Art below the company responsible for placing art on the underground have add an artist with a reputation for brutal rather than creative skills with the inclusion of Charles Bronson to their artists currently showing. Thier website states ” Bronson 58, has remained behind bars for thirty-five years since his entrance for armed robbery in 1974.  A fearsome temperament fuelled by his days as a bare-knuckle fighter, Branson’s behaviour has been much publicised over the years, as his explosive reactions to prison conformity continue to make the headlines – spending much of his time in solitary confinement.” The arts fascination with the criminal underworld goes back far beyond Sinatra and James Cagney in the thirties and fifities. As a publicity stunt it has undoubtably worked, but is there a danger of deeming his violent reputation as acceptable or even admirable?

Mary Meeker’s presentations are always informative and this latest from Morgan Stanley’s guru provides many interesting insights regarding the development of the internet and in particular mobile.

Get ready for the first of many,  Alice for the iPad, is based on  Lewis Carroll’s story of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland  but with an interactive twist, it’s meant to be shaken and stirred, forcing many interactive elements on the screen to move around, fall down or jump up. Personally I loved it and will be spending my $9.00 for the download before you can say ‘off with their heads’.

Though the simplicity is impressive, it can deal with a variety of formats to allow you to track every detail through tweets, blogs, images and video, it also raises the question of how a new generation for whom social media is a part of their everyday life will view privacy. To misquote Warhol once more – do you exist if no one sees what you do?

Over 4000 cities in 88 countries officially switched off to pledge their support for the planet, making Earth Hour 2009 the world’s largest global climate change initiative. This year they expected even greater support. Not only have individuals become involved but many companies are seeing it as an opportunity to show their ‘green’ credentials.

It doesn’t take a genius to predict that social media is becoming a key tool for both charities and social causes. The clever part will be the ability to both entertain and inform. A great example of this is the Movemeber campaign which successfully brings humour to the cause of prostate cancer whilst raising millions of pounds.

Please let me know of any other examples in this area that are worthy of note

Although hardly groundbreaking news, for those of you who may of missed it this has to be one of my favourite social media campaigns. Beautifully executed, this witty campaign perfectly captures the addiction to all things savoury that is Marmite.
Running across twitter and facebook among others, it has carefully built to the launch of Marmite XO in March whilst retaining a quirky spirit. So if you want to enjoy the savoury side of the web, without having to worry if you boss catches you (you can say its research) visit The Mamarati.