Richard Branson's Virgin Money Senate House Projection

Virgin invites you to the world's first 270 degree outdoor projection mapping event in Central London!

On the 10th January, Richard Branson will be kick-starting Virgin's quest to make banking better with a world first: 270˚ outdoor projection mapping.

Viral video by ebuzzing

On Tuesday 10th January at 5.15pm, BMB neon launched the first ever 270 degree fully immersive 3D projection for Virgin Money. Against three walls of the inner courtyard of Senate House in Bloomsbury, the three minute spectacular will be kicked off by Sir Richard Branson and take the viewers on a exhilarating journey through the Virgin brand story – the two and a half minute ad featured iconic images from the Virgin stable including hot air balloons, trains, planes, even space shuttles. And at the end of the dazzling display the Virgin Money logo appeared with the strapline: "40 years of better. Now in a bank."

Later Richard Branson told the BBC: "People are suspicious of banks and they have good reason to be after the last few years. "The Virgin brand is well trusted and has always offered good products in a range of different businesses..We think we can come in and shake up the industry."

Virgin bought Northern Rock at the end of last year and plans to turn all 75 branches into Virgin Money branches during 2012. Trevor Beattie, Co Founder of BMB said: "It's not every day you help launch a high street bank. And this being Virgin, we wanted to do it in as spectacular and memorable a fashion as possible. Neon have pulled out all the stops on this. The world will seem very 2 dimensional afterwards."

The media first was developed by BMB neon, their first project with Virgin Money, who worked with the production house Projection Advertising to ensure the VIP viewers will be ducking, gasping and left awe-inspired by the 3D spectacular in which they'll be standing.

Japan's Homare Sawa wins Ballon d'Or award

Japan's World Cup Football winning team captain Homare Sawa was named winner of the FIFA World Player 2011 on Monday at a glamorous gala in the Kongresshaus in Zurich.

The 33 year old Japanese striker made history as the first ever Asian winner of a World Player award. She received the award from popstar Shakira.

Sawa beat off Brazilian Marta and denied her a sixth successive triumph. Marta was second placed by picking up 17.28 per cent of the votes, while the fellow japanese received 28.51 per cent of the votes.

Her Japanese World Cup Football winning team's coach Norio Sasaki won the FIFA World Coach Women's Football award. The awards are voted for by the coaches and captains of the world's national teams, as well as international media.

Messi wins FIFA Ballon d’Or award

Barcelona's Argentine forward player Lionel Messi was named winner of the FIFA World Player 2011 on Monday at a glamorous gala in the Kongresshaus in Zurich.

The 24 year old Barca player, who made history by becoming the first Argentine player to win the award in 2009, beat off his teammate Xavi and Real Madrid's star Cristiano Ronaldo. Messi received 47.88 per cent of the vote, beating Ronaldo, who was second with 21.60 per cent and Xavi with 9.23 per cent of the vote.

This is the third successive year he is winning the FIFA Ballon d’Or award. The award crowns a successful year for Messi, who won the Champions League, the Spanish League, the World Club Cup, as well as the Spanish and UEFA Super Cups with Barcelona.

Addressing media persons he said “It is a huge pleasure. It is the third time and it is a huge honour and I would like to share this award with my teammates both in Barcelona and Argentina.

“I want to share this also with my teammate Xavi. It is the fourth time we are here together and it is an honour to play together on the pitch”.

Doom's day Story: Cataclysmic destruction of earth in 2012

Scientists have nailed an alarming prediction about the cataclysmic destruction of earth in 2012.

An erroneous doomsday theory doing the rounds is that a supernova explosion, which releases energy equivalent to that produced during the sun's entire lifetime, could happen in 2012 and harm earthly life.

However, given the vastness of space and the long light years between supernovae, astronomers say with certainty that there is no threatening star close enough to hurt earth.

According to a statement by NASA-Goddard Space Flight Centre, astronomers say that the closest gamma-ray burst on record, known as GRB 031203, is 1.3 billion light years away from the earth.

An erroneous doomsday theory predicts that year 2012 may experience a supernova explosion and the incredible amounts of energy resulting from it – as much as the sun creates during its entire lifetime– may harm life on Earth. However, astronomers are confident that it will not prove
detrimental for life on earth, given the vastness of space and the long times between supernovae.

They can say with certainty that there is no threatening star close enough to hurt Earth.

Astronomers estimate that, on average, about one or two supernovae explode each century in our galaxy. But for Earth’s ozone layer to experience damage from a supernova, the supernovablast must occur less than 50 light-years away. All of the nearby stars capable of going supernova are much farther than this.

Any planet with life on it near a star that goes supernova would indeed experience problems. X- and gamma-ray radiation from the supernova could damage the ozone layer, which protects us from harmful ultraviolet light in the sun’s rays. The less ozone there is, the more UV light reaches the surface.

At some wavelengths, just a 10 percent increase in ground-level UV can be lethal to some organisms, including phytoplankton near the ocean surface. Because these organisms form the basis of oxygen production on Earth and the marine food chain, any significant disruption to them could cascade into a planet-wide problem.

Another explosive event, called a gamma-ray burst (GRB), is often associated with supernovae. When a massive star collapses on itself or less frequently, when two compact neutron stars collide -- the result is the birth of a black hole.

Astronomers estimate that a gamma-ray burst could affect Earth from up to 10,000 light-years away with each separated by about 15 million years, on average. So far, the closest burst on record, known as GRB 031203, was 1.3 billion light-years away.

As with impacts, our planet likely has already experienced such events over its long history, but there’s no reason to expect a gamma-ray burst in our galaxy to occur in the near future, much less in December 2012.

Bologna Motor Show: Never Adapt - The J Challenge

The first day of the Bologna Motor Show saw the national debut of the new special series Jeep Wrangler Arctic and the opening of pre-registration for the "Never Adapt: The J Challenge " game. Available soon on the portal, jeep-people.com, the game is built on a multimedia platform and inspired by the concept of "breaking conventional boundaries''. It will allow users to test their J factor through all the major social networks by testing their compatibility with the values and ethos of Jeep and everything it stands for.


The game is comprised of five challenges - each of them inspired by one of the core values ​​of the Jeep brand: uniqueness, passion, adventure, freedom and authenticity. From Saturday 3rd December, users can start accessing the link neveradapt.jeep-people.com and begin to register for the game, thus ensuring the possibility of receiving a notification when the game officially starts. Each user has a personalised page where they can view their status or progress and archive their results achieved during the game.


After completing each of the five challenges, the score will be calculated on the results of the affinity test with the values ​​of Jeep and activities on various social networks. Once users have completed the challenges, they will have a few days to improve their final score.



Dedicated to those who identify with the core values ​​of the American brand, the game will lead you to discover your wilder, more adventurous side, while acknowledging uniqueness. It will be a journey based on passion, a sense of adventure and freedom – all indicative of those who choose the Jeep brand. The content and implementation on the web were created in collaboration with xister.



Previewed for a national audience in Bologna, the new special series Jeep Wrangler offers an exhibition inspired by the Arctic winter with exclusive stylistic details – 17” blacks wheels and matching hard top Mopar ® accessories. The new special version evokes the extreme conditions of Arctic regions to highlight how, thanks to legendary off-road capability improved by seven decades of technical development, the Jeep Icon is able to master the toughest trails and most challenging driving conditions.

Available in Jeep showrooms by the end of January 2012, the Arctic special version will only be equipped with the 2.8-liter turbodiesel in two-and four-door configuration.