Reaching your remote Audience

Julian Cole published some interesting thoughts over on his (recommended) blog on which brands are reaching their "remote audience". He mentioned Diet Coke Real Women, which used an event to create a story for the online audience.

We still think Red Bull are the best this, but Gatorade have also recently embarked upon Replay 2, the follow-up to their highly successful event last year where an infamous local sporting rivalry was finally settled. The latest rematch was watched by 4,000 in a sold out arena, but it was also webcast on Fox Sports. Watch the teaser above and watch out for the full documentary which is about to be released.

Believe in Something

Ikea have conducted a global research project on Play, concluding that we don't do enough of it. They have a page on Facebook inviting everyone to be a part of the conversation, and have released the full report online [PDF]. It is impressive in scope (they conducted 11,000 interviews) and a good example of a brand showing their belief in a cause, (in this case child development), rather than just talking about it.

Snoop Dogg with a Lightsaber...

There are few things from the 80s which still inspire wonder. Even the surprise of Rick Astley jumping out of videos at you is all but gone (though we liked this). Starwars though, lives on. Despite doing all he could to ruin the franchise with the most recent episodes, George Lucas has failed to dim any of the excitement people still feel about the originals.

There is something utterly surreal about an Adidas collaboration with Starwars, and I'd love to see the meeting where they sold in the idea of Snoop Dogg with a lightsaber. However it seems to work in a weird way. Judge for yourself.

Also have a look at their original video and Facebook Connect experience.

Glazer goes 3D

Jonathan Glazer's latest ad is for Sony 3D TV. It is interesting to see the different tactics being used to flog us 3D. While Samsung show it as a magical portal into a secret world, Sony's tactic seems to be to say, "you have to get it or all your images will be blurry".

Interestingly google searches for 3D are no higher than in 2004, despite high profile releases of Avatar, UP and Alice in Wonderland all using the format. The entertainment industry has poured billions into making 3D the next big thing, but people's interest in it arguably hasn't increased. It will be telling to see whether funding really can make it a success, despite it not improving the experience of watching a film (controversial I know, but I agree with Kermode).

Though if I need 3D to watch more of Glazer's work then I'd have to bite the bullet.

The future of Movie watching

Bestbuy have teamed up with Cripsin Porter + Bogusky to create a mobile platform called "Movie Mode". It turns off the sound, dims the screen, and offers you additional information on the movie. The ambition to create a platform rather than just another bit of communication is fantastic, and they are releasing their first app to coincide with the upcoming animated film, Despicable me. Though I shudder at the thought of everyone looking at their phones during a film, as we all do in conferences, I admire the thinking.

Computerised Brains

There has been a lot written recently, much of it in the New York Times, about how our brain is being changed by technology. The arguments tend to assert that the internet encourages distraction, skimming, loss of memory and over-reliance etc. I rarely get to the end of the articles- far too long.

My opinion would be that every successful new (communication) technology becomes incorporated into our behaviour, and all have their downsides. However a pre-internet world is no more desirable than a pre-telephone or pre-printing press world. We are reliant on them for good reason- they improve our lives.

Read more here:

Edward Boches summarises the arguments
Nicholas Carr argues our brains are becoming "shallow"

What's mine is yours

A lot has been written about generosity (Generation G), sharing and participation, but this video has a new perspective on what it calls "collaborative consumption". The idea that we are not so interested in ownership does seem intuitively true when you think about how music has changed from cds to MP3, to streaming. Of course for every trend there is a counter-trend, but there are some good examples in here which are certainly worth stealing, as well as a much appreciated bassy backing track.

The Future of Retail

PSFK have put together some interesting thoughts on the future of retail. We like the idea of the "world as a retail experience", and it taps in nicely to the blurring of online and offline which we keep banging on about.

Everyone googles themselves

The Pew Internet Research Centre have just released a slew of new data in a report on reputation management in social media. You can download the pdf here and it is worth a read. Some things which stood out for us were:

- Young people DO care about privacy- 71% 18-29 year olds have changed the privacy settings on their profile to limit what they share.
- 57% of adults have used google to look up their name (a lower percentage than creative directors)
- 46% of online adults now have a social network profile
- More than ever before we are actively managing our online identity- removing comments, detagging photos and limiting online information

Read more over at Danah Boyd's Blog.

The future of the Internet- or not

I just came across this video which made me laugh, and all too accurately sums up a lot of projects out there. For every successful web startup there are 50 who are trying to reinvent the wheel by giving it a new name. This is also a good excuse to post the old but brilliant "Twitter you pay for" debacle which is definitely one to read if you missed it.