Tuesday, 15 December 2015

Fitbit


Fitbit's shares plunged following the announcement of its first colour smartwatch at the CES tech show.
The San Francisco-based company's stock fell more than 18%.

That suggests investors were disappointed with its decision to take on more capable Android and Apple-powered watches by selling its own device at a cheaper price.
Huawei, Misfit and Withings were among other big brands to unveil new wearables at the Las Vegas show.

Tuesday, 8 December 2015

How to miss, big style, your target audience

Sainsbury's cast the much-loved children's book character Mog as the star of its Christmas campaign, whilst John Lewis unveiled a tear-jerking story of a young girl trying to send a message to a lonely man on the moon. But whilst the big high street retailers battle it out for the fuzziest festive ad out there, House of Fraser decided to rebel.

The store's campaign, which is called 'Your Christmas Your Rules', aims to offer a refreshing antidote to the festive fuzzy norm with an unapologetic message all about challenging tradition and banishing the bland. Inspired by the notion that the best Christmases come with people’s own traditions, the advert flips convention on its head with a series of audacious and fashionable alternatives. Made with creative agency 18 Feet & Rising, the high-energy, hip hop style ad is set to the track ‘You Don’t Own Me’, sung by up-and-coming artist Grace, featuring G-Eazy.

That's the spiel - it's a great ad - but it's a terrible ad for House of Fraser. This advert could be for GAP or River Island or some funky store possibly NEXT but House of Fraser sorry, no.

John Lewis Christmas advert: Who is Moon Hitler?

Moon Kampf. Shameless pinched from the Guardian

Why has the old man been sent into space? Is he a war criminal? `

How come he’s on the moon? That’s probably the first question you asked yourself upon seeing the new John Lewis advert this morning. Well, maybe not the first – that was either “What sort of little girl owns such a powerful telescope?” or “How is he still alive without any oxygen? Shouldn’t his skull have exploded in a huge arc of bone and gore the second he took his helmet off, like that bit in Total Recall?” – but it’s likely to be the one that stuck with you.

Clearly, the answer is that the old man is a monster. That’s the only logical explanation. Napoleon only got exiled to a Mediterranean island, for crying out loud, and he was Napoleon. But this guy has literally been jettisoned to the moon. He is hundreds of thousands of miles away from the nearest human. What could he possibly have done to warrant such punishment?

How many people must he have killed? How many lives must have been crushed into nothing under his vicious boot? Is he a war criminal? Is that it? Is he Hitler? Is this whole advert just a berserk wish-fulfilment fantasy about how the international community should have treated Hitler if they had caught him before he killed himself? If that’s the case – as I strongly suggest it is – the advert’s slogan probably should have been revised from “Show Someone They’re Loved This Christmas” to “Don’t Give Balloons To Moon Hitler, You Idiot”.

Even though this reading of the advert is absolutely spot-on, John Lewis could have saved any potential misunderstanding by just reining it in a bit. Because until now, even at their most avant-garde, the store’s Christmas adverts have always somehow managed to be about John Lewis. There was the advert where a woman aged gracefully, surrounded by John Lewis products. You could reasonably infer that the little boy who couldn’t wait to give his parents their Christmas present bought it from John Lewis.

The snowman who somehow gained sentience in a horrifying moment of God-defying witchery still physically ended up in a branch of John Lewis. If you visited John Lewis after watching the penguin advert last year, what could you buy? That’s right, a penguin. There’s none of that this year. Does John Lewis sell telescopes powerful enough to scan the moon for individual human beings? No. Does John Lewis stock cuddly toys shaped like brokenhearted old men whose milky eyes are full of regret for the atrocities they have definitely committed? No. Not a single frame of this advert is even tangentially related to John Lewis.

Things desperately need to be brought back down to earth next year. Part of me hopes that the big 2016 John Lewis advert is just the guy from the Safestyle double glazing ads standing in a branch of John Lewis shouting “BUY YOUR MUM A KETTLE” over and over again. Because otherwise, at this rate, next year’s advert will be the story of an alcoholic carrot or a plasticine spaniel with abandonment issues or just a damp napkin with a frowny emoji drawn on it, and it’ll be three times longer than it needs to be, and it’ll cost the equivalent of Portugal’s GDP to make, and it’ll be soundtracked by a melancholy plinky-plonk cover of the Big Break theme tune, and we’ll have to go through this palaver all over again. I’m not sure I’ve got the patience for that.

At least the little girl bought him a telescope, though. She could have bought him food, or a companion, or a ticket back to Earth. But no, she bought a telescope, dooming him to spend the rest of his miserable life watching everyone else have much more fun than him. What a fist to the face. Take that, Moon Hitler.

Monday, 7 December 2015

Facebook rolls out live streaming video service

Facebook has begun rolling out a new feature on its social network which allows users to stream live video. A select group of celebrities and high profile users have been able to use the service for several months.

Live streaming via mobile phones has become one of the big technology trends of the year, with Twitter-owned Periscope and Meerkat proving popular. Last year, Amazon paid $1bn for live streaming game site Twitch.

Initially Facebook's live video feature will be available only to a small percentage of people in the US and will be limited to iPhones. The tech giant said that "over time, the company plans to bring it to all users" but it did not give specific timescales.

Sunday, 6 December 2015

Setting up a company in Rugby

A ‘LACK of support’ means almost a fifth of new businesses in Rugby do not survive to see their second birthday, according to a national debt charity. New figures published by the Office of National Statistics revealed that 19 per cent of new businesses set up in Rugby do not last until their second year, with three per cent winding up in their first year.
Start up company Rugby

605 new businesses were set up in Rugby last year – a similar figure to the previous year. But at the same time, a total of 405 businesses closed down in 2014. Business Debtline, run by the Money Advice Trust, warned there is a ‘lack of support’ available to help new ventures take their first steps in business. The charity said this gap in support means many small business owners are not given the skills and know-how they need to get their company off the ground.

Nick Price Creatives help new businesses in Rugby with creative solutions to their branding, online presence and marketing backed up with a sensible, realistic approach. If you are in the Rugby area and are thinking about setting up a company contact Nick Price Creatives today.


Friday, 4 December 2015

Rugby World Cup 2015

Over 2.4 million fans attended matches across 13 venues while a million more visited the official Fanzones during the six week tournament. We saw 48 fantastic matches and a thrilling final between eventual winners New Zealand and southern hemisphere rivals Australia, which was seen by an estimated 120 million people across the globe.

Tuesday, 1 December 2015

Steam Traction World Christmas 2015

Steam Traction World Christmas 2015

The annual tradition from Steam Traction World to produce something for the Christmas holidays and this year see's a new video based on the festive favourite 'Stop the Cavalry' by Jona Lewie. We have changed the words slightly but added them so you can sing or dubba, dubba dum hum along.
http://www.facebook.com/steamtractionworld

Christmas 2014 presentation based on Frozen is available here: http://youtu.be/pWxC25XPXCs

Christmas 2013 presentation based on John Lewis Bear and the Hare is available here: http://youtu.be/KnyGkMTwcgM