SOMETHING FOR THE BOYS …

I never understood the attraction of collecting football cards to stick into books even though I’m a fan of the beautiful game.

It was the exclusive preserve of the boys at school who could not seem to get enough of them.

And now, for everyone who still hankers after their heroes’ faces staring up at them, Topps has the answer. The ultimate fan site has just launched a digital album of English footballers.

If you are that way inclined, you can buy digital images of the likes of Peter Shilton, David Seaman, David Beckham, Alan Shearer, Gary Lineker and Sir Bobby Charlton to stick in your virtual album.

It gets better though … instead of swapping and comparing in the playground, you can use Facebook to turn your collection into a complete thing of beauty.

Can’t say I’ll be rushing to take part, but bet there will be someone out there who is feeling very happy right now.

 

 

HATS OFF TO NORWAY

I read an article in Brand Republic yesterday which revealed that Norway is the most advanced nation in terms of consumer adoption of digital media. That means they are more engaged with the world of  IPTV, smartphones and tablets than any other country on the planet.

ZenithOptimedia undertook the research which discovered that 38.8% of the Norwegian population have digital devises.

And 64% of them have smartphones compared to an average of 44% across the top 19 global markets.

The top 10 makes for interesting reading. Norway is followed by France, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark in the top 5 with South Korea as the only non-European nation to feature in the top 10.

You’d think the UK would have been up there, but surprisingly we scraped in at a poor number 10, whilst the US was even lower at number 12 and predicted to fall even more by 2015.

Fascinating stuff and you can read an overview of the report HERE.

GUARDIAN NOWNESS

I wouldn’t immediately associate the Guardian newspaper with a luxury brand website but I noticed yesterday that the publication has developed a partnership with Nowness.com.

Nowness is the editorially independent website of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton and apparently serves as a daily resource for the culturally curious by premièring inspiring stories from the forefront of contemporary culture and global lifestyle, (in both English and Chinese interestingly). The Guardian’s role in the partnership involves choosing and hosting any Nowness.com’s videos it considers of interest to subscribers of the paper’s website.

I’m intrigued by this relationship. Whatever it claims, surely Nowness can’t be entirely independent, and what does it say about the Guardian’s readership? No longer a left-wing view of the world but champagne socialism running riot?

The commercial model for the venture is based on revenue from pre-roll ads to be split 50/50 between the parties.

The first video to feature on the Guardian’s site is a film shot by fashion photographer and filmmaker Jacob Sutton in the resort of Tignes featuring snowboarder William Hughes careering down the snow-covered French slopes in a bespoke LED-encrusted suit.

I discovered that the video isn’t exactly new – it’s been around for a year and here it is on Youtube:

Sorry Guardian and Nowness I think you are going to have to do better than that …

Let me know if you think I’m being too harsh!

 

HOW MANY DAYS DO YOU HAVE LEFT TO LIVE?

Diesel has launched a new interactive film as part of its Days to Live campaign for the brand’s Timeframes watches.

The online film encourages viewers to answer a series of questions relating to the way they live their lives and it ends with a calculation of their number of Days To Live, with the exhortation to live more bravely.

Diesel Timeframes then aims to help people live every one of those days to the full with a unique alarm clock App.

It will wake them up with a reminder of the number of days they have left to live and an inspirational message. Not at all sure I’d want that reminder every morning!

I had a go and was somewhat hampered by the fact that the site refused to believe that my date of birth could possibly be earlier than 1986.

Undeterred it whisked my new 36 year old self into the film and zoomed me through lots of questions – which you can’t correct if you mis-type (don’t ask!).

I am obviously far too old for the brand because I was spat out on the other side feeling somewhat battered and I can’t for the life of me remember (a) anything about the watches or (b) how many days the younger me has left to live.

Any of you young fashionistas out there with a strong stomach have a go and let me know what you think …

LOVE OR HATE MARMITE?

My walk into work this morning, in what I can only describe as Siberian conditions, finished on Oxford Street which always looks a bit sad and shabby I think at 8.30am with no lights on to cover a multitude of sins.

The lights this year are another paean to commercialism, having been sponsored by Marmite, that brand so synonymous with Christmas (not).

As part of the sponsorship activity Marmite have turned a bus shelter into a gold photo booth where you can take pictures of yourself expressing either your love or hate of the brand, with the choice to upload the images onto a digital screen.

Apparently the booth will be active for 12 days as part of the four-week activity, which features a series of Christmas characters, including elves and Father Christmas himself, revealing their feelings for Marmite.

I’m not sure I follow the reasoning behind Marmite’s decision to sponsor the lights this year but they seem pretty keen …

Joanne Ó Riada, their brand manager, said: Marmite’s sponsorship of the Oxford Street Christmas lights is a great way for us to reward our loyal fans for their support and the addition of the bus shelter is another way to reach fans and give them a moment of fame.

The shelter will attract existing Marmite fans and consumers looking for something special to trial over the festive period.

I couldn’t find either the bus stop or the screen this morning, but that may have been because most of my vision was obscured by my scarf. I’ll have to go back and look after work, where I can walk amidst the twinkling of a yeast extract-themed wonderland, just the thing to get me into the Christmas spirit.

 

THE LOVIE AWARDS

The Lovies are pan-European Awards presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Science honouring the entire breadth of content created for the internet including websites, mobile & apps, online video and interactive advertising.

This is their second year and the winners were announced last week.

The range is huge – from travel websites to online games and you could definitely spend an entire afternoon looking at them all.

You can see all the Lovie winners on their website HERE.

I liked the Mercedes activity from AMV which won a Gold in both the Branded Entertainment and Branded Content categories.

Apparently younger drivers in the UK see Mercedes as a car for older men. The company decided it needed a campaign that would align the brand firmly with a more youthful audience. They did this by creating an online game which resulted in over 1.5 million unique visitors and saw a 65% uplift in sales of the C-Class series.

Escape the Map brought Streetview to life in an interactive sci-fi thriller where viewers had to drive a trapped girl to safety for a chance to win a C-Class Coupé. Augmented reality, phone calls from the characters and social media worked together to enhance the experience.

Have a look at the making-of film:

NORA ON THE SPACE CHANNEL

I was pleased to see that the Arts Council is embracing modern technology with a pilot initiative running until the end of October called The Space, which is a new, deliberately experimental service developed in partnership with the BBC.

It has been designed to give arts and culture organisations the opportunity to experiment and engage with new and existing audiences in a completely innovative digital environment, and is available across PCs, smartphones, tablets and internet connected TVs.

The Guardian has also become involved with a selection of video, audio and live streams available their website on a section called the Space Channel.

This week you can see UA client Hattie Morahan, who recently played Nora in a Young Vic production of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, star in a short film called Nora. It’s directed by Carrie Cracknell, shot by Zac Nicholson with music from Stuart Earl (all UA clients) and imagines what a modern-day Nora might look like, 130 years on from the original:

TEENY TINY NIKON

I was very disappointed with my holiday pics this year having decided to ditch my ancient Kodak for my iPod.

Cameras have been on my mind and I was intrigued to see that Nikon has bought out a tiny compact digital camera as part of its Coolpix range.

Providing 10 megapixels of resolution and weighing just 96 grams, the camera is smaller than a credit card and can store up to 3,000 photos on its internal memory card.

A 60mm interactive swipe touch-screen display replaces the previous layout of dials and controls for an easy experience.

Just the thing to keep in your handbag and especially pleasing when airlines are so obsessive about weight and size.

It launches in September at a cost of  $180 in the US – we’ll have to wait to find out the price here in the UK. But definitely sounds affordable.

Nikon have produced a product video which kept me entertained and I am seriously considering putting it on my Christmas list (not sure if I can wait that long though):

 

OLYMPIC CHANNELS

My bus journey from Hackney to work this morning took a lifetime as we ground to a halt in the centre of town. I was reliably informed by the delivery guy who entered the office with me, that it was “due to the Olympics and by tomorrow London will be totally gridlocked with no-one able to go anywhere”.

Rather apt then that my partner discovered last night that the BBC is providing  25 video channels on Freesat and Sky dedicated to the Games, in addition to its traditional TV channels, extensive online and mobile content.

As a man of the 3 channel generation (BBC1, BBC2, ITV), he doesn’t know why we need so many live video streams.

I’d like to say it is an example of the revolution in the way we now engage with events, the total immersion, multi-platform experience offered by providers.

However, when I missed most of this morning’s departmental meeting, I found myself wondering if the BBC know something we don’t?

Are they making the most of the leap forward in digital technology to provide a way for us all to enjoy the Games even if we can’t actually leave home and physically get anywhere? (even possibly the Olympic Park?)

I hope they are proved wrong, but after this morning’s journey I fear they might be on to something.

 

OIFFY.COM

As you know, UA has an incredibly diverse client list and I’m always keen to seek out our talent working on the coal face of emerging technology.

Jörg Tittel and Alex Helfrecht with their company Oiffy are a great example. They are not bound by any conventional medium and their aim is purely to create stories.

Being in their presence is often inspirational. The brave new world of digital and transmedia seems simple and it is always hard after a conversation with them to come back down to earth, where broadcasters, brands and agencies are still tied to traditional models and often reluctant to embrace the possibilities put out there by Jörg and Alex.

I’ve written about them before in relation to the work they did for Reckitt Benckiser (I can just imagine what they would have done with that if they had been given a free rein!).

You can explore their world on the Oiffy website. Have a look HERE

Jörg has also just been made a member of BAFTA Games and I have absolutely no doubt that he will be a brilliant contributor.

ONLINE AD SPEND IN 2012

Everyone is very excited about Facebook buying Instagram for $1 billion, but I thought I’d give you some other rather mind-boggling figures today instead.

Did you know that the total global online advertising spending in 2011 reached over £53 billion, buoyed by revenues from North America and the Asia-Pacific region? And the spend this year will reach around £61 billion, which is 19% of overall ad spending?

The average amount spent by advertisers per internet user doubled between 2006 and 2011 with Norway leading the way, spending £125 on average, in per-capita online ad investment. (Remember the Ikea catalogue and mittens I blogged about in March?)

Have a look at the regions who spent the most on their online advertising:                     North America: £21.7 billion                                                                                                 Asia-Pacific: £15.6 billion                                                                                                   Western Europe: £13.2 billion

Proving that the revolution in the way brands relate to their consumers is showing no signs of slowing down.

I will be really interested to see what happens over the next couple of years – what will become of that 19% online share of the ad spend market.