I’m the type of person who usually sifts through online content and rarely digs very deep into marketing campaigns. In this case, I was hooked on this for about 20 minutes. Somebody else’s phone is a new Nokia campaign advertised in London that does a great job of depicting the life of an early to mid twenty year-old through their text messages, MMS and pictures. Really impressive and also really interesting how you can grab people’s attention by catering to their voyeuristic tendencies.
October 30th, 2008
I attended the Microsoft Research Symposium on Social Computing 2008 a few weeks ago in Redmond and as part of one of the tracks, someone had invited 3 young 18-19 year olds from Seattle to come and speak about their use of technology, how they saw technology in their lives and their expectations for the future. Needless to say some of their statements kinda blew my mind and I thought I’d share some of my notes with you. For a little bit of context, these 3 students attend the Seattle Academy of Art and Science what I can only assume was a public school (in the British sense of the word) for children of the wealthier strata of Seattle. Here goes:
- Their parents were as old as most of the parents of the people attending the symposium who were mostly in their 30s. They said their parents didn’t know how to text on phones and didn’t understand what the value of Facebook was.
- They didn’t read any books that didn’t directly relate to schoolwork.
- They didn’t think much about the value of open source software as their all had laptops given to them with all the software they needed already.
- They had laptops since the 6th grade.
- They didn’t really write anything down anymore as they didn’t feel the need to, having access to laptops.
- They hardly used their cell phones. ( This is unsurprising and probably a by-product of the US being so far behind in terms of cell phone penetration.)
Overall, I thought some of their comments were the true and extreme results of having been exposed to technology fairly quickly and at a young age and being from wealthier backgrounds. One of them, a young woman very active with extra-curricular activities, had a better camera than most people in the room. The thoughts from the attendees were that these young people didn’t represent the majority at all, just a part of the elite, and generally didn’t know what to do with their comments or how to interpret them in any meaningful way. When faced with the challenge of understanding young people and their relationship to technology, when does a small sample become “the norm” in the eyes of an audience of adults. Hard to tell.
October 26th, 2008
Common Purpose and Deutsche bank are organising this contest in the UK and I thought this was very much in tune with the Shift6 audience. If you know someone who fits the bill, check it out!. Deadline 12th of January 2008.
It has been designed to recognise the achievements and ambitions of young people, between the ages of 11-18, who want to speak out and create positive change.
The awards have nothing to do with academic achievement or exam grades, but everything to do with good citizenship and positive action.
Campaigns covering all topics are welcome and can be really big or really small. The judges are looking for achieveable ideas and determination to make them happen, or evidence of a campaign that has had an impact in the way it has been delivered.
October 25th, 2008
A new addition to a fairly traditional and slightly geriatric list published yearly by the Evening Standard is Jourdan Dunn who is just 18! A pioneer in the world of modeling, she’s got a great attitude as well.
“London’s not a white city, so why should our catwalks be white?” So said the Hammersmith-born model who appeared in 75 catwalk shows last season. Her outspoken views on race, combined with her extreme beauty, have already radicalised the fashion industry, with American and Italian Vogue fighting over her for their covers — virtually unheard-of for a black model.
Maybe she should be on Blyk too :)
October 9th, 2008
I just spent 2 weeks in Montreal and saw ads all over town for new kid on the block Koodo (only in Canada as far as i can tell). I wasnt sure who they were trying to target, but as a 27 year old, I can’t say the reminder of Olivia Newton John’s Physical video is an appealing way to get me to sign up to a phone provider. *Shudders*
October 8th, 2008
