Here’s ANZ’s new (and quite funny) fraud protection ad:
And he’s how The Onion did it a few months back:
Astronauts Suffer Agonizing, High-Pitched Death After Helium Leak
Who did it better?
A reminder that the ThomasrDotOrg media training workshop is just a week away.
This is your last chance to join what will be the most useful off bike training you will do all year. While the workshop is in principle a media training event covering Radio, TV, Print and Web, we will also cover sponsorship, public behaviour and fan interaction and more. This workshop will complete you as a rider, team member or team principle.
We are pleased to announce two additional trainers who have joined the lineup:
Dieter Kahsnitz is a star of multi media. Owner of 50 Kaliber Films, by day he makes corporate videos, TV Commercials and the like. On weekends, at night and during his lunch hour he’s the host of “The C-Word” video podcast and award winning community TV show. He manages BSB racer Josh Brookes, hosts MotoGP events and knows how to make every media post a winner. Dieter will be conducting interviews with all attendees, who will then be provided with a DVD of the footage for any purpose.
Marscelle Tully has written more press releases than there have been races in the world. While that may not make sense, Marscelle talks sense. She will show you how to structure a press release if you’re going DIY. If you have a PR staff member/helper/trained monkey, Marscelle will take you through how you can make their life easier (ie tolerable) and how to make the most of the written word.
Already we have announced:
Tom Reynolds is the principal of ThomasrDotOrg Media Services and will lead the media workshop training day. Tom has worked in marketing, PR, advertising, web technology and the media for over ten years. He has worked for (or continues to ply his trade with): Australian Superbike Championship, Australian Rally Championship, Radio 3AW , Radio SEN, ABC Sydney, Holden Race Team, Grand Prix Corporation as well as hosting many events and media calls.
Jay Mueller. Radio MMM Melbourne Breakfast Senior Producer.
Long time producer of top rating breakfast show on 3AW, last year Jay made the jump to MMM to take the senior producer role on Eddie McGuire’s new brekky show “The Hot Breakfast“. Jay will be going through what he finds works on radio. He will explain how to prepare for your interview with people who know nothing about you or your sport. He will also address how to get yourself on radio and what producers (the gate keepers!) are looking for when they decide to put someone to air.
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#/event.php?eid=254690579194&ref=mf
Map: http://bit.ly/aeqkZM
Total cost $135 includes digital copies of your portrait shoot plus a short HD video interview with **you**.
Bookings essential and numbers will be limited email: training AT thomasr.org to secure your spot!
Prior to the start of the 2010 motor racing season, ThomasrDotOrg is offering a media training workshop for interested riders, drivers, team members and principals.
This event presents all attendees with training in the following areas:
All attendees will also have the opportunity to have professional portrait photos taken of them in their team uniforms included in the price.
Team/vehicle photos by prior arrangement at additional cost.
Our media trainers are being announced as we get closer to the event (see bottom). All are currently working at the highest level in their chosen media stream, or at least in a field that they’ve found themselves stuck in.
Total cost $135 includes digital copies of your portrait shoot plus a short HD video interview with **you**.
Bookings essential and numbers will be limited email: training@thomasr.org to secure your spot!
Presenters (more to be announced in due course):
Tom Reynolds is the principal of ThomasrDotOrg Media Services and will lead the media workshop training day. Tom has worked in marketing, PR, advertising, web technology and the media for over ten years. He has worked for (or continues to ply his trade with): Australian Superbike Championship, Australian Rally Championship, Radio 3AW , Radio SEN, Holden Race Team, Grand Prix Corporation as well as hosting many events and media calls.
Jay Mueller. Radio MMM Melbourne Breakfast Senior Producer.
Long time producer of top rating breakfast show on 3AW, last year Jay made the jump to MMM to take the senior producer role on Eddie McGuire’s new brekky show “The Hot Breakfast“.
Jay will be going through what he finds works on radio. He will explain how to prepare for your interview with people who know nothing about you or your sport.
He will also address how to get yourself on radio and what producers (the gate keepers!) are looking for when they decide to put someone to air.
I won’t apologise for being a bad blogger- I’ve been there, said that, too many times. I will apologise for a distinct lack of posts- but naturally I have an excuse for that too.
I’ve been damn busy!
Australian Superbikes
Shawn Giles and Koby Abberton head out
I accepted a job offer from Yarrive Konsky of IEG, the new oranisers and promoters of the Australian Superbike series. My job description is pretty loose, though it could be summed up thusly: “Get editorial press coverage, do special events and get the punters along”.
My first and major project has been a two seater ride program- not too dissimilar to Ducati (exclusively) does in MotoGP. Our club is slightly less exclusive- currently we have bikes from Woodstock Honda, Kawasaki and Suzuki.
Steve Pizzati on air with Steve Price and Josh Dowling on 2UE.
Overall I was very pleased with the pillion rides at Eastern Creek. We received some great coverage after getting the Abberton brothers on board. Friday is my main focus- this gives us a chance to hit the Saturday papers and Friday websites.
At Eastern Creek one of the support classes for Australian Superbikes was the Aussie Racing Cars. I personally invited Steve Pizzati from Top Gear Australia along to race and he repaid the favour by going on Steve Price’s 2UE show twice. But where we owed him the most was his wonderful kindness in rolling the car 2 1/2 times and hitting most of the major daily papers in the process. Taking one fo the team- literally. Thanks man.
To step up our coverage, I have not only planned website and press release changes, but I have a few other ideas that I think will position our motorsport back in its rightful place as second only to V8 Supercars.
Details: www.asbk.com.au
Twitter: @asbk
Facebook: www.facebook.com/AustralianSuperbikes
Twitter pic posted from the second podium of the day for HRT.
HSV/HRT
I’ve been helping Holden Special Vehicles and Holden Racing Team (more specifically Walkinshaw Racing) establish and grow a social media presence. Sarah W from HSV has been a great student of social media and with the genuine backing of senior HSV management, we’ve really set HSV/HRT apart from the “others”. I set up many Twitter and Facebook Fan accounts (some Twitter accounts simply to prevent squatting) and have advised them at every step about ways to grow the fan base and how and what to Tweet. We have rewarded fans (sent out signed prizes when we hit 1000 Facebook fans) and kept up the conversationand replies- especially on race weekends.
Speaking of race weekends, at the recent Sandown event I joined in the Tweet festival from inside the Walkinshaw pit- a fantastic insiders view.
A more ambitious social media program is envisaged in the future.
Twitter: @holden_racing, @HSV_news, @BundyRedRacing
Facebook: HRT HSV Bundaberg Red Racing
Thomasr and Fiona Mackintosh from Draggin Jeans- Fed Sqr, 2007.
Draggin Jeans
Having briefed in SharpSushi, their new site will be launching shortly. Fiona and Kris from Draggin and Adam and Kere from SharpSushi have collaborated really well. I did my part early on, offering a few ideas, but they have all really taken up the running. The new site will offer a brilliant online experience, grow their very loyal fan base even more and have a conversion rate that I think will suprise even those inolved.
With new products, new designs, a new website, a new marketing manager and a more aggressive marketing approach, Draggin look good to go in the next year and beyond.
My involvement of late has take the form of some marketing strategy ideas with specific refence to Twitter and the “What is change?” concept. I also set up the fan page.
Beyond web, I am also going to do some “other” work for Draggin’, but for now this must remain a secret!
Web(new one launching soon): www.dragginjeans.net
Twitter: @dragginjeans
Facebook: DragginJeansAustralia
Josh Brookes
Superbike star and current British Superbike series racer Josh Brookes has recently come on board as a web/marketing client. He’s a great talent, though frankly having a very mixed year. I have written an all encompassing web strategy document that I am going to execute on (in collaboration with 50 Kaliber and SharpSushi), along with maintaining his social media presence and offering advice as we go.
Twitter: @joshbrookes
Facebook: JoshBrookes
SharpSushi
As one of the two web agencies I like to deal with, Adam and Kere- directors of SharpSushi- are two of the nicest and more importantly most switched on web people I have had the pleasure in dealing with. I have provided general web strategy and ideas for one specific client (whatcanyoudo.com.au) as well as general web strategy and social media ideas here and there. Eventually they will be building my own new site.
Eventually.
Web: www.sharpsushi.com
Igloo- Digital Strategy Agency
As the best mid sized (though growing so fast they may have gone past that stage) web agency in the country, Igloo can rightfully claim to have grown from a leading design agency into a leading strategy/all round agency.
Some months ago I assisted them as part of their pitch for the Mazda account, providing strategy ideas and on the ground assistance for their pitch. I also wrote a post for their blog site outlining my thoughts on social media with specific reference to the automotive market.
They subsequently won the Mazda account.
Since then I have been busy with my many other gigs, though I am really keen to get back to the Pelaco building and work on some fun stuff with Andy, Tony and the team.
Web: www.igloo.com.au
CarAdvice
Until a few months ago I was hosting a podcast for CarAdvice, Australia’s number one independent editorial site. While it was fun while it lasted, they have gone through a number of changes- from new offices, staff and a new CEO. It was agreed that the podcasts will go on hold for the rest of the year. While I was disappointed at the time, I’m hopeful we can work something out in the future.
Radio 3AW.
It’s hardly a suprise when I tell you I was cut from the Neil Mitchell show weekday lineup for 2009. Once the other 11am-12pm guests were cut, I suspected I was in strife- either they would move me to a new timeslot, or I would fall over utterly. At the time I received a very nice call from Program Director Clark Forbes telling me that I was still a required player for their F1 and MotoGP coverage as well as my summer sessions with Tom Elliott- a segment I really enjoy. Tom’s a terriffic bloke and a really good broadcaster. Summer will be fun!
The C-Word Vodcast
The irrepressible and likeable Dieter Kahsnitz has re invigorated his community TV award winning program as a 5 minute vodcast. At present the episodes are older ones recut for vodcast purposes. Shortly, we collectively head into a new era of the C-Word, with new concepts, segments and some really fun stuff. Stay tuned for that.
Web: www.cword.tv
Grand Prix Corporation
For the last few years I have been hosting the riders parade with Dieter at Federation Square. We’re shaping up to do it all again this year- though with a few extras thanks to my connections within Australian Superbikes.
As well as the Fed Square gig, We’ve also been asked to host a meet ‘n greet/panel show at the Island on the Friday night in the camp ground. This promises to be an cracking good night, so we’re rightly pumped about it. The whole weekend is going to absolutely rock, so book your tickets, do what you gotta do to be at Phillip Island this year.
So that’s me in a nut shell at the moment- busy, but still looking for more to fill my days with…
Yesterday I posted the news that I have a new site in the process of being designed built and to ensure it not only launches smoothly, but works hard for me, I have been reviewing how all of my social media strategy hangs together.
Frankly, it’s less than ideal. Here’s my bad photoshopped image of what currently happens.
How it all works.
That last point is no longer true, but it’s important to note that it was once the case. The problem now at Facebook is not one of double ups, but rather over saturation. Every single Tweet goes to Facebook. Per my previous post, I took my own advice and I’m not letting Tweets set as FB status, but it is appearing in all my friends timelines. Not all are happy:
Quite. I had a feeling this was the case, but as you can’t really see when you are creating “noise” on a friend’s Facebook page, I just kept going. (Not to be rude, but the more friends you have on FB, the less spammy my FB timeline appears as I am woven into the general fabric of Facebook)
Ok So what’s this all mean?
The Web 2.oh services are evolving and so too are the users. In fact it’s user expectation and user demands that are driving me- I think not so much about what can be done, but what’s best for my readers/followers/friends. So I turned off the feed into Facebook. But I do need some sort of feed into Facebook as it is a content cul de sac (Content goes in, doesn’t come out) and is very important as my friend base on Facebook increases.
So I’m going to set up a Feedburner account and aggregate most content apart from Twitter posts into Facebook as notes. It’s not a huge amount and certain services like Flickr will now be handled by a Facebook App instead of FriendFeed.
Where’s the conversation?
This is super critical. Corvida’s post on ReadWriteWeb was very clear and I believe it.
While there’s no formula for success, there are three keys to a killer web service: search, aggregation, and conversation.
So search is taken care of and I nearly have the aggregation situation about right. But it’s conversation, the third and possibly most compelling element- where will that happen?
Thoughts on conversation:
So there’s a bit to do and of course it’s ongoing.
And it obsesses me.
One notable problem in large organisations is the lack of accountability and proactivity.
The Age’s website is a case in point. If it was centralised and built on a better, more unifying platform with a single development team then maybe they would be able to fix the terrible, confusing template issues that plague the whole site.
Honestly, how long would it take a junior developer to fix the CSS for the letters page for example? How long does it take to add a <br> tag? (see image)
To the developers on The Age’s website: where are the mavericks who get shit done? Why do you accept this state of play? When’s the last time you worked back late to get something fixed- not built, but just fixed? Where are your bug reports? I hope you don’t get tipped out during this global recession, because no one will think your skills and more imporantly your passion is up to scratch.
Oh and while you’re at it, fix the bug that causes the site to crash iphones.
This announcement has both the twittersphere buzzing and me marvelling this morning. As Internode’s Simon Hackett said :
I’m gobsmacked. If they do what they promise, they’ve actually got it right, and we might just turn into a broadband front-runner country ten years from now… after all.
I’ve also supported the idea of the Federal Government building national broadband infrastructure. I’m not sure about the plan to sell it off again as I think a corporation owned by the government with subscription based billing to the telcos could not only sustain itself, but also account for future upgrades as well. Let’s face it, the network we build today will not be the same one we are using in 50 years. We’ll need to revisit this time and time again. Or we can set ourselves up for the longer term.
Hell, I might just go for a job there!
More details here
Mike Hickinbotham Wednesday, 18 March 2009 3:54:14 PM
Duncan,
Sorry to disappoint, but no one is getting fired and my update to yesterday’s post addresses your comment about ‘where the story diverges’.
Checkout the link here: http://tinyurl.com/c28l96
Mike Hickinbotham
Telstra Social Media Senior Advisor
Leslie is subject to disciplinary action not because he Twittered as the Fake Stephen Conroy, but because of his ongoing unauthorised public statements about Telstra, including abusive comments towards a colleague.
Telstra, better than Canadian Mounties. They always get there man. Anyway they can.
In the haze and confusion that has followed the most horrific natural disaster in our history, it’s become apparent that the scope of information (or lack thereof) and the speedy dissemination of said information to residents in the firing line was not effective.
The government has authorised a Royal Commission, but the time that will take and then instituting the findings will take some time.
I’m going to float an idea right now: Unmanned drones. They are an effective and low-risk method of monitoring this sort of natural disaster. They can carry a huge amount of equipment for surveillance and can be part of a technology chain that could be far more effective at sending out information live from the fire to command and then onward to people affected via sirens, the web, radio, SMS and automated land line calls.
The logical choice of drone would be the MQ-9 Predator. Not only has it been a highly successful military aircraft, used extensively in Afghanistan and Iraq, but it also has form insofar as monitoring fires.
147th Fighter Wing to 147th Reconnaissance Wing- MQ9 Predator
From Wikipedia:
In November 2006, NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center obtained an MQ-9 from General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc.. The aircraft has been named Ikhana and its main goal is the Suborbital Science Program within the Science Mission Directorate. NASA also acquired a ground control station in a mobile trailer. This aircraft was used extensively to survey the Southern California wildfires in 2007. The data was used to deploy firefighters to areas of the highest need.
And, despite being built ostensibly for global warming research, it was highly effective:
It was surprisingly successful: Ikhana found a hot spot at the bottom of a canyon just east of the town where fire crews hadn’t expected any problems. With the data, fire fighters were able to re-deploy to block the hot spot from spreading towards the Sierra town of Paradise. They immediately evacuated 10,000 people and successfully kept the fire from overtaking the town.
Here’s why we need this sort of capability:
“Firefighters are blinded by the smoke of a fire, but they need to know where the hottest parts of a fire are burning, and any little hot spots that are out in front,” said Vincent Ambrosia, NASA Ames Research Center’s principal investigator for the fire mission. “Most temperature sensors are calibrated to sense low-temperature sources; for instance, the military wants to use UAVs to sense a person walking across a field at night. But that kind of sensor doesn’t work well for high-temperature sources.
“By calibrating our thermal sensors for high temperatures, we can tell whether a given area is actively flaming or just extremely hot ash—a ‘boot melter’—because you don’t want to send in firefighters if it’s going to melt their boots.”
Yes, there are manned aircraft with this sort of sensor equipment available. But a drone is a better choice- for starters, there’s the time it can spend “on station”.
Wikipedia:
“The MQ-9 is fitted with six stores pylons. The inner stores pylons can carry a maximum of 1,500 pounds (680 kilograms) each, and are “wet” to allow carriage of external fuel tanks. The midwing stores pylons can carry a maximum of 600 pounds (270 kilograms) each, while the outer stores pylons can carry a maximum of 200 pounds (90 kilograms) each. An MQ-9 with two 1,000 pound (450 kilogram) external fuel tanks and a thousand pounds of munitions has an endurance of 42 hours.”
This would mean that a drone could have gone on station at 8am on Saturday the 8th and stayed until late Sunday night. A refuel at Essendon airport approximately 50 kms from Kinglake by air and it would be back for another 40+ hours. (Also note that if you have purpose built fire “eye in the sky” for non military use, you free up another 450kgs/1000lbs for equipment or even more fuel.)
One of the arguments against drones is safety of existing air traffic. That’s only an issue for the MQ-9 when ascending and descending. The rest of the time, it’s too high:
From an altitude of 43,000 feet, the wildfire sensor collected and sent 100 images and more than 20 data files containing the location of the fire perimeter over a 16-hour period on Oct. 28 and 29. The data were delivered in real time through a satellite communications link. NASA and Forest Service specialists worked to familiarize the fire management team with accessing capabilities and sensor data format. The data from the NASA system were used by the Esperanza Fire Incident Command Center to map fire behavior and direct resources to critical areas on the fire.
It’s worth noting that commercial aircraft have an operating ceiling of around 33,000 feet and certiainly any aircraft approaching Melbourne have descended by the time they reach the recently affected areas.
Australia already has these drones in use for illegal fishing detection, so we have trained staff and pilots who can fly and support these aircraft. Further, use by the military of these drones in a domestic crisis is not only great PR, it’s ideal for training under real pressure. Illegal fishing might be a worthy reason to have drones, but is it more important than saving lives?
I emailed Wired’s “Danger Room” military blogger Noah Schachtman to ask his thoughts on drones used in fire fighting. Here’s what I sentt:
The number one problem was detection and information flow. In Oz we either leave early or stay to fight. Many early-leavers left too late and were killed in their cars as they did not know the extent of the problem or proximity if the fires.
The government has set up a commission of enquiry. I would like to ask your users what they think- from a tech view- could be used to assist in detection and rapid dissemination of information.
Would unmanned drones built specifically for fire detection be the way forward? On the day in question, we knew we were in for trouble- record drought combined with 120f day and 60mph winds. Could we have launched drones into the danger areas to track fires? (I might add that the most deadly fires were seemingly deliberately lit).
Over to you!
His reply:
I know that NASA has used some drones to fight wildfires. They haven’t been more widely-deployed here because of the Federal Aviation Administration’s worry about them flying in the same skies as manned planes.
But drones are successfully being used to find everything from smugglers to bomb-planters. Why not fires (or fire-starters) too?
The last point is interesting. If drones can be up in the air scanning for fires, then early detection is possible and even identification and footage of the firebug is possible as well. Not only that but surely there would be a deterrent factor at work as well…?
The costs are a little up in the air as the predator and reaper UAVs are “systems”- typically deployed as 4 aircraft with all relevant support systems. That can get very expensive. But if simply added to our existing UAV program, the costs would be significantly lower.
On board technology could effectively augment the eye in the sky capabilities. The drones could serve as a mobile phone tower. Even at 43,000 feet, the line of sight nature of a a drone means that it could be used to broadcast emergency data- SMS, RSS even a service like Twitter could be highly effective.
While getting the information via a drone is seemingly possible, dissemination is where the battle will be won. The modern web can serve as an ideal test case for how to do it effectively and widely.
A scenario could go like this:
I believe, and I am sure the Commission will find that more can be done to speed information flow at every level. The power company could have a series of procedures where the initial ping from the drone immediately message multiple people- from a linesman to the CEO. It’s also worth mentioning that this scenario uses existing, almost-off-the-shelf equipment (the drone’s mobile phone tower capability being my only issue- however a missile rail/pod spot could be set aside for this purpose)
The key points here:
Technology has a lot to offer in these circumstances and it seems that we are still relying on old systems (like the bush telegraph) when the technology already exists to significantly reduce the risks to people in fire affected areas.
On noes, they be replacing me!!