June 2008

Good karma swells the crops at Matmi

Welcome to spade loads of goodness from Matmi! Summer may have only just arrived, but the barns are full to the rafters with our latest produce and there’s plenty more still developing in the fields.

We’ve created some really good stuff (though I say it myself) for some really good people. I think Matmi’s passion for understanding the target audience for each piece of work has shown through more strongly than ever before. It can be brain bending at times – take a look at this newsletter for an example.

In this issue, you’ll find something for artists, children, cyclists, dustbin stealers, environmentalists, ex Meatloaf guitarists (I’m serious), film buffs, fire-fighters, gourmets, homeowners, parents, people who like myths, politicians and shoppers. Now imagine what it’s been like trying to get our heads round all of them in the last three months! No wonder the blog’s a bit behind...

So let me show you some of our latest and up-coming releases:

	Walking the walk at ASDA The forward-thinking people at ASDA have had the courage to promote their green credentials without paper-based advertising. The “People, Prices, Planet” campaign started in May with TV programme broadcast simultaneously on Sky’s Information TV channel and online. Matmi’s latest viral game, “Landfill Bill”, is tasked with driving plenty of traffic to the new ASDA website. read more >
	Piskies, pasties and pirates – beware! As well as astonishing viral campaigns, Matmi takes prides in creating astonishing websites. This development from the West Cornwall Pasty Company is not what you’d expect from a baker, but with big plans for the future, these pasties are sure to be available across the land very soon. Click here to see the site. read more >
	Matmi at the movies? Unbelievably, one of our oldest viral games has clinched a Hollywood film deal for the political comedy, “Dustbingate: The Plot to Rubbish Prescott”. When the producers at Fame Film typed “Dustbingate” into Google and found our game 23 million players later downloaded on 30,000 websites, they realised they were already dealing with a global brand. Maybe Matmi can do the same for you – at a fraction of the cost of advertising and in a much greener way too? read more >
	Zig-Zag is on a roll Leading cigarette papers manufacturer, Zig-Zag, is relaunching the iconic JOB two-slip papers brand in a campaign titled “The Original Double”. Artist, Paul Harvey, has created new stuckist style paintings – you know the ones with lovely young ladies with dreamy eyes and long hair? James Bright, our resident musician, has supplied some moody music and the result is a design delight – and a great website. Visit the site at http://www.jobpapers.tv.
	Head-turning Sunday Bicycles site This new, perfectly formed, Cheshire based cycle shop is a paradise for cyclists and a great example of how a well designed website can help smaller companies punch well above their weight (though we say it ourselves...). The eye-catching design has a sophisticated feel which reflects the owners’ depth of expertise and passion for perfection. Beware all cycling enthusiasts; Sunday Bicycles is a dangerously pleasant experience! Click here to view
	Helping mr.RAY across the pond Universal Music was so impressed with the game we produced for band, “The Maccabees”, that they asked us back to bid for the UK website for mr.RAY. Ex guitarist with Meatloaf, the US smash singer songwriter writes catchy, educational music for 3 – 9 year olds (and their parents). It was a challenge for all our character design, animation, website design and usability skills and as children are the harshest critics, I guess we’ll soon know whether we got it right!

Other people seem to like Matmi’s style of farming too. The Golden Awards of Montreux (Europe’s original advertising awards) selected the “Let It Flow” viral campaign we created for Comic Relief one of its winning games. It’s about time that viral won something – it’s been a phenomenal success and it’s still in the worldwide Top 10! And New Media Age’s “New Media Effectiveness Awards” has short listed the Survivor game we created for the Scottish Fire & Rescue Service. NMA’s results are out on 26th June here.

It’s all in a day’s work at Matmi.

Talking of which – d’you fancy joining the team? We’re always looking for new talent.
Only geniuses and madmen (or women) need apply.

As always, thanks for your support and I hope you enjoy our latest crop of work.

All the best,
Jeff



More about Landfill Bill:

We like brands who are bold – like ASDA who has committed to reducing its waste sent to landfill to zero by 2010. Its new “People, Prices, Planet” campaign is a major communication drive to educate and inform its customers of ASDA’s latest green activity.

The campaign starts with a half hour TV programme taking a behind-the-scenes look at the company's operations, focusing on ASDA’s streamlined distribution network, its efforts to reduce waste, cut packaging and source products in a more sustainable way. That’s linked to the new ASDA website and the company’s first ever viral game release with Matmi. The whole campaign has been non-paper-based – and we really applaud that too. It’s a sustainability campaign after all – but how many other companies have cottoned on that online is greener than offline?

The game is called “Landfill Bill” and although it’s lots of fun, it has a serious message about the landfill problem. As you exit the game, a calculator shows you how much waste has been sent to UK landfill sites during the time you’ve been playing the game.

So that’s the serious marketing stuff out of the way; what do you have to do?!!

Recycle Michael has gone on holiday leaving Landfill Bill in charge. Can you help him recycle the right materials in the right way so that he can keep the tip tidy and keep his job? Watch out! Those sneaky recycling bins have an annoying habit of moving about! You’ll need to make quick decisions too because the conveyor belt gets faster and faster, but you can earn bonus points if you’re quick-witted enough. Don’t hang around! The landfill builds up all the time you’re helping Landfill Bill – as you’ll see on the calculator when you exit.



More about West Cornwall Pasty Company

You’re sitting snugly in a cave, looking out over the sea at dawn. It’s calm and cool and the rising sun is slowly dissolving the early morning mist. The outline of masts and a ship appear on the horizon as the sky yellows. A single ray of sunlight streaks into the cave, its heat intensified by glass to light a single candle on the glistening cave wall. A soft glow illuminates the contours of the roof and the sandy floor revealing a collection of unfamiliar objects strewn before you. Invitations to explore the history of the area, the treasure chest and its last owner are too tempting to resist and suddenly the world of pirates, piskies - and gourmet pasties - engulfs you!

This is the evocative start to our latest (astonishing) website for the West Cornwall Pasty Company. Based in South East England, they have big plans to expand throughout the UK, and we hope this unexpectedly different website will help them quickly and effectively establish their tempting brand.

Take a look at the site and let us know whether it entices you to sample one of their amazing pasties!



More about Dustbingate

We’re having so much fun with this! By “we” I mean Matmi and Ian Newton, the author of the political comedy, “Dustbingate: The Plot to Rubbish Prescott”. Ian’s book was dubbed the “Full Monty of politics” as it follows the fortunes of five factory workers (including him) in Hull who decide to investigate the antics of their local Labour party in 1998. In real life, it involved stealing information from dustbins (hence the nickname) and a media frenzy which nearly brought down the new Labour government. Hull is the constituency of the then newly appointed Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott.

Prescott hates the Dustbingate story with a vengeance – which we find very amusing. He tried to put the mockers on it 10 years ago – and he’s still trying now. Why else would The Guardian receive a threatening phone call from Prescott’s office in February warning them not to run any further Dustbingate stories? Why else would Private Eye turn down the news three weeks ago the Dustbingate book is going to be made into a Hollywood film? I’ve had a couple of calls telling me to watch my back because Prescott’s a very well connected man - but the truth of the matter is that it’s out of our hands.

The Dustbingate game is now four years old and it’s gone viral. It’s been played over 23 million times and downloaded onto over 30,000 websites. What can Matmi do about it now? Trouble is that Mr Prescott doesn’t understand cyberspace and he has no idea how the game has “leaked” the Dustbingate scandal all over the globe. But then again, if he didn’t want a story like that out there, he shouldn’t have done what he did, should he?

So here’s a friendly message from the 23 million + fans of the Dustbingate game to all politicians and people in authority: you exist to serve the public (not the other way round) and you’re all accountable for your actions. Cyberspace levels the playing field, making it much easier for David to take on Goliath. We’re happy to help you make your opinions known, but please understand that every single individual can now do the same.

Matmi goes the extra mile for !

Welcome to Matmi's first newsletter of 2008. Why March? Because it's the first time our feet have touched the ground! I hope you've had a great start to the year as well - but without the great big bags under your eyes that we've got...

Unbelievably, Matmi is on track to release five games in four months, including one for this weekend's Sport Relief and another for Asda (watch this space...). If you don't feel like running the Sport Relief mile on Sunday, you can play Animal Athletics from the comfort of your own sofa instead! We got to work with Comic Relief again because of the success of last year's release for Red Nose Day, Let It Flow. A consistent 10% click thru on 14 million plays over 12 months is not to be sniffed at. In fact, it's amazing how well our work is known and liked.

In February, we went to the Casual Connect conference in Amsterdam and it was a complete surprise to us to find out how many of our peers know about Matmi. That's an incredibly gratifying and humbling experience for humble computer geeks like us. Talking of humble computer geeks, I like to say a big Thank You to Matmi's fantastic team of dream makers. You've created some amazing work which millions of people around the world love. If you'd like to join our team, please drop me a line. I'm completely serious - we need more experts on board:

	Sport Relief exclusive for Matmi I'm a real believer in karma and our efforts for last year's Comic Relief with the amazing "Let It Flow" viral have come full circle. Matmi has been appointed exclusive viral marketing partner for Sport Relief 2008 and we hope our appealing, happy game, Animal Athletics, will be a runaway success. You know us - fun with a serious side - and Animal Athletics is no exception. The fun bit is playing the game where you get to try your hand at three Olympic sports. In the javelin event as a cardboard cut-out style warthog, your throwing skills with a javelin snake are tested to the max. As a rhino in the pole vault, you can make a surprisingly fast run up to the moveable bar and find a welcome soft landing in the pool of mud beyond. Finally, you make an appearance as the Comic Relief hamster himself as a champion hurdler (of course!) leaping over snoozing lions and zebras in your Olympic hamster ball! You can even upload your own photo/portrait into the high score table which is a complete first for the industry, courtesy of Matmi. The serious side is that Animal Athletics is designed to increase the Sport Relief's web presence, help drive traffic to their website and increase the volume of online donations. The game is aimed at a broad demographic, both sexes and all player age groups, reflecting Sport Relief's ethos that everyone can "rise to the challenge". Because we sit at screens all day, we all expect to be extremely embarrassed running our Sport Relief mile so we're probably going to play the game and make a donation online. Of course, Matmi has donated its viral marketing expertise to Sport Relief free of charge: good karma will always come back on you, trust me.
	Survivor: this game could save your life Matmi seems to be making a name for itself tackling difficult subjects in a fun way. Hundreds of people dying in house fires is a tragedy, but the life saving tips in this game for the Scottish Fire & Rescue Service are presented in an educational, fun way. Many home owners don't have smoke alarms and the 30 - 59 year old bracket is the worst culprit. We designed this retro ZX Spectrum style game to appeal directly to them but it's great for players of all ages, including kids. The next 3 minutes could save your life. If your house is on fire, did you know that, on average, you have just 3 minutes to get out safely? This game teaches you all you need to know to be able to do that. It highlights the importance of having a hidden key next to your front door so you can exit immediately; why keeping a phone to hand is a life saver; the importance of getting to a window if you can't leave by an outside door, and how to use doors and towels to stop the spread of smoke. Survivor is the second time I've mixed death and fun in a year - I'm not sure this is good trend! But from the reviews we've been getting, people appreciate why it's both a game and a life saver. 82% scored it 8 / 10 or above which we think is pretty good. "I am a firefighter. and this game is a great way to get people to think about fire safety more. I think you just made my job a little easier. So on behalf of the brotherhood of firefighters, thank you." Signed, FireFighter/Paramedic Bellomy. "See, if informative games were fun and relevant like this one, kids wouldn't be embarrassed to play them--and learn a thing or two. I'm 26 and had great fun playing it, taking a few tries to finally solve it. Good stuff."
	Second helpings at Universal Records The visionaries at Universal Records have asked us to create a viral game for another band: watch this space. Universal has realised that attracting listeners is about giving them choice: some prefer to listen, others download, some watch and some like to play games. Integrating a game into a campaign makes a lot of sense: The Maccabees single "Toothpaste Kisses" is already a million listeners better off. Fiction Records, part of Universal/Polydor, asked us to create their first online game to support the launch of The Maccabees' single, "Toothpaste Kisses", released in January. It was the first time Universal had used an online game as such an integral part of a single release. From the game, players can link to the Youtube video and the band's website. So far, "Dance Match" has attracted over 1 million players and driven a massive amount of people to the band's video and website. Universal's approach demonstrates what Matmi knew already: people like to engage with brands in different ways. The more ways there are to interact with a brand, the more likely that brand is to attract and retain customers.
	Ho Ho Ho Yellow Snow" breaks three records The 2007 festive season was Matmi's second consecutive year as creator of the world's No.1 online Christmas game. But "Ho Ho Ho Yellow Snow" broke more records than that. "Ho Ho Ho Yellow Snow" has been an eye-opener - for us, our peers and people who love to play games. Firstly, it was one of last year's fastest growing viral games attracting over 1 million players in its first 4 days. Secondly, it topped both the ViralChart and KillerViral who use completely different tracking systems to determine chart positions. Thirdly, it spearheaded an industry first: a hat trick of Christmas games at the No.1, 2 and 3 positions all by the same company. Our 2006 release, "Santa Fartypants" had a new lease of life this year and "Santa vs. Jack" for Joker's Masquerade made up the threesome. That's an industry first. If we can do it for ourselves, we can do it for you. If you want people to engage with your brand, you know who to call.
Finally, watch out for Matmi's ASDA viral campaign Asda has made a bold commitment to reduce its waste sent to landfill to zero by 2010. The viral we're developing is a fast, fun, educational game for children and adults to directly associate the ASDA brand with recycling. We'll let you know when it's out - and you can let us know whether we got it right!

Big brand names like Asda, Comic Relief, a global confectionary brand, The Scottish Fire & Rescue Service and Universal Records know this. A year ago, I knew we should be working with companies like this and now we are. We've learned such a lot and we're constantly researching and challenging ourselves (unsurprisingly, my hair's going grey and falling out too… but it's worth it).

Having done all this wonderful work for our clients, we decided it was high time we did justice to ourselves. Watch out for a new Matmi website where we're going to try to showcase a lot of what we know, but sometimes don't get to put into practise. Online is a constantly changing space where you've got to stay ahead. (Which is a perfect excuse for doing exactly what we like at matmi.com!)

January 2008

Matmi claims worldwide No.1 Christmas viral game
for the second year running and sets three records

* KillerViral's KillBoard chart is based on data from industry leading viral tracking system, MemeCounter, and is a measure of both geographic traffic and engagement levels. More information: http://killerviral.com.chart/howitworks.

** Figures from Viral Chart www.viralchart.com.

Photographs:

Matmi’s hat trick in the Viral Chart, 17th December	Santa Fartypants
Ho Ho Ho Yellow Snow	Santa vs Jack

Matmi’s Christmas newsletter, December 2007
A festive hamper fit for an elephant!

Welcome to Matmi’s bumper Christmas crop of cutting edge virals, award winning work and our usual unusual report from the world’s only organic Internet farm. If you’d like a rest from the frenzy that is Christmas in the West, welcome to our world. Our hard working farm hands have excelled themselves this season to spread acres of gaming happiness around the globe. Just like your favourite box of chocs, there’s something for everyone:

	Santa vs Jack Good and evil battle it out over... fancy dress costumes?!*! And why not? “Santa vs. Jack” is our second game for Joke, the UK’s largest retailer of fancy dress costumes and accessories. Can Santa outwit Jack Frost to make it a fancy dress Christmas? We’re really chuffed to be working with Joke again. The award winning Hallowe’en themed game we released for them last year has never been out of the worldwide Top 50 and is still getting 3 or 4,000 plays per day with no other promotion than people passing it on..Over to you…http://www.joke.co.uk/games/santagame
	Santa gets busy with magical yellow ink - Ho Ho Ho yellow snow “Ho ho ho, yellow snow!” is Matmi’s own festive viral, a cheeky little number in a universal language to spread some smiles around the globe this Christmas. We couldn’t resist writing another Matmi Christmas viral after “Santa Fartypants” topped the worldwide chart last year. Good old Fartypants is exactly a year old today. He’s been played all through the year and just topped over 5 million plays in November. What an absolute star! It just goes to show that you don’t need megabuck budgets to run a top performing viral marketing campaign. “Ho, ho, ho yellow snow” is a game of skill and precision. Your job is to help Santa use his amazing writing implement and magical yellow ink to join up the dots in the snow and reveal a surprising festive message. You can even pass messages on to your nearest and dearest (or maybe not! You’ll see what we mean when you play it!). http://www.matmi.com/yellowsnow/
	Breakthrough viral for Universal Music & the Maccabees Our “Dance Match” viral is supporting the launch of The Maccabees’ new single “Toothpaste Kisses”. Will interactive kill the video star? Help us prove the point and wake the other record companies up. With the full title of “Dance Match (colour it in)”, this game probably won’t win a catchy name competition. But seeing as we’re talking record labels here, we think they know best! You’ll probably know The Maccabees’ new single, “Toothpaste Kisses”, as the soundtrack for the latest Samsung phone advert. Universal Polydor is the first record company to see the light and realise that viral games are getting a lot more views than videos buried on YouTube. This viral could really shake a few trees – we love it! http://www.themaccabees.co.uk/dancematch
	Santa Farty Pants - Our 2006 Christmas Viral still going strong Oh no! It's a Christmas disaster! Santa's sleigh has crashed and he's only just started making his rounds. How on Earth will he be finished in time? Hang on - Santa knows that kids hate sprouts - but he loves them. In fact, if he eats enough of the food being thrown out of the windows, he can power up his methane gas converter attached to his ample derriere and fly up to the chimneys to deliver those presents! But watch out for those psychotic evil snowmen? They're out to rid you of your gas and stop you delivering your presents. http://www.matmi.com/games/santafartypants/

When you take as much care as we do in breeding, rearing and releasing fantastic organic produce, it's very satisfying when people tell you they like it. At the end of November, we had to clone ourselves to attend two awards ceremonies on the same night in Manchester and London.

Our incredibly successful "Let It Flow" viral for Comic Relief was nominated for the FRESHest Viral Campaign in the FRESH Digital Awards, and for a BIMA, the digital industry's equivalent of the Oscars. We carried away a Highly Commended at the FRESH Awards, but didn't win at the BIMAs. However, BIMA nominations are prestigious enough in themselves for us to still feel pretty pleased.

Funnily enough, "Let It Flow" was designed by one of our graphic designers who was also short listed for an award, FRESHest Young Professional. Matt may not have won this time (and at 21 he's got plenty of time yet), but the BIMA nomination was recognition enough. Well done, Matt. Now, get back to work!!

We've also taken on some award winning staff. Our new Account Director and SEO guru, Richard Barrow, has won D&AD Awards himself, and I've finally found my PA, Michelle, who'll need an award for working with me. Mind you, she's already doing a great job of making me wonder who's the head farmhand round here. Our new office has transformed again with lovely desks and seating, and a zany new Reception with our mega LCD screen. We may be farmhands, but we love our gadgets.

There's loads more to tell you but for now, I'm going to leave all you lovely people to enjoy our hand reared, quality produce in peace. I hope you have a peaceful and wonderful festive season. At least you've got a few games to choose from when you've eaten too many sprouts/got sick of Auntie Dora/need quiet for your hangover (delete as appropriate).

I'm no advert for my craft because I'm checking out of Christmas completely with a trip to Laos, Thailand and the islands Koh Tao and Ko Phi Phi. However, I do create games for a living so I'm only getting away from work really. Hopefully I'll have some inspiring thoughts and images to post to the blog in January.

And finally, a sincere and massive Thank You to all our clients, friends and supporters for what's been an incredibly busy and rewarding year for Matmi.

Enjoy all our work and all the very best for 2008

Jeff

Autumn 2007

Summer celebrations at Matmi!

Hello and welcome again to the wonderful world of Matmi.

We hope you've enjoyed the summer, dodged the showers, soaked up rays when you can (safely, of course) and got back into the wonderful world of work. If you decided not to take a break, you're working too hard and need to get a life, OK? Believe me, I know!

At Matmi, we"re celebrating our latest award helping a friend of mine save her pub from demolition. We created a viral game called "Save the Porters" which got coverage in our local paper, the Sun, London Metro and News of the World and on the BBC - and it worked! The Porters Prince of Wales pub was saved and our viral was one of three winners in the irreverent Chip Shop Awards - Best work for a relative or friend (www.chipshopawards.com). The Chip Shop awards are right up our street - off the wall, non-PC and proud of it - but best of all, we can still have a pint in our local! If we can do that for our friends, just think what we can do for your business.

Talking of which, what produce has Matmi reared this summer?

The glamorous world of wall cladding - yes, really! Glamour had no boundaries in this brief from Wallclad, supplier of hygienic PVCu wall cladding systems for hospitals, washrooms and offices. Normally we're "too creative" and zany, but I have to admit we were initially stumped (or should that be "starry eyed"?) coming up with a concept for hygienic wall cladding! Wallclad wanted to increase product awareness and drive more traffic to its website. Their Altro Whiterocks products banish germs and bacteria so that became the concept for the viral game. "Germageddon" (get it?) has had over 40,000 plays since it came out in mid August: http://germageddon.wallclad.com/. It may not be the best example of Matmi's game design capabilities but we've stretched the client's budget to the max. It's already in the Top 30 of the worldwide viral chart (says a lot about our competitors!) so no complaints.Did we clean up or get flushed away? See for yourself at http://germageddon.wallclad.com/.
Our award winning Funky Disco Zombies game attacks the viral chart - again! What's this? A game that's over a year old at No.4 in the worldwide viral chart? You know Matmi: we don't play by the rules, we make up new ones. Our 2006 Eurobest winning game "Attack of the Funky Disco Zombies" http://game.joke.co.uk/ was released for the first time last year to critical acclaim. It has all the elements of a classic horror movie so we decided to reseed it coming up to Hallowe'en. It's gone straight up the worldwide Viral Chart to No.4 with over 134,000 plays this week! If you were ever in doubt about the power, reach and longevity of a viral campaign, now's the time to call in some Matmi magic.
Science and the human soul? Completely opposite to Wallclad, for this "interesting brief" (nuff said) we weren't sure we could be creative enough! Nevertheless, we've assisted the intellectual theorist and author, Adam Verola, in publicising his latest work about science and the human soul. Seeing as we're not responsible for the content, I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions on this one: www.adamverola.com. Oooommmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Local produce, fresh delivery I hope you know how much we like working with smaller, local companies. If Adam Virola doesn't chill you out enough, try www.jamesbrightmusic.co.uk, a local recording artist and producer of some of the most evocative ambient music in the human hearing range. You may recognise some tracks from national TV programmes and ads - if you're cool enough. We've also recently revamped a local estate agent's website so that it punches its weight vs. the national chains: http://www.holmesnaden.com/. Chancery Legal, a local recruitment agency for legal professionals, has also had a makeover at www.chancerylegal.co.uk.
Monsters on Mill Street Matmi has had a new lease of life since moving into the new office. New signs, new phones, new calls from the bank manager…! But, best of all, we've got new branding. Our new branding is a multi faceted evolution of the Matmi flower. It's softer, more organic, enviously eye-catching and it looks like it's about to burst into life at any second (the exact opposite of Matt in a morning….). The new signage on our new office includes a bright pink Monster Mafia character that's certainly surprising passers-by. Monsters on Mill Street?! Just a normal day at the (Matmi) office… .

The new Matmi logo questions your perceptions as well. Will the tendrils curl lovingly around you or are they strong enough to snap your arm clean off? That's Mother Nature for you and we're in tune with her. Watch out as it propagates - I'm sure it'll grow on you www.matmi.com.

Me in a suit has got to be worth a mention (I drew the line at a tie though… got to preserve some street cred). It was for New Media Age magazine's awards ceremony in London. I wanted to meet the people who'd decided not to award our Comic Relief viral, "Let It Flow", an NMA Effectiveness Award, despite getting over three times the number of plays and a 9% click thru rate to the Comic Relief site (not that I'm disagreeing with them, or anything…).

It was an interesting evening which broadly split our industry into the people who know what they're doing and the ones who are just playing at it. It was very heartening to meet people from other design agencies on the Matmi wavelength. We are competitors, but we also co-operate with each other and I'm very happy to do so. As for the rest, let's just say my doubts were confirmed, so if you want the inside tack on selecting an agency, you know who to call.

Since we moved offices, I think our neighbours have realised there's something a bit different about Matmi and the people who work here. Things have begun to change since we arrived. The lovely but rather tired Duke's Court has been going through a facelift; new paint, flower tubs appearing, signage being made over and so on. Matmi has brought spring in early.

But how ironic is this? Not long after we moved in, we found that Duke's Court is set for demolition as part of the same town centre development plans that threatened our local pub! But we managed to save The Porters. And we're not happy about the council's plans. Neither are our neighbours. So we're plotting and scheming (in a nice way!) to save our beautiful courtyard, our neighbours businesses - and ourselves.

Please join our campaign at http://save.dukescourt.net

I dare you to try it for something you believe in. Be brave.

Live, Love, Be...

Jeff x

PS. At least it's October before I mention Christmas this year. If you're considering Christmas/New Year campaigns, this is the month to give us a call. The game we produced to promote ourselves was last year's busiest worldwide Christmas viral, so we can definitely walk the walk!
I look forward to hearing from you soon, Kind regards, Jeff.
01625 56077.

Spring 2007

It's that time again - where we'd like to invite you into the world of Matmi where things are always changing - but some things never do. It's been a while since our last newsletter. Part of that is because of some serious slog on our organic internet farm this winter - but part of it is to do with Comic Relief. Read on!

Maybe it's a bit early to get on my soapbox (or should that be a mounting block on a farm?), but we really, really, really need more farmhands. Especially Java geeks and Flash heads. It's usually non-stop here, but it's completely ridiculous at the moment: the phone never stops ringing, emails keep barging in and we're producing proposals and ideas hand over fist.

We've got some fascinating work on the books - breakthrough projects and household names, character designs, a feature film! (more of that another time), websites, cartoons and some lovely games with the usual touch of Matmi tangential thinking. Farmhands don't need to work onsite - but they do need to be good (and a vivid imagination always helps). If you know anyone, please ask them to contact me soon at jeff@matmi.com. I'll make sure there's a nice surprise for you if we take on someone you recommend.

So what have we turned out into the fields this Spring - and what's this about Comic Relief?

• We chalked up another first this winter with the Santa FartyPants game - and we really hope you liked it. It seems that a lot of people did because it was the busiest viral game in the world over the Christmas period (according to viralchart.com). It had more than 3 million plays within a month, which makes us rather happy! So if you want to attract millions of users to a website using viral marketing - you know where to come.

• Another game we've been working on is for Comic Relief. We entered their Digital Challenge to help "Spread the most Red" online for Red Nose Day - to help raise awareness and money. They loved our idea and asked us to get on with it straightaway - which we were delighted about! It was the one week deadline that wasn't so delightful (and we definitely don't look delightful at all).
  The game can be found here at www.rednoseday.com/letitflow: please take a look and send it on to everyone you can think of. Comic Relief does a great job - at home and abroad; if you like, you can also donate here at http://www.rednoseday.com/onlinedonation/.
  The game is called "Let it Flow" and it's set in the African wilderness. Naughty hyenas have messed up the water irrigation system that feeds the crops. Using your brain (I think mine has shrivelled up and walked off into a dark corner) you have to help re-arrange the pipes to let the water flow to the crops to keep them alive. Once the pipes are arranged, you need to operate the elephant's trunk to pump the water through the water pipes. It's a great little game for players of all ages, with a simple caring message. Enjoy!

• We've also just finished a rather lovely site for a kitchen company called Jamie Robins, who supply beautiful hand-crafted kitchens. When we visited their workshop I was amazed at the superior craftsmanship and the wonderful quality of their work. It's been a pleasure to produce a website for them. We feel that we've done a really good job, but what do you think? www.jamierobins.co.uk.

• And if I'm sounding rather thoughtful, it could be the after-effects of my trip to Cambodia - the biggest eye opener I have ever experienced. The country was amazing. Everywhere I looked, I saw complete and utter madness. Five people on a motorbike? No problem. (It's actually the norm!). Use an AK47 with a hangover? Of course. Eat grasshoppers and snake for Christmas dinner? Why not!
  I've written up a few of the highlights at the end of the newsletter and included a few photos. In many ways, it's a shocking country, but it has a healing side (although my stomach wouldn't agree…).

Sometimes, we like to make life difficult for ourselves, so in the middle of everything else, we've made over our own website. We decided to do something a little different again (like I said, some things at Matmi don't change). Can you tell what inspired us? Hidden on our site we have some fab wallpapers for you to download for your desktops. Can you find them? You'll need to be in a Matmi groove: don't believe what you see.

So please help us "Spread the most Red" for Comic Relief by playing our latest release at www.rednoseday/letitflow. And do get in touch if you're a farmhand in waiting - or if you know someone who is. I'll leave you with a few images and thoughts from a very beautiful and thought provoking country.

Take care

Jeff

From haunting Cambodia…….

This place is great. Hardly any western influence, no Mcdonalds, Starbucks etc. A lot of the people are poverty stricken, but they seem happy. When I smiled a whole street would smile back. These people may not have much, but what they do have in abundance is kindness, happiness and the ability to rise above problems and to be really accommodating. Others may dismiss this suggesting that the only reason the locals are so friendly is because they want your money, but I know with all my heart that this is not the case. These wonderful people have nothing and generally are very happy. It seems that our spoilt western society has made us lose our souls along the way. As soon I returned to England, I noticed how unhappy, depressed, angry and screwed up some people are. This rat race is doing us no good and that makes me sad.

Cambodia itself is a beautiful country. We travelled from Thailand and entered Cambodia in the South at Hat Lik. As soon as I crossed the border everything changed. Cambodia seemed and was a lot poorer than its neighbour. Instantly we were approached by beggars who were landmine victims. This was and is really heart wrenching. Most of these victims were children. A bit of a shock at first but somehow you acclimatise to it.

The country itself was rather spectacular, wonderful landscapes, amazing jungle, and old crumbling French colonial architecture. There were fantastic rivers, lakes and beaches.

We travelled through the whole country from the South, through to Phnohm Penh (a simply fantastic city) across the biggest lake in Asia, all the way to Angkor Watt in the North on Christmas Eve.

I had always dreamed of visiting Angkor Watt when I was young. It's the biggest temple structure in the world where the Tomb Raider movie was filmed (even though it was a bit pants). It is simply amazing. I felt as though I was on an Indiana Jones set. It was too much to take in. Wonderful hand carvings everywhere I looked and the most magnificent trees that I have ever seen, reclaiming what is rightfully theirs. The temples and the trees merged together as one amazing spectacle. This place was magical, mystical and wonderful.

We watched the sunset at Angkor Watt from a hot air balloon. I felt alive (and really lucky).

If you have a chance to visit Cambodia, you should go soon. The western world is knocking on its door and with improved transport links, this place will never be the same again.

Here are some photographs from our tour here. Hi res versions of these will be available in our new stock photography section coming soon.

Enjoy. Best regards, Jeff.

Christmas 2006

A warm December ‘Hello' to all our friends & family

I hope you're all very well and not too jaded by the early onset of the festive season.

On the Matmi organic Internet farm we're only just nicely into winter, and while James has been hobnobbing with the Cheshire set, I've been critiquing fart sounds. As you can see, life is completely Matmi normal taking in the sublime, the ridiculous and every point in between. We love it! Just as well - we're living in it… .

Anyway, talking of the ridiculous, d'you remember I decided to help save my local pub, The Porter's in Macclesfield, from demolition? I reskinned the Dustbingate game which Mr Prescott loved so much, and immortalised The Porter's landlady clubbing the demolition workers before they ignited the TNT.

It worked!

The pub has been saved, and The Sun, the London Metro and the Sunday People have all run articles as well. The Sun's headline was quite good - "It's virtual re-ale-ity". Let's hope there was a picture in case that was a bit too taxing for Sun readers. The Sunday People has been in touch too so look out this weekend just in case.

And the moral of the story? If you do something unexpectedly good, something unexpectedly good will happen to you. I dare you to try that out.

In fact, you can do it right now by clicking on this link http://www.pringlesunsung.com/submissions/view/222 and if you like what you hear, vote for DJ3 in the Pringles Unsung competition before Christmas Eve

. They're three good friends of ours in a band called DJ3 who sounds like dirty funk raw blues with bass and drums like a punch in the guts and sweet harmonies to nurse you better. We'll let you know if they win and if they do, you can have the satisfaction of having done something unexpectedly good today. The prize is a demo track and download single so thank you.

Talking of awards, our groovy Attack of the Funky Disco Zombies game has won the best game award in the 19th annual Eurobest awards!! Eurobest recognises creative excellence in all sorts of disciplines - paper based, online and broadcast - and there were almost 5,000 entries from all over the continent this year. Take a look at http://www.eurobestlive.com/ceremony/6/ - we're in the Games section under "Interactive".

Let's take a look at some other produce from the Matmi farm.

Have the Zombies reached their zenith? No way! Our award winning game (just thought I'd plug that again) has led 30,000 unsuspecting visitors to our client's website in their first month and are still averaging 3,000 plays per day. read more...

Fart fuelled Santa delivers in record time! Yep - you've guessed it - we have a small token of our appreciation for all our friends and family this Christmas in the form of an amusing and endearing little game. And it won't cost you a penny! Matmi email newsletter, October 2006

Here's how it goes….

Oh no! It's a Christmas disaster! Santa's sleigh has crashed and he's only just started making his rounds. How on Earth will he be finished by morning?

Hang on - what's being thrown out of the windows? Pies and brussel sprouts!? OK, Santa knows that kids hate sprouts - but he loves them. In fact, if he eats enough pies and sprouts, he can swap the sleigh for the methane gas converter attached to his ample derriere - and fly through the air with the greatest of ease!

Ooooh - careful - what's this? Psychotic, evil snowmen? Who could have thought that idea up (not me). Don't let them take a swipe at our hero! Make a dash for the sprouts, fill Santa's Sprout-o-meter to the max and let's make sure those presents are delivered in time!

Welcome to the Christmas time waster courtesy of Matmi. Live, love, be ….. a bit silly. It's the silly season, after all.

Our Christmas game is why I was listening to fart sounds for a day last week. It's amazing how picky you can get after a while and how categories develop: from fruity to raspy, from windy to pebble….. no let's not go there.

There are some perks though. Matmi farmhands are working on all sorts of produce at the moment; a website that's set to be a household name, another site for a very upmarket bikini store, and sexy animations for a London museum. More of that in the New Year.

So I will take my leave of you and wish you an inspiring festive season. I'm going to Cambodia on a photography mission for my inspiration this year, and despite my encounters with Alan Hansen's eyebrows, funky disco zombies, Mr Prescott and farting Santas in the same year, consider this. In Cambodia you can hire a fully armed tank for £100 a day. Whoever said that truth was stranger than fiction was right.

See you in 2007, best regards

Jeff

Love, live, be …. festive for a little while

FUNKY DISCO ZOMBIES WINS EUROBEST AWARD

Our latest big game, "Attack of the Funky Disco Zombies", has been doing extremely well:

• Best game award winner in the 19th annual Eurobest awards!

• No.2 in the worldwide games chart for six weeks.

• No.3 in the worldwide viral chart for four weeks. A peak of 35,000 plays in a single day, and an average of 3,000 plays per day since release.

• Created an extra 30,000 hits on the Joker's Masquerade website - "great for brand awareness", says their MD, Mark Lewis.

• It's on loads of games sites worldwide now and it's being added to more every day.

• And the orders that people have placed as a result are 40% higher than Joker's average order. Not just zombies but loaded zombies; that's got to be a first!

But being serious for a moment, the Funky Disco Zombies game isn't just about scruffy farmhands like us getting off on Flash; it makes business sense. It's attracted an extra 30,000 hits on the site, reduced Joker's reliance on Google for web traffic, improved the company's brand awareness and put pound notes on the bottom line.

If you know someone who's yet to understand the power of viral marketing, ask them to pay us a visit. We might even make them a brew…. if they're nice.

Halloween 2006

Happy Halloween! I'm never sure that Halloween should be happy: shouldn't I be wishing you a Haunting Halloween instead?

Do you want to be seriously spooked tonight? If so, the reason for this Newsflash is to let you know that Sky has chosen a film by one of our farm hands and a very food friend of ours to be shown on Propeller TV tonight at 11pm. Steven Young is an acclaimed film director and one of his awards winning works, the cutting cult film "Blank", will be on channel 195 (www.propellertv.co.uk) as part of their "Fright Night".

This film has already won many awards such as "Best Dark Edge Short" and "Best Editing" at the Toronto Online Film and Video Fest. It also featured in Slamdance in Utah, KINO 2003 in Manchester and at the Glastonbury Film ‘n' Video Fest.

Steven has cultivated quite a lot of Matmi produce in the past, including the amazingly popular Brown Cow Vodka species. He's currently working on a new film called Absentia (60 minutes of marionette sci fi) which is due for release in February 2007. We'll have a web trailer for this film coming out soon.

I also wanted to send everyone a quick warning about the number of zombies around tonight because there could be more than ever before. Our latest zany game - "Attack of the Funky Disco Zombies" - had 35,000 plays yesterday alone, so be careful out there. It was also voted "Time Waster of the Week" on Annie Mac's show on Radio One last week.

Come to think of it, someone called "Anna" spent nearly six hours being attacked by Funky Disco Zombies and is at the top of the Scores of the Dead chart right now. Maybe it was the DJ herself? If anyone knows her, please let Annie know she's now an official member of Matmi Friends and Family. Nice one Annie: welcome to our farm.

Congratulations to Steven for getting his unnerving film shown on Halloween night. That's another reason to hide in the nearest cowshed, believe me! Steven will be available for more projects in the New Year.

October 2006

We've been doing quite well at keeping you in touch with our latest produce and farming techniques recently, but as pride comes before a fall, maybe I'd better keep moving… . The mud can be pretty deep on Matmi's organic internet farm.

James, Hamish and I have just emerged from a trance like state after attending the 36 hour, round-the-clock birth of our latest brainchild - a truly amazing game called "Attack of the Funky Disco Zombies". We looked a lot worse than the zombies we'd created at the end of it but the sense of satisfaction was well worth it.

The game has been created for Joker's Masquerade, the UK's largest retailer of fancy dress, Hallowe'en costumes and accessories, and we think it's the most extreme use of Flash on the planet. Take a look at http://game.joke.co.uk. Instead of feeling like you're playing a game, you feel like you've just walked onto a classic zombie B movie with red-carpeted spooky mansion, rat infested sewer, the classic graveyard scene and much more.

We've had wonderful fun putting this game together; it's beautifully designed and really unusual. It doesn't just carry the Joker's Masquerade brand - it brings it to life with a story, spells, subliminal advertising (that we can measure the results of, by the way) and music from yours truly and my faithful farmhands.

Cult internet guru, Tom Fulp at Newgrounds, the world's second biggest games site, had a sneak preview of the game and said "This is awesome! It will definitely be a hit" and his second sight was right. Can you believe that Funky Disco Zombies had 8,000 plays in its first 3 hours and averaged 1,000 plays per hour in its first day and over 70,000 plays in the first day?

So take heed from Mr Fulp. Funky Disco Zombies may seem daft, entertaining and silly - but it has a dark underbelly. It's completely addictive. You may wish to let your friends know where you are before you enter. We've entered Funky Disco Zombies for some awards - and the first closing date was Friday 13th: enough said.

I've left this till the end because it's a bit non PC - even for us. Christmas. If you're thinking of producing any games, cards (online or printed remember) screensaver giveaways, jokes or whatever, now's the time to let me know if you'd like some help. We have room for some new additions to the herd, but space gets tight coming up to Christmas (and I won't tell anyone that we've said the ‘C' word in October if you don't…).

So finally, I hope you're having as much fun out there as we are. And if you're not, we're looking for extra farmhands - Flash heads, Java geeks and design maniacs - so get in touch. Good farm hands are difficult to find, so tell the people you know that we look after them well when they arrive.

Could someone call me for a chat now?! I'm tired of typing, but I hope we've brought a little ray of Matmi magic into your day (or night…). Take care - and be careful in the Funky Disco Zombies game - it's luxuriously lethal.

MATMI'S BEEN ON BBC TV!!!

It's been hard to write all this stuff and not tell you of our recent television exposure, so I'll fill you in.

I can really polish my halo on this one because it was all done on my own time to help save my local pub, The Porter's in Macclesfield, one of the oldest traditional pubs in the town which the wise council planners have decided to demolish (we are not (not) worthy…. ).

If you remember the Dustbingate game where, as John Prescott, you had to stop journalists reaching their editors with the latest bad press story by whacking them over the head? I reskinned the game so that Cat, the landlady, swats the demolition experts and town planners as they run towards the pub with TNT to blow it up. Have a go yourself at http://www.matmi.com/savetheporters/.

Our local paper, the Macclesfield Express, is supporting the pub's campaign and covered the story last Wednesday. Silk FM invited me for an interview that afternoon, and before I knew it, BBC North West had asked me to turn up at 2pm last Thursday to film the story for the next day's news bulletin. The Matmi farm's had some great PR (and I'm trying to think what else I could do along the same lines for free coverage - "Cheshire Wives" anyone?).

By the way, the way to make me talk less is to put a camera in my face; it's impressive.

Lets see how our cows are doing

Remember the Brown Cow Curling game? If not, just type "cow curling" into Google; it goes on for pages and pages. Why? Over 700,000 sites have linked into that game. How ridiculous is that?! It must be one of the most played games ever - multi million plays and, unbelievably, the stats are still going up! We logged on a couple of weeks ago, couldn't believe it either. It's great to know Matmi produce is so popular and lasts so well.

Matmi battles environmental issues

They told us never to work with children and animals, but Matmi's organic whispering skills are improving all the time and after such a great bovine experience, we decided it was high time we tested ourselves with the Little People. After all, they'll be looking after us in our old age (maybe there'll be brain transplants by then and I'll be writing this from a jar…. What's new?).

Our paediatric offering is a fun (but educational) battle to save the environment called "Gummy and the Pollute Ants". We're developing all the characters - the hero Mr Gummy, his faithful companions Crusher the dog and Can-Can the cat, and the evil baddie, Chuddy, and his flying army of Pollute Ants.

The game and a ‘Katherine Tate style' website for teenagers are being developed for Gummy Bins, (who claim to be the world's No.1 chewing gum disposal and recycling system), as part of an educational pack for primary and secondary schools. Look out for a link in our next newsletter.

From our internet farm to the real thing

James' www.farms4you.com website is free for local farmers to enter their details and make themselves known to new customers nearby. Jeff is enthusiastic about the potential potato buying that could go on. "I think farms4you is going to be a big success; people are getting wiser about the food they buy and are starting to shy away from the big supermarkets. When they realise they can track down local farmers for the produce they want, support local businesses and the economy, they're going to go bananas (pardon the pun). Nicely done, James."

Please add your support to James' site and have a look - and if you know any farmers, tell them to sign up and start gaining more customers.

And now for something completely... er... we're not sure

This movie is soon to be available as a screensaver for your pleasure.