Who Killed Summer? LIVE! LIVE! LIVE!

After a mere 2 years in development (!), Who Killed Summer? is finally live!

Visit the site, watch the first episode, tell us what you think? We're desperate to know.

Who Killed Summer? launches tomorrow

Finally! Our 'baby' is fully formed + ready to meet the rest of the world. It's been a long time in the making, but after 2 years (!) of hard work, countless documents, some laughs, many tears and medium-sized palpitations, Who Killed Summer? is to launch tomorrow.

Who Killed Summer? is a collaboration between MWorks / EI, Hideous Productions + Big Balls Films (the guys behind Kate Modern + Nokia's Somebody Else's Phone) + sponsored by Vodafone. The depth + breadth of this combined expertise has delivered an online drama that demonstrates TV-quality production values, (properly) exploits the potential of social media to engage its audience, and allows people to watch it in (almost) real time, for the first time.

So what is it?

At 8pm on Thursday you'll meet 6 young, hot music lovers from across Europe brought together by Vodafone for the summer of their lives. They'll hit the hottest gigs, the best festivals and the wildest parties, capturing content on their mobiles, while a film crew records every intimate moment in high definition.

..it should make for the most amazing summer ever, but will it?

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

BakerTweet from Poke

BakerTweet is a clever little device created by Poke using Arduino hardware + software that means bakers everywhere (+ in this case Poke's neighbours, new Conran cafe Albion) can announce the readiness of their delicious baked goods at the very moment they leave the oven.

By installing this device in the kitchen, bakers can simply turn a dial to select the variety of completed baked item which then sends out a tweet to tell the world that freshly baked yumminess is waiting for them. You can keep up on Albion's baking here.

Indeed cakes + biscuits sure are tastiest when they're hot from the oven. Though sadly we at MWorks may have to settle for lukewarm - Redchurch Street is at least 10 mins away.

We think The Modern Pantry next door should invest in a BakerTweet.

MWorks on blogging in .net this month

A slightly embarrassing large picture of my head, but what can you do?

This is an article I wrote for this month's .net magazine which talks about using bloggers to drive word of mouth for brands, following a campaign we ran that did just that for our client, Creative + Cultural Skills to launch their new site Creative Choices last year.

Visit the 'work' section at our site for more information on the Creative Choices blogger advocacy campaign.

Bebo's got a friend feed

Bebo is introducing what it calls a 'lifestream platform' which, like Friendfeed, aggregates users' various social networking updates in that one place. So while at Bebo, users will be able to see what their friends are doing + saying on Flickr, Facebook, Myspace, Delicious etc. And it seems you don't even need to be registered with Bebo to benefit from it.

It's a clever but obvious move to increase dwell time at the site + is surely the way all the social networks will end up going.

Full report from the Guardian here.

Now that's what we're talkin' about

Here's a great example of how social media can be used to influence opinion.

Blogger + Chef, Niall Harbison made a throw-away comment about Seesmic in a post. The magic of google alerts meant it was then picked up by Loic de Meur who runs Seesmic. He left a comment on Niall's post complimenting him on his work, pointing out that Seesmic is approaching 1 million videos + asks 'I wonder why you have to be so aggressive?' then signs off by wishing him success in the future. How nice! How can anyone, having received such a lovely comment from the very guy that runs Seesmic, not investigate further to prove themselves wrong? Niall finds that Seesmic has vastly improved since he last visited + even goes so far as to film a post in which he positively advocates the site + Loic's approach at challenging his view. Seesmic was now approaching 1,000,001 videos + everybody lived happily ever after.