What were you doing on February 22nd?

People in Christchurch, who had just been hit by the horror earthquake immediately began to Tweet and Facebook their urgent pleas for help, to find loved ones, offer their homes for refuge or just let people know that they were safe and well.

Fresh off the Haiti disaster Google created an App called the ‘Person Finder’ a missing persons database specifically for Christchurch, which people could use to spread or search for critical information. This App also supplied immediate satellite map updates of the destruction zone as it happened.

So who would you turn to if your life was torn apart… Social Media?

Its immediacy and convenience is highlighted in emergency cases like this. But its utility for surges of spontaneous and widespread social interaction also waits to be harnessed for brand emergencies… an exclusive event perhaps?
Or even better is for brands to join in and lend a helping hand in times of crisis by tracking any distress calls in social media.

http://gcn.com/articles/2011/02/24/social-media-role-in-new-zealand-rescue-effort.aspx

Thanks

Cassie

Selfridges - Project Ocean

Selfridges as taken it upon themselves to try raise awareness of overfishing in our oceans. They have put together a diverse campaign utilising multiple channels to push the message out and try get people involved and donating.

The consistency and scale of the digital pieces for this project was quite impressive as well. Obviously the website and mobile apps were the main pieces of the project but I love the different outdoor digital executions that have been integrated with user activity on the site and apps.

Heineken - The Invite

Tired of drinking by yourself ? You might have a problem. That's ok Heineken is here to help. They have created a bottle opener with Bluetooth that can connect to your Facebook and create an event each time you feel like a drink.

The event is created based on your location and then goes off and invites your friends in the same city. Friends are able to RSVP and the event with the most attendees win's a case of beer for the following week.

Another great example of a simple idea using social media to spread mass awareness of your brand. Plus everyone loves free beer.

Mini involve their fans once again in their advertising

To celebrate customisation Mini, Berlin have set up a live photo booth and facebook page which enables people to have their photo taken with their choice of coloured earphones and car model. Let’s say you selected pink earphones, it would generate of photo of you sporting a pair of pink earphones alongside your favourite Mini featuring pink side mirrors.

The photos are sent to a live billboard on Berlin’s busiest intersection, online and on facebook. One participant wins their customised Mini.

Check out Mini It’s Personal Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MINI?sk=app_191638194215171


Thanks
Emily

ROME and WebGL

There was a new music video release recently that wasn't made for TV but rather for a web browser. It's quite an impressive visual display using code to render the 3D elements together with video and 2d graphics.

Check it out here. http://www.ro.me/ (view in chrome)

The technology they are using is WebGL. It is an extension of JavaScript to allow developers to generate 3D graphics within a web browser. Only issue with it currently is there are only a couple of browsers that are able to render it.

www.ro.me/tech is a page put together by the creators of ROME. It has a model viewer of some of the animals used in the clip and a great collection of some WebGL examples.

Also you can see the making of the clip here.

Axe Multiple Girlfriend Facebook App

A simple yet clever use of Facebook. Mimicking relationship status updates on Facebook Axe has been able to create some buzz with their new Multiple Girlfriend app. Basically it allows guys to post to their wall the fact that they have 356 or so girlfriends.

Not sure how happy Facebook would be able this. But until they pull it down it will continue to spread.

Topshop brings AR and Kinect together

A virtual change room has been created by Topshop using augmented reality and the Microsoft Kinect. What is a pretty good idea it is a shame that all the clothes look terrible over the top of existing clothes.Despite this issue it's another example of digital installations becoming more relevant in real world situations.

I would like to see it taken one step further and have the installations outside of the shops and the ability for the people to purchase the clothes and have it sent out to them.

Check out this article for more information.