When Brazen PR asked us to come up with some ideas for a Christmas mailer we looked to Facebook for the solution and suggested a very seasonal 12 days of Christmas ‘Spot The (Christmas) Pud’ competition.

We spent a day down at Brazen Towers photographing the team in festive mood complete with baby Christmas puds. After airbrushing out said puds we then uploaded twelve photos to a Facebook gallery on a specially created Brazen facebook page. In the run up to Christmas twelve daily e-flyers invite players to log in to the page and tag the day’s image with their best guess as to the location of the sticky dessert.

At the time of writing we are on Day 4 of the campaign and its proving to be a great success. If you’re reading this before 16th December 2010 then there’s still time to enter the competition and win some great prizes. Just click here and guess where the pud is!

After several months in the making and countless misspent hours playing testing we are delighted to announce the launch of ‘Goldfrapp Pinball’ – a 3D pinball game for the iPhone, which uses Goldfrapp samples (from their latest album, ‘Head First’) to create a unique gaming experience. The app was commissioned by Goldfrapp’s record label Mute (a subsidiary of EMI) and was built using Maya and Unity 3d.

A tap of the finger on the iPhone screen powers the ball and sets its path through an imaginary urban environment with towering skyscrapers. As the ball collides with objects different sound samples are triggered, creating a unique remix every time a game is played whilst a global leader board allows you to match your score with other players around the world. Occasionally clouds float across the screen obscuring the ball and making game-play that little bit harder. Our own Game Analytics Engine allows in-game events to be tracked so that future releases can be made more or less difficult to play, depending on the user data that is collected.

The ball is moved around by both tapping the screen and tilting the phone. In testing it’s been really rewarding watching people play as they shake the phone to get rid of the clouds or try tilting it to influence the direction of the ball. The real bonus comes when they trigger a vocal sample which mixes beautifully over the backing track.

Iain Forsyth, head of digital at Mute says: “We firmly believe in investing in and experimenting with new technology and this app continues that tradition. As well as offering fans another touchpoint to engage with the band in the digital space, most importantly Goldfrapp Pinball provides seriously good gameplay.”

‘It’s perfectly mindless entertainment for long subway commutes and an effective procrastination tool, but be warned – once you start, you might not be able to put it down.’ Liza Darwin, Nylon Magazine

‘This app is a great idea and one which I’m confident we’ll see more of from bands. It positions them as a brand as well as a producer of music. Top marks for effort.’ Jonathan Mew, New Media Age

Download the app for free on the iTunes store

Its an exciting day for us today as we invite companies and institutions to take part in the closed beta of D/MARC.

D/MARC is our revolutionary new software product which allows organisations to securely access any remote internet service through a restricted corporate firewall. Access is metered and can be limited to a single service (eg. Second Life, Youtube, social media) or multiple services can be selected. All data is encrypted and transferred using SSL.

We initially developed the software as a way of deploying Second Life in corporate environments – providing a low cost alternative to Linden Labs Enterprise solution (SLE).  However we quickly realised the wider potential that the software offers and we anticipate that the biggest demand will come from companies who need to access social media (such as facebook and twitter) but currently can’t because of firewall restrictions.

D/MARC is a simple one-click installation and the software is free. Our servers monitor usage and each month users receive a bill for the bandwidth they have used. Our extensive server network provides local points of presence so transfer speeds are always high.

Participation in the closed beta programme is completely free but will be limited to one user account per organisation with a capped data limit of 1gb. If you would like to apply to take part in the programme please register your interest by filling out the form here.

D/MARC will be launching commercially in the Autumn.