Support for Myplace Middlesbrough

Myplace is a state-of-the art £4.3 million venue and activity Centre for young people in Middlesbrough. It has amazing facilities and opportunities for young people including a theatre, TV and recording studio, Internet cafe, alcohol free nightclub, multi-sensory room and amphitheatre.

Myplace is for anyone between the ages of 9-19 years (or up to 25 with special needs).

There are many activities that you can do at myplace. It caters for everyone’s needs with a range of different activities from:

- Popping down for a coffee or game of pool with some friends,

- See what’s going on, or sign up for a future event, activity or group,

- Checking for job vacancies, volunteering, training courses or get confidential advice, information or guidance from a range of services.

and many more!

You can become a member of myplace for just £2.50 a year. You can then use myplace every day for 75p (£1 on the door for non-members). You can even get involved with deciding on activities, events and more!

skignz takes corporate social responsibility seriously and with being a small start up company we believe that we have shown just how serious and how active we are about corporate social responsibility. A big part of this was through the CMO of skignz who supported the local youth centre myplace. 

skignz wants to create a more sustainable future for everyone, so we decided to support myplace with their marketing activity generating the attraction to their youth centre and website. 

skignz wanted more people to recognise what a good deed myplace does, so we offered to help them increase their recognition. 

If you live in the local area then do take a visit to myplace. It has everything you need and it is there to provide a good time for everyone.


You will find a range of support and something fun to always do. You can never be bored and will never be alone. There are many services available for you to use which you can find out from their website.

For further information on Myplace then please visit their website at http://www.myplacemiddlesbrough.org/ 

If you would like to know more about skignz then please visit our website at http://www.skignz.com and don't forget to check us out on a range of the popular Social Media Channels.

Make your festival fun not a task!

skignz knows that each year, thousands of people attend festivals to have an awesome time and see some of their favourite acts. However you want that festival to be fun, not a struggle to find your friends, find the bar, know where the toilets are and so many other activities that many people find to be a drone when attending a festival.

So we decided to get a personal point of view from a 22 year old student who went to a festival earlier this year and realised just how many struggles there was during the whole event whilst trying to have a good time. 

"I attended a festival earlier this year in Milton Keynes called EDC (Electric Daisy Carnival). The event was meant to be a two day weekend which was better this year as it meant I could see more of my favourite acts on each day rather than being crammed all into one. However this got changed and it became a one day event. This didn’t bother me as much because I could still see some of my favourite acts although two of them would be playing at the same time on different stages which meant I had to choose between the two of them. I didn’t like this because it was a hard choice and I wasn’t sure what to do. 

Before I went to EDC I got to see who would be playing on what stage and when. However I didn’t take note of this so when I got there I forgot who was playing when and where on what stage. I could have found out but by the time I had searched around looking I would have missed out DJ’s that I wanted to see. So in the end I had to just decide to stay where I was and just randomly come across DJ’s that were playing close to the stage where I was near! 

After being there for a few hours and having quite a few drinks already (plus on the coach down – bottle of vodka between two never a good idea!) things started to get a bit “confusing” so to say. Things that I needed to do became a struggle. To start off with going to the bar and back constantly was a real task, having to make my way out of the crowd then back again to find where my friend was. 

This was okay at time as there was only two of us so near the beginning of the festival we went the bar together then back again to find a spot to wait for an act to play. However as the day went on, we had a good spot and didn’t want to lose it. So we decided to go the bar one at a time. Well this didn’t go to plan as you can imagine! 

I wandered off to the bar to get us some drinks. Thinking all was good, I then decided to head back to where I thought we were stood to give my friend his drinks. This didn’t happen! I l lost him. There was only two of us together so we had no one else to contact. What a nightmare. I did try ringing him but he couldn’t hear his phone in the loud music and crowd so I was now all alone (and even more drunk). Oh no. It then went downhill – literally, from here.

I decided I would just have to wait on my own for a while till I found him. So I thought I needed the toilets, although I didn’t know where these were and I couldn’t be bothered searching around for ages for them, I wanted to get back to the crowd and see the DJ playing that I had gone to watch! 

I then had a brainwave (or what I clearly thought it was at the time), I thought I would just go up this hill of grass and go the toilet around there in a more quiet area. What I didn’t think of what that it had been raining earlier that day and the day before so the grass was already wet. 

Having done what I needed to do I began to struggle to stand up a little, to which I then slipped over where I had just been the toilets and slid down the hill (as you can imagine where I had just had a wee)!. Now this was awful! I felt mucky and dirty and there was no way of cleaning myself. What a mess!

From then I decided to make my way back to the crowd to listen to a few more DJ’s and hopefully meet my friend. (That was a big wish in this crowd!) People were friendly so they did start talking to me however I think it obviously was the friendly drunk talking. Although one girl started talk to which I though she was being quite “overly” friendly with me however I couldn’t tell as I am a friendly chatty person too but I do have a girlfriend at home. 

So when I thought she may be starting to become “too” friendly I told her I had a girlfriend back home. To which she clearly was shocked and disappointed. By this I knew I was in the wrong situation and knew that I needed to find my friend because god damn I knew how much trouble I would be in if my girlfriend found out that to which I thought was a nice friendly girl talking to me was actually trying to make a move on me, I defiantly wouldn’t be getting a happy welcome home!

Then as the night went on I started to search and randomly bumped into my friend which was good for me. We then decided to stay together as we had now by this point been away from each other for a good few hours! This always seems to happen to us at events as well which was becoming more of a regular thing. 

The festival on a whole was a really good time. I did get to see some of my favourite DJ’s who I had gone to see although I didn’t get to see others that I really wanted too as they were on the same time as others and this was a pain that I didn’t know what time and where they were. However from that I enjoyed it loads and would defiantly go back again! EDC 2015 – hopefully Las Vegas this time!'

So now I look back over my time at EDC this year, I found out about skignz and realised just how much I NEEDED it at the event and how much EASIER it would have made my whole time. When I simplify it all down I could have used skignz a lot and knew the whole way around the event. 

For one I could have used skignz to help me know what DJ’s were playing when and where at the event. This way I wouldn’t have had to wait around at time for a DJ I liked to come on and play at a stage where I already was. I could have used skignz to show me where the other stages where and what acts were playing there and at what times. I could have made my struggle a whole load simpler.

Then I could have used skignz for when I lost my friend. Going the bar on my own and saying I will ‘find’ him again in the crowd was never going to happen. If we both had downloaded skignz before we went we could have placed a skign above each of our own heads and connected to each other.

Then that way when I had got the drinks all I had to do was scan my phone across the crowd and I was see the skign above his head and know straight away where he was and I would have been able to find my way back to him as easy as that! Then we would have not lost each other and I would have got into “bad” situations that I really didn’t and shouldn’t have been in! 

Lastly when I think of it my biggest embarrassment and regret was that I didn’t download skignz and skignz up the toilets where they were before I went to EDC. Everyone needs the toilet a lot when they go to any all-day drinking event so really knowing where they are is essential. 

If I had done this and knew where to find them then it would have saved me from falling over in my own urine and save the embarrassment of not looking or smelling too nice and from everyone seeing me like this. 

When I next go to a festival I will defiantly be downloading skignz and setting everything up before I go. I didn’t realise just the potential skignz had and just how much of a great impact it would have on me. I would still have the best time just made a whole load easier so I could enjoy it a lot more and with the people I went with.

I defiantly suggest you download skignz before attending any festival or event as you will see just how much of a great impact it will have on you!”

That was a great and funny statement we received from the student who went to Electric Daisy Carnival this year! It sounded like he had an awesome time although really funny. 

skignz is great for everything when it comes to festivals and live events. As you can read from above skignz can be used in many different ways and very useful. It is free to download and very simple to use! You can also use it to help you find where your tent is at a festival as it is very easy to lose it in the big crowd of tents and also to help you find where you parked your car if you drive to the festival!

For further information on Electric Daisy Carnvial please visit their website at http://www.electricdaisycarnival.co.uk/ 

If you would like to know more about skignz then please visit our website at http://www.skignz.com and don't forget to check us out on a range of the popular Social Media Channels.

Apple: Post Steve Jobs...

It's now been just 3 short years since the enigmatic Steve Jobs sadly passed away aged 56. With Apple launching a range of new products and their next operating system. We came across a couple of documentaries on Netflix focussing on different parts of his life. 

After watching these it made us think. How is Apple doing post Steve Jobs and will they have the same success without him involved?

The two documentaries - one by BBC - Steve Jobs: The Millionaire Hippy and  Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview (from 1995). 

The latter was especially fascinating and certainly took the skignz founders Gary and Si back to different parts of their lives. 

Gary was involved in software at the same time as the Apple v Microsoft battle was being established and the use of Punch cards.

Si however (being 20 years younger than Gary) remembers the early years for whole different reasons, using personal computers at home, being introduced to them at school then finally beginning or using a Mac at Art College. 

So both have very different memories of this time however back to our focus on Apple.

Both documentaries showcase Jobs's influence on Apple, before he was ousted and when he returned, but now he is no longer with us and without a 'figure head' the public at large can identify with, have Apple become another faceless corporation like IBM, Coca Cola, etc. ? 

We wondered how much influence Jobs had on peoples decision to buy Apple's products, there was a mystery and certain amount of magic around the guy that endeared him to millions across the globe.

Maybe like Pop/Rockstars who have died young, will his legacy and reputation actually increase - probably! But how do the people at Apple who are left post Steve Jobs deal with this?

During his tenure not only was he one of the pioneers of home computing, changing the user interface and the quality of design and product in the computer world. 

They also revolutionised the music industry with iTunes, with iPods, then the communications world with the iPhone even moving partly back into the computer with the introduction of the iPad.

Which now seems to have taken over from Laptops. Now we have the 'Phablet' iPhone 6+ Niche products in niches that didn't exist prior to Apple exploiting them. We are not saying they were first to market with iTunes - remember Napster, or the iPhone, remember Nokia? Or the iPod, remember other brands had MP3 players.

Apple simply took them to another level completely in quality, design & functionality. But as you can see with all of these innovations they realigned different industries and markets through their innovation. 

But and there is a but ... can Apple do this again? And if so in what sector, industry or market place.

They recently purchased Beats, much has already been written about this acquisition and it remains to be seen how this will affect how beats and apple come together for the benefit of the customer. Both awesome brands with quality products but will the Beats brand remain? But this does not obviously show an intent to transform a certain market place or existing industry, nor does it point to creating a new niche or market place.

So where will Apple go from here? Will they simply just keep evolving their existing range of products, tweaking enhance the design, functionality, shape size and form? Will iPads disappear and the phablet become the device of choice or will phablets not catch on due to their size and revert back to Phones & iPads? 

Will iPods continue? If so, in what format? This begs the question how will mobile devices evolve? Wearables, wrist or glasses based or a combination of both? Certainly with the expansion of Augmented Reality this could be a clear indication of where the market is heading in the near future. But how long will this take?

It's been 13 years since Apple launched the iPod, look at what has come since and how that has evolved? But all of that was with Jobs at the helm. What now for Apple, without him? Who is the visionary now at Apple? 

Surely if they just evolve with what they have others WILL come into the marketplace. Some of these companies won't even exist yet their future owners may still be in nappies or not even born. However there will be some still in their college/uni dorm who although are not planning to be bigger and better than apple, could end up that way.

But there begs another question. Would Apple let them get that big? Is it not easier for them just to acquire them at a very early stage and either use the technology themselves or shelve it so others can't. Certainly this is a possibility due to the ever increasing cash balance that Apple has. 

But not only Apple, what about FaceBook, Google, Microsoft etc. All of these big players can buy just about any start up or established business by throwing the right amount of money at it! Make them an offer they can't refuse so they can either use that hardware/software for their own gain or simply to stop one of the other big players mentioned above from having it.

You may think we have digressed quite a bit from the original question, but all the above leads us back to how will Apple proceed in the post Steve Jobs era? Even a big personality who comes in, from either internally or from the outside will ALWAYS be compared to Jobs, they cannot escape from that!

So surely therefore that would mean that Apple become seen more as a huge corporation eventually leading them to becoming the villain at some point in the future, rather than a uber cool 'tech movement or religion' as most of their customers perceive them at the moment.

You may think why we are writing this or how it may relate to skignz? When we started writing this blogpost we were not sure where it would end up? That may sound strange but we wanted it to develop through normal organic thought processes based upon what we know so far. 

We hope that it's actually provided more questions than answers as you will have your own interpretation on this! 

How do you think Apple will progress? Evolve what they have? Or Introduce disruptive innovation?

What we have done during our discussion whilst writing this post is understand how it can be related to skignz and we see the following key areas for where it does:

 - could skignz become the new way to navigate by replacing Apples Maps on their devices?

 - skignz is a tech company with next generation technology that could certainly improve Apples offering especially with potentially 8 patents pending.

 - skignz's technology would also be attractive to the other key players in the market, Facebook, Google, Microsoft etc.

 - due to the nature of the skignz technology, it has the ability to revolutionise a range of different markets, navigation being a massive one but also as a browser, even a whole new marketing channel for brands through to being an extension or new way for people using social networks to communicate.

One further question we have thought of is at what point of skignz development does it become of interest, exciting or even a threat to the above companies, depending on how they see skignz its benefit to themselves or to their competitors surely would vary between them.

I don't suppose we will know until the first of them engages with skignz in some way? This may have already happened but without us knowing, either way we will update you if or when any progress is made on this!

But back to our original question! In summary we believe that the way Apple will progress post Jobs is by aquiring new technology that is disruptive and delivering it through its channels or add to its own tech.

For further information on Apple please visit their website at http://www.apple.com

If you would like to know more about Steve Jobs then a good place to start would the wikipedia entry for him at: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs

If you would like to know more about skignz then please visit our website at http://www.skignz.com and don't forget to check us out on a range of the popular Social Media Channels.

From Captain Cook to skignz

Are you a little inquisitive by the title? Well…

Captain Cook was an 18th Century explorer and navigator whose achievements in mapping the Pacific, New Zealand and Australia; radically changed western perceptions of world geography. From Middlesbrough, UK. Captain James Cook wanted to explore the world mainly the south pacific. 

During the Seven Years War, Cook became quite the craftiest and the master himself in map making. After getting noticed by those high up in the navy, Cook had been set his main first objective to observe the planet Venus as it passed between the Earth and the Sun. 

Cook could always sail his way directly to a location he wanted to go. 

The method he was using to find longitude was the method of lunar distances or lunars. To facilitate the use of this method Cook had with him on his ship the Endeavour Nautical Almanacs, newly published by the Astronomer Royal Nevil Maskelyne. These almanacs listed the angular distance of bright stars from the edge of the Moon at various times at Greenwich.


Cook and subsequent navigators using this method measured the angular distance between a star and the Moon with a sextant together with the elevation of the star and the Moon above the horizon. What made the technique difficult to use was that calculation had to be used to make the measured distance comparable with the tabulated distances.

First the navigator had to make the obvious corrections for the distance between the edge of the Moon and its centre and for the zero or index error of the sextant. 


Then came the tedious business of ‘clearing the distance’, which was applying corrections for parallax, that is working out what the measured lunar distance would have been if made from the centre of the Earth and correcting for refraction, the shifts in the positions of the Moon and the star due to the bending of their light by the Earth’s atmosphere.

So how did we go from Capt. Cook to skignz…?

'skignz is the new way for you to navigate around. It helps you to find your way through following skignz you can view through your mobile device located in the sky. Your signs in the SKY!'

skignz (like captain cook) eliminates the need for maps and allows you to find where you’re going or where you wish to be through following skignz in the sky you can visualise through your mobile device.

The skignz do need to be pre-placed by yourself before you go to any journey, however it saves you the trouble of struggling to find where you’re heading and make your journey a whole load simpler and easier.


skignz do not only allow you to find where you need to be, they allow you also to find your friends if you lose them. With a simple skign pre-placed above your own head or a friends then the task of finding each other in a busy environment is simplified.

You yourself could travel the world, meet new people, learn new things and discover new places all through using skignz to direct you there. You will never get lost yourself, lose your friends and always know the places you need to be. 

So why don’t you be just like Captain Cook himself, follow in his footsteps and his passion for life. You can do all of this through skignz!

It is free to download and very simple to use. Once you become a expert at skignz you will see it is the best technology to use! 












For further information on Captain Cook's 1st voyage then you can find this out at 
http://www.captcookne.co.uk/ccne/timeline/voyage1.htm

If you would like to know more about Captain Cook himself then a good place to start would the Wikipedia entry for him at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Cook

If you would like to know more about skignz then please visit our website at http://www.skignz.com and don't forget to check us out on a range of the popular Social Media Channels.

skignz: Most Contagious 2014

We are delighted to announce, that not only will we be attending the awesome Most Contagious Event in Central London on 10th December 2014, but we will also be exhibiting and demonstrating the skignz technology! 

How cool is that!

The guys at Contagious are the gurus, the wordsmiths and THE authority on Advertising, Marketing digital trends, but we cannot compete with how they present what they do, so for those of you who might not of heard of Most Contagious, here's a quick extract of how Contagious themselves describe the Most Contagious event:

"Most Contagious is an annual, uniquely curated innovation event in London staged by Contagious. Most Contagious celebrates the biggest innovations and analyses the most impactful marketing from the year to decipher what influence these will have on the immediate future for brands and advertising.

The event includes a full day conference programme, with Contagious consultants as well as expert guest speakers, a series of interactive workshops, an awards scheme, and an exhibition to showcase disruptive start-ups, innovative new technologies and the makers behind them."

Contagious the company behind Most Contagious is in its tenth year of publishing their incredible magazine and it has grown its offering since its conception, and so we do not do them a disservice again we will let them describe who they are:

"Contagious helps brands and advertising agencies understand and adapt to shifts in marketing, consumer culture and technology. Our dedicated consultancy division, Contagious Insider, delivers hands-on help to effect change in our clients’ companies.

Contagious Magazine, our hard-copy quarterly publication analyses the world’s most innovative brands, and learns from the people behind them. An online intelligence service, Contagious I/O is Contagious’ collaborative and fully customisable research platform. Contagious events attract delegates from the world’s smartest brands, agencies and businesses."

So hopefully from the above two short descriptions about Contagious and its annual Most Contagious event, you can see why we are so excited to be attending but even more so being able to showcase skignz to this very select audience. We hope that some of the most creative thinkers on the planet who will be attending will 'get skignz' but more importantly 'how skignz could work for their clients or their own brand?'

 skignz is already engaged with a number of the big name brands and organisations who are attending, so hopefully we will have a few more brand champions in the room to promote the gospel of skignz.

skignz intends to showcase a few new areas of development, not previously seen outside of the skignz team and in addition we may have not one but a couple of key announcements to make ...

Obviously we will promote this exciting news through the event, but we feel the best way to understand more about skignz is to be present and being present at this event is something you cannot afford NOT to do! You only realise this once you have attended a Most Contagious event.

The Contagious team put an immense amount of work into the event, from Arianna their head of events through to their on stage delivery by members of their editorial team, right through to the hosting by Cofounder & Editorial Director Paul Kemp-Robertson. The quality of the content delivered is second to none and we have not spoken to a single person that has not thoroughly enjoyed and had real benefit from being in attendance.

If you are in the Advertising, Marketing & Digital space then you really should only be in one place on the 10th December 2014. 

We will be there and so should you! If you do please do come and say hello ...

For more information on Contagious, their Magazine and their awesome services, please visit http://www.contagious.com

For more information on Most Contagious and how you can get involved please visit http://mostcontagious.com

For more information on skignz, please visit the skignz website at http://www.skignz.com

Or check us out on our various Social media channels...

skignz launches it's own YouTube Channel

YouTube is the huge social media video website where people upload videos for a range of reasons, they can be accessed privately or if they are made public, they are opened up worldwide for everyone to see.

That is why skignz has decided to share some of the awesome videos we have been producing over the last 18 months and hopefully take full advantage of global exposure. Now everyone is able to see just how good skignz is and what it can do in many different scenarios, locations, sectors and everyday settings!

skignz has a wide variety of videos, ranging from sports to festivals to video blog updates.  

The videos uploaded are very interesting and have a personal suitability to everyone from any gender to any age. 

Video blogs created previously managed to land skignz our first office opening in Las Vegas. 

We recently taken part in a Kickstarter campaign which sadly didn't end well as we had expected, resulting in us canceling the campaign as we were quite a way off reaching our target. 

However this is not all bad, more of a learning curve as we are looking forward to working on content for a new campaign to launch next year. 

However from this, we did create a skignz bloopers video which came from the original Kickstarter video. Using the footage that ended up on the cutting room floor as a result of the hours of filming, which is very funny and entertaining. 

So although we sadly are no longer using that video or running the Kickstarter campaign, we suggest that you take a look as it will make you laugh a lot.

Please click the image below to take you to our YouTube site to watch some of our awesome videos! Or you can alternatively click the link at the bottom of the blog post. 

skignz can guarantee that you will enjoy the video's that are uploaded so we suggest you have a watch of them all and see if any of them stike a chord with you? It could be that you don't quite understand how skignz works? or that you think you could use skignz in your business, organisation or place of work.

If you like the videos and would like to know more about a certain one then please contact us and have a browse of the skignz website and you can find us on social media.

www.youtube.com/skignz

www.skignz.com

www.facebook.com/skignz

www.twitter.com/skignz

Glen - Most Interesting Year of My life.

May 2013 - May 2014 was probably the most interesting year of my life. I completed my last piece of uni coursework on my 21st birthday, less than two months later I started my 9 month internship at skignz; my first job in the media world, and the day after by 22nd birthday I began the 22 hour journey to my current location; The Falkland Islands.

The purpose of this blog post isn't to talk about the skignz technology (as impressive as it is), but more about how the skignz internship helped me to get to the Falklands; which is probably the most beautiful place I have ever been.

I'm a Broadcast Journalist, specialising in camera-work and I work for a small Television company out here, based in the capital Stanley. As a journalist you get to experience every facet of life here, experiencing things that the locals don't even get to see or do.

The conservation of wildlife, new business ventures, sporting occasions, overseas governments; all are things that i get to report on, on a weekly basis.

The islands themselves are also truly breath-taking, where wildlife and humans live in close proximity;  
10 minutes’ drive out of town and you can see a colony of hundreds of Gentoo penguins, while looking out to sea, to watch pods of dolphins playing in the waves.

In the summer (which is the opposite time of year here) King Penguins come into town and apparently you can see seals in the harbour. The scenery itself I would liken to the Scottish Highlands, which although isn't rolling grass covered fields like you would get in England, still has its own eerie beauty.

Simply put this is the single greatest experience of my life.

So where does skignz fit into all of this?

skignz understands what a lot of other companies don't, and that is people need to be given a chance.

Everybody knows the situation; you need experience to get a job, but how can you get experience if nobody is willing to hire you?

That is why skignz is special; it was their internship that gave me the chance to prove myself. 

In my role as a content creator I was able to work on real projects!

The work I was producing wasn't for a mark or a grade, it was for a client; it was for something real, and this is invaluable in furthering your skills and improving yourself.

skignz is a mix of experience and youth; in my opinion the way it should be, you aren't told what to do, but rather guided, you have room to experiment, see what works, see what doesn't, and it is this that will let you excel in your chosen field, in whatever area that is; Graphic Designer, Programmer, PR, or in my case Content Creator.

I'm not going to say that I wouldn't be where I am today without skignz, but it definitely made it a hell of a lot easier, and if you get the chance to work with them then you should grab the opportunity with both hands because you never know where it could lead.

skignz Co-Founder & CMO said: "Glen was a pleasure to have in our team, from the very first interview, he had a quiet confidence about him that we really liked and we were not disappointed either, with the way that he conducted himself or the work he produced at skignz. 

In fact he exceeded all expectations and when the opportunity came up for him to go to the Falklands, both Gary and I encouraged him to go! At 22yrs old he's not going to get many better opportunities, to spread his wings and go and see the world.

That was in direct opposition to what skignz need because by then he was a valued and respected member of the team and it would be difficult to find some one of his character and quality to fill the void. 

However both Gary and I felt that, we could not and would not stand in the way of a life changing opportunity.

The Falklands is not everyone's idea of a dream destination, but you could see to Glen it was much more than that, it was an opportunity for him to try something completely new in a different environment and culture and those experiences in life can't be bought.

Glen rightly says he is not in the Falklands because of skignz, he's there because of his own efforts! We would like to think we played a small part by providing the opportunity to enter the working world, as well as some guidance and advice along the way! But he really is where he is, because of his own efforts, determination and hard work. 

We would welcome Glen back into the skignz team should he decide to return to the UK. But we think this is just the start for him and if he does not stay in the Falklands then he will soon be flying off to another destination on the next part of his career.

We continue to wish him well and follow his progress over social media and as you can see by him sending this blog post we consider him to be part of the skignz family."

For further information on skignz please visit our website www.skignz.com

Commonwealth Games - Glasgow 2014

With the closing ceremony and the opening one for that matter, still fresh in our minds, we would like to reflect on how successful the event has been.

From a games perspective it seems this has proved to be one of the best Commonwealth Games ever and especially for Scotland and more importantly the people of Glasgow. 

Glasgow and the rest of Scotland place their people right up there with Whiskey and Golf as their key exports and few would disagree

However over the years the whiskey and golf is sampled regularly however to sample the collective spirit of the Scottish only comes around every now and then! Normally the 'Scots' qualifying for a FIFA World Cup or European Championship.

These games provided the audience of the whole Commonwealth and beyond through all the usual communication channels, TV. Internet, Mobile etc… like they have never previously experienced. 

The scrutiny was even more enhanced due to London’s successful hosting of the recent Olympic Games in 2012.

We are sure most who attended or watched on TV saw a different type of games but certainly not an inferior one. 

Also well done to England who topped the leader board for their incredible medal haul, the first time for 24 years. Well done Team England!

From a skignz point of view, the games afforded our CMO the opportunity to go back up to Glasgow for the first time in over 20 years. 

With an full agenda for the Commonwealth Games, Commonwealth Business Conference, Royal Reception and a number of client meetings and live demos of the skignz technology.

The route up took him back up on the same journey he tread as a wide eyed 16 year old, making his way in the world of Football... (Soccer to our friends in the USA).

Si Brown said: 
"Glasgow as a whole has changed significantly, even the drive up from the NE England, taking the same route as over two decades ago has been transformed, certainly North of the Border by the vast numbers of ‘Wind Turbines’ covering the horizon, from the hills/mountains to the east, across to the western seaboard, where more appear offshore.

 

Once in Glasgow the development and transformation has been immense, from a heavy industrialised city to one of culture, awesome modern and contemporary architecture mixed in with the heritage sites across the city, to the infrastructure projects in and around the key urban areas.

One thing that had hardly changed if at all was when I visited Fir Park, the home of the wonderful Motherwell F.C. 

It was like going back in time as I turned the corner to face the ground. Very little had changed in my mind although I’m sure a lot has.

The ground is still ‘a ground’ in the old school term and not either morphed or relocated in to a new shiny stadium. 

There was two nice a touches that meant a lot to me personally was remembrance of two former great MFC (Scotland Internationals) players (who sadly died very young in their mid to late 30’s) both left wingers as well, by naming two of the grounds main stands after them.  

The wizard that was Davy Cooper (Scottish Juninho) and the lovely guy that was Phil O’Donnell both of which were at the club back in the early 1990’s when I was there."




Back to the reason for skignz being in Scotland after that trip down memory lane. 

One of the ways skignz aims to become a market leader in providing real time information regardless of your location is by engaging with various sectors and prominent companies and market leaders in those specific sectors to work in partnership to help develop the skignz offering.

One of those partnerships that is currently being developed is in the global major sporting events sector. So FIFA World Cups, UEFA Championships, Champions League, Europa Cup, the Olympics/Paralympics, Formula E, Cricket, Tennis, Horse Racing Golf etc…and of course the Commonwealth Games.

Billions of people attend these live events all over the world from the annually and biannually run events to the global greats such as the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup coming every 4 years. 

skignz is working to become the ‘default’ way of helping people find their way around these global events, to access relevant real time information when and where they need it, through their mobile device.

As an armchair supporter the quality of information that you can access through your TV, website etc.. is phenomenal, however the real time live experience lacks ‘replays’, in game betting/gaming, fan/broadcaster commentary.

skignz provides the answer to this and as the skignz technology is more widely used the scope of information will increase. For those of you in the UK that can remember football on the terrestrial channels and how it changed when Sky Sports arrived! Now think 20 odd years ahead to Sky's offering now compared to those early days – it has transformed how we watch live sport with uber finite analysis, stats, replays, simulations, different camera angles, fan zones etc…

It’s been mooted that the reason for the decline in live attendances  (apart from the increase in price) has been the comparison with the experience you get by watching the same game in your own home, pub/bar or on the internet versus the live experience cost etc…

skignz will not only help the live audience access more information and data whilst being present but will help them in and around the area with additional content – help them find their way about new stadia, tracks, etc.. 
So it acts not only as a Way-Finder/Map but then becomes your source of relevant content about that specific event.

Bringing you back to the games in Glasgow, skignz ran a number of demo’s and tests in order to showcase to a number of audiences the capability of skignz, it was brand related to the current games, with a few extras showing the possibilities in taking skignz to different levels and also about how content can be audience specific – Adults, Children, Teenagers or even Staff, Security, VIP’s, Sponsors, Partners, Trainers, Coaches and even the Athletes themselves.

This content was broken up into various channels and placed at a number of the key locations the games were centred around. The audiences that got to experience skignz comments included:

-       “blown me away”

-       “does what it says on the tin”

-       “offers so many possibilities”

-       “fits perfectly with the branding”

-       “reaches and engages anyone and everyone who comes to the games”

-       “you can easily see how skignz can work, at any event anywhere in the world"

The extra work also seemed to ‘hit the spot’
show casing how skignz can be expanded on 
to not just be signs in the sky but using the 
official games mascot ‘Clyde’ the skignz team 
placed a few of this little guy in his different 
sports across the venues! This created a 
different way to interact with the skignz and 
for a different purpose.

All of this support and feedback has been very encouraging for the whole skignz team and the few bits that made it onto Social Media also seemed to be very well received.

So where are we now?

The skignz team are working on a number of fronts with interested parties to see how best to integrate skignz into the future global events, we anticipate that a number of slightly smaller and more annual events will get the ‘skignz treatment’ first with a view to developing a model ready to be rolled out for the next major events from 2016.

In the meantime, please keep an eye out for skignz coming to a sport near you, or even you near that sport! Using skignz to find your way around and access content in a whole new way!

All on a free app that you can not only use to access this content, but you can also help contribute towards by creating an account (also free!) and place your own content!

Happy Live Sports skignzing….

If you want to read more about the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Motherwell FC, FIFA, UEFA then please take a look at the following links:

• http://www.glasgow2014.com/
• http://www.rio2016.org/en
• http://www.motherwellfc.co.uk/
• http://www.uefa.com/
• http://www.fifa.com/

or more about skignz then:

skignz website:

http://www.skignz.com

discover skignz website:

http://www.skignz.com/discover