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APPS USED

APPS USED

APPS USED

APPS USED

APPS USED

Well, with Lala soon going away, I guess I’ll have to find a new way to post songs on here. I guess for the time being, I’ll just stick to posting one song from YouTube.

The Black Keys – Magic Potion (myspace)

Method Man – Tical (myspace)

Small Black – EP (myspace)

Oberhofer – EP (myspace)

Of course it’s easy to find with a simple Google search on Earth Day. I headed to Wikipedia, and here it goes…

Earth Day is a day designed to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth’s environment. It was founded by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in held on April 22, 1970. Many communities celebrate Earth Week, an entire week of activities focused on environmental issues. The first Earth Week originated in Philadelphia in 1970 (starting April 16 and culminating on Earth Day, April 22.) Earth Day Network, a group that wishes to become the coordinator of Earth Day globally, asserts that Earth Day is now observed on April 22 on virtually every country on Earth.”

Read the whole Wiki

So now that you are so well informed, what are you going to do with that info? I’ll assume most of us will just think “green” but not change too much. Hopefully though there are some of you out there that will maybe make a change. The change doesn’t have to be big, just a small one will do. If you need some help deciding on what something simple might be, here’s a basic list of 10 of my favorite which I try to follow regularly.

1. CHANGE YOUR LIGHT BULBS (or a all of them!)
If every household in the United State replaced one regular lightbulb with one of those new compact fluorescent bulbs, the pollution reduction would be equivalent to removing one million cars from the road.

Don’t like the color of light? Use these bulbs for closets, laundry rooms and other places where it won’t irk you as much.

2. TURN OFF COMPUTERS AT NIGHT
By turning off your computer instead of leaving it in sleep mode, you can save 40 watt-hours per day. That adds up to 4 cents a day, or $14 per year. If you don’t want to wait for your computer to start up, set it to turn on automatically a few minutes before you get to work, or boot up while you’re pouring your morning cup ‘o joe.

3. RECYCLE (or almost everything you use!!!)
Recycled glass reduces related air pollution by 20 percent and related water pollution by 50 percent. If it isn’t recycled it can take a million years to decompose. (my personal note… almost everyone has this at their fingertips now. It’s always sad to see people’s trash sitting by the road overflowing, and noticing they don’t have a recycling bin next to their can. Or if that bin is almost empty. If you don’t have a pick-up, then check your local area as there are tons of places that can take stuff.)

Twenty recycled aluminium cans can be made with the energy it takes to manufacture one brand new one.

Every ton of glass recycled saves the equivalent of nine gallons of fuel oil needed to make glass from virgin materials.

4. GO VEGETARIAN ONCE A WEEK (one of my favorites – but I go 7 days a week!)
One less meat-based meal a week helps the planet and your diet. For example: It requires 2,500 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef. You will also also save some trees. For each hamburger that originated from animals raised on rainforest land, approximately 55 square feet of forest have been destroyed.

5. BRUSH WITHOUT RUNNING (I think I learned this from the Cosby Show or Fat Albert!)
You’ve heard this one before, but maybe you still do it. You’ll conserve up to five gallons per day if you stop. Daily savings in the U.S. alone could add up to 1.5 billion gallons–more water than folks use in the Big Apple.

6. RETHINK BOTTLED WATER
Nearly 90% of plastic water bottles are not recycled, instead taking thousands of years to decompose. Buy a reusable container and fill it with tap water, a great choice for the environment, your wallet, and possibly your health. The EPA’s standards for tap water are more stringent than the FDA’s standards for bottled water.

7. TURN OFF LIGHTS (love this one, especially if no one is around)
Always turn off incandescent bulbs when you leave a room. Fluorescent bulbs are more affected by the number of times it is switched on and off, so turn them off when you leave a room for 15 minutes or more. You’ll save energy on the bulb itself, but also on cooling costs, as lights contribute heat to a room.

8. GIVE IT AWAY (we’ve done this and it’s very fulfilling in the end)
Before you throw something away, think about if someone else might need it. Either donate to a charitable organization or post it on a web site designed to connect people and things, such as Freecycle.org.

9. PLASTIC BAGS SUCK (I think we all know this by now right?)
Each year the U.S. uses 84 billion plastic bags, a significant portion of the 500 billion used worldwide. They are not biodegradable, and are making their way into our oceans, and subsequently, the food chain. Stronger, reusable bags are an inexpensive and readily available option.

10. RECYCLE UNWANTED WIRE HANGERS (my wife is too smart, she’s been doing this for years!)
Wire hangers are generally made of steel, which is often not accepted by some recycling programs. So what do you do with them? Most dry cleaners will accept them back to reuse or recycle. (Cue Joan Crawford.)

Ok, so this is a simple list which almost any of us can do. I borrowed these ideas from a nice little site called 50 Ways to Help the Planet.

We’d love to hear your comments on things you do to help the Earth. There’s a million and one ways to be creative, learn some yourself and teach them to your friends, family and kids.

Thanks and Happy Earth Day

Jason Davenport / Going Interactive
Follow Me – Twitter @GoingJason / LinkedIn Jason Davenport

Follow Going Interactive:
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I’m going to be using Lala as a way to post music for you to sample. If you don’t already have a Lala account, I highly recommend signing up for one. It’s free and an awesome way to find new music or listen to albums you haven’t listened to in a long time.

Diamond Rings – Wait and See (myspace)

Broken Social Scene – Forced to Love/All to All (myspace)

Darwin Deez – Darwin Deez(myspace)

Even if you are a PC guy / girl, you gotta admit that the “I’m a Mac” Ad campaigns from the past few years are really good. Apple has always been a stand out organization who leads vs. follows.

In regards to the TV spots, it was and is always exciting to see a new one hit the screen. We all want to see what they were gonna do next! I’d guess that this “I’m a Mac” overall campaign will definitely go down in pop-culture history along with some other memorable campaigns from the past.

We here at Going Interactive definitely love our Macs (and yes we have PC’s too!). So I was happy when Phil sent me this link. It’s from AdWeek and it has every Mac commercial organized by year / date. It’s pretty neat to see how they’ve kept it going from 2006 – 2009.

Here’s the link to see them all on AdFreak (and thanks for gathering them all in one place guys!)

And here’s a few of our team favorites…
- #61 “Top of the Line”
- #13 “Better Results”
- #45 “Off the Air”
- #56 “Time Traveler”
- #8 “Touché”

Hope you enjoy.

Jason Davenport / Going Interactive
Follow Me - Twitter @GoingJason / LinkedIn Jason Davenport

Follow Going Interactive:
Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | YouTube | Flickr | Vimeo

We’re excited that Atlanta participates in independent film. If you’re a movie buff but really enjoy some of the lesser known flicks then you might want to check this festival out.

The Atlanta Film Festival—one of only two-dozen Academy Award® qualifying festivals in the U.S.—is back. It is the largest and longest-running festival in the region, welcoming an audience of over 25,000 to discover 150+ new independent, international, animated, documentary, and short films, selected from 1,800+ submissions from all over the world. It is also the most distinguished event in its class, recognized as Best Film Festival by Creative Loafing, Sunday Paper, 10Best and Atlanta Magazine. Atlanta Film Festival’s executive director was honored as 2008’s Best Festival Director for a National Film Festival at the International Film Festival Summit.

Atlanta Film Festival screenings often include in-person dialog with filmmakers, providing audiences, artists and industry professionals with meaningful opportunities to network, interact and engage. Recent festival guests have included Josh Brolin (NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN), Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam), Michael Ealy (BARBERSHOP), Jasmine Guy (DIFFERENT WORLD), Chris Moore (GOOD WILL HUNTING,), Howard Zinn (The Peoples’ History of the United States), Ray McKinnon (THE BLIND SIDE), Walton Goggins (THE SHIELD), Margaret Cho (DROP DEAD DIVA), comedian Jeff Foxworthy, Tichina Arnold (EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS), John Sayles (PASSION FISH), Hal Hartley (SIMPLE MEN), Carlos Cauron (RUDO Y CURSI) and Patterson Hood (Drive-By Truckers). *copy supplied by AFF website

“A must for movie buffs, this festival serves a feast of narrative driven movies, shorts, documentaries, and animation.” — Atlanta Magazine

“The Atlanta Film Festival’s Opening Night guarantees great film and a hip indie crowd” — Atlantan Magazine “Arts and Power Issue”

2010 Festival Dates: April 15-April 23
ATLFF is an Academy Award® qualifying festival for the Best Live Action Narrative Short and Best Animated Short categories
Voted Atlanta’s Best Film Festival by Creative Loafing, Sunday Paper, Atlanta Magazine and 10Best.com
The 2010 festival will be ATLFF’s 34th year
Over 21,000 attended the 2009 festival

Learn More at the Atlanta Film Festival Website

My friend Mike Dyson posted a link to this on Atomsplit.com this week.

It’s a really cool little site called Codeorgan that turns the html web code of your site into a synth music piece.

What it does is analyze the “body” content of any web page using a complex algorithm to define the key, synth style and drum pattern most appropriate to page content.

Here’s what GoingInteractive.com sounds like.

Here’s what this Blog sounds like – slightly Seinfeld intro like.

Here’s what Google.com sounds like.

Here’s what usatoday.com sounds like.

Does the “music” of the code of the site match the identity of the site?

It sure does seem so!

They also have a nice little player you can embed to play on a particular page.
Like this:

There’s a lot of steps that go into creating a “spot-on” video for our clients.

First, there’s the discovery and investigation phase. We try to interview as many key people as we can in order to get a variety of perspectives about their organization. It’s really important to not only see how the CEO see’s their company, but how the VP of Sales, and VP of Marketing see the company. Our agenda is to understand all of the different pieces that make our clients business work, and work well. We make sure we have the information we need in order to tell the story in the right voice and in the right way.

The responses have been extremely positive. Our CEO said it was a homerun! So again, great work. Please pass my thanks on to your team.”

– CW

Next, we take all that research feedback and begin to concept on all the possible themes that can help relay the message. After a variety of ideas have been solidified, we begin the script writing process. This is sometimes a straight-up copy based script which is then followed by visual storyboards. However, sometimes we’re able to do both at the same time depending on the concepts chosen. This is also typically the place where we begin to visualize a style which can comfortably support our overall message.

After the client is happy and we’ve got a green light, we begin our design phase. This is where have to match-up with the concept in a creative visual way. There’s often a number of different directions to go. Each video has it’s own agenda, therefore each animation, style, concept needs it’s own unique look and feel based on the company brand. Sometimes organizations want to do something totally different, while others need to keep it strictly aligned with the company identity guidelines.

Animation and sound are the final phases. We try our best to customize things in order to keep them interesting and engaging. Sometimes the concepts need energy and excitement, while others simply want you to sit back and relax. Finding that right animation style can be critical to the final outcome. We’ve got to make sure we’re speaking to our target audience in the most effective visual way possible, while still trying to “stand out” from the crowd. Sound and VoiceOver is are extremely important aspect to any animation piece. Is it quiet? Is it loud? Everything makes a difference at this level. Overall, the audio can give a video an entirely different feel, so selection is key.

Here’s a recent example of a successful B2B video Going Interactive created (following the above steps):

This video was used at an annual sales meeting to gain excitement for the upcoming calendar year. The video was so well received that the client not only has it on their home page and YouTube Channel, but are also using it in sales presentations to new and prospective clients. In addition, the client feels we hit the mark so well that they are going to include this overall message and concept into ALL of their other global marketing collateral for the year.

It’s really amazing how a simple video can tell such a powerful story (even in the B2B world).

Sincerely

Jason Davenport – Principal & Creative Director

Is your company having a hard time telling their customers who you really are? Let Going Interactive help you in explaining things clearly, creatively and successfully. Check out some of our other video projects here.

To learn more, contact us at Going Interactive.

Web: www.goinginteractive.com.

Phone: 770-643-3014

Email: info(at)goinginteractive(dot)com

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Going Interactive wins 2 Addy Awards for Public Service Websites. The big event was at the beautiful Georgia Aquarium Ballroom

Atlanta-based creative agency Going Interactive was awarded two Addy Awards for their work on 2 distinct public service/nonprofit websites.

A Gold Addy was awarded for Going Interactive’s design of Home Safety Council’s website, www.homesafetycouncil.org.  The Home Safety Council is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing home-related injuries that result in nearly 20,000 deaths and almost 21 million medical visits each year.  The website was re-designed and re-launched to include hundreds of pages of home safety informational content, an online video library, online quizzes and polls, an interactive forum, an official Blog and social marketing tools like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

Here’s a quick overview of the Home Safety Council website.

A Silver Addy was garnered for www.RealTalkATL.org, a web site sponsored by the Future Foundation of Atlanta. The Future Foundation is a leader in effective education and prevention services for at-risk youth in Fulton County. Each year, over 800 male and female youths, ages 12-18, participate in Future Foundation’s Real Talk ATL program, promoting abstinence until marriage and healthy relationships. RealTalkATL.org is a Flash-based website that features animated interactive content, quizzes, photo and video galleries, blogs and more, designed to support the Future Foundation’s cause in a fun and engaging manner to teens.

Here’s a quick overview of the Real Talk ATL website.

Going Interactive steered both these non-profit projects in concept, strategy, architecture, design, development and production.

Principal and Creative Director Jason Davenport said, “We’re thrilled to be recognized for our work by industry peers, but it’s extra meaningful when that work is for organizations that are trying to positively impact people’s lives.”

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About Going Interactive

Going Interactive is a new kind of creative agency. Going Interactive works hand-in-hand with agencies, corporations and fortune 500’s to produce rich interactive media, reaching both B2B and B2C market segments. Going Interactive has a team of award winning designers, developers, and strategists that are skilled in the latest software and trends to keep things fresh and cutting edge.

Going Interactive has worked with a large variety of brands and products both on and off screen including Cartoon Network, CNN Radio, Dixie Food Service, Georgia-Pacific, Neustar, Peachtree TV, Printies, Ron Clark Academy, Rubiks Revolution, TechnoSource, UPS, Wegener.

Going Interactive delivers creative strategy and execution to each client and clearly understand the business and design objectives in making things user-friendly, engaging and adaptable for the future. Going Interactive has a strong hold on creative online marketing approaches and how to utilize all types of online social tools including DWOM (digital word of mouth) tools like blogs, rss, emails, video, games, contests, bookmarking, rich media, banner ads, as well as on-going interactive marketing campaigns.

Going Interactive has added experience in developing product-based sales and marketing tools that are designed to demonstrate features, attributes and benefits in an engaging way. These interactive tools help drive top-of-mind awareness, push customers to place orders, and create leads for sales forces.

Going Interactive is located outside Atlanta, in historic Roswell, Georgia.

Web: www.goinginteractive.com.

Phone: 770-643-3014

Email: info(at)goinginteractive(dot)com

Follow Us: Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | YouTube | Flickr | Vimeo