Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Brand Perfect Tour hits San Francisco

brand perfect logoI’m very pleased to tell you that I will shortly be heading to San Francisco, on of my favourite cities to visit, and while I’m there, I will be one of the facilitators at the Brand Perfect Tour event on 8 May 2012. I was involved in the London event last year and this time, we’re in search of seamless brand experiences on mobile. The event is aimed at brands, retailers, media owners, agencies and developers. And whether you’re a veteran or a newbie to this world of mobile marketing, you’re sure to get something out of it. With a mix of keynotes, discussion and hands-on exercises, there’s plenty to get your teeth into.

We’ll be talking with major brands, agencies and expert developers about where opportunity in the mobile channel really lies:

  • How should a brand view the mobile channel in their marketing mix?
  • What are the challenges and rewards?
  • What are the success stories that show the way forward?
  • How do you plan and implement a mobile strategy to reach the mass market that’s on-brand?
  • What are the technologies involved and what can brand owners expect to be able to deliver?

Then put it all together by working in cross-disciplinary teams with your peers covering the business, design and development elements of creating a mobile experience based on a real brand brief. You'll not only have plenty of great ideas by the end of the day; you'll have made a lot of new friends tool.

The event is free for brands, retailers and media owners to attend.

If you're an agency or developer and you bring a brand buddy with you, then you both attend for free.

If you're a journalist or blogger and would like to cover the event, please get in touch with me for a press pass. I have a few available. Otherwise, the ticket price is USD395

Registration is required: http://www.brandperfect-tour.com/events/next-stop-on-the-tour/

Spread the word and see you there! You’ll also find Brand Perfect Tour on Facebook, the event is also listed on Facebook and LinkedIn to make it easy for you to add to your calendar and share with friends and colleagues. And you can follow the twitter action here.

Oh, and there are some super pictures from the London event in November for you below from photographer Paul Clarke. And you can view some of the London presentations here.


Created with flickr slideshow.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

New Media Age Award Nomination

I’m absolutely thrilled to bits to be nominated for a New Media Age Award for The Greatest Contribution to New Media by an individual. Swedish Beers and the Heroes of the Mobile Fringe Festival gets a mention in the write-up. I'm in such good company too, I'm not sure how I managed to sneak my way on to the list, but I’m very pleased I did.

Anyway, if you feel so inclined, and you have a UK mobile, you can vote for me by SMS until 27 April 2012. Text NMA3 to 82100 if you'd like to vote for me and it's a standard rate text. The text service is provided by Sponge so you know you’ll be in good hands. More details about the awards, the other nominees and how to vote for them here http://www.nmaawards.co.uk/GIC2012.aspx. The winner will be announced at the awards ceremony on 28 June 2012.

Thank you to the NMA editorial team for including me in this year’s nominations and thanks to everyone voting for me. You’ve made this technokitten very happy.

Mobile Developers: PlayBook Application Development Using WebWorks Course–just a few places left

For the techie developer types who read my blog, this one might be of interest. Sanyu, who looks after developer relations at RIM just tipped me off to let me know there were just a few places left to attend a couple of London workshops to learn how to develop and deploy PlayBook apps. Plus you’ll get a PlayBook tablet to take home with you. And although the tablet world is currently dominated by iPad, there are other devices available and the PlayBook is definitely a contender. I’m a fan. I like it for its convenient size and great web browser. Anyway, on to the details of the course next week…

Overview
This one-day course is designed for experienced HTML5/JavaScript/CSS developers who wish to leverage their existing skills to create applications for the BlackBerry® PlayBook™.   The course will include both instructor-led content and hands-on walkthroughs in which participants will create, compile, package, and deploy code on their own laptop to a PlayBook tablet.

Who should attend
HTML5/JavaScript developers needing to learn the fundamentals of WebWorks in order to develop and deploy PlayBook applications. There are no costs to attend although space is limited and all participants will receive a BlackBerry PlayBook tablet to take home to continue their development and testing.

Upcoming Dates and Locations (these are next week so get your registration in)
· April 18, 2012 - London  - register here  |  · April 19, 2012 - London  - register here
And if you’re a keen BlackBerry developer, why not join the BB10 jam in Orlando. I’ll be there to take a peek at what’s going on and what kind of apps and services are being developed on BlackBerry and I’m looking forward to seeing what the BlackBerry 10 platform has to offer. It’s a bargain price of $299 for the 3 days and includes your meals too. Plus, a little bird tells me you’ll also get a BB10 prototype device. Official details below and link to register.

Register Now for BlackBerry 10 Jam – May 1-3 in Orlando, FL
Join us for BlackBerry 10 Jam – a conference dedicated to providing the BlackBerry developer community with insights on the BlackBerry 10 platform.  Don’t miss this unparalleled opportunity to learn how to make applications that stand out! Register now at www.blackberryjamconference.com/registration

Follow the BlackBerry 10 action on twitter #BB10JAM

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Friday, March 02, 2012

MiM Award 2012 deadline is 4 March 2012

The MiM Award 2012 (deadline 4th March; finals 22nd March) are go and I’m very pleased to be on of their judges this year. There’s always a good selection of mobile apps and services to look at and I hope this year’s is no different. It’s free to enter and by entering, The MiM Award can get you in front of customers, investors and the press. The MiM Award is for privately owned mobile businesses that are making their customers' businesses mobile.

"For Masabi, winning the BLN MiM Award has been a real boost. In particular winning the award facing such strong competition, and having been judged by a wide range of respected industry experts and investors, has been terrific for the company in terms of raising awareness and building credibility. On
the back of this platform, Masabi has continued to generate significant momentum, securing new customers and launching new products. If you want to raise your profile with decision makers in the mobile world, you should definitely enter the MiM Award 2012." -- CEO, Masabi

How does it work? Mobile businesses (that's you!) spend 2 minutes applying here before the deadline at midnight 4th March 2012. It's free to apply. Twelve finalists will be chosen to present at MiM 2012 (22nd March) and our judges choose a winner. Easy.  So get that laptop out and get filling in the form.

Friday, February 24, 2012

The Best of British Apps

You can’t move these days for mobile apps. There is an app for everything and sometimes it’s hard to see the wood for the trees. But never fear, Stuart Dredge, journalist and app fanatic has just done a report on the Best of British Apps and it’s rather good too. As you can imagine, many of my friends and colleagues are included as being Best of British which is very gratifying.

Well worth a read anyway. Enjoy. http://www.theappside.com/2012/02/24/free-report-from-the-appside-best-of-british-apps/

Friday, February 03, 2012

Swedish Beers–the Heroes of the Mobile Fringe Festival Edition


As some of you know, I do like a good party, and the annual road trip to Barcelona is a great excuse to have one. So Swedish Beers is back with a vengeance and is now part of the Heroes of the Mobile Fringe Festival too. It seems to be a lot of people’s favourite networking party of the week and so we’re back to bring you more beer, more cheer and more chat. We’re in danger of this year being better than ever thanks to our very generous sponsors. I know for a fact there’ll be even more beer for starters. So let me introduce them to you…

Millennial Media logoOur lead sponsor this time around is Millennial Media. They're big fans of Swedish Beers and sponsored our London come back party in the summer. And in return, we’re big fans of theirs too. The company is really going places and the team will be on hand to chew the fat about mobile advertising and will have a bountiful supply of free beer tokens. As lead sponsors, it really will be a bountiful supply! You couldn't be in better hands with Gavin, Stephen, Mack and the crew. They definitely know how to have a good time. http://millennialmedia.com/

AQL logoNext up is AQL. So good they had to sponsor us twice. And we're very glad they did. Adam Beaumont and his fine team will be there to talk all things mobile messaging and voice communications with you . There's not much he doesn't know or can't do with mobile messaging. Oh, and yeah, he'll have one or two beer tokens in hand too. http://aql.com/

Pearson logoNewcomers to Swedish Beers are Pearson. Yes, that's right, the parent company of FT.com, Penguin books and much more besides. They're exhibiting this year at Congress and are particularly interested to talk about mobile technology in emerging markets as well as innovations in eBooks and the like. The FT.com team will also be on hand to tell you about their adventures in HTML5 and their dealings with the behemoth that is Apple. http://pearson.com/. We're also very pleased that they're sponsoring the overall festival too.

Up next is Apadmi. Fans of Swedish Beers for many years and now it's their turn to join the party as a sponsor. Garry and the team build mobile apps and solutions and very experienced at it they are too. They're also great fun and have kick-started the mobile networking scene in Manchester by taking the lead in setting up Mobile Monday Manchester. http://apadmi.com/

Madmaker is launching very soon and is a do-it-yourself mobile ad maker - you see what they did there with the name? I've seen the system in action and it's really very neat. Oystein, Andy and the team from Boost are behind this new product and will be at Swedish Beers to give it a proper Nordic vibe as they hail from Norway. Oh, and they know a thing or two about mobile marketing as well so will be happy to chat away about that with you until the wee hours about what's hot and what's not in the sector. You'll also find them at 2F33 in the MWC exhibition too.

Like our previous events, this is a relaxed evening, no formalities, no presentations, no business cards thrust in your face as soon as you arrive. Just come with an open mind, be prepared to see friends old and new, talk nonsense, enjoy a drink or five and have yourself a good time. Oh, and leave the ties, the corporate personas and the sales spiel at the door please.

The Swedish Beers crew will be on hand – Helen, Jenny, Gabriel, Shafiq, Cat, Sarah, Russell - and the friendliest bar staff in town at our regular haunt, Dos Trece, are all waiting to welcome you. The venue holds about 300 or so folks at any one time so there’s plenty space for everyone. There will be bars upstairs and downstairs so please make full use of both floors so that more people can enjoy the fun.
No need to RSVP unless you want to. There's no guest list, no tickets and there's no guaranteed entry. Just come and go as you please. But if you would like to RSVP, you can over here on Facebook. You'll see some familiar faces there I'm sure.

It is likely to get a bit busy at times. But don't worry, people will be coming in and out all evening. That’s kind of the point as we know there’s always a lot going on and you might want to check out more than one party. If it's very busy, there's no need to queue to get in. Just check out one of the other bars nearby and come back a little later when it's a bit less frantic. Dos Trece is where the action will be. We'll be open from 7pm until the wee hours so there'll be plenty time for you to drop in and say skÃ¥l.

We don't have a cloakroom so we don't recommend you bring your laptops or briefcases with you - it's a liability in Barcelona I'm afraid – especially at this time of year and they’ll just get in the way of your enjoyment of the evening. Drop them at your hotel or apartment first. You won't need them anyway what with this new fangled thing called the mobile phone ;)

So just to recap:
What: Swedish Beers Mobile Networking
When: Wednesday 29th February 2012 - 7pm until we run out of steam
Where: DosTrece, Calle Carme 40, 08001 Barcelona

DosTrece is behind La Boqueria market and the nearest metro station is Liceu. Just walk up La Rambla, walk past La Boqueria and Teatro Grec, then take a left at Calle Carme (or Carrer del Carme) and DosTrece is at number 40 (Google map here). (They also have free Wi-Fi if you want to demo your latest phone app.)

**********Keep in touch***********
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mstr_twitter_stampSwedish Beers is proud to be a Heroes of the Mobile Fringe Festival event.