News
Virtual graduation part two!
March 4th, 2010
Category: | Virtual Worlds |
Following the success of last year’s pilot eremony in Second Life we have just held the first full scale virtual award ceremony for over 30 of BP’s senior executives who have completed The University of Manchester’s Managing Projects programme.
The ceremony took place in the Whitworth Room of Manchester Business School’s Second Life Island on Thursday 4th March and is the culmination of the year-long Managing Projects programme, delivered by experts from across The University of Manchester. The programme enables BP executives from the UK, USA, Canada, Angola, Indonesia, Alaska and Russia to apply the latest business thinking to practical challenges they are facing in their business life.
Last year’s virtual ceremony proved the real value of using virtual world’s to bring geographically dispersed people together. BP experienced the benefits for themselves, rewarding senior executives for their achievements without the enormous costs and environmental impact of delivering a real life ceremony. It simply made the impossible possible.
There are lots of prototypes in virtual worlds and companies who dip their toe in the water, but this event with BP demonstrates how Second Life is very much alive and well in the corporate world. We’re really looking forward to this year’s ceremony which is on a much larger scale than last year’s.
Alan Johnston Director of Manchester Programmes at BP said: “The innovative use of Second Life by MBS delivers recognition of our worldwide delegates’ achievement in completing the Managing Projects programme while enhancing our community of practice.”
Professor Michael Luger, Director of Manchester Business School said: “MBS is committed to working closely with clients, such as BP, to deliver original executive education programmes that combine real time teaching with the latest e-learning technology. We’re delighted that we can bring the BP cohort together again to celebrate their achievements in this way.”
Tags: Awards, BP, graduation, Manchester Business School, Second Life
Promo video for Bench
February 23rd, 2010
Category: | Motion Graphics |
We’ve just delivered an animated video for urban lifestyle company Bench, showcasing their story from humble beginnings in Manchester to their position now as a global brand. This is the third video that we’ve produced for the label since January 2008.
The creative solution uses the square full stop in the logo to create a digitalised world map with longitude and latitude coordinates representing Bench’s retail outlets and events. The three minute video will be used to communicate its wide global presence.
The video takes the viewer on a journey through Bench’s global empire, celebrating 20 years of heritage from its roots in Manchester’s music scene in the 90s. The project involved selecting and editing two decades worth of videos and imagery, which was then cut to music.
Emily Frazer, international marketing manager at Bench had this to say: “We wanted a video that highlighted our international reach and global presence. The result represents our history and major landmarks, in a cool and distinctive style that is reflective of our brand.”
Tags: animation, bench, video
We’re moving on!
January 22nd, 2010
Category: | Company |
After five years in our beautiful studio in Manchester’s northern quarter we’re moving on. Its a great space but we’ve outgrown it. Its 1500 sqft of pillars, wooden floors and typical N4 character and the landlord is a very nice bloke! As a favour to said landlord we’ve agreed to put the word about that its soon going to be available (from 1st March).
We’re also selling some of our furniture so it could be the perfect ‘pret a porter’ solution for a company on the up. Email us for details.
Tags: manchester, northern quarter, office
Creamfields two years on the trot!
January 13th, 2010
Category: | Print | Web |
Following a four-way pitch, we are very proud to announce that we have been appointed to develop the national campaign for Creamfields 2010. The campaign will be promoted throughout the UK using a variety of tools including posters, press ads, flyers and online marketing.
Having delivered the Creamfields 2009 campaign this makes us the first agency in the history of the festival to lead the Creamfields campaign two years in a row. This year’s campaign will build on the distinctive graphics we delivered last year and we hope will help deliver another sell-out festival for our clients.
Laura Buckley, Senior Marketing Manager, at The Cream Group said: “We’re all really excited to be working with Corporation Pop again. It’s great to be able to develop an already strong working relationship. Their professional approach, attention to detail, commitment and creativity makes them an absolute pleasure to deal with.”
The campaign will go live in the Spring and run for six months.
Creamfields 2010 takes place across August Bank Holiday Weekend, on 28 and 29 August in Daresbury, Cheshire.
For last years campaign click here.
Tags: Cream, Creamfields
Second Life open for Enterprise
November 6th, 2009
Category: | Company | Virtual Worlds |
On Wednesday 4th November Linden Labs announced the public launch of ‘Second Life Enterprise’, their behind-the-firewall solution which until now has been codenamed ‘Nebraska’.
Second Life Enterprise (or SLE for short) allows large organisations to run a completely self contained version of the virtual world technology on their own network with no external links to Linden Labs or the main Second Life grid. The technology has all the features and benefits of the main grid with the added benefit of a completely secure environment with full administration tools including backup and recovery. Up to 800 avatars can interact concurrently and real names can be used. For educational establishments the solution also has the benefit of having no restrictions on age use (on the public grids users under 18 cannot log in to the same grid as users over 18).
As Second Life Gold Solution Providers we are resellers for Second Life Enterprise. Contact us for more information.
Tags: behind the firewall, Second Life, Second Life Enterprise, SLE
Tygavac’s new sales presenter
November 3rd, 2009
Category: | Print |
Its been two years since we won the pitch for this contract but we’re now proud to announce the release of a new sales presenter for hi-tech manufacturer Tygavac. They’ll be using the presenter to attract some of the world’s leading Formula 1, aerospace, wind energy and marine manufacturers to Tygavac’s range of vacuum bag materials.
A combination of high spec materials and processes have been used to create a custom-made sales presenter, holding more than 200 data sheets and 35 product swatches to showcase Tygavac’s world leading product range. The swatches range from breather foams at 3mm thick, to incredibly thin films and fabrics, all of which had to be secured into place and labelled. Each sample has been individually glued into position, heat-welded between two sheets of grey PVC which have then been screen-printed. 1,000 copies have been produced, which has involved the hand cutting and gluing of 35,000 individual samples.
This has been one of the print team’s most intricate and challenging design projects of the year. Combining cutting-edge techniques and materials with a meticulous hand finish has been vital to ensure the end result reflected the brand and product line. Tygavac’s offering is all about high performance and hi-tech materials so lasting first impressions are absolutely essential.
Tags: Print, sales presenter, tygavac
MBS Second Life public launch
October 21st, 2009
Category: | Virtual Worlds |
Today I attended the public launch of Manchester Business School’s Second Life island.
We’ve been working in close partnership with the Second Life Stakeholder Group at the School developing the island and its associated web microsite and until now the island has been closed to public access and the microsite, which allows you to register an MBS avatar and book a virtual meeting room, has been sat on our development servers. Now, 18 months after we first began working with the School, the island is open for all to see.
At the launch Professor Linda Macaulay gave an overview of the island and its uses whilst Dr Kathleen Keeling described some of the international research projects MBS are undertaking in Second Life. Dr Cliff Mitchell outlined the very successful virtual graduation ceremony we delivered for BP Project Managers and Andrew Wilson, e-learning support officer, demonstrated how the microsite works.
For me it was a proud moment and felt a bit like sending your first born out in to the big wide world. We’ve really enjoyed working with the business school and guiding them through the in and outs of creating content and managing virtual real estate. Now they have all the tools and knowledge in place to move the island forward themselves and use it across all departments in the business school. Like anxious parents we’re here if they need us but we’re proud to see them take control of the future of the island.
Tags: Andrew Wilson, BP, Cliff Mitchell, Kathleen Keeling, Linda Macaulay, Manchester Business School, Second Life
Streetspeak website goes live!
October 8th, 2009
Category: | Web |
We’re very excited to announce the launch today (fittingly on National Poetry Day) of a new website for Streetspeak. Funded by the Football Foundation, Arts Council and National Football Museum, Streetspeak is a three-year initiative that harnesses youngsters’ interest in football to engage them in writing poetry.
Central to the new site is a bespoke interactive game, Poem Builder, which enables visitors to compose poetry from either an 11 or five-a-side team. Words represent each player and the aim is to compose a poem including five or 11 randomly generated football related words. Players can customise their character using a selection of hairstyles, facial features and football kits, representing themselves or their favourite player. The site also features an image, poem and video gallery, teaching resources and an ‘ask a poet’ area where visitors can interact directly with poets.
Lesley Parkinson, project co-ordinator for Streetspeak says: “Corporation Pop has exceeded our expectations. The style and tone is spot-on and we’re sure the Poem Builder will capture the imagination of our audience, promoting engagement with the site.”
We won the contract in July this year following a four way pitch.
Tags: actionscript, flash, football, interactive game, national football museum, streetspeak, website
We’re recruiting!
October 7th, 2009
Category: | Company | People |
We’re currently looking for a Head of Digital to join our fast growing team. This is a very exciting position which offers the chance to join our senior management team and help shape the future of the company. For more details go to the work with us section of this site.
Tags: Head of Digital, jobs
Our day out
October 2nd, 2009
Category: | Company | People |
Every so often we all down tools and take a day out of the studio with the aim of being inspired. We call this our ‘cultural day out’ and the brief is that we visit someone or something that is creatively stimulating but not directly connected with what we do. Previous ‘days out’ have included David Mellor’s cutlery factory in Hathersage and limited edition book publishers Incline Press in Oldham – both hard acts to follow. But our most recent excursion didn’t disappoint!
Yesterday we hooked up with Nick Roberson of Roberson Stone Carving. He arranged for us to have a behind-the-scenes tour of the fabulous John Rylands Library, a little known Mancunian gem which took ten years to build but apparently only two weeks to design! Nick’s knowledge and enthusiasm was enthralling – it was the incredible quality of the stonework here that first inspired Nick to become a stonemason. After our fascinating tour we all piled in to a minibus which took us back to Nick’s workshop. Here we learnt about the materials and techniques that Nick uses in his work and witnessed some of the beautiful projects that he’s working on at present.
In our computer focused world its very easy to loose sight of ‘craft’. Yesterday (and our other days out) serve to remind us why we were first inspired to become designers and keep us in touch with the true master craftsmen. Its their singularity of purpose and devotion to their craft that enables them to produce truly remarkable work.
Here’s Nick carving a Trajan letter ‘R’ for us. You can see the rest of our photos from the day here.
Tags: cultural day out, John Rylands Library, stonemason
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