Moleskine Entry: April 20th, 2011
Up at 5am this morning.
Last night I jokingly remarked over dinner how awesome it might be to watch the sun come up over the Mongolian mountains. Given that we were literally in the middle of nowhere, camping, there probably wouldn’t be another opportunity like it.
“GREAT IDEA!” they replied, in unison.
It was cold. It was madness.
It was… Beautiful.
In keeping with our series of posts, here are the three coolest things we presented at #3CT recently –
[post history]
First up, our resident Kiwi and HR person, Lucy Armstrong, wanted to share this awesome piece of Rugby World Cup inspired Lego-based wonderment –
When we asked ‘Why is this cool?’ to the rest of the office, the simple answer was ‘BECAUSE IT IS LEGO!’
However, one thing that did come out of this was the amount of time and effort that goes into some of these cool things. The above stop-motion video leads quite nicely into another high-effort delivery, aka: cool thing number two –
Regular readers will know that we like our big Follow Fridays here at 1000heads and last Friday was no exception. The Nokia community team were in the office helping to create the above #FF message out of post-it notes. @My_E72 was over the moon with our message and well, we thought it was pretty damn cool too.
Our third and final cool thing came from one Joel Diamond. Joel had managed to locate what is being labelled as an ‘Audio-Haptic Navigation Environment.’
Not sure what we mean? Take a look –
Using a specially-designed glove, alongside a slightly tweaked version of the Xbox Kinect sensor, the SOPI research group created the above experiment.
I wonder how long it’ll be until we see gigs performed in this way?
Let’s start bets at three months…
My first iPad wasn’t in fact mine. I merely had it on loan from the office. We danced and we played together but eventually, I had to hand it back. However, a couple of weeks ago (and thanks to some smart upselling from Vodafone), I picked up my own one.
This time an iPad2. Glorious.
This is the first time I’ve had an iPad ‘full time’ so to speak, and being a part-time student and observer of how technology influences human behavioural change, I’ve been keeping an eye on its influence on me.
The results so far? I’m reading more.
Allow me to explain: last year, I wrote about how the iPad did not mean the death toll for the publishing industry – and I stand by that. But, recently, I happened to come by an issue of The Economist’s lifestyle and culture quarterly, Intelligent Life (IL). It was my first encounter with said publication and, hidden deep within its pages, it featured a rather fantastic article entitled ‘Digital Africa‘. A super-relevant piece of writing and a subject that is dear to my heart. With that article alone, the magazine had found itself a new subscriber.
Later (and I don’t know how I discovered it, one assumes there must’ve been an ad somewhere inside), I soon learnt that IL had its own free iPad app. Even better. I thought, I know a lot of people with iPads and I know a lot of people that would enjoy that Digital Africa article. So… I’ll tell everyone who fits both those descriptions and that’ll be great.
I do, and it is.
Weeks later, my iPad2 arrives and the first app I download? IL. On top of the Digtial Africa copy, there’s a new issue available. I download that and read it, cover to cover, over the course of an afternoon.
‘Interesting’ being the key word here.
Confession time: I don’t read (in the traditional sense) as much as I’d like. It’s not a healthy admission to make, but it’s true. The, what might be seen as, usual time for reading – on the tube to and from work in the mornings and evenings – is usually taken up by writing. My Moleskine is my best friend when I’m travelling and I use the dead [read: ‘disconnected’] time to jot down my thoughts. Failing that, if my mind is bare, I catch up on email or just sit and listen to music. My daily reading habits tend to be made up of my Google Reader and that’s it.
However, upon finishing my second i-issue of IL, I then figured I’d give the Kindle a go. My sister and I bought one for our Mum recently and a few other friends have also extolled its virtues. I’ll get the app I say, that’ll do it.
I did, and it did.
The Kindle app is sitting quite nicely on my iPad as I type with ‘The Psychopath Test‘ by Jon Ronson (thank you Amanda) and ‘The Black Swan‘ by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (thank you Jed) both sat ready to be read.
We’ll see how this goes, shall we? New technology, encouraging me to read. This I’m going to enjoy.
Before I close off though, there’s one last thing I want to share. Back in January 2010, mobile thought leader and visionary, Christian Lindholm, wrote these words about the iPad.
It may seem like a small change, but a generation which has instant access, quite literally, at its fingertips, will be a quite different generation to that which did not. We used to consider that someone was erudite if they had spent a number of years accumulating knowledge and expertise which they could deploy at the precise moment which it was required.
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Given that this information is all now on hand, people will come to rely more on an ability to recall data from the system. Ability to focus, and knowledge of the best places to look, will become the most important facets to consider. These are fundamental changes.
It’s still one of my favourite blog posts to date and I think that, in this age of the information rich, the sentiment stands true:
Irrespective of your thoughts on what the iPad is for, these shifts in the way we store, recall and interact with knowledge signify a human behavioural change that we – in our lifetimes – will probably never be able to truly quantify.
Following up on our recent shortlist success with N8Producers (awards announced later this week!), 1000heads are proud to announce a further five shortlist placements for two separate pieces of work.
First up, Behind the E7
In February of 2011, Nokia was launching its flagship enterprise phone: the Nokia E7. With more and more of their devices being well-reviewed for their industrial design, Nokia wanted to give a ‘behind the scenes’ demonstration video that not only highlighted the product itself, but also gave an insight into the design philosophy that exists within the very DNA of the company…
Hitting over 100,000 organic views in the first 24hrs was a huge success for both us and the client. Combining that with the top secret competition hidden in the video (did you spot it?) meant that overall, this is one of our best video creations to date.
Thanks to these results, Behind the E7 has been shortlisted for the following two awards –
Best use of Online Video at the Digital Impact Awards
Best use of YouTube at the Social Media Communications Awards
Second, Nokia / Tron: Legacy
At the end of 2010, Nokia partnered with Disney for the launch of the film Tron: Legacy. With the majority of the plot set ‘online’, it made perfect sense to compliment this with a social media campaign reflecting and building upon those elements. As the world’s leading word of mouth marketing agency, 1000heads were perfectly placed to deliver against this brief…
To date, this is Nokia’s most successful Facebook campaign, ever.
With that in mind, it’s great to see the above work has now been shortlisted for the following three awards –
Best use of Existing Social Media Channels at the Digital Impact Awards
Best Viral Campaign AND Best Social Media Campaign at the Social Media Communications Awards
Congratulations to all team members, both client side and agency side. Being shortlisted like this is fantastic recognition for all your hard work.
Roll on awards evening!
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
– Dylan Thomas, 1951
RIP Trey Pennington. We miss you terribly.
A couple of weeks ago now, one of Turkey’s leading social media sites, SosyalMedya.co, reached out to 1000heads for some opinion and insight about the amazing growth the area has seen over the past year.
The full item can be read [in Turkish!] on their site, however, Fulya Çimen, content strategist at SosyalMedya.co has kindly allowed us to print the full interview, in English, right here.
Why? Because the Istanbul social media scene is exploding and as an industry we should be sitting up and paying attention. The Turks are coming!
Enjoy —–
FC / JW
At sosyalmedya.co, one of the leading websites / digital platforms about social media in Turkey, we are covering a story about social media in Europe and the image of Turkish social media as well as that of Turkish digital agencies. Our main point of this interview is to acquire a foreign insight into these areas – to that point:
Can you define social media in one sentence, with your own words?
For me, social media is (any kind of) content that can be and/or is shared. It is not limited to digital either; you and I gathered around a YouTube video playing on my MacBook is also social media.
Can you define the impact of social media in one sentence, with your own words?
It is almost indefinable! The impact of social media over the past decade has been world changing on a level that we will only really be able to measure when we’re far enough away from it to measure. In the same way that the industrial revolution transformed farming and agriculture globally, the social media revolution is uniting people across the world in ways that we simply cannot measure yet.
Leaving out your own projects, can you tell us about a piece of social media work that you like most?
Here in London, we’ve just witnessed some of the worst riot scenes in living history. The damage is horrific and the impact on the lives of the community is abhorrent. However, through social media, that very same community has pulled together under the Twitter hashtag of #riotcleanup and, even as I type, people from all over London are forming together to help clean up the mess that the rioters have left behind. That is one of the most recent – and best – social media projects I can think of, full stop.
Internet is global. But when it comes to digital projects, do you believe in the importance of localizing as it is in traditional advertising and marketing?
Yes. Massively. I was recently in the Lebanon and the localization work that Nokia has done across the entire Levant region is truly admirable. We’re talking about a brand that is going through some huge changes and yet they still manage to maintain a foothold in these areas thanks to that fantastic localization.
Do you have any opinion or insight about Turkish customers on digital?
The only insights I have I’ve gained recently through the INNLondon project. Designed as a “cultural embassy existing both physically and digitally†its current city inspiration is Istanbul and the numbers and figures I’ve seen coming out are astronomical.
For example, in a similar trend to the rest of the world, the last decade has seen a 1000% increase of Internet users with nearly half of the Turkish population now an Internet user of some kind. This stat alone demonstrates astonishing growth and is something that should be both highlighted and applauded.
If you have an idea or guess about Turkish audience on Internet; as a social media professional, what would be the most effective platform/area in social media for reaching the Turkish audience in social media in your opinion?
Facebook is obviously the easiest response to this question, although I would have to research the numbers to get any real figures. My only prediction in this area would be around an increase in both the use (and access of) the mobile Internet and of course, Twitter. However, comScore reports Turkey as being ranked in the top ten countries for Google Plus adoption and so I would also be interested to see what impact that has on day-to-day social media life, if any.
What do you think about Turkish social media? What is your opinion about Turkish marketing and advertising industry approaches to social media?
Here in London, Turkey (and in the main, Istanbul) is constantly being referred to as a ‘new digital hub’, where the territory is fertile and the climate is right for growth. My knowledge of the local space is not huge, however the impact of the work that’s being done there is echoing across the globe.
That’s all I got.
Yeah you know me!
If you’ve been following @1000heads on Twitter, you might know that we’ve been tinkering around with NFC of late, and for good reason.
Last week, as part of our activity for Nokia’s Symbian Belle launch, we arranged a special ‘48hrs in Hong Kong‘ for a very lucky group of six select bloggers.
Aside from running the very latest update of Nokia’s Symbian software – aka ‘Symbian Belle’ – these new Belle devices all come with Near Field Communications (NFC) baked-in. Which means, you simply tap – and go.
Working with the smart guys over at NFC-Hub we produced special NFC-enabled posters, similar to the below –
– that were placed up at different locations around Hong Kong. Delivering against Nokia’s release message of ‘Try Something New’, #NokiaTSN, we thought we’d set a two day course of exactly that, with our guests trying their hands at all things news. For example, riding the Crystal Cable Car or simply taking in a Tai Chi lesson in the park.
The best part being that once the on-site posters were tapped –
– the entrants would automatically check-in on Facebook and/or Foursquare (depending on the poster used) which in turn would produce results like this:
Much fun was had indeed.
With NFC becoming more and more prevalent [see Museum integration as well as Dennis Publishing getting in on the act], expect more NFC-based shenanigans from us very soon and, if you find yourself in the 1000heads offices at any point in the future, why not tap us up?
It’s time for episode two of ‘Three Cool Things’, for a bit of background on what this post is all about, please jump back and check out episode one. In the meantime, let’s crack on.
Last Friday’s #3CT kicked off with Michael Quinn talking about the Volkswagen Bluemotion Roulette activity in Norway earlier this year.
First, the video –
Yes, it’s a cool piece of work. Yes, it’s a cool use of Google Maps. But the most interesting part of the whole case study? Check the voice-over at 33secs –
“A TV commercial informed Norway that a Golf BlueMotion would drive northbound from Oslo in two weeks. People were invited to place their bet on where the car would run out of fuel.”
The interest wasn’t built via their Facebook page, nor was it garnered through Twitter. This integrated campaign used ‘traditional’ media to drive eyeballs to the activity. TV to Social. Not the first, but certainly part of a new trend.
Next up, Katie Bunting showed us this video. Simply entitled ‘Eat‘.
Now, this video [and it’s two counterparts, Move and Learn], did the rounds a good month or so ago and this fact alone meant that it nearly didn’t make the ‘cool’ cut. However, Katie brought along a new insight. Over half of the ‘heads in the room had seen the video(s) but virtually none of them new why it was done or for who.
If you don’t know, click through and scroll down, it surprised us – a lot.
For us, this served as a healthy reminder that when your video goes viral [the three videos combined views are over 9million], most of those views will come from other blogs embedding your content and sharing with their own communities.
Which means, if you haven’t remembered to brand your video anyway, it’ll be much harder for viewers to make any kind of connection.
Finally, our third item consisted of the first half of a work in progress case study [one that we can’t share yet – not until we get the results at least], so in the meantime take a look at this work from Sao Paulo to help launch a brand new ‘turbo’ fan –
We love our outdoor work here at 1000heads and this idea is simple, understandable and completely universal.
Very ‘cool’ indeed.
Moleskine Entry: April 19th, 2011
Writing this today sat in a traditional Mongolian Ger tent, there’s a fire stove burning and the group next to me are learning how to play a game involving the ankle bones from a goat.
Perfect.
We arrived into Mongolia’s capital early yesterday morning and boy was a it ever a long day – in the best of ways.
First, after the SIX HOURS it took to cross the border, we arrived in Ulaanbataar (UB) with relative ease. We switched over to local time (which is probably still messing with our heads) and disembarked.
Our Honcho, a mad, mad woman called Odka – “Like Vodka! But no V!” she exclaimed – greeted us and drove us into town.
Things of note
Overall, this city is cool. The mad, mad, mad culture clash of eastern tradition and western aspiration has created a truly remarkable vibe.
Between then and now much has happened but dinner is nearly ready and I have to go. There’s still so much to catch up on but I’ll have to save all that for later.
Tonight, we sleep under the stars.
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