Nothing like rain for a good blogging

It's been a while since I last posted... however that is for a very good reason. I tend to read ALOT of books and someone suggested to me that I should start a blog to record what I think about them... basically a book review blog. At first I thought it would be tedious, but then I discovered theres a massive market of book bloggers. I used this as my opportunity to get to know book bloggers. I always thought blogging was dying down with people moving to flickr and posterous.... man was I wrong! There are thousands and thousands of book blogs that are looked at every day. They are mostly women bloggers, nevertheless, they are fantastic writers and very friendly.

In under 2 months I have had 1318 page views, 38 google subscribers, 4 network blog followers, 65 goodreads friends (a site where people share books and reviews), 278 twitter followers, authors sending me free books to review, my favourite authors engaging with me on twitter and dozens of comments!

It really has been an amazing experience, one which I will continue with as I learn about the blogging world and the publishing industry.

I have even branded my blog, created a button and have had bloggers promote my button on their pages... creating more followers. Definately a success!

Brilliant Interactive Infographic using census data!

With Infographics being a very popular tool this year to share information across various channels, I stumbled across probably the most brilliant one to date. Using the data from the Australian Census in 2006, an interactive infographic has been created that allows Australians to see how they fit in different areas, such as age, occupation, heritage etc. I found this extremely fascinating and think this is a tool that all countries should start to use. What people usually think of the census as useless and boring, this is their opportunity to engage and see where their data has gone and they can begin to learn a bit more about their country and how important this data all is.

To create your own infographic, visit: http://spotlight.abs.gov.au

If you are not Australian, but would like a go to see how it works, enter the postcode 2000, which is for the city, and while it wont be accurate for you, you will get the chance to see how fascinating it is... and who knows, your country could be the next to implement it into their census data!

My personal infographic (this is accurate as I am Australian):

Introducing Pottermore!!

Very excited about Pottermore! Thanks to J.K Rowling and the folks at Sony and Adam and Eve, we know a little bit more!! Just a few minutes ago, J.K Rowling made an announcement on Youtube giving us a clue into what Pottermore is about. As a massive Harry Potter fan, I am hugely excited about what this would entail.... however there are always many effects this may have on the rest of the franchise, particularly on Warner Bros and Bloomsbury. An interesting article can be found on Wired.

Now if you are a big HP fan, Id advise you to sign up to Pottermore to be on the mailing list to be informed when it opens up in October, but be aware, thousands are probably thinking the exact same thing, which is why the site is now down!















An update since I posted this: Screenshots of Pottermore now available on Wired!! MEGA EXCITING!!!

My stories

This week, I was asked to bring back presents from my trip to Cambridge, although I hadn't received the message until I was back in London. I decided to pick up some maltesers and a kinder surprise on the way to work and handed it to my colleague (Who doesnt love an awesome milk chocolate/white chocolate combo that screams yummy!!)... anyways, my colleague also known as KCool told herself that theres probably a story to go with my choice... well obviously I hadnt thought of that... until 10 minutes later, when I produced a story that had the rest of the office demanding more.... and in social media, we all know that something interesting in the moment leads to a twitter, facebook or tumblr page... behold, my colleague's dedicated tumblr page to my insane and ridiculous stories:

KRISTINA'S STORIES

Just look at the deliciousness... and the surprise... who know what you will get!! Go on... treat yourself :P

YouTube takeovers

It seems everyone is on the YouTube takeover train... I remember back to university days when all the students were coming up with the most creative YouTube takeovers. We didnt think it would last long, but as it seems, they have made a come back recently. First with the Kitkat takeover and now with Schick takeover. I have no problem with them as they are interesting, although the only downside is the only people that notice them are your regular customers who are on your facebook page, website or YouTube page... I think its a great way to introduce a new product, as Schick had given away free samples of their new product using facebook. Maybe these companies need to consider a way to takeover popular videos or using keywords that they know men will look at... Warning, I am about to stereotype: #sexywoman #games #newmovierelease #rocky #shaving #racing etc

M&M game page takeover!

This is absolutely brilliant from M+M's! Especially since in the office yesterday we were discussing M+M's and how brilliant the new pretzel flavour is.
This amused me for most of the morning... go to the website and follow the instructions!

Once you get it up and running, you can use it anywhere to destroy everything!

Google:



Facebook:

Red Bull *LIKE*

Quick post about Red Bull. This came to me from the wonderful @CatTurner.

They are obviously very subtle about getting fans for their facebook page as you can see below. It definately got me to click like.

I expect nothing less from Red Bull. Sticking to their guns, always being honest with their audience. Simple but effective :)

Unexpected is always brilliant!

This ad is for Blundstone boots. Hails all the way from Oz, done by AJF Partnership. You have to watch the ad first as I dont want to spoil it, but it is pretty brilliant. I think it definately gets your attention, and a bit of a laugh for atleast a minute... but its something that you remember, as Aus is all about the harsh weather in the bush, and these boots pretty much make it look like life is a little less tougher with them.
Problem: Bad feet from working outside all day, whether you are a carpenter, farmer, work in the bush, outback etc...
Solution: Appear manly, not showing anyone your actually a softy!! You may be sweaty, exhausted, but your feet dont have to suffer too. Quick and clever! Not whinging! Simple solution!

Here we go again....

For Valentine's Day, we all saw the launch of an iPhone app which turns the phone into a vibrating massager with three varied intensities. This comes from Sir Richard's Condom Co. If it was the first app like this to come out, I would say its interesting, sadly its not. Although I know people will download it, atleast to amuse themselves at the idea of having a vibrating app. Since this is not the first of its kind, it is not going beyond any new boundaries.... and simply joining the pack of others. Sorry Sir Richard!

(photo via adrants)

Chelsea Christmas Party!

On a very festive note.... Chelsea Christmas Party is today. It starts at 4.30pm at Duke of York Square on the Kings Road. The Trees are up, bands and singers are ready, stores are open longer and the Farmers Market is open til 7!! I am a very big market fan, and this week for the party, they have brought out the famous Hog Roast that used to be there every week last year. Sadly, they have said they probably wont be around this year as often, although my mother tried her best to convince them by pointing out that the line behind us had roughly 30 people wanting their amazing hog roast! So if you head down, you can get free mulled wine, champagne, discounts in the stores, face painting, pies and other nibbles. A lot of the stores will actually be giving these out free. Oh yes and balloons! Ted Baker is giving out mulled wine, cava and mince pies... so good place to start! There are also chestnuts!!! Oh and heres a pic of the square if you decide to head down and dont know what it looks like. YAY FOR CHRISTMAS!!! Best time of the year!!!

second blogger...

All i can say to this is, the male model is gorgeous!!!! And much better styled than the first one. Love his hair!!! No other special comments,lol... sorry

first take on ted blogger

Watched the first blogger.. not too sure id really wear her choices... but nevertheless, this has been interesting... commentator guy is really cool, and the tweets people are sending in are both good and ridiculous.... ones asking for the girl to take off her bra... yeh boys, dont think the will be listening to you.

Taking on ted my way...

So Ive decided to post bits and pieces that just spark my interest while Im watching take on ted. Something that completely slipped my mind from before was that you can actually communicate direct from their website using twitter. You dont have to use the actual twitter website, but stay on their site commenting... thats if you have anything to say.

Take on Ted!!

I'm getting very excited with 30 mins to go until take on ted begins.... live feed at http://takeonted.com/ Its going to be a really fun experiment. I'm looking forward to see what people can come up with too. I love that they are streaming their live twitter feed too, so I can see my own name on their site, its like my 2 seconds of ted baker fame :P

Fashion fix! Ted baker goes live!

Ok I'm a huge fashion fanatic, which is one of the bonuses of living in Chelsea. One of my favourite brands is Ted Baker and Im loving their new campaign they are working on for the US. For a detailed explanation other than my own go to http://www.wallblog.co.uk/2010/11/03/ted-baker-uses-twitter-and-bloggers-for-us-online-push/
"Take on ted" is what they are calling "the world's-first, remote-controlled, digitally powered live styling project" Its going to be a live fashion studio on twitter to promote its new online store. Its taking place this friday... tomorrow at 6pm GMT!! Where 8 bloggers will get to style their own looks from the existing autumn/winter collection. All of which is done through tweets over 15 minutes. Follow @ted_baker tomorrow to join in on the action. Facebook is http://www.facebook.com/TedBaker
Each of the looks will be professionally photographed and shown over all Ted Baker's social media channels, including their website. Now theres more details than that, so follow the links to see more. I honestly hope this campaign works out for them because it is pretty interesting.

Heineken walk in fridge

So I'm late in posting this but I wanted to mention the Heineken walk in fridge that was at Duke of York Square in Chelsea for 3 days last week. Obviously from the title you can easilly assume what it was going to be. Now I didnt take any photos myself so I am using the official Heineken photos from their facebook http://www.facebook.com/heineken







After great success of the viral online and tv ad, bringing the fridge to life in London gave people the opportunity to go inside, scream and experience the joys of Heineken. They were entertained by a magician, served free beer by a (good looking) bartender and given a card for free beer at the pub. I definately appreciate Heineken more after this experience, as are my 50 or so friends that I called and pushed down through twitter and facebook. While it didnt impact all of London, it definately did bring some fun to what was a very cold day.

Gap goes back!

So as it turns out, enough ad folk and general design community have bagged the new gap logo so much that gap have decided to back track and return to the original old logo.... All that drama for nothing I guess. Atleast they got some talk, unfortunately for them the general public wasn't really aware of the change, so it might not even make a difference at all. Nice try gap, in this case, don't try rework something that's already working n that's iconic in the branding world. I remember billabong messed around with their logo a while back, don't know who noticed but I sure did. It turned me off the brand completely. Funny that a logo can have such an influence on a person, I never would have known that if I was say, my brother, a little engineering genious who doesn't even notice logos unless it's for ps3 ofcourse. I know he threw a fit over the change in typeface, although I dont think it was that dramatic. Heres his issue:

Yeo factor!

link to yeo valley ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOHAUvbuV4o&feature=youtube_gdata_player
There's an Ikea ad that's challenging it but I can't remember it as it came second. Shame they didn't air it earlier, maybe I would remember it. Back to xfactor!! Great talent tonight from the boys and Mary, particulary Aiden!! Gave me shivers!!

Yeo Valley yo!!!

So for anyone watching xfactor, you would have seen the new ad for yeo valley by BBH London. I haven't got access to the video right now but it's an interesting ad I must say. The reason I'm writing about it though is that I think they picked the best time to air it, kudos to the person that chose the prime spot at the start of the show before the less talented singers began. I'm not a fan of rap but it was very enjoyable n refreshing from the recent ads. That dancing owl was magnificent too. Great job BBH! Although downside is they convinced me to go and buy country clothes and not the actual product :D now please air that ad again!

Twittering n Googling

So if you back track and see the dates, you will see I took a bit of a hiatus. This was due to a combination of trying to figure out what to do next and lack of access to my computer. Well, no more excuses, time to get back to what it is I do best.... google, ask questions and just have fun! So I have a few things today:

1. GOOGLE!!!
As we all know, google loves having fun with their header, pacman being the one I will never forget. Today, however they have brought in music with a video. It is actually rather interesting, being made for John Lennons 70th Birthday is a good enough excuse I guess. I'm looking forward to seeing what else they can make me smile with.



2. GAP!



This is more a big deal in the US at the moment than in the UK, but I thought I would bring attention to the matter. GAP in the US has changed their logo, its done on their website, however it doesnt seem to be changed on the UK one. In changing their logo, I guess they knew it would spark talk about how hideous the new logo is in comparison to their old one, so they created themselves a little twitter war between @GapLogo and @oldgaplogo I do have to say, while I do hate the new logo, this twitter war seems to be working despite the ugly logo. Websites have also started up against the new one, such as http://craplogo.me/ By far the coolest site I have seen for this campaign... so go crap logo your name!

3. Harry Potter!!! :D
One of my favourite books and movies of all time has also joined the social network bandwagon. http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2010/09/hogwarts_gets_the_internet.html shows the article on the new campaign, using twitter, facebook, iphone, foursquare, youtube and etsy. The really cool thing about it is that its not the actors talking about what they are doing, its the characters themselves, which allows fans the opportunity to get to know them more and become "friends". With the end coming near of the whole harry potter movies collection, using social network which is booming with their audience right now couldnt been a better option.