We have issues

Welcome to Idealog Weekly, the free email newsletter for New Zealand commercial creatives, entrepreneurs and anyone rich with ideas.

We have issues

New ones, and a record number of them too, but that’s actually a good thing.

Subscribers will have a nice, new and generally fresh September-October copy of Idealog in their letterboxes by now. The rest of you will have to huddle at the newsagent Monday onwards, for your copy.

This time around, members of the media will wince uncomfortably at reading Matt Cooney’s story Free Thinking, but there’s plenty more in the rag to feast your eyes on.

I’m looking forward to Matt Suddain’s yarn about the Sony Walkman—yes, it was 30 years ago today when it made that C-90 play—and how it’s changed our world. Then there’s Orion Health that plans to help Barack Obama with his healthcare reforms, four dancing women, corporate sabotage, a new advice column from Lance Wiggs and a magazine typically full of creative ideas and business thinking.

But wait—there’s more, and we’re not talking infomercials either. Folded inside Idealog you’ll find a copy of Celsias. It’s our new eco-news magazine, featuring stories like the new venture that former Bendon baron Stefan Preston has launched with one-time joya teacher Jyoti Morningstar; plus, it’s asking quarrelsome questions like ‘Is Sustainability Dead?’ Well, is it? Read for yourself, and head over to www.celsias.co.nz to get an idea of what the magazine’s all about (hint: it’s not all about the magazine).

This month also sees the rebirth of NZ Marketing under HB Media’s auspices. Brands, marketing, advertising, and media butt heads in that august organ, now 64 pages fat and designed by multi-award-winning art director Adrian Clapperton, the same guy who designs each Idealog. We think you’ll find it a refreshing read.

So there’s three new magazines in a week (phew!). And next Friday we’ll have a new online venture to tell you about, too. Tune back in then.

It rises!

Surely Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus must be one of those needed-to-be-made flicks. Needless to say: don’t look into its eyes.

Crowded creativity

 Unilever has dumped its ad agency after 16 years and reckons it can now rely on the public for its campaigns. That’s a brave step and plenty of agencies will be watching the experiment with some trepidation. First up, it’s crowdsourcing for ideas for the Peperami brand, offering US$10,000 for the best. If the competition works, it could have monumental ramifications for AdLand and possibly, other communications industries. Think about it for a while. Other big brands like BMW, Red Bull and Castle Lager are joining the experiment at ideabounty.com

A mere 63 years

LG’s watchphone is … interesting, but what took so long? It’s the 21st centurey, people have phone implants these days! Chester Gould envisaged the two-way wrist radio in 1946 already, and had it upgraded to a TV in 1964.

OMG WTF WAF Eqo!

 Big ups to Eqo Leung and team for making it to the World Architecture Festival (or WAF) 2009 finals in Spain this November.

Leung is among the creative Kiwis featured in the new issue of Idealog. The news of his WAF nomination came after the magazine was on the press, but let’s just say he’s come a long way from earning $13 an hour making architectural models.

The work that impressed the WAF is the Wilson School in Takapuna, purpose-built for special needs students. Leung will have to present at WAF 2009 on how he found the inspiration for the project. Architects from more than 80 countries will attend WAF 2009. However, Eqo’s not our only hope: New Zealand has four other finalists in WAF 2009. They include Fearon Hay (Northern Club) Pacific Environments (Yellow Treehouse Restaurant), RTA Studio (Ironbank) and Warren and Mahoney (NZi3 Innovation Institute).

Only the best

The Designers’ Institute of New Zealand has the list of Best Design Awards finalists ready, and there’s some very cool stuff this year. Take a browse, and get some tickets for the award ceremony on October 16 this year while you’re at it.

AAUG!

Arduino is tinkering for cool cats, and we’re pleased to see that MindKits and AUT’s CoLab are organising a user group for the likeminded.

So, if you dig the Arduino thing, head over to Playhouse Bar next to Aotea Square besides the iMax building around 6pm on September 3 for a beer or two, and share your project ideas. The AAUG inteds to meet up the first and third Thursday of every month after that, with guest speakers and kit exchanges to go with it.

We talked to Lilipad Arduino toolkit designer Dr Leah Buechley when she was in Auckland in June.

Get offa on clouds

 Short notice on this one, but Saturday the 29th sees the inaugural New Zealand Cloud Camp at Galatos in Auckland.

It’s an unconference for Cloud Computing aficionados, and a rather important one to boot, as that particular form of information processing will be increasingly important for businesses here and everywhere.

Quote of the week

“The power of people is increased because communication is getting faster. If you do something unsustainable, everyone is going to know in about five minutes.”

—Grove Hill winemaker Dave Pearce on themarket realities in our export markets.

More at Idealog online

Read more on our website: web exclusives, opinion, creative directory, Idealog TV, the Idealog blogs and the Idealog podcast. See you at idealog.co.nz.

  Juha Saarinen
  Ideologue, Weekly