SPINNING AROUND: SEVENTY SEVEN THINKING OUT LOUD

STELLA GOES INTO TV

Mother is one of the ad agencies that gets content. Really gets it. Like an agency that genuinely understands branded entertainment gets it. So it's no real surprise that they've come up with something of a hum-dinger for Stella Artois.

Le Recyclage De Luxe Show, a new Stella Artois TV channel on YouTube, is fabulously Sixties, hosted by a psuedo Franco chat show hero. The whole thing is rather lovely from a marketing perspective. And the video of Florence and the Machine has picked up some views.

It'll be interesting to watch and see how much of the brand message content gets through and how many views it clocks up. Otherwise, you kind of feel that it might end up as a repository for a bunch of entertaining "stuff" that says sod-all about the brand.

For now, I shall stick with Kronenbourg and "cool" Japanese lager brands, I suspect that I will not be alone for a while ...

PROBABLY THE BEST ONLINE SHOP IN THE WORLD

Go here.

Don't touch ANYTHING. Let it load.

Wait.

A bit more ...

There.

Good, eh?!

GUITAR HERO PUTS THE BOOT IN

Thought that this was a lovely collaboration: Guitar Hero x DM limited editions.

Classic 14 hole DM boots with an extremely subtle (so subtle you wouldn't know unless you were an "insider") guitar logo across the back.

But it also got me to thinking that if experiential might've been en vogue a couple of years back and that it's now all about social meeja, maybe PR agencies should be thinking more about taking a lead in putting together these kinds of partnerships for their clients.

As brands become more social and as so many have huge fan bases or communities (whether online or off), so a smart partnership provides a way of sharing those fan bases and a way for both brands to benefit as a result.

So, in this case, Guitar Hero makes DM contemporary and "now" and helps them access a younger generation of rockers, keeping the brand modern and transitioning it into Generation Y, so DM gives Guitar Hero an aura of rock legend credibility and endorsement.

It's a funny thing, but we seem to be working on a lot more of this kind of activity for a couple of our clients at the moment. But it feels to me like we should be doing more of it.

A smart brand partnership, where there is something to be gained for both partners, means that each can create and access the other's consumer base (whether online or off), new and surprising (and therefore newsworthy) things can be created and the world starts to look a happy place.

Sure, there have already been some stunners (Nike+ with Apple springs to mind, H&M or New Look working with designers and style leaders likewise).

But it also feels to me like PR agencies should be at the forefront of these kinds of partnerships. We're a bunch of people who are tactically minded, we understand relationships and how they can be forged to mutual benefit and we ought to know how to make these kinds of partnerships work hard for all parties.

I reckon that this is going to be an area that we really should be watching and developing our skills in, because done well, it ought to be one in which we have a lot to offer, skills-wise.

THE INKSTRUMENTALS ARE COMING

I just thought that this was a lot of fun. It's a new iPhone game thing created by the lovely Jon Burgerman (who the brunette and I got to make some lovely T-Shirts for our Sideline once upon a long time ago).

Based on the blurb on Jon's site, it's being created with the people who brought us Mouth Off and is called Inkstrumentals. Basically, a load of Jon's quirky illustrated characters who each make different sample noises when tapped.

Looking forward to its arrival, looks like fun ...

inkstrumental™ making of video from ustwo on Vimeo.

Inkstrumental WIP 02 from ustwo on Vimeo.

NEXT BIG THINGS ... PHOTOCHAINING

The concept is shockingly straightforward: you take a photo. You then leave the memory card somewhere in a public place. Someone picks it up with the note. Reads it. Takes a photo. Then leaves it in a public place ...

Welcome, then to Photochains. A new mini-web trend that has its spritual home at Photochaining.org. A funny old thing altogether, I reckon.

NICE NEWS ... TOP OF THE BLOGS

Spinning Around is one of the UK's top ten advertising blogs. Which is nice ... over at Scamp.

RUSSELL BRAND ON TWITTER

As reported on the excellence ewarwoowar ...

Russell Brand has been introduced to Twitter by Jonathan "Wossy" Ross, who was introduced to it (apparently) by Stephen Fry.

In a similar chain ... much to the delight of lovers of the broomcupboard of yesteryear, Phillip Schofield has introduced Andi Peters to the service.

Aw ... Lovely. Perhaps Gordon the Gopher will make an appearance.

BTW, favourite out of context Russell Brand reply (because I have no idea what he was responding to and no inclination to find out) so far is ...

"balderdash. if i sense an onus anywhere near me i shall seduce it and render it loquacious."

Barking.

MENTAL ... WILL BE RIPPED OFF BY ADLAND SOON ...

Now THIS is barking. A Japanese artist who attaches electrodes to his face and makes it twitch in time to the music. Barking. Expect to see it go viral and then appear in an ad for a radio station soon ...

via AS

IT'LL BE EVERYWHERE SHORTLY ...

Blip.fm is something that I only discovered this morning. How behind the times I am. My only excuse is that I've been on my holidays.

Anyhoo ... it's been picking up a lot of chat on the blogs of late amongst the musical digerati and it's all-set to become the next Last.fm.

What's it do ...? Well, for the (likely very few) uninitiated, you set up a profile, select a bunch of music on it and then hit "play" at the top. Once done, Blip'll cheerfully play through your set-list.

The groovy bit, though, is that you can browse and play other people's lists across the site - essentially turning us all into DJs.

It'll be everywhere before the year is out ... You can sign-up here if you so desire ...

via rgleeson.

WATCH THIS IMMEDIATELY ... IT'S DEAD GOOD

School of Comedy ... get hold of the download immediately. It's fab. Seriously.

The brunette - if AA Gill has the blonde, I can have "the brunette" - and I have had offspring and she has been hanging with "the NCT girls". One of said "NCT girls" is Laura Lawson (that would be her above, on the left). And she is a top lass indeed.

Somewhere along the line, it was established that Laura writes comedy and that she does it with kids. What was only more recently discovered was that she has a programme on C4's Comedy Lab series.

And bloody good it was too.  Find it on 4OD straight away. Trust me, it's worth it.

THE BEST THING THIS WEEK ...

This is the best thing that I am going to find this week. Without question. And it's only 9.15 am.

Seriously, I am thinking that it might be sensible to bugger off home right now and put my feet up, happy that I have accumulated sufficient knowledge of new stuff to last a full seven days.

My M&Ms is amazing. Brilliant.

You can actually print your own M&Ms. You can have your own messages on them, print your face on them (you can upload a photo and they sort it for you), you can put your logo onto them. Bloody magic. Oh, and you can choose which colours of M&Ms you want in your pack of personalised confectionery.

Love this very dearly.

And what is more, it's a brilliant business-building idea. Now, M&Ms are something different - a medium no less - for self-expression. Mars has found a new way in which to open up a whole revenue stream, engage people, make them ambassadors for their product and brand.

And if a small, round sugar-coated chocolate globule can go web2.0, you have to ask the question: why can't other brands come up with ideas like this to change the way that they engage with people across the web and the world?

This came via the excellent ...

A FIRST CHINESE FASHION BRAND?

It may have something to do with the fact that I REALLY want a pair. It may be that everyone with more than an ounce of cool is already wearing these.

However, prediction of the week from me is that Warriror trainers are going to become the next big thing and that, amongst an initially small group of hugely fashion-conscious folk, they are going to acquire cult status.

Wait for conversations overheard in Shoreditch and Hackney that start: "Mate, loving those trainers, what are they?". To which the response will be "They're warriors. Chinese peasant trainers, but they're going to be massive. Bought them on the web ..." followed by a five minute monologue about the brand's history.

Right now, a Finnish photographer (originally from China) is making the brand hip with her "Book of Warriors" - photos of Chinese folk wearing the sneakers. A pair of the shoes comes with each copy.

Just thought that it was worth blogging about because a) it interested me enough to want to buy a pair but also that b) this story seemed to sum up for me the wonder of new brands in the modern economy - international, networked, always available, contemporary yet oozing heritage and all with a story to tell.

Greatness beckons ...

THE NEW PARKOUR ... TWO OPTIONS

Came across this chap over on Crackunit and wondered whether this might work as our "new Parkour" - and stop "free running" coming up in our brainstorms?

Then was having a bit of a hunt around and came across these chaps from - of course - China. Perhaps they could stand in for the bouncy urban pirouette-artistes.

LAST ORDERS ON THE TUBE

For those who fancy celebrating the last day on which alcohol can be consumed on public transport on the tube, perhaps join the Circle Line Cocktail Party? More at lastordersonthetube.com.

GET YOURSELF PAPPED

MethodIzaz is a "photographic experience".

Supply details of your daily routine - where you'll be and when, where you work and when you might be around and about, details of any events that you might be attending - and they will stalk you at some point during the week and take your photo. Kinda like having your own personal papperazi, when you think about it.

Only available in New York (where else?) at present, we're sure that the service will spread worldwide.

Right now, we're thinking that perhaps they'd be better than the standard agency headshots that appear in the agency biogs. Perhaps we should get a commission in ...

SONY "FOAM CITY" FOR CYBERSHOT OR HANDYCAM?

Looks like "Foam City" is going to be the next big ad to come from the Sony and Fallon stable. The greatest bone of contention so far is whether it is for their Cybershot or Handycam range. Or both, for that matter.

Anyhow, we thought that it was high time that we passed some early comments and thoughts on the marketing of the ad so far (and yes, we do realise that it is odd that an ad should be marketed, but this one has created all the excitement of a Hollywood blockbuster, so this ad (much like Gorilla II: this time with trucks) is being marketed as a thing in its own right).

Some lovely work being cooked up to support the launch. Katy Howell over at IF (who we are working with on a campaign for Kinder Kids, incidentally), has been working with the Sony guys to stir up some buzz ahead of the launch - with the Sony client Twittering from the set.

At the same time, Adland in Denmark and PSFK have both blogged from the Miami set where the ad is being made. See also Josh Spear, Shape and Colour amongst hundreds of others.

There have been some new flickr sets popped up - most notably from hawridger.

If all that we read is to be believed, should be a really great piece of creative work.

And "nice work" to all those who are putting together the social media campaign - it seems to be getting some real traction around the place (as I suppose this post demonstrates). A quick search on Google blog search is already throwing up over 7,000 returns for Sony Foam City and the speculation is rife about the ad.

Wonderful stuff and a really great piece of social engagement work.

QUICK UPDATE: Couple of bits that may be of interest are this YouTube clip of the making of the ad and this del.icio.us feed which captures the mentions so far of the ad. More social network loveliness.

What this really shows is that, far from threatening traditional marketing, a well-executed campaign across the web, using all the groovy tools that it offers us marketers to exploit a lovely creative concept, can support and amplify a campaign.

Trails being blazed, we reckon. One to watch and learn from ...

And a thank you to Eric for the piccie.

POWERBOCKS: THE NEW PARKOUR?

For those who follow Spinning Around, you will be familiar with our recently-launched quest to supplant the "let's get some free runners down for the launch event" idea in brainstorms with something a bit more "now". With thanks to the lovely Lore Sjöberg at Wired (who writes like a dream, incidentally), we present this latest alternative ...

A MATTER OF MATTER

What an interesting idea ... a box of DM type stuff that people would actually WANT.

Altogether nice fellow, Tim Milne has created an experiment that, by all accounts, is working. Matter is a box that you sign up for online. Some time later (the next one is due in summer 2008), a box arrives full of interesting branded things.

The sample box contained stuff from Jordan's, Virgin, Wii, Evo ... all manner of lovely stuff.

The boxes are aimed at specific audiences (so the sample was men aged 25-34-ish). Tim has hauled himself around the ad agencies of London and has got some great brands involved.

What a lovely, lovely idea.

As Tim says ... "In an increasingly virtual world, we're beginning to appreciate the value of real things. Matter is a box full of interesting stuff–a way for companies to talk to people by giving them things."

Makes a heap of sense, when you think about it. Find out more HERE.

SHHHH ... IT'S CINEMA, BUT IT'S SECRET

Secret Cinema, which puts on themed evenings with classic films and a spot of performance to go with them, is likely to be something of a "next big thing", we reckon.

Basically, you sign up (spending a tenner) online at www.secretcinema.org.

Just before the event, you are emailed with details of the secret location for the film and performance (the Royal Academy was the setting for the most recent event).

At that point, you pitch up with a load of other punters and watch as actors themed around the film run about, some of the music is performed live by an orchestra and there is much related comedy and high jinx. Then you get to watch a film and toddle home.

It's going to be big ... you mark our words ... See you at the next one.

JUMPSTYLE: THE NEW PARKOUR

With thanks to Iain at Crackunit for this one (he has written pretty extensively on the topic that follows, so do head over there if you want to read about it).

Jumpstyle (or variations, Hardjump and Hardstyle) looks like it might be this year's Parkour (free-running to thee and me). Basically, it takes the premise of Dance Dance Revolution and applies it to an urban dance style - with its own brand of hard techno tunes to match.

For those who don't know, DDR is a console game that has already served to create several stars - most recently five year old Ryota who has clocked up 1.5 million YouTube views - see below).

Now, what happens if you get a bit older, want to hang out with your mates and don't really need the mat anymore? Turns out that you create Jumpstyle - a dance style that whips away the mat and takes the style to the streets (or bus station/park bench/pedestrian precinct of a Saturday night).

Then, the craze catches on a bit and starts to create its own stars ... like Patrick Jumpen, something of a master of the art, by all accounts. He has made the definitive (as far as I can make out) tutorial for Jumpstyle.

Then you go a-surfing and find all manner of really well-viewed clips of Jumpstylers doing their thing. As Iain observes, this is the thing that we should all be watching for hitting the mainstream over the course of the next few months.

Meantime, these were the favourite clips that we found. Quality stuff from [J.F.J.T.] Bootleg and [J.F.J.T.] Cocain (or Jump For Joy Team) ...

Michael Flatley has nothing on these boys. More here.

WOW PLAYER GOES ALL PEACEFUL ...

News from the world of geek. Sort of. World of Warcraft is, for those who don't know already, one of the world's biggest MMORPGs - online games for lots of people.

It has been reported this week, though, that one player in the game has decided to register a small protest against the violence of the game - or he (we think it safe to assume) is attempting a social experiment. Or is making a desperate bid for online fame.

By all accounts, Noor the Pacifist is attempting to reach the highest level in the game without killing anyone.
There is an interview with the player here.

What is remarkable, however - and why we thought it worth popping on this weblog - is the fact that this story has started to spread outside geek circles and into mainstream online media. Keeping an eye on the tale of Noor the Pacifist, we can see it hitting the nationals in the course of the next couple of weeks.

Which likewise shows just how important these kinds of communities - apparently pretty geeky folk playing online games in virtual worlds - can get. Perhaps Greenpeace should sign the fella up as a campaigner?

For those who fancy a snigger at the wacky world of WOW, this is not the first time that the player in question has done some crazy shit in teh online game. In one interview, he says:

I prefer doing stranger stuff, as opposed to grinding high-end instances. Once, my 70 mage was in Southshore, and someone was asking directions to Ghostlands in zone chat. I told him how to go through EPL.

Then I clicked on him, and he was something like a level 12 Draenei hunter. I asked him why he wanted to go there, and it turns out he wanted a red cat for a pet -- so I escorted him through EPL, and he only died a couple of times getting there.

WTF?

BEATLES IN ADS ... SUGGESTIONS, PLEASE

Over at MadComments, Jonathan Gabay has been making suggestions for the uses that The Beatles back catalogue could be put to, now that Sony has announced that they are going to allow advertisers to use thm in creative work.

We were quite taken with these.

All my loving - Durex condoms
Carry that weight - Weight Watchers
Day tripper - Virgin Trains
Drive my car - AA School of Motoring
Don’t let me down - Sure antiperspirant
Fixing a hole - Pollyfilla
Helter Skelter - Thorpe Park
I wanna hold your hand - Nivea hand cream
I’ve just seen a face - Acne treatment
Lady Madonna - Church of England recruitment drive
Maxwell’s silver hammer - Black and Decker
Magical mystery tour - London Underground
Norwegian Wood - Furniture stores
Nowhere man - Sat Nav devices
Paperback writer - Waterstones
Please Mr Postman - Post Office
Run for your life - Diarrhoea treatment
She came in through the bathroom window - Security alarms
When I’m sixty Four - Viagra
With a little help from my friends - Samaritans
We can work it out - Haemorrhoid cream
Yesterday - Over 50s Funeral Plan

Do head over to Mad to add your own thoughts on some unlikely uses that the tracks could be put to ...

GLUBBLE TROUBLE ...

One of our clients has just moved jobs. Always sad to see people go, but always nice when folks head on to interesting things. In this case, the thing in question was so interesting that we thought we would give it a mention.

So ... Glubble. Okay, it's a terribly Web2.0 name, but bear with us here. Glubble is a Firefox extension that will create a cute, child-friendly interface and will have lots of parental controls - to the point that it will change the Yahoo and Google search results that are displayed to protect kids from iffy online content.

Bloody clever.

The money comes from the media side - within the Glubble interface, there are a number of sites that are flagged up for kids - whether Disney, Barbie or Bob the Builder. So the whole thing makes money out of semi-traditional advertising.

We think it's great. And a really interesting example of someone building something new and interesting on the basis of an already popular open-source application - in this case, Firefox. Next big thing for kids for 2008, we reckon ...

QR CODES: TOLD YOU SO ...

We suggested that QR codes would be big in 2008. Check out this piece from the Currant Bun (image left) - that we've just found.

In a rare break from the norm, it turns out that we were bang on (though even we would admit that things happened a bit quicker than we expected and we weren't expecting to see it them in the hands of a page three stunna).

Apparently, Ladbrokes, Sky and Twentieth Century Fox have all signed up to use the codes, which can be read by mobile phone cameras and direct people to internet content - video clips, trailers, music etc.

That is the one and only prediction that we expect to get right this year, incidentally.

QR ... COMING TO A PHONE NEAR YOU

QR codes have taken Japan by storm and it looks like they are coming to the UK soon ...

Cunning ways of storing information, QR codes can be read on mobile phone cameras on handsets that have a natty piece of software installed. Basically, they mean that you can turn your phone into a barcode reader - with the added twist that QR codes can hold loads more information.

For those who want the full skinny, try this Wikipedia definition. or watch this YouTube film-ette.

But top and bottom is that a QR holds information in a matrix of dots. Instead of think lines and thin lines, a QR is a matrix of dots - which means that a reader will work out the message contained within it based on the dots arranged vertically and horizontally.

In Japan, they have by and large been used to direct people to websites. Or, as Wikipedia would have it ...

"A user having a camera phone equipped with the correct reader software can scan the image of the QR Code causing the phones browser to launch and redirect to the programmed URL"

Cunning, eh?

A couple of uses are detailed around the web. My thinking was that these are fantastic for location-specific information. So for someone like ... er ... Hotels.com, we could make codes with links to a webpage (or a film) that tells you about the thing that you're looking at.

But then you can see them in a museum or zoo telling you about an exhibit or in a supermarket delivering a recipe for the item that you are about to buy - every chicken comes with a QR telling you how to cook it and how to "do something different" with it.

When you really start thinking about the potential, the whole thing comes to life. We reckon that QR is going to be a big PR thing next year ... no doubt someone will create a QR-driven street and web game. Mark our words ...

With thanks to Crackunit, GiaGia and John Dodds.

WORLD OF WIDGETS

Widgets are the thing that appear to have got everyone talking of late. And Widgety Goodness is the conference that will, by all accounts, bring together a whole heap of people to talk about them.

The reason that widgets suddenly got interesting is that Google announced OpenSocial. Google has managed to bring together social networks including MySpace, Bebo, Hi5, LinkedIn and a heap of others besides. All have agreed to write social applications (or widgets) based on a common code.

On the one hand, it means that widget programmers (like Slide.com that you might be familiar with from MySpace and Facebook funwalls) can create programmes that work across all social networks. 

Which means that, instead of creating a widget that works only on Facebook (which opened up its code to programmers a couple of months back but has not so far joined OpenSocial),  they will work across all social networks.

Interesting times indeed in widget land.

Incidentally, the other interesting thing that emerges from OpenSocial is that all of the social networks themselves could become compatible. So instead of having a group of friends sharing pictures/films/favourite cars/throwing food at each other on MySpace, who then have to do the same thing to the some of the same people on LinkedIn, friends, messages, games and applications could transfer across platforms.

The danger for the social networks is that their brands disappear altogether and the web becomes one big social network without the walls between Facebook and MySpace. Which does rather leave the question of why MySpace and others have signed up: potentially to their own doom.

INCOMING ... JOSH KEYES

We reckon that Josh Keyes, an artist hailing from Washington State, is going to be one of the next big things in the art world. Or at least we hope that he will be. Closely observed, satirical pieces in which animals are still stunningly rendered. You have to love the work ...

INCOMING ... NEXT BIG THING

From time-to-time, we will stick up something that we think is going to make it big ... First up, Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip in a Phil Daniels-esque ranty tune. About to hit one million views on YouTube, bound to make it big before too long.