Thank you for visiting our 4D blog. Here you’ll find thoughts and comments from our global colleagues about the digital world. From a campaign that inspires us to how we see the digital world changing to a new gadget we just love, you’ll find it here!

Archive for March, 2007

Politics 2.0?

With all the presidential candidates having MySpace pages, does the number of friends they’ve amassed reflect their popularity? Check this site out for the debate. As one savvy commenter points out though, Britney Spears has more friends than the candidates combined, hence a sure indicator of the fact that she should run in the next set of elections.

Posted March 29, 2007 11:42 am by Alex Horner 0 Comments

Filed under: Trends | Tags: ,

From UGC to phenomenon

We have of course all heard of the Diet Coke Mentos videos by now. What’s more interesting to observe though are the ways in which the idea is being monetized. Mentos themselves ran a ‘geyser’ video contest – a pretty savvy move, especially when compared to Coca Cola’s initial dismissal of the videos.

Posted March 28, 2007 4:31 pm by Alex Horner 0 Comments

Filed under: Innovations | Tags: ,,,

A new console war looms

Sony’s Playstation 3 finally launched in our great nation last Friday with much fanfare, though seemingly little uptake. Initial reports suggest launch events were less than busy, though we can at least be glad that nobody has been stabbed or shot. The fact that we were able to find the consoles in every major retailer yesterday speaks volumes when compared to the Wii and Xbox 360 launch sell-outs.

Posted March 26, 2007 10:39 am by Alex Horner 0 Comments

Filed under: Campaigns | Tags: ,,,,

Google’s personalised homepages up the ante

I’ve been using my Google personalised homepage as my RSS aggregator for a while now, not neccessarily because it was particularly functional or attractive but because it was the first of its kind I discovered. Some nice recent improvements though have helped stop me switching over to PageFlakes or NetVibes. For example, I can now expand blog headlines within my homepage. Moreover, as of today I can skin the page with a dynamic theme. Because i’ve given my location, my skyline theme will change to reflect the time of day and weather conditions in London. Yes yes, I know it’s utterly pointless but i’m a sucker for these kinds of things.

Posted March 20, 2007 3:29 pm by Alex Horner 0 Comments

Filed under: Cool Websites | Tags: ,

Marketing Mess-Ups I: Best Buy’s secret intranet

Whilst we can’t condone such deceptive behaviour we have to admit that Best Buy’s secret intranet tactics are very crafty. The pages (which are only accessible from within stores) mimic exactly the normal Best Buy site but with one crucial difference: the prices. Hapless consumers looking to bag a bargain they’ve spotted online are instead presented with an inflated price instore. When they try to show assistants the online price, the secret intranet is used instead. Claims such as “But I swear I saw it on the site cheaper than that” aren’t going to hold much sway when the fake price is in front of them onscreen. Hideously dishonest? Yes. Somewhat cunning? Perhaps. Of course, the real reason they’ve been honoured in our mess ups is because they got found out. Never a good idea.

Posted March 20, 2007 2:00 pm by Alex Horner 0 Comments

Filed under: Marketing Mess-ups | Tags: ,

Digging Digg

I’m going to go out on a limb and state that Digg is the most forward-thinking site on the web. Let’s start with the basics. You submit a story to the site which other users can then ‘Digg’/vote for. The more Diggs a story receives, the more prominence it is given on the site. If you don’t like the story you can ‘Bury’ it.

Posted March 19, 2007 3:53 pm by Alex Horner 0 Comments

Filed under: Cool Websites, Innovations | Tags: ,,,,

The production team must have been very patient

I know it’s been done before with real dominoes but there’s just something about the fact that it must have taken god knows how long to stop these things from rolling around that makes it all the more impressive. Nicely filmed too – in fact so nicely filmed that I guessed it wasn’t an amateur effort before the end. Apparently, the Big Idea is Sky One’s equivalent of the Dragon’s Den.

Posted March 19, 2007 2:31 pm by Alex Horner 0 Comments

Filed under: Cool Websites | Tags: ,

Marketing Mess-Ups: an introduction

As we all know but are reluctant to admit there is nothing funnier in life than the misfortune of others. With that in mind, 4d will be starting a ‘marketing mess-ups’ feature, updated as and when brands blunder. So how about some examples to kick us off? One of last year’s finest was a phoney blog from McDonalds in which a ‘normal consumer’ told the world that “Some nights, we skip cooking dinner at home just to take a trip to

Posted March 16, 2007 3:18 pm by Alex Horner 0 Comments

Filed under: Marketing Mess-ups | Tags: ,,

Slacker: One who is antimaterialistic, purposeless and apathetic

Dodgy name aside here is a rather nice extension of an existing idea from a San Diego startup. If like us you’re a fan of Pandora or Last.fm style personalised radio streaming, Slacker could be right up your street. Currently the site offers a very slick looking Pandora-style service but the real kicker is the portable device scheduled to arrive soon that offers the same functionality on-the-go via WiFi and Satellite coverage. A great way to discover new music without being tethered to your desk. The player will also be able to cope with your existing music collection should all those new tracks begin to melt your brain.

Posted March 16, 2007 12:29 pm by Alex Horner 0 Comments

Filed under: Cool Websites | Tags: ,,,

YouTube: The CessPit of the internet?

I’d urge any bored readers of this blog to sit and read through some YouTube comments if they’re in need of a good chuckle. You see, there’s just something about the site which seems to bring out the absolute worst members of society and spurs them to write utter drivel. Racism, sexism, homophobia, bitching and general foul-mouthed abuse are all extremely common. Now while these are clearly not humorous bases for general conversation, the sheer lunacy and ignorance demonstrated is in itself amusing.

Posted March 12, 2007 11:27 am by Alex Horner 0 Comments

Filed under: Trends | Tags: ,,