As of today 2.712 cities in 83 countries have officially committed to take part in WWF’s Earth Hour and are switching off electricity for one hour this coming Saturday. A quick search on Facebook gives some 500+ hits and the largest group have close to 500.000 members signed up. Even the great pyramids in Egypt are participating by cutting the electricity.   

This world wide campaign has gained a lot of attention and is for a non-profit cause. But as with all great movements - the commercial powers are lurking in the back ground, trying to find ways on how to capitalise their brand, products or services by riding the tail of the “storm”.

In Norway, IKEA is working together with the largest social media community, VG Nettby, and will “cut the power” in the virtual city for one hour. 

Nokia has been a brand that has gone down the green path for a long time and they have recently launched a web site called Planet Unplug, which encourages people to take part in Earth Hour. If you are Twitterin’ - check it out here.

Coke in Britain has announced that its world-famous Coca Cola sign at Piccadilly Circus will be switched off during one hour on Saturday. This will be only the third time since the Second World War that the sign will be switched off.

In Sweden, the diary brand Arla, will show its participating in Earth Hour in a different way. Starting from a week ago, Arla has produced and sold a special designed milk cartoon - completely black with a switch on the front and a message reminding people of Earth Hour. This is the first time ever that the original green and white design has taken another form.

Being very commercial ourselves, we have nothing to say about these activities other than - WWFs Earth Hour event starts at 8.30pm on this Saturday, please join in.

Our Naked Swedes, Johan & Fredrik, have signed a Nordic deal with unibet. Naked will work as a strategic partner and has been assigned to work with everything from communication planning to product development in areas such as sports betting, poker, and casino.

 - Jag tycker det känns fantastiskt roligt att Unibet valt att samarbeta med oss. Dels för att de vill skapa både kreativ och effektiv kommunikation men också för att jag verkligen brinner för deras produkter, säger Fredrik i Naked Stockholm. Vår målsättning är att hjälpa till att skapa lösningar som är unika i Unibets kategori, avslutar han.

You can read the whole story in Dagens Media here.

 Or read the Norwegian version in Propaganda here.

If you prefer the Danish version from Huset Markedsføring - check here.

Vi har en ny Creative Strategist i Naked, han heter Mr. Helge Wiig og kommer fra Moldtustranda på Søre Sunnmøre.

Helge har tidligere arbeidet i DDB reklamebyrå, er utdannet Art Director og er en av veldig få personer i verden som spiller A-ha låter på tverrfløyte med nesa.

Vi er ekstremt glade at vår familie vokser og at Helge nå er en del av den

Vi viser her en smaksprøve av hva Helge tidligere har laget:
 

Today at exactly 11:44 a.m, spring is officially on. This all according to Nowrūz (نوروز ), which is Persian and marks the first day of spring & the first day of the Iranian year. It is celebrated on the day of the astronomical vernal equinox.

Nowruz is celebrated as a festival in many countries, apart from the Iranian cultural continent, the celebration has spread into Central Asia, South Asia, Northwestern China, the Crimea, and som ethnic groups in Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, and the Republic of Macedonia.

We wish everyone a happy (merry?) Nowruz and encourage everyone to enjoy the spring!

Destinasjon Trysil har valgt Naked Communications for utarbeidelse av deres kommunikasjonsstrategi med målsetningen om å etablere Trysil som en helårsdestinasjon.

Destinasjon Trysil ønsker flere glade og fornøyde gjester blant fjellene når bakken er bar, og Trysilelva buldrer på sitt vakreste.

Naked skal hjelpe med å definere hva som er unikt med Trysil, og bygge videre på den posisjon Trysil har som vinterdestinasjon.

- Dette er en spennende prosses, og vi er veldig glade for å ha Naked med på laget. Med deres kreativitet sammen med fokus på strategi har vi funnet en partner som passer oss perfekt, sier Gudrun Sanaker Lohne, daglig leder for Destinasjon Trysil.

Naked vil også utarbeide en kommunikasjonsplan  som ivaretar budskap, kanal og partnere som skal gjøre at flere ønsker å velge Trysil som sitt rekreasjonssted. Dette er et arbeid som skal etableres til sommeren 2010.

- Dette er både en omfattende og morsom oppgave, som vi ikke kan vente med å starte. Som svensk elsker jeg jo Trysil, sier Nicklas Bohman, Strategy Director hos Naked Communication.

Hver årstid sin sjarm

Trenden med å være aktiv ute i naturen fortsetter. Trysil er mest kjent som Norges største alpinanlegg, men har også et stort antall aktiviteter å tilby sommerstid. Over 30 aktiviteter daglig kan man velge mellom om sommeren. I tillegg etableres det flere arrangementer og aktivitetshelger for familier, som sykkelritt, vandringsmarsj, konserter med mer i år og neste år. Dette samarbeidet som nå settes i gang skal bidra med skape en kommunikasjonsplattform som får frem mulighetene for å være aktiv på fjellet i Trysil også vår, sommer og høst.

Om Destinasjon Trysil BA

Destinasjon Trysil BA er en andelslag eid av 160 bedrifter i Trysil. Selskapet ble etablert i 1984 og er i dag 10 ansatte. Destinasjonsselskapet drifter turistinformasjonen i kommunen, har informasjonsansvaret til gjester i Trysil, markedsfører Trysil i barmarksperioden og driver flere prosjekter for å utvikle Trysil til en attraktiv bærekraftig helårsdestinasjon.

Saken er også publisert på Propaganda - se den her.

Se også sak i Travel News her, eller i Zine Travel her.

Earth Hour is on March 28th, 2009 at 8:30pm - check out the official web site and sign up here.

NA24.no is running a story about Naked Nordic today. The story is published here in Norwegian. If you prefer to read it in English, then just continue reading.

Marketing consultants in Naked delivered one million surplus profit last year and expect to increase further this year.

“We have an compelling offering, especially in these times of financial crisis” says Managing Partner Eddie D`Sa to NA24

Amongst advertising and media agencies, there were many who were highly skeptical towards the Naked business model when they began operations here in the country four years ago, but time has shown that their offering is the guiding light these days. Naked Oslo is a part of the Naked network with approximately 400 employees worldwide.

“What we have seen is that the established agencies have changed very little in their offer, but that they have adopted our language about communication objectivity and the like” said D`Sa.

Naked Nordic was a fresh breath of air in the industry when they started the business and the company acquired major clients like Nokia, Opplysningen, Tine, and Telenor.

It has since come to work with the even bigger players such as Coca-Cola, which, among other things, Naked Oslo has assisted in Russia and Eastern Europe.

Growth.

“Foreign assignments accounted for approximately 30 percent of turnover. In addition to Russia, we had assignments amongst others in Austria, Hungary and Poland, as well as in Sweden and Denmark” says partner Ørnulf Johnsen in Naked.

He says the international assignments are a significant feather in the cap.

“This are first division international companies who could have chosen to collaborate with any agency in Europe, and yet chose to work with this small company in Norway” said Johnsen.

He is responsible for the new office in Copenhagen and Naked has also opened an office in Stockholm. The Nordic & CEE region is led by D’Sa and Johnsen. The creation of the two new offices are funded by operations in Oslo and will already be in the surplas in year one.”

Epic 2014 is a movie made by Robin Sloan for the Museum of Media History
Set in 2014 it charts the history of the Internet, the evolving mediascape and the way news and newspapers were affected by the growth in online news. 

It coined the word “Googlezon” from a future merger of Google and Amazon to form the Google grid, and speaks of news wars with the Times becoming a print only paper for the elite culminating in EPIC Evolving Personalised Information Construct

 This is Epic 2015, a new updated vision of the future set in 2015

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