Matt Groves Plog

GSP: AGENCY OF THE DECADE

2009-12-15T01:03:00.002Z

Long known as a creative and strategic powerhouse for culture-penetrating TV and print work, Omnicom Group's Goodby, Silverstein & Partners spent the second half of the '00s reinventing itself for digital. Early in the decade, its best work included celebrated TV productions like the Super Bowl spots for Budweiser with the lizards and ferrets; E*Trade's "Dancing Monkey"; the lyrical "Sheet Metal" for Saturn; and whimsical musical numbers for eBay. Mid-decade triumphs included "The computer is personal again" for Hewlett-Packard and the multimedia milk-deprived-aliens work for "Got milk?" After losing Saturn in 2007, the San Francisco shop went on a phenomenal new-business run, adding more than $2 billion in billings within a few short months, including Sprint and Hyundai. All the while, it was transforming itself from ad maker to content provider, producing "art that serves capitalism," as Jeff Goodby and Rich Silverstein call it, in whatever form that's required. Goodby was honored as Interactive Agency of the Year at Cannes in 2009 for its breakthrough work for clients like Sprint ("The Now Network"), Doritos ("Hotel 626") and Nintendo ("Wario Land: Shake It!"). Retooled into a potent force for the digital age, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners is a true master of all trades, deserving to be called the decade's best.

Adweek

Yahoo! hires Goodby

2009-10-19T23:01:00.001+01:00

The agency is buzzing on the news that we landed the Yahoo account.

Article:

In a shift that is sure to be much commented on by the advertising industry, Yahoo has tapped Goodby, Silverstein & Partners to take the lead for creative, advertising, digital marketing and strategic planning efforts.

The San Francisco-based Goodby, which is owned by the Omnicom Group (OMC), is known for its innovative ideas and has done such memorable campaigns as the Slowsky turtles for Comcast (CMCSA), the weird folk of Emerald Nuts, owned by Diamond Foods (DMND)–as well as campaigns for tech companies such as Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Adobe Systems (ADBE) and Netflix (NFLX).

Dickies pitch win

2009-10-09T22:29:00.000+01:00

As part of an intense pitch process I am really pleased we won Dickies as a new client here at GSP. Apart from the Brand work I will be working with a team to enhance Dickies e-commerce business focused around http://www.dickies.com. Cant wait to get stuck in!

Article:

Multichannel apparel retailer Dickies has named Goodby, Silverstein & Partners (GS&P) its first agency of record after 87 years in business.

Beginning next year, the agency will work with Dickies to develop marketing campaigns and creative, as well as to provide strategic media planning, production, digital marketing, e-commerce and account management support. GS&P beat out 50 others who pitched for the business, including Publicis Dallas, which was a finalist.

"We really wanted to take our creative to the next level, and Goodby can help us do this," said Chris Prokopeas, VP of marketing at Dickies.

http://www.dmnews.com/Dickies-selects-GSP-as-its-AOR/article/151988/

Kayak pitch win

2009-08-15T22:50:00.001+01:00

Good news! After a 2 month pitch Kayak have chosen GSP to handle their advertising.

Digital Agency of the Year at Cannes Cyber Lions in Cannes

2009-06-27T22:00:00.000+01:00

Digital Director of Development at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners

2009-05-16T01:14:00.009+01:00

Last week I joined Goodby, Silverstein & Partners as Director of Digital Development in San Francisco!

I will be working on spreading Goodby's digital philosophy and knowledge throughout the agency as well as implementing digital process and fostering digital innovation throughout the agency and it's clients. I am really excited to be hear, Goodby is one of the best Ad Agencies in the world and was just named Interactive Agency of the Year at the One Show last week and also became the most awarded agency in Interactive at the Clios in Las Vegas.

Sad to leave my 'fratelli' at unit9, but I had a great couple of years :)

http://www.goodbysilverstein.com

http://www.oneclub.org/os/osi/showcase/?year=2008

http://www.clioawards.com/winners/index.cfm?medium_id=7

Reebok viral video

2009-02-13T00:17:00.003Z

Viral video to accompany the launch of the new Reebok website in the summer of 2008. Explaining the new vision. Challenging the apparel industry in the reality of today’s consumer. Reebok is placing digital at the heart of the brand. Mobile and website integrated with production, Forging a A 2 way dialogue with the consumer making them stakeholders in the brand.

http://www.reebok.com

Vintage Matt Groves TV Interview on CNBC Power Lunch 1999

2009-01-12T19:04:00.003Z

Vintage Matt Groves!

This rare clip has been unearthed from the Matt Groves PR archives. The guy interviewing me was as orange as the Tango man and was freaking me out, I was nervous as hell but somehow I managed to steam right into 64k self publicity like all good politicians, mission accomplished!

You will be pleased to know that I don't have a goaty anymore!

Classic ;)

FWA top 50 Websites of 2008

2009-01-08T18:40:00.001Z

2008 was a great FWA year for unit9. We collected 8 FWA awards over the course of 2008. Rob Ford, FWA Principal has put together a list of the best 50 websites of 2008. unit9 have 4 Projects on the list.

Breaking Bad
The more you interact, as well as how you interact dictates what facets you get shown of this teaser site for the AMC series.
bb.amctv.com

Got milk
The flagship website for Got Milk?. Q factory of games and quirky characters to communicate the key benefits of milk in a fun and informative way.
gotmilk.com

Carphone warehouse 08
Rich in hand drawn animation. The X Factor website allows Users to create their own character and combined with their voice and downloaded to a mobile phone. The winners of the online performances feature in the TV ident.
www.xfactor2008.unit9.com

Roxik’s EcoZoo
One of the first sites for some time that created a word of mouth viral effect. Super impressive custom built 3D engine makes this site a true stand out for 2008. Roxik is represented by unit9 for projects outside of Japan.
ecodazoo.com

Best interactivists…

2009-01-05T18:25:00.001Z

Those nice people from Boards magazine listed us in their end of year “best interactivist 2008″ roundup cementing unit9's position as one of the top 10 digital production companies in the world!

Here's what they had to say;

" The London digital prodco has turned out consistently strong work over the years; functional and fun, design-savvy and user-friendly. This year was no exception, as the company collaborated with creative powerhouses from the US and UK on several notable projects. The studio teamed up with Goodby, Silverstein & Partners for a new Got Milk? flagship site, as well as for the agency’s online bee preservation initiative for Häagen-Dazs, helpthehoneybees.com. Cool work for UK clients included a responsible drinking-themed site for Heineken through Red Brick Road and Ruby, which asks users to “know the signs” of over-the-top drunkenness with filmed content from Outsider’s Henry Littlechild. The “Brains” character from the classic UK TV show Thunderbirds, resuscitated by a Drench water campaign, also came to life online, where users could make him boogie with their webcams through motion detection code. And for Samsung, unit9 built an audio-reactive, interactive experience where geometric shapes, arranged in assorted ways, created unique compositions. All this, and a new Swedish outpost, Helpful Strangers, to boot."

http://www.boardsmag.com

Frozenpole for Mullen in Boston US

2008-12-16T18:35:00.000Z

A ridiculous holiday e-card site for our friends at Mullen.

Visitors can upload a picture, choose from a variety of outfits and then drag their tongue with the mouse to various metal objects on a ski slope.

Heinken Know the signs fwa

2008-12-14T18:17:00.000Z

Part of the “Enjoy Heineken responsibly”™ marketing plan.Keep an eye on a crowded bar via CCTV camera. Spot the groper that’s had one too many too drink. Once a sign is discovered you are rewarded with a video of the worst case scenario and prompted to send friends an Oddcast viral. The know the Signs campaign has made the most contagious in Contagious magazine.

http://www.knowthesigns.com/
http://www.thefwa.com/

Bima2008 - unit9 winner of the website category

2008-12-01T18:15:00.001Z

The Carphone Warehouse X Factor 2007 Campaign unit9 produced for CHI & Partners, won the website category at the 2008 BIMA (British Interactive Media Association), awards.

Witness the Rebirth (Article for Campaign Magazine)

2008-11-19T16:14:00.007Z

Production Essays: Witness the rebirth
The future of digital production may just lie in the past. The age-old television production model.
By Piero Frescobaldi and Matt Groves unit9. 14-Nov-08 Campaign Magazine

I recall one late night, on my way back from yet another stressful web delivery, I was driving through the deserted streets of central London and made a mental connection to the film 28 Days Later.

I realised that it would have been far easier for me to literally lock down half of the city, fly helicopters through and blow up zombies, than build the latest freaking website. “In all honesty,” I thought, “this is ridiculous.”

It seems that one of the biggest problems the ad industry has faced in the past ten years is “The Digital Question”. This translates as: “How do I produce digital effectively and sustainably?” I think there is a way that’s reliable, familiar, efficient, collaborative, professional, enjoyable and highly creative. And, funnily enough, it’s been right under our noses.

It’s the TV production model, the familiar relationship between agency, film director and the many independent professionals, that has consistently delivered so much good work, brand value, profit, relationships and, ultimately, dreams. Only now it’s digital, it’s new and it’s a bit harder.

Let’s rewind. We may feel old, but digital is a very young industry. Its pioneers are still young. A generation that came out of basements and bedroom studios. For me, digital represented an alternative: the revenge of the nerds against the traditional media establishment, against the royalty that ruled unshaken for more than 60 years. Embracing digital was like joining a group of anarchic idealists seizing the opportunity to overturn the system. I loved it. The digital pioneers did it all differently. We were driven by sheer passion. It was a lifestyle, a social statement, not a job. Ultimately, we had to break the rules and invent new ones in order to fix what, in retrospect, did not need mending, just upgrading.

The digital industry is now out of its teenage tantrums and it has done bloody well. Now the driving force behind the ad market, the digital pioneers are faced with a big challenge: delivering on a growing brand demand within a global infrastructure that smells of gunpowder, tastes of chewed tobacco and reminds me of Howard Hawks’ Rio Bravo. You’ve seen companies buy digital businesses as colorfully named and priced as Fannie Mae and have no idea what they do.

You’ve seen your agency set up digital production in-house and, like a virtual team of Premiership football players, who are undoubtedly talented, they follow their own version of fantasy digital, following Champions League work and ever higher Champions League prices. All of which could leave you creatively relegated.

You’ve seen outsourcing to either pseudo digital agencies that dress up as sheep but are ready to bite the hand that feeds them, or freelancers who are “bloody good value” but disappear like the Iraqi police force when it’s time to walk down client RPG Alley.

I have seen it too. As we broke away from tradition, there was no model to follow, no Yoda to show us the way. The digital pioneer broke all ties with tradition and headed for the unknown.

Yet, the alternative is more ingrained in tradition that we may think. Ironically, it was right in front of our face; invisible to us, as we thought it was dead or too old to walk. May we have deceived ourselves in growing too quickly and thinking we did not need our past? The usual mistake of youth.

Let’s face it; with more than 50 years’ experience, the TV production model is the wise old man from whom we can all learn. Patronising and pedantic, I agree, but it still holds the key to the best professionals in the industry.

It has established processes and trusted code of conducts. With great educational programs and an established career path, it provides solid ground for sustainability. It has already done for TV what we are trying to do for digital. It will need a few tweaks and adjustments, for sure, but the basic DNA is the same.

Let’s consider the following. You are a creative working at an agency, or an agency employing great creatives. Your loyalty is with the brand on which you are working. You live it, you believe in it. You work day in, day out to create value for it: providing concepts, presentations, strategy and success measures. You are the ideas machine and you cannot be distracted from it. So it was, at least for print and TV.

Not for digital, it seems. Or perhaps it’s just a lot harder. I see colleagues at agencies spending too much valuable time sitting behind a flash developer or pushing pixels themselves. Their creative energy is being spent on actual production issues. A big chunk of an agency’s infrastructure consists of in-house technicians or specialists.

To me, life seemed simpler when it was all about TV. You used to sell in a script, then lure in the best director, production and post company that money could afford. Shoot in South Africa with international talent, do the post in London, score the music in Japan and party in Cannes.

We were so very good at finding specialised services. Why do we feel the need to control it all in-house and have a studio mentality? Sure, the lack of a new service infrastructure and the slow adjustment of the traditional one are definitely culpable. But that’s changing now. Changing quickly.

So let’s fast-forward. You have a concept. It requires sensibility towards comedy and performance. It needs an eccentric camera motion. It connects with million of users simultaneously through their phones. Or maybe tracks dogs around town - no need to limit what you can do. It is now second nature for you to turn to your favorite interactive director and their production company. It produces 100 projects a year, giving it an enormous creative and technical expertise on crafting digital. You can trust it to add value to your concept and bring it to life. The global wealth of production knowledge and services, both creative and technical, stretches much farther than your or your agency’s internal know-how.

Somewhere, someone, somehow can make it possible, and wants to. It’s that simple. Trust them to do their job, and you can deliver your brand concept. Then party in Cannes again.

Pause. I agree. Now it still may be early days, but there is already a great deal of creative and technical talent out there that is looking for an alternative lifestyle as we speak. People who want to focus on the craft, and not on the brand, are now moving away from agencies and forming the new production companies.

They are moving away from a closed studio mentality and are rebuilding the golden relationship between agency creatives and interactive directors with their production companies and affiliates. They are settling in a space where we don’t argue about credits, but share the responsibilities to create great pieces. Hopefully, we change the way people feel and see things.

From the ashes of TV processes, mentality and relationships, I believe we will see the rebirth of an infrastructure that will service agencies, as it has always done. This time, for digital too.

- Piero Frescobaldi is the managing partner and creative director, and Matt Groves is the creative services director at unit9.

Full Magazine Article PDF
Campaign Online Article

Heineken - Know The Signs - for Red Brick Road/Ruby

2008-11-17T12:13:00.003Z

“Know the signs” is part of the ‘Enjoy Heineken responsibly’ marketing plan through which Heineken aims to provide comprehensive information about the advantages and the disadvantages of its products in order to facilitate a balanced consumer choice.

Welcome to my bar. Keep an eye on a crowded bar via CCTV camera. You are looking out for the signs of people drinking too much. The film shot for Internet contains signs of these transformation that users are engaged to find. Once a sign is discovered, user can send their friends an Oddcast viral. Because personal relevance of the Archetypes will drive the viral mechanism, the capability for personalisation is key to the success of the campaign.

unit9 collaborated with TV production company Outsider to set up the interactive logic and also assisted in the shoot of a bar under surveillance, which provides for alternative realities at certain key moments. We created a strong visual identity - a contemporary and fun approach to deliver the underlying message of responsible drinking.

Heineken - Know The Signs

New Toshiba experiential site for Grey London *FWA site of the day

2008-11-14T16:32:00.005Z

* FWA site of the day

An experiential website bringing to life Toshiba as a brand, as well as reaching out to and engaging users by allowing them to spend time with Toshiba’s innovations and products in a new and innovative way. Be curious and creative, experiment and play with your environment and in doing so, find new perspectives and explore What’s Next?

The website detects patterns - we call it gesture navigation. Interact by drawing a zig-zag line, a spiral, an infinity sign. Move around the site simply by drawing a line to where you want to go. Interact with the characters you meet by drawing on them.
We use the loading time as a tutorial. The users interact and play, understanding the grammar we are using to navigate the website.

Toshiba - What next?
The FWA

Campaign Production round table

2008-09-21T18:35:00.001+01:00

A new way of producing digital is born!

Piero and I attended the Campaign production round table this week.

We chose this instead of the digital agency round table to launch our new unit9 representation digital production model. Invariably the discussion started with and ended with 'digital'.

Everyone attending, except us was from a TV production company and we threw a few cat's amongst the pigeons but everyone was keen to understand our approach which borrows all the good bits from theirs.

I think many companies will follow our approach.

The production round table will form the basis for a Campaign 'production' supplement in the 24th October edition which also includes a lively essay written by both of us.

Check it out :)

XFactor wins FWA Site of the Day

2008-09-15T19:27:00.002+01:00

Carphone Warehouse XFactor 2008

Awesome site for Mather UK and Samsung Mobile

2008-09-02T19:41:00.004+01:00

SEE MORE AT SAMSUNG MOBILE MUSIC

Another great unti9 creative production

Awesome site that as well as beautiful aesthetics and navigation manages to create a 3D experiential metaphor for the surround sound ICE speaker technology in Samsung's range of music mobile phones.

Notice how the sounds change in volume and direction to each other when you navigate around them. You can also save your sound into a gallery and send on to others.

Samsung Mobile - Music

unit9 signs renowned Japanese interactive director Roxic

2008-08-21T11:33:00.004+01:00

Just one year after we first offered our unique digital production model to Ad Agencies We are proud to announce that we have signed renowned Japanese interactive talent Roxik to our roster of interactive directors.

Our roster of in-house and represented interactive directors combined with unit9's hallmark of interactive craft, management and technical expertise has finally come of age. unit9’s goal is to provide relevant interactive direction to online campaigns. We are crafting a new business model that allows us to be attractive to great independent international talent, as well as providing a familiar structure that you, the ad agency can rely on. Roxik coming on board is the direct result of this strategy. We are excited and invite you to take a look at how Roxic is pushing the boundries of creative interaction through combining ground breaking technology including 3D physics and user interaction below.

http://www.unit9.com/roxik/

New XFactor 2008 website for CHI & Carphone Warehouse

2008-08-14T12:06:00.000+01:00

The Guradian picked up on the launch of the second carphone warehouse xfactor campaign. Users record one of eight songs then create their own character that is animated and combined with their voice recording to create a truly unique performance. The performances are voted online, with The winners get to feature in the TV ident. Users can share their masterpieces via Facebook or as a download to a mobile phone.

http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/xfactor/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/aug/14/marketingandpr.itv

unit9 ranked in top 10 global interactive production companies

2008-08-12T19:56:00.001+01:00

We are very pleased to announce unit9 has been ranked in Creativity's report on the Top 10 interactive production companies. http://creativity-online.com/?action=news:article&newsId=130140&sectionId=539 Creativity Online (The US's version of Campaign & Creative review mushed into on) culls the best visual and idea-centric communication from around the world and the talent behind it. Creativity have also released a report on the changing state of interactive production, interviewing major players from both sides of the picnic - Agencies and Prod Cos. It makes for an interesting read Keep an eye out for quotes from Kishi & Yates. http://creativity-online.com/?action=news:article&newsId=130138&sectionName=special_report

Samsung Style website for Mather

2008-07-28T23:22:00.003+01:00

CLICK HERE TO EXPERIENCE MORE STYLE AND FUNCTION

The first of three websites to help consumers choose Samsung mobile phones by category. At the heart of each site (Music and Photo to launch later next month) includes an experiential metaphor.

This site groups phones based around Style and as well as great 3d animations and product info allows you to play with Style & Function using ground breaking liquid technology. Check it out...

http://style.samsungmobile.com/uk/

In the gutter...bar at Cannes

2008-06-20T20:13:00.006+01:00

Cannes 2008 - Left to right - North Kingdom, Grupo W, Kishi, Profero, Me & Piero

Kishi, Me & Yates

Kishi, Yates, Piero & Me (Tom is taking the pic)

All the partners had a fun time in sunny Cannes, although it was a hectic schedule, up at 10am, bed at 5am!

We did have our management meeting though and hooked up (got drunk) with lots of friends and industry colleagues.

Some of our work was shortlisted but didn't quite make it this year!

Cheer up there is always next year :-)

West Coast Trip

2008-06-12T18:09:00.001+01:00

Goodby old skool night out in San Fran with Brit, Geiger, Kenna and the team in San Fran

unit9 stickers got everywhere!

Tom and I had a fine time visiting our clients on the West Coast. We went to San Fran, Portland and Seattle. Big up our friends at Wiedens, BSS, Creature, Venables, Publicis, BBDO, Draft FCB, AKQA :) And a special BIG UP to all our friends at Goodby Silverstein & Partners who always show us a great time.

CHI: XFactor wins One Show

2008-05-10T09:01:00.004+01:00

Xfactor wins a bronze at The 2008 One Show Interactive (Microsite - Campaigns).

For CHI & Partners
Carphone Warehouse, Xfactor

Visit Site
Visit One Club

Get Drenched!

2008-05-09T21:10:00.006+01:00

There is no technical way of doing this crazy site!

We actually used…magic!

For CHI & Partners, London.

www.drenchwater.co.uk

Philips AUREA Webby People's Choice Winner!

2008-05-05T16:58:00.002+01:00

The Philps AUREA project for Tribal DDB has been selected for the Webby's People's choice award in the Consumer Electronics category.

Visit the site...

The new flagship website for Got Milk

2008-04-25T20:53:00.001+01:00

We created a factory of games and quirky characters to communicate the key benefits of milk in a fun and informative way.

Play some games, win a Mac Book Air and enjoy yourself in the land of milk.

For Goodby Silverstein & Partners San Francisco.

visit the Site | Fwa - Site of the day

Revolution Grand Prix - For CHI & Carphone Warehouse / X factor

2008-03-18T18:24:00.002Z

Xfactor won Best B2C, Best Technology & Telecoms and Best Integrated Campaign Categories at the Revolution awards. The campaign even won the Grand Prix!

For CHI & Partners
Carphone Warehouse, Xfactor

Visit Site

Breaking Bad // For mono

2007-12-29T13:37:00.000Z

The treatment for this microsite for the new series on AMC was driven by the desire to capture the mood of this brilliantly directed episode by Director Vince Gilligan. Raw and very honest in its portrayal of a man "Breaking bad." Avoiding 3D computer graphics, everything is shot live on camera so as to capture every little scratch and imperfection that surrounds us in real life. If the online experience were to be linear and clean it would feel wrong. So we added a certain randomness... every time you experience the site it reacts and feels different, It has a mind of its own. It feels confusing and dirty, like real life. Breaking Bad Premieres Sunday, January 20 @ 10PM | 9C.

http://www.breakingbad.com/

Experience Fedex // For Atmosphere BBDO New York

2007-12-25T13:59:00.000Z

The campaign developed by BBDO and Atmosphere BBDO in New York is the first unified global advertising campaign for Fedex. We collaborated with Atmosphere BBDO to translate BBDO's print campaign into an online execution that conveys how the company works to solve customer problems. The site takes you “behind the scenes,"communicating some of the ways FedEx helps customers access opportunities around the globe.

http://www.experience.fedex.com/

HD DVD Simulator // For Goodby Silverstein & Partners San Francisco

2007-12-15T14:01:00.001Z

Six times the picture quality of standard formats. Explosionier explosions, pulse-quickenier suspenseand more adjectivey everything. More High end animated 3d wizardry for this further installment in the HD DVD campaign. Visit the site and select HD DVD Simulator on the bottom tab. Then get busy saving the heart from the zombies...

http://www.thelookandsoundofperfect.com/
http://www.unit9.com/banners/gsp/hddvd/

Heart Exhibition Website // For The Welcome Trust

2007-12-02T14:06:00.000Z

The Heart exhibition at the Wellcome Collection explores the medicaland cultural significance of the heart. Featuring exhibits from the Egyptian Book of the Dead, Leonardo da Vinci and Andy Warhol, through to live heart surgery. The exhibition website developed with Tanuki - unit9's proprietary 3d engine enables the user to navigate the information through semantically connected keywords. The site rearranges itself to best display the information and draws one deeper into the carefully layered content.

http://www.wellcomecollection.org/heart/

Center Plan

2007-11-14T16:27:00.000Z

We launched a very beautiful site for a European Property company this week. Center Plan take existing properties and give them a new life. The elegant navigation reflects this allowing you to build and grow your navigation and experience. This site has already been short listed for a BIMA.

http://www.centerplan.dk

Creative Match Interview

2007-11-07T16:49:00.000Z

TAKE 5 - Matt Groves, partner at unit9

This week Matt Groves, partner and head of creative services division at unit9, answers our quick fire questions.

What does ‘creative’ mean to you?

NASA spent millions of dollars developing a pen that could write upside down in zero gravity, Russia gave their astronauts a pencil!

What's your best piece of business advice?

Tune in to your gut feeling, don’t suppress it. If you’ve got an inkling something is not right about a person, a client or a piece of business walk away, as inevitably 9 times out of 10 it will become a reality.

Who do you admire?

I admire anyone who can put on a pair of boxing gloves and spar with me or someone else, boxing has a purity about it. If you can take one on the chin and then come back with two you can do anything.

What in the world could be done better?

The Olympic logo was a bit of a fiasco. The issue is not really whether the logo is good or bad design the issue is that the public took no part in its creation and so feel no connection to it. The Olympics is one of the few events that reaches most of the planet (even America ;-) and turns the eyes of the world on the host nation. With a country as obsessed as the British with how our homes look to not ask us what colour to paint the front door was a big mistake. This was a great opportunity to take lessons from the digital age such as Social Networking, User Generated Content and User Voting.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years' time?

On a 60ft yacht following the sun….

http://www.creativematch.co.uk/viewNews/?95042

'Mo Bro'

2007-10-24T13:53:00.000+01:00

UPDATE: I raised £260, thank's to everyone who sponsored me. Same time next year ;-)

Hi All,

During Movember (the month formerly known as November) I'll be growin a Mo (slang for Moustache). That's right I'm bringing the Mo back to raise funds for The Prostate Cancer Charity because I'm passionate about men's health and the fight against prostate cancer. Why...

Prostate cancer is now the most common cancer diagnosed in men in the U.K. with at least one many dying every hour from the disease.
Every year about 35,000 men in the U.K. are diagnosed with prostate cancer and about 10,000 men die from the disease.
One man in 11 will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime in the U.K.

Above is Paul Tutle Snr from Orange County Choppers fame, my Mo hero.I will be cultivating this Mo style, not sure if I’ll have time to get it to this Mo daddy though!

All donations are made directly to The Prostate Cancer Charity which will use the money to fund high quality research into the causes, treatment and impact of prostate cancer and to provide support and information to men and their families.

To sponsor my Mo (moustache) and fight against prostate cancer please go to http://www.movember.com/uk/donate, enter my registration number which is 70016 and your credit card details. Or you can sponsor me by cheque made payable to "The Prostate Cancer Charity" clearly marking the donation as being for my Registration Number: 70016. Please mail cheques to: The Prostate Cancer Charity, ATT: Movember, First Floor, Cambridge House, 100 Cambridge Grove, Hammersmith, London W6 0LE.

Movember culminates at the end of the month at the Gala Partés. These glamorous and groomed events will see Tom Selleck and Borat look-a-likes battle it out for their chance to take home the prestigious Man of Movember title.

Thanks for your support

matt

More info is available at www.movember.com.

Movember is proudly grown by Bulldog Natural Grooming and Playboy.
Movember is proud partners with The Prostate Cancer Charity

Single Parent Fun

2007-10-23T17:58:00.000+01:00

In a bid to attract even more of the UK’s 2.6 million single parents to their site, recently launched online social networking site http://www.singleparentfun.com/ have embarked on a consultation project with industry leader, Matt Groves.

Over the coming months Groves, who has been advising brands on how to use the digital channel as far back as 1995 including 4 years as head of digital at Mccann Erickson, London and who is now a partner at creative production company ‘unit9’ and email marketing specialists ‘BrandMail’ will work closely with the http://www.singleparentfun.com/ team on a number of digital marketing initiatives.

Says Gary Spicer, managing director of Single Parent Fun: “To date, we have 3,000 members on the site but, over the forthcoming months, we are looking to increase this number dramatically.

“We believe in harnessing the power of external experts to help us grow and, knowing some of the projects that Matt has worked on, believe he is the right person to support us in meeting both our short and long term objectives.”

Matt will provide advice and support to key members of the team on areas such as online advertising, email marketing and real-estate promotion. He will also help in the creation and deliverance of an online media plan.

Says Matt Groves: “In terms of broadening my portfolio, I am constantly looking to work with companies that offer something a little different. The clientele who are visiting this site are looking to connect with other members on an emotional level whilst seeking guidance and advice from members and guest experts on the best ways to get the most out of their lives and situations.

“In the past decade alone the number of UK based single parents has risen from 1.8 to 2.6 million. Over the next few months we will be targeting a wide variety of potential members, from all walks of life, through a variety of creative email and brand marketing tactics.”

http://www.singleparentfun.com/

Carphone Warehouse - XFactor

2007-10-15T16:57:00.000+01:00

Carphone Warehouse - XFactor

Fans call a free phone number and record one of eight songs.

The recording is then matched with an animated Mowbli character and uploaded to the website. Users get tobe the judges and rate the performances. The winner gets to appear on The X Factor's sponsorship idents.

For CHI & Partners

http://xfactor.unit9.com/

Philips Aurea

2007-10-11T16:51:00.000+01:00

Philips - Aurea

Philips introduces an unparalleled viewing experience that will captivate your mind and seduce your senses.

Visitors to the site move through an immersive and mysterious 3D environment, at the center of which is a floating Aurea.

Tribal had film composer Mark Slater score the site. The original music was performed by key members of the London Symphony Orchestra at world famous Abbey Roads Studios in London.

For Tribal DDB New York and Tribal DDB Amsterdam

www.aurea.philips.com

ATT Wireless

2007-10-10T18:59:00.000+01:00

Working with AtmosphereBBDO in New York we launched a campaign centric website for AT&T Wireless to support national press, outdoor and online media.

The campaign is based around 'What's your digital world?' and the website allows you to create your own unique DNA strand based upon answers to questions.

Once created you can navigate around a 3d world community to find out what makes up other users strands and interact with them through emoticons.

You can also export out your strand as a fully dynamic banner which you can place onto your blog or website as I have done below. When you later add to your strand your banner will change to. Cool!

Many other features are planned and this is a milestone in technical delivery and exectution for Flash9.

ATT Digital World

Nike+ Banner & Sprint

2007-10-01T20:28:00.000+01:00

Nike+
	A rich media banner that dynamically visualizes daily data from the Nike+ website. The stats for “Kilometers pounded”, “Runs logged” and “Calories burned” are represented by the little runners arranging and re-arranging themselves to display the numbers. Some clever code. For Wieden + Kennedy London www.unit9.com

Sprint Ahead
	Sprint's national campaign reflecting the value its products and services add to people's lives. We created an engaging, non linear experience in a campaign microsite that features the use of light graffiti to visualize "SprintSpeed" and demonstrates the intersection of humanity and technology. For Goodby Silverstein & Partners San Francisco www.sprintahead.com

Phillips asimpleswitch.com wins at Campaign Digital Awards

2007-09-19T19:18:00.000+01:00

A global consumer campaign showing that solutions for reducing energy consumption can be simple and actionable without compromising on quality of life. Philips aims to inspire more than two billion people to take simple steps, such as changing a light bulb, to lead a more energy efficient life. Part of the campaign is a consumer website www.asimpleswitch.com, launched on July 4 2007.

Visitors to the Live Earth concerts and the Live Earth and MSN websites will be invited to record a personal 'simple switch' pledge either online or via SMS. Philips will track these collective pledges to change to energy efficient lighting and calculate the resulting energy and costs savings on the asimpleswitch.com website

Campaign Digital Awards 2007 Website
www.asimpleswitch.com

Cravendale - Milk Matters

2007-09-15T20:30:00.000+01:00

Cravendale/joinin - Milk Matters

Milk Matters! Fancy being a pirate and challenging a chicken to a real time dance off? Why not record it and save it for posterity?

Now you make the ad. and invite friends to act it out wiht you. Join in and discover Cravendale's new entertaining world.

Based on the Television Commercials by Pic Pic Andre (Nexus productions). it's just a bit of hectic, charming fun.

For Wieden + Kennedy London
www.milkmatters.co.uk/joinin/

Taxi wins Gold at the IVCA Awards.

2007-03-31T11:32:00.000+01:00

'A clear front-runner presenting the variety of experiences open to tourists; a great campaign resource and enabling long term return on investment. Good, solid and engaging.'

IVCA Awards are recognised internationally as marks of excellence for effective business communication in corporate video, live events, multimedia projects, business television and websites.
http://www.tourismirelandtaxichallenge.com/
www.ivca.org/

My son 'Luca' was born today!

2007-03-08T16:31:00.000Z

My beautiful baby boy 'Luca' was born today at 4.31pm in Winchester hospital. He was 8 weeks early and perfect...

Taxi 'Runner Up' in Design Week Awards

2007-02-20T17:58:00.000Z

The Design Week Awards celebrates excellence in design. All entries are judged with rigorous honesty, purely on the quality of design. Aesthetics and innovation, the quality of form and function, the creative use of type and texture, of colour and of space, the physical expression of human imagination – these are the elements we have acknowledged every year for over 15 years.

Design Week Awards Programme PDF
www.designweekawards.co.uk/

Partner at Unit9

2007-01-05T19:03:00.000Z

Today I joined Unit9, one of the best creative production companies in the world as Partner, Creative Services Director.

I am really happy to be here at Unit9 as I have known the guys for the last seven years as far back as 64k! We have worked together ever since, most notably winning major awards when I was at Mccanns on a couple of my clients.

I will be helping the company to grow especially in Europe and the US which is becoming the focus of much of our new work.

Forza Unit9!

www.unit9.com

Taxi wins a BIMA

2006-11-29T11:36:00.000Z

The BIMAs™ aim to recognise and reward creative excellence in interactive design.
http://www.tourismirelandtaxichallenge.com/
www.bima.co.uk/

Mastercard 'Keep it Hidden' wins best Financial Services at the Campaign Digital Awards

2006-09-21T13:52:00.000+01:00

The Campaign Digital Awards have been devised to reflect the creative leap forward that the digital industry has taken in recent years and recognises the dual demands of creativity and effectiveness.

The Campaign Digital Awards celebrates both on-line creativity and the effect it has on the consumer. This balance of big ideas underpinned by the results generated make them a unique and important reflection of the growing success of the industry.
www.unit9.com/mastercard/
campaigndigitalawards.epagesmarketing.com/index2.htm
www.haymarketevents.com/awards/?fuseaction=eventIntro&eventID=2324

Consulting Head of Digital at Exposure

2006-06-07T17:55:00.001+01:00

Today I start a 6 months stint heading up digital at my mates company exposure in London. Creative Director Mark Blenkinsop asked me to come in and help them revamp their digital division. My departure from McCanns and a reshuffle at exposure was good timing for both of us.

exposure is a fast growing mid sized creative communications agency with about 100 people providing clients with integrated marketing and design solutions for lifestyle brands. They have offices in London, New York and San Francisco.

Dec.2006:
I oversaw digital projects for Sony Playstation, Red Bull, Disney, Global Cool, Kent & Curwen & Coca Cola to name but a few and relaunched the agency website. I also contributed to the agencies first full service win with the European launch of online comparison site 'Door One' and the prestigious Sony Playstation 3 launch event. I increased turnover and profitability and set the foundations for exposures digital growth. exposure is a great creative company, that do great creative work, by great creative people.

www.exposure.net

BrandMail : Email & Mobile marketing consultancy launched

2006-06-05T12:12:00.000+01:00

BrandMail is a digital marketing consultancy: Helping brands to acquire and retain customers through the Email and Mobile channels.

BrandMail http://www.brandmail.com has worked with many marketeers and their brands to build relationships with their customers using email and mobile messaging. As your partner we will help you to plan a digital dialogue strategy that dovetails into your overall marketing plan, defining clear objectives and KPI's for a real return on investment. We will design and build effective communications be it HTML (graphic) emails, destination sites or online advertising all underpinned by the latest technology.

To find out more about how BrandMail can help you please visit us at http://www.brandmail.com

Moving on from McCann Erickson

2006-06-01T19:33:00.000+01:00

After four years as head of digital at McCann Erickson London, it's time for me to move on.

It's been an eye opening four years at Mccanns to say the least. Like veterans coming back from a major war it's quite hard to some up in words what it was really like unless you have actually experienced it.

Don't get me wrong I have learned so much about the workings and mechanics of how a major global Ad agency operates, in the digital world a valuable and rare opportunity, I have had the freedom to express myself on major client projects that many only dream of and have worked at the highest strategic and creative level with some of the worlds greatest creatives, planners and account men and women in the Advertising business.

But ask me if I was willing to go back and do another tour...I'd tell you I'm a pacifist!

Check out the link below to see examples of some of the projects I created in the time that I spent at Mccanns.
www.t1.co.uk

Yoplait Frubes Web Site 'Frubes World' re-launch

2006-01-01T17:03:00.000Z

Background
To coincide with the introduction of new packaging design and the launch of the new Frubes ATL campaign Yoplait decided to revamp their Frubes.com website created by Matt Groves Head of Digital at their agency McCann Erickson.

The existing award winning site (New York Advertising Festival medal winner), developed by Matt at his previous web agency 64k had seen steady growth attracting approx 4,000 kids per month. The design and content of the site was aimed at the younger end of the Frubes market and rather than lose this equity the existing site was integrated into a new website that included content aimed at older kids.

Objective
Yoplait needed an integrated website that extended the ATL campaign and product packing solution.
Yoplait wanted to bring the new Frubes characters to life and build greater levels of user interaction.

Strategy
Developed by Matt Groves, the new look site integrates both the new TV campaign and the packaging design and went live in early December. Taking the central theme of the TV campaign, ‘The Frubes World’, the new site is built around 5 Islands, each of which contains its own interactive element and content. The TV campaign is shown in the Frubes Movies and the packaging design is re-enforced through an interactive ‘Frubes School’ and ‘create your own e-card’. There is also a simple viral refer to a friend function where users are encouraged to forward web link to a friend and send personalized e-cards.
The site has also been developed so that future elements can easily be added to the site without comprising the existing structure of the site.
An ongoing TV and online media campaign on the Cartoon Network supports the site campaign through out the year.

MasterCard 'Keep it hidden' Award IAB/MSN Creative Showcase award

2005-12-01T19:32:00.000Z

In early 2003, a set of creative agencies (led by glue London, Profero and Wheel) discussed their desire to see a new award to celebrate the UK's best digital creative. They approached the IAB with the idea of creating a monthly award which showcases cutting-edge creativity and innovation within the online advertising sector and soon afterwards Creative Showcase was born.

www.creativeshowcase.net
Full campaign creative archive
Mastercard 'Keep it hidden' site

MasterCard 'Keep it Hidden' Campaign launched

2005-11-30T19:40:00.000Z

Background
The MasterCard 2005 Keep it hidden Christmas campaign, is based on the lengths people go when hiding Christmas presents and consists of activity across press, radio, TV and online launched across the UK in November. The online component was made up of an online viral micro site supported by banner ads, Email, seeding and PR during November and December 2005.

Campaign mechanic
Taking the campaign gifting idea I developed a simple and elegant game based on the concept of hide and seek - users are invited to hide a present by navigating through a virtual house. A gift tag invite is then sent to a friend via email who then has to return to the MasterCard house to find the present hidden by their friend within the allotted time period. If successful, the pair will both be entered in to a prize draw to win £1000 to pay off of their MasterCard’s. The game include a simple refer to a friend facility to encourage users to re-enter the competition and forward the link to a friend.

Online Media
Rich media banners were placed on key portals and media partner’s html emails supported the campaign. The campaign has also been seeded on a number of viral marketing sites and off line PR has been generated through media partners.

Results have proved to be highly successful with online media generating over 260,000 unique visits over the four week campaign with over 18,000 entrants.

Awards
Campaign Magazine Digital Awards 'Best Financial Services'.
MSN Creative Showcase Awards.

Full campaign creative archive
Mastercard 'Keep it hidden' site

Taxi 'Winner' at The Gloden Spiders Awards, Ireland.

2005-11-29T18:24:00.000Z

Tourism Ireland’s ground-breaking on-line campaign and website “TAXI” won the top award for innovation at the recent Golden Spider Awards. The eircom.net Golden Spiders are Ireland’s leading showcase for excellence in online business. Hailed as “the Oscars of the internet industry”, the winners of the 2005 awards were announced at the Gala awards dinner attended by over 650 guests at Dublin’s Burlington Hotel.

“TAXI” was also shortlisted in no less than five categories including Best Travel & Tourism, Best On-Line Marketing, Best Broadband and Best Public Sector site.

www.tourismirelandtaxichallenge.com
www.goldenspiders.ie

Tourism Ireland 'Taxi' website launched

2005-09-01T10:10:00.000+01:00

Tourism Ireland decided that it wanted to exploit the power and growth in popularity of broadband and create an experiential marketing campaign that showcased Ireland and allowed consumers to directly interact with the brand through the broadband channel.

The campaign “TAXI” that was billed as the first ever online travelmentary’. A unique ten day road-trip around Ireland organised by the Irish Tourist board. Visitors from all over the world repeatedly accessed the website to follow the daily antics of competition winners Rowan and Shamila on the ten day trip.

A great example of how an online campaign can involve people over a period of time. Daily content updates gave people a reason for revisiting the site. Users can view footage of the day's activities, leave comments, browse tourist information and download the trip itinerary.

www.tourismirelandtaxichallenge.com

Yoplait FRUBES 'Major League Baseball' site is best baseball educational site ever!

2005-08-11T15:10:00.000+01:00

New site launched to leverage the sponsorship by Yoplait's Kids yougurt brand 'Frubes' of the Major Leauge Baseball's activities in the UK market.

Produced by Matt Groves, Head of Digital at Mccann Erickson the new site is a comprehensive educational platform to drive up awareness of baseball to kids in a fun and interactive way.

MLB are so impressed they stated that it was the 'best baseball educational site they have ever seen'.

The site includes an interactive virtual baseball academy, MLB AllStars baseball cards, Fan Club, PlayBall Now finder, Competitions, E-cards and much more.

Site marketing includes TVC's, Online and Email Marketing with Cartoon Network and On Pack and In-Store activity.

http://www.unit9.com/playballwithfrubes/

The IDM Diploma in Digital Marketing (Dip DigM)

2005-05-03T17:11:00.000+01:00

Today I picked up my Diploma in Digital Marketing at Google HQ along with my fellow classmates. This was the first ever course of this type in the UK and we were the guinea pigs. Not for the faint hearted!

The IDM Diploma in Digital Marketing provides senior marketers with a thorough understanding of the strategic applications of digital marketing. The programme has been specifically designed for individuals who are responsible for determining marketing strategy and overseeing the introduction of digital tools, technologies and techniques.

http://www.theidm.com

Cannes Ad Fest: 'Large It' with the MSN Boy's

2004-06-26T17:40:00.001+01:00

Doing Cannes with the MSN boy's is now officially legendary.

Mark Charkin, Dan, John, Dusan, Higgo and the rest of the crew (you know who you are)!

Here's to Helicopters, 90 ft yachts, Jet Ski's, Pool parties until 5am at the Martinez, Champagne on tap (or in Higgo's case 7 bottles on room service), crashing parties, food fights, crap seminars, £30 breakfast on the beach and of course the 6am ritual 'final drink' at the Gutter bar!
Advertising as it should be...bless you MSN!

http://www.canneslions.com/

http://www.hotel-martinez.com/