Coca-Cola mock-up via Mashable 

• More visual real estate        
• Stronger ‘brand narrative’
• Activity shown separately
• Newsfeed ‘hits more eyeballs’

Rumours are circulating around the interwebs about the imminent launch of Facebook Timeline for Brand Pages, perhaps as soon as the marketers’ conference in New York on Wednesday.

While the company has not confirmed the dramatic redesign, which is currently being rolled out to all users, it’s worth having a look at what the two primary changes could mean for brands.

Visual by Design
The large cover photo at the top, which most put at 850 x 315 pixels, allows brands to stand out from the crowd with creative and inspiring executions. It also presents the opportunity for a free online billboard to push the latest campaign. The above mock-up from Mashable indicates more real estate could become available in the gutters, but this is purely speculative.

The ‘scrapbook’ style is the most significant new feature, and makes the platform more personal. The chronological navigation allows us to tell the brand’s story from inception until now, showing fans that like them, companies have a story, too. The focus on images also makes the new profiles more striking and by surfacing of content, more ‘sticky.’

Greater ‘Virality’
More than ever, Facebook is designed for brands and businesses to engage with fans. With the integration of Timeline, everything a user does is visual, with each comment, “like,” or even “listen” or “read,” if you got creative with the Gestures feature, shown as a separate event.

The news feed, which was rolled out before Timeline, also surfaces much more activity, increasing a brand’s reach with non-fans. 
We will keep you posted on what comes out of the conference, or elsewhere on the social web.

Neil is @neilwrites on Twitter

Following detailed instructions about not allowing the cat and the fish in the same room, I was left in charge, content to unwind and enjoy their ocean viewed apartment.

Two nights in, no problems, Sunday morning I went to give the fish its daily feed, only to find it floating on the top of the bowl, starting to decompose.  Oh dear…

Panic set in, regardless if it had just been it’s time, or I had inadvertently done something to kill it, I had been trusted to do something, and my fault or not, I had failed.

This set the wheels in motion, where was the nearest pet shop, what colour was the fish pre rigor mortis, could I take the fish corpse into the pet store for a part exchange?  The easiest thing would be to lie right? Buy a new one and pretend nothing had happened, after all practically all goldfish look the same.

Wrong, covering your tracks by fabricating a story may help to elucidate feelings of guilt and personal failure, but most if the time it will backfire, and you will be forced to constructed a web of even deeper lies.

Always be honest. A client can always see through a lie. They might go along with the fib, and not pull you up on it, but you are essentially tarnishing the foundations of the relationship with untruths.

If you’re not going to make a deadline or an unforeseen problem has arisen, be honest.. As long as you address all problems with a solution, you’re reputation remains intact of a trustworthy advisor.

Going back to my story, that’s precisely what i did. I owned up, offering to hot foot it down to the nearest pet store. But they laughed, and all was forgiven (and least it wasn’t the cat).

Recently, I had the privilege of listening to incredible stories from some of the most passionate and resilient people I have met, ranging from human rights violations, to innovative forms of child therapy. The following post explores a few of the moments that have stuck with me. – Aaron

Women’s Legal Service
The service teaches Aboriginal women in Bourke and Breewarina in NSW’s far west universal human rights, empowering them to create positive change in their communities.
We were in a two star motel in Dubbo, it was 35 degrees and there was no air-conditioning. The room was so small I could barely erect a light, and I was worried the camera would overheat due to the humidity. The interviewee told us she could not return to her house in Breewarina because she had recently been broken into, which she believed was an attempt to run her out of town for speaking out on human rights violations. She told us a harrowing story about an Aboriginal girl and a farmer, both from her community. “He raped her… just dumped her in the bush miles from anywhere. So, she returned to his house and burnt it down.”

Through this story, we uncovered a unconfirmed sex trade operating in Brewarrina and the surrounding towns, where farmers traded sex for a something as small as a cigarette, or a can of beer. Sadly, no news of the rape had come out in the media, and the girl was sent to prison for destroying the man’s home.
This was just one story from the final interview for the short documentary video. There were many more just like it.

KidsXpress
KidsXpress is a dynamic Sydney-based therapy support program for children 4-14yrs, who have faced challenges in their lives.
Margo Ward, CEO and founder of Kidsxpress, worked as a play therapist in a children’s hospital. She would listen to dying children visualise a magical place, a ‘silver castle’ where they could sing, dance and throw paint, a place where they could express themselves, without being judged. The children would say to her; “why does this place not exist?” It wasn’t until 10 years later, when she was listening to adults in a suicide prevention program identify a significant event in their childhood that had contributed to their problems, Margo realised the importance of creating that environment, and the idea for KidsXpress was born.
We sat in the ‘talking corner,’ at the Kidsxpress centre, a space designed to make children as comfortable as possible. We asked the kids to select one question from several big pieces of colored paper sitting on the floor. A young girl chose: “what makes you sad?” She replied: “when my mother died, my father was very angry. I don’t know if he started yelling at me, and then I wanted to yell at other people.” At such a young age, this girl had identified trauma that had caused her to become a very aggressive and angry girl, and sitting confidently in front of me, was the result of the’ silver castle.’ Margo’s vision was a success.
If you want to find out more of these amazing services follow the links below:
Kidsxpress.org.au
www.wlsq.org.au

Good F**king Design Advice

I recently had a 3 Week Trip to China, covering Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong. While traveling I often enjoy documenting my experiences and decided to create a video as well as taking pictures.

Some highlights of the trip included:

• Scaling the Great Wall
• Eating a barbequed scorpion
• Watching the sun set while walking on a frozen lake at the Summer Palace
• Eating Xiao Long Bao and Chinese food in general
• Seeing my Gran for the first time in ten years
• Catching a bullet train for the first time

Some technical details:

Shot on the 60D with a 15-85mm lens. First attempt at an edit and grade on Final Cut Pro X, surprisingly decent given some time. Over 3 hours of footage shot, took me 2.5 days to put it together.

Music is “Home” by Radical Face

“Xiao Long Bao” btw is an awesome type of Shanghai dumpling.

And if you like this, check out my first travel video for my trip to South America:

Buenos Aires – Inception Park from Black Sheep Films on Vimeo.

The soundtrack creates a sense of calm and bliss which works in harmony with the shots. Amazing.

While it might be early in our relationship for “I love you,” it is never too soon for a love song dedication, so, Happy Valentine’s Day!

This is an oldie but a goodie from American YouTube favourite, Kina Grannis. I just love the way she has used ‘flip book’ style animation, excuse the pun. Please enjoy and ‘share’ the love.

And no doubt you have seen Grannis, before. The film clip to her song ‘In Your Arms’ went viral late last year. The sugar-coated songstress used stop animation and 288,000 jellybeans to create the clip. It took 30 people, 1357 hours and 22 months to make, using one still camera.

Little background for you, Grannnis’ career was launched on YouTube. She won a recording contract with Interpol Records and her music was played during the 2008 Super Bowl coverage, after entering a competition on the site.

Few artists have used the platform better, and it shows with her increasing profile. It also helps that she is cute as a bug and has the voice of an angel.

Much love on Valentine’s Day,
NV

Neil is @neilwrites on Twitter

Mickey Smith is surfer, bodyboarder, photographer, D.O.P, editor and director from the U.K who disproves the notion that a Jack of all trades is a master of none. His documented experiences in and around the oceans of the British Isles are humbling and truly extraordinary. Both his attitude to wave riding and his perspective from behind the lens are unique.

Mickey’s passion for the ocean is inspiring, you get the feeling he knows something the rest of us don’t. Passion like his when coupled with great skill is the formula for the creation of extraordinary things.

What I take from Mickey’s films is a renewed zest for the things I love. I count myself lucky, growing up in the middle of the Royal National Park surrounded by the natural beauty of the Australian coastline. I’ve had so many extraordinary experiences in the ocean with friends that it’s difficult to articulate how important it is to my happiness and the happiness of so many people I know. For me, Mickey’s films are the clearest articulation of why I love the ocean.

Learning to be ok with situations that are beyond our control is a large part of what Mickey and the ocean-goers in his films do. It’s one of the final signs of maturity. Probably not telling you anything you didn’t know here though…

So many people in this industry have amazing passions, long time passions and new passions that they will realise as time goes by. The challenge is finding a way to partner your passion with your skills. For me that’s where the possibility of being extraordinary exists…

These are the words of a man in the perfect head space to go on and create something extraordinary:

“Fires of happiness and waves of gratitude for everything that brought us to that point on earth at that moment in time- to do something worth remembering, with a photograph or a scar. I feel genuinely lucky to hand on heart say I love what i do and though I may never be a rich man, but if I live long enough I’ll certainly have a tale or two for the nephews- and I dig the thought of that.” – Mickey Smith

More from Mickey Smith.
Check the view count.

DARK SIDE OF THE LENS from Astray Films on Vimeo.

View Full Article

I watched the celebrity condolences roll in on Twitter after the news broke at around lunchtime, poignant notes from contrasting artists that included Christina Aguilera, Mariah Carey, comedian Simon Pegg and even gangsta rappers Wu-Tang Clan.

However, it was not these tweets that got my attention. The volume of everyday people also using their computers, tablets and smart phones to share their feelings with the world, struck me.

And this digital outpouring of emotion was not restricted to Twitter.

Comment threads and message boards on news sites, videos on Whitney Houston’s YouTube channel and my personal Facebook and Google Plus newsfeeds were choked with people sharing their stories.

But, it was this comment on G+ that made me think about how social media has become more to John Citizen than just a way of sharing holiday snaps or, worse-still, bragging about their latest “OMG WTF” moment of awesomeness (e.g. “OMG!!! Can’t believe I just ran 20km before work!!! Going to be very tired for my HUGE client meeting). I digress.

The comment on a post from CNN’s international account from user Nellie K. Adaba perfectly captured the idea that private conversations that once happened over the back fence, now occur on the Internet.

It read: “RIP Whitney Houston. I just heard that she died through my mom who was talking to her girl cousin, who happens to my godmother. Whitney was my fav.” It’s clear from the conversational tone of the comment that instead of running to tell the neighbours, this person has picked up an iPhone, and told the world.

Social networks are now the back fence, coffee shop, work water cooler. They are the places we tell our stories, talk about what’s happening in our world and share content around these events.

As people increasingly tweet and text more than they talk, we as ‘story tellers’ have the opportunity to share something of value with them, whether it’s a traditional ad, online video, meme or a scientific status update from a sports drink company about the benefits of hydration in cell recovery.

If we can give them something they like enough to share, than we not only add value to their lives, their stories, we add value to the brands we represent.

Neil is @neilwrites on Twitter.