FV Blog

How to Create Your Own Nicest Place on the Internet

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 17:27:00 GMT

Amongst the crossfire of impersonal pings, tweets and comments, the Nicest Place on the Internet has managed to carve out a cocoon of kindness online by playing videos of stranger-submitted hugs. Now it has launched a way for anyone to create a personalized version of the site — a “hug hub,” if you will.

“If it felt that good to get a hug from a stranger, we imagined how much more of an impact it would have if all the hugs were personal, someone you know, someone you love,” explained co-creators Lauren Perlow and Jeff Lam in an email to Mashable. “Parents with kids off at school, military families, grandparents and grandkids, any sort of long-distance relationship.”

Perlow and Lam had the idea to create the original Nicest Place on the Internet for fun after a rough day at their ad agency jobs, and it took off organically shortly after. About 200,000 people visited the site last month.

To create a personalized version, anyone can simply enter YouTube IDs for the videos they’d like to include. The website automatically formats those videos and sets them to music at a unique URL.

I made this hug hub, which exclusively features cats, in about five minutes. But it’s easy to imagine how putting a little more thought into the project could result in a touching Valentine’s Day gesture for someone special or, at the least, an increase in overall Internet niceness.

Will you be creating your own Nicest Place on the Internet? What will it include? Tell us in the comments.

Brother UK launches exciting new marketing campaign and travels across Route 66 to ask ‘What does your label say about you?’

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 17:07:00 GMT

‘What does your label say about you?’ This is the tagline for the labelling campaign launched by UK electronics and manufacturing company, Brother. This campaign has been launched in support of the Brother UK labelling business. The team took a trip down the length of Route 66 between Chicago and Los Angeles and collected footage of the people they met along the way and asked how they would label themselves. The footage was shot over 30 days and was shown at the campaign launch event. The campaign takes a really interesting and

exciting viewpoint of labelling and teaming up with Route 66 adds a cool and exciting theme.

The launch event embraced all things American with a Blues Band, roller skating waitresses and American themed decorations added to the atmosphere of the video marketing. The Brother Route 66 Campaign is such a clever and new way of reaching their target audience and showcasing the different labelling range they offer. Check out the above video of the Brother Route 66 Launch Event!

Source: techfluff.tv
By: By LouisaHatfield

Clintons 'sings it with love' for Valentine's Day

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 17:09:00 GMT

Clintons is organising choirs to sing songs to competition winners’ loved ones as part of its personalised Valentine’s Day campaign.

Clintons hopes to get hearts racing with its ‘Sing it with love’ campaign driven through a Facebook competition encouraging customers to dedicate a verse from 10 Clintons cards to a special someone.

The retailer will then pick winners from the submissions and send a choir to sing a personalised song to eight people’s loved ones in the lead up to February 14.

The campaign builds on its personalised offering as it is the first year customers can personalise Valentine’s cards on the Clintons website.

Five Clintons stores will also install a house choir on the day to croon to customers who have left their card buying to the last minute.

Clintons marketing director Tim Fairs said: “We understand at this time of year people are looking for inspiration, and customers come to Clintons because they know they are getting the quality of message that matches the sentiment they want to convey.

“This campaign not only creates genuine engagement with our audiences through a number of channels but also puts the sentiment back at the heart of season.”

Valentine’s products in store will also be on offer, including a Me to You Bear at half price, originally £50, and if customers spend over £5 in store they receive a Valentine’s bear for £4.99.

Source: www.retail-week.com
By: Tiffany Holland

Box-Shaped Electric Bike Redefines the Scooter

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 17:30:00 GMT

Simply dubbed the Boxx, this electric vehicle rethinks the traditional design of motorbikes with a minimalistic and stylish approach. The square bike is built using light-weight aluminum and is strong enough to support 300 pounds. It can travel up to 35 miles per hour and can go 80 miles with a single charge.

The Boxx weighs only 120 pounds and its compact design is perfect for urban dwellers. It takes up less space than a usual scooter and can be easily stored inside. It’s priced at $4,000 and includes LED lighting, anti-lock brakes, traction control, all-wheel drive, onboard storage, and control systems with drive-by-wire. It even comes with the optional heated seat that can be purchased separately for $149.

This article originally published at: www.psfk.com/2012/02/box-shaped-electric-bike.html

Could Facebook’s Newly Wealthy Employees Help California’s Withering Economy?

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:55:00 GMT

Facebook’s slew of newly wealthy employees could “significantly impact” California’s economy during the next few years, said H.D. Palmer, deputy director of external affairs for the California Department of Finance.

The closest analogue is the 2004 Google IPO,” he said. “Its benefit to the state’s general fund was in the neighborhood hundreds of millions– at least $400 million.”

Facebook, based in Menlo Park, Calif., afforded generous pre-IPO stock options to as many as 1,000 of its employees. They now stand to make a fortune when the stock goes public. One of the ways the state will make money is when employees cash out their shares and then have to pay taxes.

Send Your Bored Facebook Friends To Morocco

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:03:00 GMT

Life may suddenly become exciting for your boring Facebook friends thanks to an application tied to Discovery U.K. travel-adventure series “Alone in the Wild.”

Posted by David Cohen

The contest app scans the status updates of users’ Facebook friends for terms such as “tired,” “bored,” and “sad,” and then prepares a list of users’ top five friends who need some excitement in their lives.

That excitement could come in the form of an adventure holiday in Morocco for the grand-prize winner, with the contest open until October 31.

Facebook users can nominate themselves or their friends for the chance to win the five-night trip for two.

To read the rest of the article go to: http://www.allfacebook.com/facebook-contest-discovery-2011-10#more-62034

Retail Week - Clintons 'Sing it with love' for Valentine's Day

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 10:46:00 GMT

Clintons is organising choirs to sing songs to competition winners’ loved ones as part of its personalised Valentine’s Day campaign.

The retailer will then pick winners from the submissions and send a choir to sing a personalised song to eight people’s loved ones in the lead up to February 14.

The campaign builds on its personalised offering as it is the first year customers can personalise Valentine’s cards on the Clintons website.

Five Clintons stores will also install a house choir on the day to croon to customers who have left their card buying to the last minute.

“This campaign not only creates genuine engagement with our audiences through a number of channels but also puts the sentiment back at the heart of season.”

Download article here

http://www.retail-week.com/sectors/general-merchandise/greeting-cards/clintons-sings-it-with-love-for-valentines-day/5033358.article

Facebook's IPO announcement – as it happened!

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:07:00 GMT

Full coverage as the social network launches the biggest-ever stock market listing for a technology company

Well, other than Google back in 2004. Facebook has announced it plans to go public, filing its intentions with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. We'll gut the document and follow initital reaction here to a process that will be keenly scrutinised by anybody with the slightest interest in the future of the internet.

Can Facebook meet the inflated expectations? Can it prosper as a public company when every quarter's progress will be monitored? And will the notoriously stage shy Mark Zuckerberg become more comfortable with the even higher public profile?

The loose talk pre-announcement is that Facebook will be valued at anywhere between $75bn and $100bn. Revenues in 2011 have been estimated at just short of $4bn, with further growth expected in 2012.Gawker last December, said that it had a leak of Facebook's financials for the first nine months of 2011, which showed that the company was sitting on a cash pile of $3.5bn. Revenues for the period were $2.5bn, with operating profit of $1.2bn and net income of $714m. Let's see if any of those figures are correct.

Domino’s Pizza Hero Advergame for iPad

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 14:06:00 GMT

Domino’s launched “Pizza Hero” a new semi-real-time advergame that challenges you to become just that, a Pizza Hero as you battle people from around the world to top the leaderboard. The app is pretty cool, and will have you kneading dough, spreading sauce, sprinkling cheese, placing toppings, and cutting slices as you race against the clock.

You score is based on the pizza quality and how quickly you made it. The more you play it, the tougher it gets and the addiction sets in, which I think in part, is because of the real-world nature of the app. It’s something tangible that you could actually physically make and that’s got an appeal to the realness of the gaming concept.

BERG Cloud: Hello Little Printer

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 16:22:00 GMT

Hello Little Printer, available 2012 from BERG on Vimeo.

Little Printer lives in your home, bringing you news, puzzles and gossip from your friends. Use your smartphone to set up subscriptions and Little Printer will gather them together to create a timely, beautiful mini-newspaper.

For more see:
bergcloud.com/littleprinter/

Heineken: The Christmas BeerFriender

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 16:17:00 GMT

Pure genius. Heineken has launched a really cool social campaign to promote their new “BeerTender” that lets you pour ice cold draft beer at home. The catch is, it’s Christmas, and it wouldn’t look all that great if you were to buy yourself a BeerTender right? Well, Heineken thought of that too, and created the BeerFriender app that connects you, with other people who are buying a BeerTender in time for Christmas.

When you buy a BeerTender, you’ll literally be buying it for someone else, who at the same time, will be buying you one too! It comes gift wrapped, complete with an authentic Christmas card to ensure it looks like a legitimate present from a friend at say, work! Love it.

http://www.digitalbuzzblog.com/heineken-christmas-beerfriender-for-the-beertender/

Taxidermy Deer LEGO Kit By David Cole

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 11:39:00 GMT

We love this:

Buy at http://shop.davidcole.me/product/taxidermy-lego-kit

Murat Paris: Interactive Jewellery Print Ads

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 11:30:00 GMT

It seems more and more brands are looking to create richer print ads. But I still find the innovation examples around it few and far between. So here is a great example of a brand trying something new in the Jewellery sector. This Interactive Print Ad is designed for a smartphone to be placed into the position of a hand, loading a rich mobile site that allows users to flick between various bracelets and rings positioned on the virtual hand.

From there, readers can find out more information about each piece and then locate their nearest store, complete with maps. Pretty cool. And great to see print innovation.

Twitter Facts and Figures

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 11:27:00 GMT

wednesday-9-30am-is-when-humans-share-most

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 12:22:00 GMT