Double MMA award win for Who Killed Summer?

The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) announced the winners of its Fifth Annual Global Mobile Marketing Awards on 17th November in Los Angeles.

These awards recognise companies and their campaigns across the globe for spearheading the adoption of the mobile channel for marketing purposes. Winners are selected by a commitee of global industry leaders from wireless carriers, technology and content providers, agencies and industry publications.

And we won!

Who Killed Summer? won Best Mobile Campaign Overall in a three-way tie with TIM Father's Day + UPS Jobs.

It also won the award for Cross-Media Integration Campaign (Europe, Africa + Middle East).

Amazing stuff!



Who Killed Summer? is an online drama that took place across the summer set against the backdrop of the European festival scene + targeted at a young, hyper-connected audience. Sponsored by Vodafone, Who Killed Summer? is a collaboration between MWorks, Hideous Productions and Big Balls Films, with OMD and Cake responsible for the media campaign and project co-ordination respectively.

Demographics are dead..

It's funny how the TED Talks seem to magically answer the questions that are going around in your head.

I've been thinking lately, as we work more and more on 'content' briefs, that the traditional approach of developing a proposition to connect a brand + a story with its intended audience just doesn't work here. Different people connect with stories in different ways, depending on who they are, what they're into, what they've experienced themselves + what they're looking for.

Novelist Chimamanda Adichie talks about the temptation to form an opinion on a person or a place based on just one aspect of its being. A person, a place, a situation cannot be described by just 'one story'. It is what it is because of the multiple stories that have shaped it.

By taking the time to appreciate the many stories that surround who we're talking to will help us understand how we are all different, instead of how we are similar. Afterall, everyone is unique + wants to be seen as an individual, not as part of a demographic group.

So rather than transmitting a single message designed to appeal to a large audience based on just one aspect of their being, we can instead engage all sorts of people in different ways, through the various aspects of the story we're telling. Enabling them to interpret it in their own way, take what they want from it, share their thoughts, debate, hypothesise - and ultimately demonstrate their individuality- all of which allow us to connect with them on a much deeper level.

We like..Smirnoff Original Nights

Smirnoff's Original Nights is a series of alternative events in London, involving (among other things) a bit of dressing up, plenty of dancing + a lot of drinking. Which is why it's got my attention!

Smirnoff invited London's Promoters to apply for a £10k bursary to host one of four nights in London as part of their Smirnoff Night Vision initiative. They then asked London nightlife experts; Shaun Roberts (Promotions Manager of Fabric), Simone Baird (Social Club Editor at Time Out magazine) and Crispin Dior (Promoter behind Field Day, Adventures in the Beetroot Field) to hand-pick who they considered to be the most exciting and forward-thinking promoters from those who applied.

The chosen four were then given the cash to create an event from scratch on behalf of Smirnoff. And they really do all sound incredibly innovative, unique + exciting.

Normal people like us can win tickets to whichever event takes our fancy by posting a comment on the discussion board for that chosen event. And it looks like it's going down really well with nearly 50k fans on the FB page + big numbers begging for tickets on the discussion boards. Pretty please, Gods of Fun, can I win tickets to the Hothouse Revue event, I've been practising my Lindy-hop like a good girl + everything:

People Are Germs

Bash Studios – Saturday 18th April

Juliette Hughes and Claire Bartolomeo - better known as People are Germs - are hosting a special, one-off party that dreams are made of.

A rollerdisco like no other, party-goers will be able to skate to their hearts’ content whilst enjoying cutting edge live acts Primary1 and Magistrates and DJs The Glimmers, Hot Chip, Foals and Nadia Kasabia.

Taking place in an East London warehouse space, the night will boast flashing disco lights, party-loving people with colours and scenery to make your eyes fizz.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=150223705719&ref=mf

DJ Flicks

The Curzon, Soho – Friday 24th April

The brains behind disco hub DJ History.com present DJ Flicks; a movie and a party rolled into one. Known as much for their web blogging and record digging exploits as their legendary Lowlife parties, Frank Broughton and Bill Brewster will be transforming The Curzon, Soho into disco decadence.

Showing new, rare and unseen films recounting the disco genre in all its guises, the night will morph into a unique club night, connecting one of history’s pioneering DJs to the exciting scenes they inspired. DJ Kenny Carpenter, a one-time resident jock from the much-lauded Studio 54, and modern day instigators Disco Bloodbath will be taking to the decks. With electro don Arthur Baker as host for the evening, films being screened will include ‘The Godfather of Disco’, ‘Pioneers’ and ‘Disco Godfather’.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=62496567524&ref=mf

Hothouse Revue

No. 5 Cavendish Square – Wednesday 29th April

UK festival producers and promoters Ben DeVere and Michael O' Shea are forming The Hothouse Revue, a 1920s night quite possibly bringing more elegance and decadence than the capital has witnessed for 80 years.

Inspired by the heyday of Berlin's Kit Kat club and Harlem's Savoy Ballroom, expect a brazen blur of burlesque, cabaret, swing-jive and lindy-hop, private lamp-lit tables, fine-food, intimate service, race rhythm, gypsy jazz, and all-round sass as Ben and Mike take over the grand No. 5 Cavendish Square venue. With no detail overlooked, it's the faded glamour of the pre-war roar spruced to a high sheen; so don't forget to dress up before you get down.

http://www.facebook.com/smirnofforiginalnights?ref=ts#/event.php?eid=59732993729&ref=mf

3D Disco… In The Round

Date and venue TBC shortly

The final promoters in the series are from NOVAK Collective, Adam Finley, Elliot Thompson, Andrew Nixon and Keith Daniels, the dynamic team behind the popular AV party 3D DISCO™. Not ones to rest on their laurels, they will be taking the 3D Disco concept they pioneered to a whole new level with 3D DISCO™ In The Round transposing the eye-popping, high-definition club visuals into a completely immersive environment.

The show will be hosted in an IGLOO tent which, as the name suggests, provides Novak with the 360° projection space they will require.

For your chance to win tickets, check out the Smirnoff Original Nights discussion posts http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/smirnofforiginalnights?v=app_2373072738&viewas=741085245

That TMobile ad

I can't work out how I feel about the TMobile flash-mob / ad / act of genuine kindness (ahem)- whatever you wanna call it. So I wrote about it over here.

How young people REALLY think, live + behave

This is a great presentation from Mobile Youth highlighting how so many brands are getting it horribly wrong when trying to communicate with the youth audience.

mobileYouth.org I am...not interested in mobile marketing

View more presentations or upload your own. (tags: cell student)

As I used to say when I was a teen - 'TOLD!'

Stephen Fry talks about the joys of Twitter

This video shows MWorks favourite, Stephen Fry talking about the benefits of Twitter outside BBC TV Centre, presumably before / after he recorded his interview with Jonathan Ross last Thursday.

I've been following him on Twitter (and he follows me back 'cos he's a nice man, you see) + thoroughly enjoy his little anecdotes + twitpics. Some are saying that @stephenfry has single-handedly propelled the micro-blogging platform into the mainstream, which does feel like a slight exaggeration I have to say. But he's certainly inspired several other celebrities to follow suit, with @wossy (Jonathan Ross himself), @schofe (Philip Schofield!) + even @britneyspears signing up to share their every move with the rest of the world. Actually, thinking about it, the latter was more likely to have been inspired by @barackobama than Stephen Fry. But anyway, I also noticed the other day that all of this celebrity 'tweeting' has resulted in someone somewhere creating a special tool that connects celebrity lovers with their idols, but I can't find that right now, I'm sorry.

FYI - Over the last 12 months, usage of Twitter has increased by a whopping 974% + in the moment that I type, Stephen Fry has a total of 63,634 followers. Makes my 92 sound quite pathetic.

@kirstyshields

Election am-bush...

This ad for Veet may well have been seen by every office worker across the world by now, but if you missed it we wanted to be the first to show you.

It demonstrates a one-off creative opportunity seized perfectly in a nutshell.

Successfully ambushing a huge audience whose minds are tuned in closely to Obama's inauguration, it's a flawless creative combo of timing, relevance and universally amusing innuendo. It also demonstrates how creativity and commercial sense can live very happily together, because as well as people actually getting the joke, the product benefit couldn't be clearer. Ahem.

Twitter Power 150

Based on Todd Andrlik's Power 150 Ranking which featured the top English-language media and marketing blogs in the world, Armando Alves has had a go at creating the Twitter Power 150. How very topical and very handy.

Here's the top 10. See the full list here.

1. PR Squared @TDefren 253.26

2. Web Strategy by Jeremiah @jowyang 243.59

3. PR 2.0 @briansolis 238.85

4. Social Media Explorer @jasonfalls 231.66

5. Groundswell @charleneli 229.72

6. BlogWrite for CEOs @debbieweil 217.25

7. Micro Persuasion @steverubel 215.08

8. Strategic PR @prblog 215.06

9. Jaffe juice @jaffejuice 214.71

10. Online Marketing Blog @leeodden 214.24

The 2 days of Christmas (baking)

It took 2 days, 2 hours per day, 2 calls to Head Chef Lee, 2 trips to the shops, 2 cutters, 2 kitchens and 1 Christmas jumper..but I got there in the end.

I had been thinking that the best thing to have come out of the ‘economic downturn’ is the trend for craft and in particular, that of making your own Christmas presents! Finally making stuff is cool…and I can make presents for people without looking like a cheapskate. So I was very excited to be making Christmas cookies for our clients this year. And although I definitely agree with the others on the whole ‘it wasn’t as easy as it should’ve been’ thing, it was loads of fun, totally put me in the Christmas spirit and has added to my (tiny) baking repertoire.

I hope those of you to have received some of our colourful cookies enjoyed them. And RIP to the 10 x Reindeer that sadly perished in my kitchen in the name of experimentation.

xKirsty



..ok, so I may have had a little help!

Help Santa keep his job!

I love this, I love this!

Green Santa was originally created by Chief Productions who teamed up with MAKE (part of LOVE Creative) to create a site which educates kids on the climate change issue + encourages them to pledge to do things to help, all in a fun + engaging way. It's based on the premise that Christmas is at risk because global warming is melting Santa's runway preventing him from delivering presents to children.

Children can browse the site to see how global warming is affecting not just Santa, but other characters living in Lapland including Jack Frost, the Snowmen + the wooly mammoths! Children can also make a pledge to help such as turning off the TV when they're not watching it or walking to school + they can even write to Santa himself.

More like this I say!

Faris at Interesting on MASH-UPS

I'm fast becoming a HUGE Faris fan. At the risk of simplifying the content of this great presentation, Faris talks about mash-ups (the subject du jour in the MWorks office) + how everything is actually a mash-up, including our very selves. There's certainly loads in here for us to steal + combine with the other stuff we steal to create presentations to show our clients to explain why they should let us combine stolen things on their behalf.

This link takes you to a page which is effectively a mash-up of a video of Faris presenting at Interesting NY, with the presentation itself. Haha.

Thanks Faris.

The World in 2010

A great film from Faris Yakob on the world in 2010, explaining how with mobile technology evolving so rapidly, the internet will soon infiltrate every aspect of how we communicate in the real and virtual worlds and how soon there will be no difference between online and offline.

It explores how content will become so vast that people will no longer search, but will rely on recommendations from others within their niche groups..suggesting how brands might react to ensure they get noticed.


2010: Entertainment and Communication from Faris Yakob on Vimeo.

The TEEN commandments for brands wanting to 'do digital'

An interesting and insightful post at Ruby Pseudo which quashes many assumptions about how youth use digital

“iPhone killer”

..the laziest headline of 2008?

Once more we have an exciting round of new mobile products that have taken the years of sweat and tears to develop and still the best that journalist can come up with is ‘brand x announces iphone killer’

By my reckoning there are at least 5 current handsets in the frame for the forthcoming murder of the iphone, after the last round of assassination attempts failed…the 3 prime suspects being:

NOKIA 5800


















SAMSUNG OMNIA




















..AND OF COURSE THE GOOGLE PHONE

The reality is that there will be no death, fatal wounding or hospitalisation of the iphone, just an incredible choice for us punters as to how our mobile media devices will look and feel. The only death, hopefully, will be that of a very tired headline.

Tom Thirlwall

Surfing the web makes ya brain live longer!

It's true. Says so here.

Mobile Youth talks about the future of mobile advertising

...thanks Mobile Youth

Chuck Levine's Mobile Presentation

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: mobile advertising)

The dramatic rise of branded content

To quote a recent article at Contagious, ‘After years of BMW films being just about the only example of branded content that was ever cited, there’s now a flood of sponsored short-form online TV series coming to a site near you’.

..how exciting! Online drama is something we at MWorks have been looking at particularly closely over the past 9 months...and it’s come a long way. The early stuff had low production values + pretty poor acting, but as online drama proves to be extremely successful at engaging with audiences, brands are becoming more confident and are spending more money. As a result we’re seeing big improvements in these areas. The production values seen in Sony Ericsson + Virgin Mobile-sponsored The Secret Life of Sam King have certainly moved on from those of Kate Modern, for example.

We’re also seeing more and more use of digital innovation within the online drama to increase the digital footprint + reach broader audiences. Sam King offers widgets to amplify and reach audiences outside of Bebo, Sofia’s Diary offers mobile updates to maintain interest offline, and the 2nd series of KateModern built Google maps into the storyline to get users interacting in other online environments.

Now the guys behind LonelyGirl15 + Kate Modern have moved things on by breaking away from Bebo to create their own social network http://www.lg15.com/. The LonelyGirl sequel, LG15: The Resistance will launch here in September, driving traffic in by distributing content to the various networks + channels. Definitely one to look out for.

It feels to us like the next step must be to deliver deeper interaction through viewer involvement. Particularly among the ‘yoof’ audience, interaction + engagement will increase when viewers are given some control over the narrative. Some have had a go already – the BBC online drama ‘To be continued’ currently playing out at Switch! offers viewers the chance to write + direct the next episode..nice. It’ll be interesting to see how popular it is.

Yahoo! is doing it slightly differently by asking viewers to text to vote for what happens next in their (cringeworthy) drama, Will Harry Date Sally? It looks like this one is designed to demonstrate to a slightly older audience how easy it is to use the internet on your mobile. It’d certainly be easier to bear on a smaller screen!

But finally, we’re reaaaally excited about Sony’s new crime drama, Coma which takes things to a whole new level. The fact that it stars Michael Madsen + George Hamilton gives it instant credibility and guarantees great acting (for once!). And the dark, comic book production values blow away everything that came before it. The drama which will feature careful Sony product integration, will play out through Sony’s Crackle channel + will be amplified across YouTube + Hula.