One week into Thinkhouse’s herbalicious garden of joy and it's going from strength to strength. Having spotted our Twitter post, the very kind people at www.livingflavour.com were generous enough to drop in a few extras for us including some lettuce which went down a storm earlier on some team sambos. We have mint aplenty too so we are currently researching the best Mojito recipe for our next agency BBQ. We are still figuring out what to do with all the parsley in the center which is certainly holding its own against the neighboring coriander. Meanwhile the chives are bringing up the rear while our many cabbages are no doubt just as stumped as to their purpose as we are. Stay tuned for some more updates and recipes as the summer progresses.
Festival season has well and truly arrived. To celebrate we’ve compiled two looks to ensure that festival goers stay ahead of the fash pack in those fields. Here’s some hot picks below. Women It’s all about toughening up the aesthetic. Get rocking with a studded biker jacket (Religion is your high street go-to) and team with a pair of patent leggings, perfect for wiping off ‘unwanted’ spills. Hunter Wellingtons are a festival staple and this season they’ve gone utilitarian with hard as nails lace up, boots. Team with a bright graphic tee and pair of statement sunglasses (found on eBay.ie) and you are good to go.
Men Menswear is the opposite to womenswear. Go laidback with vintage 501’s transformed into rolled up shorts, we also found these on eBay.ie. Denim on denim is huge once again, so channel your inner Bruce Springsteen and whack on a vintage sleeveless denim jacket and a graphic tank, such as this Religion one. Accessorise with a bomb pair of shades, like these Zanzan’s from farfetch.com and some Doc’s and you’ll be doing more than just dancing in those fields.
Thinkhouse's Matt with his favourite audio interface
Techno God Richie Hawtin is quoted at a recent music conference as saying that music is no longer to be thought of as a CD or an MP3, but an experience. More and more artists and labels are getting their heads around this and coming up with other ways to enhance that experience, at live shows it's through interactivity or boundary pushing stage shows like Nine Inch Nail's interactive stage. In retail there is big business in DVDs with premium content and hidden extras. Online and on mobile is where there is some real magic going on, magic you can put in the palm of your hand, through the power of ever more exciting apps. We picked a few of our favorites and stuck em' below.
We talked about the iDaft earlier here but it is also available (and highly fun/annoying depending on who is in control!) for the iPhone. - The iDaft online and for iPhone
This first generation drum machine suffers from a bit of latency but looks the business. -Ron Winter's Drums
Taking it to the next level though is electronic music label Mobilee who have come up with a pretty nifty DJ app. This might not look like much to the non DJ but it basically lets you mix records just like a DJ would in a club, on your iPhone. Read about it here - get the app here.
So that last one lets you mix tracks together; breaking it down even further though, Diplo and Switch's Major Lazer have teamed up with iZoetope to create a special edition drum machine app featuring loops and beats from their singles allowing you to remix them how you like. Definitely a fun and creative way to kill time on those bus journeys, it's free too. Details are here - grab the app here.
Not to be outdone by the serious techno labels and hipster DJs, delicious meat alternative Quorn have their own music making software up on quornmix.com. It’s aimed at school kids so don’t expect too serious a setup but the prize of a mini-bus is pretty meaty.
We grabbed some footage of the recent Sparks N' Mind release gig down at Tower Live, Ham Sandwich performed a few tracks including their cover of Stay by Shakespeare's Sister which featured on the album. It's up on Tower's Muzu channel alongside a few other classic performances. Check it out below. For more info on Tower Records instores and special offers, visit www.facebook.com/towerrecords.
Following the dramatic change in weather patterns, Thinkhouse has decided on a change in company direction. It’s no secret that the organic vegetable trade is a lucrative one so with our sunny aspect and vast storage space we have decided to step into the market. So - as of today we are no longer Thinkhouse PR - but Thinkhouse Organics. Our computers have been hollowed out and turned into fetching post modern planters and the board room is now a home to rakes, hoes and a supply of compost.
Ok, so we are a little late for an April fool but we are pretty excited by our latest development in THHQ – a brand new herb garden! Here is the before and after. So far we have rosemary, basil, parsley, some cabbage!, thyme and chives, if anyone any any pointers for us please leave them in the comments below, we are new to this game.
Dracula is a thing of the past, a new breed of Vampires live among us and are accepted by the living. Such is the scenario in True Blood, the latest HBO series to generate buzz on this side of the pond. To publicise the second series in the US, Digital Kitchen came up with the interesting concept of creating ads on actual ad sites using real life brands… targeted to vampires. They also created a series of virals featuring vampire attacks and news stories. Irish viewers will have to wait a while to watch the show on TV but it looks like Channel 4 has already signed up for the rights. The hit show also features possibly the coolest opening credits ever seen.
Two of our Thinkers were lucky enough to make a trip to Sonar over the weekend. It wasn’t all dancing in the sunshine though (although that was a major part!) as there were some interesting talks taking place too as part of Digital Music 2.0 organised by Business Development Service (SDE) of the Catalan Institute of Cultural Industries (ICIC) in association with Sonar. The conference looked at alternative ways the music industry can survive given the slow rate of growth of digital music sales in comparison to the dramatic fall in traditional income from the sales of physical units. Andrea and Chewy listened to Jack Horner of Frukt Music and Ben Turner of Graphite Media speak on ‘the exploitation of music brands’, a very interesting look at the best practices when aligning musicians and music brands with consumer brands and how the merging of the two doesn’t have to mean a loss of artistic integrity if done in the right way.
Earlier in the day the very colorful (read pink) Mark Jones of Wall of Sound was joined by Niels Traedon of Live Nation to discuss ways on increasing income sources from live music. It’s evident that adding value to musical experiences is key and how new strategies are being taken by the mammoth Live Nation to add layers to the old school ticketing model previously adhered to by the brand. Mark Jones provided the artists perspective of the changes taking place in the live music model.
Following a week where 90million Euro’s worth of Ronaldo met Paris - and we all died a little inside, it’s a relief to find that there is still glimpses of depth and personality within the beautiful game…. One in particular is that cheeky little Gallic chappy – Frank Ribery.
The gifted Bayern Munich dribbler is one of a kind, seldom has there been a player who has taken to the European stage like Ribery. The player is admired universally for his behaviour on and off the pitch and the perfect personality for a brand to get creative with.
Nike and Adidas have been battling it out for some time now with their quirky football virals but this find has to be one of the best. To celebrate the controversial new, rather fetching PINK Mercurial Vapor Rosa kicks, Nike join hands with Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam to pay tribute to the iconic Pink Panther with a new video starring the mercurial Franky boy , check it out…. Maybe pink is the new black, hope not!
Fresh from a liitle trip to the White Isle, 2 of our Thinkers have been raving about this old Hed Kandi hit from Soulsearcher. Quite the anthem it seems, well we couldn't begrudge them their bliss so have instead embraced the happiness that is 'Feelin' Love.' Couldn't find a decent video though so this will have to make do.
It seems like every week a new technology comes out that makes us feel all 5th Element. Although in the latest case it actually makes us feel all Minority Report. Its' augmented reality and it's changing the way marketeers and advertisers think.
We aren't going to try and explain the technology here, you can learn about that elsewhere, but basically the technology allows computer graphics to be blended with real footage in real time. So by holding a tag in front of a webcam you can literally watch the tag come to life in an explosion of graphics in front of your very eyes. It has already been used on the LCD advertising screens found at London's tube stops and is set to start appearing a lot more over the next few months. Words really can't do this justice so check it out for yourself over here and keep an eye out for the latest edition of Popular Science magazine with its AR cover.
BBC Radio One has always been an innovator, its music policy ensures that all the smallest niches are catered for (even more so with 1extra) and its ability to have a laugh while still being a serious musical pioneer is truly laudable. Their latest jaunt into interactivity sees them producing a crowd sourced musical based (loosely) on the life of its drive time DJ, Scott Mills. It is currently under development by fans of the show submitting ideas via twitter, email and the purpose built blog (fans are being kept up to date via the same means). So far there are 13 songs submitted as well as some pretty impressive story lines. A truly great example of crowd sourcing and surly the ultimate in user generated content. Keep an eye on progress here.
We won’t mention any names but a few people in the office had written off any hope of a result for the boys in green in Sofia at the weekend.
Not a great game by all accounts but it was a draw (1-1) that strangely felt more like a victory, edging us closer to good times in South Africa. An awesome performance and a goal from Richie Dunne (pictured), gave us a well deserved point in the Vasilij Levski Stadium. The big man could well have been mistaken for a young Niall Quinn the way he rose like a salmon for the first goal…. such a shame Zinedine Kilbane was caught napping for the equalizer from the Bulgarians.
International rookie and purveyor of the finest London accent this side of the Irish Sea - Sean St Ledger was a rock in the defence whilst other stand out performers included Caleb Folan and that Waterford wise guy John O’Shea.
Italy visit Croke Park in October, could it be that we seal qualification for the world cup finals by defeating the Trap’s own countrymen, tickets can be found here , go on - do it!
The good people at Tower Records in Wicklow Street are serving up Ham Sandwich for lunch and Le Galaxie for afters (in musical form) on Thursday June 11th for the launch of the Sparks N’ Mind compilation album which is all in aid of Irish voluntary charity Aware. The album is crammed with some cracking cover versions of songs that have inspired the crème de la crème of our little island’s talent to begin their creative journey on that busy road of musical magic. Bands that feature on the album are Bell X1, Republic of Loose, Lisa Hannigan, Cowboy X, Damien Dempsey and The Flaws to name a few. The gig kicks off at 1pm with Ham Sandwich and Le Galaxie thrashing out the tunes later on at 5pm. Pop over to Tower Records and befriend Tower Records Ireland on facebook for further info and updates!
Now that marketeers have hi-jacked flash-mobs, it's great to see something as real as this video shot at the Sasquatch Festival recently. What starts out as a girl just filming a man's 'funny dancing', turns into a somehow slightly moving piece of footage of carefree human spirit... or maybe we are just reading too much into this.
This Friday Kormac takes over the Twisted Pepper for the second of his Bakesale gigs featuring the one and only DJ Yoda while the A$$QUAKE crew do their thing in the basement. DJ Yoda has been pushing the boundaries of traditional DJ-ing since his first ‘How to Cut & Paste’ compilation a few years ago. That series saw him splicing samples and tracks at a ferocious rate to create high octane and often funny mixtapes, the latest of which, the ‘Country & Western Edition', features the likes of Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers … over breakbeats.
Yoda also pioneered his own style of VJ-ing, which sees him scratching and cutting up DVDs in much the same way he would a record in a DJ battle. Looks a lot better than it sounds in type, trust us. Just imagine a 24 foot screen with clips of The Muppets, Full Metal Jacket and Michael Jackson videos being scratched in time to a killer soundtrack.
A crumby video of Yoda in action
The night is hosted by local hero Kormac whose own show is quite the spectacle too, check out his recent Bodytonic podcast for a taster, it features some of his work recorded with full band. It’s 30s and forties swing influenced dance music for the 21st century. Sounds weird but it really works.
There is a bunch of great stuff happening in Dublin over the next few days, if the rain stays away we are really in for a cracker. Things get going tonight with the Dublin City Soul Festival. They have a great line-up of music, cinema, photography, comedy and food for the next few days that will culminate this Sunday with the Soul Picnic in Merrion Square at midday. Good vibes all round. Unfortunately this coincides with Africa Day up in the Iveagh Gardens where Republic of Loose and Paddy Casey will join a host of African talent including Vieux Farka Touré and Niwel Tsumbu. Also performing are Kila and Cathy Davey. Pretty impressive line-up I think you will agree. Top this with yummy grub, fun sports and a traditional African bazzar. Certain members of the Thinkhouse team are particularly enamored by this little feature too.
"Visitors to this event will be greeted in various African languages by participants from the 'Most Beautiful African Girl in Ireland' competition, who will be dressed in the traditional attire of their native countries."
Danger Mouse is back with some fresh material and some fresh controversy. No, not the one-eyed crime fighting rodent Danger Mouse but the very talented, producer/DJ and one half of Gnarls Barkley Danger Mouse. It was his work on 'The Grey Album' - The Beatles/Jay Z mash up that put him on the map back in 2004, with the more recent success of Gnarls Barkley cementing his legacy of uber-producer. His latest album Dark Night Of The Soul (which is co-produced by Sparklehorse's Mark Linkous) has caused a spat with label EMI though who has refused to release it after it was made available for live stream on US radio station NPR's website. Dangermouse who is quoted as saying he 'hopes that people lucky enough to hear the music, by whatever means, are as excited by it as he is', is adamant the public get to hear this fantastic piece of work though. To this end he has planned to release the CD in a jewel case complete with booklet featuring artwork by photographer/director David Lynch, so far so good right? The hook is though that no audio will be on the album, instead a blank CD will be provided for the owner to 'do what they like with', presumably to be filled with an audio rip of the album taken from the internet. The legal spat continues while the album is available for pre-order from the official Dark Night Of The Soul website sans audio.
The first issue of LE COOL DUBLIN has just arrived in our inboxes. LE COOL, Europe’s leading alternative city guide, has just added Dublin to its line up, joining the ranks of Barcelona, Madrid, London, Lisbon, Istanbul, Amsterdam, Milan and Rome in having its own online, weekly edition.
Each issue recommends the crème de la crème of cultural events and activities for Dublin including selected gigs, exhibitions, talks, festivals, markets, openings, shows, and much more. It’s bomb.
To receive LE COOL DUBLIN direct to your inbox every week you can subscribe here:
They are also calling out anyone interested in collaborating with them to help celebrate our unique city...writers, graphic designers, illustrators, photographers and artists to showcase their work.
We just heard Tubridy’s the new Late Late Show Presenter.
To celebrate, we worked Late Late into the night here at Thinkhouse HQ, to whip up a tub of Ben & Jerry’s in his honour. It’s called ‘Late Late Tub-ridy.’ Naturally it’s low-fat, smooth and just a bit nutty.
To create your very own flavour check out http://www.benjerry.ie/. The winning Irish flavour goes to the Dominican Republic this November for an icecream-off with the GodFathers of Ice Cream, Ben & Jerry themselves. The ultimate winner will have their very own favour created and launched next year.
We stumbled across this rather impressive example of ambient advertising over on Liveleak recently, seven HD projectors were used to create a massive digital screen that projected specifically fitted graphics onto the surface. The effect was pretty astounding, we need say no more, just have a watch.
Our friends over at Scully Media have a range of ambient projection options available, drop by the site for a look.
Dublin/Ireland seems to be getting more and more awesome at the moment. It would be easy to resort to blaming the recession for people’s desire to make, do and play, but like the recession it’s been coming for a while. Never before has there been such a creative frisson in the city and beyond. Awesome gigs aplenty, make-and-do nights, Knit and Bitch sessions, clothes swaps, exhibitions, creative collaborations.. the list goes on.
Some of our favourite examples of this creative flow are…
Synth Eastwood A Dublin based music, art & technology group whose aim is to present creative work from around the world in an atmosphere more akin to a gig than an exhibition.
Le Cool magazine A free, weekly, online, cultural and entertainment guide launching on the 14th May in Dublin. It’s already available in Barcelona, Madrid, London, Lisbon, Istanbul, Amsterdam, Milan and Rome
Rankin’s exhibition for Oxfam Cheka Kidogo (Swahili for ‘laugh a little’), an exhibition by fashion photographer Rankin will be in Wolfe Tone Park (beside the Jervis Centre) and O’Connell St (opposite the GPO) from Thursday 30th April to Friday 31st July 2009. Rankin travelled with Oxfam to a refugee camp in Eastern Congo and the images he took paint a fascinating portrait of life for the survivors of the ongoing conflict in the Congo
Fashion Evolution clothes swaps Fashion Evolution is declaring Saturday May 2nd as NATIONAL SWAP DAY! Check the site for swap events around the country.
The Small Print Richard Seabrooke’s new independent project with creativity at its core. Developed to promote great creativity its many guises it hopes to grow beyond the blog into live events, art projects, publishing and much more besides.
This week Chelsea FC make a fresh effort to communicate to fans with the launch of an official Twitter account… shame mourinho’s not still there… imagine the tweets….
We love a good gag here at Thinkhouse and this year’s April Fools joke from Chemisty was by far the best we got. It details plans by the creatives to buck the current trend in advertising and increase charges while at the same time decreasing the level of service. We particularly like the new fantastic range of stock photography clients will have available including:
- 'A naughty child sitting in a high chair.' - 'A kitten clinging to a washing line.' (should really be in every PowerPoint presentation) - 'A man and woman, standing in an office, looking at a laptop, the woman is sassy.'
You can download their new rate card for just €15 or send a SAE for a hard copy. We have long been fans of Chemistry's work and this little number just sent them higher in our esteem.
We always knew our friends at MUZU were on the up, right back from when Thinkhouse helped their launch in 2008. Good to see the people at Sunday Times Style magazine think so too (MUZU listed as ‘Going Up’ in Sunday’s lifestyle bible ). With the rapid decline in quality music available on YouTube thanks to disputes over rights and ownership of copyright material now is Muzu’s time to shine.
You may remember this fantastic video from last year, Daft hands has had nearly 30 million hits since then. Well another Daft Punk wonder has just popped up on our radar in the form of this neat gadget from www.najle.com. Hours of amusement can be had with this, play it over another song to create your own mash-up or tinker with incessantly to annoy colleagues. Winner!
"Today’s youth are more inclined to keep on spending than any other demographic group." Check out the article, by Thinkhouse’s very own Jane McDaid, published in yesterdays Sunday Business Post here.
Google ran a competition for schools recently (Doodle For Google) to choose a special St Patrick's Day logo to appear on their homepage in Ireland on Paddies Day. The winner has been chosen, 'My Irish Roots' pretty much speaks for its self. One that didn't make the grade but in our opinion was streets ahead was this little doozie 'Slán go deo, Tíogar beo' from the talented Aoife O'Leary of Mount Mercy College Cork featuring a 'caught in usual dapper pose' Cowen and a Celtic Tiger who has packed his bags. Here it is in all its glory.
It’s a knowledge economy and thankfully, our economy celebrates and strongly acknowledges creativity. It’s our time to shine (yay!). That’s why we at Thinkhouse love, and are supporting,www.theideascampaign.ie - a campaign that is ‘by the people, for the people.’
The campaign encourages Irish people to log on to ideascampaign.ie with their various different business ideas. From Manufacturing, construction and technology to retail, education and biosciences – after initial screening - the business ideas will be framed into an action plan that will be presented to Government this April. The campaign strongly encourages business owners and managers contribute possible ideas for economic recovery and to propose solutions to policy or other issues which they believe are impeding on business growth. This allows us, the people of Ireland, steer economic growth. In fairness, if we were leaving it up to BIFFO and his cronies, we’d be waiting..
Twitter was a flutter last night with news of the Choice Music Prize and who took the much respected title home. We were only delighted to hear the honor went to one of our favourite artists Jape for his Ritual album. The 10 tracker gets serious air time in THHQ and we have always been big fans of his live shows (his Picnic performance last year was nothing short of epic) so despite our love of Fight Like Apes, Messiah J and The Expert, Openheimer and the very talented R.S.A.G we were still chuffed for the little fella who is, it has to be said, as charming as he is talented.
Ritual is available from Tower Records stores and towerrecords.ie for just €11.99
Last night, Bitches With Wolves helped Ireland’s gay community celebrate GCN’s 21st birthday by performing at their ICON party. We’re not gonna lie, but we have a vested interest in the Wolves as Thinkhouse’s sparkly knicker wearing James O’Neill is the man behind BWW. Already getting props for his ‘fun, dark, glittery, and very danceable’ music from music blogger Una Rocks, we can’t get it off the Thinkhouse soundsystem. Rock!
This week’s musical treat comes from down under and The Presets with Steamworks. Its driving bass line has a sort of retro feel, like the sleazy mid eighties funk classics of yore.
The New York Museum of Modern Art is doing its bit to brighten up New Yorker's daily commute, it has taken over all advertising space at the Atlantic Avenue/Pacific Street Station and replaced them with replications of work from the museum's permanent collection, including Monet's water lilies and Picasso's "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon". Not only will this provide a lovely backdrop for commuters to go about their business, it should also inspire a few people to head down to MoMA too. Maybe with the cost of outdoor advertising falling we will see more of these kind of initiatives repeated around the world. It is also a amother example of the ‘free marketing' trend that seems to be growing in popularity around the world. We can get a little taste of it too with this virtual fly through.
No but seriously….. If you dig deep enough past the grim day by day analysis of our beloved countries economy you can find solace in the rise of our burgeoning young sporting talent…
Irish sport is buoyant again and the good ol’ golden generation of Irish sportsmen – O'Driscoll, Houghton, Harrington et al – have been strengthened by a new generation. In Rugby Luke Fitzgerald and Rob Kearny have both been outstanding in the six nations campaign so far showing bravery on the big stage. McGeady’s man of the match performance against Georgia has not only helped us believe his own hype but made us actually consider a cheeky ticket to S. Africa for an Italia 90 repeat. To top it all off this little country of over achievers has taken on the incredibly competitive golfing world with the meteoric rise (15th in the world) of teenage sensation Rory McIlroy, he’s just about beat off every top golfer and his dog with that little 16 inch driver.
There will be the usual negative spin of course, even O'Driscoll did everything he could to put the lid on the bubbling anticipation of a nation…. But come the 28th Feb a nation will be glued again, England may not disintegrate like the Italians at the weekend but we don’t think Wales should be reaching for that silver polish just yet!
Facebook is overhauling its fanpage layout and content management in the coming weeks. This came as great news to Thinkhouse who, as operators of many brand fanpages, are often frustrated by the limited features available. While it’s perhaps best that you can’t mail everyone directly (although only silly marketers would spam facebook fans unnecessarily) the limited appearance of updates meant unless someone searched for the brand directly it was hard for word to spread virally. This meant communicating with brand fans was very limited as the current ‘updates’ system was mostly overlooked by facebook users. The new plans mean that brands will be able to update their status - just like any user - and this, along with wall updates and other news, will appear in fans newsfeeds. Other changes include a shift from the current ‘movable box’ format to the tab format in use on new personal facebook pages. This marks a giant leap for brands, celebrities, small businesses and bands using social media as a marketing too. Needless to say, we at Thinkhouse can’t wait to get stuck in
The Sunday Times published the first part of their 100 best blogs feature yesterday. There were plenty of interesting ones in there as you would expect, Dave Trott’s adverting blog was a nice find, on the whole though, with nearly 200m blogs out there, it's really all down to personal taste, in the spirit of things we had a quick sconce round the office and picked out some of our own regualar haunts. So in no particular order here are a few of our favourites. We hope you enjoy them as much we enjoy that picture of the soft focus dog.
Fashion Sartorialist: This made the Times list too, really nice look at fashion around the States, doesn't stick to the usual young trendy types either, lots of handsome older men and glamorous older ladies in there too. Trendspot.ie: The Fresh Prince of Kildare offers an interesting point of view on all things cool -and not just in Kildare too. Still in Berlin: Berlin based street style blog that takes regular trips to Europe's other fashion capitals. fashion-ation.net:Lots of fashion shoots from around the wrold along with street style wars Male-mode: Fashion blog exclusively for men with occasional posts on movies, publishing and a bit of street style too. Dublin Streets: Compiled by Thinkhousers Andrea and Matt and up for a gong at the upcoming blog awards, this is a local version of the streetstyle blogs so popular all over the world. Music 20JazzFunkGreats: Top class music blog from Brighton, all kinds of stuff can be found here from retro disco to Po-Co bangers, it looks gosh darn pretty too. Fluokids: These guys started out like any other music blog, posting illegal tracks and ramblings on nights out in Paris. A couple of years ago Busy P chose them to play the Daft Punk after party in Paris setting a bench mark for other bloggers everywhere that mark music blogging as a viable source of income. Lovely pictures too. Dublin Bus Disco: You may have noticed we like our disco around these parts that's why we were so thrilled to find this disco blog from one of Dublin Bus's finest. His interests are listed as 'Spinning on the audio + automotive wheels of steel, collecting records, editing songs with weak parts or bad arrangements, sharing music, beating up hippies'. Full of disco gems. Stereogum: A broad range of tastes here, specialising in the unsigned and up and coming. ClimaXXX: Another thinkhouse teamster creation, climaXXX is a look at the clubbing scene in Dublin with music from around the world too. Sports Football365: A super addictive blog for football junkies, it carries a serious cult following and looks at all that is absurd in the modern game Okeydokefootball: A blog and a rant all in one, discussions on all things football, the good, the bad and the ugly. Peterbills: With Ireland's 6 nations hopes rising high you can be sure Peter Bills's blog will be getting more hits. The Chief rugby correspondent for the Independent discusses the hopes and dreams of Irish rugby, past and present. Funnies Assistant to the brand manager: Very funny look at marketing and advertising from an anonymous Irish marketer. Pantibar: Infamous queen of the drag scene in Ireland, recently opened her own bar and keeps this blog regularly updated with funny musings. Celebrity Stephen Fry: The king of Twitter still finds time to update his blog too. Perez Hilton: The first true 'celebrity' blogger, still blogging about celebrities. dlisted: Much wittier than Perez but a similar vein of celebrity mick taking. Random Geekologie: Self confessed geeks and what the gadgets they like to turn on. Saul Williams Blog: American musician, poet, writer and all round creative type Saul Williams has supported a mixed bag of acts such as Nine Inch Nails and the Mars Volta in the past. Saul provides some poetic food for thought on a meandering range of topics including pop culture, politics and the state of things in general. Some literary nibbles can be found on his MySpace blog.
We go back in time this week, to the golden era of Girl Pop, no not the heady days of the 90s and The Spice Girls, we are talking about the original girl band - The Ronnettes. This song was a hit for the girls when it was released in 1963 and was seen as the embodiment of Phil Spector's Wall Of Sound technique. Phil also produced and co-wrote the song. Since then it has been voted number 22 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and is widely regarded as one of the best pop songs ever recorded (Brian Wilson even said so, so there) our choice comes with a touch of sadness too though as Estelle Bennett, one of trio, just passed away. She leaves behind a daughter, three grandsons and one hell of a musical legacy. More info at the BBC.
Get The Glass - California Milk Board. The California Milk board was developed in 1993 to combat declining milk sales and has been at the top of its game since. They appointed ad agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners to come up with a campaign to transform people’s perception of milk from boring nutritional beverage to cool fun ‘brand’ capable of challenging the Pepsi’s and Sprite's out there. It was clear from the offset the ‘milk is good for you’ messaging wasn’t working so they employed similar tactics to the flashy lifestyle brands they were up against, using a lot of humor to develop a fresh take on the brand. They came up with Got Milk?, a campaign that crossed many reaches of popular culture and went on to become the most culturally influential tagline since the advent of broadcast television. So successful it was then licensed out to National Dairy Boards across the States and still has milk moustaches appearing on billboards 15 years later.
Over the years they have developed the brands online strategy, creating a fictional rock band called White Gold complete with myspace, youtube channel and website. More recently after branding milk as a ‘superdrink’ they created an online board game Get the Glass, featuring the Adachi family facing a terrible predicament- life without milk. The game is very playable and the animation superb, the perfect extension of the milk as a commodity message.
These guys really set the bench mark for a digital campaign and for a product that was as ‘unsexy’ as milk that is no mean feat. The Got Milk website is fantastic, it has recipes, great tips on recycling, and is full of fun mini-games to play all, animated beautifully. Raise a glass of the white stuff to them.
We were pretty shocked to see the pictures of the Dublin bus crash earlier today. Reported on blogs here and here. Luckily no one was seated on the upper deck and all escaped unharmed. Check the full story on the Irish Times website. Only a couple of hours after the initial pictures came through we were then greeted by an email announcing 'latest images from Dublin double decker crash'. We all clicked in with much fervor. Only to see this.
It gave us all a chuckle. - If only Cadbury's were so quick.
(Or THPRTOTW for short) We listen to a lot of music here in THHQ, our influences are pretty wide ranging, everything from disco/italio sleeze to the electro pop madness of Ga Ga and Co gets its go. We thought it might be nice to share some of these moments with you too so from now on we will pick one favourite song we have all been digging and post up the video here. The first track on our list comes from Empire of The Sun, and their debut single 'Walking On a Dream'. It's been on heavy rotation round here for the last couple of months and is getting a bit of radio play now too, expect to see them at a festival near you this Summer. The track is somewhat reminiscent of MGMT with its swirly chords and slightly camp feel, nothing wrong with that though, it's top class pop.
The good folk at the Dublin Flea Market are back again this Sunday with more bargains and fun times. It's a great place for a catch up after a heavy Saturday night, there's mugs o' tea, toasties and of course all kinds of bric a brac ranging from junk to treasure and vice versa. There is also a dedicated swap shop too and just look at this lovely artwork they have come up with. It's great to see more of this stuff happening around the city but don't just think that, get down on Sunday and see for yourself.Dublin Fleadh - Sunday 25th Jan, 11am -5pm, The Co-op, Newmarket, near Cork St.
A few of us dropped by the opening of the Bodies Exhibit in the Ambassador Dublin yesterday, it's pretty fascinating stuff, if a little squeam inducing. They have basically preserved human bodies in various stages of autopsy to give us all a better look at what goes on underneath our skin. The lungs on show were a nice deterrent to would be smokers and the blood vessels on their own looked fantastic in their blue and red glow. There was a bit of controversy surrounding the exhibit, mainly to do with the acquisition of the bodies and their treatment after, the usual Radio phone in shows were full of the usual mad auld ones giving out, no doubt after hearing crazy rumors over the garden fence. After grabbing a few moments with the curator though it’s obvious that they have the utmost respect for their 'specimens' and education is the only motive. The exhibition opens on Saturday 24th January for a few months. More info at www.bodiesdublin.com
Assistanttothebrandmanager has an interesting piece on Apple up at the moment questioning the wisdom of placing so much of a brand’s success on one individual- Steve 'God Man' Jobs. How about placing all that success on one big wheel?
Strange thing is we can probably think of a few people who would still buy that. A testament to Apple’s brand loyalty. They really have created the ultimate 'alternative' lifestyle brand, completely accessible to all yet at the same time keeping its cool creds.
One of our favourite DJs Greg Wilson has just recorded a long overdue Essential Mix. Greg’s story is pretty amazing, he was the first person in the UK to actually mix two record at the same time, even doing so live on TV with a young (and perhaps unimpressed?) Jools Holand.
He then went into retirement for 20 years before making a comeback in 2003 including a few dates in Dublin and one at the Garden Party. This essential mix takes in lots of Greg Wilsons influences from Chic, Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder to the likes of talking Heads and The Happy Mondays right up to 'dance' acts like 808 State. Particular highlights would be League Unlimited Orchestra ‘Things That Dreams Are Made Of’ which has appeared on mixes by everyone from Tiga to The Glimmers.
Full track list available here. Download the mix here.
The song is just Aerodynamic with a bit of speech over it but the video looks fantastic. This is from the director'sVimeo page: "The following is a mixed-media stop motion music video and celebration commemorating the election and inauguration of Barack Obama as the forty-fourth president of these United States. Audibly showcasing Adam Freeland's remix of Daft Punk's "Aerodynamic" and the imaginative stylings of forward thinking toy artists Dalek, Bill McMullen and Kubrick to name just a few. Independently animated and directed by the progressive minds of the directing team GOLD, the piece is a labor of love that invites everyone to join in or create their own celebration this coming Tuesday January the 20th."
Labour of love is right!
Incidentally those little Daft Punk bears are available as a limited edition run from Bearbrincks - More on that here. The Gallic duo were certainly never ones to miss a marketing trick.
It’s the start of a new year which means countdowns galore and everyone and their dog telling us their top 10 this and that from last year. We don’t have a dog, but would hate to miss an opportunity like this, so have decided to compile our own list. Ours is different though, instead of Top 10, we are breaking the mould and going Top 5! Some you will know, some you might not, but we all had our say and this was the consensus.
So without further ado here is Thinkhouse’s Top 5 virals of 2008.
1-Christian The Lion. Pretty much made everyone’s favourite video list this year, a truly touching story (plus anything that makes the girls in the office cry gets the male vote).
2- Where is Matt? Not our Matt, we know where he is. It’s dancing Matt Harding the globe trotting jigster. His 2006 video is up to 12.5 million views, last year’s version has hit a staggering 16.4 million in just 6 months. This is exactly the kind of user generated content that makes Youtube so damn popular and even led to Matt giving lectures to various campuses and speaking at the Google Tech Talks.
3- You Can Vote However You Like. The US Presidential Campaign provided fodder for many a great spook, this song by the kids of Ron Clark Academy sung to the tune of TI’s ‘Whatever you Like’. Check the lyrics in the more info tag too, pretty impressive.
4- Bill O’Reilly Does it Live. The usually straight faced Inside Edition front man looses his rag over the producer’s plans to have Sting ‘play them out’.
5- Paris For President. When McCain dissed Paris in his campaign last year, the It-girl fought back with her own solutions to some of the biggest problems facing the would be presidents. Bless her!
At Thinkhouse, we are very into The Fashion. This is why one of our favourite video’s ever made is Brenda Dickson’s ‘Welcome to My Home’. Many people prefer the many parodies but we’re down with the original version in a major way. We’ve learnt many important things. · Sometimes it’s good to go against the designer · Powder blush should only be used at night · Blue eyeliner is for daytime · Salt can make the face puffy and sugar causes wrinkles · If you have a weight problem, try and cut down on what you eat As with all glamorous fashion idols, there is a sad ending to The Young and the Restless stars story which can be found here on her blog and a video of her in court here.
The last couple of years saw serious retro revival on all things 80s, aside from the obvious fashion throwbacks, there has also been serious revival in gaming and all things lo-fi, with people going crazy for C64s and original Nes’. This spawned a whole pixel movement with parties, sounds and music dedicated to all things 8bit. The popularity of acts like Crystal Castles and Boy 8 showcase the musical side, check out this little douse for a lovely example of pixel art, shot on the streets of Brooklyn NYC.
Google Trends is a fantastic way for marketers to keep track of their search popularity and compare it to competitors. It has also been used for ‘good’ now too, with the nice people at Google tracking flu trends by measuring related key searches across different regions. When compared to results from the Centers for Disease Control a pattern emerges with the CDC only a shade ahead of the search results. This will be very useful for epidemiologists who can use the data to pre-empt the virus and maybe even enable health professionals to be better prepared. Trends, already a great tool for busineses, is now open to all sorts of new applications in every aspect of life.
Us lucky ducks here at Thinkhouse were treated to a wondrous night in London over the weekend. We started at a whopper vintage sale (well, I am sure it was whopper for the thousands who queued from 3pm the day previous) then check-in at our fab hotel, followed by a meal at Asia de Cuba (delish!), a couple of clubs before rounding off the night with a raid of the mini-bar and a traditional elevator pile-on.
Highlights: Disco Bloodbath in Dalston (friendliest ravers ever and sweet Italo/Disco treats) The Pork In Asia de Cuba (delish) The Sea Bass in Asia de Cuba (delish x2) Hell Pzza for lunch. (Looking at that list you would think we just ate and danced all weekend, we also drank too)
On a recent trip to NYC, Thinkhouse’s Jane McDaid, hooked up with some of the most inspiring, innovative and daring PR people on Earth. The most interesting of the bunch was Eric Yaverbaum, Founder of Ericho PR.
An unquenchable thirst for all that’s new in PR – Thinkhouse’s trek in NYC revealed that things in NYC aren’t that much different to Ireland. But then there’s Eric.
Having built a massively successful consumer PR agency Eric sold out. He’s now launching his own brands, and with no creative limitations, developing some of the most innovative PR campaigns America has ever seen. He’s the man behind ‘tappening’ – an anti-bottled water movement that encourages people to consumer water in an environmentally friendly way. An interesting concept that’s generated massive awareness as a result of Eric’s guerrilla and new media campaigns.
And there’s lots more where that came from. Check out his site & work on erichopr.com
We are not going to lie, sometimes Mondays can be tough. Not today though, even after a weekend which included the English leg of the Movember tour and the return of one of Dublin's finest clubs Backlash, spirits are high in the office with the imminent performance of Roisin Murphy at the Olympia. With better outfits than God himself and more costume changes than our very own Bitches with Wolves front man James O’Neill, Roisin is definitely our very favourite idol.
The month formerly known as November is nearly at an end but not before tomorrow nights big gala party taking place in the Button Factory from 7.30pm. It's not too late to donate though, hit Movember.com to do your bit. Movember Ireland has already topped the €100,000 mark and we are expecting that figure to keep rising as the last minute donations roll in.
Tomorrow nights event will see the Button factory transformed by a sea of Magnum P.I's, bikers, Sheiks and cowboys as participants dress to suit their Mo's. Mo Bros and Sista's who have raised over €80 receive a complimentary ticket and for anyone else it's €20 (available through movember.com). There will also be prizes on the night courtesy of our sponsors Finlandia, Wilkinson Sword and Rip Curl. Check the website for more details. www.movember.com
You could even end up being crowned the Man of Movember or Miss Movember 2008!
Obama has already saved the world in many peoples eyes even before his inauguration, but can he save the Princess? Do your bit to help in this cute game from Zensoft. In the first level, set in Sarah Palin's home state of Alaska you battle pitbulls with lipstick, hockey moms, Russian soldiers and Sarah Palin herself. The story then moves on to the battle grounds of Illinois, Arizona and Washington D.C. Try it for yourself right HERE.
So say the good folk at Omni Consumer Products who have just released Sex Panther Cologne. If it sounds familiar, that’s because it’s the same cologne Will Ferral wears in Paramount’s Anchorman. According to Omni Consumer Products founder Pete Hottelet 'The fragrance is clean, fresh, and extremely manly. Manly like eating a bowl of cereal doused in motor oil, consisting mainly of shavings from the Apollo moon lander and Richard Petty's championship 1970 Plymouth Superbird’. The company specialise in licensing, defictionalization, and reverse-branding and have already released Brawndo- The Thirst Mutilator, an energy drink licensed from another feature film. Licensing from movies has always meant big bucks but the ‘defictionalisation’ of movie products throws the doors wide open to all sorts of possibilities.
The Anchorman Special Edition. Complete with Wake-Up Ron Burgundy is available now at all good DVD retailers.
The Temple Bar Trust have just opened a brand new gallery to help young up and coming artists exhibit their work in a central and very affordable space. With Arts Council funding being cut by €10 million in 2009 spaces like this are vital in making art accessible to under funded art folk. For just €50 a young independent artist can have use of the No Grants Gallery in the Temple Bar Cultural Information Centre for two weeks. A bargain for young artists feeling the pinch.
Thinkhouse is a Dublin based PR company specialising in youth communications. Keep up to date with all of our latest news and see what's currently floating our collective boat on the World Wide Web.
One week into Thinkhouse’s herbalicious garden of joy and it's going from strength to strength. Having spotted our Twitter post, the very kind people at www.livingflavour.com were generous enough to drop in a few extras for us including some lettuce which went down a storm earlier on some team sambos. We have mint aplenty too so we are currently researching the best Mojito recipe for our next agency BBQ. We are still figuring out what to do with all the parsley in the center which is certainly holding its own against the neighboring coriander. Meanwhile the chives are bringing up the rear while our many cabbages are no doubt just as stumped as to their purpose as we are. Stay tuned for some more updates and recipes as the summer progresses.
