Sky brings Skellig to life with bespoke online content

Sky has launched an online campaign for the novel-turned-film, Skellig, and is bringing it to life by featuring bespoke web content.

The film, an adaptation of the fantasy novel by David Almond, features Tim Roth, Kelly MacDonald and John Simm, and will be shown on Sky 1 over Easter ahead of its international theatrical release.

Sky has created a campaign site featuring an interactive game, videos, images, story details and downloadable content, in addition to news and information. The film, which has such rich content itself, has enabled Sky to pull out the detail and create a rich experience which brings the curious and magical elements to life.

The site, which initially launched as a basic presence in February as part of a teaser campaign, will grow to become a central hub for all things Skellig, and continue to feature new content in the run up to the film's premiere to engage its target audience of children. It will also host information about the film as well as details about tickets to school productions, to serve as a resource for Skellig fans.

The bespoke content includes behind-the-scenes videos and images from the making of the film along with interviews with the film's cast and exclusive online promotional videos. It will also feature a competition for schools, which use the novel as a set text, to get pupils to upload creative content about Skellig for the chance to win a premiere screening in their area.

The campaign, promoted via an ad campaign, is part of the ongoing moves by many broadcasters to create multi-platform brands and bespoke online content to attract larger audiences to their web properties.

Cadbury Creme Egg launches more spoof movies

Cadbury Creme Egg is launching another series of online spoof mini-movies including; ''The Wizard of Goo', 'Goo-Busters' and 'Armagooden' with a new "Goo-vie" being launched every two weeks at www.goovies.co.uk to celebrate Easter.

The films are also being released on cult animation and gaming website Weebl's Stuff - which predominantly has a 16-24-year-old audience and 1.5m unique users per month.

Each spoof features the characters Weebl, Bob and The Monkey appearing alongside Creme Eggs "desperate to release their goo". The cult following of these characters has enabled Cadbury to reach a savvy, underground audience and showcase the fun and entertaining brand personality of Creme Egg.

Cadbury first tied up with Weebl's Stuff last year, when it launched spoofs of Hollywood films, including 'Raiders of the Lost Goo' and 'Goo Fiction'.

The goo-vies are an idea that perfectly targets the desired audience with high quality content that encourages viral popularity, and is also an effective traffic driver to the Creme Egg site.

Talk to Frank launches anti-cannabis activity on Habbo

Talk to Frank, the Government drug advice service, has launched a campaign on teen social media site Habbo as part of its anti-cannabis activity.

The Habbo campaign features a branded room designed to be a virtual manifestation of a cannabis user's brain, and aims to reflect the effects of cannabis on Simon, the main character from the TV campaign.

The COI chose Habbo to target the younger teens that are thinking of getting into what is perceived as a harmless drug.

The Habbo room also hosts Frank Advisors who can offer real time advice to users throughout the campaign - which runs until the end of March.

Other activity includes competitions and a branded social networking group where users can leave comments and interact with the forum.

Woolworths uses Twitter and blogs for online return

Woolworths' new owners, Shop Direct Group, are using Twitter and a company blog to communicate with consumers as part of the plan to relaunch Woolies as an online-only retailer.

The move comes in reaction to the accusations that the brand was out-of-touch when it went into administration last November, and is also in response to the younger demographic that shops online.

The well documented demise of Woolworths' stirred up huge amounts of affection for the brand, and by the end of last year the ‘Save Woolworths' group on Facebook had more than 23,000 members.

Woolworths have adopted a light-hearted tone to their communications and have decided that social networking and social media engagement are the most effective way to promote the brand, communicate with customers, and receive feedback.

Last week Woolworths used Twitter to test demand for its famously diverse product offering by asking Twitterers to list their top five Woolworths' products, no doubt with a little nostalgia stirring in mind.

The blog covers topics from what pick'n'mix sweets you'd take to a desert island, to making browsing online safer for kids, and has already received hundreds of comments from consumers.

Study shows that social network users are happy to interact with brands

Social media is constantly evolving so it’s useful to know how users feel about brands and how they interact with them, and according to new research from MySpace, one third of social network users are likely to click through to third-party websites and services.

The research involving 1,000 16-35-year-olds looked at how users interact with brands on the MySpace site and found that 40% said they remembered an advertiser on the high street after engaging with its social network profile. Almost a quarter of users surveyed spent up to 30 minutes a day on social networks, with one in seven staying for up to five hours!

Users were found to be receptive to freebies and entertainment from brands, although they were very aware of the motives behind such offers, and didn’t respond well to brands interrupting their online experience with pushy sales pitches

Blog driven publishing is born

Perhaps ‘new media’ isn't killing off 'old media' after all. The Printed Blog is the world’s first daily newspaper comprised entirely of blogs and other user generated content.

The Printed Blog seeks to change the way people share and interact with news from the world around them, and hopes to play a role in reversing the fortunes of the sinking newspaper industry by using digital media.

Since the emphasis is on user-generated content rather than top-down reporting, the website is designed to function as a “hub” to connect with blogs, articles, photography, music, events and other content that YOU deem worthy of sharing with your own community.

The result is a revolutionary newspaper that reads and functions like a web feed, yet can still be enjoyed on the train or spread across the breakfast table. The Printed Blog is currently being beta tested in select locations, but once fully launched expect to find a copy of this unique and pleasurably tactile newspaper at a news stand near you.