An artist takes a song… re-develops it… and you have a remix.

Whodeani takes a standard drink… re-invents it… and ends up with something pretty cool.
In 2002, Dean thought, “surely its time for another cool gimmicky alcoholic beverage to hit the market…” Remix was his gem of an idea.

“Shake it and break it”, no he was not writing a one hit wonder hip-hop song, this is the gimmick behind Remix.

Remix is an idea that brings some pizzazz to your standard pre-mixed cocktails. The base of the drink is vodka & soda and the smaller top portion of the bottle is flavoured with fresh juice i.e. Cranberry. Simply shake the bottle causing the membrane holding the flavour to break and distribute through the alcohol mix.

Enthused by his idea, Dean had the concept (see below) drawn up by a designer friend of mine, Brent Nolan (from Blunt Agency).

If you know Dean Jones like I know ‘Dean Jones’, you’ll know that unless he’s detoxing… he consumes a lot of soda. But it’s Coke Zero or Sprite Zero, so it’s healthy right? Yeah right!

Anyway my point here is he loves his soda beverages hence all the ideas that revolve around them ;-)

In 2003 DJ dreamt up ‘8 Ball’. The idea being to take a base flavor alcoholic/non-alcoholic drink (such as lemonade) in a standard 375ml bottle, but with a twist. Each bottle ‘lid’ has a flavour ball hidden inside it. The reason it is called ‘8 Ball’ (aside from being a reference to pub pool) is that there are 8 flavors: Strawberry, Lemon/Lime, Orange, Blueberry, Etc, & Cola (the black ball).

The game element comes from the server of the drink - if the black ball drops into the drink, the drink is free or a prize is awarded (a 1 in 8 chance).

Fast forward to the year 2009… and Berocca has introduced their new on the go version ‘Twist N Go’. A very similar concept to DJ’s ‘Remix’ and ‘8 ball’ ideas.

The moral of the story folks… is simply that Dean is a visionary. He envisioned it before its physical conception.

In this case though, one mans idea is another mans money maker when not acted upon.

So in my Bossman’s famous words I’ll end this post by quoting him “well you snooze… You lose”.

Post by Lindy Waldeck.

Bonjour mon nom est Dean Jones… Vous pouvoir me dirige à la barre la plus proche s'il vous plait?

Well I haven’t quite managed to fit learning French into my hectic schedule (www.freetranslation.com) so my polished English will have to do at the Midem conference 2010 in Cannes.

Midem (short for Marché International du Disque et de l'Edition Musicale) is the world’s largest trade show for the independent music sector.

Since 1967 Midem has been held annually at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France. To give you an idea of it’s scale Midem 2008 was attended by 9,093 delegates from 4,545 companies (of these 2,233 had stands or pavilions of their own) and 482 journalists, from a total of 88 countries.

With my return to music production and also my recently appointed position of Managing Director for Swish Group Ltd, Midem will be an invaluable networking opportunity.

For Swish I hope to meet digital music businesses that are looking to have their products/services represented in the Australian and South East Asian regions.

An extensive conference schedule providing 5 days of back-to-back keynotes, seminars and tradeshow, it’s set to be a very busy trip.

If you’re reading this and have plans to attend Midem 2010, drop me a line and let me know. Lindy is in the process of scheduling meetings on my behalf in between the many keynotes and networking op’s I plan to attend.

Avoir un grand jour!

Is it really that time of year again…?

With projects as varied as the contents of Santa’s sack, 2009 has been a very productive year.

This year Whodeani has managed to somewhat live out his dream of becoming a rock star with his first commercial musical release in around 15 years titled ‘Tweet Me’.

Dean has re-discovered his passion for music so in 2010 expect to see some more Whodeani tunes come to life including a 2nd single due for release February/March 2010 and 'hopefully' an album which he has half written and expects to complete over the Festive Break.

On the movie front, the film Dean is producing and co-writing has made some steady progress this year. With completion of the story due early 2010, fingers crossed the movie will shoot mid next year for a late 2010 release.

In other Whodeani news the printed version of the Better Sports Pocket Golf Guides was released to retail late in the year so you may notice them popping up on the counter tops of Golf Clubs and various stockist around Australia. The iTunes version of the guide is also quite popular and if you haven't downloaded it as yet, head over to iTunes now, it's available for free (http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/golf-guide/id305594968).

The Marketing e-Book, written by Dean along with co-writers Richard Mataska and Tim Giles, is nearing completion and will be available 2010.

On the corporate front, yesterday it was announced on the Australian Stock Exchange that agreement had been reached to recapatilise The Swish Group (ASX:SWG) and that Dean is as of now the companies new Managing Director. Damian London, a long standing partner in many of Dean's ventures, also joined the board of the company.

Lastly, Dean has recently invested in a stealth start-up company by the name of HotShot Media based out of the US. We could tell you what it's about... but it wouldn't be stealth then would it. Watch this space in the New Year.

For Whodeani in 2010 there will never be a dull moment. The New Year is shaping up to be a biggie creatively, personally and corporately.

Merry Christmas and we say cheers to much success, good times and great health for you all in 2010.

Some of the mystery that surrounds the Whodeani brand will be uncovered today with the launch of the official Whodeani website. It’s live and it’s exciting.

You may have asked yourself at one time or another “what is it that Whodeani actually does?” Or simply “what is it that Dean actually does?” (I find myself asking this very question on occasion.)

We could answer and say that there isn’t much Whodeani or Dean hasn’t done or won’t do.

The Whodeani brand as you may know is the essence both personally and professionally of it’s creator Dean Jones, a ‘Genuine Entrepreneur’.

Whodeani as you’ll come to learn has no limitations.  It is as broad as Dean’s imagination… and that’s limitless.

The Whodeani site invites you to enter a world out of the ordinary. 

Dean Jones is not your common entrepreneur.

Inspired by the ‘old world’ aesthetic of steam punk and the likes, the site takes you on a journey through Whodeani’s world.

You’ll learn how Whodeani acts as an outlet and umbrella to house his many and varied projects.  Keep up to date with what’s happening within Whodeani through the Take A Chance section of the site.

Enjoy interactive areas such as the Ideas section, within which Dean invites you to view, discuss and potentially work with him on some of his personal ideas.  Here you’ll sense Dean’s entrepreneurial tendencies from an early age with some of these ideas dating back many years.

Find inspiration through Whodeani via varied sources Dean has personally chosen to share and if you haven’t already subscribe to his popular Blog. 

Could it be you need some guidance to take your start up business or idea to the next level? You may find it here at Start Me Up.

Dean is often viewed with an air of mystique. Many have wondered where and how he started out. Get to know him and learn about his exciting, proven track record of business success through the detailed Who Is Dean section. 

Maybe there is an opportunity you see being a great fit for Whodeani. Connect Up will give you an overview of how Dean can potentially work with you.

Visit Whodeani to make Contact with Dean, be it to introduce yourself, seek advice on a project or even ask for a date (true)… discreetly added by yours truly, Entrepreneurs Assistant Extraordinaire.

The Whodeani site was built to showcase a far from average gentleman and his brand. I trust you’ll enjoy the journey, a journey that is constantly paving new paths.

Be sure to make yourself familiar with this ever evolving destination.

Guest post by Lindy Waldeck.

Several weeks ago, I noticed a trend towards users using Real Time Search engines (ranging from Twitter Search to those embedded within the major Social Media sites) when looking for information that was more time sensitive. Things like a review of the new Watchmen movie to reviews of the latest Audi Q5 to what's going on with Andrew Bolt.
 
The sorts of things that are better suited to social media's vast, regularly updated repository of user generated information than traditional search where the information is days, if not weeks out of date in some cases and the content skews more towards those sites that are deemed more authoritative (read into that what you may.)
 
After playing around with some of the Real Time Search sites out there, I decided that I would build one focusing on Australian user generated content for an Australian audience. This project will be hosted at realtimesearch.com.au (domain not yet live.)

During the week I received a proposal (which I have accepted) for the outsourcing of the sites development, earlier today I uploaded a design brief for the logo element to 99Designs.

The brief for this job follows...

Over the past 3 - 6 months, there has been an explosion in interest in 'social search'... more specifically 'right now' search or 'real time' search.
 
In essence, Real Time Search is where the search engine provides search results from what people are saying 'now' about a particular topic as opposed to what was archived by a major search engine yesterday, last week or last month.
 
I wish to develop a simple (to start with) search engine providing real time search results for Australian users.
 
I require a simple design that will work a) alone, b) as the main feature of a search engine front page and c) a top a list of search results.
 
For context, this simple search engine is part of a broader search project (including the eventual development of a US based site.)
 
For now the site will be very basic and will feature real time search results using Twitter's API with a focus on results from Australian Tweeters.
 
Once that basic user experience has been nailed, we will then move to expanding search features and data sources.
 
Wants
 
* Preference for 'Real Time Search' logo to stand alone and not include the full URL (that is I want 'Real Time Search' as a logo... not 'realtimesearch.com.au' as a logo.
* Would like it to be colorful, warm and fun.
* Very fond of many of the logo's/brands that exist in the broader 'Twittersphere'.
* Visually needs to convey difference between 'real time' and (for want of a better term) 'regular' search.
 
Don't Wants
 
* Do not want the logo to look like any existing search or social media brand. As per 'What I Want'... I would like a logo that looks like its DNA is from the broad social media space... but not a copy or something that too closely resembles an existing logo.
 
Payment Methods
 
This contest has been pre-paid with 99designs. The winner will be paid directly by 99designs for the full prize amount, excluding any third party transfer fees.

You can view the design brief/contest in full here... http://99designs.com/contests/19525
 
Setting up the contest was a breeze including paying for it.

The competition has only been online a few hours and already I have had 5 entries. As you will see by my comments on the site, the initial batch of logo designs have not been what I am after, but I am confident that by providing timely feedback as designs are submitted, the quality and 'appropriateness' of the designs will improve.

The design contest runs for 7 days and is binding (that is I have pre-paid the prize and will need to award a winner when the competition closes.) I will update this post when the competition closes.
 
Having a logo or website designed in this way is not for everybody, nor suitable for any and every job.
 
I should point out that I have owned/managed several graphic design, web design and programming businesses. I appreciate more than most quality design and website development and until this particular job I have 'always' used professionals.
 
This job however is a bit of an experiment both in terms of dipping my toes into the Real Time Search space (ie I don't want to spend a lot of money this early in the project) and also in finding within my projects, one appropriate for testing these sorts of services.
 
I will be posting regular updates on Twitter for this and you can follow me at http://www.twitter.com/whodeani if interested.
 
Wish me luck...

*** Update ***

Real Time Search competition now closed.

To view the winning submission go here.

Have also updated my blog with a post titled 'Real Time Search Log Competition - The Results'