The internet in pretty pictures and charts

JESS3 / The State of The Internet from Jesse Thomas on Vimeo.

The Virtual Revolution

If you’ve not already been watching The Virtual Revolution on the BBC, catch it on the iplayer. It is a really interesting investigation of how the World Wide Web is transforming almost every aspect of our lives.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00qx4vy/The_Virtual_Revolution_The_Cost_of_Free/

Dr Aleks Krotoski is joined by some of the most influential business leaders of today's web, including Jeff Bezos (CEO of Amazon), Eric Schmidt (CEO of Google), Chad Hurley (CEO of YouTube), Bill Gates, Martha Lane Fox and Reed Hastings (CEO of Netflix), Aleks traces how business, with varying degrees of success, has attempted to make money on the web.

She tells the inside story of the dotcom bubble and reveals how retailers such as Amazon learned the lessons. She also charts how Google forged the business model that has come to dominate today's web.

Aleks explores how web advertising is evolving further to become more targeted and relevant to individual consumers. Recommendation engines, pioneered by retailers such as Amazon, are also breaking down the barriers between commerce and consumer by marketing future purchases to us based on our previous choices.

On the surface, the web appears to have brought about a revolution in convenience. But, as companies start to build up databases on our online habits and preferences, Aleks questions what this may mean for our notions of privacy and personal space in the 21st century.

Because we all need a bit of perspective...

Really simple thought, beautifully executed. Press play and slide through the universe from the smallest to the biggest entity. Interesting and educational! Check it out here

Ikea Kitchen Squad

A real life makeover advert using real people (well at least one real person). Interestingly it seems anyone who is representing Ikea be it the presenter or the squad themselves seem almost like they are taking the piss out of the whole situation. Still, a nice example of how a brand can bring real joy into the lives of people through their products and advertising.







Campaign website here

Hawkpanther TV campaign for Dante's Inferno

This seems to be getting a lot of compliments from gamers. They really like the humour used in engaging them, the only hint towards Dante's Inferno is the page redirect off the tab 'Hawkpanther system' to the games website. Read about the entire campaign here.

Site here.

Something James found....

Some nice online work for Wrangler. Check it out here

Hidden advert for Dante's Inferno

Targeting the hardcore!!

The image is hidden in Digg's source code. Similar images were also placed on a few other sites. Each ad contains a password; collect all of them and enter them at hellisnigh.com (currently down) for something -- which obviously can't be very good for the humankind -- to happen.

A good example of a social media campaign

The 3 simple rules to social media of make something interesting, useful and something people want to talk about seem to be adhered to by 3. Their party campaign seems to be working well. Have a look here.

It's all about the Buzz..

Determined not to be left behind in the social media revolution, Google officially launched a new product called Google Buzz yesterday.
Google Buzz was presented to the media by Bradley Horowitz, Google’s vice president for product management. With the creation of Google Buzz – the integration of status updates and media-sharing technology into the Gmail interface- Google hopes that Gmail users would be spending more time on Google’s sites instead of going to other social media sharing sites like Twitter, Facebook or FriendFeed.
Google Buzz was also officially announced in the Gmail blog earlier today.

Today, we’re launching Google Buzz, a new way to start conversations about the things you find interesting and share updates, photos, videos and more. Buzz is built right into Gmail, so there’s nothing to set up — you’re automatically following the people you email and chat with the most.

BIG ADS - Superbowl 2010 Collection

OK, this is not the most inspiring post but anyone with a faint interest in marketing should spend some time checking out how some of the biggest brands in the world spend their spare millions.

The complete easy to view playlist is here http://adage.com/superbowl10/article?article_id=141954

As you can see some are better than others, with some being really poor, and even in poor taste... but, considering you have a pretty much captive audience of beer swilling males, some of these brands are going to reap the rewards - whether that's through massive sales or it could be that their ad becomes the stuff of legend and is talked about for years to come. Both are equally positive outcomes.

Bonus Fact 1: The Google TVC was originally meant for online broadcast only, but it was so popular on the web that Google decided to expose it to the Superbowl audience as well (at a considerably higher cost).

Bonus Fact 2: The 2010 Superbowl was the most watched TV program in American history, overtaking the previous record holder, the final episode of M*A*S*H in the early 80s.

Welcome to Wink wink, nudge nudge

The ambition of this blog is simple. We want to create a place where we can all share and discuss interesting content we find online with the sole objective of making us all a little more clued up on the things going on around us.

From the worlds of advertising, marketing and everything entertainment to become a wealth of inspiration to continue to push all of our work in 2010 and beyond.

Enjoy.