It’s difficult enough explaining what Pervasive Media means so how on earth do we go about persuading clients to part with their dwindling cash supplies on projects that are inherently risky? They regularly challenge traditional interaction and engagement; they can involve un-proven technologies that are still in development; they are often only delivered on a small scale, to a handful of people.  It seems that, at the moment at least, a large part of what we are aiming to do is create a spectacle and generate buzz, encourage debate, mobilise the digital communities and inspire as much press coverage as possible.

Many of the clients employing Pervasive Media for promotional campaigns are dependent on its PR success. Enable Interactive’s Alternate Reality Game (ARG) for the Red Cross was hugely effective because of the extensive press coverage achieved with an almost non-existent media spend. The product engaged its audience and was genuinely interesting to the national press; innovation captures the imagination.

So are we likely to see more brands take these sorts of risks? And let’s be honest – the risk must be part of the appeal. As the arteries of the internet continue to be clogged with LOLs and ROFLs , sponsored marketing messages and sleep-walking dogs it is harder and harder to build an authentic and rewarding relationship with an audience. Pervasive Media is the new frontier for engagement – it could be online, offline, on a mobile device, in a busy metropolis or on a deserted hillside, in a dis-used prison or projected onto a building facade. What is unique about this sort of work is they create an atmosphere, they are experiences that transcend the medium and exist as part of day to day life, no longer confined to the screen.

AntiVJ + Créa Composite / Nuit Blanche 08 / BXL from lego_man on Vimeo

And so how do we sell these products, services and pervasive propositions? We need to get people excited about them, we need examples, we need to develop a language that describes pervasive experiences, we need to come together as a community and keep on expanding and exploring, pushing the envelope, dancing on the cutting edge!

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That’s the sound of our own trumpets screaming to the heavens as we find ourselves in the industry magazine NMA (New Media Age).

The article is all about the Happy Packages project and covers how Thought Den and Mobile Pie are working together in the Pervasive Media Studio to produce a sexy iPhone application aimed at friends leaving fun trails for each other.

If you’d like to read more about the initial Happy Packages project, take a look at some of our posts.

Small side note, it’s worth mentioning that they managed to spell our name wrong and we’re now ‘Thought Deeds’. Also while we’re at it, it’s a good time to mention the Evening Post’s misspelling of Ben’s (our creative director) surname a few weeks ago. Good morning, Mr Pembleton!

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It’s been hard-core few months, as you might tell from the other blog posts and mediasandbox…a lot of fun, inspiring, challenging, and more than anything this project has opened hundreds of doors for everyone involved. A realisation dawned this week that we really are operating at the forefront of the pervasive media industry…things break, people don’t understand, it’s new NEW stuff!

Our stand looked beautiful, as did Tom’s face beaming out from the 42″ plasma screen. People milled around, took the Happy Packages GPS demo for a test drive, asked us what on earth we were talking about and nodded knowingly when we explained the difficulties working with pervasive convergence in multi-platform content distribution systems.

At around 3 or 4 it was time to deliver the 6 minute presentation and face the judging panel, who were:
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The ideas for Happy Packages could be great or they may stink, but hell it’s a research project and that’s what Thought Pie are meant to be finding out. Either way, no matter how good the implementation and delivery, something we’ll have to be wary of is Pervasive Fatigue.

The Situation

People who are constantly bombarded with repeated Bluetooth requests every time they walk past Co-op’s Bluetooth gopping device are slowly or possibly very quickly going to get annoyed with the vibration in the pocket requiring their attention. It’s just bad etiquette to interrupt someone with something un-expected and then probably ask them again the next day. So if during their personal time, while a client is choosing a sandwich, they’re re-asked to about downloading something, are we providing them with some very simple and mostly detrimental choices, get it, ignore it or turn their Bluetooth off. (more…)

Thought Den are still hanging from the Soco Social knees up in London last night (guests of honour, of course – here’s why) and from the dirty-early coach journey back this morning to meet our very special guest, Mr Alistair Darling! He came to open the Pervasive Media Studio and dutifully cut the digital ribbon with an HP iPaq!

Both Clare and Dick from the Watershed lay down some inspirational speeches, waxing lyrical about the fantastic creative and computing industries currently booming in the west country. Roll on world domination. View the rest of the pics here