Saturday, 12 December 2015

12 'skignz' Days of Christmas - An experience your children will NEVER forget!

Tomorrow sees skignz launch their 12 Days of Christmas... leading right up to some 'Special skignz Magic Dust' we have 'sprinkled across the sky', right around the world for Christmas Eve.


This is especially so for those of you will young children who are still 'believers'

We 'believe', so we have developed two very special 'skignz' to help you get those little kiddie winkies to bed (no mean feat when their are 'off the scale' excited).

We at skignz also believe that: 

"If a picture speaks a thousand words... and a video speaks a million... then what does an experience represent, a billion? a trillion? or is it unquantifiable... beyond words..."


What is the 12 'skignz' Days of Christmas?
We have created an 'Online Advent Calendar' that you can visit each day at the following link www.skignz.com/santa 

Please don't forget, it's like any other 'Advent Calendar' in as much as there's no peeking on the days that are yet to come! (you can go back and look at previous days though).


What are we trying to achieve?
Every child has a wonderment around Christmas, Santa, his elves, the whole mystery. One of the customs is to put out a drink and mince pie for Santa, but since 1957 NORAD have provided children across the globe with regular updates on Santa's progress.

More recently a website (www.noradsanta.org) was created that many a child keeps regular watch on Christmas Eve... all wanting to know when Santa will be in their Country, region, town and street.


Two things happen at this point... the children are 'off the scale with excitement' and parents try to usher them to bed as he's 'getting close'. remember from when you were a child, that Santa only delivers his presents when you (children) are fast asleep.

Ok then, how do you 'Calm the children down' and get them off to sleep in a reasonable time?


How are we going to do this?
Each day you will open a window and it will provide you with a little bit more information on 'How you are going to BLOW your children's minds on Christmas Eve, yet be such a powerful experience that they will WANT to go to bed IMMEDIATELY and go to sleep....!"

We will lead you on a 'step by step' process of downloading skignz, setting up an account, right through to placing the 'Special Santa skignzand how you will 'reveal' them to your children on Christmas Eve....


Where do the special 'skignz' come in?
If you follow all the steps in the lead up to Christmas Eve, which includes setup, checking and testing you will have created two virtual 'signs in the sky'.


The first is a Picture of Santa's Sleigh flying away into the distance...
 









The second one is a special 'Note from Santa', that is personalised with your childrens names on... explaining that he's just flown over (where you are and where you have placed the skignz and intend to show the children them).

It also says that he noticed that 'Lexi & Gab's' (insert your own children's names) are still awake and that he can't deliver their presents until they are fast asleep, encouraging them to go straight to bed, love from Santa.

*Please note that the two images above are actual images taken through the skignz app.

Then what?
You let your children follow the Santa through the NORAD website until he's close by where you are, then you go to the door/window to see if they can see him. 

At that point you say "maybe if we use our SmartPhone or Tablet it will help us see him". 

You then 'open the skignz App' and pan around like you are videoing the sky, where you will see the Sleigh riding away with Santa waving (We highly recommend you video or take pics of your childrens faces when they see this)

Then next pan across to where you have placed the second skign... 'Santa's Note' where you can read that Santa has left them a note and either let them read it or read it to them...


The children won't be able to see the skignz without the SmartPhone or Tablet, so you can say that Santa sent you a special camera to see him ;-)

And after that... when they are no doubt speechless... take them to bed!

We hope you enjoy this little magical experience we have created for any child anywhere in the world whose Parents or Guardians have taken the time to set this up for them... 

Afterall Christmas is all about children, especially those that believe... even the slightly older ones may question their beliefs ha ha ha or is that HO HO HO....

We hope you have a very Merry Christmas & Happy New Year
from 
The Santa skignz team

PS We ask just one thing of those of you who have read this.. 

Please share www.skignz.com/santa with others across Social Media, text, phone calls, messneger etc... , so many more children get the chance to experience this as well. 

We want to reach as many children as possible across the globe.


Thursday, 3 December 2015

SVB Christmas Soiree 2015 - The Walkways Atop Tower Bridge, London

Last night we had the privilege of joining our bankers SVB (Silicon Valley Bank) for their Christmas Soiree, held atop the Magnificent and Charming Tower Bridge in Central London.



After having a wonderful evening we would like to share a number of pictures with you. 

Unfortunately none of them capture our very own CMO, Si Brown, 'slipping' on the glass floor (almost breaking it).

 

Plenty of wine, canapes all across the glass floor and plenty of opportunities to network with the bank's other clients, partners and potential VC's.

 

A fantastic evening was had by the skignz team before embarking on a trip across London to another event at a Mayfair Club, actually sponsored by one of SVB's other clients we were introduced to on top of the tower.

Again another fantastic location, great company and a fine evening enjoyed by all. Merry Christmas guys and thanks for the invite, same again next year hey ;-)


For Further information on the remarkable facilities at Tower Bridge and how you can hire them yourself, please visit: http://www.towerbridge.org.uk

For Further information on SVB, please visit: http://www.svb.com


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








Friday, 27 November 2015

TechCityInsider Awards & Launch of the 2015 Almanac

skignz were recently shortlisted as finalists in the UK's TechCityInsider Awards in the North East Category. The final were held at The Trampery in Shoreditch, London.  

A superbly organised event showcased all of the brilliant tech companies from up and down the country.

A great afternoon saw skignz narrowly miss out on collecting yet another award.  

However, the event was well put together, bustling with a host of companies that were eager to network.

The skignz team networked in search of like minded people to work in partnership with. One company who some the skignz team had met previously at the Pitch@Palace 3.0. were successful, which is great news

We just want to pass on our congratulations again to the awesome team over at PLOTBOXIO, these guys are helping Funeral Directors and Cemeteries, plan for the future, using digital technologies rather than age old methods currently being used, Well done guys and look forward to seeing you again soon.


Jamie Clarke (Head of DV Partnerships at skignz) said “Although we were disappointed not to come away with an award, we made some extremely interesting contacts, which we are currently following up, with the view to working in partnership with some of the UK’s most exciting Technology Companies”

The very same evening TechCityInsider presented their 2015 Almanac, another event that was well organised and full of interesting like minded people from all areas of the UK.

For Further information on TechCityInsider, please visit: 
http://www.techcityinsider.net

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

Thursday, 26 November 2015

RISE Manchester - Barclays/MMU AR Day

skignz were invited to speak at a recently held event in the Rise building on Deansgate in Manchester.  

The event was organised by Barclays and MMU (Manchester Metropolitan University) to showcase the progress being made in Augmented Reality Technology, what sectors its being applied in and how?



The speakers ranged from University Professors & Doctors about their research, through to a few commercial applications and the leaders of those projects. 

skignz was one of the few totally 'commercial application' however it seemed skignz could cover just about ALL the areas the other speakers had, as well as proving and solving a few problems/issues that were raised prior to Si presenting.

skignz had been invited to speak, and Co-Founder & CMO Si Brown was excited about the opportunity. 

The presentation went really well, with gasps of approval from the audience as Si went through the possibilities of AR technology and more specifically our own skignz technology.



Throughout the day, the opportunities to showcase skignz on a one to one level were fulsome, and Si explained 
“It’s really important for skignz to be represented at these types of events.  Although smaller in their size than some of the others, they are just as important and worthwhile to the team here at skignz.

Especially as it gives those involved in Augmented Reality from Commercial, Educational and Research areas, the opportunity to meet up discuss progress, current issues and future potential all for the mutual benefit."

Later Si was invited to take part in a 'panel discussion' accompanied by a representative from the tech team from Barclays and two Academics from MMU. 

It proved to be a lively debate with many questions being posed by the audience, bringing conflicting opinions in part mainly around the difference between the commercial sector and the world of academia. 

However there was quite a unified opinion on the immediate and long term futures of AR. All agreed it would be more beneficial working together, but the mechanics of how that would work would need to be overcome.

The real issue, being around whether the Universities and Academics could respond and work at the pace that the commercial/private companies required in order to maintain momentum and stay at the forefront of AR technology marketplace.

For further information on RISE Manchester please visit: https://thinkrise.com/manchester.html

For further information on MMU (Manchester Metropolitan University) please visit: http://www2.mmu.ac.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


Wednesday, 25 November 2015

TECHSTARS North Final

The long trip from London to Manchester seemed to be longer than usual, with the weather affecting train services.  

Being greeted by the rain in Manchester is becoming commonplace, but skignz were there to attend the TECHSTARS Northern Finals Awards evening.
 
Si Brown (Co-Founder & CMO of skignz) was ‘pitching’ at the event.  

A 3 minute slot in which to deliver a presentation to a panel of judges isn’t a long time, but enough to showcase our technology.




As we have come to expect, Si was relaxed and articulate throughout his 3 minutes, giving a great account of the skignz technology and answering questions at the end from the panel of 4 Judges.


The evening was a great event, with time for networking and making some really positive contacts.  

In the end though, skignz were not chosen as one of the winners. 

“You can’t win them all, and the standard of participants this year was extremely high, so congratulations to each and every one of them” said an upbeat Si as the evening drew to a close.










The awards evening was held at the awesome and funky offices of UK Fast. Fantastic location hosted by a great group of people. Big thanks to them for hosting us.
For Further information on TechNorth, please visit: 
http://technorthhq.com

For Further information on UK Fast, please visit: 
http://www.ukfast.co.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