We're gonna make you a star...
Mingling with hot celebs is a tough job, but someone’s got to do it. So spare a thought for the Beam team who, in the name of hard graft, headed off to the O2 Wireless festival last week to show the stars of today what iwantoneofthose is all about.
The team spent the weekend in the 'talent retreat', where a backstage stand provided a little bit of IWOOT-style light relief for all the musicians and artists at the show. Dressing up in Selks, playing with robots and trying to keep a remote control helicopter in the air for as long as possible – and other miscellaneous craziness – was all in a day’s work for the industrious Beam team. Particular favourites amongst the celeb guests included the Stylophone, the Boppit Download and the flying helicopters and we gave out quite a few pairs of Elvis Shades as well - no doubt they'll be gracing the gossip pages of the London Lite before long.
We’ll keep you posted with our favourite celeb snaps - Heat magazine eat your heart out...
Starting the day with iwantoneofthose
If you’re as much of a morning person as Count Dracula, a dose of daytime TV last week might have given you some food for thought. We’re pleased to say that the mp3 alarm clock from iwantoneofthose, which lets you wake up to your own favourite playlists, rather than the infuriating peeping from your mobile phone, featured on LK Today last week.
And what a response – on the day the product was featured, the search function on IWOOT went absolutely crazy with viewers looking for a nicer way to wake up in the morning. For more details, click on the link: http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/ipod-alarm-clocks/index.html
So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodnight
It is with a heavy heart that the Beam team announces that we will this very week be saying farewell to Beam veteran Claire Wood. On Friday, after three and a half years, the girl with the golden tan is leaving us for pastures new.
And how to replace someone like Claire? For a start, who else has as much Lionel Ritchie on their iPod? Who else would grace our karaoke sessions with such unique dance interpretations? Who else has a phobia of bananas?
There has been laughter. There have been tears. There have been showtunes, and cakes from Konditor and Cook. In all seriousness, Claire has been an asset to the Beam team, has produced some amazing results for a whole host of clients with her fantastic knowledge of the media, and we wish her all the best for the future.
So, bon voyage Claire, and good luck! And remember, we’ll be here on Exmouth market if you want to drop by for a cup of tea.
Beam is recruiting
Intrigued by PR and looking for the chance to discover what it’s all about? London based, boutique lifestyle technology PR Agency, Beam, is looking for a bright, creative, enthusiastic intern to join the team over the busy summer months. Work would entail general office admin but you’d also get a chance to support the various Beam accounts. So if you’re hard working, organised, passionate about working with the press and the latest gadgets, we’d love to hear from you.
e: jane@beamagency.com
Furious, Exmouth Market
Here’s a telephone conversation I had, with a journalist who will remain anonymous, one afternoon last week. I have in no way exaggerated my politeness, the genuine relevance to this particular person of my call, or his uncontrollable venom.
Me: Hello, is this X?
X: Yes.
Me: Hi, this is Kate from Beam. I wanted to ask…
X: [loud and deliberate sigh]
Me: I’m sorry, is this a bad time?
X: Yes it is.
Me: Oh, I apologise, I’ll call you another time…
X: What is it?
Me: Don’t worry, I’ll…
X: WHAT IS IT?
Me: Well, I wanted to ask… [concise explanation regarding news that was absolutely relevant to the journalist in question].
X: [adopts patronising tone, as if talking to five-year-old] What you do in this situation is write an email. I’ll read it, and get back to you if I’m interested. [Dial tone]
Well, I learned my lesson. There’s just one problem… many journalists I work with would prefer me to call directly, since they have enough emails to get through every day. So what am I to do?
This incident (which didn’t leave me feeling great) comes at a time when the PR industry comes under fire (again) from the media with new humiliation hothouse PRfail.
http://prfail.tumblr.com/
A place for all to twitter about their PR peeves, here are writers who seem to assume that all journalists are exactly the same, and that PRs should be able to anticipate every detail of their professional circumstances. To the journalist who cries that he is ‘not interested in coming to football, cricket, grands prix, Olympics, driving or other “days out”….’ – well, there are plenty of journalists who are interested as well as those who aren’t, and unless we send an invitation, we’ll never know which category you fall into.
I’m sorry to say that I don’t believe that PRfail is, as some claim, about helping PRs to improve the way they work. Humiliating agencies by posting specific examples of their (allegedly) bad service (which in truth may be uncharacteristic / explicable), is nothing but a demonstration of power, a pulling of rank that serves only to perpetuate the divide between PRs and journalists. Constructive criticism this is not, and within such a hostile environment, how are the two sides of this story meant to work together in a way that would be beneficial to both?
One final thing. We’re well aware that our blog, lacking a ‘comments’ section, does not exactly enter into the interactive, banter-y spirit of this lively discussion. Apologies. However, if you’ve got a point to make on the subject, then email me at kate@beamagency.com, and we promise to post your comments for you.
Praise be - iPhone 3G announced
On Monday, tech disciples across the land reverently awaited the second coming of the gadget known to many as The Jesus Phone. Yes, the iPhone 3G was finally announced, with a surprise price drop and new features such as GPS - Hallelujah. For what we are about to receive, we are truly grateful, Mr Jobs.
When it comes to companies excelling at branding and PR, is there a better example than Apple? The company that changed the future of mobile with its revolutionary iPhone is the undisputed champion of one key thing: good communication.
From the way their products engage with you – their clean, accessible and intuitive interfaces making them unmistakeably ‘Apple’ – to the way their offices look and their representatives dress, this is a company whose brand values are translated through every fibre of their existence. And with superb PR, whose control over every detail of every new announcement creates a level of anticipation unseen anywhere else in the tech sphere, these messages are then communicated flawlessly to the public. For what other company would so many journalists worldwide blog live for two hours throughout a press conference, as they did on Monday night? How many stories aside from the iPhone 2 announcement would get 20 million hits on Engadget?
Apple is coherent, controlled, creative and colossal, because of the way they communciate; their omnipotence is demonstrated in the way they speak so well to each other, to the press, and to the consumer. And this is at the heart of all good PR. PR isn’t about taking a product, a business, or a person and dressing it up until the original offering is barely recognisable – it’s about getting to its core, and presenting its heart in as clear a way as possible. Unless you work closely with your PR agency, building strategy on a solid foundation of clear brand values, you haven’t got a prayer. Especially when you’re up against a behemoth like Apple.
This will only take a minute...
After bustling into the office this morning, waiting for the kettle to boil for what seemed like an age, and desperately trying to chivvy my computer along with an obviously fruitless ‘come on, come on’, my impetuous eye was caught by an interesting story on the BBC website. Apparently, ‘web users are getting more ruthless and selfish when they go online’, and are increasingly aggressive when it comes to web activity.
According to research conducted by Jakob Nielsen, users are not interested in lingering on websites and sampling the array of widgets and promotions that are now available to them – they just want to get online, get the job done, and get out again. And why is that? Given that we’re generally much better at surfing the net than we were even just a couple of years ago, why aren’t we enthusiastically taking advantage of our new playground?
Well, given that the majority of Londoners can hardly wait 2 minutes for a tube train without having an aneurism, this news comes as no surprise. A skinny soya latte from Starbucks can’t come quick enough for the young professionals whose very existence is given meaning by their Swarovski Blackberry. Does this news mean that the internet is now just another part of our Big Mac-munching, express-delivery, quick-fix culture? Are we missing the point of the most remarkable invention of our age, through our own impatient nature?
Of course not. We’re not being selfish, we’re making the most of this amazing resource. Unlike a hamburger, the information highway was built for haste. I don’t use nationalrail.co.uk instead of the phone because I can’t bear the sound of another human voice – I choose it because it’s quicker and easier. Likewise, I don’t use Google maps because I can’t muster the strength to open an atlas – I use it because it’ll save me a good sixty seconds.
Other than some particularly outrageous Facebook tagging, it’s going to take something pretty special to hold my attention – so, if you’re still reading, thanks for sticking around…
The Apprentice: Harsh truths
If you’re a fan of The Apprentice (come on, who isn’t?) you will have enjoyed the delusions of several young professionals, whose indefatigable arrogance in the face of crushing failure makes for an amazing kind of weekday telly. See Jen, the self-confessed ‘best saleswoman in Europe’ who didn’t manage to flog enough Avocado & Chilli ice-cream to keep her out of the boardroom in week five. Or Ben, the ‘good Jewish boy’ who thought having a Muslim holy man bless a chicken made it kosher. What a schmuck.
This series has got me thinking. Not just about why some contestants choose to refer to themselves in the third person (‘Lee McQueen is concerned’) – but also about the staggering difference between our perception and the reality of how many of us present ourselves. The immaculately coiffed Raef claims that ‘the spoken word is [his] tool’; but after his assessment that women between the sizes of 16-32 are so ‘because they like cake’, we wonder whether this tool is more of a sledgehammer than a precision drill.
Good PR is about helping an individual or a company to communicate efficiently in what can often be a high-pressure environment. We help clients to create and project a clear and consistent message about their product or brand; we build press tools which reflect the character of their business; we make sure the media understand exactly what the offering is all about.
But, Raef and those like him should be warned – this isn’t about fluff and deceptions, shadows and lies… good PR companies rely on the integrity of their teams and their clients, and PR is effectively used to push only those products and services that will stand up to scrutiny into the harsh media spotlight. Frankly, this year’s bunch of blundering backstabbers should have kept out of the firing line altogether.
A Brave New Media World
The menacing shadow of new media has long loomed large over the print news industry, but a survey carried out by Zogby International suggests that 85% of the UK’s newspaper editors are optimistic about the future.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/may/07/pressandpublishing.digitalmedia?gusrc=rss&feed=media
Of course, the newspaper landscape has in recent decades been hewn into an unrecognisable and threatening terrain: readers find their news for free online, or in the number of freesheets which are thrust upon us every day at every city street corner. Meanwhile, traditional media is being forced to up its game, with journalists said to produce three times as much copy as they would have thirty years ago and teams working to tighter budgets than ever. So, while editors are free to be optimistic about the scope for editorial opportunity, a more pessimistic question is where to find the cash with which to enter this brave new world.
One thing that seems certain is that it will take a new breed of journalist to navigate this new territory. While some PRs still differentiate strongly between online and print media, it seems likely that there will come a time when all journalists need to be as savvy online as they are on the page – a time when, in fact, we get the majority of our news from the web and newspapers are something nice and free to read on the train.
So, just as editors realise that it’s time to make sure their staff understand the online news agenda, surely it’s time for we in the PR industry to do the same. In this age of technological revolution, there isn’t a single PR company out there who can afford to ignore the increasing relevance of online and multi-platform campaigns - just as it’s natural for us to treat TV, radio and print as parts of one machine, we should by now have accepted online media as a fundamental and increasingly important element of our remit. For those out there who still see online PR activity as ‘specialist’ or ‘niche’, the future is closer than you think.
Griffin's fantastic review from What Hi Fi
More praise for the Griffin Evolve this week, with a sparkling review from the home entertainment experts at What Hi Fi magazine. The stylish, wireless iPod dock received a fantastic four stars out of five in a review that can be found in the latest issue of the sound bible, and we couldn't be more thrilled.
Explaining how the portable speakers will continue to play when they are taken away from the main unit, the reviewer remarks that the product boasts a 'strong signal that's remarkably robust. Griffin claims anything up to 150 feet and it's not kidding'.
And the reviewers are pretty impressed with the sound too: 'the bass is strong but not overly present; where some dock systems over compensate and end up with bass that's loud but lacking in articulation, the Evolve does a good job of knitting the sound together.'
Nice work, Griffin.
Just another day at the office
There's certainly never a dull moment when you're working with the quirky gadgeteers at iwantoneofthose.com - and last week was no exception. The Beam team headed out to a top secret countryside location to film the latest craze to come off the IWOOT shelves: The Rolerball. Yep, you can ditch the bike and bin your walking boots: rolling around in this big, inflatable ball is officially the only way to get around this summer...
There were thrills, there were spills, and there were plenty of chuckles as the team tested out their hamster-powers for the afternoon - and thankfully, these were all caputured on film. The final edit caused much amusement when we sent it to our tech friends on a Friday afternoon.
See the movie here: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=A7pMNhCF-MM
Melanie steals the (Paul O Grady) show
With her dazzling smile and Northern charm, you might already think that Melanie Sykes is magic. But did you know she was a dab hand at tricks, too?
Allow us to explain. When the lovely Melanie hosted popular magazine programme The Paul O’Grady Show, she wowed the audience with none other than the severed arm from Freaky Body Illusions. The studio audience was certainly impressed with her performance – and so were we.
Have a look at the picture above. Do you think you could match the magical Melanie?
Rockaoke on a roll
Following an extraordinary showcase event at London’s Sway bar last week, Rockaoke’s fanbase is growing faster than Wino’s beehive. This morning on popular morning show LK Today, style expert Nick Ede explained to Lorraine why the band is ‘one of my favourite things’.
Showing a clip of Kirsty and Dan rocking out, Nick exclaimed: ‘Ricky Wilson of Kaiser Chiefs, well he joined them on stage in Ibiza! So it’s really big! So that’s rockaoke.co.uk. I think that’s a really good fun thing.’
Well, Nick, so did the revellers who were still throwing shapes four hours after the showcase was scheduled to have finished. Hey’ it’s only rock ‘n’ roll – but we like it.
Griffin gets 5 stars from T3
What’s better than five stars? Exactly. Nothing tops five stars. Which is why Griffin, maker of cool and quirky iPod accessories, will be extremely chuffed to hear that their brilliant iTrip Auto was given top marks in the latest review from T3 magazine.
The T3 team called the iTrip Auto ‘a breeze to set up’, and agreed that ‘this iTrip looks the shizzle. Its rubberised black buttons and reverse complement the faux chrome OLED display perfectly’. At this point we were pretty pleased, but by the time they’d described the kit as ‘a stonker’, we were beside ourselves.
Read the full review in the mag, and also online here: http://www.t3.com/audio-equipment/audio-equipment-accessories/griffin-itrip-auto-smartscan-review
Thanks very much to the T3 team – and well done Griffin.
This could be you
On 17 April, behold as the Gods of Rawk rain thunderous power chords upon those worshipping at the altar of Rock’n’Roll.
At Sway bar, we’ll be gathering the biggest crowd of Eighties throwbacks you’ll find outside Shoreditch, for a real rock bonanza. We’re encouraging anyone with a vocal performance as big as their barnet to have a few beers (free, until they run out anyway), and get behind the mic to sing some rock classics backed by Rockaoke, a professional live karaoke band. We want to show you – PRs, journalists, events managers, chimney sweeps – how much fun Rockaoke can add to the events you’re planning.
And the best bit? You’re invited. Places are limited though, so make sure you arrive at Sway bar in Holborn (www.swaybar.co.uk) as close to 6:30pm as you can. We’ll be striking up the band at 7:30pm, so don’t miss your chance to make that dream of stardom a reality.
For those about to Rockaoke… we salute you.
Gotcha...
If you fall for a prank faster than it takes to say ‘Spaghetti Harvest’, then you’ve probably had a rough morning. Because today is April Fools Day, and thanks to the joke-loving online press, spoof news stories are spreading faster and further than ever.
We at Beam have to confess that we were guilty of pulling the wool over your eyes today too, with the help of the cheeky monkeys at iwantoneofthose. The Dynamo keyboard, which ‘launched’ today, was the ultimate in eco-tech, ingeniously powering your entire computer through the kinetic energy of your typing. Have a look at the details here (you’ll notice from the spec that this is, curiously, not for the lactose intolerant):
http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/dynamo-green-keyboard/index.html
Loads of huge sites showed their sense of humour by running the story, including Gizmodo – which named the Dynamo keyboard the best April Fool of the day. So apologies to any of you out there who were fooled – but our advice is to keep your wits about you next year. Oh, and watch out for those flying pigs.
Cebit 2008
While old sages of the tech game may remember a time when Cebit attracted almost as many UK journalists as its glittering Las Vegas counterpart, CES, it seems that the Hannover-based technology show has in recent years become an increasingly B to B affair.
But for those out there who think the show has taken a turn for the serious, we’ve got photographic evidence to prove otherwise. Well, it made us smile on our trek through the 27 halls, anyway.
See our top five moments of Cebit 2008, below...
1. Oompah band
Wilkommen auf Cebit. In the spirit of unashamed national stereotyping, visitors to Cebit were greeted this year by a good old-fashioned oompah band. The bratwurst platter and ready-towelled sunbeds are just out of camera shot, unfortunately.
2. Woman on scooter thing
OK, so she’d mown down four brand managers in one morning. But, thought Heidi, at least the big scooter diverted the attention from that pastel polo neck.
3. Big heads
Yes, the big head costumes were eye-catching. But perhaps impractical, thought Hermann, when he realised he’d wandered blindly into the car park.
4. Sony Ericsson gets down with the kids
We’re glad to see that Brian Harvey is getting gigs again. Full marks to the stylist who teamed this backwards, Burberry-check baseball cap (may I never need write this sequence of words again) with perhaps the most appropriate T-shirt a trade show has ever seen. FYI, Sony Ericsson, we hear that the kids from So Solid Crew are knocking about next year.
5. And finally... wood man
And, of course, no technology trade show would be complete without: wood sculpture. What mate, the Viking Longboat Construction Fair? Nah, that’s next door.
The Old Ones are the Best
Having made the annual decision to give it up for Lent, the very whisper (Wispa? did you say Wispa?) of any kind of chocolate is currently enough to turn my head. Which explains why my eye was this morning drawn to a national newspaper story about Mars bars - apparently, the company is to revive that classic slogan (and tune) 'A Mars a day helps you work, rest and play'.
In between dreams of Milkybar and snacking on marshmallows - don't bother, it's not the same - I got to thinking about what this is all about. Resurrecting a slogan from 1959? Why, in order to find a breath of fresh air, do we need to delve into the past? Have we all run out of ideas or something? To be fair, the tagline has been made contemporary through abbreviation, and will now read simply: 'work, rest, play'. (At a time when our young people are too busy even to use vowels anymore, we're surprised they didn't go the whole hog with 'wrk,rst n ply').
Or is this just a reaction to a current and potent craze for nostalgia, a love of retro? Look at the recent Rubik's cube renaissance. Note how we're all using the iPlayer to watch Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes. See the Facebook campaign to bring back the aforementioned Wispa: the perfect harmony of new and old school, you might say. While we take huge technological strides forward, and the future rushes towards us faster than ever, why are we all so keen to hang on to the past?
Maybe I've just had a few too many marshmallows, but maybe it's because of our fast-changing landscape that we are all so keen to hang onto the constancy of the past. In a world where your mobile phone goes out of date in just a few months, at a time when we're about to say goodbye to analogue telly, at a time where gadgets come and go within the year (what, don't tell me you've still got the ORIGINAL iPod??) these are the things that give us fond memories. You see, you just don't have time to build a lasting love with today's tech - it's all past its 'best before' in the blink of an eye.
One more thing - how many more days until Easter Sunday?
Sparkling review of Griffin speakers from Shiny
The praise just keeps on coming for iPod specialist Griffin... The girls at Shiny Shiny have been reviewing the wireless Evolve speakers, and look like they've had jolly good fun doing it too. Although Susi seems to get a little bit frustrated with her iPod in the process, she seems much happier with these portable speakers. Click on the link below, and check out their video review:
http://www.shinyshiny.tv/2008/02/shiny_review_gr.html
Always nice to see another happy customer. Thanks very much to the Shiny team for taking the time to test the kit.
Good Stuff
You’ve got to hand it to those guys at Stuff magazine. Cast your minds back to the Beam birthday party (see scribblings from 4th February, below) and marvel at their dedication. While everyone else’s inhibitions are disappearing out of the window faster than a TV from Donny Tourette’s hotel room, the Stuff team is coolly nursing that Flirtini, ever pondering their next issue.
Yes, little did we know that, as we murdered much-loved classic hits from Nirvana to No Doubt, the Stuff kids were taking notes. And now, three weeks later, the Beam team is thrilled to see their name in print, beside the fantastic Rockaoke who have made it into the ‘Stuff Loves’ section.
Big thanks to the Stuff team for spreading the word. For more Rockaoke info, go to www.rockaoke.co.uk
Griffin Evolve speakers get top marks from Stuff
How good is it when celebrities get top marks on Dancing on Ice? Exactly. It’s the best thing ever. So, imagine how excited the team at Griffin Technology was to hear that their Evolve speakers had received a brilliant five out of five from Stuff.tv for their brilliant Evolve wireless iPod speakers.
Evolve, which allows you to move cube-shaped speakers from room to room and hear your favourite tracks 150m from the docking station, was praised for its simplicity and compact design. You can read the full review here:
http://stuff.tv/Review/Griffin-Evolve/
Evolve is perfect for parties, and is bound to be a smash hit this barbecue season. And with a result like that, looks like Griffin will be having a little celebration of their own. Well done, team.
Happy 15 February
It’s very strange. We’ve already allowed for the fact that even first class post can end up appearing 24 hours late, but we’re starting to get a little bit concerned about where our Valentine’s Day bouquet has got to. Oh, well, we’re sure the courier is on his way now.
*sigh*
In the meantime, we’ve been wondering about this perennially controversial calendar date. Frankly, if Saint V was our client, we’d be seriously concerned about his public image – think of all the people who await the arrival of February 14th with a sense of doom:
1. Singletons (you won’t get any presents, but complaining about it makes you look like a sourpuss)
2. Happy couples (there’s nothing like enforced romance and competitive gifting to put pressure on an otherwise solid relationship)
3. Unhappy couples (this is the one day you definitely have to spend time together, even though you can’t stand the sight of each other)
So, more or less everyone, then.
We think that Valentine’s Day needs a little something: some good PR.
So, here’s how we would go about taking Saint Valentine from zero to hero.
- Reassess those brand values. Start thinking ‘timeless’, think 'excess'. Your partner would definitely appreciate a deluge of cheap teddy bears and ten boxes of Ferrero Rocher more than one meal in a quality restaurant
- Make sure your spokespeople are up to the job. That infuriating couple (who have only known each other for a week) gushing about their amazing champagne breakfast aren’t going to get anyone on side. Let’s get someone whose relationship is / was a bit less perfect (Kerry Katona? Paul McCartney?) to make Valentine’s Day a bit more accessible
- Chocolates for every journalist in the country probably wouldn’t go amiss. An expensive proposal, but the nominally out-of-date stuff is usually quite a bargain
Makes sense, yes? Oh, and if you see a courier wandering around with gifts looking for Rosoman Place, give us a shout, will you?
Keeping a level head through the ups and the downs
In a thought-provoking podcast for The Times, the president of the world’s biggest aluminium producer described how advancements in technology, particularly the internet, have finally ‘made the world flat’. According to Klaus Kleinfeld, who is also the chief operating officer of Alcoa, our global communication network means that it’s possible (if not necessarily desirable) to have a team working together across a number of countries; it’s possible to find in-depth information about more or less any subject you like with just a few clicks of the mouse; it’s possible that now, for businesses, ‘the only sustainable competitive advantage, probably, is the type of people you have’ working for you.
It’s an interesting concept: this ‘flatness’ of the world, created by the internet. There are certainly ways outside the business landscape that the Web has levelled out our playing field – an example being students with lesser access to libraries than their peers, or to expensive specialist texts, who are now able to do their research through the internet available at school or college. But, returning to the field of business, have the vast technological resources at our disposal really evened things up a little? And more specifically, is the PR playing field any flatter thanks to the 2.0 revolution?
Arguably, the path of online PR is more perilous than any other. Do it well, and the kingdom of new media will be yours; do it badly, and there’ll be no mercy. Think of the interviews with a certain global mega-brand, featuring overbearing and interfering PRs, being passed from one gleeful online journalist to another. Think of the businesses who were setting up blogs before the word had settled itself into the lexicon, delivering posts that were pointless, off-message and (most importantly) off-brand. And (*gulp*) think of the PRs, named and shamed last year on a prominent blog for sending irrelevant press releases to its cheesed-off editor.
In short, the power of the internet is both liberating and dangerous; it’s not just about putting these tools to use – it’s knowing how to use them expertly, and knowing that the road won’t necessarily be smooth, let alone flat.
What you want to hear, when you want to hear it - Radiopaq launches today
Unless you’ve been living in a nuclear bunker for the past few months, or simply lost interest in music when the Cheeky Girls were in the charts, you’ll have heard the news about the changing landscape of digital music. Now that the Net has altered the way we listen to our favourite tracks (so long, CDs, hello iTunes and internet radio), the race is on to see who will be the next trailblazer when it comes to listening online.
With sites such as Last.fm and Qtrax clamouring to provide the most appealing offers for web-savvy music lovers, one thing is clear. We’re a hungry, impatient bunch when it comes to content. What do we want? Everything. When do we want it? NOW.
Which is why we’re so excited to announce our fantastic new client: Radiopaq.
Radiopaq is a portal featuring on-demand radio, podcasts and news services, and it’s the easiest way of finding all the entertainment and information you want to hear. It features thousands of global radio stations and a dedicated podcast library, all available now, with new content being added every day. Want to listen to your home footie team on your local station, wherever you are in the world? No problem. Want to hear the latest podcast from Russell Brand? It’s all there. Like to try out a bit of Radio Armenia, followed by Terry Wogan’s latest broadcast? Erm, that’s fine, whatever floats your boat.
The fact is that the choice is yours – whatever you want to hear, whenever you want to hear it. Go on, visit www.radiopaq.com and try it for yourself. It’s currently in beta format, so if you’ve got any comments or ideas about the site then we’d love to hear from you.
All work and no play? Beam takes time out at the Toy Fair
Plato famously said, ‘you can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation’. Except for when the conversation is sambuca-fuelled, in which case you can probably learn more about a person in five minutes than you’ll ever wish to know, this is largely true. Are you the one who falls off their chair playing Pop Up Pirate? Then you’re probably of a nervous disposition. The one who gets RSI playing Hungry Hippos? Fiercely competitive, potentially borderline sociopath. The one who always loses at Jenga? A clumsy oaf.
So, what does the kit on offer at the show say about the kids of today? Well, robots were big news at the Toy Fair, from the impeccably old-school (see above) to the cutting edge. The Pleo – the hotly anticipated baby dinosaur robot, which hit the news back in 2007 but had not made much of a public debut since – was on display, demonstrating its super-responsive movements and lifelike look. Rex the Dawg (who we first encountered at CES – see below) provided more gadget animal magic, while inventor Mark Tilden has created another gem for Wowee’s robot portfolio with the fantastic Fembot. We also love the i-Sobot, a tiny creation which can perform some pretty complicated manoeuvres: balancing on one leg, and doing a handstand, amongst others.
Funny, isn’t it? While the parents spent their formative years on a Space Hopper, today’s youth has been busy programming their mechanical menials to do their bidding. In the end it means that, when it comes to games – from Battleships to Burnout Paradise – the kids could probably wipe the floor with you.
Happy Birthday to Beam
Four years old already, hey. Beam may be getting on a bit these days, but the birthday bash we had recently proved that we’re still as young at heart as ever. We packed a hundred of our nearest and dearest into the church hall on Exmouth market, got them all revved up on a bit of pink champagne and unleashed the evening’s entertainment: rockaoke.
For the uninitiated amongst you, this is karaoke with a live band – you can finally fulfil your dreams of rock stardom without a spell in rehab. It does seem to bring out the Mick Jagger within, judging from some of the outlandish performances (and costumes, for that matter) displayed that night…
The stage was packed all evening, and the vocal gymnastics were followed by some foot-stomping, hand-clapping, singalong indie disco tunes. There was even a gargantuan delivery of pizza, piping hot from the local Italian, which lasted for all of ten seconds. Rock is hungry work, it seems.
Highlights from the evening included:
1. An admirably reckless stage dive from one of the guys at T3
2. An emotionally charged performance of 80s classic ’18 and Life’ by the Stuff boys
3. An alarmingly athletic rendition of ‘Roxanne’ by Beam’s resident musician Andy Stafford
We’re already looking forward to the next birthday. We’re not, however, looking forward to the morning after, when an inspection of photographic evidence suggests that thanks to that fake blonde mullet you looked less like Jon Bon Jovi and more like Pat Sharp.
Thanks muchly to MC Hannam and DJ Davies for providing gags and tunes respectively. For more pics, see the Beam Agency group on Facebook.
CES 2008, Las Vegas
You thought you’d heard all the big news from the mighty Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas: Warner’s shock announcement that they will drop HD-DVD and now support only Blu-ray, the gargantuan telly from Panasonic spanning a whopping 150 inches, the final predictions from tech guru Bill Gates as he hangs up his gadget cap. For all the details, check out news from the hottest tech sites on the net – T3, Stuff, Pocket Lint, Gizmodo, Tech Digest, Shiny Shiny, Electric Pig, Tech Radar and Cnet have also posted great stuff after their stint at the show.
But here at the Beam blog, you can find some of the more random stuff from gadget land. Have a look at the posts below to find the kit that didn’t quite hit the headlines, but is pretty good value anyway… And, of course, we’ll be awarding each with a coveted Beam Award.
Gibson tent
In the hustle and bustle of CES, Las Vegas, amongst the gadget chaos and press hysteria, the last place you would expect to find refuge is a chapel of rock. But the Gibson guitar tent, set apart from the rest of the Consumer Electronics Show, is a veritable haven for those who have seen one iPod accessory too many.
The Gibson tent includes a selection of guitars, complete with effects boxes and headphones – just pop them on, and retreat into your own little world where you’re The Boss. There’s a stage where some of the less inept performers can share their talent with the group, and even Hollywood star Kevin Costner made an special appearance for the CES crowd (you can’t win ‘em all, apparently).
Air Guitar Belt - ‘Beam Award for Most Self-Indulgent Tech’
For those blessed with a whole lot of enthusiasm but not a great deal of talent, the Air Guitar Belt from Guitar can make you feel like the rock star you’ll never be. A celebration of style over substance, this brilliant little gadget connects to an amp, which in turn connects to your speakers, through which you can make some proper meaty power chords ring simply by strumming with the plectrum in an ‘air guitar’ style. Don’t worry about the left hand, just pretend you’re in the middle of some frenzied fret-wizardry, and wait for the groupies.
Mullet not included – be sure to style accordingly.
Robot Lawnmower - ‘Beam Award for Unashamed Encouragement of Laziness’
They say that we in Britain are in need of a shake-up. We eat too much fast food, we don’t do enough exercise, and our national obsession with telly means that the only time we get any fresh air is when we walk the few short steps from our front door to the car, and from the car to the office. And back again. With crusaders like Jamie Oliver and Gillian McKeith beseeching us to sort our act out, it seems we in the UK should be making a few extra resolutions this New Year.
Full marks, then, to this robot lawnmower for flying in the face of reform and giving you one more excuse to avoid engaging too intimately with nature. This little gizmo will take care of the garden, without you having to get out in the sunshine and do it yourself. Let’s hope it knows the difference between a clump of overgrown grass and the neighbour’s sleeping Persian.
Clothes Dryer - ‘Beam Award for weirdest advertising’
If you thought the Cadbury’s gorilla advert was a bit odd, you’ll be interested to note that one of the stands at CES boasted an image continuing the same strange animal theme. This collapsible dryer, which inflates with hot air to dry the clothes hanging inside it, is handy for anyone who hasn’t got space in their home for a tumble dryer – it also seems that, should you choose, you can keep an elephant in it.
As suggested usage goes, this wasn’t quite what we expected; we almost feel foolish for planning to stick our boring old socks in there. But we still think it’s a pretty good idea anyway.
Camera Goggles - ‘Beam Award for Good Intentions’
We can see it now: the azure seas, the shoals of canary-yellow fish darting in and out of the delicate coral, seaweed lapping at your bare feet like mermaids’ hair as you draft along the water’s golden bed… This great pair of goggles features a video camera, so that you can record all of your wonderful adventures below the sea.
However, the reality for us in the UK is that you’ll more likely be navigating the freezing cold waters of Blackpool, filming empty ice-cream wrappers and ominous brown torpedoes as they bob perilously close to your tech-bedecked face. So, while it’s a fantastic idea, this is probably only for those who regularly spend their summer hols in the Caribbean.
Wowee Dog - 'Beam Award for Most Heart-Rending Tech'
Who could resist this little face? Come on, people. If you find real dogs a bit of a chore, what with their smelly breath and shedding hair, muddy paws and burning desire to chew only the finest upholstery on your premises, then this little fella could be for you. No need for early morning walks, expensive dog food or clearing up little ‘accidents’. Unless, of course, he has a short circuit and burns a hole in the kitchen carpet.
Creepy advertising? It's all in your head
This week, tech lovers among you may have spotted a curious story on media news and gossip site Gawker, about a recent advertising campaign for an American TV show called Paranormal State. Above a towering billboard on a Manhattan Street sit a pair of speakers, beaming sound waves towards the unwitting pedestrians below – no sound can be heard until some poor soul moves into their path, at which point they will hear a whisper as if coming from inside their own head, asking: ‘Who’s there? Who’s there?'
http://www.shinyshiny.tv/2007/12/its_official_bi.html?dm_i=192787573
This campaign, technologically creative as it may be, has of course stirred up some strong feelings among the blogging community. Described as both ‘creepy’ and ‘a huge liability’ by Gawker users, this appears to be advertising taken a step too far. But, when we are bombarded with visual advertising all day every day (much of which we may well find intensely annoying), why are we so perturbed by an invasion of our sense of sound? Now that audio messages can be targeted in this way, isn’t this just a logical advertising step?
In this case, is it the subject matter? The ghostly whispering (presumably even more disturbing at as night draws in) isn’t communicating a particularly pleasant message when you’re walking home after nipping out for a packet of Quavers. But at the same time, you get the feeling that the crowd would be just as - if not more - annoyed by a voice in your head saying ‘Go on, buy yourself a Coke.’ Is it that, planting itself inside our own heads, this advertising is bordering on mind-control?
Or, in an age when the public understands PR and advertising better than ever, does this bizarre mixture of the two leave us feeling foxed? After all, the campaign has stepped beyond traditional advertising boundaries to gain column inches in its own right, and leaves us feeling like we’ve been part not just of an advert but also a stunt. In our cynical age, are we just a little put out that they have managed to grab our attention?
Navman and Griffin scoop Pocket Lint Awards
More exciting than Santa with a sackful of Wii’s going spare, the Pocket Lint Awards this month celebrated the gadget world’s favourite bits of kit. And what a fantastic night it was – when toasting the top tech of 2007, the Beam team cheered extra loudly for Navman and Griffin, who each managed to scoop one of the coveted prizes.
The S90i from GPS specialist Navman received yet another award when it was named at the Pocket Lint ceremony as the ‘Best GPS’ – knocking the formidable TomTom from the top spot, this was another accolade for Navman’s S-Series, their most sophisticated range which has already received several technology awards and rave reviews…
…And then applause for Griffin, whose iTrip Auto took the top spot in the ‘Best Car Gadget’ category. The device, which allows you to listen to your favourite playlists via FM radio while driving, has become a favourite amongst tech lovers and Apple addicts, and has no doubt spared many a weary traveller from a dodgy local radio station or two.
So congratulations to Navman and Griffin! And we’ll see you at the awards next year.
Doris Lessing speaks out against ‘inanities’ of the Web
Today’s press (both online and offline) was filled with the words of Doris Lessing, winner of the Nobel Prize for literature, who has warned the world that the internet is contributing to a ‘fragmenting culture’ in which ‘young men and women who have had years of education to know nothing of the world, to have read nothing’. She is not the only academic who has highlighted a future in which the Web - with a blog culture that can allow amateurism to flourish and traditional writing skills to decline - not only smothers and subdues the very craft of writing, but diverts our attention from important world issues.
Of course, there is a sour truth in what Lessing has to say about the temptations of the Web – think of all the people who check their Facebook accounts several times a day, and those who would sleep with their Blackberry on their pillow if you let them. Lessing is right in saying that ‘once they are hooked, it is hard to cut free’, and the concept of technology addiction is nothing new:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/6411495.stm
Of course it follows that, while engrossed in this virtual world, the young men and women of which Lessing speaks will not notice the real world passing them by. A woman who grew up in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), acutely aware of the harsh reality of Mugabe’s dictatorship, Lessing is clearly passionate about education on global issues for the youth of today.
However, the internet has played and continues to play an integral part in raising awareness of important world events. When, in September, the peaceful protest of Burmese monks in Rangoon ended in violence, the Junta shut down internet links in a bid to limit information to and from the outside world:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/burma/story/0,,2177667,00.html
The fact that the Junta attempted to deny spectators access to internet cafes and mobile phone links demonstrate the power of the medium - able to disseminate information to the furthest corners of the globe, the internet is a great vehicle for global education. It was through these internet reports that the world saw another side to the story, which sometimes differed from the reports of government officials.
Just like other mediums, this is a question of quality and not quantity. And, unfortunately, it is presumptuous to assume that, without the ‘inanities’ of the internet, young men and women would turn to reading and writing. Inanity will still be found, in everything from books and radio to TV and the Web. Perhaps it is better for a student to spend the day blogging seriously, developing writing skills that might otherwise not be used and accessing information that would otherwise be inaccessible, than curled up by the fire with a Jeffrey Archer.
Amazon invite us to inspect a gadget
When I was a nipper, I must confess to being something of a telly addict (programmes were so much better then. Masters of the Universe, Knightmare, the list goes on). One of my heroes came from the classic cartoon Inspector Gadget – not the title character himself but his sidekick Penny, purely because she helped the hapless hero solve each episode’s mystery using an amazing electronic book (remember?). And I think my childhood dreams might actually have been realised with the launch of Amazon’s Kindle.
This paperback-sized device not only stores up to 200 books, but also allows you to access online newspapers and blogs, and will let you buy new electronic books through the Amazon website when you’re on the move. But for everyone who salivates over the latest shiny gadget, there’s a traditionalist who will be up in arms. What happens to the romance of reading a book: the crisp pages which soften at the corners with age, the wear and tear on the best chapters, the smell of an aged favourite?
The Kindle is simply a reflection of a fast-paced culture in which commuting is a part of daily life and time is shorter than ever. And while there’s nothing better than curling up by the fire with a good book, the Kimble allows those who can never find the time to visit a library to start getting to grips with literature. Just like the iPod allows us to spend otherwise wasted minutes on a packed train becoming a die hard music lover, the Kindle might just make it more appealing to grab a good book. And shouldn’t we just be happy that we can all read more, instead of just sitting in front of the telly like I did?...
Journey to the Centre of Europe exhibition, Brussels
This week saw the opening of the fascinating ‘Journey to the Centre of Europe’ exhibition at the European Commission in Brussels. The event showcases stunning images taken by British photographer Justin Leighton as he travelled around the continent in a bid to find its centre.
Justin used a Navman GPS system to direct him (and his entourage: wife, daughters and mother-in-law) around the many different locations which have all at some point laid claim to being Europe’s centre. Taking into account social, historical and political factors as well as geographical, the family visited spots in Germany, Poland and Estonia, before completing their expedition in the Europas Parkas in Lithuania – currently considered the ‘true’ centre.
The exhibition is a charming diary in images of the family’s time on the continent. From gingerbread making to ice-hole fishing, this is a very personal tale of a story in which we all play a part.
See www.journey2.tv
iPhone launch
Praise be. On Friday, the most highly talked-about tech toy of the 21st century touched down in the UK, and scores of shoppers were waiting outside the Oxford Street Apple Store to get their hands on their very own ‘Jesus phone'.
And, rising to the iPhone’s exalted nickname, Apple addicts awaited its arrival with a devotion bordering on the religious. Fervently chanting ‘Apple’ and ‘iPhone’ as a clock counted down the seconds to launch, gleeful fans were captured by the gathered media crews cradling their new favourite gadgets with a look of beatific ecstasy.
There has surely never been quite so much hype about a gadget, and it just goes to show far we have come since technology was a topic just for the geeky guys in IT. But how mainstream is this kind of kit really, and does the press merely pay lip service to what is essentially just another trend? After all, the iPhone can’t really work technological miracles (it won’t send group SMS, can’t handle MMS and doesn’t feature 3G, for starters) – at a time when we are obsessed with ‘what’s hot and what’s not’, is the iPhone simply another style icon?
Perhaps we should try to remember when the now-ubiquitous iPod first hit the shelves. While hailed as a great gadget for music fans, it wasn’t expected to change the course of history – yet you’ll probably never make a train, bus or tube journey again without spotting those telltale white headphones. And while the arrival of the iPhone won’t send all of us into raptures just yet, it may just have begun to change the way we think about and use our mobile phones. With the best screen and web browser you’ll find on the market, and email functionality to rival even the Crackberry, Apple has done it again: the company has not just created a new piece of tech, but has perhaps changed the way we’ll live our day-to-day lives just a little bit. And, well, Amen to that.
Navman inundated with awards
Fantastic news for Navman this month, as their unstoppable S-Series scoops more than a handful of awards in print and online press. Not only was the top-of-the-range S90i named ‘Best Buy’ in a Sunday Times sat nav round up, but Navman’s latest range received awards from tech specialists at MSN Cars, PC Advisor and Stuff.tv.
MSN Cars decided that the S30 was the ‘Best Budget Buy’ of their group GPS test, while PC Advisor described the same sat nav as an ‘excellent navigation device’ before awarding it four-and-a-half stars out of five and a ‘PC Advisor Gold’ award. The Stuff.tv team was also impressed with the S-Series, slapping a ‘stuff.tv Hot Buy’ badge onto its standalone review.
Stuff and What Hi Fi? Show
There were decadent helpings of gadget goodness last week, when the Stuff / What Hi Fi? Show at the Hammersmith Novotel gave tech lovers a sneak preview of the hottest kit for 2008. After being greeted at the entrance by men in full-body sleeping bags duelling with lightsabres (courtesy, unsurprisingly, of iwantoneofthose.com), guests were invited to check out brand new devices from Nokia’s N810 to Sony’s new Vaios and Walkmans.
Click here for more news about the Stuff show and to see the team in action: http://stuff.tv/video/51-stuff-shows-best-bits/default.aspx. As well as getting a run down of their Cool List, you can see the lads channelling their inner Slash via Guitar Hero III…
Also on show were Ferguson Hill’s amazing transparent speakers, along with must-have iPod accessories from Griffin. And, for all those telly-addicts out there, Panasonic’s enormous 103-inch plasma made for an eye-catching addition to the show. X-Factor is about to get even more shocking…
In the line of duty
Some of us get into the office at the crack of dawn. Some of us don’t bother taking a lunch hour. Some of us even force themselves to do the tea round. But if you think you’re a dedicated worker spare a thought for Helen, who spent a day in a bodysuit sleeping bag. That’s taking one for the team. Thanks Helen.
Congratulations! Griffin takes MacUser award
Let's have a huge round of applause for Griffin - the company has just won the iPod Accessory Manufacturer of the Year award from MacUser. Taking the title for the second year in a row, Griffin beat strong competition thanks to great products such as the popular iTrip and unique iKaraoke, and is fast becoming established as one of the UK's leading consumer tech brands.
The Griffin team proudly accepted their award at a sparkling awards ceremony in London, just days before they release an all-new range of iPhone-compatible accessories.
Marvin's Magic on Radio 1
Just to get us all in the mood for Halloween, Marvin's Magic took a trip to the Chris Moyles breakfast show to demonstrate some Freaky Body Illusions. As you can see, Aled was keen to master the Living Hand trick...
See his performance here: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=6fwYwt53ODA
Have you worked it out yet?
Magic Marvin at the Dream Toys show
At the same time every year, the Toy Retailers Association gives mums, dads, grannies and granddads everywhere a quick heads up, compiling a list of the top toys that kids are bound to be hassling Santa for this year. So, unless you want to be trawling round every toy shop in the land like in the Great Furby Shortage of 1998, you had better get those Hasbro Optimus Prime figures and Mattel Barbie Girls in early – these are amongst the twelve gifts the TRA have selected as hot tickets for 2007.
Marvin’s Magic was one of the Christmas toy teams who rolled up to the show at 6am sharp – and the eye-wateringly early start certainly paid off when the freaky ‘Hand in a Box’ was immediately snapped up and demonstrated live on GMTV. Not what you’d usually expect to see when you’re eating your Cheerios.
Navman on Sky News, Technofile
This week, it was great to see Navman’s brand new sat nav being tested on the newly relaunched Technofile, a regular feature on Sky News online. Primarily an online show, Technofile is presented by Martin Stanford and takes a look at the latest news from the world of technology - this week’s show saw presenters from the show using the top-of-the-range Navman S90i to guide them around the centre of London.
Technofile is a great example of broadcasters investing more time and effort in their online arms – quality shows are being made by corporations from Sky to the BBC, and all the while a path to mainstream internet television is also being forged by Babelgum, Joost and Zattoo amongst others.
IWOOT Christmas Event 1
For one night only, something spectacular took place in the darkest corners of a Covent Garden bar - far from the humdrum of the city, a magical world of Sumo Suits and Inflatable Horse costumes could be found. You see, I Want One of Those, the famously fun and fabulous etailer, was busy creating a Christmas press event to remember. Over a hundred journalists and researchers came along to see Body Suit Sleeping Bags, Talking Daleks, Money Monsters and Crawling Zombies… just some of the things that will be on Christmas lists everywhere this year.
Papagenos restaurant provided the prefect theatrical backdrop for a day with a panto twist. Widow Twanky, Captain Hook, Tinkerbell and Peter Pan were on hand to keep the guests entertained with mischief and tom-foolery, while enthusiastic TV researchers tried out some of the more outlandish costumes first hand in the dedicated dressing room…
The T3 Gadget Awards
On Wednesday night, in the heart of London’s Soho, the most anticipated event of the technology calendar took place: the T3 Awards, the Oscars of the tech sector, celebrated the great and good in the world of gadgets. At the glittering Floridita, Friday Night Project host Justin Lee Collins dished out the coveted awards, to winners of everything from the Best Bachelor Gadget to the Best Gadget of All Time.
Apple certainly made their mark on the evening, walking away with no less than six awards including Most Gorgeous Gadget (for their MacBook Pro) and Best Music Gadget (no prizes for guessing that the iPod scooped this one). Though the Xbox grabbed the Best Gaming Gadget Award, Sony’s PS3 was named Best Gadget of 2007 thanks to its unbeatable multimedia functionality – interesting to see how the best consoles now include features which extend beyond the traditional gaming remit. In addition, the Nintendo Wii won the Gadget Candy award for best girls’ gadget, another example of a product that is redefining gaming, and making it available to more than just World of Warcraft fanatics.
Freaky Body Illusions
Those out there of a delicate disposition, look away now… because the latest news from the Beam team is a little more grisly than usual. Freakybodyillusions.tv, a blog which will show you some of the greatest and most gruesome tricks from Marvin’s Magic, has now gone live and will keep magic lovers and budding David Blaines out there wondering… ‘How does he do it?’
From the eye-watering ‘Brain Flossing’ to the spine-tingling ‘Living Hand’, the blog contains videos, pictures and news about some of Marvin’s finest tricks. From impromptu street performances from Freaky Body Masters to the latest news from the world of magic, freakybodyillusions.tv will keep you hooked – but be warned, they won’t be giving away any secrets…
Facebook - friends and foes
Disciples of social networking behemoth Facebook were perturbed this month to hear that it will soon be possible to search for user profiles not just through the site itself, but also through search engines like Google and Yahoo. While it’s promised that only member names and pictures will be visible to the general public, fearful Facebookers are wondering whether this is just the beginning of an inevitable erosion of their formerly watertight privacy.
Already the newspapers are filled with articles about how to make sure social networking doesn’t turn you into a social outcast: tips on how to be sure your private stuff stays just that, and that your boss / clients / parents don’t see those infamous pictures of you doing karaoke dressed as Dr Frank N Furter.
While you may think that censoring your profile, well, sort of takes the fun out of it, at the same time it seems strange that we ever considered these sites a safe place to share our secrets. Facebook is designed to share a huge amount of information with a huge number of people – the beauty of the site is that contacts, images, videos and more are effortlessly passed from one passing acquaintance to another.
They call it social networking for a reason, and if you’re only sharing stories with the friends you see every week at the pub, well, you’re not making the most of it are you?
So, at the risk of sounding like a killjoy, if there’s something you don’t want to share with the world, don’t go sticking it on the Net. After all, you don’t want your boss seeing those Ibiza pics. Unless, of course, they’ve been foolhardy enough to upload their incriminating holiday snaps too…
How real is your Second Life?
It’s likely that you’ll have read about Ofcom’s recent media study, the results of which suggested that while the general public is falling out of love with TV and radio we’re all becoming more au fait with the net than ever.
Incidentally, it has also caused some surprise that women are taking over from men as the most prolific users of the Web (in the 25-45 age bracket), and the report has of course sparked debate as to what effects this extra internet time is having on our behaviour. An interesting article entitled ‘Your Second Life will soon be as irksome as your first’ by Martina Hyde, posted on the Guardian’s Comment is Free, warns us that despite the ever-advancing capabilities of the Net, this is an area that will always be governed by age-old, fundamental truths of human nature – if we are looking for escapism we’re not going to find it in a virtual world like Second Life, which has mirrored real-life by facing its own problems with terrorism and paedophilia.
Hyde’s article is interesting, but it makes a serious and erromeous assumption that Second Life is nothing more than a retreat from the real world. True, many users find that the virtual world allows them to step beyond their real lives in a positive way – it’s reported that sufferers of Aspergers syndrome can find that the exaggerated facial expressions and body language easier to understand. But Second Life is not some kind of game. It’s a real communications tool, where you can do anything from keep in touch with friends to see a concert that you otherwise would never have been able to attend. With real shops and real services available, why assume that this is a form of escapism? And, if you’re still not convinced, shouldn’t you just be glad that people are watching less Big Brother?
Read Martina's article here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2156068,00.html
Navman wins Auto Express award
Congratulations to Navman, who have received the Auto Express Recommended Award for their N40i satellite navigation system. Their unique NavPix technology was described as ‘brilliant’, and the system praised for being ‘easy to use’.
It must be love
We hate to admit it, but the girls in the Beam team go weak at the knees whenever we get a handsome visitor to the office. Call us shallow, but if you’ve got style, elegance and class, then you’re on your way to winning our hearts.
Imagine, then, our glee this month at being appointed by Ferguson Hill, creators of the stunning designer speakers above. Already receiving rave reviews, their unique speaker systems are perfect for both tech-savvy and fashion-friendly music lovers.And, unlike those dreamboats who are better seen and not heard (think David Beckham), these speakers sound every bit as good as they look. Beauty that’s more than skin deep? We think we’ve found the perfect match.
You'll like this...
Going to a new business pitch is a serious business. You turn up, hope that the stern-looking suits on the board won’t be too intimidating, pray that they’ll like the ideas you’ve poured your heart and soul into… and breathe a big sigh of relief when you’re done. So it was fairly unusual for us to go to a pitch and be thoroughly entertained – as an ice-breaker, world class magician Marvin Berglas performed some breathtaking close-up magic for the bemused and gobsmacked Beamers.
Now, while we pride ourselves on knowing how to make him appear in the nationals, we haven’t got a clue how he got that six of clubs to appear between his teeth. That was definitely something of a ‘first’ for the Beam Team.
And even better, we’re over the moon to announce that Marvin will also be our first magician client – in a move that made us smile even more broadly than the card tricks, Beam was selected to publicise the Marvin’s Magic range of tricks. While we know it’s going to be great working with him, it’s going to be frustrating trying to work out his secrets…
Are we all going to be living a Second Life?
While the near-hysterical media hype around it seems now to be descending to a rational level, the evolution and expanding popularity of virtual world Second Life continues at pace.
A ‘virtual Tokyo’ has been unveiled, to give users a taste of the culture of the real city; the Liverpool Philharmonic orchestra is preparing to become the first ever to play a professional concert in the virtual space; and companies are realising that this is a place where adventures can be taken and interesting lessons can be learned.
We recently worked with IWOOT to launch their store in Second Life, revolutionary in that the virtual products ordered online will be delivered to your real-life door. IWOOT’s Creative Director Tim Booth is less concerned with sales generated by the venture than the opportunity to engage with customers on a new level – but is it possible that this new kind of online shopping will at some point become the norm?
There was once a time – not all that long ago, you’ll remember - when most of the general public wouldn’t consider logging their bank details on the Web for fear of fraud or some other complicated internet witchery that would undoubtedly leave them penniless.
Yet Christmas 2006 was the year of internet shopping, with John Lewis seeing a 60% rise in online sales, and 4 million products sold on Amazon in just one record-breaking December day. And while many currently presume that the world of Second Life is for those who 1) only have friends on World of Warcraft, or 2) need to get a first life, bear in mind that most critics will no doubt have already constructed a Facebook profile as painstakingly as SL users design their avatars. It may not be now, and it may not be Second Life – but it’s not unlikely that one day we’ll all be leading double lives.
Wootie Weekends
While we at Beam pride ourselves on our sunny disposition, we’ve been feeling a little sad at the fact that summer seems to have gone AWOL (those fabulous cupcakes from Exmouth Market aren’t quite the same when munched in the drizzle). However, after hatching some plans with the perennially perky gadget lovers at iwantoneofthose.com, we’ve learned that you don’t need good weather to spread a little sunshine.
Recently, iwantoneofthose.com decided to pay a visit to all their loyal fans within the UK. In just four weeks, Beam took the gadgeteers on a trip to four major cities – Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Belfast – to say hello to gadget lovers everywhere. Armed with a (fairly conspicuous) purple IWOOT taxi full of gifts and gadgets, and with fantastic local radio competitions lined up, Beam was ready to have some extra-London fun.
However, the real stars of the show were undoubtedly the Wooties – the inimitable IWOOT mascots put a smile on locals’ faces with free hugs and dances in the rain. These funny, friendly, erm, ‘faces’ managed to create hordes of new IWOOT fans. Let’s face it, these vibrant purple characters were always going to brighten up a grey day.
Sing it loud
Music to our ears, there’s more fantastic news from Beam HQ this month – we’re thrilled to announce that we have been appointed by leading iPod accessory manufacturer Griffin. While highlighting products such as the superb Amplifi sound system (see pic) we’ll be looking after the whole range of Griffin goodies, a selection which (praise be) includes the eternally entertaining iKaraoke.Being no strangers to the karaoke scene (we’ve even got VIP membership to K-Box in Soho: fact), the iKaraoke was always going to be a particular pleasure. We’ve been dying to give Whitney Houston a bit of a spin. Which perhaps goes to show that, while we can definitely help get your product noticed, we can’t be held accountable for our musical tastes…
And the winner is...
Exciting news at HQ today (sound of drum roll and cymbal crash) – Beam has been selected to handle PR around tech Bible T3’s inaugural awards ceremony. Having worked closely with the magazine since it was knee-high to a grasshopper, we’re thrilled to be involved in this great event.The T3 Awards will take place in October and will honour both the highs and the lows of technology in 2007, with the gadgets we couldn’t live without starring opposite the ones that frankly we can’t bear to get out of the box. Want to know if modern classics like the iPod will beat icons like the Nintendo Gameboy to the Best Gadget of All Time title? Well, you’ll just have to stay tuned…
The Web: Hero to 2.0
They said that iPods would get you mugged. They said that the Wii would make you break your TV / hit yourself in your own eye with its new fangled control. And now it’s the turn of Web 2.0 to get a bashing, as the inevitable backlash begins – with Andrew Keen’s book, The Cult of the Amateur: How today’s Internet is Killing our Culture set to work bloggers into a frenzy, we are led to wonder if the Net really is dumbing us all down?
Web 2.0 has made it possible for everyone with an opinion – however informed or otherwise – can now air it quite easily by harnessing the power of the Net. The internet is not about who is saying what, it’s about who is saying it the loudest, and instead of the formidable resource many of us hoped for we have found stuff of value can be obscured by stuff and nonsense. Look at Wikipedia, the ultimate collaborative effort: only recently co-founder Larry Sanger described the site as ‘broken beyond repair’, after the site became populated with inaccuracies and poor content from people who just wanted to be heard.
So, has the rise of Web 2.0 really led to the cult of the amateur, in which expert opinion and talent means nothing, as long as everybody gets a go? Well, this is nothing new. Ever since Shipwrecked and Big Brother began the reality TV phenomenon – way before MySpace, YouTube and other social networking took shape – we have learned to believe that you don’t need talent to make your voice heard. Just a bit of confidence.
And isn’t that why the nation loved shows like Pop Idol and X factor? You, along with everyone else in the nation, get to have a pop at the title – you might get your face on TV. Surely the fact that Jade Goody has risen to celebrity status proves that the cult of the amateur exists without Web 2.0? The internet might be perpetuating this culture – but it isn’t to blame.
Beam is recruiting May 2007
It’s a cliché we know, but we’re always keen to hear from people interested in joining the Beam team. We appreciate that the lack of a website (oh the shame of it) gives you somewhat limited information about who we are and what we do, but in a nutshell - our current clients include the leading satellite navigation brand Navman, the fantastic gadget and gift website iwantoneofthose.com, the stylish yet very practical L.I.P.S luggage range and the innovative Bluetooth accessory brand Mogo, from Newton Peripherals. We’d like to think of ourselves as: creative, smart, honest and genuinely passionate about results. All sounds rather self congratulatory doesn’t it? But there you go, we’ve told you about our best assets, now tell us about yours (within reason of course). See our homepage for contact details.
Picture Yourself There May 2007
This month saw the launch of Picture Yourself There, a blog created by our satellite navigation client, Navman. Have a peek at pictureyourselfthere.net, and you’ll see how they’ve taken a host of topical, interesting and just downright fabulous locations, and turned them into NavPix – this means that, using a Navman, you can download all the details straight onto your sat nav and visit whichever ones take your fancy. They’ll be posting a new locations each day, so check out the blog for some holiday inspiration…
Fooled you! April 2007
Not exactly the toughest PR job in the world . . . develop an April Fool for our gadget friends iwoot.com. Beam developed the concept of the Robogirlfriend and Roboboyfriend and worked with a fantastic illustration team (Louise and Mark from Aardvart) to devise credible working drawings of this “must have” gadget. From there on in, it was a case of seeding the story online with bloggers who were equally up for the joke.
Who fooled who in the end? Ethel from Bognor was apparently quite confused. Ultimately, it was a fun story that spread across the world wide web faster than you could say Spaghetti Harvest. And the results – lots and lots of stories appeared on UK, US, Australian and many European based websites and blogs.
Beam also received a request from a well known International newswire agency for an interview with the inventor of the product (so we guess they were fooled?). The Australian business website ITnews.com.au ran the story of IWOOT’s April Fool alongside Google, the BBC and Nasa jokes. And the bottom line - traffic to the IWOOT website was up 8 times compared with the previous weeks statistics.
IWOOT appointment - March 2007
Nobody quite appreciates gadgets like the Beam Team do. Whether it’s the latest, top-end, gas powered, costs-as-much-as-a-light-aircraft outdoor barbeque or just a pair or battery-powered racing grannies, we’re guaranteed to love it.Imagine, then, our delight at being appointed by the gadget and gift gurus at iwantoneofthose.com! The Beam Team is thrilled to announce that we will be working with the e-tailer to really shout about their fantastic product range and develop the brand’s profile. Look out for the latest IWOOT products, campaigns and events, and just think how much fun we’ve had putting everything in place…
Beam office is One! February 2007
If you’d been here a year ago, when Beam was moving home, you’d know that we were just a few tables, with computers and files all over the place, a suspicious looking electric heater and no carpet. In truth, it looked a little bit like a car park. But gadzooks, you should see us now.
As of February 1st, we have spent exactly one year on our own floor at number 1 Rosoman Place. And, my, haven’t we grown. We’ve got new clients, new staff, and a new lease of life.
And not only that... We’ve got some brand new housemates in the form of DnA PR, another boutique style agency who now shares our office space. DnA work on movie PR (very showbiz), so not only do they have some great chat and free DVDs, but they have some brilliant ideas that we can all share and share alike.
We decided to celebrate with a few post-office drinks. Eschewing our usual on the market, the lovely Medcalf, we journeyed to the Queen Boudica on St John Street (look at that, DnA encouraging us to broaden our horizons already). A few glasses of red wine later we’re all feeling very good about the past year, and enthusiastic about the next.
If we managed to come so far in 2006, just imagine what we can do in 2007. We’ve already got a few tricks up our sleeve. Keep your eye on Beam Enterprise for details of something completely different...
CES January 2007
For every self-respecting technophile, the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is sure to be marked in the calendar (or Microsoft Outlook). Every year the products get smarter, the hype gets bigger, and the news gets faster as more and more bloggers make the trip to the USA so that their readers can get news about the latest tech goodies as it appears. The business pages suggested that there were a few pieces of kit to look out for, including a social networking site from Disney, a watch from Sony Ericsson which would allow users to field calls, check emails and play music, and Near Field technology from Nokia. However, most of us were planning to keep an eye on the battle between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD, and were expecting to see some rather exciting players from Warner Bros and LG compatible with both. This CES was clearly all about the big guns.And then came along the biggest gun of all. The mighty Apple announced the iPhone, and secured front page news on The Times, The Telegraph and The Guardian. Mobile phone and widescreen iPod in one, this Internet friendly gizmo includes ‘desktop-class’ web browsing, email and searches. Wi Fi compatible and with Google Maps navigation, the iPhone also features a display that knows when it’s is portrait or landscape and can change the brightness of the screen according to just how moody the lighting is. A nice touch is the Visual Voicemail, a feature which allows you to view your voicemails and select the one you want, rather than having to listen to them all in chronological order.And lo, the world of tech looked on what Apple had done and saw that it was good. It does, however, come at a cost – at $499 some cynics have suggested that the iPhone is just beyond the reach of the ordinary consumer, yet doesn’t really compete with other devices such as the Blackberry for the business users who can afford it. However, many others argue that, whatever its drawbacks, people will buy it anyway...
In my day, all we had was sticky backed plastic - January 2007
There’s a man in one corner doing magic tricks. Sonic the Hedgehog is having a look at the Brio. And a man is blowing bubbles in my face that smell of chicken (designed for dogs, you see). This is no ordinary day at the office. This is a day at the TOY FAIR. If you think that a trip to the Toy Fair at ExCel will be like a second childhood, where you’ll be jolted back into the days when you had a Rainbow Brite lunchbox and knew all the names of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, you can think again. However cool your kit was, it doesn’t come close to what’s on offer here. The kids of today are so high tech, they can probably pimp your VCR so that it can play Blu-Ray by the time you’ve learned how to record Coronation Street, and the manufacturers know it.You see, it’s all about robotics in 2007. One of the most hotly-tipped creations is the Pleo, a baby dinosaur that can ‘learn’ things as you look after it. Fitted with sensors left right and centre, it’s so sophisticated that if you handle it too roughly, it will flinch the next time you go to make the same movement. And the latest robot inventions from WoWee are similarly breathtaking – Robopanda, who’ll read interactive bedtime stories to the kids, Roboquad, an incredible four-legged creature who looks so alive it’s untrue, and the Flytech Dragonfly who’ll be buzzing around mildly irritated parents right through to Christmas.Also in 2007, it seems that licensed products will be big news – Spiderman, High School Musical and The Simpsons branded products were popular at the fair. And of course, the fabulous Spyke robot, pictured...
LIPS on This Morning - December 2006
Lovely to see the L.I.P.S. laptop bag being admired by none other than Mr Philip Schofield today on This Morning, as he and Fern gathered together the best Christmas gifts for Dads.
Welcome, Leonie! November 2006
You know that bit in Mary Poppins, when the slightly anaemic-looking children sing a song about the perfect nanny, and the lyrics go up the chimney and then, as if by magic, the perfect nanny arrives at the house? Well, Leonie’s introduction to the Beam Team was a bit like that.Still reeling from the shock of Jenny Davey’s departure (as you’ll see from previous posts, Jen left us to go and have adventures in New Zealand) the Beam Team set to work looking for her replacement. ‘As if there could ever be a replacement,’ we cried. Trying to find someone to fill Jenny’s stack-heel leopard-print Mary-Janes seemed too insurmountable a task to comprehend.Then Lady Leonie breezed in, spit spot. Just like the song, ‘rosy cheeks, no warts’, although we haven’t yet seen her ‘play games, all sorts’. Actually, we’re also waiting for her to ‘take us on outings, give us treats, sing songs, bring sweets’, so that’s something to think about, Miss Martin.But thus far, Leonie seems practically perfect in every other way. Full of beans, enthusiasm and the joys of spring, Leonie has taken on every Beam-based challenge with spoonful of sugar. Welcome to the Beam Team, Leonie!
Soho's Shining Star relocates to New Zealand - October 2006
Stop Press: Yet another award fell into the lap of ‘London Based Tech Shop’ (PR Week, 2006) Beam Agency this week, when their social coordinator, events manager and all-round good egg Jennifer Davey was appointed Unofficial Karaoke Ambassador for the Antipodes. In November, she will be jetting to the other side of the world to take up her new post (and to do some surfing, and to ‘catch some rays’).
The award recognises Jenny’s outstanding contribution in the field of karaoke, and the news follows her recent relocation from the relatively dingy Karaoke Box to the much cleaner (and redder) Lucky Voice. Critics have suggested that her flair for the tambourine helped her rise above the competition. ‘Her performance brought tears to our eyes,’ said one Soho resident. ‘We wanted to give her the outstanding achievement award, but she gets more marks for effort, really.’
Boysstuff Event - September 2006
Shopping list for Boysstuff Christmas showcase:
1. Space hopper race track
2. Promo girls
3. Battle tanks / helicopters / racing cars
4. An array of robots
5. A gold man on stilts
6. Free booze
7. A man in a box
8. Canapes (Hot dogs? Pizza? Chips? Yes.)
9. Gorillas (mountain, x2) plus keeper
10. Mini motorbikes
11. Candy floss makers / popcorn machines
12. Clairvoyant
13. Journalists
That's England Alright - Summer 2006
NEWSFLASH: The PR world was taken by storm recently when the daring Beam Agency began their campaign to get World Cup song That’s England Alright ‘into the national consciousness’.
As soon as PR guru Jenny Davey was put in charge of the TEA account, Beam began a PR push that included radio drops at 5am in the morning, prolonged harassing of both national and regional radio stations, a visit to the Liverpool docks to drum up local support and an elaborate launch party at HMV in Newcastle (naturally involving Beam's beloved karaoke). It was a hard slog, but the team revelled in the results – at least eleven copies of the CD were sold in Newcastle alone.
‘We’re thrilled,’ said Jenny, who has also guided vocalist Kate and her pianist Tim in their musical career (she does the door at their charity gigs). ‘Probably around fifty people turned up and appeared in the video, so to sell so many copies is fantastic. We’re really excited about shifting those units!’
‘Predictions suggest that we’re entering the charts at about number 148,’ she added. ‘But we’ve got our fingers crossed for a number one.’
Home Sweet Home - February 2006
As all good things must come to an end, so must our time on the top floor of 1 Rosoman Place. After 18 months sharing an office with super branding agency 300million, we’re finally parting company. ‘It’s not you,’ they said. ‘It’s me’. Truth is, we’ve grown too big for our table up there – our happy band of Beamers has grown from two to six in the space of a year, and we need a new home. So we’re moving. Downstairs.
After three months of debate as to what colour the carpet should be (we eventually settled on beige) and a number of office-based furniture workshops (Jenny’s shelving creation still astounds us all, not least because it’s still standing) the Beam team have made the journey down to the second floor.
Setting up a new office is hungry work – so after a long day, we celebrated our new start with some cheese (both the savoury foodstuff and the music) and wine. OK, so it looks a little bit like a car park. And it’s pretty cold at the moment. But it’s pretty exciting, and we can put Atomic Kitten on in the office without all the guys from 300million getting a bit sad. Here’s to a new year and a new pad.