So you reckon you can run as fast as an Olympic Marathon runner do you?

Well after watching this you might think again. For the 2011 New York Marathon people in New York were given the chance to see if they could keep up with Olympic Athlete Ryan Hall over just 60ft.

How on earth does someone keep this pace up for over 2hrs?

My good friend Henry Iddon has been a busy boy of late, he’s been photographing across the globe from the wilds of Kendal, Mont Blanc in France, Iran all the way to China covering an incredible diverse range of subjects. He’s created a great portfolio of work which can be seen over at henryiddon.com.

He’s a multi talented chap is our Henry, he has been a member of the Great Britain Speed Skiing Team (pb 176kmh), has been involved in mountaineering exploits in Europe, Asia and Alaska, and has had success at an elite level as a racing cyclist.

He’s a thoroughly all round good bloke as well.

His personal work is held in collections by ; Kraszna-Krausz Collection, National Media Museum, UK; The North West Film Archive, Manchester Metropolitan University; Scottish National Screen Archive; George Eastman House, Rochester, USA; State Library of New South Wales, Australia; Banff Centre for Mountain Culture, Canada; Centre for Contemporary Photography, University of Arizona, USA.

Great digital evolution of the humble car brochure. Executed as an app (for iPhone and Android) that recognises traffic signs and transforms them into features of the new Punto Evo.

Take a picture of a regular road sign and the app recognises the sign if it was a QR code, it then associates each sign with a feature of the car directly related to that sign. The app also doubled up as a game where the user could find and win hidden prizes.

If you can get over the really cheesy voiceover it’s a nice idea!

A very nice infographic to start the week off!

I have discussed the rise of mobile platforms before on this blog (A mobile future) and this infographic takes a look at all the major digital networks and their current mobile user base. View more from JESS3 the original creators.

I have been researching mobile platform penetration for a couple of projects and pitches I have recently been working on. This also forms part of a series of future thought pieces I am creating concerning the development of the online experience that is evolving beyond the notion of a web site or single destination to include multiple touchpoints.

Here’s a couple of interesting points I have recently found:
• According to eMarketer the tablet market will grow 400% by 2012
• Mobile internet devices out sold computers in 2009 by 144 million units*
• It is predicted by 2012 more smartphones will be shipped than PC’s
• There are around 650 million 3G/3.5G subscribers worldwide**
• By 2013, people using their mobile device to search the Internet will overtake desktop Internet users for the first time

What does this mean?

Well, as consumers continue to expand their media consumption across a variety of devices and platforms marketers and advertisers will need to rethink measurement approaches and marketing strategies in order to engage with different audiences and deliver on their needs and behaviours.

* Source: Gartner, Jan 2010. Information week Dec 2009.
** Source: ChinaCCM.com

Alex Bogusky one of the world’s most awarded creative directors surprised many when he quit what he called, “the best job on the planet,” at his own agency CP+B to create his latest venture The Fearless Revolution.

This new venture sets out to explore new agreement between consumers and corporations.

A nice film exploring the principles behind the The Fearless Revolution and who wouldn’t want to go to work at the Fearless Cottage – great name!

Recently I’ve blogged a lot more about mobile devices, software, apps and in particular gesture driven technology and interfaces.

I am a fully signed up fan, champion and user of these devices and spend more time than is healthy researching and future thinking how all of these converging technologies and platforms will change what we currently perceive as digital.

All major hardware and software companies are now developing for mobile devices and the market is expanding at an incredible rate. You obviously have Apple with the iPad and Samsung with the Galaxy but both Blackberry and Microsoft are now taking serious considered steps into the tablet arena, and we know how much market share these brands currently enjoy.

MIcrosoft partnering with Samsung have developed the Surface technology into a very powerful platform. Microsoft also recently signed a deal with ARM and demonstrated it’s Windows OS running on ARM mobile chips.

Apple are taking the best elements of their iPhone and iPad OS and interface and integrating them into their latest Mac OS X Lion operating system. We also know how copied Apple are so expect other brands to follow (cue Microsoft).

There are lots of developments behind the scenes too, the likes of Google with the development and merger of AdWords and Analytics, Apple also introduced the iAd platform and with these developments brands will find more clever and innovative ways of connecting to audiences and consumers.

So what does this mean for the end user?

Well if you couple the above (which is only scratching at the surface of what’s happening) with the advances in browser standards, HTML 5, WOFF, JS, etc then websites will go through a huge change in the next 2-5 years. This will be prompted both by technology advancement and user experience and behaviour patterns.

Make no mistake this is already happening! The debate on Web ‘v’ Internet currently rages.
Get ready, the future of digital is changing right before your eyes.

Post Digital? – Rubbish.

Great Interactive bus shelters throughout San Francisco invite commuters to partake in four games based on Yahoo! mobile apps, as part of a neighborhood-on-neighborhood competition. The neighborhood that scores the most points at its shelter wins a block party with OK Go!.

Really nice campaign. People have really taken to gesture driven interfaces and devices (think iPhone, Android, iPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab etc) and mainstream acceptance means the possibilities for great interactive campaigns are almost limitless.

This is the book that I am currently working my way through at the moment. Ever since I attended Click London last year I have made it a goal to be more aware of what is happening in the advertising world and to follow the biggest transformation in it’s history.

There are a huge number of blogs, press articles, industry talks etc discussing and debating the demise of the traditional ad agency, the role of the traditional creative director and whether or not creative teams are the way future. I have no answers but I know working in digital for the past 12 years that now is one of the most challenging and exciting times within our industry.

Consumers are now infinitely more savvy, networked, social, and importantly more vocal and critical than ever before. We’re all having to work harder to make our campaigns memorable, persuasive and relevant.

Sometimes my head hurts just trying to keep up with everything these days!

Still not convinced that social media can add value to your brand or business?
Well listen up people social media is F**cking huge! .

This is no passing fad, social media is here. It’s global, it’s mainstream, it’s influential, it’s uptake over the past two years is frightening. Frankly some of the stats in this presentation are mind boggling.

We’re all a bunch of miserable sods apparently!

Especially those of us that live in London if you’re to believe everything to read. No time for casual chit chat, rush, rush, rush, not even time for a cordial hello and a smile anymore.

Well VW have decided to inject a little bit of harmless playful fun into our lives, nice.

Even though it’s been around for a while The Fun Theory this is still my favourite campaign at the moment. A deserved winner at the Cannes Cyber Lions by DDB Stockholm, Sweden.

It’s one of those pieces of work that just brings out an inner smile, a whisper to a colleague of “oh very nice” and an envious thought of “oh I wish I’d thought of that”

A great example of a campaign that utilizes the digital platform perfectly. It’s not a digital solution, or a digital execution, just a campaign that integrates digital platforms and technologies perfectly.

It looks like they’ve continued the fun here to with their Fast Lane!

This post has got me thinking about other campaigns that use digital in innovative ways and I will post up my favourites. One of those is the now famous Nike Chalkbot that sprayed tweets onto stages of the Tour de France.