Love this -

Cross The Avengers with Ren & Stimpy and this is what you get. No knowledge of Marvel and you’ll chuckle, a base knowledge and you’ll laugh your face off.

Either way… Enjoy.

How do we fix them?

To find the solution, we first need to fully understand the problem.

2screen / dual-screen / second-screen — all are different names for the kind of integration that I’m referring to and it’s something I’ve been kicking around in my head ever since I went to my first 2screen event back in October 2010.

It was a big deal then and it’s a bigger deal now.

With the increase of iPad penetration and the continuous growth of the smartphone market, the notion of 2screening is becoming more and more commonplace. In fact, a recent Neilsen survey found that 80% of tablet and 78% of smartphone owners used their device while watching TV at least once during a 30 day period.

In the app-world, services such as ZeeBox and Sky Sports for iPad are doing very good things indeed. Both integrating news, stats and social media streams into your second screen; providing a suitable data-based accompaniment to your visual consumption.

However, I want to talk about television-based social media integration (not app-based).
This kind of stuff -

That’s how Sky One’s ‘Got to Dance‘ handles it and many other broadcasters follow suit. BBC One is getting in on the act too, here using a Twitter wall backstage for the UK edition of ‘The Voice‘.

What do these examples all have in common?

Fundamentally, they are all bringing (or at least attempting to bring) the conversation from the second screen, to the first. Which, correct me if I’m wrong, kind of defeats the object of the second screen.

Whether it’s reading out tweets during the credits of Celebrity Juice on ITV2 or talking about Facebook wall posts inbetween programmes on BBC3, broadcasters seem to be obsessed with sharing (read ‘owning’) viewer social media.

Recognising that conversation takes place away from their platform(s), TV + social media work best together when television directs its audience to the conversation medium, as opposed to smashing them in the face with it via another.

Sorority Girls, an E4 TV show, flashes up their hashtag both at the start and at the end of their show as well as when going into ad breaks.

This is good! This is television saying -

‘Hey, perhaps some people are actually watching our shows when they’re on and, instead of going to the kettle during an ad break, they’re turning to Twitter!’

- and giving the audience a your hashtag at this point is a very good idea. You own it, you guide it, you track it.

Ignoring The Voice for a second, the BBC actually do this quite well, both with Question Time and Have I Got News For You, for example:

via Roo Reynolds

Little pointers like this give you, the viewer, the option of tracking (and joining) the back-channel. If you understand what it means, you join the conversation. Perfect.

I guess this is one big plea to broadcasters to just stop reading out tweets and Facebook updates on the telly. Seriously, it just doesn’t work.

Finally, and returning to the opening image of this post, the new trailer for Prometheus aired recently during the first break of Homeland. Channel 4′s own announcer was employed also, asking viewers to tweet their reactions using the hashtag #areyouseeingthis.

So far, so good. Right? Right.

Except that, 20mins later (during the next ad break), those very tweets were displayed onscreen for all to see.

via Digital Examples

Yes that’s actually a TV ad you’re seeing there, with (clearly moderated) tweets displaying instead of your usual commercial break. Mental.

Reports state that this activity reached a potential audience of 15m users. (Note: POTENTIAL audience. That’s the number of every tweet with the hashtag, multiplied by their sum of their followers – ie: not a real number). And while this kind of exercise is a great advert for Twitter, it leaves existing fans and users feeling a bit… empty.

In closing, encouraging viewers to join an online conversation is one thing, replaying that conversation to them 20mins later is just a pain in the oculars.

Discuss.

Hmm… a double-post of trailers this week (not my usual thing, but) The Amazing Spider-Man just dropped its third and final trailer and well, take a look

I’m not frothing at the mouth half as much as I was when I first caught the original preview (I think it trailed in front of a Harry Potter or something) but still, it doesn’t look that bad.

Early previews give good promise too. It’s a big year for comic book films this year: Avengers is done (and is killing it), Dark Knight Rises is next, then The Amazing Spider-Man steps up.

What do you reck’?

Seeing it?

Via

Stop what you’re doing right now and watch this -

No, not a goal line score from their last match up, more an amazing discovery of a whole bunch of cutting room floor footage from Superman IV.

You’ve all seen Superman IV right? If you haven’t you’re not missing out on much; I touched upon it recently as being ‘by far and away the worst of Reeve’s tenure‘ – and I stand by that (it’s still good though).

If you have seen it, then you’ll recognise the chap on the right above as Nuclear Man, the brawn created by Supes’ arch-nemesis, Lex Luthor.

However, on a recent journey around the more geekier corners of the internet, I happened upon an amazing nugget of footage that I never knew existed. Apparently, the Nuclear Man we know and love recognise is actually Nuclear Man V2. Version 1 was originally in the film too, and Superman (as you’ll see very shortly) disposed of him easily – hence Lex Luthor going back around a second time and coming up with v2.

Thing is, v1 was eventually cut (I can’ think why) and we only ever knew of v2.

What the HELL am I talking about?

Watch for yourself -

Just when you thought Superman IV couldn’t get any worse, right?
I’m just… lost for words.

Via iO9, with extra info (and lols) via i-mockery.

Caine Monray is a fantastic kid.

Bit by bit, he built himself an awesome cardboard arcade on the front porch of his Dad’s motor repair shop. Some guys on the internet found out and they made this film.

Please, take 11mins out of your day and enjoy.

It’s OK, I cried too.

via RWW

First up, watch this -

The video description:

The Experiment: We chucked a photography student out of a plane to see if he could take the perfect fashion photo. We gave him a model, lighting guys, a makeup artist and smoke machines. The only thing we didn’t give him was a camera. We gave him a phone.

This is the commercial that’s currently running in the UK globally to mark the worldwide release of the HTC One. While it’s not the most original idea in the world, it does have great piece of backing music (Tick of the Clock, Chromatics – most recently heard on the DRIVE official soundtrack), some great imagery and… well, that’s about it.

It sounds harsh but, I’m not entirely sure what the advert is for.

Yes, it’s for the HTC One, I get that much, but why are they jumping out of the plane? Why is the HTC One being used in this instance? From what I’ve read, it’s to help show off  ‘the One’s low-light capabilities’ – if that’s the case, why can’t I see the image and/or video quality that ‘Nick’ shot with the phone in the advert?

The very last second of the ad ends with ‘Watch Nick’s story online’, let’s get online and find that content then shall we?

A Google image search for ‘HTC One free fall fashion shoot‘ only turns up images shot by other cameras that were present on the day; DSLRs etc… keep clicking and eventually, on page 3 of the search, this image shows up via All Things D -

I’m not sure, but I’m thinking that this might be the actual image that our man Nick shot with his HTC One. Not bad, right? Right. But I want the full image; the original, uncrunched image, with EXIF data.

But I can’t find it.

Even the official photo album from the shoot, the one from HTC UK’s very own Facebook page, doesn’t have the full file [instead uploading a frustratingly bad and super-compressed FB-friendly version]. Additionally – and still, according to the ad – Nick was recording video and trying to get the perfect photo at the same time. Guess what? No sign of that footage either.

I’m labouring the point, I know. But if you’re going to make a big deal about a fashion student being given the opportunity to take part in a one-of-a-kind free-fall fashion shoot, then surely you’d make a big deal around the actual content that said fashion student produced. No?

Just me then.

Read the press release, make your own mind up.

Or lack thereof.

First, in 2009, this -

[Bungee jumping, shot on a Nokia N86]

Then, in 2010, this -

[A rollercoaster review of the N97 Mini, shot with the N97 Mini]

So far so good…

Straight after that, we got to work on this -

[Shoot what you like with the Nokia N8, shot on the Nokia N8]

With the winners being invited along to this -

[A zero G flight, shot on the Nokia N8]

Great stuff.

Later, in 2011, this appeared -

[A rollercoaster review 'unboxing' of the SGSII, shot with a ?]

Brilliant? Yes. Familiar? Slightly.

Admittedly they went one better, with this -

[A skydive review 'unboxing' of the SGSII, shot with a ?]

Well done.

Imagine my surprise when, today in 2012 this appeared on TV for HTC  -

[A free-fall fashion shoot with the HTC One, shot with a ?]

Amazing. Not.

Seriously, three years of this now… come along guys, at least try to do something different. It genuinely doesn’t matter who had the idea first or even who managed to push it to the next level. All we’re asking is for some originality.

Samsung was blatant, HTC is just plain late.

And while it’s fair to say, admittedly, everything is a remix; if Sony can create something new, you can too.

-

Do. Better.

I gave this talk back in May last year (I blogged about it at the time), merely one week after I returned from my Trans-Mongolian Railway adventure. However, I’ve only recently discovered that the video is now publicly available. Awesome!

So, as well as going back and updating my original post, I thought I’d publish it here for all to see.

Inspiring new forms of creative expression through mobile devices

From iPhones through to space rockets and back again via Instagram’d monastic rooftops – this is how mobile is changing the way we create.

My work with 1000heads is mentioned, as is some Nokia stuff too aaaand, to top it off, my friend (from said train journey) Ben Wallace manages to make an appearance too.

Enjoy – and leave comments!

Five things of note for the week ending Friday March 30th, 2012

1. How to peel a banana like a monkey
Mind. Blown.

2. A new UK Bank Holiday?
An online petition has appeared recently pushing for the UK to have an extra Bank Holiday (this time in November), but with a twist. As the website says -

“If we get an extra bank holiday, the public will be urged to do something kind on this extra day, each year, to support their local communities…
…it will be a ‘Pay It Forward‘ bank holiday”

Whether or not this will go ahead remains to be seen, but still – it’s a nice idea.

3. Spotify on Facebook
The deadline for brands to make the switch to Facebook Timeline is upon us and while there have been some awesome case studies recently, Spotify have come out and pitched their own ‘history of music’ – superb work indeed. Worth spending some time digging around for some aural beauties? I think so…

4. Slovenski Oglaševalski Festival (SOF)
Last year, when I attended the Weekend Media Festival in Croatia, I was asked if I would be interested in attending (and speaking) at the 2012 Slovenian Advertising Festival. ‘Of course!’ I said, ‘Email me!’ – and in January this year, they did! Fast forward a couple of months and here I am, in the gorgeous coastal town of Portoroz, giving a talk about word of mouth marketing. Lovely stuff.

I wore red (like last time), I had a lot of fun fun aaaaand, on top of that, I managed to mix things up a little bit with a careful sprinkling of pandas too – so, all in all, I think it went well.

Big thanks to Urša Pučko and her team at Pristop for inviting me in the first place, being such great hosts and, of course, organising everything so perfectly. All I can say is – thank you! And to anyone reading this: Visit Slovenia!

5. A real superhero
This story is incredible. First, some background -

Yeah, this actually happened.

Now, I know a few of you are probably already thinking about how freaking awesome this is… right? Right. Well, it gets better. This guy – real name Lenny B. Robinson – is a bonafide superhero. An A-grade, first class, inspirational figure.

Why? Take a look for yourself.

Incredible.

Bonuses – the bizarre world of video game sexual content bureaucracy; the new Superman logo (from the upcoming Man of Steel film) has been revealed; and Maxim needs to remember what year we’re in.