Huntzz smartphone app

I cannot quite recall where I first heard about this app, but needless to say I have been thinking about it quite a lot since…

At University I created an locative project which combined audio and live performance. It was an exploration of the history of a central part of the city of Bristol; what used to be in that part of town and questioning the significance of the area now.

It was also intended as a comment on commercialism and it’s sprawling nature; how our standard solution to a derelict urban space is to slap some shops in there paired with over-priced flats. Its so common now it seems like a tired cliche, but even so I felt quite strongly about it and essentially my project was born out of that passion.

So when I read about this Huntzz app, I thought it could be quite a good way to build upon his piece of work I created 3 years ago. If I ever get round to it, I’d love to create and submit a hunt for this app, based upon local history of Bristol. There’s the potential there for creating a series of them too.

Huntz is a smartphone app with real-world scavenger hunts and tour guides; the app also allows you to create your own!

http://www.huntzz.com/

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.huntzz

Liu Wei – new favourtie artist

From his latest exhibition at Lehmann Maupin, New York

Discovered via http://sharpebyname.wordpress.com/2013/03/15/liu-wei/

 

 

Viral Video Marketing

Viral Video Marketing 101.

via Viral Video Marketing 101 from http://geralddhopson.wordpress.com

I was just reading today about the death of MTV at the hands of YouTube essentially. This is not only symptomatic of the music video but says a lot about the sheer volume of viewers plugged into YouTube. To be honest I think you would struggle to find someone (under the age of 70) who has never watched content from YouTube – and that certainly says a lot.

This just leaves me time to mention my new favourite print magazine Aesthetica – the source of the “YouTube killed the video star” article.

How to get your ideas to spread: what makes it?

This is the golden question everyone wants to know the answer to! Especially in this over-saturated world of digital content, where everyone has something to say about pretty much everything. How do you get your idea to stick and to ultimately make it big?

Why do some ideas rise to the surface, whilst others seemingly blend into the mix?

I’ve read a lot of contradictory theories about how to win when it comes to marketing your idea, product or service. The common mistake people seem to make is to try and appeal to the masses. The problem with this is that your creative work can ultimately suffer as your unwittingly water-it-down or try to appropriate it in order to turn more heads. You may find yourself needing to dress it down or perhaps camouflage the real message, to soften the blow and make something more appealing.

The problem here is that you are trying to second guess the opinions of a mass market, and even with the best will in the world this is going to be tricky.

In this recent TED video presentation by the Marketing Guru Seth Godin; he seems to reiterate an approach which is making more and more sense. Although at first it seemed a bit contradictory to what your instinct tells you “sell to as many people as possible” as per the duff approach I explained above where you aim for EVERYONE!

He provides a lot of clarity on the issue. You essentially need to identify those who would be interested in your idea and focus on them, with the hope that they ten spread this on to others. You need to target the enthusiasts; these are the people who are passionate about something, enough to tell others about it. The concept being that if you can get them enthused and interested in your remarkable idea, they are the people likely to spread it to others. It is their expressed interest and passion in your concept that naturally encourages the idea to be passed along and grow organically.

IN a nut shell, we used to think you should target those in the middle, but what we should be doing is targeting those on the fringes…simple right?!!!

Watch the video: http://www.ted.com/talks/seth_godin_on_sliced_bread.html

 

 

Icon Times

…A new iconographic news aggregator!

I originally heard about this in Computer Arts, and wanted to share it!

I think it’s great little idea and am quite fond of the execution too.

Icon Times

It was a little amusing to read a comment from a guy on Form Fifty Five, who is probably a little bit pissed….here is his own site:

A Headline a Day

Yep….got to hand it to you pal, that is definitely similar.

 

Original content via Computer Arts and Form Fifty Five.

Original work from Icon Times and A headline a Day.

 

 

 

Trends for Video Marketing 2013

I’ve been doing some research into the trends for 2013 – just to keep abreast of what the industry is saying, and found a couple of points I felt were worth a mention.

The following are noted by Spectrecom in their article on trends for 2013;

‘Under the hood’ dynamics

Agencies and marketers need to have a good understanding of the technology underpinning a video, never more so than now as it becomes more complicated to embed media, as the ecosystem of digital continues to evolve. The more flexible your video is in the way it’s constructed, the better it can be adapted to different platforms. It sounds like common sense, but it’s easy to skirt around the nitty-gritty when making a video and simply format it for one platform. We could all do with paying more attention to the ‘underbelly’ allowing us more flexibility with the content we produce.

The Convergence of offline and online media

Quite simply this is something else that needs to be at the forefront of our minds when we begin a campaign. Spectrecom put it very succinctly “Customers no longer have offline or online experiences; they simply have a brand experience.” You need to be relevent to your customer across different contexts and take a converging approach to projects.

These are just a couple of over-arching philosophies worth taking forward in 2013.

 

Original article from Spectrecom

 

 

 

Love a good window

I love it when you find someone out there with a fascination with the seemingly mundane – in this case windows.

I totally get it – I am always marveling at those little paned gateways into and out of buildings and space.

Loving your work Jose Guizar

Windows of New york

Windows of New York

Via inspiration feed