DigitalAgency

Walking 2.0:

I think this is a great little idea.

A little online calculator that encourages walking in central London.

So you can do your bit for your body and the environment.

Giving you route info, duration of journey, distance, calories burned and C02 saved by not taking a car, taxi or bus.

Maybe the Government and Health Education boards should get their hands in their pockets and support this to cover all major cities and towns and beyond.

The ultimate example of User Generated Content?:

It's also an example of a new category I've just invented called; 'User Generated Media Buying.'

The bloke in the ad above, created it himself, booked space in a large circulation Swiss magazine, then asked their accounts department to bill Gucci direct.

By the time it was discovered that he had bugger all to do with Gucci, and it was a con, the ad had appeared.

The little tinker.

Perhaps with all that girly-man after shave wafting about, the publishers found it difficult to smell something fishy.

The Police are understood to be looking for the culprit, looking at the photograph, although they might want to start by knocking on Thierry Henry's door.

Tip O' the hat to my young nephew at Mother, Mark Waites for the heads up.

And his source AdFreak.

Apple iPhone Ad. On during the Oscars:

This is Apple's first ad for the iPhone.

Lovely, elegant stuff.

Hate to think of what the talent bill would have been if you'd have been paying the actors and copyright holders full whack. (Remember that belting BBC 'ad' years back with John Cleese and a cast of celebs? Based on the Monty Python sketch, 'What have the Romans ever given us?', rewritten as 'What have the BBC ever given us?". Incidentally, the TV licence was 58 squid in those days.)

Oh, and on a technical note, much as I like the iPhone, suspect there will be some heavy usage battery issues with all those goodies loaded in.

Guerrilla Lighting:

The brainchild of Lighting Director Martin Lupton, teams of suitably equipped illumination teams take flashlights, floodlights and LED projectors out on the streets and make, previously poorly lit, public buildings look beautiful at night.

Read all about it here at SwitchedOnLondon.

Originally spotted on the ever-vigilant; neatorama.

Friction.tv:

This is a very interesting online idea.

A kind of YouTube for debate. An opportunity for anyone and everyone to get things off their chest.

Teachers, the man in the street, the woman on the Clapham Omnibus, irritated of Tunbridge Wells, smokers, commuters, bank customers, whoever, are all given equal opportunities to start and contribute to the debate of their choice.

And, in a strange way, I think the lack of polish and production values on some of the pieces, actually add to the reality, integrity and effectiveness of the communications.

(Don't get me wrong, I'm usually all for production values and things looking good, it's just that here, with real people on their various soapboxes and hobby-horses, it seem to matter.)

(Thanks to the ever observant Stuart Bruce over on his blog for spotting this.)

Coffee Morn 230207:

Another good turnout at today's Coffee morn, in the hallowed halls that are Centotre.

Charlie, Gordon, Don S, Mike, Jamie. Nev, Johnnie, Andy and Don G all managed to get out of bed early and turn up. (if not exactly bright eyed and bushy tailed.)

And a right good old natter about the best (G3 phone), whoops 3G, first mile, rather than last mile challenges for BT, The Human Potential Movement, the highs and occasional lows of tutoring D&AD students, agencies that get it, and agencies that don't, Bittorrent, Heroes on the SciFi channel, Google's suite of productivity tools and Liverpool's magnificent win over Barca during the week. (Phew! And everybody got to work on time afterwards. Multitasking? Piece a cake.)

Saatchi Interactive's Methods:

Saatchi Interactive have a really nice film up on their web site. (Click 'Approach' in the drop down.)

The movie explains how they work, pays homage to DDB's Bill Bernbach and shows how they've taken it one stage, (two actually), further in the way they set up their online teams.

Although what they point out isn't rocket science, it is something every Marketing Director trying to come to grips with the web should watch.

And, dare I say it, quite a few ad agencies and web developers would benefit from taking onboard the simple, but very relevant observations they make.

Beautifully produced too.

Coffee Morn 160207:

A fair turn out for this week's coffee morning.

Phil from the Leith. Ian from Golley Slater. Mark from Mark Gorman. Jamie from Terinea. Mike and Alice from DigitalAgency. Carol, Nev, and Fraser from Whitespace. Brad on student placement at Whitespace.

More talk about QR codes, Flickr vs SmugMug for professional photographers, the perks of working for Microsoft, (from an ex-Microsoftie no less), BarCamp Scotland, (more when people from the other end of the table get back to me.)

SecondLife and businesses / politicians (what is the point?) Plus also a refreshing Linden lawyers letter to the guys at getafirstlife.com - in the blog comments at DarrenBarefoot.

Also discussed were finding time to Blog and how to handle comments, what actually constitutes "Web 2.0" and how to persuade clients to get involved and if not cede control, then at least to consider a gentle loosening of their grip on a campaign, in an effort to learn and encourage feedback.

As an aside on the k800i front, we've decided this morning that we need
to have a mini golf tournament - get practising!

A fine sight first thing on a crisp Scottish morning; Centotre beckoning.

Brad and Alice.

Fraser, Jamie, Mrs.C, Mark.

Fraser, Jamie, Mrs.C, Mark, Phil, Ian, Nev, Brad, Alice.

Ian, Nev.

Jamie, Mrs.C, Mark, Phil.

Mark, Phil.

Mrs.C, Mark.

Phil, Ian, Brad, Uncle Mike.

Alice still going strong after 8 cups of coffee!

Think Humanist:

Juliet, one of our Friday Coffee Morningers, has been doing some media work for the Humanist Society of Scotland.

She had the rather Web 2.0 idea of matching Radio Four's non-secular; 'Thought for the Day', with a series of podcasts from the Humanist, secular perspective.

Here's what Juliet had to say about the idea:

'When I started doing the media work for the Humanist Society of Scotland one of my firsts thoughts was to call up the people who produce thought for the day on Good morning Scotland and the Today programme and ask if they would have humanists on. they said no, they wouldn't. I thought that was a shame then saw a good opportunity for PR. So I decided to set up a website where we could podcast secular thoughts for the day and launch it with five notable figures podcasting for the first week, launching the site on Darwin day.

Tim (Mr Juliet. Ed.) came up with Think Humanist as a name and we have Stewart Lee (Jerry Springer the Opera creator), Kate Hudson (Chair CND) and Humanist philosophers AC Grayling, Julian Baggini, Nigel Warburton podcasting this week.

The site has been linked to over 7000 humanist orientated organisations throughout the world.

Obviously we hope to get on Thought for the Day at some point but we intend to keep the site going and invite thinkers from around the world to podcast and will continue to try and get notable people to podcast too. Humanists such as Stephen Fry, Harold Pinter and Iain Banks are all on our wishlist.'

(Mike again:) What I particularly like about these podcasts, apart from the rivetingly intelligent perspective of course, are the high production values, which let's be honest, are often lacking in many a podcast.

Lots of people bang on about consumer/user generated media, and that it's 'the future', but it takes a professional ear, and a lot of skill to make broadcasts like these. Something most of the 'user generators' haven't a scooby about.

Phobias. Feel the Fear and Post anyway:

I’m here to battle my fear of writing on the blog. Wordsmith Mike might refer to it as ‘scriptophobia’ (fear of writing in public), or maybe something more specific like ‘postophobia’.

But, what of phobias? Like most things psychological I admit to being fascinated. These days phobias and fears seem to have intermingled in use and strength of meaning (perhaps ‘fobias’ or ‘phears’ would be a better term). Phobias are rarely regarded as life threatening or even that inhibiting. Largely they're talked about as quirky idiosyncrasies we readily pick up on the womble through life. And apparently we don’t need to be secretive about them either. No sirree, many people are out there boasting about their self-defining foibles.

(In a previous life researching children I sometimes spoke to them about their fears. It was amazing how regularly kids would wax lyrical about 'phobias'. They’d describe amusing as well as more serious dislikes and fears, and provide some very interesting insights along the way).

Today there seems to be some consensus that fears and phobias are a lynchpin of personal growth. “Feel the fear and do it anyway” the positive psychology books scream out. So, here I am feeling the posting fear and doing it, tentatively tapping on the keyboard, and only shaking and sweating ever so slightly…

I’ll try to write something brave, bold and fear-free next time. In the meantime you might want to explore and define your own “phobia utopia” on the Web through the phobias listed here. Can you believe there’s such an eclectic range of them out there...?

As a nutaholic, Sancerre-loving, fan of fast cars, I’m particularly delighted not to suffer from arachibutyrophobia (less fortunate souls might want to look here), oenophobia or tachophobia.

And I’m hopeful that the postophobia has only been a temporary affliction...