Project launch: The Fresh Start Project

“We wanna make this digital” is the cry of many a client when they enter their ‘digital’ agency with a shiny new TVC and poster under their arm. Too many agencies will take a client’s TVC (and money) and make it ‘digital’ simply by putting a browser around it or sending it’s animated cousin off to Double Click.

I’m proud to say that’s not what we do here at Amnesia Razorfish. When our client, realestate.com.au, shared their really nice ATL spring campaign with us, we got really fired-up by the challenge of making this campaign come to life in the digital space. We didn’t want to simply TELL consumers that realestate.com.au helps give people a fresh start, we wanted to actually GIVE someone a fresh start. Some one that really needed a fresh start.

Say hello to The Fresh Start Project from realestate.com.au.  The aim of the campaign is simple. Build a a new home, for a family in need, through people’s use of realestate.com.au. As users interact with realestate.com.au they collect ‘bricks’ which they can donate to the 1 million brick target. In partnership with Habitat for Humanity Australia, the house will be built. There’s no augmented or virtual reality here. Sure – it won’t cause world peace, but it will make a real difference to a real family in real need. And that’s why I love this project so much. Hope you do too.

Visit the site >

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Amnesia Razorfish does Movember

The month of mo-growing, mo-itching and mo-ridicule is almost over. Amnesia have shown sterling character with their Movember efforts … and raised rather alot of cash. For the benefit of our overseas friends, the rules are simple: Grow a ‘Mo’ and raise money for men’s cancer and depression charities. 

Now many of you (yes you – working in other Razorfish offices around the world) haven’t donated yet. Please dig-deep and support the Amnesiafish crew and this very worthy cause. Ends Monday when we will announce our final team total.

 

@handypearce (Team Captain)

The 2009 Croissant Games

On October 14th 2009, Razorfish formally joined the Publicis family. As Razorfish offices all around the globe celebrated with a glass of Bollinger and a boursin cracker, the Aussies did something a little different.

Ladies and Gentleman, Mesdames et Messieurs I give you The 2009 Croissant Games.

 
And some pics from the day here

@handypearce

Twinfluencers Experiment: Watching Australian and US Journalists, CEOs and Twitterati using Twitter

An experimental site, www.twinfluencers.com created by Amnesia Razorfish launched ‘softly’ today. It takes a live look into “influencers” and what they are saying on Twitter as it happens.

www.twinfluencers.com monitors US and Australian Journalists, Twitterati and CEO’s

What does Twinfluencers do?
Twinfluencers is a dashboard showing live tweets from Twitter users considered to be influencers within specific groups (Journalists, CEOs and Twitterati). Currently we are breaking these out into Australia and US regions.

FAQs:
So what’s the point?

Whilst there are many tools which track trends, hashtags from the masses this tool takes another angle and provides a peek at live information being generated from these influencer groups. You can jump in at any time without needing to be a Twitter user. It also saves you having to follow and segment the 900(ish) people that Twinfluencers is watching!

Why did we build Twinfluencers?
Firstly, we love doing experiments – the point is we’re not 100% certain of ‘what comes next’. Secondly, we’re of the school of thought that if we’re going to become better at working in social media then “doing stuff” is the way to go. Building the tool may prove useful or useless, but the mere act of building it allowed us to learn some new things. We might yield some insight and analytics that become usable -that would be a bonus. Finally– we couldn’t find a tool that produced what we wanted to see so decided to do it ourselves (although half way through build we found a similar tool muckrack.com for US journos which is actually very good).

What might the site do in the future?
The lists will be keep being compiled and updated. We may add other countries if the demand is there. It would be nice to see some historical data, trends etc from these groups. There are a few minor UI tweaks to be made. We’ve already been asked to do a celebs version, although we specifically avoided celebrities in this round. Alternatively – if we learn nothing or find something better to do then maybe it will just fade away 😉

How many people are in the lists?
At time of writing, but being updated regularly at present;
Australian: Journalists (500) Twitterati (101) CEOs (30)
USA: Journalists (105) Twitterati (101) CEOs (30)

Where do the lists come from?
This was possibly one of the harder parts of the experiment and something we consider to be work in progress:

• Journalists: We received lots of help from Dave Earley (@earleyedition) in sourcing a very consolidated list of Australian Journalists. US Journalists came from a variety of public sources and some Razorfish US assistance – we also decided to limit the number down to about 100, compared with a much more expanded number of Australian Journalists.
• Twitterati: This was a slightly tougher list to quantify. In the end we based the list mainly by combining and filtering results from Grader, Retweetability index, Twinfluence, Twittercounter. We removed known ‘spammers’ or those using ‘follow agents’ to grow their count and occasionally factored in the start date of the account (earlier being better).
• CEOS: Various sources (some tips) including Laurel Papworth.

How can I get my hands on the full list of these groups?
Whilst we’re still in beta testing we’re not openly distributing. The plan is that if the site generates any ongoing interest we will open the lists up – initially to individuals who are willing to contribute to the ongoing maintenance of the lists, and then open to public. Please remember, keeping these lists up to date is quite a lot of hard work.

”How can I get on the list? ARrgh – I deserve to be there!”
Firstly – tweet something and wait a couple of minutes (there can be a delay before you see your tweet appear). Not there? Yes… We know how this works and of course there are people who should be on there who aren’t and vice versa. We’ll keep adding but we’re trying to make this less about the egos, more about a tool that offers some value that we can learn a little from. For those who believe they have been wronged (and we do not mean to wrong anyone) there are some instructions on the site at the bottom of the page to suggest follows, “but” we will apply the same filtering and vague scrutiny to try to keep a balance. 🙂

Amnesia Razorfish is Hiring

We’ve told you we’re growing yes, and now we have a short description of all the roles we have on offer!
Take a gander at all the roles below and don’t be afraid to pass them on if you know some awesome people who might be right for us.

The positions we are currently recruiting for are:

Group Account Director

Coming on board as our new GAD (Client Services), your core focus is to manage our awesome Account Directors and Account Managers who are responsible for deliverables across all accounts. Having 8-10 years experience in marketing and client management under your belt, we can rely on you to keep clients close and generate revenue so that we can continue hiring.

Senior Account Manager

We’re looking for some strong Senior Account Managers to join our Client Services team. Help Amnesia Razorfish grow and develop solid relationships with clients and manage day-to-day account service.

Razorfish Emerging Experiences blog and labs

If you’re into the next generation of devices, technology, multi-touch – check out the new Razorfish blog ‘Emerging Experiences’ – http://emergingexperiences.com – there’s some really fascinating content to explore. As we move from the GUI (Graphic User Interface) to the NUI (Natural User Interface) this is great first look into what’s coming.

Razorfish : “Send us your Business Problem”

During his 2009 Client Summit presentation, “Innovation Hell,” Joe Crump did something quite extraordinary: he challenged event attendees to send Razorfish their business problems, a global problem, or just something that plain bugs them. 

He promised Razorfish would spend the next year to create an innovative solution to the problem. (You can view Joe’s presentation on SlideShare or Vimeo).

To submit an idea, clients need only jot an email to [ innovate at razorfish.com ]

For instance on Twitter @scottlum of Microsoft asked, “Can we educate, inform & synthesize change for Swine Flu using social media w/out spreading disinformation, confusion and panic?”

You get the idea… now you have the chance to have those thought leaders at Razorfish look at your problem.

Also: Make sure you read the David Deal (VP Marketing for Razorfish) post on the subject of innovation Hell” here.

~eunmac

Can creativity be crowdsourced?

Razorfish Group VP of Experience Planning, Garrick Schmitt, posts on this topic to AdAge here: http://adage.com/digitalnext/article?article_id=136019

Noteworthy among the services mentioned is FFFFound! which Garrick refers to in this context as “crowdsourced inspiration”.

Interesting read.

Razorfish TweetDoubler – Amazing Twitter tool that allows twice the character count

We’re pretty excited here in Australia to be the first people globally to talk about a new text compression technology just released by Razorfish, one of the worlds largest digital agencies. The Razorfish guys in white coats have developed a compression algorithm that works on text, a bit like the way jpeg compresses an image – which means HUGE news for everyone using Twitter.

Try it now! www.tweetdoubler.com

Twitter normally only allows 140 characters. This Razorfish web application allows you type DOUBLE the normal amount.

You simply enter the text (up to 280 characters) – the compression takes about half a second, next your compressed tweet is sent out (under 140 chars) and then automatically decompressed as the end user views the message. It’s so simple, it’s hard to believe nobody has done this before.

We believe that in the future we can optimise the algorithm, potentially allowing 1000 characters to be compressed to inside Twitter’s limits of 140 characters. This first round of beta testing will provide us with enough data to push limits in the future.

Razorfish Credits:
Thanks to the globally coordinated team who have worked around the clock to bring this to life. Make sure you say Hi to them on Twitter:

Olaf Prilo (@olafprilo) – Independent Science and Maths Consultant.
Iain McDonald (@eunmac) – Creative Director.
Stephan Lange (@Maniac13) – Project Co-ordination.
Chris Saunders (@thesaund) – Lead Coder.
Michael Kliennman – Lead Design.
Shiv Singh – (@shivsingh) Social Media Director.
David Deal (@davidjdeal) – Marketing Director.

Please note this is a beta version open for testing for today only. Enjoy & have a wonderful day 😉

Lynx Effect Website Archive – Webby Award Winner

http://lynxeffect.archive.amnesia.com.au/

Original Lynx Effect website (which won a Webby in 2008 created by Amnesia Razorfish) is now in it’s archived glory state in our portfolio. Clean the “Dirty Girls”, tattoo your name on some unmentionable body part – the list goes on.

AdNews Agency of the Year 2009 Results

Another big night of awards and hundreds of lively Australian advertising people, agencies and clients. Hosted by Peter Overton surrounded by high school cheerleaders it was a fun night by all counts.

The good news for us; Amnesia Razorfish somehow scooped the Interactive Agency of the Year for the 3rd running. Admittedly a huge surprise for us as we felt all the other agencies in the digital category (Deepend, Soap, Host, and Tribal DDB) were all deserving given the great digital work they had all done in the industry in the last 12 months.

In addition Amnesia Razorfish also received a “Highly Commended” award in the Media Agency of the Year category – something we’ve been working hard on for a couple of years now  so great to get some recognition in this space.

The big award of the night, (the overall Agency of the Year) went to winner of NSW Agency of the Year, Host – a popular choice by all counts.

Thanks to AdNews for putting on another great night 🙂

Adnews Agency of Year Winners list 2009:

Interactive Agency of the Year– Amnesia Razorfish –
Media Agency of the Year – Ikon Communications
Media Agency of the Year–  (Highly Commended) – Amnesia Razorfish
Vic Agency – Clemenger BBDO Melb
Creative Network – DDB Australia
Promotion Agency – Momentum Worldwide
Experiential Agency – Play Communication
Media Network – OMD
Specialist Agency – Downstream Marketing
Emerging Agency– Colman Rasic Carrasco
Media Campaign – Naked “Sprite – Thirst for Truth”
NSW Agency  – Host
Ad Campaign– BMF TED 696 Project fro Lion Nathan
Overall Agency of the Year – Host

Congrats to all winners and finalists 🙂

11 plug-ins and scripts that will change the way you use Twitter. No technical ability required.

I wrote a few weeks ago about how anyone can easily change the Twitter web interface with Firefox and the GreaseMonkey plug-in (here). The great news is that this process is so easy that there’s little reason not to give this a go – you really are only a few clicks away from what’s shown below. Here’s some power UI enhancements I have chosen – and yes, this list goes to eleven.

Have fun, @Eunmac

Setup:

1. You’ll need Firefox. (here)
2. You’ll need to install the GreaseMonkey Addon (here)
3. Now click the links below to add new features to change your Twitter interface.

1. Nested Replies in Twitter: (install here)
This is by far the most useful script for me. It collates a threaded conversation of replies inside the twitter page. Without this it is very hard to see what conversation took place.

2. Add Bio’s to Friend Following/Followers page (install here)

When you’re checking out someone’s ‘following’ page you get no information other than a picture and a name. Useless! Anyway, if you add this script and you’ll see all their details including a bio, follower info and even last tweet. Here’s me checking out who Guy Kawasaki is following:

3. Sidebar Replies Panel (install here)
See all other replies sent to another Twitter user.

4. Auto shortening of URL (install here)

5. Mentions and unread replies: (install here)

6. Add Friend Name Helper (install here)
Auto suggests names from your following list.

7. Add Retweet Button (install here)

 

8. Power Twitter. (install here)
This is plug-in for Firefox. It displays videos and images nested inside conversations.

9. Expand Short URLs (install here)
Don’t get fooled by those short bit.ly urls anymore, this plugin will reveal the full url inside the web interface.

10. Endless Tweets (install here)
This is pretty cool, as you get to the bottom of the page, the page simply gets longer so you never have to move back and forth between pages.

11. Add search and Tools to sidebar (install here)
 

Other useful scripts:
Hide All re-tweets. (install here)
Block tweets with specific words (install here)
Reveal followers. Places icon over those following you (install here)
Shrink tweets with Tweetshrink (install here)

Want to see all the twitter scripts? There are over 300 on userscripts.org (here)

Found any more great tools? Add them to the comments please 🙂

Amnesia Razorfish – the rebrand

Yes, digital agency Amnesia has changed it’s name – from something unforgettable, to something unpronounceable. (It’s fun – say it three times really fast). For those who don’t know our history, digital agency Amnesia (Sydney) was acquired two years ago by Avenue A Razorfish who were themselves acquired by Microsoft in 2007.

The short is – they’re a great brand, and we also like ours …so the result is:
 
 

It looks kind of good on our Microsoft Surface Table (which gets more attention than everything else in here of course).

Amnesia wins BEST IN SHOW at W3 Awards

Kick a Migrant has won BEST in SHOW at W3 – the highest accolade possible at the international W3 awards. These are fairly tough awards to win – we’ve only managed a couple of Silver in the past. Ironic that we should win for a mock AD brief posed to us by AdNews. Does show that when you take risks they occasionally pay off.

Kick a migrant has seen 1,690,091 games played with a $0 media spend

 

http://www.w3award.com/webapp/winners/show/best/3

Friend Magnet. Ninemsn Instant Win Web Messenger Promotion.

From the makers of Prize Rush (Ninemsn and Amnesia) – you can now use your Messenger login to win amazing instant double prizes with our new game (Friend Magnet) whilst you chat with your mates. The best bit – If you win a prize – YOUR MATE WINS THE SAME THING :)))

Use the Magnet (below) to try to hook up the prize you want… Very easy to play.

A pretty cool physics engine, and to our knowledge the first time someone has used the official web messenger API to build a game like this… kinda cool? Good luck!

http://friendmagnet.com.au

BTW: Here’s the 15 sec TV Ad for Friend Magnet:

(TVC produced by Amnesia)

Unboxing Australia’s first Microsoft Surface table

Yesterday, we (Amnesia) took delivery of Australia’s first two Microsoft Surface tables. We believe they were the first units to ship outside the US. Not often you get your hands on something no one else has seen, so we thought we’d share the grand opening of the boxes…

These crates are heavy. Around 125kg each. “That’s a Big Ass Box” quipped one of the designers.

Raiders of the Lost Ark eat your heart out…

No time to waste we borrowed a crowbar and a hammer from the courier to get inside.

The tables we packed very securely and nothing was even slightly scuffed from transit.

Something to hang on the wall to inspire everyone… a big finger 🙂

The entire package is very polished.

The entire table is packed in what is essentially a GIANT ziplock bag.

When unpacked, the table has the calibration mat and some other printed materials covering the screen.

Up and running in just a few minutes. We actually had our first app (with our own content) up and running within 20 minutes which is great news.

Meantime, staff can’t stop walking up to the table and playing with the demos that were included – A big ass table yes… but so much fun.

Amazing Light Painting – Hi-Res Air Graffiti Wallpaper Download

We made this hi-res air-graffiti light image using a technique we worked out (here). The images are pretty stunning, especially when you see them in high res. Here’s one for your desktop in all it’s glory. Completely free for you to use for any non commercial purposes. 

Update: We are uploading full versions of these (gradually) to Flickr. Read the comments for the link 🙂 

Download here (1900×1200):
http://www.amnesia.com.au/blogimages/amnesia_light_painting.jpg
(then right click – set as background)

There are many more of these…
 

So… write some nice comments and we’ll think about releasing the rest in hi-res 🙂

Sony and Nintendo’s unexpected challenger; Super Monkey Ball Sells 300,000 copies on iPhone

In the eleven hundredth iPhone post of the day… Fair enough, we’re all pretty sick of hearing about what this miracle device can do. Short of curing cancer there’s not much the little bugger can’t cope with; heck, maybe it can cure cancer if someone builds a Folding@home application (FoldingOnPhone?) for distribution via the AppStore… (The uninitiated can read about Folding@home here.)

As cool as all the technology is, what’s ultimately more important for us digital marketing folk is the viability of the platform when it comes to content distribution (both in pay-for and free categories). Sega’s Super Monkey Ball has just hit the 300,000 mark which, at AUD $12.99 a pop, is a considerable lump of change. It’s enough to make Sony and Nintendo sit up and take notice, particularly as their respective platforms (PSP and Nintendo DS) rely predominantly on physical media for content distribution. Sega US’s President Simon Jeffery agrees. “That’s a substantial business. It gives iPhone a justifiable claim to being a viable gaming platform.”

The phone may not have the controls required for traditional gaming but the quality and responsiveness of the touch screen and accelerometer could do for the mobile games space what the Wii has done for console gaming around the world.

So how do we take advantage of this? As iPhone and iPod touch sales continue to rise, distribution of free, engaging, branded content is an obvious winning formula. Carling’s iPint application is catching on like wildfire and given the size and scale of the application the development overheads would have been low. Investing in development for a platform owned and operated by one company might be a little uncomfortable but these days, shifting focus away from Apple in the digital landscape isn’t a wise move: Apple has proved that, technology aside, the iPhone is a viable distribution platform.

Watch this space.

Top 12 Digital Design posts of 2008

From one of our great ‘sister’ blogs in Avenue A Razorfish. A highly useful digest of all the blogged opinions within digital in 2008.

http://www.digitaldesignblog.com/2008/06/30/top-12-digital-design-posts-of-2008-so-far/

Human Breakout / Arkanoid at conference

Again from the Avenue A Razorfish conference/client summit 2008 here is a section of the 1000 attendees playing the arcade game breakout using their arms to co-ordinate the paddle to bounce the ball at the bricks. Controlled by a standard web camera, it’s pretty funny to watch but a great example of extending ‘group experiences’ using digital technology.

Again this video was shot with mobile phone.