I’m amazed this guy can still do it!  Paul McCartney has just announced a new tour…With a few dates in the U.S and more in the UK & Ireland. The banner image that were included on the website and in the html email are above. What a stellar photo of McCartney.  If a Toronto date finds itself into the schedule, I’ll definitely be getting tickets…  You can get the full dates here.

I was surprised to see such incredible numbers from the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games…It’s incredible how we’ve all interacted with both the actual Vanoc Branding, but also, as the first highlight depicts, how we’ve interacted with the Hudson Bay “Canada” Brand…

The Highlights Are:

More than 3.3 million pairs of Vancouver 2010 Red Mittens sold

$500-million target for gross retail sales of Vancouver 2010 branded merchandise met by end of Games

275 million visitors in total to www.vancouver2010.com, shattering the previous record of 105 million set during the Beijing 2008 Games

78 million total unique visitors to the site

A record of 9,185,306 unique visits in a single day – set on February 24. The previous record set during the 2008 Summer Games was 8,797,614 on August 11, 2008

Below is the Full List…

• 17 days of thrilling competition and athletic accomplishments
• 15 sport disciplines
• 86 medal competitions
• 615 medals awarded
• 1,055 athlete bouquets presented
• 2,632 registered athletes
• 50,000 workforce members for the Games, including paid, contractor and volunteers
• Of that total, 18,500 were volunteers; 6,500 volunteers will also work during the Paralympic Winter Games
• 25,000 workforce uniforms distributed
• 96,409 people accredited for the Games
• 10,800 media representatives: 7,000 rights holding broadcasters, 2,800 press reporters and photographers and non-rights holding broadcasters, as well as 1,000 host Olympic Broadcast Service (OBSV) personnel
• 3.5 billion worldwide television viewers are estimated to have tuned into the Games
• Olympic rights holding broadcasters have offered Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games coverage on more than 300 TV stations and on more than 100 websites worldwide
• 47 per cent more global television coverage of the Games than for the Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games
• This represents approximately 24,000 hours of coverage
• 50,000 hours of total broadcast hours of the Games across all media platforms around the world
• 6,000 hours of coverage worldwide on mobile platforms
• As of Day 15, 33.1 million Canadians (99 per cent) have watched coverage
• 27.7 million cumulative audience or CUME (meaning 82.7 per cent of Canadians) experienced the Games on February 27 through the platforms of Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium.
• 1,500 appearances by the Vancouver 2010 mascots: Quatchi, Miga and Sumi by the end of the Games
• 20,567 deliveries made to Olympic venues
• 1.6 million tickets available for the 2010 Winter Games
• More than 3.3 million pairs of Vancouver 2010 Red Mittens sold
• $500-million target for gross retail sales of Vancouver 2010 branded merchandise met by end of Games
• 2.2 million people engaged to date by the Vancouver 2010 Cultural Oympiad, which will continue for three more weeks
• More than 4,000 artists at 600 events, over 60 days in 60 venues are taking part in the Cultural Olympiad
• More than 12,500 volunteer hours clocked for Olympic Closing Ceremony. The thousands of volunteer performers range in age from 10 to 68
• More than 450 racks of costumes, 3,600 metres of elastic, 4,100 pairs of shoes, 18 kilograms of glitter, 10,000 green sequins, 200 giant spheres and balloons, as well as 20 zygote balls were used in the Opening and Closing Ceremonies
• 275 million visitors in total to www.vancouver2010.com, shattering the previous record of 105 million set during the Beijing 2008 Games
• 78 million total unique visitors to the site
• A record of 9,185,306 unique visits in a single day ? set on February 24. The previous record set during the 2008 Summer Games was 8,797,614 on August 11, 2008
• Vancouver2010.com was visited 85 million times this month from within Canada and reached more than 70 per cent of Canadians with Internet access and over 50 per cent of the total Canadian population
• 19.1 per cent of North Americans with Internet access visited the website this month
• 4.6 per cent of people worldwide with Internet access visited the site this month
• 14,000 followers on Twitter.com/2010Tweets
• More than 1.25 million downloads recorded for the official mobile spectator guide, which for 10 days of the Games was the No. 1 free app in Canada
• 1.1 million Facebook fans, nearly four times the total amount for Beijing at the conclusion of the 2008 Games

Source: Official Vancouver 2010 Olympics iPhone App News Section

Virgin Festivals in the UK this summer (2010) have just announced their stellar lineup of bands, and I’m frankly in awe…and ready to book my tickets! (well, almost!)
The festivals are very well accepted in all of their host countries with often fantastic lineups, and this year, isn’t set to stray away from that concept.

They’ve announced the following mash-up of bands:

• Kings of Leon
• Kasabian
• Stereophonics
• The Kooks
• Paul Weller
• Paolo Nutini
• Editors
• And More!

It also seems that the V Festival is getting itself a bit of a makeover, with what seems to resemble new icon-ography for V festival,  and evidently….a whole new website on the way…  Take a peak at the place-holder for now!

As part of a new initiative I’m currently involved in at work, I’ve begun doing research on just exactly customizable a Facebook Page really is…and while looking around for examples,  I found an interesting page…  Now,  what Pizza Hut has done isn’t exactly the prettiest Facebook page,  nor is it revolutionary it does have some Key aspects of a good Facebook Page.

1. A non-fan or first time visitor is led to a page that is not “Wall” or “Info” ,  instead, it’s been customized to “Hot!”
2. They’ve modified the tab bar, to only encorporate the elements needed.
3. They invite the guest / visitor to download their app,  hence,  increasing their conversion
4. They’ve used social media to sell/pitch their new iPhone app, with in-app pizza ordering

That last one,  #4,  Is actually quite impressive!  Now, It likely uses many of the protocols they’ve recently done to their website,  its impressive to know a stand-alone app can now order pizza to your door, even if you’re not home yet yourself. (Or just too lazy to boot up the family PC)

With the right Tweaks, a Facebook Page can be an important part (and really economical! – Free with a bit of time and effort) of any new-media advertising campaign. Pizza Hut has grown it’s facebook fanbase to over 1 million fans, they’re able to post to all their fan’s walls (or to small specific groups you can set) which really helps spread the viral word, with little effort…well, if you’ve already got 1 million fan’s signed up for your page!

So, One of my favourite bands of all time, Stereophonics (who’s management company is based in Vancouver, BC, Canada) We’re booked to play the Victory Ceremony on Friday evening at the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games. As below, they finally brought back the full band version of “Maybe Tomorrow” Back into the set. Since about 2005, Kelly has played the song Solo, before the band’s encore, or as part of the encore, by himself on an electric Fender. This marks the first time since 2003, I’ve seen/heard them play it full band again! Enjoy!