CHEAT SHEET

AGENCY NEWS

CULTURE

4 March - 12 March 2012

INNOVATION AND TRENDS

TECHNOLOGY

SUSTAINABILITY

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One of the TV buzzwords this year at SXSW is transmedia – a term for using various other media platforms in order to create entertainment associated with a show. Bravo has been one of the more aggressive networks at it, showing last weekend how it extended Top Chef online this season with Last Chance Kitchen. Lisa Hsia, EVP of digital media, said their next ambition will be content co-cre-ation with the viewer via social media.

SXSW Watch: The Transmedia of Top Chef:

A Beta version of the Nike FuelBand fitness bracelet was introduced last Sat-urday at the SXSWi Managers Hack Event. Nike stated that it would assist developers “in combining music with the Nike+ FuelBand.” The eight-hour hackathon is oriented around digital music distribution.

Nike to Unveil FuelBand Developer API at SXSW Hackathon:

SXSWi has become a springboard for successful startups. Some of the most talked about apps this year include Highlight, which notifies users to the nearby presence of others with similar interests and connections, and Card-Spring, which is not available for download yet but is used to create coupons and loyalty discounts in an app or website that you may tie to your credit card.

Hottest New Apps out of SXSW 2012:

In the next few months, Gawker plans to launch an ambitious new comment-ing model, according to its founder Nick Denton at SXSWi yesterday. This new commenting model aims to recruit commenters in order to elevate the level of discussion on its blogs. The ultimate goal of this new system would be to at-tract people who are at the center of news on Gawker to chime in themselves.

Gawker will Deputize Commenters, says Sheriff Nick Denton:

Instagram, the iPhone photo-sharing app with 27 million users, is growing at an astonishing rate and will soon be available for Android. “We’ve been able to put together one of the most incredible Android apps you will ever see,” said CEO Kevin Systrom told audience members during a session at the SXSWi con-ference, waving an Android phone with a prototype on it.

Instagram Hits 27 Million Users, Says Android App is coming ‘Soon’

Last week, Apple revealed a new iPad that offers a higher-resolution Retina Display similar to that of the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4s. It offers a resolution of 3.1 megapixels, an updated processor, and a 4G connection. Also available on the new iPad is a new iPhoto app that will edit photos of up to 19 mega-pixels.

An interactive panel at SXSWi 2012 has been questioning the dim frontier between content and commerce in the fashion industry. Fashion editors are jumping ship from magazines to join leading e-commerce platforms, while editorial destinations are introducing local deals and e-shops left and right.

The Fashion Fog: Blurring Content and Commerce:

PBS Off Book takes a look at the history of the GIF, from the early days of the flames and under construction signs to today’s multimedia mashups. This short doc talks to REED + RADER’s Pamela Reed and Matthew Rader, Tumblr’s Topher Chris, and MemeFactory’s Patrick Davison - a group that has watched the rebirth of the format after its early web 1.0 days.

PBS Off Book Explores the History of the Animated GIF:

Jean Paul Gaultier has been named creative director of Diet Coke in Europe. The soda giant reveals that the madcap couturier is to design bottles and cans, plus play a role in ad campaigns, online content, and retail concepts throughout 2012. To unveil the collaboration, Diet Coke created three light-hearted short films for its YouTube channel, depicting Gaultier as a therapist, a journalist, and a private detective solving a puppet’s wardrobe dilemnas.

Diet Coke Taps Jean Paul Gaultier:

With hundreds of events in only five days, seeing everything at SXSWi is im-possible. Ogilvy has recruited a team of top-notch visual note-takers to cover SXSWi and post thought-pictures. You may submit your own visual notes at ogilvynotes.tumblr.com in order to help document SXSWi.

Ogilvy Notes for SXSWi 2012:

WPP’s Y&R has picked up lead creative duties for Hampton Hotels, after los-ing the marquee brand in the Hilton Hotels portfolio a year ago. Jim Elliot, chief creative officer of Y&R, New York said “it was a long pitch, but actually one of the most fun pitches I’ve ever worked on…we just connected with their personality from the get-go.”

Y&R, New York Named Lead Creative for Hampton Hotels:

eHarmony has made a match with GSD&M as its North American creative agency of record. Following a media review in 2010 in which eHarmony chose Omnicom Group’s OMD as its media agency of record, the recent cre-ative review and selection of sibling GSD&M means that the majority of eHar-mony’s advertising is now centralized within Omnicom Group.

EHarmony Hires GSD&M to Handle Creative Duties:

SXSW is a great occasion to discuss the important issues that the millennial generation has to deal with every day. On Monday March 12, Eliza Esquivel will present the Social Activism 2.0 survey. In this presentation, we learn about how young adults are prompted to get involved in causes they care about, especially on and within social media platforms.

Social Activism 2.0:

NYC-based agency Chandelier Creative set up a Montauk retreat in order to farm fresh honey and give employees a place to go for rest, relaxation and inspiration. Presenting a new kind of bohemian enclave, Chandelier’s beau-tifully appointed, multipurpose Surf Shack fosters morale from within, while productively churning out an actual product for a whole new way of market-ing itself.

Awesomeville: Chendelier Creative Farms Branded Honey at their Montauk

A group of students and professors from Yale University have found a fungi in the Amazon rainforest that can degrade and utilize the common plastic poly-urethane (PUR). Polyurethane is a big part of our mounting waste problem and this is a new possible solution for managing it. The fungi can survive on polyurethane alone and is uniquely able to do so in an oxygen-free environ-ment.

Plastic-Eating Fungi Found In The Amazon:

creativity + bravery

Time3-10-12

AllThingsD3-11-12

CNET3-11-12

The Verge3-10-12

SXSW3-12

CNN3-11-12

CNET3-9-12

The Verve3-10-12

WWD3-8-12

SXSW3-12

AdAge3-8-12

AdAge3-9-12

CoolHunting3-6-12

AdAge3-12

StumbleUpon3-1712

Apple Goes “New” School with iPad