This week, nightclubs are heating things up in the sustainability world and ancient Babylonian dialects have moved into pop-culture thanks to a professor in Trinity college.
A genius ad from Tesco also does its part to ensure safety is a priority in their stores this Christmas while Iceland creates a metaverse inspired campaign that is sure to make you laugh.
Sesh and Sustainability
The SWG3 nightclub in Glasgow is cranking up the heat from dancers’ bodies in the popular club and transferring it renewable energy.
Dubbed BODYHEAT and created by TownRock Energy, the tech works in a similar way to a fridge, using a heat pump to “move hot air from the club into a series of boreholes, which charge up as a thermal battery”.
The technology will ensure party animals can stay sustainable on the sesh. The energy generated can be used to cool and heat the club (and be stored for months), potentially saving up to 70 tonnes of CO2 each year.
The clubbing generation are very connected to the sustainability movement, and it’s important for clubs to be able to say they’re net zero. Now they’re saving the planet by… going clubbing.
With the club culture in Ireland in turmoil (enough is enough) it is settling to see other cities are embracing the nightlife scene and understanding the value it has in shaping culture and society.
Trinity, by the rivers of Babylon
Looking for the dream job? Working with the stars? Resurrect a dead language?
Step forward Trinity College academic Dr Martin Worthington. The doctor has played a pivotal role in translating Babylonian dialogue for Eternals, the latest intallment from the Marvel serier and one of the year’s biggest movies. That’s quite the addition to his CV.
The new superhero flick stars Hollywood A-listers Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek and Dubliner Barry Keoghan, and is the first major film to feature characters speaking in Babylonian, the ancient Iraqi language that hasn’t been spoken in 2,000 years. For Trinity to be involved and to get the credit is a great boost for the university and Dr. Worthington has played his part in being eternally remembered.
Dasher, Dancer, Anti-Vaxxer
Have anti-vaxxers left themselves out in the cold this Christmas? Maybe, judging by their reaction to Tesco’s gorgeous new Christmas ad, which shows good ol’ Saint Nick producing his Covid cert as he prepares to depart from the South Pole.
This caused uproar with the anti-vax groups. Within hours, #BoycottTesco was trending, as anti-vaxxers took to social media to declare that they would never set foot in a Tesco store again. One anti-vaxxer went as far as ripping up their Clubcard in protest – you gotta love the drama.
Predictably, these cries of protest were met with little sympathy and much ridicule across the Twittersphere, with many pointing out that the absence of unvaccinated people from Tesco would make shopping there even safer for everyone else. (And it must be stressed that this is a self-imposed restriction – Tesco are not stopping anyone from entering their stores.)
Maybe we’re just immune to this sort of drama, but we think it’s a lot of fuss over something pretty innocuous.
Welcome to “the Icelandverse“.
Europe’s greatest little country, Iceland, delivered a viral marketing campaign that not only showcases the country’s awesome and ethereal landscape, but also the wicked sense of humour and dry wit that pervades its culture.
Piggy-backing on the splash made by Facebook’s rebranding as Meta, Iceland’s Tourism body worked with creative agency Peel and communications agency SS+K in New York to create a short video in which, a comically awkward Zuckerberg lookalike replicates various scenes from the Meta launch video. Instead of featuring the virtual Metaverse, the video shows off Iceland’s beautiful – and real — landscapes.
It’s already been viewed six million times and got the thumbs up from Mark Zuckerberg himself, who posted an approving comment under the video on the agency’s Facebook page.
Stone cold genius.