Tag: Website

So you've heard about Air Guitar competitions, where zany people pretend to be guitar heroes jumping around in tight pants, with a pretend guitar in their hands? Well Durex have jumped on this strange phenomenon (I never quite got it...) in the name of safe sex with their Air Sex competition running in the month of November in France. The competition is based on the notion that 'those situations that appear the least risky could hold the most risk... ' hence the Air Sex. The competition encourages young people to submit video's of their personal rendition of Air Sex, with condom. The public are invited to submit their votes for their favourite Air Sex video, for each vote submitted, one durex condom is given to a charity. The winning video will be broadcast on television, on World Aids day in France. Great initiative around a subject that does not get enough airplay. 

I've been teaching in a high school in Europe for a few months now, I was recently asked by a colleague to come in and speak to her class about tourism in South Africa. The idea is that the students would be inspired by my talk and then create their own projects as imaginary visitors to the country, each describing their journey. It's not far off from South African Tourism's  recently launched initiative that invites YouTube (and others) users to put together an advert for the country, expressing their 'craziest' impressions of the place. This should make for a fun project, as some of the questions I get asked about South Africa reveal just how blurry and mysterious our continent and people are to the rest of the world. The video's are then posted on their YouTube channel for the next three months and the ones that get the most hits win an all-expenses paid holiday to South Africa. Nice thinking SATourism, exposing the cliches and stereotypes of our country (wonder if anyone will make a video not staring a lion, hungry looking kids or thorntrees) while trying out a great experiment in talking directly to your audience through social media. Read all about the competition here on TravelWires , see the YouTube channel here or simply enter here .  We invite you to get creative and inspire you with our photo from DVDMerwe of 'Ronnie's Sex Shop ' on Route 62 in the Cape. 

This is our (ongoing) list of some of our favourite online creative magazines, all of which are free for your downloading pleasure - please feel free to submit any we don't/should know/have forgotten about to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and read all the way to number 10, it's worth it. PS: Please note the copyright laws on ALL the e-mags below - they're working hard to bring you outstanding creativity and content, please respect this by not reproducing their work in any way or form without their permission in writing:

 

1.We'll kick off with Studio83 , a fresh and fun e-mag lovingly put together by the starshaking Johannesburg-born creative designer George Gladwin Matsheke. You can download the latest edition "Modern Man" for mahala ('free' in South African lingo) on the site as well as all previous editions... enjoy.

What do you do when you're a brand like Nike Jordan that has so many loyal (obsessive?) fans that you can't do anything wrong? How do you further engage your superbrandfans and increase their desire to continue to be a part of your inner-circle clan, keeping them interested and letting them know that you feel them and appreciate their support? It's simple, raise the bar and create an exclusive VVIP experience for those extra special fans that can never get enough. Pull them into your ranks and give them the brand advocacy 'influencer' stamp of approval and let them feel special. The Nike Jordan Flight club was launched in November 2007, as explained 

It's an inspired idea combining Urban Music, Blogging and Sports: instead of getting another sports talking head to waffle on in changeroom style, persuade one of the world's hottest MC's (aka Rappers for those old folks who don't own a TV) to do the job instead. Good Work ESPN magazine on bringing Lil Wayne into your ranks , not only will you break down stereotypes when readers see how much Lil Wayne loves Tennis, but you'll also draw a fresh new readership to your magazine who probably would never had clicked your way...or maybe? We say again, Inspired. Word out. 

The Saatchi online gallery has initiated an innovative democratic art appreciation project online, where signed-up members of their virtual gallery can submit their artwork for a weekly 'public voting' competition. The public are invited to appraise the uploaded artworks and choose those that they love the most by rating their aesthetic appeal from 1 to 10. At the end of each voting week, the two artworks with the highest votes are announced - the public then get another week to vote for the winner of the two most popular pieces. A total of 12 rounds will roll out over the next few months, soliciting 12 overall finalists, until the big bad final Showdown when the most popular of the 12 will be voted for, again, by the public. Our only criticism is the prize money, a paltry 1000 pounds for the winner and 750 for the runner up. We've seen bigger prizes given out at a country fair. Come on Saatchi, surely all the effort, promotion and click traffic is worth a lot more than that? We challenge you!  Read more about the initiative from Saatchi online below:

Members of the JOVAcommunity will know all about papertoys and flatpack toys from JOVAreport edition 001, here's a fine twist on the concept - doodle box toys.... German website box doodle project has some simple rules: rearrange a box to make any kind of figure or object, and make the most of 'the least'... doodle away in other words, and create a character. Go an do a bit of online doodling for practice first . 

We've recently been (re)learning all about colour hues and saturation, not being overly confident in our artistic or rather drawing/sketching/designing abilities, we were delighted to discover a hidden talent thanks to the FM 100 Hue Test: Hue allignment. Yes, we're officially super skilled in alligning colour chips according to their hue which means our colour IQ is HIGH! Or low... If you have no idea of what we're talking about, see if you can beat our first timer score of 4, Test Your Colour IQ at FM 100 Hue Test .

Whilst reading up some background info on KK (see below) we were directed to Long Bets, basically an online portal where members of the public are invited to place their bets or predictions about our future or... on the future. A few hard rules: one, betters have to use their real name, two, a bet cannot be changed and three, all winnings become philanthropic gifts:The Long Bets site is ..an arena for competitive, accountable predictions (Long Bets)...a forum for focused discussion and debate about prediction...an attractive tool for philanthropic giving...a way to foster better long-term thinking.

 

 

We're loving reading KK.org, put together by Kevin Kelly - one of the founders of Wired magazine. Amongst many other accolades Kevin is  a respected 'futurist' or rather a 'long-term thinker' with a highly curious mind - lucky for us, he gathers all his findings and thoughts on KK for us to lap up.  KK.org is worth a good long read and click through,we're particularly entertained by the 'StreetUse' section which features: the ways in which people modify and re-create technology....[such as]  a collection of personal modifications, folk innovations, street customization, ad hoc alterations, wear-patterns, home-made versions and indigenous ingenuity. In short -- stuff as it is actually used, and not how its creators planned on it being used.

Wherever I go in my new French-speaking hometown, I get asked to speak English with people I meet, all chomping at the bit to parler. I don't try to avoid it because I'm lazy, in fact the effort is well worth the cute French accents in English, it's more because I know inevitably there will be a grammar question posed and I certainly don't have all the answers. Thing is, the way we learnt English at school was a lot more intuitive and oral, moving sadistically on to Shakespeare directly after Meg the Hen. But seriously, I don't know my mother tongue in formulas and rules and despite having done a TEFL course some years ago, it's always an awkward moment when a tricky question comes up. Enter the wonderful GrammarGirl , everyone's favourite online English grammar resource... the 'Quick and Dirty' way of learning all about our dear old language's intricacies. Most grateful! Don't be tardy now, just look it up! Now if only they'd create a similar site for The Meaning of Life.

We love this concept - a website that keeps track of everything that's going on for free in the 'expensive' city of London. Just think about it, at any time in most cities there is SO MUCH going on that the public don't have to pay for to enjoy, but somehow we never know where to find it all... The London is free website solves this dilemma, it gathers all the free/no-entry goings-on around London and puts them in a central shpot for punters to lap up - mahala. The site features a diverse range of entertainment, from TV show audience requests, to free music festivals and famous people aka shlebs singing and signing in stores. Yip, London can be free. 

Power to the people! By now you've gathered our focus is on Belgium for a while. A quick French lesson in homophones and a bit of History before we explain this superb social project "No future without 100 ideas": 100 in French is CENT, the word 'Without' is SANS - both of them are pronouned in the same way kind of like SARN with a nearly silent R and soft N. Belgium is made up of 3 ethnic/linguistic areas - Flandres, made up of Flemish speakers (similar to Afrikaans), Wallonie, which is full of French-speaking citizens, Brussels, which is both languages and the centre of the European union, so very diverse with a lot of business in English, and then in the far West of the country is a little Germanic area which tags onto Wallonie.The country is tiny. The population is just over 10 million. Peanuts. And yet, the people are divided. Simply put, some people (and politicians!) want Belgium to split and for the French half to go to France, the Flemish part to the Netherlands and for Brussels to become it's own state like Luxembourg. Many people are devastated by this thought and

 

The cheesy and wobbly "Together" soundtrack suggests it's been thrown together quickly - it's a pity as it weakens the desired 'pull factor' needed for the potency of the message, but it's great to see a selection of famous faces standing up for one people, one continent. We're just wondering where the diversity is. Ma Lilian Dube brings in some OOMPH, she certainly has the strongest most believable presence and Lira the best singing voice... and is that Louise Carver we hear and see shakily representin' in the background? Nevertheless, we need all hands on deck, so good on Leo Burnett, SABC and Mind Fox for moving fast. "Anti-Xenophobia, Dr. Khumalo, Lillian Dube, Lira, Pabi Moloi, Nthati Moshesh, Zonke, Louise Carver, Timothy Maurice Webster,Lebo Motsoeli,Sophie Ndaba, Sonia Sedibe, Bonnie Henna, Fezile Makhanya, Public Service Announcement, PSA Johannesburg, Leo Burnett, Mind Fox Productions" Watch the video below.

 

 

 

Bravo to Coke Light for a stunning sample of product meets art, fashion, travel and shopping in their new "Fashion Flight " campaign just launched in Belgium and Luxembourg. Sitting at a pavement cafe on a European summer evening, you can't help but gaze at the eye-catching new skin hugging the latest series of Coke Light cans. That's because each graphic is designed by an iconic young female fashion designer representing one of five European cities: Barcelona, Madrid, Berlin, Helsinski and Copenhagen. Consumers are invited to the sublime website that brings the competition to life through sweet sounds and interaction and great visuals. Read more about this fabulara concept below and watch the ad.

Fiat Bravo's latest television advertising campaign in Europe has caught viewers ears with it's gorgeous musical track "Beautiful" from Madrid-based soulful funk/acid-jazzy/blues band "Sweet Vandals ".  Lead vocalist Mayka Edjole's richly haunting voice and cute english accent certainly makes you look...and stay... rather than channel hop. An inspired choice by the creative team who put the "Every part works beautifully"campaign  together. The ad has prompted numerous online questions from curious viewers trying to find out who is behind the music, including ourselves. Watch the ad here and make sure to listen to the Sweet Vandals here. We'll be interested to see if the unexpected attention happens in both directions. We're sure it will. 

Not Only has Love Jozi launched their brand new gorgeous website - *click here* to play and shop - but they've also created a must-have wallpaper range in collaboration with Shoote. Now you can blaze Jozi city across your office space or home with real style thanks to the inspired designs of Brad Kirshenbaum.  Get in there fast, don't say we didn't tell you first.  Another big ups too to Love Jozi who are getting hands on with the devastating 'refugee/xenophobia/racism' crisis in Jozi and donating over 100 t-shirts. They're calling on Jozi citizens to join the March this Saturday morning 28th May at 9am. www.lovejozi.co.za

Believe it or not, in the early 90s I once broke my toes squashing my feet into a pair of too-small Doc Martens. But, being young and rebellious, I was proud to show off the skewered digits to all who would be grossed out. A few years later, Docs slipped out of mainstream and were rarely spotted again, save on the faithful goth or punk dresser. Unfortunately, my toes are still wonky.  We're wondering if Docs are busy making a comeback, it's a pity they've followed the now-tired 'customisation' route tried out by so many other shoe brands around the world (even though it's virtual), but hey, if it's not broke, why fix it. See their DMBootdesign website where two winning designs will be chosen and made into new versions of Docs, sold around the world. "This is your chance to show the world your talent. Choose your canvas: the 8-hole or the 14-hole boot. Use pens, use paint, use whatever. Use your imagination."

Pangea Day takes place on May 10 this year, with film makers the world over putting their energies into creating powerful narratives that break down the boundaries between nations and promote culture sharing and understanding. 

While the following videos take us back to high school giggle-suppressed choir performances, they're emotive and big hearted. The formula is powerful and simple, get one country to sing another countries national anthem. Love the Frenchie accent when singing the US one. Visually and vocally,  the Japanese one rocks the best. But of course. More info on Pangea Day below. 

 

- Australia sings Lebanon
- France sings USA - Full Version
- Japan sings Turkey
- Kenya sings India

 

Gorgeous looking website designed for Gnarls Barkleys new album "The Odd Couple". See it here . 

We love FREE things. By now you MUST have read, noticed, heard about and made the most of the trend otherwise known as FREE? JOVA regulars will have read all about PICNIK- our favourite FREE image/photo-editing site.  Now Photoshop joins the fray with their Beta site Photoshop Express offering the basic photoshop tools for FREE - it's about time!  We registered online and played around, it's useful if you're a photoshop fan, but we'll stick with the easy-to-use Picnik for now. Click here to try out Photoshop.

Just for fun, freak out your colleagues with this vocovoice - so easy to use, simply type in the words, choose the voice and the computer voice does the rest. 

Fly to Vozme.com  

First Radiohead gave you their album for free, now, they invite all animators and film makers to enter their ideas for a music video for "In Rainbows" :  It's the perfect match between revolutionary music and the mind blowing possibilities of animation. The *In Rainbows Music Video Contest* judged by Radiohead is here . Submit your storyboard or video clip until April 27th. Feel the music. Make the video.

JOVA caught up with Lebogang Nkoane, the passionate creator of gorgeous photography community 75 that's sitting high on the Amatomu charts. http://75.co.za has it's own sweet social networking twist and is a great example of a sustainable arts website in Africa.  

 

When not waiting for the electricity to come back on, Alexander-resident Lebogang spends most of his time obsessing about photography and building web-based portals/networks aka 'enviroments'.  We asked him a few questions on Skype chat - well type chat... how else?

 

Neatorama put together a comprehensive article on Tech Logo's and how they've changed over the years including Apple, Adobe, Canon, IBM, Microsoft and Firefox. "You’ve seen these tech logos everywhere, but have you ever wondered how they came to be? Did you know that Apple’s original logo was Isaac Newton under an apple tree? Or that Nokia’s original logo was a fish?"

"Social Networking with a Purpose" Fancorps.com is essentially an online service available to any celebs or brands who want to put their fans to work.  You've heard about hard core fans who'll do anything to promote their favourite artist, even forming unofficial groups and websites online... Fancorps takes these so-called 'street teams' and puts them to work...

You know when you have an image that you quickly need to crop, make smaller in size or just rotate.... but you don't have expensive photoshop or any other graphic program that would let you do it? And anyway even if you did you have no idea how to begin to use those programs?

Although you may think that Blog's were but a passing 2007 fad, if you spend any time on the net you will know that is not the case.  Blogs are here to stay, though they may change host, look, feel, format and topic, as an easy-to-use online communications platform, blogs are very useful - particularly if you have an event, conference or campaign that requires short-term communication with your market.  Rohit Bhargava is the vice president of Interactive Marketing at Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide as well as a recognized blog author, industry speaker, and expert on integrating social media with marketing, advertising and public relations.   In Rohit's article The Complete Guide to Short Term Blogging, he shares with us his insights on when to launch a short term blog and how to do it right. For the full article, read Rohit's blog Influential Marketing here.