The games were developed to integrate into a much larger online experience and hook into a point-based reward system for registered users. A Doll code is required to play, so get to the store and pick one up!

Superstar celebrity chef  Alton Brown just launched a new “temporary” AltonBrown.com launched a bit ago with Going Interactive’s help. We worked with his Atlanta based production company Be Squared on the project. The site serves not exactly as a “blog”, but as “note book” for AB to post his cool and interesting thoughts.

We’ll be working on much larger and interactive permanent site over the next few months.

Check it out now at http://altonbrown.com

The theme for this year’s campaign is “Help RCA Reach for the Sky!”. Everyday at the Ron Clark Academy they reach for the sky, dream big and transform children’s lives.  To get a great overview of how awesome the RCA is go to http://ronclarkacademy.com and click “Watch RCA in Action” video o the home screen.

To visit the GI designed and developed campaign page go to: http://greatamericanteachersclub.com/Summer_Campaign/

Step 1: In Photoshop or an equivalent software make a graphic representing your company or business best. This works really good if you can keep it within a square canvas. I did my sample favicon at 490px x 490px. Save out as a PNG or JPG depending on if you will have a background or not, my sample image is a PNG with no background.

Step2: Go to iConvert’s website at: http://iconverticons.com/

Step3: Click the “browse” button and find the file you just made, then hit the “convert” button.

Step4: After processing you will have a bunch of file formats to choose from. Scroll down till you find the ( Window .ICO ) or towards the bottom of the list you will see the “Download ICO” buttons, which offer two sizes i usually select the bigger of the two (32px x 32px).

Step5: Find your saved ( .ICO ) file that iConvert made for you and change the name of it to ( favicon.ico ).

Step6: If you have access to your server upload this new ( favicon.ico ) file with your FTP software to the root level of your website. Give it a few minutes then refresh your web browser and you should see your beautiful new favicon icon. If you don’t have FTP access or you have no idea what I am talking about send the final file to your IT guy or girl and they will get it where it needs to be!

Thanks for checking out the tut, happy faviconning!

But now for the holidays ALL airlines were providing free wi-fi?  Yep. It turned out to be true. I wondered how in the heck this could be? ALL airlines? Free wi-fi for a month and a half? Wow.

We flew to Tampa Bay for Thanksgiving on Delta and sure enough there was free wi-fi. I discovered when I went to sign-on it who was responsible. Google. Of course, Google!  Who else would have what must certainly be the enormous budget required to provide promotional free wi-fi on all flights?

Then we flew to New Orleans over the Christmas break and sure enough they had the same thing going.

The initial sign-on screen asked for an email address and for the user to try out it’s Google Chrome web browser.  I did’t download it on the flight. But when I got back into the office I remembered and installed Chrome on my MacBook Pro.

I was immediately impressed with the speed of it -which they tout.

If I hadn’t of been offered free wi-fi in the promotional name of Chrome I probably wouldn’t have tried using it anytime too soon.

So kudos to Google for a great and somewhat non-traditional promotion.  I’m sure it cost a ton. And I hope a lot of people are trying out Chrome now.

Another cool thing was that they didn’t shove the marketing down our throats. They didn’t say FREE WI-FI ON ALL FLIGHTS FROM GOOGLE CHROME. They said FREE WI-FI. And only when you used it did you discover who was sponsoring it.

I’ve gotten used to going to Chrome now when I want fast browsing. It IS really fast. And it has a lot of other features I’ve yet to dig into.

Here’s a link to “Why use Google Chrome?” and that super cool online comic book by artist Scott McCloud about it.

Going Interactive’s in the middle or producing an all original jingle (we like to call it an “anthem” as it’s a bit more serious than a jingle) for a big global telecommunications client.  We’re writing, producing and recording a modern sounding but fun track that expresses how they help the mobile world at large. Ultimately the song will represent their company to other industry customers of theirs and the public at large.

But the fun doesn’t stop there. We’re also producing a fancy dancy music video to go along with the track. We had Christie Cook from the Atlanta band The Ruckus in the GI green screen studio last week to perform the song (she’s the singer on the track too).  She did a heck of job lip-syncing to herself and making up some great little dance moves and hand gestures to go along with the lyrics.

Normally you wouldn’t think of a traditional type music video used for predominantly B2B marketing. But why not? These days online video and social media marketing of it

Most definitely an improvement over 2009 with the increase in exciting clients and projects.

2010 started a bit slow as we eased out of the MyPrinties.com big Christmas 2009 launch. We were pleased with the large sales and web registration numbers for the product. And relieved for the server holding up on December 25th (thank you Voxel.net).

Then a very cool video production for Syniverse Technologies called “We Do That”. Check it out here on their site – click the link at the bottom. They’ve won all kinds of awards for it in 2010.

In February we were pleased to receive a few Atlanta Addy awards.  A Silver and a Gold Pencil for our work on non-profit sites for The Home Safety Council and Atlanta’s Future Foundation. The awards ceremony at the Atlanta Aquarium was very classy and memorable.

From there we traveled to Detroit Lakes, MN to visit Lakeshirts and talk about producing an online custom spirit wear sales site (it launched in November – Blue84spirit.com). Then we were off to Pawtucket, RI to visit Hasbro’s corporate headquarters for another new project.

More awards in March. At the always glamourous Atlanta Marketers of the Year (AMY) Awards we picked up a winner for Printies and a finalist for Ron Clark’s Great American Teachers Club promotional site.

Through the course of the year we also completed a bunch of fun (and serious) video and motion graphics projects for the likes of Kimberly-Clark Professional (like Mr. Slim, Sustainability, SCOTT SLIMROLL),  The Retreat at Lake Tamaha and Webemetrics Monitoring.

During the summer we produced The Great American Teacher’s Awards online application and promotional site. And then attended the extremely classy and FUN awards show at the Cobb Energy Center.

In the late summer a few more awards for MyPrinties.com and HomeSafetyCouncil.org from the IABC Golden Flames Ceremony. A good time at the 80′s themed party at the Atlanta Biltmore.

We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention a low point. And that was having the studio robbed the late summer. A blow to moral and equipment but we per-severed and recovered with full force.

2010 also saw the addition of 2 super new folks to the Going Interactive gang. GI Chris and GI Jerry (as we like to call them online).

And of course there was a LOT more super secret work we can’t yet reveal but will see the light of day this year.

As usual The year ended with our as usual last minute scramble to produce a digital Going Interactive 2010 Christmas Card. In the end it turned out to be one of the best I think.

Here’s to an exciting, productive and fulfilling 2011!

This year’s event had fun 80′s Prom theme and was held at the elegant Atlanta Biltmore.

The Ron Clark Academy and Great American Financial Resources teamed up again this year to present the 2nd annual “Great American Teacher Awards“.  Their goal is to spread educational excellence; there are dynamic, skilled master teachers across the country who are making a difference each and every day. They wan to shine a spotlight on the dedicated professionals who are changing the face of education.

The first year of the Awards (2009) the process was all handled manually with paper teacher applications and hand processing of every step from judging to applicant contact. It turned out to be quite a cumbersome endeavor. This year however, Going Interactive was brought on to first produce an online application system where  teachers could digitally enter information about themselves, their school, their students and upload videos and folders.  In addition the system made it possible for teachers to send out digital reference requests. Once a peer received a reference request they could post a unique testimonial on the teacher’s application.

The application system also allowed for a team of judges to each login, review and rate each application. With the new system in place the staff from the Ron Clark Academy and GAFRI could much more efficiently handle the whole process.

When the application period winded down Going Interactive then produced an interactive Flash website to promote the actual Awards Show itself.  This site, greatamericanteacherawards.com features digital video, animation, sponsorship information, social media tie in and more.

Overall the project has been a great success for all involved and proof that modernizing a traditionally cumbersome application process with an online system offers great benefits in efficiency, cost and impact.

We encourage everyone out there to support the Ron Clark Academy (they also have a non-profit online donation area where you can help out) and teachers everywhere with positivity and thanks for the jobs they do.