News, views and reviews now travel at incredible velocity online. This video reviews how social news can have a profound effect on anyone because the public has already made up its mind on the issue before you’ve even responded to it.

Think England football captain John Terry, the claimed cyber-lynching of a US Presidential candidate, the BlackBerry outage? Read More »

It’s 2020. You’re standing in the Design Museum, musing over a new exhibition. You’re enjoying a cup of Intracoffecino (it’s a sort of reduced sugar, increased caffeine number, available intravenously, pumped directly into the side of your neck; it’s so the thing) and you’re doing the ‘gallery walk’ (i.e. bolt upright, furrowed brow, stepping softly heels first, one hand folded behind your back), homing in on the installation called ‘Websites as They Were’.

Your brow furrows a notch tighter as you read the little placard that hangs as a wafer-thin shard of light above a MacBook Pro. ‘The late 2000s saw many websites built around concepts with the IA addressed as an afterthought’. Read More »

‘Why are your ears pointed, Mr Spock?’
‘To heat up butter popcorn, Captain.’

People will always be a bit interested when someone takes the very familiar, gives it a tweak, and makes you see it in a different way.

The appeal is probably due to the child-like excitement that comes when ‘What if…’ and ‘Why not!?’ prevail over sound reasons not to. It’s fun. It’s unexpected. It pushes the boundaries. It’s precarious, and there’s a bit of jeopardy involved. Throw some innovative technology into the mix and the result is an interesting trend for reinventing the familiar, using digital means. Read More »

Social ‘media’ has undoubtedly acted as the catalyst in creating a more connected, social world in the digital space, but humans have been ‘social’ long before the advent of Facebook et al.

This brilliant new campaign from Bud Light uses special labels on its bottles that drinkers can etch messages on using a key or blunt object, penning anything from a name or party invite to a mobile number. Read More »

Digital Shoreditch Festival

It isn’t often you get to wander about the streets of London, popping into offices to see what the workspace is like, and to gather and mix with many of London’s digital superstars, until the first Digital Shoreditch Festival held last week.

The festival week (3-7 May 2011) was packed with activities that showcased the digital talent found in the thriving area of East London’s Shoreditch, with 200 companies being involved. With the mission of bringing the area together, so that cross-pollination of ideas and business collaboration can happen more, the organizer’s PlayGen have met their goal. Read More »

I’m just back from Earl’s Court and Internet World expo where Jonathan Harvey, UK Sales Manager at Facebook, gave a keynote speech on the future for social brands.

He called it ‘Social by Design’ and it looked at what Facebook has in store for brands looking to maximise their marketing within its ubiquitous social network and he concluded with three simple points that are key to success in social marketing. Read More »

Prompted by an article from Econsultancy (I’ll post the link at the end, as I want you all to keep reading!) and some recent conversations with colleagues, I felt compelled to jot down my own thoughts regarding the QR code ‘phenomenon’. Read More »

Despite social media’s osmotic move into mainstream digital marketing strategy, there still remain a great many sceptics that still cite social media as a fad and perhaps more worryingly, something to be afraid of.

One of the biggest reasons I hear attributed to this wariness of social media is people’s fear of losing control of their brand, which is understandable if viewed from (dare I say this!) an out-dated, web 1.0 perspective. Read More »

Unless you’ve been living under that proverbial rock for the last six months (and perhaps even if you have), you’ll no doubt be aware of the phenomenon that is Instagram.

For the rock-dwellers amongst you, Instagram is a smartphone app that allows users to share photos with each other, in a ‘stream’ fairly akin to Twitter.  Its variety of vintage filters allows users a level of creativity too, which is proving highly popular (especially amongst the denizens of Hoxton). Read More »

I’m no more ‘qualified’ to critique an ad than the next marketer, but I am a consumer – and it being Valentine’s Day, have fallen firmly in love with this new spot for Jim Beam, ‘Bold Choice’:

If you’re like me, the moody black and white film, emotive acting and poignant message can’t fail to impress.  Big advertising has always sold people a lifestyle rather than a product and this is no different (although Jim Beam does happen to be my favourite bourbon). Read More »