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