19.01.2010 by Zoltan

Superbowl goes social via the Pepsi Refresh Project

Really interesting Pepsi initiative called the Pepsi Refresh Project. Not a new idea, but the sheer scale of it should turn more than a few heads. Not to mention the fact that they’ve redirected their entire Superbowl spend to this ’social media’ idea.

Is this the beginning of the end for adland’s biggest institution? Will be interesting to see how it shakes out and whether or not it lives up to the rhetoric of making the world a better place? Thoughts anyone?

via digital buzz blog

18.01.2010 by Zoltan

Creative Handbook goes free(mium)

In a somewhat unusual move, CR has just waived the annual fee for the Creative Handbook. Any and all flavours of creative can now use the site gratis as a proxy-folio, presumably with the hope that a fair portion renew their membership come the following year after.

I guess that gives you a year to see the value (or lack thereof). Either way, the barriers to entry have been removed, and you’d be nuts to let it slip.

via CR Blog

29.06.2009 by Zoltan

100 fans on facebook!

I have a favour to ask everyone – please go to facebook and become a fan of boredomisyourfault so i can land-grab the username. I have 78 at the moment but facebook’s terms state that you need a minimum of 100 fans to get the facebook.com/username URL.

C’mon, it won’t take a sec…

16.06.2009 by Zoltan

facebook.com/yourname

If you haven’t already heard, Facebook has just released vanity URLs. They’re up for grabs now. Hit me up here facebook.com/zoltan.csaki, and make sure you grab yours before someone else does…

03.06.2009 by Zoltan

Laptop Friendly Cafes

Craig Barber has just launched a new service titled Laptop Friendly Cafes, which is quite simply “a website that lists great local spots to set up shop with your laptop”.

A good idea for sure, kinda like SF-Bay culture for the rest of the planet :)

I am however a little underwhelmed by the content. Not the list of cafes themselves, but what is (not) said about them. As they stand, the reviews are very functional.

But if I am going to use this site repeatedly, I want to know things about the cafe:
- What is the coffee like?
- Whether or not I can sit all day like a major tight-arse on 1 one coffee?
- Or if they have a 1-drink-an-hour policy?
- What’s the music like?
- Are the staff surly and aggressive or tree-hugging hippies?

IMHO this is the type of content that will make the site a success and make me want to come back again and again.

11.05.2009 by Zoltan

The true value of twitter

Super interesting article over on Contagious that the true value of twitter is actually as an immediacy search engine? Think google in real-time. Yep, the penny drops and you realise why they turned down half a bazillion.

“$500m seems like small fry when you may have accidentally stumbled on the latest evolution of a cash cow as gigantic as search marketing.”

Anyway some clever lad has created a firefox plugin that puts Twitter results directly into the google results page. Its the dog’s bollocks, trust me. It fundamentally changed search for me. Go on, give it a whirl

via contagious

11.05.2009 by Zoltan

Best time to email

“The best time to send out an email campaign is between 2-3pm PST on Wednesday. People are most likely to open your mail mid-week, while at work, on a full stomach.”

Has anyone else found the same thing to be true? And if so, surely there is a little widget somewhere that would allow you to cue up emails based on territory to spam out at this most auspicious time? Anyone know what it is?

via hollrr

02.03.2009 by Zoltan

You Should’ve Seen This

This has to be one of those “I can’t believe no-one thought of this before” ideas – just a simple one-page site, lacking any pretence of graphic design, outlining the top viral phenomena since the birth of our beloved interweb. Check it out You Should Have Seen This.

I will always have a soft-spot for #68 “Aussie Party” :)

03.02.2009 by Zoltan

Digital Kit Kat

The First World Wide Web Site Where Nothing Happens

I love the extended loading screen. You’re waiting and waiting and thinking something ‘amazing’ is going to happen, and then… Nothing! Brilliantly simple execution of the tagline “Have a break, Have a Kit Kat”

via adverblog

17.10.2008 by Zoltan

Pastures old for yours truly…

Its been just over 2 years since I joined de-construct London back in the heady summer of 2006. Remember, the only decent summer in northern europe this century? At the start of this year I was given the opportunity to creatively lead and help startup de-construct’s Amsterdam office.

The experience has been fantastic, and I have learnt so much about the ‘business’ of advertising but after 8 months I’ve decided that this city is just not for me.

So it’s back to Ol’ Blighty for me as of next Monday. I am extremely fortunate to be taking up the position of Associate Creative Director of R/GA London. They are doing work that is quite simply unlike any other agency I’ve ever met and I’ll be working on some amazing clients. The combination of (relative) youth and raw desire in the management team was too-good to refuse. Well, that and the fact that they walk away from well paying jobs when the client wants to dilute the idea beyond recognition. These are the type of people everyone should work for, but not many do…

07.09.2008 by Zoltan

If we cannot play, we cannot begin to be fully human

In March I wrote about the launch of Analog Folk, and the seemingly unbelievable situation of a new agency – with digital at its core – not having their (excellent) content embed-able.

At the time it seemed to me a gross oversight, so I’m happy to report that Ed Ling, from Analog Folk, has just written to say that they’ve updated the functionality. Sorry Ed, but you could’ve done a bit more with the graphic design.

Anyway here it is. Sit back and enjoy Matt Dyke’s insights on gaming and the rediscovery of analog play. He charts the evolution of game-play from the button mashing of the 80’s and 90’s through Xbox Live and the connection of real humans, past the Wii and into the future of biofeedback and the thought-interface.

02.09.2008 by Zoltan

Everything Matters wins the FWA

Warning! More shameless self-promotion… 2 days after it launched and Everything Matters has already won the FWA! That’s gotta be a record turnaround!

UPDATE! Everything Matters makes the front page of Creativity Online as the Interactive Pick of the Day 05.09.2008

30.08.2008 by Zoltan

Everything Matters by Panasonic

Warning! Shameless self-promotion!

Everything Matters is much more than a consumer-facing website. It is the entire comms platform for Panasonic Europe through to 2010. At its most basic Everything Matters is a content portal or hub, created to be a central repository for the various amazing brand stories that Panasonic has to tell, but has yet to do so.

The content was conceptualised to be varied in both form and depth – sitting somewhere between a print ad and a website. In other words, some information but with the visceral impact and simplicity of a print ad, aided where possible by interactivity.

Both in style and approach, it is a radical departure for Panasonic. There is very little product detail on the site and the soft gradients on white were dispensed with for a more tactile and human art direction. Major battles that we fought very hard to win.

Created by de-construct.

30.08.2008 by Zoltan

Global Rich List

It might be about 5 years old now, but the Global Rich List is one of those ideas that just gets better with age – aided by the unfortunate growth in the rich/poor divide.

But what makes this such a brilliant piece of communication is the irony inherent in the mechanic. It makes you feel both good (rich) and bad (selfish) by ranking you against everyone else on the entire planet. And it is this duality that compels action. A very clever way to cut through the constant pressure of “keeping up with the Joneses” and highlight what a little change from your pocket could do for the world’s poorest.

An almost perfect gem from Poke London.

12.07.2008 by Zoltan

Converse diaspora

Converse has just unleashed a myriad of puzzling and irreverent urls. Get the overview here.

For example, Out of your league girl teaches the hapless about everything from being creepy, to confidence, motivation and passion. Then there’s the trials of Silky Steve and his very English dreams of becoming a superstar US basketballer.

But the most interesting idea by far is the spelling bee, where you get given a word and then have to google it and then click on an adsense ad to get to the next round. I wish it would work for me, but the doesn’t :( I guess because i’m not in the USA? If anyone is, then I’d love to know more about how it works.

I can only assume it was done by their agency, Butler Shine Stern and Partners.
via leigh.