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Friday, May 30, 2014

What's Apple got in store for WWDC14?

"And life will be different as a result".

That's the bold claim Apple are making as the slogan to their latest developers conference. Not even "the" result, just "a" result. While not exactly known for their aversion for hyperbole it's still a pretty ambitious statement so let's take a look at the front running candidates for exactly what wares Apple will have to show, and some of the best mock-ups that the internet can throw up.

The likely

Mac OSX 10.10 Syrah - The desktop is likely to get the same beautification as the mobile OS, expect Jony Ive's signature gradients, rounded corners and consistent flatness.

(credit: cultofmac)

The Internet of Apple things - Apple are rumoured to be storming into the smart-home market with their own communication platform for all the various connected objects of the future.

iOS 8 - iOS 7 is sure to see its translucent expanse slightly upgraded and refined as Apple makes tweaks rather than sweeping changes to their mobile OS. The most important debuting feature is likely to be split-screen multi-tasking.

Healthbook - Apple is likely to ride the wave of health apps with a whole roster of sensors and software that helps users track their fitness and health.

(credit: macrumours)

The most obvious issue with this list is that Apple is largely playing catch-up to its competitors, Healthbook competes with Samsung's S Health, multitasking is common across Android and Microsoft tablets and Google have purchased the one of the most promising companies in The Internet of Things, Nest. The rest is evolution, not revolution and it's hard to see Apple producing something truly disruptive or jaw-dropping, if its coming from this list. Instead Apple is set to cement and improve its software offering as it expects to see the hardware side of the business slow in the coming years.

The unlikely

iWatch - With the wearables market gently building into a roaring blaze of interest what better time to announce Apple's venture in the market? Later in the year, apparently.

iPhone 6 - Apple's latest phone is just not ready yet, says the chatter, and the rumour mill is all too slow-turning to suggest a landmark handset launch. Still, nothing's impossible - at least not compared to our final two options.

Top iPhone leaker Sonny Dickson says this is the iPhone 6 and the technology press are slightly more convinced by this option than any of the others.

(credit: Sonny Dickson)

The spectacularly improbable

The Apple TV - While the set-top 'puck' is here to stay, and will likely be upgraded, the chances of a physical TV being released by Apple are slimmer than a Macbook Air.

This won't be seeing the light of day (not least because it seems to be in a bunker).

(credit: ajklijs)

The Apple Car - Google's got a car, so why not Apple? Well Google's also got robots, balloons, Ray Kurzweil, and a project to nullify human ageing - all technology-led craziness that, the relatively safe (by these new standards) Apple isn't likely to involve itself in. As the world's most cash-rich company it's a strategy that's not done them too much harm so far.

There is zero chance that this will ever exist. Sorry.

(credit: gadgethelpline)

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

How UKIP won the social election.

In the recent European parliament election UKIP took the most seats of any party, 24, even managing to take a seat in every constituency across the country.

UKIP are now the second most followed political party on Facebook. In taking that spot, behind The Conservatives, UKIP overtook Labour, who’ve had a combined 40 years as the ruling party in Britain.

Beyond that UKIP are dwarfing the engagement rates of the other parties, scoring a huge 87% engagement. Their growth is astronomical, increasing followers by 85% between the 29^th of April and 26^th of May alone, compared to the Conservatives’ 7.82% and Labour’s 3.95%.

UKIP's Facebook page buzzed with positive support, one commenter saying - "I don't recall any other political party making its voters feel a connection to each other in such a positive way".

Simply: UKIP gained fans and engaged the ones it already had at a completely unmatched rate.

While the content of UKIP’s messages was heavily criticised, it was able to build widespread furore and attention into momentum with which to push the campaign beyond the apathy surrounding the three major parties (although I think that should be ‘two’ now). UKIP’s passage on social media was not a smooth one, as seen by the hijacking of ill-advised hashtag #whyimvotingUkip but repeatedly the party was able to use opposition to project itself as a viable challenger brand.

It continued its brand-like tactics by using targeted calls to action socially, unlike the other parties, and using bold, largely unsupported statements, in a way traditional political promotion would shy away from.

Way To Blue’s data from 16th to 22nd of May shows how UKIP managed to gain 198,000 mentions socially. I think we can assume many of them were negative, but over 2,000 professed an intention to vote for the party. Meanwhile Labour, who were unlikely to have fielded as many accusations of racism or sexism, managed only 70,000 mentions with only 945 of those suggesting that’s how the user would be voting at the polling box. By this point the Lib Dems had fallen off the map altogether, behind The Green party.

Perhaps most shockingly, as someone who’s seen a not-exactly-warm reaction to UKIP, they weren’t the party to the garner the most negative sentiment, or the least positive sentiment; those dubious honours fell to Labour (47% negative) and the Conservatives (8% positive). The filter bubble effect of social media with regards to Ukip is discussed brilliantly in this article.

It was a bumpy road for UKIP on Twitter, losing the odd MEP to controversial tweets, but the data shows the fervour created managed to balance engaged support against some pretty stinging opposition. Beyond that UKIP were able to be much more brand-led in having a figurehead of Nigel Farage that consistently grabbed headlines in a way the other parties and their leaders failed to. The result mirrored a Europe-wide swing to the anti-EU far-right (and sometimes far-left) that could have implications way beyond any level of electioneering.

Putting aside the content, UKIP’s execution and delivery outshone the other parties, creating compelling content for its audience and projecting a resolute brand. Farage’s promise of a “political earthquake” was delivered wholly on social media and that phrase alone reflects the whole campaign – not particularly reasoned or nuanced, but impactful and attention-grabbing.

Realistically if you can make half an audience love you and half audience hate you you’ll likely end up better off in a popularity contest than the options that no-one particularly feels much towards either way. Or to borrow Dan Wieden's famous phrase - "Move me dude!".

Advertising legend Dan Wieden (of Wieden + Kennedy) discussing his principles of brand communication.

Beyond this one event though the question must now be asked – could social media bring about the end of politics forever seeking the most attractive middle ground instead relying on heavily engaged niche audiences instead? With a hundred years of two-party politics it seems almost unprecedented – but that’s exactly what social brands do.

Friday, May 23, 2014

The Social World Cup: Marketing's Golden Goal.

As we head into Brazil 2014, only a tantalising 19 days away, marketers are already twitching excitedly about the prospect of a huge and highly engaged audience ripe for the picking.

Each of the nations competing has at least one player with a verified account on Twitter, even Iran where Twitter is banned is represented by Hossam Masini. Savvy Social Media Managers may be dreaming of the footballing equivalent of another “Oreo moment” and looking back at past World Cups it’s not hard to imagine where the talking points might come from:

Over his head

Nowhere near his head

Improper use of his head

With more people tuning in to watch the World Cup than the Olympics, Tour De France and the Superbowl (sorry America) combined this World Cup is neatly coinciding with the rise of the 'second screen'. More and more people are watching with a mobile in hand and soaking up the information and reaction on social media as well as making searches based on the events of the game.

Above is how the searches were made during the 2010 world cup final. Largely desktop with the most queries immediately after the final whistle.

Below is how the searches were made during a major Champions League game in 2014. Predominantly mobile, with the most searches made around key moments in the match.

All of this points to an active audience ready to react in real-time to anything truly engaging. Perhaps surprisingly young survey respondents are casting increasingly disapproving glances at ambush tactics in favour of "classier" official sponsorship. Young consumers are increasingly aware of the showboating antics of the some brands and guffaws are turning to weary sighs. On the other hand, through traditional sponsorship, major brands are dominating YouTube with World Cup focussed content racking up millions of views, with the not inconsiderable muscles of Nike and Adidas flexing most successfully. Even the official England team announcement was made on Twitter, a platform that didn't even exist when the likes of Lampard and Gerrard were making their debuts, long since they'd spent a good few years getting in each others' way.

A very Twitter-centric England squad announcement

Samsung is building on the success of its Ellen selfie by giving the entire England team Samsung phones to use, and if league winning teams are anything to go by we won't be seeing an end to the selfie just yet.

Manchester City players, Lescott, Kompany and Hart celebrate Permier League win with a selfie.

Now though celebrity endorsements are an artform all to themselves, as Hart proves advertising anything he can get his capable hands on, user generated content has matured into a pillar of marketing strategy and 9/10s of the world loves a bit of the beautiful game. With 87% of UK Twitter users expecting to watch the World Cup and the hashtag #worldcup already having been used 10 million times it's almost hard to anticipate the scale of World Cup fever the network is going to be crushed under. For fans and marketers alike the excitement is at vuvuzela-pitch but hopefully marketers will have more interesting and intelligent things to say than "OMG" or ":(" following the inevitable penalty shoot out exit.

Whatever happens lets hope we have some worthy world champions, that Wayne Rooney improves on a tally to match me and you - of zero World Cup goals, and that 'soccer' produces something to finally dethrone that imperious Oreo.

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Why Twitch could be Google's best buy

...since Youtube, anyway. Twitch is a massively popular platform for watching live-stream of video games in e-sports tournaments, with some game-playing content creators even making their entire living from ad-generated revenue on their videos. Assuming the WSJ, The Verge and Variety are all on to something Google could be about to make a very important acquisition, for $1 billion (£594 million).

As soon as “video games” were mentioned a large chunk of the mainstream media let out an audible sigh and devoted column inches to the question of – “but why would you want to watch someone else play games?!”. In the same way that Match of the Day starts each week with Gary Lineker asking, – “So Alan, why do people want to watch other people play football?”

Twitch's not unimpressive statistics, taken from their brilliantly informative 2013 report.

As it happens people are watching other people play games – more people are watching Twitch than MTV, ESPN and Breaking Bad.

With 45,000,000 monthly users Twitch is the fourth biggest source of web traffic on the net at peak times in the US, behind only Google, Netflix and Apple. In the process beating Facebook, Valve, Amazon and Hulu. All of these statistics add up to make Twitch a massive character in the theatre of the internet and while it may belong to an audience that's largely misunderstood, it’s by no means small audience.

What’s more they’re highly engaged - the average users watches 106 minutes of video a day, compared to YouTube’s 15 minutes – and they’re obsessive about forming communities and innovating with the whole structure of live-streaming. Beyond that, perhaps most importantly of all, they’re young, with the average age user only at 21 Twitch could feasibly take many of its devotees with it for years to come. Twitch is also breaking out of its box and into increasingly less-niche territory, its native integration with both Xbox One and Playstation 4 means that it will end up in the living rooms of possibly hundreds of millions of people. More homes in the US own games consoles than don’t.

Twitch's audience of high-spending 18-34 year old men (although 1 in 3 users is female) is actually one of the hardest for advertisers to reach as these people are abandoning TV and other platforms where they'd be ripe for traditional advertising.

Twitch is, in short, on a massive roll. It’s the YouTube of live-streaming, a leader in a game of one player, it’s increased exponentially in scale without losing engagement amongst its users. With a healthy degree of cynicism you could argue Google is buying the only even slightly viable competitor to YouTube’s market share. But its scale sees it creak from time to time, its service isn’t necessarily running at optimum and now Google with their blank cheques and fearless innovation can buy, develop and design Twitch’s way to untouchable, monolithic stability.

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Space: The final frontier for advertising.

Can on the moon.

(credit: the verge)

Japanese company Otsuka is sending a drink called ‘sweat’ (Pocari Sweat in full) to the ‘Lake of Death’ on the moon for the value of the public and media attention it will bring.

The plan is to send a payload over 236,000 miles to put a can of powdered sports drink to the moon. There’s an added bonus for the makers of the lander, Astrobiotic Technologies, in the shape of Google’s Lunar X price for successful moon exploration.

In part it’s the scale, expense and popular opposition to the commercialisation of space that’s meant that there hasn’t been much advertising in space prior to this.

The Russian space programme was less perturbed by the idea though, blowing up an inflatable Pepsi can on Mir in 1996, before Israeli milk company Tnuva filmed a whole ad there in 1997.

Russian astronauts inflate their space Pepsi

(credit: capcomespace)

The first ad ever filmed in space. Milk doesn't look too appetising in zero gravity, I'm afraid.

By 2001 the Russians were back at it but with the global stage of the International Space Station; accepting deliveries from Pizza Hut, shortly after slapping their logo on rockets.

Amazingly before all this in 1993 a proposal was made for a 1km squared billboard, on a low orbit above the Earth, that’d be about the same size and visibility as the moon. It was promptly abandoned when it was realised everyone was more than happy with having one actual moon, the fact that night should essentially be dark and that space is pretty packed with things that’d smash into a billboard of that size. Faced with a such a spectacularly bad idea the US government banned space advertising later that year but that was scaled back in 2005 to exclude advertising that wasn’t “obtrusive” such as on the astronaut’s suit. Right now the US is the only country that officially prohibits space advertising.

It may seem a bit of an unnecessary leap for advertising to thrust itself into space, but it might be more likely than it seems at first glance. The modern consumers' life (and let’s be realistic, we’re a long way from stopping consuming) is dominated by marketing, branding and advertising. Even the wonderful, open and seemingly limitless web you’re reading this on is largely supported by ad revenue. If a company stands to represent the experience of the web it could easily be Google, a company that generates more than 90% of its revenue from advertising.

There comes a time when we compromise and innovate, we push messaging into places it hasn’t been before, like the first time a sponsorappeared on a football kit or an ad came through on the radio. Ads are going up into space, bit by bit and in greater numbers – whether it’s a positive democratisation of space technology, or a negative commercialisation of a wondrous frontier we're yet to even graze is a question for the same audience as always, the viewers back on the ground.

For now it’s one not so small step for a drinks can, but one giant leap (good or bad) for advertising.

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Ridiculous Samsung ad sees mobile-augmented footballers save Earth.

#Galaxy11. Yeah, we know, there's 13, but when Landon Donovan arrives who could turn him away?

Korean electronics giant Samsung has gone way beyond the ordinary with its ludicrously scaled battle to save the planet to promote its newest smartphone the Galaxy S5 - racking up half a million views in only a day. There’s a certain charm to the premise, plus its amazingly tenuous attempts to show the S5's key features and the 4 minute spot, ‘The Training’, certainly isn’t short on entertainment value. Also it marks possibly the only time we’ll see Messi and Ronaldo working together, despite a relatively contemptuous glance afterwards.

Under its sci-fi skin it offers some not unlikely world cup scenarios – an English player (Rooney) fails to score a penalty, Casillas gets to play a cup game and Victor Moses appears, inexplicably, but with little impact- in fact the ball actively gets up and walks away from him. More unlikely though is the six armed robot goalkeeper and hopefully the prospect of alien invasion.

If you’re going for the full experience check out to the precursor trailer, setting the scene for ‘The Training’ – aptly named ‘The Beginning’, or even the comprehensive microsite. Personally, despite not having waited all my life for a weird cocktail of Tron, District 9, Portal and football, I’m interested to see where Samsung takes the campaign next. The blockbuster approach from agency, RGA, means it certainly won’t be lost amongst shallow, unadventurous World Cup cash-in ads.

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Why no one buys anything for 9.99 online.

Money is obviously important - and no one wants to overpay - but money isn't the only thing our purchases cost us. Time is a fair bit more important than money to the customer. More than likely we'll spend our money and then get more money, money is in theory infinite (wages aren't though unfortunately). But time - once we start our undeviating shuffle towards death, the moment we're born, the less and less time we have.

Pick one. Are you picking on price or an experience?

The phenomenon of selling a brand on the experience is down to the time lost being a more worthwhile expense than any money could be. It's not new either, there's promises older than me in this list; Apple will improve your time as you'll be compelled to 'Think Different', Nike's urging you to take most the of your time with 'Just Do It' or you could simply take a minute to 'Enjoy Coca Cola'. It's behaviour that's likely to only increase as the next generation is going to amazing lengths to avoid being 'owned by their possessions' and status symbols increasingly relate to experience rather than expense. 'Psychological pricing' such as the old school idea that pricing things at '.99' makes them seems better value is having to adapt the review-powered nature of e-commerce.

In the golden age of advertising the advertiser relied on their reputation to sell an experience - now it falls to dozens of unbiased peer reviews with each product.

(credit: neat-stuff-blog)

These two factors have conspired together as a strange death knell for the humble '.99'. People don't care enough about the penny or nickle they're saving. People aren't sitting there wasting their time adding '.99' into a search for an item they'd happily buy at a penny more or less. People aren't searching with a '.99' price in mind. Searchers are mixing their terms, throwing in product names, specifications and then adding in a round price to make sure they get their results in the region of what they're prepared to spend. Psychological pricing depended on the object being directly in front of the consumer, without millions of competitive items and appreciated from the standpoint of its worth being a deceptively-smaller looking pricepoint. The web offers countless storefronts, full of real-world reviews at a huge range of prices.

This shows the return of ".99" searches against rounded numbers

(credit: social-media.co.uk)

So if you want to sell all your '.99' items, set them to '1.00', surround them with positive reviews and a compelling brand that makes the customers most valuable expenditure, their time, seem justified... and as an added plus you'll make an extra penny.

Monday, May 12, 2014

World Cup Posters: 1930 - 2014

It’s exactly a month until the whistle blows on the world’s biggest sporting tournament in arguably the world’s biggest footballing superpower, Brazil, and understandably a wave of excitement has swept all before it like Yaya Toure in full flow.

(Click to enlarge)

Here we are to celebrate the art of the humble World Cup poster – (we’ve already doffed our hat to the best World Cup Nike ads). As a specialist digital recruitment agency, it’s a challenge any of our creative clients or candidates can appreciate; to create a beautiful artefact for the world audience while representing the nationality of the hosts and the spirit (and brand) of the tournament. It's a nice stroll through the history of design in the period too, with its Art Deco start, through the odd Saul Bass-looking poster into some beautiful Swiss design influenced masterpieces. Then into the 1990's urge to use every colour all at once, with as little order as possible, before finishing on the friendly, simplistic designs of the present day.

We’re big fans of England 1966, somewhat inevitably, the halftone treatment of Argentina 1978 and Chile 1962's minimalist but ominous football moon. Mexico repeatedly deserve some credit for abandoning every principle, first the brown ball and then words all together, but it’s a shame 2002 onwards are following more and more of a formula.

Which is your favourite?

Friday, May 09, 2014

Apple + Beats: Buying headphones or buying 'cool'?

(credit: idownload)

The world’s most valuable technology company is apparently set to finally spend some of its not inconsiderable war-chest on making a major acquisition – the sort of thing that Facebook and Google do every other week. In its sights is headphone super-brand Beats, for a cool $3.2 billion (£1.9 billion).

Created by Jimmy Iovine and Dr Dre, who is doing his best to make sure no-one has ‘forgot about Dre’, the headphone brand has gone from strength to strength.

The proposed buy has been met with some fervent support and some stiff opposition, so here’s a brief rundown of what Apple stands to gain or lose:

Apple’s buying ‘cool’ – While there’s no doubt Apple’s star still shines brightly, it’s definitely lost a bit of its glow to the younger generation. This is partly down to a perceived lack-of-innovation and partly down to the fact an emotive challenger brand has become a stable, dominant industry leader.

Many have claimed Apple buying Beats equates to Apple to buying some ‘cool’ back. That sounds a bit desperate for an incomparably large tech-giant and it’s hard to know exactly how Apple would cash in on that ‘cool’. That’s ignoring it’s pretty uncool in itself to need to buy cool. Even so if Apple can come out of that relatively unscathed they’ll own one of the world’s most prominent audio brands at the moment, with the opportunity to incorporate the attractiveness of Beats into Apple’s own offering wherever they like. Free Beats headphones with iPhones for example could become something that Samsung and HTC find impossible to match.

Beats is one of the most celebrity led brands on the planet. Here's Lil Wayne.

(credit: hiphopwired)

Apple’s buying audio credibility (if not quality) – Beats certainly come with credibility, I’m sure it wouldn’t be too hard to argue Dr Dre knows a bit more about music than Tim Cook. But the critics aren’t actually all that fond of Beats either, with them being regarded as heavily over-priced for how good they really sound. Not to mention accusation on it being reliant on style over substance. Some commentators are claiming with Apple’s past reputation for striving for the best of everything in hardware that buying Beats doesn’t represent a quality-led acquisition. Nevertheless they’re much better than Apple’s current headphones which represent one of Apple’s most common sticking points in the consumer markets – but it’s a $3bn spend on a technology Apple already fundamentally has.

Dr Dre's tagline for the Beats campaign

Apple’s getting a leading streaming service – Beats has a streaming service, Beats Music, it’s not the best or the biggest, but its successful and unlike many others it’s paid subscription only and so far people have been willing to pay $10 a month for the service. Apple on the other hand has seen its iTunes market greatly eroded by streaming services, something iTunes Radio (their one year old streaming offering) has been unable to compete with. Realistically though, if Apple were desperately after a streaming service then Spotify, Rdio or Pandora would be much better buys, so that suggests the Cupertino company are at least partly interested in Beats hardware and brand equity.

Beats Music features personalised playlist and majors on attractive design.

(credit: engadget)

What Apple’s really getting – All of those things, but not without drawbacks.

All in all despite it being Apple and Beats, two brands known for their showstopping drama, it’s a bit of a safe buy. Just how wrong can it go? It’s a solid brand with a solid product with a bonus streaming service. There’s nothing there Apple doesn’t want, but nothing that’s going to fundamentally change the landscape of consumer tech. It's neither marketing victory, nor marketing disaster.

The can of worms that’s potentially being opened though is – are Beats headphones without an Apple logo cooler than those with an apple logo? Does it matter if they are.

With all the money in the world Apple is going out and buying something it largely has, with a not outstanding reputation of quality or innovation. From my perspective this acquisition is all very ‘new’ Apple, not ‘old’ Apple – safe, rational and loosely uninspiring – but with the potential to masquerade as the opposite. The fact that we're talking about Apple buying someone who just makes headphones, rather than Apple's latest jaw-dropping innovation says more than almost any acquisition could.

Wednesday, May 07, 2014

The Robots: Taking your job, taking your girlfriend.

Despite looking like a young Robocop, this guy just plays ping pong. "You have 40 seconds to serve".

It’s been revealed in a report that 1 in 3 Britons fears that a robot will be taking their job in the near future. Jobs that are dull, dangerous or dirty look set for robot overhaul, with our metallic friends more than able to pick up simple routines in defined structures. However anything more complicated than picking up one thing in one place, following one route and putting it down in another unchanging place is likely to flummox a robot. Even ironing is beyond them.

Other headline stats - 39% of Britons fear that robots pose a definite threat to humanity, while 17% of people are willing to have sex with a robot. We hope they’re not the same, very confused, people. Another recent report suggests 702 currently human jobs are in danger of becoming robot territory.

It’s an interesting question to ponder for our specific digital sector as the work in PPC and SEO exists entirely in the digital space, which oddly means the nuances and human strategy takes it far away from something easily-automated like factory work. In terms of SEO though are we already working for an inorganic algorithm? Does programmatic buying add up to robots doing PPC?

Robots are already making a better job of saving lives (in hospitals) and taking lives (on the battlefield) so it’s not surprising to hear that they might be taking up the reins of many things in between.

If about 50 years of Hollywood hasn’t convinced you robots might not be fantastic, even Stephen Hawking is chipping in now. The true tipping point may come when it’s cheaper to build a robot than employ a person on minimum wage, as whether it’s robots or humans in charge capitalism is likely to win out.

This robot is fantastic at making Japanese pancakes.

Martin Smith, Professor of Robotics at University of Middlesex offered a calming voice though, saying “While many of us worry about the role of technology and machines in modern society, robots are increasingly being developed for important roles that will help protect and improve our lives.

"Though many fear their jobs will be taken over by machines, it is more likely that robots will be used as assistants, and the future workforce could have the benefit of avoiding hazardous and repetitive tasks rather than suffer mass redundancies.”

Could this robot do your job?

Tuesday, May 06, 2014

The tightening of wages – when performance matters more than ever.

Cold winds of change: CEO pay freeze in the financial district.

(credit: Royal Mint Gardens)

Salaries across major business are undergoing significant changes, as performance becomes a greater guarantee of financial reward than the job titles themselves.

In the wake of the financial crisis the worth and contribution of any individual is more under question than ever, as society finds a new, deeper distrust for established, opaque hierarchies. A movement of accountability and transparency has taken hold, set against a back drop of financial turmoil and shareholder mistrust.

In short, more than ever, everyone wants to be sure you’re not getting paid for what you’re not doing. From this though evolves an opportunity, where people who excel have the potential to greatly improve their standard earnings through bonus structures.

Within the elite FTSE companies 25% have seen their CEO’s pay frozen. More tellingly 70% of new CEO appointments are internal, and on average they’re taking in 13% less than their predecessor. As these are often the key markers in economic change it’s no surprise to see the pattern repeated in Chrysalis’ own sectors – Chris Crawford, Managing Director states:

“We’ve noticed a rise in packages that include a bonus; increasingly candidates are slightly lowering salary expectations while understanding through strong performance they can increase the financial rewards. It’s a valuable system that rewards achievement, while still providing the incentive for any employee to continue to progress.”

Handling major accounts for blue-chip clients at global agencies or client-side at noteworthy companies it’s inevitable that digital sector workers face the same enhanced emphasis on their output and are rewarded accordingly.

It leaves us here at Chrysalis with one thought – you’ve more chance to define your worth than ever.

Friday, May 02, 2014

Disney can make a speaker out of anything with 3D printing.

Disney, of cartoon mouse fame, has created a 3D printing technology with the capability of turning any object into one capable of emitting sound. While they’re not an obvious tech titan, Disney, actually has a fearlessly innovative R&D division, that’s tasked with creating their trademark magical experiences. Previously they've turned a fairly unremarkable plant into a working touch interface and even a musical instrument.

A 3D printed speaker capable of producing sound without any magnets

As well creating audible sound, the speakers will be capable of producing ultrasound, inaubidle to humans but useful in the tracking of objects, making each individual object potentially part of a grander scheme of communicating local objects.

Ultrasonic range-finding in action, even if the mouse looks quite apprehensive about it.

What it means for consumer electronics is the potential for any object to be able to deliver audio reports, warnings or just sounds that enhance the experience. From the freezer door that can remind you to shut it to the electrode coated room of true-to-life sound, in moving beyond standard speakers, we’re prepared for a world of sound from every direction and every surface. Or more than likely a Mickey Mouse, that's more lifelike and 'magical' than ever.

For a full-on technical description, here's extremetech's explanation:

"The secret sauce in this breakthrough is Disney Research’s use of electrostatic speakers. Conventional speakers (in your headphones or subwoofer) use electromagnetism to move a magnet back and forth, hitting the air around it, creating sound waves (pressure waves) that your ears register as sounds. Electrostatic speakers on the other hand have no moving parts — there’s a thin, conductive diaphragm (nickel in this case) and an electrode plate, separated by a small amount of air. When current is applied to the electrode, electrostatic force deforms the diaphragm, causing it to vibrate and create sound waves.

In the case of Disney Research’s 3D speakers, the researchers use a 3D printer to create the object, and then spray on a nickel-based paint on the areas that should emit sound. The diaphragm is produced separately (also with a 3D printer) and sprayed with the same paint. By using multiple electrodes, it’s possible to control different regions of the 3D-printed object/speaker independently, too (so, it might emit different sounds from different regions). Depending on the shape of the active region, the sound might be directional (conical) or omnidirectional (spherical). The completed device is then assembled. In the future, when 3D printers can lay down multiple materials (including conductive materials), these manual steps could be omitted and the whole thing could be made in one shot."

Thursday, May 01, 2014

Oslo's Winter Olympics 2022 bid leads with beautiful design.

With bidding for the 2022 Winter Olympics hotting up Oslo has offered a very attractive visual identity for the event.

Delivered by agency, Snohetta, they described their mission:

The world’s largest event for winter sports meets Nordic Simplicity.

In 2014, Snøhetta was commissioned to design the visual identity and feasibility study for Oslo 2022’s Applicant City bid. The identity of Oslo 2022’s visual language honors the inherent simplicity and openness in Nordic culture. By balancing playful graphics and strict geometry, the identity represents both the celebration of the Games and the solid planning of the Norwegian bid. The ambition for Oslo’s 2022 Winter Olympics bid is to share the genuine passion for winter sports, and invite the world to an open, friendly and sustainable celebration of sports.

We love the mix of rigid geometry, stark photography and playfully inviting type, while such a versatile identity is sure to lend itself well to digital and animated applications.
The only question mark is against the pictograms which might leave the odd, rushed, visitor scratching their head, muttering "are we absolutely sure that's a bobsleigh?!"

Certainly Oslo is winning what's turning out to be mostly disappointingly battle of the logos between the bidding nations.

With the sensory overload of Sochi and the samba feel of Brazil's World Cup and Olympics bids, it's good to see a bit of Scandinavian design flair back on the radar and Oslo 2022 gets our vote.