Welcome to May's newsletter. We've been as busy as bees re-branding as glue Isobar this month which we'll fill you in on below. We also have news on our latest innovation offering, ubiquitous computing, goodwill in advertising, the comic in its latest form, an innovative sports training tool we're loving this month and news on our Film Director, Marky's exciting GPS enabled adventure over the alps! Enjoy.
MARKY
glue who?
You may have noticed that we've recently re-branded as glue Isobar. This is part of a wider initiative to create a powerful global digital network under the Isobar brand (our parent company). We’ve been part of the Isobar group of agencies for 5 years, so nothing fundamental about glue is changing, but Isobar is on the path to becoming much stronger globally. We’re committed to being part of that and part of the London team that is leading the network worldwide. So it felt right to let everyone know that by incorporating it into the glue name.
To read the official release on the Isobar agency network, click here
Say hello to our innovation department
We've recently beefed up our innovation offering with a couple of new appointments. Andy Kinsella, previously a Senior Producer at glue, has joined the team as Innovation Director and Calum Forsyth has taken the position of Insight & Planning Manager. Both join Head of Innovation, Dom O'Brien. The team will focus on establishing the creative opportunities different channel technologies present and identifying new ways and places for brands to connect with people.
Doing Good
There’s no denying technology is enabling people and brands to collaborate for the 'greater good' like never before. You know when brands like Pepsi and Coca-Cola pour hundreds of thousands of dollars into community projects there’s something going on.
Read on for some examples of stuff we’ve recently seen themed around people coming together to help each other.
3 things to make you look smarter
The BBC's iPlayer has become more social. A new and improved beta version has been released which allows users to connect with friends on Twitter, Facebook and MSN.
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Google are launching Google TV this Autumn. The TVs will have Google's Chrome browser installed so that viewers will be able to search for programmes on satellite TV channels and online.
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You can now stream live radio from the BBC's array of analogue and digital channels straight to your smartphone, even if it doesn't have an FM radio inbuilt. One exception - it doesn't work on iPhones (yet).
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Fireflies Tour
Superglue's resident Film Director is tackling the mighty alps for the third time in a row for charity this year. The tour de Fireflies is an 8 day ride from Geneva to Cannes in aid of Leuka, a charity that funds research and treatment to Leukaemia patients at London's Hammersmith hospital.
Ubiquitous computing, are we nearly there yet?
We all now know and love our favourite smartphone (be it iPhone or Android) and with the shift from desktop to mobile computing gaining pace, are we now on the way to the Utopian vision of ubiquitous computing (ubicomp)?
If we look to science fiction for the answer we see a world of intrusive and pervasive technology (Minority Report, Demon Seed, etc) that has a negative impact on everyday life. But is that really how we will be interfacing with data in the next few years?
Drawn of a new era for comics
Scott McCloud’s ‘Reinventing Comics', an exploration of the artform in the digital age from 2000 was, ironically, a book. From floppy discs, CD roms and the WWW, digital comics have been waiting for a display platform to compete with the printed periodical.
New mobile devices promise screens with a richer reading experience, while touch functionality offers intuitive browsing and navigation. You can flick through Manga panels on an iPhone as easily as turning a page. Tablet PCs floundered, but now there are a myriad mobile devices: PSP, DS, touchscreen phones, Kindle tablet, iPad. That’s a lot of different screen sizes.
Arsenal FC GPS
With World Cup fever truly amongst us, the disappointment of yet another trophy-less season for Arsenal FC is finally starting to fizzle out of the minds of a few of us glue Gooners. Talks of rebuilding the squad sound promising but it was also refreshing to hear about new attempts to ease our constant injury problems for the future.
The Arsenal medical team have introduced new GPS tracking technology to help monitor players’ fatigue levels in training. The technology monitors a player’s speed, distance and the levels of intense activity they have whilst in training. But more significantly, the tracking will be able to monitor the player's ‘load’ – the amount of time their foot is on the ground when running.