Anyone working in events knows – it is a business of hurry hurry wait wait wait hurry hurry hurry oh dear lord hurry and… wait. It’s the nature of the beast.

Well the following Apps may help you to pass some time, refresh yourself and keep you focused, sharp and not bored. We present the top gaming and creativity apps for Event Professionals as certified by the FACTOR168 Creative Event Company crew.

Gaming

Entertainment in the form of ‘games’ on smartphones is pretty optimistic when compared to the sensational experiences delivered by the consoles such as PS3 and XBOX360 but there are some games that have proven handy while sitting in a taxi, or at the airport, or even in the waiting room of a CEO who has incredibly poor time management skills (or is just plain rude). Settle…

Unlike other iPhone Apps, there is a wide scope of games sitting on phones but these four seemed to have rated highly with the team. Interestingly enough of the four only one is free – and two of them are in fact the most expensive Apps purchased.

Perhaps in terms of moneterizing smartphones there is something in this after all!

• FaceFighter – The cool thing about this little game is that you can photograph a colleague (face straight on is best) and simple then place his or her face within your ‘foes’ face. Then proceed to kick and punch 8 different types of fluids out of them. Personally I haven’t felt compelled to change the face of one of our more annoying vendors for some time and at $1.99 has proven to be a bargain!

• Bubblewrap – This really is what you think it is. Just sit back and pop bubble wrap to your heart’s content. Oh and it’s free… the only thing we’d recommend is to throw your phone to mute as the sound of popping will eventually turn someone in the office into a ball of fury… and talking of fury…

SF IV (StreetFighter) – This is game is an extension of that old classic from Capcom. You fight against one opponent after another in various ‘exotic’ scenes. It was advertised as having had a make ovr but I can’t see it.

Same characters, same scenes, and most of the controls and special moves are same same. For $9.99 it’s pretty overpriced but it does deliver on providing instant entertainment while commuting so whaddya’ want? The little angst ridden dialogue pieces in between challenges are pretty funny.

• Real Racing – Of all the Apps, this is the second highest in cost – $4.99. Unlike SF IV it delivers and then some. I have to confess when I was shown this app I dismissed it as being kinda dumb for a smartphone but it actually really works in this medium. The nice thing is that if you have WiFi access, you can compete against others and yourself in leagues… kinda cool although at the end of the day it is a car racing around and around the same series of tracks. I suspect the love affair with this app will drop away quicker than others but until then vroom vroom!

Some kinda cool Creative Apps

• Idea Stimulator – The Idea Stimulator was developed by a leading creative evangelist in Australia, Nigel Collin. A friend and fan of the FACTOR168 team.  Nigel started many many moons ago as an actor, found himself in demand as a corporate events master of ceremonies before attending The Disney Institute’s Organizational Creativity course (the same one that one of our founding partners Darren Kerr also attended), found the mouse, and from there developed some seriously effective, inspirational, and powerful creativity tools. This is the iPhone App version of one of his popular business management books and it works really well. And priced at $1.19, yeah I know it’s a kinda strange number, it is really great value from Australia’s guru of creativity and recent TED star.

• Thought Leaders - This is super interesting… not sure as an App… but do check out their website.

Jac Bowie Burlesque – Despite the overt advertorial nature of this App, we just like it. This stylish lady is a smart cookie who has transformed herself from a flight attendant to the Queen of Burlesque in Australia and by all reports is in the process of taking over the world through her business endeavours. If nothing else, it serves as an interesting example of monetizing a business. And let’s face it… a little burlesque in a show is always good fun if it’s the right audience.

• PhotoTropedelic – This is sheer indulgence and was a recommendation by a pal through a pal via Facebook (welcome to 2010!) and on a whim we purchased it and it’s turned out to be our all time top App. Priced at $1.99 it’s well priced and we recommend this to anyone who has a passion or even a passing aesthetic interest in POPart style of design. Some quick examples of what it can do are below…. cool huh?

Source Notes:

if you’d like to read the original Best iPhone Apps for Event Professionals – click HERE.

All these Apps can be found at iTunes and we are sorry to all the Blackberry and Nokia users… but it seems we are an iPhone business by individual choice.

FACTOR168 Creative Event Company

Creative. Strategic. Tactical.

Sensational Events through Powerful Experiences.

Cue applause.

We have nothing more to say about this clip other than it seriously rocks in an amusing comic-geek kinda way.

Sometime ago The Walt Disney Company acquired Marvel and almost all of their super heros (except for like the cool ones like Spiderman, Superman, and Batman).

With that in mind we thought we’d belatedly celebrate this union with this clip that for some odd reason always seems to draw laughter from the more disturbed members of our team. And laughter is good right?

Source Notes:

A news article talking about Disney acquires Marvel

The clip was from Marvel.com

FACTOR168 Creative Event Company

Creative. Strategic. Tactical.

Sensational Events through Powerful Experiences.

The top of the pop Apps that all iPhones should ship with are, in no particular order of preference, the following:

AccuWeather (wet weather contingency), Twitterific (keep up to date in bite size data packets), Facebook (check out whats up with your people), Skype (for talking to your people long distance), Linkedin (keeping your professional profile in the minds-eye), FourSquare (where is everyone else right now), and the electronic ideas scrap book in the form of Evernote

All the other Apps that most iPhone users should have on-board.

In no particular order we also recommend Alarm Clock, the News gathering at one spot portal of NewsOneLite – you’ll quickly realize like us that most ‘newspapers’ run the same news just under slightly different slug-lines.

We also like ‘Studio 54′ inspired Battery LED app which tells you in a trippy visual way how much power your phone has got in it depending on your future use.

The app Bump is a really cool idea although we have to confess that we know of NO ONE who has actually used it.

However almost everyone who works within the international environment seems to use XE Currency which is really good. The desktop version also has a tool for calculating overseas expenses which is mana from heaven.

Another handy app is Free Wi-Fi – a quick email sync at no or little costs. Bless.

All these Apps are Free with the exception of the Alarm Clock that has gone Pro. This Pro version will set you back a whole .99c but in return you can wake up to The Steve Miller Band’s ‘Fly Like An Eagle’ (or a song of your choice that you’ve pre-loaded) which is much more civilized than the BLEEP BLEEP BLEEPing version.

Kinda handy tools

These four Apps are free although we suspect that the sensational Dropbox will be the first to start charging a fee for their services. Really hand app for anyone who comes across lots of stuff in their day on the web but doesn’t have the time to read or review right there and then – easy, just drop it into your box. Probably better suited for your laptop but still you never know, and it will sync.

The other three are just plain handy. Ever wondered what to do if bitten by a snake? Before passing out from the shock, click on your wikiHow app and all things will be revealed.

The SitorSquat app is very American-centric but then it’s development was ‘sponsored’ by Charmin who are huge in the States when it comes to toilet paper… nice synergy there. The future usefullness of this sort of app is dependent in part by the data that users contribute to and certainly within Australia and Hong Kong it is… well spotty at best. Still… if your travelling and can’t find a restroom, it certainly couldn’t hurt to have this on hand.

The last handy tools app should really just come loaded on with the iPhone and perhaps with the new model it will. Some really nice Backgrounds for your iPhone can be found here. Oh and it’s free which is a good price.

Communications

FakeCaller – Free and yet Priceless. This App is often referred to as the Dating Parachute and employed as part of one’s Meeting Exit strategy… come on – like you never wished you’d had this at one of those hideous committee meetings where everything needs to be debated. Bam! That’y my man Tommy White – must take it!

The two other communications Apps that are popular are Meebo and another free app called WhatsApp To be honest we are not 100% sold into either but we are run them for different reasons.

We use Meebo as a instant messaging dashboard of choice off our PC’s. It’s big drawcards is that it allows you to IM with people regardless of their own messaging preference provider. One person could be on yahoo, another on gmail, other son hotmail or even meebo itself – and you can chat across these proprietry domains. Cool.

WhatsApp was recommended to us as a handy way of IMing over iPhone… seems to be replicating the IM element of Skype and some people we’ve invited to communicate via this app have been successful and others not. Hmmm… this app may not be long for our phones me thinks.

Hope you’ve found this list and quasi reviews handy – if you have any you can recommend please let us know.

The second part of this post can be viewed here.

FACTOR168 Creative Event Company

Creative. Strategic. Tactical.

Sensational Events through Powerful Experiences.

So be well warned – come the 25th this month, all Geeks, and those that harbor geek tendencies who are yet to come out of the IT Support closet, will be stepping up and out from behind their computer screens. And then…

They’ll come out of comic book, a little more slowly out of the gaming stores, they’ll setting aside their handheld device with steely conviction, and as one proudly bellowing ‘Hazzar!’ along with chest beating and complicated hand shakes before scampering off for poptarts or cheese powdered crunchy bits.

Now of course if you feel really kinda motivated, you could actually participate in more formal Geek Pride activities. But before you take this step, best you swat up on the Geek Pride Manifesto created to celebrate the day. The key elements such as the basic rights and responsibilities of geeks are detailed as follows -

Rights:

1. The right to be even geekier.
2. The right to not leave your house.
3. The right to not have a significant other and to be a virgin.
4. The right to not like football or any other sport.
5. The right to associate with other nerds.
6. The right to have few friends (or none at all).
7. The right to have all the geeky friends that you want.
8. The right to not be “in-style.”
9. The right to be overweight and have poor eyesight.
10. The right to show off your geekiness.
11. The right to take over the world.

Responsibilities:

1. Be a geek, no matter what.
2. Try to be nerdier than anyone else.
3. If there is a discussion about something geeky, you must give your opinion.
4. Save any and all geeky things you have.
5. Do everything you can to show off your geeky stuff as though it were a “museum of geekiness.”
6. Don’t be a generalized geek. You must specialize in something.
7. Attend every nerdy movie on opening night and buy every geeky book before anyone else.

But okay – are you actually a Geek? Check out the matrix below and see where you or someone you know that you suspect of carrying the Geek DNA and make a quick assessment.

For some non-geek ladies that have read the above manifesto, they may find a geek a more attractive proposition. If so, feel free to pop over to this SITE for a funny and kinda sweet ‘how-to-nab-a-geek’ guide.  Sadly I recognized a lot of former boyfriends in this… oh dear.

With that in mind and with the expectation that there may be some empowered frisky Geeks smothered in Old Spice on the loose this 25th, you may find it informative to consult the following Geek dating chart… it all now makes so much sense. Funny yet disturbingly rings true.

Source Notes:
The dating geek chart is courtesy of the fab website www.gossipgamers.com and the Geek Matrix is courtesy of this SITE. All other images from http://vi.sualize.us/

The manifesto of Geek Pride Day is courtesy of the font of most instant knowledge – Wikipedia. The history of the day can also be found HERE .

FACTOR168 Creative Event Company
Creative. Strategic. Tactical.
Sensational Events through Powerful Experiences.

How to achieve balance with events

Having produced events within Australia, the UK, US, and across Asia for the past two decades, there is no question that there are two very distinct event production styles at work within Asia – an Eastern and Western style.

In keeping with good contemporary event marketing practices, each style strives to create memorable, meaningful and engaging event experiences that are on-brand and on-message.

They operate from similar good event production and management processes – it’s just that their outlook in practice is, well, very different.

The Eastern event is the king of the experience. Practiced throughout Asia, this event style is almost exclusively focused on generating memorable experiences – done largely through tactile interaction on a personal level anchored off very broad-stroke event identities.

Unfortunately this is often at the expense of consistent branding and the clear delivery of an uncluttered message.

The Western event is a very sophisticated affair. This style can’t be beaten in terms of strong strategic event marketing, sharp brand management and a great depth of business theatre.

The flipside is that the focus on the event’s strategic and tactical mechanics can often lose the Eastern focus on the experience.

This is not helped by input from a corporation’s feared ‘branding police’. When their guidance strays into broader programming, a potentially fabulous live communication experience becomes ‘plain vanilla’ super quick.

The secret to a great event is recognising what style you’re operating with and then attempt to achieve a balance by drawing across from the other style. Easier said than done but have no fear, it can deliver spectacular results.

Darren Kerr is a founding partner of Factor168 Creative Event Company, www.factor168.com

FACTOR168 Creative Event Company
Creative. Strategic. Tactical.
Sensational Events through Powerful Experiences.

It is manna to anyone with a creative bent and a sense of curiosity and invention – of looking at things differently.

During his career as a newspaper cartoonist – his legacy was his ‘invention cartoons’ where he looked at inventing incredibly elborate machine inventions to perform simple tasks such as pencil sharpening, or washing windows, avoiding bill collectors, peeling apples, putting toothpaste on a toothbrush. He was about creative problem solving in unconventional ways and having a lot of fun in the process .

Since his passing in 1970, his creative approach has continued to be celebrated in the form of his postcard format book called the “Rube Goldberg’s Inventions”.

IN essence these inventions over engineer very simple tasks in a very very complex fashion and usually features a series of chain reactions.

The Perdue Univeristy, Indiana USA, started the annual Rube Goldberg Machine Contest (RGMC) in 1987 and the results have been creatively intriguing and always entertaining in terms of human ingenuity. The name of the game is to solve a problem in the MOST CONVOLUTED AND COMPLICATED MANNER POSSIBLE.

Now when you to take this Goldberg approach and mesh it with a very creative and quirky musical group OK GO – the result is a masterful visual and audible event. Memorable and fun.

OK Go’s song This Too Shall Pass” and it’s Rube Goldberged all the way. Enjoy.

Hope you enjoyed that as much as we did.

Of course this is not the first time this musical group have delivered on a memorable video clip experience.

A previous music clip, very very simple in execution and concept, was superbly delivered on the back of some fabulous choregraphy using treadmills. The clip is called “Here It Goes Again”.

Just fabulous… Rube Goldberg and OK Go… fantastic. The applications within the special event environment in terms of team building, in regards to stage showcraft, out-of-the-box thinking and creative innovation is wide ranging and excites the heck out of the FACTOR168 team and never fails to recharge our mojo.

Now for some Goldberg trivia.

Some Goldberg trivia – Rube Goldberg’s machine inventions were the inspiration for the much loved classic board game “Mouse Trap“. Compare his artwork, compare the board game… yeah, you can see it too huh?

PLUS in 1931 the Merriam-Webster dictionary adopted the word “Rube Goldberg” as an adjective defined as accomplishing something simple through complex means.

Source Notes: More on the creative world of Rube Goldberg and for more music got to OK GO.

FACTOR168 Creative Event Company
Creative. Strategic. Tactical.
Sensational Events through Powerful Experiences.

Oh and still on Ducks – by popular demand, we’ve been asked by many… okay specifically Todd the barista not batista down at the corner cafe with his feedback (analogue style… he spoke to us in person) on the Muse  – we present a classic Duck moment.

Join us fellow Gen Y’ers, Babyboomers, and the X tribe as we trip down memory lane… or in this case memory ‘street’ as Ernie and his rubbery best pal celebrate their special friendship.

Enjoy. And then yes you can return to the destructive force that is Duckzilla! Bwwaahahaha!

Ernie courtesy of Sesame Street.

FACTOR168 | Creative Event Management Company

At one point they form an image of the ‘Mona Lisa’ with the various coloured LEDs on their back. Cool.

Apparently more than a million internet users have watched the viral video in the four days since it was released online.

The creators of the video revealed that they recruited Welsh national sheep herding champion Gerry Lewis, and a team of Welsh sheep herders to guide the flocks into position. They also admitted to the use of computer trickery – which in a sense is kinda of a pity so let’s just quickly brush over that revelation.

Matt Smith, the co-founder of ad agency The Viral Factory said:

The people on camera are real farmers and they were really controlling the sheepdogs. Rather than trying to fake it all we did it for real. The sheep herding bit is straight up – no trickery but there is a fair amount of computer trickery and post production work. We thought the Mona Lisa was the big wink to people – once they saw that we thought they would realise it was not all real. But we have been quite surprised that there is still a debate about whether it is all real and people have been coming up with various theories.

Matt said the main problem on the shoot was not herding the sheep, but getting enough of them.

We filmed it at the end of last month and it is lambing season so we could not disturb the sheep that were lambing because it would have been too stressful. We used different sheep over the two day shoot because we couldn’t have them running around all day. We didn’t give them any treats because they got to wear an LED coat – I can’t think of anything better. The video is silly and joyful. This one has caused a real stir.

Here’s the ad – enjoy the cast, their flock of stars and their combined efforts… and forgive the computer trickery.. if you spot it that is. (we could tell you but then we’d have to have you with mint sauce!)

So how successful do you think their efforts were? Did it sell more Samsung product?

That we don’t know. But a quick show of hands indicated that this ad was a huge hit with the staff at FACTOR168 and the real testiment to the success of this ad was when we questioned friends and regulars at our local coffee haunt – a surprisingly large number of people remembered the ad and almost all associated it with Samsung.

This strong and positive recollection was, despite a considerable amount of time having passed since the ad went ‘viral’, pretty impressive to say the least.

FACTOR168 | Creative Event Management Company

Inspired by your NZ, Brisbane, and Vegas experience marketing TVCs, I thought I’d share this little conversational accented gem with you. This is not the very worst tourist genre advertisement out there (feel free to post your suggestions in) but gee it would have to be in contention. And this also serves as a good example of why a musical soundtrack or in this case the almost virtual absence of one can be so mission critical. By comparison the 100% Pure NZ ad is a masterpiece. Go on… en-joy.

I kinda don’t really get it. Is the ad trying to attract tourists? Business investment? Convince Albertans it’s good to be Albertans? Where is Alberta? You’ll find a handy map here but just think Edmonton or even better Calgary – they are full of Albertans. Think the middle of Canada and bang! you’re pretty much on the money… think of this ad… and your not.

And since we are talking about money – the non-conformer’s Canadian weblog last post back in Feb this year chronicles the mass media response to the “once golden goose of the Canadian economy, Alberta is now shedding jobs like feathers, Albtertains were hit last week with…(yada yada yada)” The thing is… during this time of economic recession, this is not Alberta specific… everyone is posting a deficit.

But let’s not go there today. Today it is all about being in a state of Alberta. And a quirky thing that screams Alberta to me is this giant roadside billboard (below) advertising the Naval Museum of Alberta. Which is really cool and very creative in terms of using the periscope… and yet so very very Albertarianly odd.

You see the thing that unhinges me here is that Alberta is landlocked. Between the Rocky Mountains and foothils, and a huge spread of forested plains – covering almost 90% of the area I’m so told. Sure. That’s what I was thinking – where the heck are the oceans for these Albertan submarines… ‘eh?

And now that I have settled a little, it just occurred to me that I have been referring to Alberta as a state within Canada but perhaps they prefer being called a province? After all some refer to it as the Princess Province – named after the fourth daughter of Queen Victoria… ummm… Princess.. Alberta. Any ideas. State or Province? And where are the subs?

FACTOR168 | Creative Event Management Company

In addition to the to-camera confession and apology made by Vanilla Ice (posted here)we have also come across a number of other clips that were employed in the developing storyline for this campaign. We thought we’d share them with you.

The first documents Mr Ice wandering the streets of Florida… I suspect it may in fact be Fort Lauderdale rather than Miami as he lives there… just a bit of trivia. Could be handy in the future. Or not. Look this clip is a bit soft but I guess it gets the point across and helps build momentum.

The second better clip is a compile of Mr Ice seemingly ringing people randomly out of a telephone directly and apologizing to them… although some unkind people have suggested that he was just calling all twenty odd genuine fans.  This is not true people. Vanilla Ice has many a fan… and some have telephones.  Actually I like this one of the two as it seems less staged even though it clearly is.

We’ve employed a similar technique of story building with a number of different ‘developing’ clips as event invitation teasers and as a featured developing story revealed throughout an event run itself. This technique is very effective in providing a recognizable thematic thread to an event. It is effective in restating an events core messaging, and in turn proves effective in building on a shared event memory and ongoing event experience well after the event proper has concluded .

FACTOR168 recently employed with great success this technique with a ‘Jason Bourne’ theme for an overseas telecommunications company event series. The story documented a ‘teleco operative’ in search of his organizational identity within a harsh and unforgiving competitive world.

Atmospheric, layered, and entertaining. The story featured an ensemble cast of professional actors, industry ‘star’ cameos, and host organizational identities.

For a greater 360 degree immersive event experience, this strong tie-in theme was employed within the digital and print invitations, themeing the event environment and catering, featured within to-screen support material, soundtracks and musical stings, speaker programming, registration process, room drops and gifts, and satellite social events. The end result was an enhanced attendee participation and 100% post event messaging recall.

And finally… so as to wrap up this commentary on what was in our considered opinion a brilliant event marketing campaign by Virgin Mobile, and disturbingly now seems to have evolved into a creepy fan inspired homage to Vanilla Ice – here is an interview between one of those cookie cutter entertainment reporters apparently living ‘backstage’ and the Iceman.He talks about his career and a forthcoming televised celebrity rodeo (what the heck? Yup <sigh> only in America I guess).

Oh and look out for his freestyle rapping at the conclusion of the interview which just goes to prove that investing wisely is a very very good thing to do. Which got me to wondering how much money if any did he really get from this record… I recall a story about him being forced to sign away all royalties to Suge Knight or be tossed out a window… anyway…

FACTOR168 | Creative Event Management Company

It appears a lot of people have been hooked and the website appears to have taken on a life of it’s own as more bands/songs are nominated for a swift innocence or guilty verdict.

It has actually evolved into a rather fun website to be honest. And now features added dimensions including a top ten listing of ‘wrong’ which makes for curious reading.

Although the top ten is forever in a start of flux, I think most reasonable lovers of ‘pop’ music wouldn’t question the inclusion of people like Paris Hilton, David Hasselhoth, and leading the pack is the truly dreadful Fast Food Rocket who I think Australia may have been spared from as it was the first time I had seen or heard them… as horrible as it was.

Oh and the sickly sweet Jonas Brothers and all their songs make the list. Clearly with this last act, the tweens haven’t found this site yet.

Personally I thought the inclusion of Milli Vanilli was a bit rough and a bit of a ‘free kick’ as I rather like many of their songs. Sure – the two ‘faces’ of the band didn’t actually sing or contribute to them in a musical sense but set that aside for a moment… the songs themselves were good. I stand by this people.

The top ten also seems to have thrown up an awful lot of product… I mean songs from the ‘noughties’. Is this because Generation Y’s musical memory doesn’t extend back more than a decade or is it because this decade has really witnessed rampant out of control celebrity-mania. Maybe I’m getting old.

Having said that Milli Vanilli is a noughties exception as the boys from the one hit wonders ‘Right Said Fred’. I’d actually argue that although it was their only hit, it was a cracker in terms of being a bona fide dance floor filler. I cast my vote as being innocent. It appears that makes three of us now.

Seriously – this song appears to be a special event standard expected of all DJ’s toiling their skills at corporate gala dinners and it has certainly competed with “Eye of the Tiger” as a soundtrack of choice for all those sales incentive kickoff videos. Most are okay, some are very smart and funny, and those made in-house are most often simply appalling. People – I beg of you, get your event management company to handle this video along with everything else. It’s for the best.

And now ladies and gents, for those who like myself can’t help but stroll down memory lane in your baggy Turkish silk parachute pants, here is the track that kicked off this websites hunt for those guilty of music crimes – the original ‘Ice Ice Baby’ version courtesy of PPGTV.

Note: This kinda goes without saying but all rights are reserved and remain with the owners of any video clips and images that may be used for illustrative purposes.So support our creatives and buy in this case a Vanilla Ice product. At least once. And then gift it as part of Secret Santa later in the year.

FACTOR168 | Event Management Company

A beautifully shot advertisement showcasing the diversity of ‘the long white cloud’ in it’s locales and it’s people. The legendary story of this nations birth and the soundtrack of ‘forever young’ – it’s powerful and it works. I’d go…

This advertisement would have to be best in genre.
It’s a pity that their website lets them down so very badly.

Cluttered and difficult to navigate, and let’s be frank – just not that visually appealing. It has all the standard tourism site tools – the travel planner, event calenders and so on. I did however like the extension of the strong storytelling device evident in their advertisements with the send-a-friend a postcard and the the showcasing of visitors, residents, and fans home made films uploaded as 100% Pure NZ video experiences.

Fantastic ad, ordinary web presence. This should serve as a lesson to all of us. It’s not really good enough if there is no branded experience consistency across all facets of a project.

It would be akin to sinking the majority of your event budget into an expensive headline act and neglecting the event environment, high care table service, or even fundamentally a smooth and warm registration process. It never fails to amaze me that even today, some people spend a fortune on staging an important event only to neglect setting aside within their budget and site times for adequet presenter and techincal rehearsals and then wonder when things ‘happen’ or worse… don’t. Seriously talk with us or your current professional event management partner to best determine how to strike a considered balance between all aspects of an event so that you and your guests are assured a consistent and impactful experience across all aspects of the event cycle. It just makes sense.

Since we are on the subject of tourism style advertisements, a good one creates an expectation of a unique or at least a memorable experience and motivates the viewer to act on it. Consider the next clip which had the very hard task of promoting one of Australia’s east coast cities commonly regarded by many as a big country town – Brisbane. I think they did a pretty good job although would it compel me to holiday there or just make me feel warm and fuzzy about living there?

And finally, a personal favorite of mine. An advertisement for Las Vegas. What I like about this advertisement is it doesn’t show the Vegas most of us know – the shows, the strip, the neon lights, the gambling tables, the dancing and so on… no it just presents a little story and you fill in the ‘blanks’ with your own Vegas experience. Smart, fun, and effective. I’d go… for the shopping of course. Enjoy.

FACTOR168 | Event Management Company

Smart, brave, savvy, edgy, timely and consistent with the cultivation and management of their brand personality. This time, Virgin Mobile have stepped forward with a fabulous cross-medium event marketing idea. Nice one.

The idea has crystallized itself in a carefully engineered popculture ‘movement’ called Right Music Wrongs – which neatly dovetails into the Virgin Mobile branded V Festival.

When you have a precious spare moment, check out the super short manifesto on their website and the entire rational becomes… well crystal clear.

For those that are happy to take my word for it -in a nutshell, Virgin Mobile argues that music should not be about quantity, as in how many tens of thousands of MP3 tracks you own but rather how good your tracks are. And of course it may all come down to personal tastes and preference. And this is best illustrated by those musical hits that have sold in the gazillions (which is a lot even on Duran Duran’s Planet Earth) of copies but the question posed is – does quantity equal good?

Bands with their songs are put forward by the readership of the website and the faithful are invited to review each candidate and determine whether they are indeed guilty or innocent… of musical crimes against humanity I’m guessing.

But I digress. What this website has done for Virgin Mobile so effectively is squarely targeted its youthful, tech-savvy, and opinionated target demographic. In establishing the website, there was a progress marketing strategy of raising the profile and participation of the website through a mix of advertising mediums and starring one of the most famous of potentially guilty one hit stars.

The ‘star’ engaged to kick off this campaign was the high recognition (and I suspect relatively cheap) and some say cringe worthy world’s ‘first’ white rapper Vanilla Ice with his global hit “Ice Ice Baby”.

The Virgin Mobile guys and gals brilliantly reinvented him as a cause célèbre of epic proportions as means of activating their audience. Seems to have worked.

People flocked to the website to cast their ancient Roman inspired thumbs up or thumbs down… and much to the surprise of everyone, Australia declared Vanilla Ice innocent of all charges. A masterstroke in their campaign was to have the forgiven Vanilla Ice come out of ‘retirement’ (although I can reveal that he wasn’t actually that retired or retiring… I saw him in of all places a Hong Kong nightclub performing two years prior… very odd) and star… well contributed a featured performance at Virgin’s proprietary music gathering – V Festival.

Below is one of the successful video clip trailers featuring Vanilla Ice seeking forgiveness for his popculture crimes and inviting people to cast their votes at the website (oh and kinda slowly slowly be indoctrinated into a Virgin Mobile world). He apologizes…well for pretty much everything, all the while his instantly recognizable track is beating in the background. Product and brand awareness raised, traffic was strong to the campaign website.

I voted innocent and I still love this song to this very day… yes i know. I also like MC Hammer so there you have it. Oh shush. Check out the homepage and my vindication with the majority judgment of his innocence. Yay… curse you Virgin Mobile, I’m getting hooked! Word!

FACTOR168 | Event Management Company

It is all very nice but really what we are more interested in is what you think ! So feel free to click on the blogged rating shield within this post and add your own review and or rating. I mean it’s the world wide web – be heard and share alike!

….the image you ask? oh…no particular reason other than we like the picture and we like the idea of our site being like an old Vegas-styled roadhouse lounge that you can drop by at anytime with your frosted beverage, wonder why there is in fact no girls girls girls and enjoy our at some point during the day live blog service… rather than just visiting one of those huge multinational IP monoliths staking out all corners of google.

This post forms part of Ed’s world,. Welcome to FACTOR168 Muse.

FACTOR168 | Event Management Company

Like a good flash mob moment, they appear to be democratically spur of the moment and yet a huge amount of pre-planning can often be involved. And they are becoming more and more popular, just check out the number of city specific zombie walks listed in the zombie walk forum. A clutch of states in the US, Australia, the UK, Finland, Brazil… people urrrrrrrrghhhh like it.

The zombie walk in Brisbane is a great example of the commercial power of flash mobbing with the charity of choice being…. you guessed it – The Brain Foundation.

What a fabulous tie-in and with not for profit outfits desperate for low cost or no cost special events that generates income and raises profile – this is a perfect fit. As an added bonus – unlike many other charity outfits with a more conservative position, the foundation through such a… well let’s be frank odd theme, also enjoys great targeted access to the difficult to mobilize Gen Y and to a lesser extent Gen X.

No surprise that the best example of flash mobs can be found in the USA. The following clip is a great example of a flash mob in process. Staged at Grand Central Station in New York – the mob on cue all froze, held their positions and then on signal reactivated. Memorable, well managed, and certainly worth watching… if for no other reason than enjoying the poor guy on the service buggy caught in the middle of the whole thing. Enjoy.

This and other similar flash mob moments were staged by Improve Everywhere – check out their site and the sister site Urban Prankster. Very inspirational for developing marketing campaigns that really create unsual and impactful experiences at ground zero.Certainly beats product tasters or girls in too small tops handing out leaflets.

FACTOR168 | Event Management Company

...is now listed in our gallery of outstanding WordPress
websites. The fact that we approve only about 1 out of 10
submissions that we receive, means that this is quite an
achievement and yet another reason for you to be proud
of your work. Congratulations!

No one in the office has ever recieved more than 25 roses ever – and 108 means marry me, so we were wondering what 168 would mean?

A single bloom of red rose    love at first sight or “I still love you”

A single rose in any colour    indicates simplicity and gratitude
2 roses           mutual feelings
3 roses           “I love you”
7 roses           “I’m infatuated with you”
9 roses           “We’ll be together forever”
10 roses         “You are perfect”
11 roses         “You are My Treasured One”
12 roses         “Be mine!”
13 roses        “Friends forever”
15 roses         “I’m truly sorry”
20 roses         “I’m truly sincere towards you”
21 roses         “I’m dedicated to you”
24 roses         “Forever yours”
25 roses         Congratulations
36 roses         “Remembering our romantic times”
40 roses         “My genuine love for you”
50 roses         Unconditional love
99 roses         “I will love you all the days of my life”
101 roses       “I’m completely devoted to you”
108 roses       “Will you marry me?”
999 roses       “I love you till the end of time”

Sure.. though this sounds like the name of some long-defeated Decepticon, I assure you fine people (and Autobots) that it’s something far less diabolical.

Simply visit  the Gravatar website , sign up for the free account, upload the photo you’d like to use, and you’re all set. Your newly-created avatar will now show up here along with a plethera of other website and blogs.

Well, as long as you put the electronic mailing address you used to sign up to gravatar.com in the e-mail field when adding your comment.

That’s it. Easy. So do it.

We hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed compiling it and if there are any flowers that we have missed, please drop us an email with your suggestions. A Sunflower for you all.

Scabiosa Admiration
Scilla                            Forgive & forget
Snapdragon                  Please don’t misunderstand
Snowball/Viburnum     Commitment
Spider Flower               Elope with Me
Stock                           Lasting beauty
Sunflower                    Adoration
Sweet Pea                    Delicate pleasures
Smilax                         Loveliness
Snapdragon                 Deception; Gracious Lady
Stephanotis                 Happiness in Marriage; Desire to Travel
Stock                          Bonds of Affection; Promptness; You’ll Always Be Beautiful to Me
Sweetpea                    Good-bye; Departure; Blissful Pleasure; Thank You for a Lovely Time

Tulip, Cream I will love you forever
Tulip, Red                   Declaration of love; Believe Me; Declaration of Love
Tulip, Yellow               I am hopelessly in love; There’s Sunshine in Your Smile
Tulip, General             Perfect Lover; Frame; Flower Emblem of Holland
Tulip, Variegated        Beautiful Eyes

Veronica Fidelity
Violet                          Modesty
Violet, Blue                 Watchfulness; Faithfulness; I’ll Always Be True
Violet, White               Let’s Take a Chance

Waratah Prosperity
Willow                         Bravery & humanity Zinnia Thoughts of absent friends

Zinnia, Magenta Lasting Affection
Zinnia, Mixed            Thinking (or In Memory) of an Absent Friend
Zinnia, Scarlet           Constancy
Zinnia, White             Goodness
Zinnia, Yellow            Daily Remembrance

We’ve delivered a huge number of projects in Sydney Australia and the state of Sydney is New South Wales. The state flower is the Waratah. Nice.

We like Nasturtium, we just find it hard to pronounce. And rosebud is a gem as a flower, even Citizen Kane loved it… the flower and as a decorative finish on snow sleds.
Magnolia Nobility
Marigold                    Cruelty; Grief; Jealousy
Mistletoe                   Kiss me; Affection; To Surmount Difficulties;Sacred Plant of India
Monkshood               Beware; A Deadly Foe is Near
Moss                         Maternal Love; Charity
Myrtle                        Love; Hebrew Emblem of Marriage

Narcissus Egotism; Formality; Stay as Sweet as You Are

Nasturtium                Conquest; Victory in Battle
Oleander Caution
Orange Blossom         Innocence; Eternal Love; Marriage and Fruitfulness
Orange Mock              Deceit
Orchid                        Love; Beauty; Refinement; Beautiful Lady; Chinese Symbol for Many Children
Orchid, Cattleya         Mature Charm
Paeonia Bashful
Palm leaves               Victory and Success
Peony                        Shame; Happy Life; Happy Marriage
Petunia                      Resentment; Anger; Your Presence Sooths Me
Phlox                         A good partnership; harmony
Pine                           Hope; Pity
Poppy, Oriental         Silence is golden
Poppy, Red                Consolation; Pleasure
Poppy, Scarlet           Extravagance
Poppy, White             Tranquility; Consolation
Poppy, General          Eternal Sleep; Oblivion; Imagination
Poppy, Yellow           Wealth; Success
Primrose                   I Can’t Live Without You
Primrose, Evening     Inconstancy
Ranunculus You are very attractive
Rose, Black                You are my obsession
Rose, Champagne      You are tender & loving
Rose, Leonidas          Sweet love
Rose, Nicole              You are graceful & elegant; aristocratic
Rose, Orange             You are my secret love
Rose, Pink                  Brilliant Complexion; the glow of your smile; Perfect Happiness; Please Believe Me
Rose, Red                   Passionate love; Love; I Love You
Rose, Single Stems     Simplicity
Rose, White                I am worthy of you; spiritual love; Innocence and Purity; I am Worthy of You;
Rose, White & Red      We are not separable; unity
Rose, White & Red Mixed    Unity; Flower Emblem of England
Rose, White-Dried     Death is Preferable to Loss of Virtue
Rose, Yellow              I am not worthy of your love; Decrease of Love; Jealousy; Try to Care
Rose, Bridal               Happy Love
Rose, Dark Crimson  Mourning
Rose, Hibiscus          Delicate Beauty
Rose, Leaf                 You May Hope
Rose, Tea                  I’ll Remember Always
Rose, Thornless        Love at First Sight
Roses, Bouquet of Mature Blooms    Gratitude
Roses, Single Full Bloom    I Love You; I Still Love You
Rosebud                   Beauty and Youth; A Heart Innocent of Love
Rosebud, Red           Pure and Lovely
Rosebud, White        Girlhood
Rosebud, Moss        Confessions of Love

FERN Magic; Fascination; Confidence and Shelter
FIR                                 Time
FLAX                              Domestic Symbol
Flowering Cabbage        Prosperity
Foget-Me-Not               True Love; Memories
Forsythia                       Anticipation
Forget Me Not               True love

Gardenia You’re Lovely; Secret Love
Geranium                      Stupidity; Folly
Gerbera                         You are the sunshine of my life
Ginger, Pink                  Diversity
Ginger, Red                   Unlimited Wealth
Gladioli                         Give Me a Break; I’m Really Sincere; Flower of the Gladiators
Gladiolus / Sword Lily   Strength of Character
Gloxinia                         Love at First Sight

Heather, Lavender Admiration; Solitude
Heather, White               Protection; Wishes Will Come True
Helenium                       I miss you very much
Heliconia                       Great returns
Holly                              Defense; Domestic Happiness
Hyacinth, General          Games and Sports; Rashness; Flower Dedicated to Apollo
Hyacinth, Blue               Constancy; Predictability; reliable
Hyacinth, Purple            I am Sorry; Please Forgive Me; Sorrow
Hyacinth, Red Or Pink   Play
Hyacinth, White             Loveliness; I’ll Pray for You; Subtle and graceful
Hyacinth, Yellow           Jealousy
Hyacinthus, Pink          Active; energetic
Hydrangea                    Thank You for Understanding; Frigidity; Heartlessness; Arrogance; aloofness

Iris Fleur-de-lis; Emblem of France; Your Friendship Means so Much to Me;                                                         Hope; Wisdom and Valor; My Compliments; Passion
Ivy                                Wedded Love; Fidelity; Friendship; Affection; Friendship; fidelity; marriage

Jasmine Amiability
Jonquil                          Love Me; Affection Returned; Desire; Sympathy; Desire for Affection Returned

Larkspur, White Joyful; happy-go-lucky
Larkspur, Pink               Fickleness
Larkspur, Purple            Sweet disposition
Lilac                              Field Humility
Lilac, Purple                  You are my first love
Lilac, White                   You are so pure and innocent
Lily of the Valley           Return of happiness
Lily, Calla                      Your voice is music to my ears
Lily, Casablanca            I am in heaven when I’m with you
Lily, Pink                       Romantic
Lily, Stargazer               I see heaven in your eyes
Lily, Yellow                   Live for the moment; nothing is forever; I’m Walking on Air; False and Gay
Lily, White                    Virginity; Purity; Majesty; It’s Heavenly to be with You My love is pure and innocent
Lily, Calla                     Beauty
Lily, Day                       Coquetry; Chinese Emblem for Mother
Lily, Eucharis               Maiden Charms
Lily, Tiger                    Wealth; Pride
Lily Of The Valley        Sweetness; Tears of the Virgin Mary; Return to Happiness; Humility

Naturally budget makes an impact on our selection as does the season, but above all – it is the artistry of the design of the floral work that is key. Together with our floral artists we have created some sensational creations – beautiful celebration bouquets, featured ‘hero’ displays, table centrepieces that serve as great conversation starters and so on.

But sometimes that’s all not enough…

What we discovered on one high profile event for an international financial firm from Hong Kong was that flowers came with specific associations that we needed to be mindful of. We were familiar with roses but anything more than that… thankful our client guided us and the day was saved and happiness was everywhere.

It took us some time, a couple of missteps, but eventually we developed a quick reference list of major flowers and their possible meanings. The flowers listed from A through to L are detailed here for your consideration.

Acacia Concealed Love; Beauty in Retirement; Chaste Love
Ambrosia                            Your Love is Reciprocated
Amaryllis                            Pride; Pastoral Poetry
Amaryllis/Hippeastrum      I am proud of you; pride
Anemone                            Forsaken
Anemone/Mona Lisa           I don’t want to lose you
Anthurium, Red                  You work to get where you are
Anthurium, White               Think of me
Arbutus                              Thee Only Do I Love
Aster                                  Symbol of Love, Daintiness

Aster China                        Variety is the spice of life

Azalea                                Take Care of Yourself for Me; Temperance; Fragile Passion; Chinese Symbol of Womanhood

Bachelor Button Single Blessedness
Begonia                             Beware
Bells Of Ireland                 Good Luck
Bellflower / Campanula    Gratitude
Bird of Paradise Flower     Freedom, Good perspective
Bittersweet                       Truth
Butterfly Orchid                You are always on my mind
Bluebell                            Humility

Cactus Endurance
Camellia, Pink                  Longing for you
Camellia, Red                   You’re a Flame in My Heart
Camellia, White                You’re Adorable
Carnation, General           Fascination; Woman Love
Carnation, Pink                I’ll Never Forget You; Motherly love
Carnation, Red                 My Heart Aches For You; Admiration; I hold you in high esteem; respect
Carnation, Purple             Capriciousness
Carnation, Solid Color      Yes
Carnation, Striped            No; Refusal; Sorry I Can’t Be With You; Wish I Could Be With You
Carnation, White              Sweet and Lovely; Innocence; Pure Love; Woman’s Good Luck Gift
Carnation, Yellow             You Have Disappointed Me; Rejection; Enjoy the moment
Cattail                              Peace; Prosperity
Celosia                             Fortune
Chrysanthemum              You’re a Wonderful Friend; Cheerfulness and Rest
Chrysanthemum, White   Truth
Chrysanthemum, Yellow  Slighted Love
Crocus                             Cheerfulness
Cyclamen                         Don’t lose faith in me
Cypress                            Mourning
Cyclamen                         Resignation and Good-bye

Daffodil Regard; Unrequited Love; You’re the Only One; The Sun is Always Shining with You
Daffodil Narcissus           You are an angel
Dahlia                              Fickleness
Daisy                               Innocence; Loyal Love; I’ll Never Tell; Purity
Daisy, Garden                  I share your sentiment
Daisy, Red                       Joy
Daisy, White                    Innocence; truth
Daisy, Yellow                  I will try hard to earn your love
Dandelion                       Faithfulness; Happiness

It is certainly not an exhaustive list so if a flower doesn’t feature and it should – your feedback is appreciated.