Monday 25 July 2011

home

Depending on your viewpoint you might see East London as the home of pretentious skinny jeaned uniform individuals, you might see East London as the place that's really happening right now and the modern centre of London. You might even be confused, wondering why you get such a bemused look when trying to get a bacon sandwich, perhaps that's just me.

I'd like to share with you another view; East London as the home of innovative ideas and digital marketing.

What I'm saying here isn't really anything new, just a confirmation of the trend for great agencies moving eastward. From an outsiders point of view it could be as much to do with rent as it is to do with any kind of collaborative thinking.

I attended a couple of events at the Cannt festival and felt like there was a great community spirit here, I didn't learn a lot but it felt like it was the start of something. There's was also recently the Digital Shoreditch festival which did alot to show the regions serious business credentials. When the Sun calls Shoreditch the Silicon Roundabout you need to stand up and take notice .

Plus the list of forward thinking agencies here is growing all the time.

Poke
Albion
Creature
Syzygy
Skive
Mother
Anomaly 

Next time somebody lays in to the area it's worth a thought.




Wednesday 20 July 2011

Wetsuit


I think this is a real show stopper of a campaign so thought I’d share it with you. Sony tasked Anomaly with engaging fans of The Vaccines and ensuring as many of them bought the bands new album as possible (not sure they need that much help)

Anomaly responded with a campaign which encouraged users to take instagram photos of the band at festivals and upload them via Twitter. The best ones were then edited to make the bands official music video.

The campaigns interesting as it joins up various social media, makes the fans feel part of something and as the first crowd sourced video via instagram is a great piece of PR for the agency. Click the link for a gander


 

Tuesday 19 July 2011

Heresy

I'm not really the type who does blog posts to hype friends regardless of talent.

I'm sorry but if you saved my life or gave me your virginity I still won't plug your T-Shirt line/club night/obscure spoken word event if I don't rate it personally. I like to think unlike some cough (#hackgate) I have some journalistic integrity.

I have no dilemma though pointing you in the direction of Heretics a T-shirt label co-created by a good friend of mine.
What I like about the label is that each piece tells a story, the designs are simple, striking and iconic without being cliched. The website also looks pretty dope.

Look out for big things from them. Click for blog







Worth it

I felt like I hadn't been absorbing all that much culture recently which is kind of against the point of living in London. It's one of the many reason I put up with exorbitant rent, being stuck next to obese, sweaty mofos on the tube on a too regular basis and the general lack of banter in the south (I love you really LDN). I was checking through my phone yesterday and realised I had.

See below for some of the best art I've seen recently.









Wednesday 6 July 2011

Now and then

I think you might have heard me wax lyrical about the Kings Road before.

It's a nice escape from the East End and an awesome spot for people watching (although you will spot more collagen than anywhere else in London.)

I find it fascinating how fashionable neighbourhoods change over time. In the 'Swingin' 60s and the 70's it was all about being spotted on the Kings road or in Soho, now not so much.

Whilst checking out the Saatchi gallery I got talking to a chap (there's no other word for him) who was holding a competition to compare the fashions of yesteryear on the Kings road to today's. Exactly my kind of competition. View the results or enter for yourself here

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