Wednesday 29 July 2009

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.

Thursday 23 July 2009

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!

Tuesday 21 July 2009

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).

Thursday 16 July 2009

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...

Monday 13 July 2009

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.



Thursday 9 July 2009

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.

Wednesday 8 July 2009

Community is...



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

Tuesday 7 July 2009

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

Saturday 4 July 2009

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!

Wednesday 1 July 2009

PLAY ME PIANO

We played piano at the British Library on Friday.