... and it’s looking very promising.
A lot of feedback has been around the Pinterest-esque look and how sexy the video is making it out to be, but time will tell when we finally log-in and play with it (currently invite-only). Fingers crossed there will be some interesting integrations with Spotify and Soundcloud.
We just won a silver EFFIE award for our media attribution work for Aussie Home Loans! Easily one of the most prestigious awards in Australia and the first time one has ever been awarded to a digital agency!
Our idea was to track consumers across all paid and organic channels, which enabled Aussie to monitor the full path to conversion (aka applying for a homeloan). This new model revolutionized Aussie’s digital strategy and media spend, from first contact through to the point of purchase.
A big thanks to our amazing clients Alex Crompton and Stuart Tucker, without whom this would have not been possible.
Also big congratulations to the whole team who worked across this project and the case study: Vanessa Wolff, Camilo Forero, Carly Adamis, Jen Berry, Doug Chapman and Ben Hourahine.
Given we just came off the back of winning an Australian Mobile Award for our AusPost Postcards app, it’s been a great week of recognition for our work.
Go FISH!
A lot of meme Facebook pages are popping up around key suburbs around Sydney. Hurstville memes. Straithfield memes. Penrith Memes. They ragged on the nuances of each of those suburbs. I’m from Hurstville and thought this particular one was good.
You really can’t quite leave Hurstville without a pork roll from King’s Bread (if you’re from Hurstville, or been there, you’d know what I mean. Nom nom nom).
Then I noticed my cousin created his high school meme page, and some of my old high school mates started liking one that was set up for us. Holy crap, Mr Ward does look like George Clooney!
Then there was the London Olympic games, where I’m sure some of us learnt more from the countless Olympics memes which littered the internet then the actual coverage itself. I didn’t catch much of it, but I can conclude that the Queen was involved in some manner, there were some odd-looking divers, some people just don’t have all the luck when it comes to their names, you sure look like an idiot in synchronised swimming and a lot of ladies from the track and field and male swimmers got a lot of attention.
This is becoming quite omnipresent. To the point where in some instances we’re expecting a meme to pop up in the next 10 minutes if anything happened. How will we evolve as a race over the next 50 years if this keeps up? People are lolspeaking in boardroom meetings and communicating with gifs now.
Or is there going to be a meme bubble? Will we get so sick and tired of it all that this whole interweb phenomenon will backfire and explode, marking ourselves down in history as the temporarily illiterate generation, but we get our shit together and go back to being a little bit civilised in the way we communicate?
Whoknowslolkbye.
Amnesia Razorfish and Australia Post are grinners this morning after last night winning at the 2012 Australian Mobile Awards. The jury recognised our personalised ‘Postcards’ app in the Utilities category over worthy opponents such as Telstra and Deloitte.
The ‘Postcards’ app allows users to create postcards, complete with a personal message, from pictures they’ve taken on their mobile. Once uploaded a physical postcard is sent to the chosen destination, anywhere in the world. Check out this previous post for more details.
We’re all super excited for Australia Post and the team who worked with them in making this idea a successful reality. Or as our MD Doug Chapman more eloquently put it “We are honoured to accept this award alongside one of Australia’s most iconic brands. With ‘Postcards’, we set out to create a personal experience while acknowledging the physical and memorable aspects of a postcard.”
It’s fantastic to receive recognition from the industry as the mobile category continues to rise. We look forward to creating more award winning work with Australia Post in the future.
Until then, go send some Postcards!
Download of the Australia Post ‘Postcards’ app is available here.
Dean
@deanvowles
Conventional wisdom has it that when someone wants to buy goods, they go to a retailer, purchase a product at a predetermined price, and then become owner of that product. We don’t often think of different ways for this transaction to take place.
But what if there was another way?
Ladies and Gentlemen, we have good news: Amnesia Razorfish is a finalist in the Australian Mobile Awards!
This is for the fantastic work by the team in creating the Australia Post Postcards App. The app itself allows you to send personalized post cards from anywhere in the world, on your iPhone, back to your friends and family in Australia.
To go the next step (you know, and WIN) we need your vote. VOTE NOW by clicking HERE, HERE or HERE.
Some background on the project
The Brief:
The App:
The Results:
Dean
@deanvowles
Here’s a quick guide to making your very own ’3D’ Wigglegrams or Lenticular photographs. We used three GoPro Hero’s, some elastic bands, a couple of rulers and some chopped up erasers. It will take about an hour to create your first Wigglegram.
Firstly, what is a Wigglegram? Basically it’s an animated gif which moves quickly between a number of frames taken from slightly different angels to create a 3D effect. In reality it’s a bit like a poor mans bullettime. You can learn more about the science here:
OK, here’s some Wigglegrams we made around the office today:
How to make your own Wigglegram:
We were lucky enough to have 3 GoPro’s in the Office but you could use any matching cameras. You will need a minimum of two, but the more the merrier. In general you want the lenses closer together. The effect may have been slightly better if we had put the GoPros vertically (but then we couldn’t have pressed the buttons!). Note: We pushed the GoPro’s tight as possible against each other to keep everything sturdy.
Step 1 – Construction:
1. We mounted the GoPros on two stiff rulers using elastic bands.
2. We taped 3 small pieces of eraser chopped up just big enough to press the camera buttons simultaneously.
3. We stuck the chopped up eraser onto a stiff flat object (we used a random bit of scrap metal we found lying around). lining up the erasers exactly with the GoPro buttons. This was loosly attched to the rig using elastic bands again (not so tight that it pressed the buttons)
4. We attached the rig onto a Tripod.
Step 2 – Taking shots:
1. Make sure you have a “centre subject” (see the flowers below in our reception area as an example). Having nothing in the middle of your shot makes it hard to align things, and also lessens the 3D effect. Tip: Don’t have too many objects close up or in front of your ‘centre object’.
2. Keep your rig nice and steady.
3. Avoid anything moving (unless you have a better way of getting each of the cameras to trigger at exactly the same time).
4. Click away… making sure all three buttons are clicked at the same time (although a little bit out is ok if your subjects are still.
Step 3- Making the Wigglegram Gif
-We put out photos into three folders named LEFT, MIDDLE, RIGHT
Next we imported Left, Middle, Right frames into a layer in Photoshop (Fig 1) – one shot at a time.
- Next step is alignment. The easiest way to do this is to make the bottom layer (eg: left) 100% opacity, then make the next layer (eg middle) 50% opacity. When you do this the two images will look blurred and the trick is to get the ‘centre subject’ of the images in focus.
- Now move the 50% layer so your centre subject matches up with the bottom layer. Repeat this for each layer then turn them all back to 100% opacity.
- Crop your image to dispose of missing or overlapping areas.
- Test your Wigglegram by flicking the layers on and off.
- If you’ve done everything right you can now animate. Turn the Animate menu on under ‘Window’. Make sure you have frame animation on. It’s easier than using the timeline).
- You’ll need four frames (if you took three shots). Start with left, then middle, then right, then middle. Set the interval between 0 and 0.2 seconds and you are ready to export.
-Set the loop to ‘forever’
- Go to File/ Save for web and devices and export as a gif using a selective pallete.
-Done! Enjoy 
Posted by @eunmac
Last week I made the move upstairs to learn all about the mysteries of Search. I confess that before starting at Amnesia I knew very little about the role of Search in advertising, in the sense I knew nothing. Google to me was just a way to fast-track assignment research, end debates, and ‘win’ Tuesday Trivia at the pub. After a few days soaking up all things SEM, SEO and Analytics I can say I look at Search in a whole new way – you know, more than just a cheating tool.
Perhaps it was my ignorance, or the constant jokes around Amnesia at the expense of Search, but I didn’t think I’d enjoy my time in the department. However I’m happy to report my finding that…Search is cool!
SEM, SEO and Analytics are truly fascinating areas. Coming from a background of learning about TV’s OzTam ratings, the sheer efficiency of Search media is, well, cool. This isn’t to say I want to – or more accurately can – run off and become an SEM professional. The beauty of rotating through different departments is gaining a good understanding of how each segment of Amnesia works, regardless of whether I will end up working in it in the future. So whilst I won’t be optimizing on a clients keywords anytime soon, I can comfortably say:
So it seems the jokes about Search are potentially unfounded. If you never get to sit with the Amnesia Search department take my word for it: Search is cool. Even Ryan Gosling thinks so.
We have no doubt that you are all in the digital loop and constantly up to date (right?), but in case you managed to miss it Amnesia Razorfish has just launched volume three of the annual Razorfish 5!
Technology, creativity and media continue to intertwine to the point where the line between each has well and truly blurred away. Industries have increasingly realized this, as we continue to see a year on year increase in digital advertising spend. The Razorfish 5 international report identifies a mix of new technologies and techniques and aims to assist CTOs, CMOs and the wider business community to navigate and succeed in an ever evolving, post-digital world.
So what’s it all about? Let’s start with the Targeting Readiness Study, which is based on conversations with more than 120 CEOs, CIOs, CTOs and CMOs with a minimum of $500 million in annual revenue. Some of the key findings include:
With these findings in mind, the cornerstone for this year’s Razorfish 5 report is an article on maximizing impact from company-controlled digital channels, or owned media.
Further topics discussed include:
You can find the full report here or at this address: http://www.razorfish5.com/
Dean
@deanvowles
Magazines on your tablet have been around for a while and they always seem like a good addition, but nothing really new or ground breaking.
Hopefully that will change with Condition One – a technology company developing next generation immersive video applications. Their flagship product is an embeddable immersive video player for the iPad / iPhone.
The virtual window provides unlimited viewpoints of a single video. The viewers tend to review a video multiple times to catch things they missed and see the footage from another perspective.
Basically you can move around the video to change what you want to look at.
Check it out in action here:
The technology can is/can be licensed to media companies and brands. It integrates seamlessly into existing applications or can be launched as a standalone product.
If you want to try it out, they have a showcase app here
Pretty cool? That’s what I thought.