When I say that I like to watch TV I’m not talking about drivel like the X Factor or Survivor! I’m talking about pure escapist programs following an ensemble cast and exploring the depths of each character within various situations and trials.

My favourite all time example of this has to be the remake of Battlestar Galactica, which sported the best ensemble and quality acting that has graced our screens for many years. If you thought that program was just about spaceships and robots you would be very mistaken!

So what has got me on the subject of Television you may ask?…. Well it’s more a lead-in to the use of digital streams as an interactive marketing medium for television shows!

As new media evolves we will continue to see the use of digital delivery to bolster television audiences and promote consumer interaction. Battlestar did it with “webisodes” (mini episodes streamed on the main website) to bridge the events between series, and television programs like True Blood and Haven are reaching out from behind the screen with Twitter accounts for the main characters for us to follow and maybe gleam a bit more insight into the episodes we watch!

Haven in particular caught my eye as I saw the first season and they have just finished airing the second season.

SyFi’s use of twitter to promote the show includes two characters, newspapermen Vince (@VinceHaven) and Dave (@DaveHaven). They join Twitter and begin interacting with an unknown Twitter user, @ColdInHaven, who has an extremely wide knowledge of the town. Viewers can follow the action on the Twitter stream, and will be able to catch mentions of the tweet-based storyline on the show itself.

This was a great idea and a refreshing change compared to other shows use of Twitter for promotion. In True Blood’s case they just created streams for each character and tweeted random stuff which was not great. But seeing the character Dave from Haven putting up a poster with his Twitter details in an episode for extra insight was great!

Nice work SyFi!!!!

So working in Digital, Marketing, and the PR space in the UK means that you have to get around in London quite a bit and make yourself known. On this front most of the time it is either through social media events, launches, chatting on Twitter, or a “standard” beer/wine binge with London’s elite!

Anyone who is new to the London area needs a good grounding in the most informative reprobates roaming the online space and the streets. With this in mind I thought I would post my top people to stalk online and grab a pint with in the real world!

	Name: Fleur Hicks-Duarte Background: Has worked at many top agencies in PR/Marketing, Is now the queen of the London consultancy scene! Notes: Her “pod” probably crash landed from Krypton in the 80s! Twitter Handle: @FleurSocial Blog/Website: http://www.hicks-duarte.com/
	Name: Brad Burton Background: MD breakfast network 4N,  Wrote the “Get Off Your Arse”, Everything he says is motivational Notes: Straight shooter who oozes common sense! Twitter Handle: @BradBurton Blog/Website: http://www.bradburton.biz/
	Name: Ryan Visser Background: Had the good fortune of working with me at 1000Heads agency. Has since moved on as Head of Social @ Brands2Life Notes: He has an irrational fear of bad punctuation! Twitter Handle: @RyanV49er Blog/Website: I should probably put http://visser49erracing.wordpress.com/, however Ryan updates this once every 20 years so http://brands2life.com/ is probably best!
	Name: Nick Bean Background: 1000Heads agency, he spent some time in Spain pretending to be Spanish, Is now working at Brick Lane agency LBI Notes: Still has a shirt I lent him to wear for Hermione Way’s NewsPepper relaunch Twitter Handle: @NickoBeano Website: Just like Ryan he has a blog (http://nickobeano.wordpress.com/) that is dead…. try http://www.lbi.co.uk instead!!
	Name: Camilla Brown Background: 1000Heads, Now at PR agency Manifest Notes: Has NEVER beaten me at a game of table football Twitter Handle: @Girlterate Website/Blog: Camilla’s twitter channel renders any blog she would have null and void. Just go to http://www.manifestcomms.co.uk/ instead!
	Name: Simon Quinton Background: Simon does freelance consulting in Digital Marketing and Social Media. He does a lot of work for Edelman London. Notes: Simon takes the word “fanboy” to a new level…. do not insult Wrestling, Star Wars, or the band Suede in his presence! Twitter Handle: @SimonOnly Website/Blog: Simon has a Brett Anderson fan portal (http://a-different-place.co.uk/)……, you’d better stick to his Twitter!

This is the third year I will have been at VMworld with PHD Virtual, and I have say that each year VMware raises the bar for social media at events!

Every day have a huge timetable of sessions, events, and meetups to go to. Also the sense of community and friendship with people you only meet 1-2 times a year is so strong!

This year VMware delivered an even bigger conference. There was a gigantic screen in the expo area displaying all of the conference tweets, videos, and the VMworld streaming TV channel!

Dr Stephen Herrod, CTO of VMware also threw a community party for VMware clients, bloggers, and vExperts (as a vExpert/blogger I was lucky enough to attend). This party is important each year as it allows key VMware staff to meet the evangelists who are pushing them online and also to allow community members to mingle in a more formal environment than the showroom floor.

I shouldn’t forget to mention that the VMworld party featured the local to Vegas band THE KILLERS!!

The next VMworld is in Copenhagen and we highly recommend all technology professionals to attend!

I spent the last weekend at the F1 Grand Prix at Silverstone and camping with the lovely people at Maruissa Virgin Racing (MVR) for their “MVR Racing Weekend”. The event took place at Stowe School (where Sir Richard Branson of Virgin went to school) and included:

1. Campsite
2. TRANSFERS TO THE RACE AT SILVERSTONE!!!
3. A fully licensed bar
4. MVR Merchendise stand
5. Big Screen TV
6. Live Music Stage
7. Catering from Jamie Oliver
8. A covered chill out area
9. Fast cars display (including a MVR F1 car)!

The weekend gave me the opportunity to rub shoulders with the MVR team and drivers as well as hanging out with Radio 5’s own commentator David ‘Crofty’ Croft! There was also plenty of action on the stage with live music from 50ft Woman and DJ action from MVR reserve driverSakon Yamamoto (aided by reserve driver #2 Robert Wickens!).

After the race on the Sunday we were also treated to a screening of the SENNA movie and got to meet the director afterwards!

The whole weekend was a true display of how to give back to your community online, and although MVR are a back marker in terms of F1 race pace they currently have by far the strongest online following. They are also totally committed to “giving back to the community”.

WELL DONE MVR!!! We hope to see you next year…. same time…. same place!!?

Earlier in the month my brother linked me a competition with Kaspersky Labs on Facebook to win a chance to be their “Insider” at the Monaco Grand Prix.

The contest involved answering several relatively easy questions and saying “Why you deserve to be the Monaco Insider”.

Now anyone who is following F1 at the moment will know that Kaspersky is one of the sponsors of Ferrari, and being that both my brother and I have had Ferrari “fandom” instilled into us by our father since we were kids we both obviously entered.

Fast forward a few days and after a skype interview I was informed that I AM GOING TO MONACO!!!!

Practice 1 and 2 were awesome today and the Ferrari’s look in a good spot to do some damage to Red Bull and McLaren!

Check Kaspersky Motorsport’s Facebook, my Twitter, and this blog for more over the weekend!

You’ve got to hand it to him. Most celebrities out there would not be able to turn around being fired from a long term career vehicle like Two and a Half Men, and a video that provides the press with ammo to “TRY” and character assassinate them into a personal “WIN”!

This is exactly what Charlie Sheen has done and to be honest I’m impressed!

Part of this may be that he is constantly speaking the truth from his heart regardless of whether people will like what they hear.

From these ashes the unkillable Sheen rises like the phoenix to bring you his “Violent Torpedo of Truth/Defeat is Not An Option” live stage show which is selling out across the US!

On top of this he has launched an official signature range of t-shirts promoting his ethos on clean living and the overall “winning” lifestyle! I’ve already ordered mine! TIGER BLOOD!!!!!

To be fair……. It’s genius!

BRING THE TORPEDO OF TRUTH TO THE UK!!!!!

#FASTBALL

I picked up on this video yesterday from Melinda Seckington’s Twitter stream.

It was promptly deleted from YouTube thanks to Disney claiming copywright on it! Bastards!

Well I found another copy and it’s still up at the moment! This video reveals some back story bridging the gap between Tron and Tron: Legacy. It also adds an epilogue to the second film which seems to usher in the real possability of a sequel, which is currently a rumour!

It’s still happening to me….. the penance we all pay for having to take a plane to work every now and then has caught up with me once more!

Last year I spent a total of 2.5 months out of the country on business (not even including holidays!) and I totally blame that for my screwed sleep pattern!  I feel like I should be on EST, but am living in the GMT time zone!

Finally falling asleep at 4:30 am every night and having to wake up at 9am is not fun!

Any ideas on how to cure this please email me! :S

Pirelli is a brand name that any true F1 follower will associate with Formula1 and their artistic calendars!

They competed in Formula One in three distinct periods between 1950-1958, 1981-1986, and 1989-1991, winning 44 Grands Prix from 200 starts.

This year Pirelli will return to F1 as the sole tyre supplier, following Bridgestone’s decision to withdraw from the role at the end of 2010. This has made me very happy as I’ve been a fan of Pirelli for years, and was a very grumpy 11 year old when they stopped working with F1 in 1991!

I grew up with Formula1 as my Dad is a complete nut for the sport. Grand Prix were commonplace in my childhood and when I was about 3 years old my Dad got myself and my brother a Pirelli baseball cap ( from Tolman Motorsport ) which followed me throughout my life until the age of about 16 when it was just too damaged to wear in public! (although I do still have it!)

Well today at my parents house my Dad presented me with a new Pirelli hat! This has left me very chuffed as they are only available to company employees now and they do not produce many each year!
It turns out my Dad called up the office and asked about them…. they responded to his query by posting the cap out!

Thanks Jenny at Pirelli! As you can see my old hat is battered and the new one will do nicely!

You can also see that I look rather dashing in the new hat and that I haven’t changed a bit since the age of 5!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted mainly because I’ve been working my butt off laying the foundations for several new biz ventures, but also because i’ve been in the process of looking for a new apartment in Oxford!

Apologies for being so absent… I’ll try not to do it again.

So it’s now 2011 and with another year brings another world of possibilities!

I spent my New Year’s Eve moving around various watering holes in Oxford centre sampling the finest that Oxford has to offer. In the end for the “big tick over” we were invited by an old friend to come to the Number 9 club where he was promoting.
Upon entering the club I must say at first I was a little taken a back by the fact that most of the people there looked no older than 15!! (this is me showing my age!). After sorting out the champers at 5 mins to midnight we waited for the final countdown…… and waited….. and waited……. I looked at my watch to discover it was 1 min past…… still no NYE countdown?????….. “Maybe my watch is fast”!
The bartender who we also knew asked the DJ if he was going to do a NYE countdown?…. he replied “F**K off!”…… charming!

So my NYE consited of lots of champagne amongst badly dressed kids/almost adults with no actual countdown to New Years!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!