Wondering what the Hollywood stars pay all that money for? Have Dr Goode check you out and prescribe some humiliating treatment. It’s a microsite for an ‘original series’ starting in the US; hence the subject matter and the sense of humour. I’m looking forward to the UK version where we have that wise old man down the local boozer doling out advice to all (whoops we have that its called Shameless).

Our latest Sony PlayStation work launched just before Christmas and has been gathering members and content for all to enjoy. Singstargame.com is a community based proposition for those who love SingStar (come on we all love a bit of drunken singing!). It has set the benchmark for PlayStation sites both in terms of traffic and approach.

Deliberately designed to feel slightly homemade - it’s a good example of marketing web meets real web. Unlike every other slick fixed height brand site - it sets it’s stall out to make real people SingStars (it’s a website for the myspace/crackbook generation). With content that’s constantly changing it’s not intended to be a beautiful piece of art admired from a distance, it’s there for you to get involved with. Check out the growing number of videos, downloadable trinkets, party ideas, polls and quizzes. Plus we have lots coming to further delight you, so stay SingStar.

We went on a very interesting journey with this project, gaining some key insights among the way. Big shout out to the team on this and we all look forward to reviewing your performances over the next few months. Peace out as the Rust might say.

LBi UK, the international full service digital agency, has acquired Netrank, one of the UK’s foremost search engine optimisation and online brand positioning agencies.

If you received some unflattering ‘under crackers’ for Chrimbo, or found those disgusting ‘keks’ from ages ago, put them to good use. Those crazy peace loving Swedes are collecting your hated pants ready to carpet bomb the World’s warmongers.

In this years Campaign Digital Agency of the Year, LBi was shortlisted along with Poke with Dare running out eventual winners. 

LBi shortlists for this years Marketing Digital Agency of the Year 2007

Whenever I visit a supermarket these days, (which increasingly is less and less often, if that’s not a contradiction in terms), I’ve gotten into the habit of what I call the “Nectar pre-buttal’. In simple terms, this means pointing out that I haven’t got a Nectar card, before the person on the till can ask me if I have, in that ‘is it really two more hours before I finish’, dead-eyed fashion, that teenagers do so well.

The criteria for this award category recognises excellence in any aspect of the creative craft that is wholly or partly responsible for the effectiveness of an interactive design project, where effectiveness should be stated against the project’s objectives.  The project was Sony - This is Living.  Please visit BIMA website for full details of the awards and short-lists. 

The jumpers in this season’s greeting are those quirky LBi folks.  See what they’re so exicted about.  Season’s greetings start here!

The Map of Medicine, one of LBi’s greatest achievements in healthcare user experience design has just extended its reach within the developing world. Working with the World Health Organisation, The Map of Medicine is currently being piloted in 6: Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Cameroon and Kenya. The pilot objective is to focus on the localisation of the Map of Medicine for HIV/Aids, Malaria and TB pathways as well as understand the challenges of implementing the Map of Medicine in these countries, it is also providing access to all of the 387 clinical pathways.

This follows the recent Kenyan pilots for a mobile version of the Map of Medicine earlier in the year. 

The day has finally arrived. Today, LBi will be hosting a massive industry changing event. We have pulled together a cracking day and evening programme that brings some leading players in the User Experience and Healthcare industries.

Read more about what we have in store at http://positiveexperiences.eventbrite.com.

To mark the occasion, we are also setting up an independent blog which will track the discussion and debate from the day and act as a catalyst for many months (hopefully years) of knowledge sharing in the Healthcare User Experience community.

The blog is called Experiencing Health and you can find it at http://experiencinghealth.wordpress.com.

This is the start of something very special, and I’m very excited and proud of what the User Experience community has contributed to the Health space, and what it will continue to over the coming years.

The UK’s top 15 media agencies in this year’s NMA Top 100 Interactive Agencies guide nearly doubled their combined billings to £602m - an increase of £265m - over last year.

LBi has promoted media director Caroline McGuckian to an international role to drive the digital marketing agency’s growth abroad.

She will become the head of international at LBi and will be replaced by Rosalie Kurton, former head of search at Steak Media. Kurton will be responsible for managing the UK media department.

LBi was among the select companies that Forrester invited to participate in its report Forrester Wave™ European Interactive Agencies – Web Design Capabilities Q4 2007. In this evaluation, LBi was cited as a leader in the field. The findings were based on LBi’s delivery of standout Persona, Brand and User Experience Driven Web Design.

To review the entire independent report, please download here:

LBi_Scorecard.pdf

Forrester_EU_Wave_Overview_Q4_2007.pdf