENT.
Some interesting discoveries were made:

1) We had enough furniture to kit out an entire 80s advertising office (internet surfing chairs that look like ironing boards! Remember them?! No? Probably best not to…)

2) Neil Henderson still has table football skills

3) Coral the intern is excellent at bubble wrapping (thanks Coral btw)
The good news is it won’t be long til the basement is refurbished and we can expand downstairs. Plus we created a mini freecycle, supplying most of Bloomsbury with new furniture and books. Enjoy everyone.

St Luke's wins Harvester

We're very happy to announce Harvester, the Mitchells & Butlers owned restaurant chain, has hired us for its new account.

Harvester have briefed us to produce a campaign which will launch next year.

Simon Cope, Director of Marketing at Mitchells and Butlers said, "St Luke's have created an idea that will form the basis of our communications for the next five years. We were impressed by their deep insight and ability to create a powerful agenda that will affect all parts of the Harvester business".

Eyes Shut Sunday Shoot

Seamus Ryan, the photographer we worked with on our recent RNIB campaign, opens the doors of his Columbia Road studio on Sundays to photograph the public in his renowned Sunday Shoots.

This Sunday he is conducting a special Sunday Shoot, in support of our RNIB campaign.

He will invite the public into his studio and shoot them with their eyes closed, in contemplation of the question 'What would you lose from your life is you lost your sight'.

Everyone is welcome, so please join us at Seamus' studio just off Columbia road (7 Ezra Street, E2 7HR) and show your support for RNIB by posing for a photo.

For more info check out http://www.sundayshoots.com/

Sarah

Twitter or How Citizens Have Spoken

Social media has yet again given proof it enhances democratic participation. Twitter users have cracked the mystery behind the gagging order silencing the Guardian’s reporting of a parliamentary question. Twitter investigators published the details of the entire affair late Monday night and ended up in various blogs and in the press starting with The Private Eye. The subject was mentioned in no less than 3,000 tweets in 15 min on Tuesday.

The breach of freedom of press was orchestrated by Carter-Ruck, the law firm representing Trafigura, a multinational oil company. It obtained an injunction preventing the Guardian from reporting on a question tabled this Monday by Labour MP Paul Farrelly. The ‘super-injunction’ prevented disclosures about toxic oil waste, Trafigura arranged to dump in the Ivory Coast, where inhabitants of the capital, Abidjan suffered from “flu-like symptoms" they might have gotten following the dumping”.

This whole story raises debate on several issues: the questions of oil dumping and ‘super-injunctions’ under which “commercial corporations claim the right to keep secret the fact they have been to court”, and the growing power of social media and the different ways it can be used to serve democracy.

Doesn’t it confirm, once again, that London is the social media capital of the world?

Coral

mmmm How Divine! It's Chocolate week!

I was very delighted to receive the latest Divine Chocolate newsletter announcing that Chocolate Week starts from the 12th October !! Whoo hoo! It's co-sponsored by Divine Chocolate with loads of promotions and events happening up and down the country all week.

To celebrate I whipped up a batch of Pecan Brownies using one of the recipes from a link in the newsletter.

I used dark Divine Chocolate (of course!)and in addition to the pecans I added macadamia nuts & glace cherries! Yum! They'll be on the HUB for you to enjoy after lunch!

Delphina x

ps to sign up for the newsletter and to find out out more about all the events go to the link

A STORY IN SAND

Thanks to The Young Creative Council post on FB extolling the joys of geekdom (as if we need convincing...), which included this staggering clip from Ukraine's Got Talent.



ITV just looked even cheaper...

Can you imagine British kids doing this??

RNIB MAZE AT LABOUT PARTY CONFERENCE

RNIB and issues of sight loss have had presence this week at the Labour party conference. Michael Foster MP took RNIB's maze challenge where people were blindfolded and had to carry out daily tasks like shopping and using the ATM. He said; “Taking RNIB’s Maze Challenge gave me a new perspective on the huge challenges people face when they begin to lose their sight and the patchy support available in many areas. It is time for the Government to prioritise support at the time of sight loss - it is unacceptable that when you most need it, you may struggle to find the right help." What a great way to get a politician to think about the issue.

Read the article
Ed

Mark Vernon's ten ancient tips for the modern world

We've been helping out The School of Life expert Mark Vernon with the launch of his new book, 'Plato's Podcasts - The Ancients' Guide to Modern Living'.

Ex-priest Mark is a founding member of our client The School of Life whose previous publications include 'The Philosophy of Friendship' and 'Wellbeing'. According to Mark, 'writing a sermon is remarkably similar to writing a feature; and speaking to parishioners is remarkably like to talking to a microphone'.

In advance of the book's release, Mark has compiled ten tips based on the philosophies of the old school heavies to help us deal with the high-tech world of modern life. Pretty useful in the heady, relentless whirl of advertising.

Don't know your ARG from your APG? Web 2.0 baffles and web 3.0 frankly terrifies? Pah. According to Mark, this is nothing compared to the rapid, intrepid changes the ancient Greeks had to cope with. Try dealing with the new technologies for constructing the Parthenon. Mark's advice: think like Zeno the Stoic and go with the flow.

NEW RNIB CAMPAIGN

St Luke's new campaign for RNIB launched this week. Our brief was to begin the journey to recruiting a new generation of supporters for RNIB, by putting the issue of sight loss on to their agenda.

People have a very superficial understanding of sight loss and its implications. In fact, without the sort of support RNIB offers, losing your sight can mean losing the life you had and the future you dreamed of.

With this campaign, we're hoping to create engagement and empathy with the issue of sight loss by encouraging people to consider how losing their sight would affect them personally by asking them the question ‘What would you lose from your life if you lost your sight?’ and inviting them to tell us their answers.

The campaign shows groups of real people including rugby players, chefs and hikers, in the midst of their activity with their eyes shut, contemplating their own answers to the question.

What would you lose from your life if you lost your sight?

CREATIVE COMPETITION

MOFILM is 'a user generated content platform which links the global community with big brands and film through the use of short form video'. They are holding a competition where aspiring creatives can write a digital TV spot for the next campaign for some very big brands including McDonalds, Omo, Pepsi, Visa, Nokia, Campbell's and Vaseline... Briefs can be downloaded from the MOFILM website and entrants then upload thier video. Prizes include trips to film festivals, cash, shopping sprees and internships and the chance to walk the red carpet with Clive Owen at the premiere of his next film Boys Are Back at the London Film Festival. The winning video will be posted on the home page of YouTube for 24 hours. So everyone, get writing! Competition closes October 5.

http://www.mofilm.com/competitions/lff2009/

Mills & Boon, Love & Tea!

I know it's only 11.52am in the morning but it's never too early for romance! I read a review in the London Paper of a rather splendid book club that's been started up at a new tearoom in Soho called 'Yumchaa'.

Romance book lovers are encouraged to bring along their favourite Mills & Boon title for discussion over 'proper tea' - no bags strictly loose-leaf! There will be a guest speaker each month and a surprise too!

I think it's a really sweet idea and for sure I'm going to pop along to the next one. I'm hoping that the 'no-teabags' policy is the only restriction and that copious amounts of biscuits are allowed!

Love Delphina xx

DJ YOUTUBE

Be a digital conductor. In Bb 2.0 is a collaborative music and spoken word project conceived by Darren Solomon from Science for Girls, and developed with contributions from users.

Play all the videos simultaneously or a couple at a time, in any order.

LEGO LOVE

8-Bit Stop Motion Trip With Legos - Watch more Funny Videos

FUTURE DEATH OF THE BIG IDEA

With the formidable rise of social media and the opportunities for smaller online campaigns targeted at specific groups of consumers what will happen to the ‘big idea’ campaigns? Of course we still have great some great, big-production TV ads out there but years into the future - when technology has progressed to a degree where billboards can recognize your own face, mobile phones know exactly what shop you are in, customer service is done on Twitter and there is no such thing as public cinemas - will we still have those magical, colorful, atmospheric, ‘big-idea’ ads? The ads that we (God forbid) actually like.

Advertising on the Internet is still mostly boring but it’s so much cheaper for companies and they are realising this; Volkswagen, for example chose to launch the latest version of its Golf GTi without using television or print advertising, relying almost entirely on free "buzz" online.

Despite the huge buzz about online/social media, television advertising is still proven to be more effective than other mediums, YouGov and the Edinburgh International Television Festival found in a survey they conducted. Most consumers will see a brand or product on the TV and then afterwards use the Internet to research it. Hence the Internet needs to provide more functional and accessible information spaces such as brand homepages and online eStores instead of mediocre banner ads that only achieve a low ‘click-through’ rate.

The most viewed ads on the Internet are still those that take the form of TV ads or are TV ads in the first place. 2007’s Cadbury Gorilla sensation was one of those ‘big idea’ ads that had a huge viral crossover success when 4million people watched it on YouTube. Millions have watched Sony’s Bravia and Dove’s Evolution ads and there are many other examples. These ads are examples of recent big ideas that are more than ad’s, they have become cultural moments. They are autonomous in their own right, for their humour, cinematography or ability to address a universal issue.

The Internet is powerful because it can distribute and ‘keep alive’ the buzz that surrounds a great ad, but the power is still in the ‘initial idea.’ Facebook may allow us to target people but great ideas will transform these people (and the world they live in).

So will advertising in the future be much smaller (albeit targeted), less exciting pop-up commercials and Facebook chats between a company representative and a consumer? That would make being a consumer akin to being a ‘friend’ and there is nothing wrong with that, its just that Facebook’s quest for transparency, and the internet powers that be sometimes have the consequence of vilifying traditional above the line advertising, and I don’t think it deserves the beating.

Or will we see advertisers go back to the ‘big idea’ after a period of boredom and bafflement with smaller, fragmented social-media strategies that only target a specific group – even if it is done well?

Two articles worth reading in regards to this are:

http://www.mediaweek.co.uk/news/929105/2014-media-odyssey/

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/04b5a80c-9369-11de-b146-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1

Edward Campbell

Tori's Eye

'If you wanted an aquarium without the hassle, now you have it.' - Tori's Eye

Tori's Eye visualises random tweets through origami birds which bob across the screen, over and over again. Strangely hypnotic.

STRONGBOWL!

Our Hard Earned campaign rewards the graft of yet another unsung hero.

Happy Birthday Slogan

Our very own Tim C - author of the ‘Little Book of Twitter’ - celebrates the 150th anniversary of the advertising slogan.

In an article published today on UTalkMarketing.com, Tim says: "Apparently, the first ever advertising slogan, ‘worth a guinea’, was written for Beecham’s Pills 150 years ago. It probably wouldn’t cause too much excitement in a creative review today, but it was the start of something big. Or rather, the start of something short and concise."

So, how do we do it Tim? He says: "So what makes a slogan good? Well, it’s not an exact science, but it does seem to come down to the quality that decades of music journalism has failed to come up with a better word for than ‘catchiness’."

For more words of wisdom and slogan trivia, click here.

NEW YORK GOOGLE MAPS FONT

Tweehive!

In keeping with our green ideology and to complement our flourishing herb garden here at the St Lukes office, we thought this looked like a great idea to take it digital and promote environmentalism on the internet!

Tweehive allows owners of ecology and sustainability related websites, to seed their 'gardens' with flowers that when collected by Tweehive's 'bees' register their website on the Tweehive page, thus creating an archive of websites related to the topic!

Confused!? Click on the link to check it out and learn more about this fun community!

Mills & Boon Unveil Book Covers for the 21st Century

We can proudly announce the unveiling of the new Mills and Boon covers. The new covers were created with the publishers classic, iconic artwork in mind, but revamped for a 21st century audience.

View the new covers

On the Street and on Facebook: THe Homeless Stay Wired.

Not having a home does not mean you can't have a home page as many of the homeless are demonstrating. "You don't need a TV. You don't need a radio. You don't even need a newspaper. But you need the Internet" explains Mr Pitts, aged 37 and homeless for two years.

Mr Pitts is just one of many examples portraying how deeply the digital age has rooted itself in the lives of everybody, regardless of circumstance or fortune, dispelling the fear of a "digital divide".

The aspiring poet owns Facebook, MySpace and Twitter accounts, runs an internet forum and uses the web to read news and converse with friends. Furthermore, the internet allows the homeless to more effectively explore avenues of employment and doorways to opportunity.

TEDGlobal 2009 - Ideas Worth Spreading.

TEDGlobal 2009 takes place this week as captains of industry, leaders, scientists and experts gather to exchange thoughts on anything and everything.

Heavy hitters included Gordon Brown, JJ Abrams (Hollywood writer, director, producer and creator of Lost) and Jeff Bezos (CEO and founder of Amazon.com). We thought the following were particularly interesting and hope you enjoy them too......

Seth Godin on standing out.
Seth Godin, a marketing expert, explains how terrible or strange marketing ideas are better than boring ones in the pursuit of gaining people's attention to a product or brand. Especially in an era where time is scarce and the range of choice is vast and growing, it easier for the consumer to ignore those ideas that don't catch their eye than examine every one when making a decision about where to eat, what to watch and what to buy. At least bad ideas make the cut when it comes to attracting attention and discussion.

Sarah Jones as a one-woman global village.
Social Media brings people and ideas together from around the world whilst they sit at their computers, on the train, in the pub. This lady brings them together literally in one act, discussing how invention can include the invention of self and identity. The Internet and social media allow you to invent yourself in any way you like and thus there are some interesting parallels to be drawn.

Clay Shirky: How social media can make history.
Social media is providing those living in oppressed regimes and remote areas of the world the ability to deliver news and information to the rest of us, despite the efforts of their government to stop them doing so - the truth will out!

Radio 1 spoofs our Strongbow ad

BBC Radio One have created a trail for Greg James' Summer Jobs Tour borrowing our new Strongbow idea:

"Babysitters - you protect our future generations. Theme park sorbet sellers - you cool our nation's families. Custard cream filling inspectors - you inspect the integrity of biscuits filled with cream..."

The trail promotes a feature where Greg visits students doing summer jobs to perk them up. We heartily approve.

Click here to listen to the trail (52 minutes, 10 seconds in).

Rob Calder bagpipes across America

Proving that St Luke's has the best clients, Rob, our Strongbow Global client, has been travelling across the USA playing the bagpipes as he goes. And demonstrating the power of social media he has been relying on his Scots compartiots to provide shelter as goes. He hasn't stayed in a hotel in 5 weeks. Here he is on TV in Las Vegas flirting with the presenter!

LESSONS FOR LIFE

Our dear friends at The School of Life have launched Life Class, a blog aiming to provide solutions - or at least food for thought - about the trails and tribulations of life. Topics discussed by philosopher Alain de Botton, BBC Radio 2 resident Psychologist Brett Kahr, conversationalist Catherine Blyth and two other philosophers include having sex, falling in love, Surviving Embarrassment, and Cherishing Silence. The blog forms the backbone of a new column soon to be published in the Evening Standard.

Posts range from M25 philosophy - thinking yourself round in circles, some posts are more DIY instruction, but generally they serve to make you think. Which is probably the point of a good life class...

I want you to want me

I Want You To Want Me is an interactive installation about online dating, commissioned by and installed at New York's MoMA on Valentine's Day 2008, as part of their Design and the Elastic Mind show.

Displayed on a 56” touch screen monitor, the piece portrays an interactive sky filled with hundreds of pink (female) and blue (male) balloons, each representing a real person’s online dating profile collected from any one of several dozen Internet dating websites. Viewers can touch individual balloons to reveal personal information about the dater inside, and can rearrange the balloons in various ways to highlight different aspects of the world of online dating, including the top turn-ons, the most popular first dates, and the top desires. It is a collaboration with Sep Kamvar.

Ongoing brilliance from the guys behind the Whopper.

From whopper freakout, to ditch your mates on facebook, here's a very cool interactive display ad that was used to promote Burger Kings partnership with the recent Indiana Jones film.

Community is...

Craig Newmark of Craigslist talking about the meaning of community at Digital Britain, via Wordia.

10 Steps to launch a new product using social media

A nice, easy step-by-step guide to launching a new product via the means of social media, brought to you by Edward Boches:

1. Make a commitment.,
2. Define your community
3. Determine your objectives
4. Engineer your presence
5. Build a following
6. engage, share and inspire participation
7. Do something attention getting
8. Mobilize your community.
9. Measure results.
10. Keep on going.

For further elaboration click here

Tim

OMG the future just arrived

Great video with an impressive collection of facts about how the world is changing faster than ever set to funky 'world music' - comes with an ad for HP at the end.
Neil

'Chuck out your chintz' remembered by the FT this weekend

The 'Chuck out your Chintz' campaign we did for Ikea in 1996 set out to change the taste of the nation. It became such a defining statement of change that Tony Blair used the line in a speech when he talked about the fundamental change he had made to Labour party. The FT have added the campaign to their list of defining moments. You can't much more agenda-setting than that!

PLAY ME PIANO

We played piano at the British Library on Friday.

Traffic surge as news of Jacko's death spreads

As word began to spread around the world of Jacko's demise, traffic surged causing site shut downs and server crashes.

For the first half an hour after the news broke on www.tmz.com, traffic levels on google news were so high that Google presumed an attack on their systems. 36 out of the top 100 Google search terms were linked to Jackson's death and his music. The BBC reported a 48 per cent increase in traffic.

According to Twitter tracking software, Twist, at the height of the traffic surge nearly 30 percent of all Tweets were Jacko related as people turned to the site to try and confirm reports of the suspected death.

Interestingly enough, when I first heard the news in a restaurant last night, everyone's first reaction was to reach for the iPhone and get on twitter - not the BBC. I suspect this illustrates how people are beginning to trust people more than they trust the traditional news agencies. Or perhaps it's a matter of speed of WOM. Either way, it proves yet again the value of social technology to help people communicate.

ANONYMOUS HUGGING WALL

All you need is love: the Anonymous Hugging Wall, designed by Keetra Dean Dixon as part of the Methods & Apparati for Social Facilitation and Mood Elevation project.

Proof that Emily has SERIOUS problems

Play my piano

Artist Luke Jerram has found 30 pianos and left them around the city for Londoners to indulge inimpromptu summer concerts. Originally in Birmingham, Play Me, I’m Yours was designed to act as a catalyst for strangers who regularly occupy the same space, to talk and connect with one another.

So it's a social media project really. In fact Luke says:"Like Facebook, ‘Play Me, I’m Yours’ provides an interconnected resource, an empty blank canvas, for the public to express themselves and share their creativity."

Locations include the British Library (lunchtime singalong anyone?), Tate Britian, Soho Square (midnight singalong anyone?) and Liverpool Street Station.

I love the idea of bringing music to the capital, for the people, by the people, getting strangers to talk to each other, to have a shared experience, to make people smile. I hope they're allowed to stay.

Next Floor: Hell

Civilization by Marco Brambilla is a fantastic video installation for a New York hotel, which takes elevator passengers on a trip from hell to heaven (or vice versa). Click the link and see how beautiful it is.

Strongbow Bankers

Shortness at Tate

St. Luke’s spent a cultural day at Tate Modern on Saturday twittering live updates from their conference on Shortness. This was the first time the Tate has ever generated live updates from its events, with a projector displaying a live stream throughout.

Shortness, ‘a very short conference and a very long dinner’ brought together practitioners and theoreticians of the humanities, arts and sciences to discuss and explore shortness in all its manifestations.

Speakers included DJ Spooky, Sadie Plant, Lia Perjovschi and Tom Shakespeare. Compère Nicholas Parsons even tried his hand at Twitter:

RT @naomiwv With Nicholas' permission, his first tweet: 'Shortness at Tate is proving a very successful idea.'

The twittering was led by St. Luke’s creative Tim Collins, author of "The Little Book of Twitter", which gives an insight into the worldwide internet craze offering tips and tricks for getting tweetwise.

Follow @short_at_tate and click here to watch interviews with the speakers.

Happy ever after?

I've always wondered what happened after the happily ever after in fairytales. This fallen princesses photo series goes through the Disney dramas and shows what happened next - with some pretty devastating consequences. I like it.

Digital Britain : what's the impact?

llustration: Tobias Hickey via The Guardian

So the long awaited Digital Britain report is out. It details the economic importance of the web and related industries, as well as plans to eradicate piracy and illegal file sharing.

Headlines include:

2Mb broadband links for all (woo-hoo - that's about as fast as your nearly dead hamster could power a hairdryer)

Boomerang Kangeroo - C4 and BBC back in talks (why did they veto it the first time round??!)

Digital industry key to our economic recovery (a ten year old could have told you that)

BBC licence fee to help fund broadband and ITV local news - and a 50p 'tax' on phone lines. (smartphones anyone?)

Analogue radio switch-off set for 2015 (scary for those who switched off their DAB platforms last year - most recent victim: Birdsong FM, blub)

Internet service providers to cut illegal filesharing by 70 - £50,000 fine and jail time for sharing a file(erm, just not going to happen!)

Reactions so far have been fast and pretty furious from the digital community, twitter followers calling it "short-sighted", "umimaginative" "naive". Personally, I think there's been little innovation here, and a sometimes scary lack of understanding about the evolution of the internet and what its impact will be. It's a shame really, especially when the govt seem to be trying to re-brand the country to rival Silicon Valley. It just goes to show what happens when bureaucracy gets in the way of innovation - nothing.

Follow the feedback on #digitalbritain

For a shortform explanation see the wordle version.

USPS Priority Mail Simulator

Finally, a very useful way of making augmented reality mean something more than pretty.

#ukhols

To promote Vodaphone's summer of free roaming, they've set up this site which tracks where people are going on holiday, via twitter declarations. Nice, simple us of twitter, and a good way to assemble data and a few pr stories.

Arson, social media and the onion

Brilliant.

Farewell

From Spreading Sparkle to Earning my Bowtime... its been fun.

Thanks St Luker's x

The millionth word

Web 2.0. At 10.22 this morning, the term officially the millionth 'word' entered into the English lexicon.

The Global Language Monitor acknowledges new words when they have appeared 25,000 times in the global print media, the web, the blogosphere and sites such as Twitter and YouTube.

Linguistic experts disagree on how to classify words, but under Global Language Monitor's criteria a word is generated every 98 minutes. The 1,000,001st term to register 25,000 citations is 'financial tsunami', it said.

Despite having more than a million words at our disposal, the average person's vocabulary is fewer than 14,000.

I like the word discombobulate. What's your favourtite word?

BooneOakley.com

HELP ME FIND MY AVON AD!

After receiving a letter from Faith Hines - the actress who starred in the first ever Avon UK television ad - requesting a copy of her ad, Avon set about searching their archives to send it to her.

And continued searching.

Disaster has struck - despite hunting through TV archives across the country Avon can't find the ad anywhere. So, Faith and Avon are launching an online campaign to try and locate the ad.

Please join their Facebook group 'Help me find my Avon ad!' and follow Faith's updates on Twitter. Let the hunt begin!

TWITTER ON PAPER

Twitter on Paper is a free service that sends you your requested Twitter on paper. Twitters are hand written and one of a kind.

Twitter seems to be sparking lots of alternatives - see Russell Davies' 'slow' social networking project dawdlr where updates occur every six months. Mail a postcard to Russell answering the question 'what are you doing, you know, more generally?' and he'll then update the blog. Twice a year.

Sound Transit

Seagulls in Moscow and church bells in Chile - create your own sonic journey across the world.

Strongbow Ad

Following the successful Total First Pint Refreshment campaign, we were briefed to give Strongbow a role in its drinkers' lives - something that tapped into what really matters to them. The Strongbow drinker works hard for a living, and believes in the importance of honest rewards for an honest day's work. For them, a pint of Strongbow at the end of the working day tastes better because they've earned it. They know that not everyone shares these values - society seems to glorify reality TV stars, and bankers have made fortunes while losing millions of ordinary people's money. We spotted the opportunity to reward and celebrate the unsung graft of the Strongbow drinker, with a campaign based on the idea that workers are heroes.

The ad will be first aired on Sky Sports 1 at 4.50pm Sunday 24th May.

So far it seems to be going down very well...

Marketing

Campaign

Guardian

High Five

This made me smile today. Brilliant.

Us Now - and in the future

This is a the trailer to a really brilliant online doc about the way the world is now, how the web has changed that and where we're likely to go in the future.

You can find the full version here. . It's an hour long, but well worth it.

Thanks to John V Willshire for the heads up. If you want more brilliant thinking, bookmark his blog.

Seriously dedicated stopmotion

Brilliant very involved UGC. If people can do this in their bedrooms, we should be doing it in our sleep.

Emily

Schweppes blog

Google launches first TV ad to promote Chrome

Google has launched its first TV ad campaign to alert the public to its web browser Chrome that was launched last year.
Despite its launch last September Chrome is only used by 1.4% of Internet users whilst Microsoft's Internet Explorer dominates with 66%, Mozilla’s Firefox has 22% of web users and Apple’s Safari has 8% of the market share.

Google, who have previously avoided traditional marketing, prides itself on becoming “one of the world’s best known brands almost entirely through word of mouth”.

The ad doesn’t contain any explanation or any mention that Chrome is a web browser and only displays Google’s logo at the end…so it remains to be seen how audiences will respond.

Love LambWatch then check out Hencam.co.uk

Visit the site to see whats happening in the chicken coop right now....