Thinkamigo to create digital platform exploring cultural aspects of Coal mining in Britain

Thinkamigo are to create a digital platform which explores the cultural aspects of Coal mining in Britain at a critical point in the industry’s history.

The project funded by the Arts Humanities and Research Council (AHRC) is the result of a partnership between between Dr Sarah Badcock – Associate Professor at Dept of History, University of Nottingham, Dr David Amos – Curator at Bestwood Winding Engine-House, Digital Producer Paul Fillingham and Bilsthorpe Heritage Society.

“It’s possible that the end of British coal mining is not far off. Coal was integral to the industrial revolution, and played a crucial role in both power and wealth generation, We need to preserve our mining heritage and culture now, whilst coal miners and their relatives are still able to tell the tale.”
Paul Fillingham Producer.

Basic research will provide a detailed history for each of the mining artefacts. Central to this will be an explanation of mining terminology and mode of operation – how it worked and what it did. A website will launch in May 2013 and introduce the objects using various interactive techniques over the next six months.

The project will be informed by the archive collection at Bilsthorpe Heritage Society, personal recollections of former miners, local historians and mining heritage sites.

One of the aims of the project is to create content for a Mining History Mobile App that will eventually be made available for schools for use on tablet devices.

Superfast Broadband is coming to Nottinghamshire.

We all think we want faster broadband, but do we fully understand why? Get to grips with what superfast broadband could offer you and your business…

Come along to one of the free, two hour, Nottinghamshire-wide workshops in March to gain a clear understanding of the benefits that superfast broadband offers. You’ll be given an insight into topics such as: Mobile Technologies, Cloud Services and  Social Media.

thinkamigo will be covering the area of Mobile Technologies, providing insight into how businesses can best adapt to the changes now and how they might develop in the future.

“We’ll look at some examples, explain how to develop an action plan for your business and how you go about reaching new markets through mobile apps”

Paul Fillingham – Digital Producer

The Superfast Notts Mobile Workshops take place on the 5th March at North Notts College, Worksop,  on 7th March at Newark Beacon and 13th March at the Dakota Hotel, off Junction 27 of the M1. For times and details of these and other Superfast Notts events, see the Eventbrite link below:

Book places:

http://www.superfastnotts.co.uk/events

Superfast Notts Workshops produced in association with North Nottinghamshire College, NE Group and Experience Nottinghamshire.

think launch Android training App on GooglePlay for students attending Engaging Maths’ A-Level Revision courses.

Education Training Company ‘Engaging Maths’ provide course and support materials for A-Level Maths Students across the midlands. Their examination revision courses are held at Aston University, Birmingham and Nottingham Trent University and remain very popular among students wishing to improve upon their grades.

thinkamigo have worked closely with Engaging Maths to develop the brand and produce web, print and marketing materials.

This year the company launch a mobile version of the Casio Graphic Calculator Guide. The Engaging Maths revision guide was previously available by Mail Order as a printed booklet but has been developed as a mobile app compatible with Android devices including smartphones and tablets.

The Engaging Maths Calc Guide is available on the GooglePlay App store and costs £1.49.

Download the App from GooglePlay

The UK shopping experience is undergoing a seismic shift as purchasing decisions are increasingly influenced by the use of mobile devices.

Statistics reveal that by 2016, more than 80% of consumers are expected to own a smartphone (Deloitte). Clearly businesses and retailers need to recognise the importance of social and mobile marketing and draw up an action plan in order to harness the opportunities that are there for the taking – because the future is (quite literally) in the hands of the consumer!

Supply chains and credit aside, the financial woes experienced by HMV and Comet are not due to lack of demand for their respective products (media and white goods) but are a stark reminder that marketing initiatives have failed to keep pace with shoppers who have taken their business elsewhere.

It is easy to appreciate how the camera retailer Jessops along with global brands like Kodak and Polaroid might suffer at the hands of smartphone technology. Yet these troubled companies are still attracting interest from investors who might leverage established brand values to launch new business models. The future of these giants may lie in revenue derived from services rather than camera sales, winning hearts and minds of potential customers through the very devices that destroyed them.

[ Entrepreneur resurrects Polaroid brand ]

[ Dragon's Den TV Entrepreneur in deal to snap Jessops ]

Get big Get niché or Get out

The old marketing adage is probably more true now than it’s ever been. Brands will only endure by focussing (pardon the pun) on their proposition and trying out new approaches to selling.

Almost two decades ago whilst working in Apple retail I was given a rough ride by competitors who said the company was heading for the rocks. Yet Apple prospered by developing innovative sales models like iTunes and the App Store, then went on to reinvent the over-the-counter shopping experience with pristine, minimalist designer outlets.

Today, Apple products face stiff competition from Taiwanese and Chinese manufacturers like Samsung and Huawei but continue to hold their own where many western enterprises have lost their grip.

This business landscape may sound remote from that of local businesses, but we live in an increasingly interconnected world and it’s important that niché players learn from these experiences.

Apple never became the big corporate supplier of the late 80′s (that space was reserved for IBM, Compaq and Dell) but by restricting themselves to vertical markets like Desktop Publishing, Apple retained healthy margins – and when that market started to overheat they survived by implementing a tough marketing strategy of product rationalisation and reinvention.

The digital shopper has landed and there is no turning back. For all the risks involved, businesses must resist the convention of fear and learn to exploit the culture and methodologies demanded by the growing majority of wired consumers. Success on the high street can be accomplished with the right vision. There is no doubt that change management allied with digital innovation can be challenging but someone has to do it… and almost certainly, somebody will.

Paul Fillingham

Director – Cultural and Digital Business.

Digital Content and Mobile Design

Contact us:
info@thinkamigo.com

The Sillitoe Trail App for iPhone was launched at a special memorial event held at Nottingham Contemporary on 27th October by the Alan Sillitoe Committee.

Nottingham’s famous son is best known for his novels and screenplays for ‘Saturday Night and Sunday Morning’ and ‘Loneliness of a Long Distance Runner’. Both literary classics that provided a rare glimpse of working class life in post-war Britain.

The Sillitoe Trail commisssioned earlier by Arts Council England forms part of the BBC’s experimental digital arts platform The Space and is the brainchild of digital producer Paul Fillingham and writer James Walker. The project enjoys the support of the Alan Sillitoe Memorial Committee and has commissioned contemporary writers to revisit key themes from the novel ‘Saturday Night and Sunday Morning’.

The Sillitoe Trail App also explores the themes and spaces of the iconic novel through photographs taken from the BFI, and regional film archives as well as user-generated content posted on the Sillitoe trail’s network of social sites including Facebook, Twitter and notably Flickr.

The App has been designed to take advantage of the new iPhone 5 with its 16:9 aspect high resolution screen. In landscape orientation the iPhone reveals full-screen picture galleries that can be viewed on-location and allow a high degree of ‘pinch and zoom’ which allows users to inspect  the archive photography in great detail.

The App also has a built in QR Code reader to allow in-app scanning of signage and print material providing audio playback and access to the various themes of the trail which focus on locations taken from Sillitoes novel ‘Saturday Night and Sunday Morning’ as well as locations from Karel Reisz’s 1960 film adaptation.

For non-iPhone users a general web-app is available from the Sillitoe Trail website where you can also download a lavishly illustrated eBook for tablet and desktop devices. – All downloads are free.

Download the App: www.sillitoetrail.com/iphone-app

 
Sillitoe Trail BBC News

 
Sillitoe Trail Alan Sillitoe Wikipedia entry

Nottingham Festival of Words is being held at venues across the county from 9th to 24th of Feb 2013

thinkamigo have created a series of graphics and interactive maps to assist festival visitors as they navigate their way around an action-packed schedule of literary events.

Nottingham Festival of Words is organised by Nottingham Writers Studio, Writing East Midlands and Nottingham City Council in partnership with Nottingham Trent University and the University of Nottingham. Authors include Michael Rosen, Alice Oswald, AL Kennedy and David Almond.

The festival is a celebration of the written word with something for everyone, including talks, readings, children’s workshops and activities. Taking inspiration from Nottingham’s lace industry Nottingham Festival of Words complements the Lace Season events occurring throughout the city.

We hope the Literary event will also provide an opportunity for writers to develop some of the themes explored in our recent Sillitoe Trail project for Arts Council England and the BBC.

Nottingham City Centre Venues

1 ) Newton/Arkwright Buildings, Goldsmith Street.
2 ) Broadway, 14-18 Broad Street.
3 ) Nottingham Playhouse, Wellington Circus.
4 ) Antenna, 9a Beck Street.
5 ) Nottingham Central Library, 3 Angel Row.
6 ) Bromley House Library, Angel Row.
7 ) Jam Cafe, 12 Heathcote Street.
8 ) Debbie Bryan Studio & Shop, 18 St Mary’s Gate.
9 ) Lee Rosy’s Tea Shop, Broad Street.
10 ) Atlas Deli, 9 Pelham Street.
11 Nottingham Castle, Castle Boulevard.
12 ) Langtry’s, 4 South Sherwood Street.

Other Venues

13 ) The Maze, 257 Mansfield Road, Nottingham NG1 3FT
14 ) Djanogly Theatre, Lakeside Arts Centre, NG7 2RD
15 ) Wollaton Hall, Wollaton, Nottingham NG8 2AE
16 ) Flying Goose Cafe, 33 Chilwell Road, Beeston, NG9 1EH
17 ) Chilwell Road Methodist Church, Beeston, NG9 1EH
18 ) Newstead Abbey, Ravenshead, Notts NG15 8GE
19 ) Gannet’s Bistro, Castlegate, Newark, Notts NG24 1AZ

View Nottingham Festival of Words Map in a larger window.
(Mobile users can view in Google Apps).

Nottingham Festival of Words
Download Events Programme (PDF)

For bookings visit www.nottwords.org.uk and follow the @Nottwords Twitter feed for updates.

Advertisers could resolve the problem of audience fragmentation with local ads via smart TVs and set-top boxes.

It’s true, the curry house ad slots that once populated cinema intermissions in the 70′s are back!
Sky TV’s own AdSmart initiative plans to serve tailored adds to viewers featuring local stores and services. With a potential audience of 7.3m viewers in the UK, targeted advertising on this scale could prove an attractive proposition to companies who would otherwise find TV advertising too expensive.

Smart TV ads have the potential to shift the current ‘shotgun’ approach to TV advertising. Not only does the technology promise affordable TV advertising but presents a more effective medium that bridges the gap between TV and web-based media. This seems to be further evidence of the accelerating trend towards a truly ubiquitous digital experience which uses a combination of TV, mobile apps and web services.

Paul Fillingham

Director – Cultural and Digital Business.

Digital Content Production and Editing

Contact us:
info@thinkamigo.com

Google’s ‘Pay to play’ online shopping search engine is to be rolled out in the UK in February 2013.

The paid-listing programme has already raised the heckles of rivals Microsoft and Amazon, with Microsoft mounting an advertising offensive to promote its own Bing search engine.

Google will phase introduction of the service across the UK and Europe from February, allowing merchants time to respond to the new requirements. If the US experience is anything to go by, the introduction could prove disruptive to some well-established eCommerce operations.

Effective monitoring and analytics will be essential in the post-christmas period as businesses grapple with the necessary changes, prompting fresh thinking and re-alignment of online marketing strategy. This may well increase the workload for those involved in online sales activity throughout January.

Look out for the new Google product listings in February, that will almost certainly display some of the interface streamlining that has been introduced to Google’s other service offerings over recent weeks. Google insists the transition is necessary in order to deliver more targeted product search results and claim there will be real benefits to consumers and merchants.

In light of the changes, organic listings are going to be more important than ever as they represent a real opportunity to limit any adverse affects resulting from the change-over. As ever, designs need to be clean and compliant, plus content that is fresh, relevant and connected.

Google ‘Pay for Play’ as it has been termed in the US, is part of a wider strategy by Google to overhaul is search offering, which in recent years has been developed to take into account live data, most notably shared recommendations originating in social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

Expect further development of Google search criteria in the coming months. Future integration with mobile, Google Maps and the new panoramic views of building interiors are particularly intriguing. And if you think that sounds exciting, wait until we see integration of live video streaming, now part of the Google Plus ‘Hangout’ implementation on YouTube.

These seismic shifts in web traffic and behaviour never cease to amaze me but let’s keep our thinking caps on, keep ahead of the curve and identify fresh opportunities. If you need further insight into these developments, website optimisation, user-interface design or fresh thinking for your online marketing, please get in touch.

Paul Fillingham
Director – Cultural and Digital Business.

Could you benefit from fresh, strategic thinking?

Contact us:
info@thinkamigo.com

Corporate Pursuits Event Management have two Off-Road 4×4 Driving Tracks located in North Nottinghamshire and West Yorkshire and deliver hospitality, training and action sport activities across the UK.

thinkamigo have been working with the Retford-based company to develop their website and branding and grow awareness of their service offering within the Corporate Sector.

Corporate Pursuits create bespoke activity packages for companies such as ITV and Virgin and also work with third sector charity organisations, individuals and family groups. The majority of Corporate Pursuits’ work comes from London, South East, the Midlands and Yorkshire.

Their off-road facilities are well-connected to A1 and M62 motorways and qualified staff also provide advanced training to professional organisations including Fire and Mountain Rescue Services. The company has over 4,000 venues on its database suitable for training courses and conferences with catering and overnight accommodation available.

Website: www.corporate-pursuits.co.uk

Need Web Design, Branding and Online Marketing?

Contact us:
info@thinkamigo.com

EnviroEnergy was one of the first district heating suppliers in the UK and has over 40 years experience in low-carbon energy supply.

thinkamigo have worked with marketing partner PR Principles to develop branding and corporate identity.  The new website offers background information relating to EnviroEnergy’s history as an energy provider across the city of Nottingham.

EnviroEnergy is owned by Nottingham City Council and has 32 employees, mostly engineers, based at London Road, Nottingham. The facility on London Road heats many large institutions around the city including; BioCity Nottingham, Broadmarsh and Victoria Shopping Centres, HMRC, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham Arena, Royal Concert Hall, Theatre Royal, plus over 4,500 private dwellings on the St Ann’s Estate.  The company handles all aspects of energy provision from; production and supply, to smart metering and wireless electronic billing.

The new website offers help to both Domestic and Commercial Customers and also links to the eeMonitor microsite and mobile web-app developed by thinkamigo in November.

Website: www.enviroenergy.co.uk 

Need web design and online branding?

Contact us:
info@thinkamigo.com