Digital Mission Blog

Congratulations to the 31 leading UK digital companies that have been selected for this year's UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) Mission to SXSW Interactive 2011.

This trip will see the companies travel out to Austin, Texas for a five day trip in and around South by South West Interactive, one of the largest conferences focused on digital media and technology.

Each of the companies is listed below, don't hesitate to drop them a line directly to arrange a time to meet up in Austin, or follow their progress via their Twitter accounts below. You can follow the UKTI team's coverage of the mission on Twitter @uktiatsxswi.

UKTI SXSW 2011 Mission Companies

• Acunu Ltd
• Brandwatch
• Casual Films
• Completely Novel
• Cyber-Duck
• DAD Solutions
• Digital Outlook Communications
• East London Productions
• Engage Sciences
• Fortune Cookie
• Fly Post
• Get-ctrl Limited
• Glass Eye Productions
• Lingo24
• Minute Box
• MOFILMS
• MoodShare
• Namaste Entertainment
• Parcel Genie
• Planzai
• Psonar
• Rummble Labs
• Screenreach Interactive
• Shout’em
• Somethin’else
• Teamly
• The Play Mob
• w00t!media
• We are Social
• WhoSampled.com
• Zkatter

Acunu

aormsbyacunu [dot] com (Andy Ormsby)  
 http://www.acunu.com

Acunu gives “Big Data” applications high and predictable performance, robustness and simple management. Developers using NOSQL stores such as Cassandra can take full advantage of low cost and high performance commodity hardware while Acunu’s unique instant thin clones speed the dev/test cycle by letting each developer work with the whole dataset. Acunu’s tools take complexity out of managing and monitoring and let developers focus on what matters: their applications.

Brandwatch

gilesbrandwatch [dot] com (Giles Palmer)  
http://www.brandwatch.com

Brandwatch - a UK startup that is doing amazing stuff in social media monitoring. We're a team of 35 people growing at 15% per month and we have built one of the very best online monitoring systems in the whole big wide world.

Casual Films

barnabycasualfilms [dot] com (Barnaby Cook)  
http://casualfilms.com

Casual Films' end-to-end approach to production makes commissioning online video easier than ever before. Whatever your requirement, our multi-award-winning team will treat your creative ideas with respect, translating them to video confidently and efficiently.

Completely Novel

olivercompletelynovel [dot] com (Oliver Brooks)  
http://www.completelynovel.com

CompletelyNovel introduce the BookStreamer: a web-based eBook platform built to place readers at the center of book retail. An HTML5 reading app provides access to any page of a book via tablets or web-enabled devices through pay-as-you-go micropayments.

The BookStreamer turns every user into a retailer, offering readers a 20% cut of books they recommend, and offering publishers a great opportunity to reward their most loyal customers.

Cyber Duck

dannycyber-duck [dot] co [dot] uk (Danny Bluestone)
http://www.cyber-duck.co.uk

Cyber-Duck Limited is an innovative and pioneering digital agency and consultancy specialising in delivering award winning User-Centred Solutions. Utilising the latest web 2.0 and SaaS technologies, powerful eCommerce solutions, stylish branding and expert online marketing, Cyber-Duck provides comprehensive solutions that streamline business processes and drive conversions. Cyber-Duck’s five core services are Web & Mobile and SaaS Technology, UX Consultancy, Branding and Marketing.

DAD Solutions Ltd

julianjranger [dot] com (Julian Ranger)
http://www.dadapp.com

DAD is a unique software application to support the technically aware but challenged, providing easy sharing, organisation, discovery and backup of their music, picture and information files between family and friends. DAD simplifies your digital world, ensuring what you know can be technically possible, is now simply possible, supported by DAD’s reassurance of 100% privacy and security.

Digital Outlook Communications

craigdigital-outlook [dot] com (Craig Hill)   
http://www.digital-outlook.com

We are an audience-focused agency that helps our clients connect with today's family - teens, kids and their parents. Our specialisation allows us to create brilliant experiences for families with a unique blend of creative, technology, social media, marketing and planning skills. Clients include Disney, Xbox, Chorion, Children's BBC, LEGO, P&G, NBC Universal and The Department for Transport. We are based in London and Los Angeles and work with clients globally.

East London Productions

andrewjrobertsonmac [dot] com (Andrew Robertson) 
http://elondon.co.uk

We are starting up as a transmedia production company producing apps games and video and would like help to introduce ourselves to the elusive US market where in this field the US market provides a bigger audience and access to more funding through brands and investors.

Engage Sciences

richardengagesciences [dot] com (Richard Jones)
http://engagesciences.com

The EngageSciences software as a service platform helps marketers run campaigns that engage users on social networks and websites through interactive social promotions such as sweepstakes, quizzes, coupons, offers and contests and then uses the best of that interaction to amplify brand and product advocates across social channels, corporate websites and affiliate sites. With EngageSciences it is easy to attract customers, engage followers and amplify advocates on the social web.

Fortune Cookie

justin [dot] cookefortunecookie [dot] co [dot] uk (Justin Cooke)
http://www.fortunecookie.co.uk

Fortune Cookie is one of the Britain's most respected independent digital agencies. Our goal is to create a global agency within the next ten years. Being part of the Digital Mission will provide invaluable insight, networking and partnership opportunities as well as an understanding of what it takes to break into the US marketplace. In my capacity as BIMA Chair attending will allow me to bang the drum for the entire British Interactive Media industry.

Flypost

leoncalendargod [dot] com (Leon Crutchley) 
http://www.flypost.co/

Wanna know where the cool parties and events are happening in real time at SXSW? Check out Flypost on iPhone (soon on android). It's a mobile publishing platform that allows event promoters and regular users to stick up virtual posters across their city telling the world what's happening where they are right now.  If you want to stick a poster outside Downing Street, or outside Sak's Fifth Avenue, feel free.

Get-ctrl Ltd

Nick Holden
http://www.get-ctrl.com

The music industry is dead but the music business is thriving. get-ctrl is the platform for artists to learn about the people who love their music then embrace the opportunities they bring. A fully featured individual website which acts as the hub to feed content to other platforms get-ctrl collects data from every interaction on the artists website and external platforms giving a complete understanding of the fanbase across multiple touch points. Data is then used to automate actions or decisions.

Glass Eye Productions

dannyglasseyeproductions [dot] co [dot] uk (Danny Lomax) 
http://www.glasseyeproductions.co.uk

We are a creative documentary company established in 2002 producing observational projects in the UK, US and Africa around social issues and continue to expand our portfolio. Our most recent project is NeighbourHub, a cross platform documentary, which tells the story of a community in the Northwest of England which we plan to develop internationally, connecting different communities. (www.neighbourhub.org). Other work includes film promos working with local government and charities in the UK.

Lingo 24

christian [dot] arnolingo24 [dot] com (Christian Arno)   
http://www.lingo24.com

Lingo24 is an online translations company and with hubs across multiple time-zones, we offer genuine round the-clock coverage. Technology has always underpinned everything we do. We were the first translation company to market entirely online - in 2001! We’re now embracing cloud-based technologies to streamline workflows and increase efficiency. We’ve adopted revolutionary new translation management technology, and recruited some of the best technological minds in the localisation industry.

Minute Box

joshminutebox [dot] com (Josh Liu)
https://minutebox.com

MinuteBox is a powerful solution for users to buy and sell live advice on multiple social platforms. MinuteBox helps domain experts to monetise their expertise through their online reputation on whatever social platforms they use. Through our social integration tool, MinuteBox Direct, they can sell expertise via multi-media chat directly from their websites, blogs, and other online communities. Clients can also identify appropriate domain experts through our powerful search engine.

MOFILM

kerry [dot] gaffneymofilm [dot] com (Kerry Gaffney)
http://www.mofilm.com

By 2013 90 of all web traffic will be video, the average American Internet user views almost 20 hours of video online per week. How can companies meet this demand? Not through endless UGC contests and not through traditional means, the answer lies somewhere in between - which is where MOFILM sits.

MoodShare

zoltanmoodshare [dot] com (Zoltan Csaki)
http://www.moodshare.co

MoodShare is a B2B tool aimed at the global creative industries. MoodShare allows users to create and share collaborative mood boards, streamlining the process of selling ideas. It was designed specifically for creative professionals on a deadline, but it also makes a fantastic briefing tool. And the boss will love it because it saves everyone precious time.

Namaste Entertainment

rodolfonamaste [dot] vg (Rodolfo Rosini)
http://www.namaste.vg

Namaste is a US/UK company focused on Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games. Currently working on a new social AI-based unannounced title.

Parcel Genie

richparcelgenie [dot] com">Richard Tolcher 
http://www.parcelgenie.com

ParcelGenie is the world’s first Instant Gift Messaging Service enabling real gifts to be sent via social networks and mobile phones without requiring a delivery address. To send a real gift all that is needed is a virtual address e.g. a social networkID or mobile number. The service is live on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and on smartphones. The focus is on ‘gifting as communication’ with spontaneous, instant gifting.

Planzai

richplanzai [dot] com (Richard Dale)
http://www.planzai.com

Planzai is the app store for project templates. Consumers get templates for projects they haven't done before, and can't afford to fail. Experts can create and sell templates leveraging their knowledge and creating a new revenue stream.

Psonar

martinpsonar [dot] com (Martin Rigby)
http://www.psonar.com

Psonar is a digital music service that lets people listen to new music in a radically new, legal way – Pay Per Play, launching Q2 2011. Listen to a track once for 1c/1p/1eurocent or gift a playlist where you've pre-paid for the other person to listen one or more times. Psonar is also cloud music store giving people access to their music from anywhere, at any time on any device.

Rummble Labs

alex [dot] housleyrummble [dot] com (Alex Housley)
http://rummblelabs.com

As people increasingly expect immediate access to relevant content, Rummble Labs solves the problem of choice overload with a highly scalable abstracted Trust API, which any service with user generated content can use to enable personalised recommendations and support communities by providing personal reputation scores.

Screenreach

sam [dot] mortonscreenreach [dot] com (Sam Morton)
http://www.screenreach.com

Screenreach is a platform that allows real time 2 way interactive experiences between smart devices and content, accessible to end users through the single Screach App. Screach is making fully interactive TV and Digital Signage possible. The 2 way connection means rewards and content can be sent instantly to users during and after the experience, and because Screach sits on Facebook, users can check in to experiences and share them virally.

Shout’em

louisshoutem [dot] com (Louis Kanganis)
http://www.shoutem.com

The worlds simplest Mobile Application Builder! Why would you spend 10-30K for an app if you can have it for 30$/month with ShoutEm.

Somethin' Else

paulsomethinelse [dot] com (Paul Bennun)
http://www.somethinelse.com

Somethin' Else is possibly the leading multiplatform indie in the UK and truly creative content design company. Among our dozens of productions we currently have this week's Game of the Week on the App Store, we're launching the new Skins series online for C4, and we also make Gardeners Question Time. That's multiplatform.

Teamly

scottteamly [dot] com (Scott Allison)
http://teamly.com

Teamly is a productivity and performance management SaaS web app that helps make people more effective, managers more informed, and businesses more successful. It helps individuals manage their priorities and goals, and it supports managers to document performance and understand their team's successes and failures in a lightweight way. We aim to be the leading way to manage people and team performance using a friendly, straightforward and useful approach. 

The Play Mob

judedigital2point0 [dot] com (Jude Ower)
http://ww.digital2point0.com

Digital 2.0 are world class providers of games for Training, Education, Social Change and Mass Awareness. At Digital 2.0, we make games that make people smarter. Our talented team of creative and professional individuals creates bespoke games to suit clients requirements and objectives while ensuring the end users needs and interests are at the core of any development. We work with corporate, government, education and charities.

W00t!media

austenw00tmedia [dot] net (Austen Kay)
http://www.w00tmedia.net

w00t!media provide an outsourced advertising sales service for critically-acclaimed websites. Established in 2005, we exclusively represent lifestyle and entertainment publishers such as Pitchfork, Hype Machine, Popbitch and Resident Advisor in the UK. Our approach to digital advertising sales differs from many of our competitors, in that we place greater focus on creative solutions in addition to standard banner opportunities. Recent advertisers include Adidas, Diageo, Blackberry and Intel. 

We Are Social

robin [dot] grantwearesocial [dot] net (Robin Grant)
http://wearesocial.net

We Are Social is a conversation agency. We’re a new kind of agency that combines an innate understanding of social media with digital, PR and marketing skills, entirely focused on innovative, creative and effective social media marketing. With a team of 70 and offices in London, Paris, Milan and Sydney, we work with clients worldwide including Coca-Cola, Skype, Unilever, Expedia, Fox, Absolut and Heinz on local, regional and global projects.

Who Sampled

nadavwhosampled [dot] com (Nadav Poraz)
http://www.whosampled.com

WhoSampled.com allows music fans to discover the true origins of their favorite music by tapping into the world’s largest interactive database of sample-based music, remixes and cover songs. At its core is a vibrant community of deeply engaged, knowledgeable music fans who contribute “music DNA” metadata and discuss the relationships among songs and artists. The site naturally attracts fans of Urban and Electronic music, where sampling is prevalent, as well as fans of other genres such as Rock and Pop, showing how the entire musical spectrum is interconnected in exciting and surprising ways.

Zkatter

mattzkatter [dot] com (Matthew Hagger)
http://zkatter.com

Zkatter enables you to: ‘Remember this!’

A brand new visual media network for anybody who wants to capture/remember live moments and share them in real-time with private networks or across the social web. Bringing history, accuracy and identity to visual media, via the browser, mobile and TV platforms.

Photo (c) Mary Sledd.