As usual, the Contagious team shared and discussed some important trends for the near future.
It was fantastically done and had enough data to keep us licking our lips. There was great supporting insights from across the world and it gave us an opportunity to step back and consider the future technologies that are affecting advertisers and consumers lives.

We left inspired and encouraged that the world is still brave, exciting and reassuringly, we’re in good company.

Paul Kemp-Robinson, kicked off, reminding us that “No one needs advertising”.

We continually hold the work we do up against this thought.

Before we do it, whilst we’re doing it and then when we review it.

• It should have a transformative benefit to the consumer.
• If it doesn’t excite/educate/encourage or ease in the long-term then it may just be a waste of time and money.

Contagious nn wnotes

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Converse asked us to work on another “how the heck are we going to do this?” brief.

This is what our new friends at Intro called us about.

They create each season’s vendor funded campaign for Footlocker and they needed some help finding some up and coming street projection artists for this.

We encouraged them to consider playful multimedia artists who had an a experience of working on the street, rather than guerrilla projectionists. We wanted people who would welcome and be inspired by working in a new media format.

They agreed and their clients’ Converse and Footlocker loved our good friend Malarky,  as much as we did.

See the part of the results here and if you want to see more of Malarky’s work in the flesh, check out this show, which serendipity conspired to host in the very same week the campaign launched.

When all around us begin to flap, we tend to make a cup of tea and rack our brains on the best way to make it happen and keep looking out for the potential pitfalls we might incur and head them off at the pass.

All in all, it’s been a busy couple of weeks, which has seen our powers’ of persuasion, charm and sheer-bloodymindedness ascend to new heights.

The latest results can be seen here and you can also see how much people have loved it here and here”

The following weekend, Amplify projected our original artwork on high profile locations and used guerilla projection teams to ambush the local population.

The final piece in the pie is this, the back cover of Juxtapose magazine. A huge accolade for any artist and a big deal for Converse. Unlike BA Barrachus and his pals, we’re not a tv show, we really do make brands and their agencies’ dreams become reality. And we need their good ideas’ to inspire us and the people we help them reach.

burn studios Hacienda from Charlyinc on Vimeo.

Hola! We’re back from a summer stint in Ibiza managing the burn studios Hacienda. Coca Cola’s latest music program saw established and emerging electronic music talent join forces at the Hacienda to share ideas, make music and create opportunities.

burn studios ethos is built around nurturing talent and supporting new artists in the electronic music scene. We worked with the Burn Energy Drink territories to find the best up-and-coming producers and DJs. But the program wasn’t just about bringing talent together; we also wanted these young artists to take more than memories away.

We enlisted the help of SAE to conduct a series of in-depth lectures on sound theory and the music business to enrich the participants learning experience. We partnered with Avid to ensure access to the best music equipment was available. With a shared vision to discover new talent, Beatport came on board looking to exclusively release the producers’ remixes of Sasha track ‘Cut Me Down’.

For the Next Producer Star program, fourteen producers from across the world were invited to come to the Hacienda to listen to lectures delivered by the industries heaviest hitters; Richie Hawtin, Sasha, Philippe Zdar, Matthew Adell and Henry Sarmiento, as well as to compete to become Sasha’s next apprentice. For the DJ Bootcamp, twenty-six DJs from across Europe gathered to hear advice from the guys from Gomma Records and compete to play out at the legendary Privilege!

From the initial script to on-site activation, we were part of every step of the journey. The five weeks had been preceded by many months of preparation concerning everything from competition mechanics to branding. Once on site, we worked closely with the PR and seeding agency to ensure that our artists’ stories were seen and heard. Such was the standard of talent that Sasha signed Coni to his label on the spot after overhearing one of his tracks – a tale that truly captures the spirit of the program.

We’re back on British soil now. Our tans may be fading but the content produced is keeping some wonderful memories alive! Find out more about one of the hottest music stories of the year here.

‘Royal Academy art attack’ documents one man’s mission to be accepted into the Royal Academy of Art. Creating a series of wittingly meaningless doodles, accompanied with more flowery English than Mary Poppins could shake an umbrella at, the blogger sets out to undermine the hypocrisy of the art world.

Each week, the ‘artist’ (Jason) sends a piece of ‘work’ to the Royal Academy of Arts with the goal of finally being accepted. At the end of the year, Jason intends to showcase the collection. As of yet, Jason has only received rejection letters. Still, every attempt is more entertaining than the last. See for yourself…

Our client, burn studios, sponsored the event. They selected the music summit to launch burn-studios.com, a new online recording studio. Collaborating with Audiotool, burn-studios.com is an electronic music portal for the cloud generation, enabling music creation, discovery and sharing. Rooted in electronic music, and backed by Richie Hawtin as Creative Director, burn studios is set to democratise music production by bringing together music makers within an open creative network and state of the art cloud recording studio.

With an eager eye for new toys, we are delighted to be part of this break through in music technology convergence. What appeals to us most about the burn studios Audiotool innovation is the idea that anyone with an Internet connection can begin making electronic music for free and with relative ease. The collaborative platform lends further power to the people and heralds a new achievement in the file sharing revolution.

In fact, 17% said they would be much less likely to buy a product attempting to link to the event. More than half of consumers believed it was inappropriate for brands to attempt to increase sales on the back of the royal wedding.

We were amused to see that novelty contraception brand Crownjewelscondoms.com featured amongst the brands most associated with the wedding. Here are some other royal gems we believe are worth of a curtsy…

Little wonder the attention of the electronic music community was captured. The winner, runners-up and special mentions will all feature on a special edition digital version of Arkives, Replikants Burn, to be released on the legendary Minus record label next month.

Now we’re on to the next project to the tune of crowned champion Oblique Industries…

WINNING RMX: Plastikman – Ask Yourself (Oblique Industries ’12-Step’ Rmx @burnstudios) by Burn Studios