As our newsletter subscribers will know, PLAY has some exciting news! We’ve been invited to make a guest appearance on The Gruen Transfer, selling the unsellable in The Pitch segment. Filming will take place on 25 August, with the show airing on 1 September. Our creative is in production now and we can’t wait to show you, so watch out for us and fingers crossed!

You may have heard of a guy named Marco. I must admit, Marco’s a bit of a hipster and always seems to know exactly what gigs, parties, exhibitions and shows are happening around town and he’s always got tickets! If you’re between 17 and 25, there’s a fair chance that you’ve met Marco either on Facebook or in a shinny new Volkswagen Polo…

Marco Polo is one of the latest campaigns to come out of the PLAY studio. A fusion of social media, street activations and PR; Marco Polo took to the streets of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth offering free rides and tickets to the best events in town. Using Facebook to drive all the activity, the first to post “Polo” when Marco posted “Marco” on his wall, were in for a night to remember! Say what’s up to Marco a www.facebook.com/marcopolo.

With final touches being made as we speak, PLAY’s new campaign for VW is raring to go! Word on the street is that Marco’s got a few surprises up his sleeve… get the inside scoop at facebook.com/marcopolo

Johannes is on a roll at the moment! Tonight’s debate is no less than “The Future of Media”. The future’s still up for grabs, so this promises to be scintillating…

Innovation Forum, 7pm. Its a date.

This morning Johannes caused more than a stir at at the Wordstorm breakfast. The discussion was, “Experiential- why all the hype?”… We’d love to hear your take on it, what do you think?

That’s right! On Tuesday 30 March, PLAY on behalf of Tourism Victoria set a new world record with 263 simultaneous massages. ‘Massage en Masse’ was strategically developed to position Daylesford as Australia’s spa and well being capital.

Guinness Book of Records adjudicator Mr Chris Sheedy said the event was an historic moment for Daylesford with abundant enthusiasm from local spa and massage therapists. “I’ve seen a whole lot of wonderful events around the world, but during the past decade I have never seen such a beautiful record attempt,” Mr Sheedy said. Overall we broke the record by 96. The previous record for the largest ever simultaneous massage was 167 people, set in 2009 in Washington D.C, USA.

So if you’re in need of some pampering, drop us a line. We know just the place.

Brand Society is a new book, written by Martin Kornberger, co-founder and Director of Research at PLAY between 2003 and 2008. The book provides a fascinating account of how brands influence the lives of people and the organisations they work in. According to Martin brands are are much exploited, but little explored. In Brand Society, Martin seeks to rectify this ratio.

We’re really excited about Brand Society for a few reasons, not least because it’s great to see our PLAY friends creating such inspired work. Brands reach almost every aspect of our lives, so deepening our understanding of these dynamics can go a long way to making these relationships more meaningful.

What are others saying about Brand Society?

“This book provides fascinating insight in the tremendous value of well managed brand transformation programs. It leaves no stone unturned and covers in a very balanced way the diversity of both the internal cultural aspects and the external brand community building. Great food for innovative brand thinking and for concrete brand activation!”

Ruud Polet, Global Brand Marketing Manager, ING

For more information click here

This week has been a big week at PLAY! As we said farewell to Anais and Caroline our two French interns who return home, we also welcomed two new members to the team: Lisa Kanani who has joined as a Senior Project Manager and Vivian Nguyen who steps into the role of Project Co-ordinator. To top this off, on Thursday we also celebrated Laura’s birthday with lunch at a winery in good old Surry Hills. As Caroline says, joyeux anniversaire Laura

We’re really excited to announce that PLAY has been shortlisted for the Experiential Agency of the Year Award for 2010! All will be revealed at the award ceremony on the 25 February. Fingers crossed!

On the 16th of February, Johannes Weissenbaeck will reveal a few of his tricks of the trade in a Networx hosted evening, entitled “Strategising Outside The Box”. If you’re searching for some inspiration, come down and join us. Warning: creative sparks will fly!

When: 16 February 2010 at 6pm
Where: City View Room, World Square Pub

To book tickets click here