word. daily. (video edition)

Short Film Shot by Scanner: The minute-long film Memoirs of a Scanner is composed entirely of still shots from a copier and, despite the length, you feel satisfied when it’s over (#twss). We think that this could have been the kick-off to an amazing consumer contest from Richoh or Xerox.

That Picture is Amazing: Check out this engaging video from Samsung.  The brand does an amazing job of creating a short that heavily incorporates their product AND has a shot of actually going viral. How’d they do it? By relying on two hooks: social networking pictures and Weekly World News cover model, Bat Boy.

Oscar Winners Hate Each Other!: Remember the gentleman who accepted the award best documentary short that got Kanye’d (amazing verb) by the lady in the tres-dramatique formal satin jacket? Turns out, they hate each other! They’re suing each other! His 87-year-old mom used her cane to block that lady from getting to the stage first! Read about all the amazing drama over at Salon.

Bonus: We don’t have much to say about Tokyo/Glow except that it is elegant and beautiful; you should check it out.

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—Andrew

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word. daily. (video edition)
Short Film Shot by Scanner: The…

The M Booth team is psyched that our very own Danny Urquia is in the running for the title of Young PR Professional of the Year at tonight’s PR Week Awards.  Danny is a valued member of the corporate (and FWD!) team at the agency. He’s an unbelievable asset (and all-around-nice-guy) and we wish him the best of luck!

Here’s a collection of good luck tweets from Danny’s co-workers before the big announcement at tonight’s ceremony:

@dannyUrquia at #PRWeekAwards. Danny is a real star! he should be PR Week’s Young Professional of the Year. Fingers crossed! (@margibpr)

Tonights the night @dannyurquia for ur PRWeek honors #PRWeekAwards Remember you invited “The Cooler”—I’ll do my best to cheer u to victory (@MarkASchroeder)

Good luck to @mboothpr Young PR Professional of the Year @dannyurquia tonight! We’re so proud of you! #PRWeekAwards (@frani_lieberman)

GOOD LUCK AT THE #PRWeekAwards @DannyUrquia (@SirRonNYC)

Good luck to @DannyUrquia at the #PRWeekAwards! The @MBoothPR softball MVP is most deserving of the Young Professional of the Year award! (@jhamrahi…part one)

And by the way, BDD, BPro, & all Mets fans officially endorse @DannyUrquia for PR Week’s Young PR Professional of the Year! #PRWeekAwards (@jhamrahi…continued)

Good luck tonight @dannyurquia at the #PRWeekAwards. Fingers crossed he wins Young PR Professional of the Year! Much deserved. (@bradlaney360)

Good luck tonight @DannyUrquia Congrats on your nomination for Young PR Professional of the Year!! I hope u win, u deserve it! #PRWeekAwards (@RachelPancoe)

Good luck to @DannyUrquia at #PRWeekAwards. If Young Professional was decided by a burrito eating contest, he’d win. He’s the best! (@andrewrossi)

Good luck tonight, @dannyurquia! go get ‘em #PRWeekAwards (@JamieLee)

Sending good thoughts for @MBoothPR’s @DannyUrquia to win Young Professional of the Year at the #PRWeekAwards tonight! Woot! (@Summer21)

So proud of @DannyUrquia for his nom as Young Professional of the Year @ #PRWeekAwards! Remember his first day as my cube neighbor @MBoothPR (@sallymak26)

good luck @dannyurquia! I hope you win the Young PR Professional of the Year award tonight! & can I have your autograph?! #PRWeekAwards (@laurenarthur)

Good luck to my friend and colleague @dannyurquia He’s up for the PR Week’s Young PR Professional of the Year! #PRWeekAwards (@arbetts)

Good luck tonight, @dannyurquia! Regardless of the outcome, you’ll always be our Young PR Professional of the Year #PRWeekAwards (@matthewhantz)

sure, people come younger, but not more awesome… good luck @dannyurquia — kick some Young PR Professional butt tonight! #PRWeekAwards (@kellygene)

— Andrew

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The M Booth team is psyched that our very own Danny Urquia is in…

word. daily. (march 11, 2010)

Taking the Plunge: Childhood sweethearts, Jeff and Stacey are tying the knot…or taking the plunge, if you will. For their “Save the Dates” they took pictures underwater and the results are h2o-mazing!*

Awesomest Harmonica Ever: Frustrated that your perfect blowing-the-dust-out-of-a-Nintendo-cartridge skill doesn’t come in handy anymore? Well, no more fretting – selling on eBay are NES cartridge harmonicas.

First Position: Sometimes the best ideas are also the simplest.  Check out the minor tweak that Vivianne made to her homemade advertisement for her ballet studio to make it really stand out.

*editors note: we’d like to apologize for using the phrase h2o-mazing

Click here to let us know that you’d like to be added to the mailing list for the monthly edition of “word.”

—Andrew

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word. daily. (march 11, 2010)

Taking the Plunge: Childhood…

Brollies at the ready; it was a rainy night sleeping out in London for Byte Night 2009

It was arguably always on the cards. As we looked to re-evaluate our approach to CSR in the UK, there really was only one charitable initiative we could support, our namesake – Byte Night.

Well, maybe there was a little more to it than that!

I officially LOVE Byte Night. Ever since the delectable Sally Hanson, then marketing director at Cognos, involved me six years ago (not that I had a choice, I might add), I have never looked back. Having helped with the PR in previous roles, and of course having slept out in the freezing English winter weather, I am now chuffed to be heading the PR effort again with the full support of the Byte Night board and the Bite team.

Byte Night, the annual sleep out, is Action for Children’s single largest fundraising event. Given Action for Children is the largest children’s charity in the UK, that makes this a pretty impressive event. Since its inception 12 years ago, the event has raised over £2.5 million; £600,000 in the past year alone against the backdrop of a global recession. The money raised every year directly helps the UK’s most vulnerable and neglected children. Having met many young people who have benefited from Action for Children’s work, I’m in no doubt about the good work Byte Night does and its significance in helping improve the lives of 1.5 million children who suffer some form of neglect in the UK.

So it’s with great pride that we take over the PR baton from LEWIS, whose team did a great job for five years on a pro bono basis.

This year, we’re going to bring a mix of specialist skills to bear on the PR campaign and step things up a gear, so watch this space (in the meantime you can check out last year’s event here .)

 The 2010 event promises to be the best year yet for Byte Night, with more locations around the country and greater capacity in London to cater for the ever-growing demand from major brands to be involved. Our volunteers from across the business are chomping at the bit to get going and do our (almost) namesake proud.

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What’s a ‘y’ between friends?

Just the other day as I was walking through Times Square, I couldn’t help but notice that the majority, if not all of the billboard screens now constantly stream video advertisements. I even tried to count the total number of video billboards all simultaneously playing around me as I walked and lost count (numbers were never my strong suit, hence why I went into PR… but I digress). This revelation made me realize two very important things. 

1. I should probably pay more attention to my surroundings while walking through the city.

2. Videos, both offline and online, are becoming more than just a backdrop or accessory. They are becoming one of the main distribution channels of information for millions of people every day.

The online video world is quietly bubbling up around us. The stats pretty much speak for themselves with ComScore recently reporting that nearly 178 million U.S. Internet users watched online videos in December 2009, totaling almost 33.2 billion videos viewed during the month.

At a recent PRSA NY panel discussing social media, questions surrounding online videos popped up again and again. From a method to bring to light the personalities behind brands, to building communities and last but not least to help strengthen relationships between consumers and their brands. 

At another panel, ‘Journalism after Print’ attended by a colleague on the West Coast, discussions on the changing world of journalism concluded that with the huge adoption of tablets,  eReaders, and new media, stories are increasingly being told in real time through videos and rich media content. 

As communications professionals the task at hand is evident. With the demand and use of online video set to spiral, how can we best incorporate online videos as part of our storytelling efforts? 

It seems as though it will it only be a matter of time before we look to YouTube or Hulu to bring us the breaking news and stories happening in real time. And, in order to test my hypothesis I did a quick YouTube search for the most viewed videos right now to find the Oscars being at the top of the list.  Definitely a news item I’ve been following these past few days.

Lastly, let’s not forget about the recent turmoil between Conan and NBC. Nick Bilton at the NYTimes wrote a very interesting blog post discussing the consequences of Conan O’Brien taking his show online. I know I was particularly intrigued by his proposition having tuned into the final Tonight Show episodes hosted by Conan on Hulu as opposed to watching it on television. I can see it now, a huge Coco online community waiting for the next online show to appear on YouTube.

So, while we move full force into 2010 and jump into our communications plans for the year, let’s make sure to ask ourselves, are we telling content rich and online video worthy stories?  If not, why not?

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Will Video Kill the Traditional Media Star?

JetBlue’s Bday Scavenger Hunt….Sort Of :

A previously reported Monday, JetBlue hosted a Twitter-based “scavenger hunt” today for their followers in NY to celebrate the airline’s 10th Anniversary.  Wow, has it been 10 years since I first flew them on a marine biology trip to Florida in high school!?

Usually a scavenger hunt involves something along the lines of clues leading to more clues that lead to your final destination/find …. not simply, “We’re here at X street now, bring us a bday card!”  …nonetheless, the airline gave out 1,000 free tickets today on the streets of NYC which is a pretty sweet deal and a great example of the guerilla work brands can accomplish by docking their efforts successfully online. 

Happy Bday to you, JetBlue!

-Sally  

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JetBlue’s Bday Scavenger Hunt….Sort Of

word. daily. (march 10, 2010)

Pencil You In: If you think a wall calendar with pictures of babies in flower pots is the bees knees, you ain’t seen nothing yet. From designer Oscar Diaz’s archives, we bring you the “ink calendar.” Diaz uses a slow absorbing ink to indicate time; a new calendar number is “printed” daily.

NYC’s Building Blocks: At the beginning of the month, German artist Jan Vormann of Jarmuschek+Partner gallery, along with a motley crew of volunteers, took to the streets and began filling in building cracks with Legos. Is this part of a larger Lego trend? Perhaps. Check out this Lego conference room table and this Lego kitchen.

Haul Video Blogs: What’s the newest trend among the tween girls? Well, its something called “haul videos” where they show off their most recent purchases via YouTube. That’s actually a pretty simple explanation, as you’ll see from the video linked above, these ladies wear a lot of hats (or toboggans, as SoCalAshleyDanielle might say), including:

• Economist “I have been trying to save a lot of money, not just because I need to, but because I feel like I spend way too much money on makeup and I need to spend more money on clothes.”

• Dentist “The original Crest Whitestrips sucked, saliva would start accumulating and the strips would start foaming.”

• Personal Trainer “…If you want to look skinny, wear dark wash skinny jeans.”

• Computer Whiz Kid “Just type in ‘fashion’ and ‘Marilyn Monroe’ or whatever you want to find and you can find it on Photobucket.”

• Philosopher “Is it ‘Nordstrom’ or ‘Nordstrom’s’?”

Click here to let us know that you’d like to be added to the mailing list for the monthly edition of “word.”

—Andrew

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word. daily. (march 10, 2010)
Pencil You In: If you think a…