Recently I posted about Hyper Island an amazing school for technology and digital discovery. It wasn’t until a few days later that I realised one of the founders of Hyper was now working for Vodafone and I had a contact there.

So could I speak to the man himself? The answer was yes. So here’s my interview with David Erixon, Director of Brand Strategy & Manifestation, Vodafone Global Marketing. Oh yes … and co founder of Hyper Island.

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Buying a piece of tech these days can take a fair bit of research. Not only are there dozens of models to choose from, there’s a list of technical specifications as long as your arm.

But, do the numbers really add up or are the brands just blinding us with science? read full post »

Sir John Hegarty

Sir John Hegarty joins Knitware to talk about the effect of digital technology on brands, craft and design.

Brands in a digital age

I think we live in a very confusing world. Technology is exploding all around us. We don’t need to all go into it, we all understand it. The fact that I’m sitting here blogging is an amazing development in technology and, if you’re a brand, what do you do? How do you navigate through all this stuff? In a way, you can’t. There is no blueprint for saying ‘This is how you do it’ - there isn’t a kind of formula that says, ‘Well you do a TV commercial, from the TV commercial you set up a website, when you’ve set up a website, you start doing that - blogs there, you go into video games…’ It can be a multitude of options.

In the end, when you’re in a world like that all you can really do is simply say, ‘Nobody really knows, so what I’ll do is try and think of better ideas.’ That’s the only guarantee. The guarantee is to say, ‘Actually I might be wrong in choosing that medium, I might be wrong in starting there, I might be wrong in doing that. But what I can do, what I do know, is if I have a great brand idea there’s a greater and better chance that that will communicate and get through,’ - and that’s the only guarantee. read full post »

Turn right at the next joke! - Is SatNav the new place for content and brands to collide? Free comedy downloads from ‘230 Miles Of Love‘ might be the breakthrough to get the show on the road …

Doc Rogers talks with Andrew Shanahan, the driving force behind the project (sorry) …

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This week everyone seems to be talking about Youtube and the alleged attempts by Pakistan to block the video hosting site (Source The Inquirer).

It’s easy to forget that Youtube content can be serious, there’s so many fluffy rabbit videos the serious stuff tends to get buried. But dig around in the tube archives and there are treasures to be found.

Here are my top four (crazy) science/technology based clips. Maybe you can suggest some more.

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How often are you stunned by technology these days? I find it’s almost never. Yes, it’s very clever. Yes, it’s very small. Yes, it’s very fast. But, we’re so used to technology that it’s rare we actually get excited or feel amazed by it. But, this changed for me just last night…

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I love the word prosumer. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosumer

It’s kind of flattering. It kind of says ‘I get technology and I’m really good at my hobbies’. Prosumers want to do things properly… Slick movies, beautiful photos, nice prints, crisp audio, fast wifi connections. But how much longer will the word will be around for? read full post »

Cutting-Edge stuff is always a matter of perspective … for me, right now (Thursday 07:42 a.m. Feb 2008) … Smashing Magazine has a great piece on cool gadgets and technology … but bearing in mind how fast things move, it’s going to be old news by the end of this sentence. Get it while it’s hot!

Doc Rogers

Scamp recently posted a Space Invaders scarf. Well, my favourite source for 80’s apparel is Truffle Shuffle (www.truffleshuffle.co.uk). I find a strange sense of pride wearing a retro T-Shirt. It sort of says - “I grew up watching PROPER entertainment. All you kids have got today is X Factor”. And it got me thinking. Why are retro properties only ever brought back on clothing?

Why not attach the great popular culture ‘brands’ of the 80’s to technology too? After all, its thirty somethings who are splashing out the most on tech right now. For starters, how about : Knight Rider Sat Nav units… Or Goonies GPS software - where X marks the spot… ET mobile phone tariffs… A-Team virus software… Action Man survival gadgets… Top Gun headsets… Got anymore?

The Net Net

The times and places that content is being digested has changed. Not will, HAS. People have learned to search, filter and organize the content they take in, all enabled by new ways to INTERACT with content. They are now HUNGRY for any technology that helps them do this more efficiently and embrace any brand that adds something to that equation. CES demonstrated that the technology exists (the most glaring example of this being traditional web content “finally available” through traditional television interfaces), now it is our turn. It is time to embrace and leverage consumer control. Not to be too cheesy about it, but, the future is now.

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