Registrations are currently open (I’m klan if you want to follow me), so get in there while the iron is hot. There is also a free iPad/iPhone app as well, so you can browse lovely, pretty stuff on the move.

Melinda and TEDx Host

Yesterday I was lucky enough to be invited along to the latest TEDx event in London. As we’re arranging our own TEDx event in October – TEDxNewSt – I was interested to see, first hand and up close, how they are run.

The event was held at the Science Museum in London and was the first event, of its kind, ever. The first session (95 mins) was broadcast live from New York. 82 events took place in 40 countries, simultaneously, around the world, all live-streaming the NY feed. Once NY had wrapped up the first session, each individual event got on with hosting their events independently with their local speakers live in the room. There was a group in Auckland (NZ) who were hosting their event at 03:30am in order to take part and as we live-streamed them in to say hello, we were told how their adverts for the event read “Pyjamas are optional, progress is not”. Nice. What was even nicer however was the fact that there were indeed people in their pyjamas in the room too.

The overarching theme of the event was about the future and how we can positively effect global issues such as eliminating polio, fighting malaria, reducing child mortality rates and empowering women.

The speakers on the live feed from NY were really engaging and inspiring. As the event was co-conceived by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Melinda was one of the key speakers. Her talk was very insightful as she spoke about how development agencies and NGOs could learn a few tricks from Coca-Cola in how to reach the far corners of the earth and inspire people to want to purchase their products/lifestyles. Hans Rosling was also on stage with some very encouraging stats on child mortality rates, delivered in his own highly inimitable style.

Hans Rosling

Also Mechai Viravaidya (or Mr.Condom as he was fondly referred to) showed a presentation on his foundation’s innovative and, frankly, awe-inspiring methods of introducing condoms into the Thai communities. He is responsible for this post’s title as that was one of the first things he said in his talk and it’s really stuck in my mind.

Mechai Viravaidya

There were many, many other speakers involved in the entire event, all of which were rich with content and inspiration. I would urge you to watch the recording of the NY live-stream available on the website as it’s really compelling.

And if that whets your appetite for being inspired and wanting to do things better/differently then be sure to find out more about our upcoming TEDxNewSt event on October 15th.

Starting on the journey in Farringdon

If you’re anything like me then you’re likely to spend an inordinate amount of your life plugged into a day-dream playing inside your (cavernous) head where you’re living out an alternate reality, traveling the world, experiencing new and wonderful places every day.

Imagine my delight when a colleague showed me a new internet site that brings my day-dreams to life (well, photo imagery at least) and shows me these places up close and on my screen.

Some smart folk have developed the ultimate Google Street View hack game/application where you can shuffle randomly through the streets of cities, in countries, on every continent*. Like a Chatroulette for globetrotting geeks.

*the continents that have Google Street View (5 currently)

One minute you’re exploring the back streets of Hong Kong and in the click of a button you’re whisked off (safely in your seat) to the winding mountain roads in Spain and…..*click*……off to the long, seemingly endless, stretches of roads through Central Africa. For a day-dreaming wannabe explorer like me it’s a great way of nosing around new places without the need for jabs and a moneybelt.

It’s incredibly compelling also just for the childish excitement that, at some point, you may happen across something really unusual and stunning (or rude!).

Go on, go and have a play here…and if you do find something particularly exciting then let us know by posting it on here. Thanks.

Missouri

Hong Kong

Spain

Africa

Australia

Denmark

The Winning Idea from l-r: Alex (no, really), Jack, Sam H & Sam G

As you may have seen from a blog post on here last week, we entered a competition run by Metro newspaper and D&AD to design a cover wrap for the Metro newspaper. The winner was announced last Wednesday evening at a lovely event hosted by Metro and D&AD. We were absolutely delighted when our ‘Flowers’ idea chosen as the overall winner and couldn’t wait to see it come out in print.

Well, today’s the day. We have spent all Bank Holiday weekend getting more excited about coming back in to work today than the plentiful bounty of chocolate at our fingertips over Easter. Personally, this morning I ended up in work an hour and a half early as I couldn’t wait to get down to the tube station to pick up my copy of the Metro and see how people were responding to the cover. (yes, I really AM that sad…and I’m proud!)

We’ve all been Tweeting all weekend also to encourage our followers to send us photos from today of their #metrowrap, and the photos/comments have been coming in thick and fast all morning. Thank you all for taking part and do please continue to send us your pics as you get them, we really love to receive them. Please see below for some examples of pics sent in already…

Our friend @Ben_Millar pops the question to a lift full of commuters

Grabbing an early morning edition at Arsenal tube

Oyster roses at Bank - not quite...

The lovely @LewieEvans presents his sister with a bunch

Sarah Kwan sends us her bunch all the way from Edinburgh

@Moobs takes advantage of rare empty seats to brighten his day

Someone 'passing it on' in style

Recycling at the Royal Exchange

I sincerely hope they were intending for a pic of the paper in this one...

Kings Cross picks up a bunch

This one has really made me smile...

The Partners reception/flower stall this morning

Andy Gardner was so keen he grabbed a couple of copies...

...before using one to decorate his office. Thanks Andy.

From our friend Tracey in Glasgow

Somebody's bagged a bunch on the way home

The gorgeous Amanda arranges a bouquet especially for her friends at The Partners.

The lovely Leah mixes the real with the print

And the morning after….

The morning after feedback. Thank you too Jenni.

Maybe I’m just predisposed to Metro because the logic of it appeals to my own professional philosophy about thinking differently and inventing new opportunities rather than just iterating the same tired old ideas all the time. But in any case I’ve long considered Metro to be a great example of a brand that fundamentally understands its proposition and knows how to deliver it. Until now.

So this week I see that Metro has launched a campaign intended to persuade us to take our copies of the paper with us when we leave the train and put them in the recycling bin. It’s littering, apparently, if we leave them. And that shows me that Metro doesn’t understand its brand anywhere near as well as I had thought. You see Metro has established itself so firmly in the unique circumstance it created that it has transcended its functionality and become cultural. When you travel on the tube it is not littering to leave your copy of Metro on the shelf behind the seats, it is a public service to your fellow commuters. To take your paper with you, and to bin it, is to deny someone else the opportunity to pass their travel time productively. Pick a carriage of people and ask them, they’ll all agree, “please leave your copy of Metro behind in case one of us wants to read it”. In fact almost the only emotional interaction that ever takes place between non-acquainted human beings on a tube train is the brief smile and warm eye contact that is exchanged when one places a paper down and another immediately picks it up. It is that, dear Metro, that is your brand. And this advertising campaign undermines it.

As all discarded Metros get collected by LUL staff at the end of the line, and are presumably recycled, I’m not concerned about the environmental impact of my objections here. I just hate to see a good brand get it wrong.

Jim.

This is a project I did last year for the 2008 D&AD student awards. The brief asked if MTV were a virus, how would it behave? We decided to use the general public as virus carriers and created an exponential chain reaction…

Click here to view the embedded video.

We all had to suffer and endure eight years of W before his time was up. This cheeky little ad for Veet hair removal cream, probably spent as long as that sitting in a job bag, waiting, yet, hoping for the day that it could be published. That day is now!

I’m feeling optimistic already.

Click here to view the embedded video.

You can see some out-takes on Superfad website.

But there can be no such excuse for ITV’s (cough) new name and identity for their online playback facility, now called ITV iPlayer… ITV operate in the same country in the same sector, offering a very similar service and now look like BBC’s iPlayer identity we designed a while back… maybe someone pressed the big red ‘record button’?

New identity

Original (and market leader)