Ben Folds performs to Chatroulette

Amazing remix of Good LIfe with Good Life

This is a crazy remix by Brownbearlive

Good Life x Good Life (its just that good) by BROWNBEARLIVE

IBM Smarter Planet

Ogilvy & Mather NY and IBM create a great new advertisement from their smarter planet series. This is a great visualisation of IBM's capabilities. Ogilvy has done a terrific job with this.

Massive song from B.O.B

Wow this song is massive, an unbelievable combination!



Stay tuned for the album

Song that is stuck in my head

Funniest News Reader Ever

Paul Henry has got to be one of the funniest news readers I have ever seen. This guy not only manages to break out laughing in the most inappropriate of times but also manages to keep a large viewership in people who love what they see! I have to admit, this guy did keep me entertained, and I probably would watch this news show each morning if it was on in Australia!




Another one here!


Have fun!

Crazy DJing!! Travis Barker and A-Trak!

WOW, this is impressive stuff!

Coolest song I have heard in a while - Grum- Heartbeat

This is probably the catchiest song I have heard in a long time! I still can't work out whether the chorus is saying "so ha-ppy" or "your heartbeat" but either way this song is amazing. Kind of reminds of daftpunk back in the day! Especially the guitar in the last minute.

IBM 2010 CFO Study

Ok I know I am a sell out. But here is the new IBM CFO study that was released today. It highlights the gaps in the financial reporting system and the challenges faced by CFO's. The most disturbing statistic i read was 40% of those examined still did financial reporting manually!!!

You can get a copy of the study from IBM here

Mix-Up of the top songs of 2009

Ok, so this mix probably would have been a good thing to have played on NYE, but unfortunately I have missed the boat on that one. However, you can still appreciate all the songs featured on this 7 minute track. I really dig the production of this.

Asalto - Afterglows Of 2009
Enjoy!

PWC Study - Banking System

The Reserve Bank tipped with almost 100% confidence, is set to rise the interest rates tomorrow. But this does seem to be the news affecting most banks. With the new PriceWaterhouseCoopers study finding that most banks main fears were "too much regulation" that would affect their debt to equity levels. The report cited the top 10 locally (in Australia) and Globally.
The threats are listed:

Top global threats
Political interference
Credit risk
Too much regulation
Macro-economic trends
Liquidity
Capital availability
Derivatives
Risk management quality
Credit spreads
Equities


Top Australian threats
Too much regulation
Political interference
Macro-economic trends
Equities
Credit risk
Derivatives
Liquidity
High dependence on technology
Environmental risk

Songs that defined my Summer

Well summer is almost over, and it has been a great 3 months! Every summer, everyone has the songs that defined the memories they shared. Here are mine.

IYAZ - Get Away

Sean Quinn and Gus Cullen - Getting away with it (Vandalism Remix)

Miike Snow - Silvia (Sebastian Ingrosso and Dirty South Remix)

Bloody Beetroots and Cool Kids - Awesome

Michael Mind Project - How Does It Feel

Anberlin - Breaking

New Year, More Commitment

This year I hope to post a lot more, more frequently. The focus of my posts will be around music, marketing and any other random issue that catches my attention. Keep your eyes open!

Our economy and our future direction

Myself, much like many others, have been watching the series called "Addicted to Money" on the ABC in Australia. The series highlights serious truths about capitalism in our society and the price to be paid in having an economy based on darwinian assumptions of pure competition. However instead of merely criticising the economic system much of the world has relied on in the past centuries, the program presents a solution. This solution rests in infusing the capitalistic ideals into innovation and development of a better system of energy, food and resource efficiency.

Someone who has seen this opening is Shai Agassi, the CEO and founder of Better Place, a company that aims to promote green transportation through electric cars. And has been named as one of TIME magazines 100 most influential people of 2009. The direction of Better Place is going to be more and more common among organisations in the future decades as oil supplies (which have now reached peak levels and are only going to fall and fade to nothing in the next 40 years) diminish and create exponential prices. Companies need to be proactive in seeing the changing landscape and aim to be part of the solution to the problem and fund research into alternative methods and actively seek to support organisations that are focussing on that direction.

The next 40 years are going to be an interesting time as the world attempts to redefine its directions and ideas of consumption and usage of energy.

You can watch addicted to money streaming here

Road Accidents and OPSM

OPSM has taken its marketing strategy in a new direction from its usually light and cheery advertisements to using a social responsibility focus to now focusing on the dangers of driving without being able to see. I think this latest advertisement may be more effective in the short run, but I question how long they can continue with these sorts of advertisements without them becoming like many of the speeding adverts that are just depressing. This is definitely their best advert in my opinion, however it doesn't differentiate OPSM from any other glasses outlet in the market, and I think consumers are going to be left with the message but not the brand in their mind. You can check out OPSM's new commercial by BMF here

Morgan Stanley really published this??!!

Reading through some articles on marketing I noticed report published by Morgan Stanley research. I read the article due to the buzz it had created on the internet and marketing blogs, the main draw card is that the article was written based on insights given by a 15 year old summer intern working at Morgan Stanley. I am shocked that Morgan Stanley published this, although it may detail some relevant information from the perspective of the intern's own experience, it does little to give someone any sort of assurance that these are accurate assumptions.

Although I am shocked they published it, I take my hat off to Morgan Stanley for publishing this. I am currently conducting some of my own research for Morgan Stanley, using pre-school children to speculate anticipated currency movements between AUD and USD by drawing lines with green and blue crayons, this report will be published later this year.

You can read the non-sarcastic Morgan Stanley report here

Obama's Speech to the Arab World

A couple of days ago, Obama made a landmark speech in Cairo outlining his intentions for a partnership based on mutal understanding and respect between the west and the Arab world. There was no one better to do this, than Barack Hussein Obama, a man who is of african heritage, who spent part of his schooling in an Indonesian Pesantren in Jakarta (an Islamic school). Obama demonstrated this by greating the Arab world with the words "assalaamu alaykum" which translates to "peace be upon you" in in Arabic which is used by Muslims to great one another. This was something that many of the news channels did not speak of which is a shame because i believe it not only demonstrates his courtesy in speaking the language of his hosts, but also of his understanding and respect for Islam and its followers. Obama's obvious understanding of the religion is further demonstrated with his quotes of the Qu'ran.

I am particularly impressed with Obama's approach to this speech, this is something that has never been done by another US president and it is through such actions of selfless mutual respect that Obama proposed the US repairs its damaged relationship with the Arab world. The first step the US president made was admitting the faults of America towards the issue, accepting the responsibility meant more to the Islamic world than new promises ever would. Obama added that changes were not only one way and that the Arab world had many to make as well - notably the violence between Israel and Palestine (of which he used the name - another landmark admission).

I hope this speech put in the ground work for new beginnings between the two worlds and i hope that America will understand how essential these actions are.

Sacha Baron Cohen & Eminem

I really didn't know what to make of this when i first saw it. But it remains one of the funniest things i have seen on live TV in a long time! Sacha Baron Cohen continues to push boundaries with his characters, this time with the gay, austrian, Bruno. If you haven't seen it you can watch it on youtube. Some have said that Eminem was in on the act others go on to say that he didn't realise it was going to happen that way or that "Bruno" was going to be wearing such revealing pants while sitting on his face. I don't really care about who was in on what, as far as i am concerned, it was a believeable reaction by Eminem that cracked me and the rest of the world up and if it was planned, then Eminem is not only a talented rapper but a very good actor!

Tiananmen Sqaure Massacre

Well its been 20 years and China still refuses to acknowledge the massacre that occurred in the midst of a friendly student protest about democracy in China. Still, the new generation of chinese people have no idea of the horror that occurred at the hands of their own government. It is an outrage that such a government has been able to sweep such an atrocity under the proverbial rug. It is even more of an atrocity that the Olympic Game- something that symbolises freedom and unity was allowed to be held in a country that can't even be honest with its own people or diplomatic with its neighbours (Tibet). China remains to be one of the dominant financial superpowers and since the economic turmoil has gained greater power in the financial world lending the US Government another trillion dollar loan. However, if China wishes to be recognized as an emerging super power, it must make some serious changes to its government's leadership methods and diplomatic relations.

Twitter for Marketing Campaign

The new Nissan 370Z is going to be targeted towards tech savvy buyers given the new campaign proposed by Whybin/TBWA Melbourne. The campaign will feature a Twitter page supported by a customized website. The twitter page will be updated with reasons why consumers should buy the car. This is utilizing current social networking trends and is leading the charge in innovative campaigns. I hope this is a successful campaign for Nissan and TBWA.