It’s a very exciting day today as the new laws that Digital Eskimo helped usher in take effect. The agency put its support behind the Raise the Bar community campaign, providing branding, design and our campaign engine (and initial funding) to the project. In just three months we were able to help galvanise public opinion and change laws that had been stagnant for 25 years due to political influence and a lack of vocal community support for change. Our campaign, coupled with strong leadership by Clover Moore changed all that.
It’s no overstatement to say NSW will never be the same again. Small bar legislation takes effect July 1 and recent changes to the entertainment planning laws mean you’ll likely see a real person playing real music in that bar.
I was personally involved in the strategy and tactical team and worked with a seriously talented and motivated group who deserve all the kudos the campaign has received. There were many contributors and supporters but special mention goes to the core team being: John Wardle, Jonathon Larkin, Mimi Daraphet, Adele Winteridge, Damian Cerini, Andrew Cox. Full credits here
btw If you were one of the many thousands who also made this happen by sending virtual drinks you will know about the exclusive party tonight to celebrate. So i’ll see you there for a drink or two.
Recently I enjoyed a forum at the Nextwave festival in Melbourne in which Mark Pesce, spoke on the impacts social networking technologies are having on our interactions with each other and power structures in society generally.
Mark’s talk (above) in particular was most intriguing as he described how his twitter network informed him of the Sichuan earthquake’s epicentre, impacts and ‘ground truths’ as he calls them well before the global mainstream media networks were able. Quite amazing when you think this is one mans’ twitter network. He made the point that these networks are one of the biggest threats to global news media. Another two examples of how social networks are changing and challenging the power structures of society follow, one in which he describes how a blogging site played a pivotal role in bringing down a US Attorney General (no less!).
The Digital Eskimos moved studios last weekend and are now set up in a large 320 sq metre open plan space just down the road at 44 Foster Street, Surry Hills. The move involved a lot of hard work of course, made worse by a landlord that reminded me of what happens when one focusses on the negative aspects of life rather than the positive. However our new landlord is cool and the new space with it’s freshly installed bamboo floors and north westerly aspect is even more sustainable than the last place. There’s a really lovely energy in the building and we’re looking forward to filling it with good vibes and beautiful designs!
The weeks just gone reminded me that optimism plays such a huge part in a successful business and indeed in the great journey we’re all on towards a sustainable society. This quote sent to me by a dear friend sums it up so well …
EVERYTHING CHANGES by Bertolt Brecht
Everything changes. We plant
trees for those born later,
but what’s happened has happened
and poisons poured into the seas
cannot be drained out again.
What’s happened has happened.
Poisons poured into the seas
cannot be drained out again, but
everything changes. We plant
trees for those born later.
Special thanks to the eskimos who mucked in on the move (Duncan, Amanda, Rob, Fieke and my brother Mick) for their hard work and of course our friends at GreenMove. The data guys Joel, Troy and the lads at A1 deserve a special mention as does Meitar our in-house eskimo techno genius who kept the network up and running so seamlessly.
Once we’re settled and the space is looking good we’ll post some photos and describe many of the new initiatives we can now implement for a more sustainable and happy studio.
.. and we are into sustainability even more … so when we see them together as in this article in City of Sound post we get pretty excited.
This kind of real-time information delivery is vital for the uptake of mixed mobility transport solutions and public transport generally. As we can see in Helsinki if it’s done properly people use it. There’s no reason (other than political) why we can’t do this here in Australia. Clover Moore has proposed her sustainable city vision for Sydney which should include this level of wired transport.
I note with some optimism Chairman Rudd has confirmed his support for a nationwide cities policy of some kind - perhaps this will lead to financial and political will to make it happen here as we are seeing in other cities. Ultimately of course all major cities on Earth will need to run on these types of systems with minimal car use (if any).
This is assuming we have enough energy (read oil!) to support it of course by the time they are implemented.
The tag line this year is ‘Social Media and Public Relations: are you ready for the audience to jump in?’, a timely topic for the PR industry to grapple with no doubt. Actually the conference is a bit broader than that as it will focus on the importance of on-line communications strategies for Public Affairs Professionals and engaging the media in this dynamically evolving multi-user environment. Some damn fine speakers and panelists attending as well so should be a good one, i hope to attend a fair whack of the conference actually it’s that good.
My particular presentation is titled ‘Is your website an effective communications tool?’ in which i will be discussing what we learnt working on the Raise the Bar and Your Rights at Work campaigns (and other campaigns time permitting!)
If you don’t know the Walkley Foundation they are ‘the peak industry body representing Australia’s media and is aimed at supporting and encouraging professional and ethical journalism.’
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