Thankyou to Rio

Many of you will have seen across our social media channels this summer, skignz have been extremely active across Rio for the Olympic games.

Based at the beautiful Parque Lage at the foot of the mountain that Christ the Redeemer stands. 

The Parque Lage is a 1920's former house of an industrialist, set in the Jardim Botanico and this is where UK Government PLC had their HQ for the World Cup in 2014 and again for the Olympics.

Between the Prime Minister's office, The Mayor of London and Team GB who hosted a wide and varied schedule for events across sport, business and culture was choreographed for the entire Olympic games.

The dynamic of each of these very different sectors was certainly interesting and engaging and provided skignz with an ideal audience to showcase our technology, as well as being involved day to in the various events.

skignz provided the guests with a range of channels of content all with very different focus. A lot of the House contributors and sponsors came from some of the UK's best examples of manufacturing, technology, sport and the other key sectors. The whole environment was one of celebrations as TEAM GB began their most successful medal haul ever.

As part of the celebrations, our medal-winning athletes were treated to a 'special welcome' by the guests and hosts each evening, with a full presentation to the audience and a quick Q&A by the awesome Andy. 

British House Rio (its official title) was a great meeting place for the athletes nearest & dearest, who mixed with ministers, ambassadors, visiting dignitaries and all the varied event guests who were invited to come along. 

Even the many members of the awesome British Airways Crew who were transporting Team GB back were enjoying meeting the athletes and their families alongside the enigmatic Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP of spoke at one of the conferences.

Wall to wall with famous athletes, legends such as Sir Steve Redgrave and Sir Matthew Pinsent, through to current medal winners Sir Bradley Wiggins, Laura Trott and her now husband Jason Kenny. Also a fresh new wave of British stars, some winning their first medals enjoyed celebrating the on-going success of TEAM GB.

All in all we could write a whole book on skignz exploits and experience in Rio, but we still don't feel we could do it justice. It was an incredible opportunity to showcase what is GREAT about Britain, centred on an incredible location and global event. The memories will live long, but the most important thing is that skignz was again exposed to so many wide and wonderful audiences that we couldn't have dreamed possible even 12 months ago.

We think as much as the athletes and their families and all those attending the Olympics take away their own memories, it's the opportunity just to be among the people in the British House and the opportunity to tell them what we are trying to achieve with skignz that was as much a privilege for us as it was to those athletes competing.

Si Brown said: "I would like to thank each and everyone of the people we met in Rio and for taking the time to hear about skignz and see it in action. 

Many of you have had a profound effect on what skignz can become with your suggestions, ideas, thoughts and advice.  Although we didn't compete in the Olympics, we feel we represented our country with the same pride and passion and a big thanks to the teams from No.10, UKTI, British Embassy & Consulates, Innovision, TEAM GB and any others I've failed to recall. Thank you, it’s been emotional!"

At this time is difficult to assess the impact Rio has had on skignz and it may take weeks/months before we do, although we have already started to see a few successes from the trip which we will hopefully keep you up to date on as and when we can. 

With a number of other global sporting events coming up over the next few years, hopefully skignz can be involved, but we still feel it may be difficult to exceed the experience of Rio 2016, although given the opportunity I'm sure we will try.

Please take a look below at a selection of images from Rio...

To find out more about skignz, please visit our relaunched website or take a look on the usual Social Media Channels.

Star Trek: USS Enterprise seen above London

An alert to all you 'Trekkies' out there... Today the USS Enterprise was captured hovering above central London.

A skignz user, managed to use the 'in app capture' to grab these two images...

Although we are not Trekkies, many people are, so it will be interesting to see how many other people see the ship as we are not sure how long it's there... 

Where will it appear next?

If you see it please do share with us on any of our Social media channels or email your pics at info@skignz.com

With all the news and razamataz around 'PokemonGo' and people hunting around the world, we are wondering who has taken this idea into their own hands and used the skignz platform to create their own version of a themed/branded version of a scavenger hunt. 

This prompted many internal conversations on who else could do this across the planet? What brands would like a similar activation using their current 'franchises'? 

Could we soon see Superman, Batman, Captain America, Spiderman or Transformers? How about Dora the Explorer, Lilo & stitch or taking the lead from Pokemon and rejuvenate old & retro characters? 

How about 'Find a Fraggle', Battle of the Planets, TMNT, Wheres Bod?, whatever the brand, the digital assets can be featured in Geo Location based AR games..

We see this going one step further by making them both educational and even more interesting than just looking and finding a specific character.

If you have a brand, a franchise or are an agency looking for ways to expose your characters to a new and existing audiences in a fresh and invigorating way, please get in touch via info@skignz.com and lets see what type of brand experience we can create for your audiences?

Also check out other stories on this blog, our website www.skignz.com and our usual social media channels for more on what skignz is? can do? and is already doing?

PokemonGo - Gamification through GeoAR

In little under two weeks Pokemon Go (not launched in the UK yet) has taken the world by storm.

According to 'Tokyo Reuters', shares in Nintendo (Pokemon's owners) soared on Monday 11th July 2016 bringing and increase in Market value to $7.5billion in only 2 days.

It's Nintendo's first foray into mobile gaming and although only being released in certain regions it's become an 'overnight success'. But what is PokemonGo? 

Most people ask what Pokemon are?

Pokemon is a brand created and used by Nintendo since the early 1990's. Where Pokemon's characters and TV programmes became a 90's phenomenon for most children of the day. 

Now Nintendo have taken it a step further by using 'Geo Location based Augmented Reality' (essentially skignz) to place little virtual characters across the planet.

This creates a scavenger hunt for people to look for this elite virtual characters as they go about their daily lives…

However this has already not been without controversy, huge pile ups and traffic problems (Check out some of the stories by pressing here) happened when someone held up traffic by walking into the middle of a road or even where a driver was trying to find a character whilst driving!

With 5% of Android users downloading it two days after its release in the US, you can safely assume that this is only going to get bigger and bigger. 

With users averaging 53 mins per day, could it be the next big game distraction since Candy Crush? 

Its already shot to the top of the charts in Apple's FREE app rankings and continues to explode across the world.

So why is skignz writing about this? Geolocation is the essence of the skignz platform and PokemonGO is the first real high profile, mass market use of this type of AR after skignz. 

We think it's great, we think PokemonGo although not perfect, certainly increases the profile of GeoAR in much the same way in what Oculus did for VR. 

We have had an incredible amount of emails and calls in the last few days from people we have been dealing with over the the years, asking us our opinion of PokemonGo? 

How does it affect skignz? 

How does it compare to skignz? and plenty who have said that this makes skignz so much more relevant now, especially as skignz makes AR useful and can be delivered across so many different sectors and industries with a plethora of uses & applications, literally your imagination is the limit to what skignz can do?

In our blog post of 13th July 2016, (Press to view here) we showcase how skignz users have uploaded their own  Star Trek Space Ship, The USS Enterprise for views to find in Central London. 

This also begs the question, as we explain in the aforementioned blog post, what other brands could take advantage of this type of Brand activation? 

From TV series launches like Game of Thrones, through to the next Star Wars / Xmen, Star Wars, movies. Even going back into the archives (like Nintendo have done with Pokemon) and relaunch old franchises in a new and engaging way.

Two very interesting articles we have just come across by Tim Bajarin for Time and Alexandra Tregre for Stable | Kernal both outline the impact of Pokemon Go, but also explain that it's not AR but more Geo Location that's driving the Phenomenal take up.... 

Time - http://time.com/4410327/pokemon-go-technology/

Stable| Kernal - http://blog.stablekernel.com/the-technology-behind-pokemon-go-why-augmented-reality-is-the-future

You may further query as to why this matters or relates to skignz? That's becuase everything that PokemonGo should do can be done with skignz, not one (use a map to find each character) then the other (view the character in AR), but both at the same time. 

skignz has the ability to place the content in an exact location, not base it around your handset when in said location, there's a HUGE difference to the user experience and more importantly the opportunities for global reach...

All of the aforementioned global brands (and more) are able to follow suit by using the skignz platform to deliver their ideas...

If you want to get in touch to see how you could use the skignz platform to help with your brands activation then please email us info@skignz.com

If you would like to find out more about skignz please find us on the usual Social Media channels as well as our blog and website www.skignz.com. 

Face Time on the Move...

The desire to see people's faces when talking to them?

Why when you can just have it on audio?

Surely FaceTime is better suited to private talking, business or pleasure, not whilst walking down the street, getting on a bus or even as we experienced the other day... 

Talking on FaceTime whilst boarding a plane, from the gate, right through till being seated and the doors closing on the aircraft.... What extra benefit is a visual call rather than an audio one in these circumstances... Discuss?

Now you have read this, it will heighten your 'senses' and for whatever reason you will notice this more and more on your daily travels.

We are not saying it's right or wrong? We are not saying it's unsafe or safe... 

I suppose we are looking at it from a 'user habits' point of view and wondering if this is an indicator of people wanting more. 

Usual stimulation in all aspects of their lives, or even as we have coined the phrase, don't look down at your phone, look up through it... this is where skignz as a 'behaviour' will change how we interatc with the world around us!

OK we used a bit of artistic licence in the last part, because on FaceTime you are not looking through your phone, you are still looking at it.

But and this is where we see the but...

The position of the phone is changed and it's not laid flat in your hand perpendicular to your body, but up, in front of your parallel with your body... 

In a more engaging with the world around you way. Not the insular, looking down at your phone (your feet) way which society now sees every day.

We are just throwing this out there, a little musing on something we have noticed more often recently. 

Have you? What do you think? Will FaceTime whilst walking catch on? Or is it pointless and a waste of your battery life when you can have the same conversation simply using Audio? or might we suggest its a precursor to the new world enhanced by skignz?

If you want to find out more about skignz, then please visit our new recently launched website (www.skignz.com) as well as the usual social media channels 

IFB2016: skignz Review's the 3 week showcase

Last month we let you know that skignz would be placing a whole environment around the International Festival for Business 2016 (IFB) as part of our continued partnership with the GREAT Campaign.

Well, we can now say that having completed our time there, it was a complete success. 

Our Head of Operations, Jamie Clarke, went on to say "IFB in Liverpool was a successful event for skignz, in the people we met, the connections we made and the feedback on the tech that we received" 

Jamie had the pleasure to meet with Lord Price, Head of UKTI, who was really impressed with skignz and how to make AR useful.

Our CMO, Si Brown was also in attendance, and was very well received when speaking on the Blue Skies stage on the opening day.  

The speech was followed up by lots of discussion and interest in skignz, and saw both of our intrepid explorers busy throughout the 3 week festival, fielding enquiries, building relationships for the future and discussing potential projects with partners.

The GREAT Showcase was extremely well received throughout the three weeks, with thousands of visitors able to view, try out and discuss all of the superb elements of the Innovation, design and export is GREAT areas.

IFB was an extremely positive event to be involved with, both in terms of the exposure skignz gained from it, and also the press which it rightly received. 

skignz was also in action at the closing dinner, which recognised all contributors to the event and celebrated GREAT British Innovation and Business.

For further information, either find us on Social Media or read more on this blog. If you want to get in touch please email us info@skignz.com

See a our Gallery of images below...

 

 

Good Things come to those who wait...

Well guys, we cannot begin to explain how excited we are to announce that..... Drum Roll..... we are being as dramatic as possible..... Anxious wait to hear the news that...

skignz has been featured in the latest edition of Contagious!!!

It might not mean a lot to many but for those of you who aren't in the Advertising, Digital, Marketing and Brand Industry but this publication is pretty much the global industry commentator on all things current, future and interesting across the whole industry.

Contagious releases four editions annually of its beautiful magazine, but gives you access to a backend platform that no agency or brand should be without. 

They also have a number of events across the globe and their incredibly talented team members can be found on stages at most of the major events, providing keynote speeches, that are worth the entrance and attendance at those events on their own.

They also have some 'pardon the marketing speak' seriously bright, blue sky thinkers who brands bring in to try and 'map out' their futures...

skignz is featured in the SBPF section, which stands for 'Small But Perfectly Formed', where 4 companies (per publication) are introduced to the Contagious Community leading up to their end of year conference in early December Most Contagious, London. 

Here throughout the day, each of the companies not only gets to pitch their business to the audience but is also provided with 'exhibitor space' outside the main auditorium where the audience can experience and interact with the companies and where relevant their tech/offering.

The other really exciting part of skignz being featured in Contagious is that our own CMO has been trying to get featured since the Magazine opened over 10 years ago... 

So it was an extra special treat when Si was presented with the latest edition of Contagious from Co-Founder and Editorial Director Paul Kemp-Robertson. 

Si & Paul have actually been friends for a long time and both share the slightly odd passion that is Middlesbrough Football Club.... 

If you see their social messages signed with #UTB (or if they are really excited #UTFB) This is there way of signing off in support of their home team ;-)

What makes this story and journey to be included in Contagious all the more compelling, is neither of the two friends wanted favours from each other especially in a professional capacity, both Paul and Si wanted any work featured in Contagious to be done so on it's own merits and not becuase they are friends.

A refreshing change we feel in today's society... #UTFB

If you would like to know more about the awesomeness that is Contagious then please visit www.contagious.com

If you want to know more about skignz then please take a look at the rest of our blog and follow us on the usual social media channels

IFB - The GREATest Business Show on Earth….

In less than a week's time, the Greatest Show on Earth begins in Central Liverpool, UK on Monday 13th June 2016 running for 3 weeks.

As part of our partnership with the Prime Minister's Office and the GREAT Campaign, skignz will be providing a whole digital environment at the International Festival of Business in Liverpool at the end of June through to beginning of July. 

Attendees will be able to find their way from the trams and trains all the way to the Liverpool Convention Centre, and once there, be able to see various informative skignz to compliment the GREAT Campaign area.  

In addition to placing skignz around the location, skignz Co-Founder Si Brown will be speaking on the Blue Skies stage. 


Si will be sharing the bill with some of the most influential CEO’s and Entrepreneurs from around GREAT Britain and across the rest of the world.

This is a major coup for skignz at the this point in our development and allows us to showcase the technology to business leaders from around the world.  

A delighted Si said: 

“The partnership with the GREAT Campaign has proven to provide us with opportunities to gain exposure at events and locations which we wouldn’t of been able to previously. 

It’s obviously a great honour to speak at such a prestigious event.  

The team are looking forward to showcasing how we have been progressing and meeting some new contacts and networking with some of the brightest business minds from around the world”.

This event is part of a wider delivery of the skignz technology, we look forward to bringing you where on the planet it will be appearing next with our GREAT partners.

If you want to attend IFB 2016 or know more about it then please visit:
https://www.ifb2016.com/

If you want to know more  about UKTI and how they can help you either export from the UK or do business in the UK then please visit:
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/uk-trade-investment

To see more about the GREAT work being carried out abroad in promoting UK Plc. then please visit:

https://www.exportingisgreat.gov.uk/

And as always for further information on skignz then please visit us on the usual Social Media channels or drop us a line info@skignz.com

skignz in the USA...

SKIGNZ IN NYC

skignz visited the USA earlier in the month. Co-Founder Si Brown, Jamie Clarke and David Murphy caught the flight out of Manchester into NYC.  

Upon our arrival we were greeted with the now customary US Security checks, which seemed to take an age!

Travel was smooth, and the flight was made quickly by the team meeting which took place on the flight, ensuring that they were prepared and ready for what the US held in store for skignz.

Upon arrival into the Big Apple, it was straight into meetings..  No time for sightseeing just yet.

The guys met with our partners at the British Consulate to discuss raising the profile of skignz in the states.  The meeting went extremely well, with lots of positives and further actions coming out of it.

Then it was back to the Hotel for some well earned rest. The dreaded Jet Lag had decided to raise its head and the guys were feeling it!

Si Brown said "The thing about the USA is this (and especially NYC); the way in which new things are received is with a refreshing dose of excitement and energy and focusses on the possibilities, rather than looking to find ways it can fail. 

The energy the states has for tech of this kind is so exciting, it makes you realise just why it's a world leader in this area".

The guys had another 3 days of meetings booked in across NYC, catching up with friends of skignz, making sure people knew they were around and generally enjoying the energy of the people they met. 

The weather was kinda nice, the City was awesome and the links made will benefit skignz long term. 

One close call was the terrible fire right next to team skignz's hotel, very sad to see a beautiful old cathedral burn through the night, nobody was hurt we are glad to say, just such a shame to see the old building smoldering and smoking as we left.

Overall, a successful trip to NYC… But there's more… The guys then flew from NYC into Atlanta. 

SKIGNZ IN ATLANTA

Arriving in Atlanta the guys were greeted by blazing sunshine and the friendly faces of Team, Choose:ATL, Atlanta's Chamber of Commerce.

The guys from Choose:ATL had met Si and Jamie at SxSW back in April, and had struck up a great relationship. 

There have been many occasions where our friends across the pond have been a strong advocates for skignz in the US, and in particular Atlanta.  

They had set up several meetings in Atlanta for skignz to build further relationships.  With a packed agenda, we even scheduled in some time for the Guys to help out at a junior football (Soccer) club by delivering a coaching session.  

The highlight of the trip to Atlanta was the 'Hard Hat Tour' of the new $1.5B stadium.  

The skignz team met with the General manager, who became increasingly impressed by the possibilities of using the skignz technology as an enhancement to their 'Fan Experience' on match/game days. 

The stadium will be shared by the City NFL Franchise the Atlanta Falcons, and the brand new MLS Franchise Atlanta United.

The links made here will prove extremely useful to the skignz brand and allow the stadium to embrace technology to give visiting and home fans a truly complete Match Day Experience.

The hospitality shown by everyone in Atlanta was second to none, with the guys being invited to a Southern style BBQ. 

David Murphy summed up the experience by saying “The effort and goodwill shown by everyone in the team in Atlanta was nothing short of perfect.  

They welcomed us into their Network, City and even their homes with open arms.

This City has had a lasting effect on me and I know the guys feel the same way”.

Negotiations are now taking place for a return visit to firm up some of the ideas and meetings which took place. Watch this space for further updates!!

And as always for further information on skignz then please visit us on the usual Social Media channels or drop us a line info@skignz.com

First Visit to Toronto for skignz

My 1st ever visit to Toronto started with an early flight flying out of La Guardia, New York. An hour & a half later; 2 cans of Red Bull down I landed at Pearson International Airport in Toronto. 

Stepping off the plane, if felt like I had just landed back on Teesside… cold, wet and windy!! However, not even the grim weather could dampen my enthusiasm as I looked forward to a busy couple of days ahead.

After a 30 minute taxi drive I was checking in to the Delta hotel on Maple Leaf Square, a stones through away from the Air Canada Centre. No time to rest though, I was picked up from the hotel by an old teammate & good friend who now lives in Toronto, was able to show me around and act as my host throughout my short stay in the city.

1st port of call was to the official Toronto FC bar where we watched Portland Timbers v Toronto with all the local and very passionate fans. It was a real family friendly environment with everyone having a good time & supporting their team in the right way.

After watching Toronto FC narrowly lose 2-1 to the Timbers, we made our way to the Air Canada Centre as I was invited as a guest to watch the deciding play off game between Toronto Raptors v Indian Pacers. 

This was my 1st experience of an NBA Basketball game and everyone kept telling me that I couldn’t have chosen a better game to attend. The atmosphere was electric as the Raptors hadn’t been past this stage in 15 years!

It was a star-studded event, with big names such as Drake and Didier Drogba in attendance. Whilst at the game, I was introduced to some very influential people who loved the concept of skignz and the almost endless possibilities that it offers. Watch this space!

To top the evening off, the Raptors won the game 89-84, leaving a party atmosphere in and around the venue, but it was back to the hotel for me as I had a busy day ahead…

Day 2 in Toronto began with my standard hotel breakfast, Eggs Benedict! With a full stomach and a much needed caffeine fix (Red Bull), I was off to my 1st meeting of the day. 

After some very positive and productive discussions, my friend picked me up and I was fortunate enough to experience the famous Soho House Members club of Toronto for lunch. It’s very much an 'up market' establishment in which members are very selectively chosen.

After an interesting lunch meeting with some promising new business contacts, it was time for my final meeting before catching my flight back to New York.

All in all, I had a great time in the city of Toronto and made some exciting new contacts that will hopefully have a major part to play in taking skignz forward in Canada.

And as always for further information on skignz then please visit us on the usual Social Media channels or drop us a line info@skignz.com