Winning at Old Trafford - Can you improve on that?

“That’s Boro out”… 

The first words my 14 year old M.F.C. mad son said, as the draw for the fourth round of the Capital One League Cup was made.  

Manchester United v Middlesbrough, at Old Trafford, the Theatre of Dreams…

I had to think hard about whether or not to buy tickets to the game.  The shiver of disappointment from the Play Off Final at Wembley last may still ran down the spine. Then, we learned that there would be up to 11,000 fans travelling.. Oh go on then, one last time….

As 'Head of Data Visualisation Partnerships' at skignz, I couldn’t resist thinking about the possibility of a showcase of skignz at Old Trafford, and how we could maybe make at least one part of the game memorable for my son!

After speaking with Si, the Co-Founder & CMO of skignz, he came up with the plan that we would use skignz to show my son and his friend to their seats, and allow other skignz users to see where they were.

Great Idea! Over 70,000 people in the ground and any one of them would be able to pick us out using skignz.  We also decided to place skignz around Old Trafford for the away fans, guiding them to the correct areas of the ground, and making life easier for them.

Inside the stadium there was an electric feel to the atmosphere as we made our way to our seats, 11,000 Teessiders (me, my son and his friend amongst them) ready to roar on our hometown club to victory in the biggest club stadium in the land.  

My son opened the skignz app on his smart phone…. 
"Have you seen that!!” he said.  

He’d just seen the skignz above his seat.  Then he saw another, and others dotted around Old Trafford there were skignz showing supporters clubs, people, and also support for the plight of the Steel Industry on Teesside #SaveOurSteel.

Middlesbrough F.C. won on penalties against a strong Manchester United team with England Captain Wayne Rooney missing his penalty.

A result that will live long in the memory of Boro fans.  The next day, I asked my now very tired son what he thought of Old Trafford and the trip.  

“I loved it dad. We won and I had my own skignz above my seat.. 
I wonder if LVG (Louis Van Gaal, M.U.F.C. Manager) saw it?”

I’m not sure about that son, but I’m sure he will soon….

If you want to use skignz at your club or on away days, place your own skignz beforehand and it will not only can help you find the 'Away End' at any stadium in the world but will also help you find your friends in the crowds if you link with them.

You can find out all the latest from skignz on both this blog and our usual social media channels

ARt Above will do for the graphic arts what Spotify has done for music.

In early September we blogged about how one of the skignz users had 'subverted the subversive' by displaying his own art work (through skignz) at Banksy's Dismaland.

Martin has been working away on how Art could be best presented through the skignz platform, so we asked Martin if he wouldn't mind sharing in his own words a bit more about skignz and the new Art Channel that we have since created called 'ARt Above'.

Utilizing the skignz platform, 'ARt Above' has the ability to place graphic works anywhere on the planet without asking the permission of gallery owner, curator or town planner. 'ARt Above' will level the playing field allowing artist to install their work at any address in the land – Mayfair, Soho or Madison Avenue.

The potential offered by the skignz platform and the ability of 'ARt Above' to place images at any location is only just being unlocked.

'ARt Above' is above all the Spotify of graphic art – the facilitator of personal curation – placing your exhibition in front of your audience - hijacking the white cube.

Art conceived within the confines of the 2 dimensional space has been placed around the world, but 'ARt Above' offers the possibility of developing a new art – the art dreamed of a century ago - a vector art of lines in space without the need for the support of paper and without the structural concerns of gravity – taking works off the printed page and out of the shuttered form of the canvas, positioning them in space – breaking the forth wall of art – the new cubism – a neo neoplasticism.

In 1936 Charles Tamkó Sirató published his Dimensionist Manifesto which described:

     1. Literature leaving the line and entering the plane.

     2. Painting leaving the plane and entering space.

     3. Sculpture stepping out of closed, immobile forms.

     4. The artistic conquest of four-dimensional space.

The art envisioned by Pablo Picasso and George Braque and described with Cubism a century ago, 

'ARt Above' has actualised!

We would like to thank Martin for his vision, enthusiasm and efforts in working with skignz to develop 'ARt Above' so that it can be used by any Artist of any genre, skill, ability or form, for the benefit of artists and the wider public.

Many people who may not be interested in going into Art Galleries or to Art Shows, can view art where the artist intended them to view it, it maybe a park, a town square, on a beach and even on the side of famous buildings.

If you would like to find out more about 'ARt Above' then please visit www.skignz.com/downloads and get your copy of the skignz app on either iOS or Android.

Already got the App, well anytime you see the 'channels' icon highlighted, when using skignz, press the icon and see what channels are available?  

If you see 'ARt Above' then please select it and take a look!

Wired Retail Conference in London

skignz Co-Founder and CMO will be speaking at the upcoming WIRED Retail Conference in London.

Si was invited to speak after a number of the 'WIRED' events team saw him present and pitch at various events and the articles written about skignz in 'WIRED Magazine' throughout 2015 

Si will be focussing on the future of retail and how this will evolve, change and progress using Augmented Reality. 

skignz already has a few innovative and unique ways in which AR can be incorporated into retail, but instead of looking in store as many other brands have done with AR or activating content through brands publications. 

"What about GeoLocation?" 

"What about lead generation?" 

"How about relating hyperlocal information to drive and increase purchases?"

Some of the areas in which Si feels further exploration are:
 - AR driving sales 
 - AR helping with emotive purchases
 - AR increasing speed of purchases

http://www.wiredevent.co.uk/wired-retail-2015-speakers

'WIRED' Retail together with Valtech is on November 23rd at the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, London, with a view to presenting the future of retail - with those who are building it.

For further information on 'WIRED' Retail 2015 please visit:

http://www.wiredevent.co.uk/wired-retail-2015-2

We will be updating you through our various social media channels as the event progresses and sharing others comments on Si's talk. If you would like to speak to Si about this event then please email us at info@skignz.com 

#SaveOurSteel: skignz supports local community

Over the last month or so the local community of Teesside, where skignz was founded and currently has its UK & European HQ, was hit with a heavy blow. 

SSi today announced it was closing its operations on Teesside due to the change in steel prices across the world and they do not see a future for Steelmaking on Teesside.

Much has been debated in the local, national and international press about if the plant could be saved, who might be interested in it and is their still a future for Steelmaking on Teesside.

For those of you who don't know much about Teesside, or familiar with its heritage. 

It's an area surrounding the NE of England town called Middlesbrough. Once termed the 'Infant Hercules' at the turn of the 19th Century, where a little town grew exponentially on the back of the Iron & Steel industry.

A Heritage that ALL Teessiders the world over are fiercely proud of, and they have a right to be. Steel from Teesside helped build some of the world's most Iconic Structures, including more recently they Wembley Stadium Arch, in London, UK, but going way back to the previous century when not only Teesside Steel built the Sydney Harbour Bridge, but also the expertise, knowledge and craftsmanship of the Teesside people. 

It's been said:
"Some of the world's leading engineers come from Teesside".

The skignz team wanted to show their support for their local community, many of which who have family or friends directly affected, by placing #SaveOurSteel campaign skignz's across Teesside and beyond! 

Below here is a selection of images that we have taken and others sent to us.

With some 7,000 jobs at risk, including employees of SSi UK and the immediate supply chain, this story unfortunately does not have a happy ending as it was decided today that SSi UK would be put into liquidation and the Blast furnaces and Coke Ovens will be allowed to cool down, resulting in the END of Steelmaking on Teesside.

Generations of Teessiders have supplied the world with steel and now it's finally supplied its last. 

Not only those who have lost their jobs, careers and especially their livelihoods, but the wider community that will feel the knock on effect. The last few years have not been kind to the people of the North East of England, especially those on Teesside. 

The steelworkers are not the only ones to lose their jobs, many other companies across the North of England are downsizing, laying off people in order to compete in a global market.

However one thing that won't be extinguished like those flames of the Blast Furnaces and Coke Ovens, is that of the spirit of the Teesside people.

#TeessideSteelLivesOn