With a little over a month till performance time, UBRSTAR is gaining some great exposure in print and in the Bloggersphere. Most recently, both UBRSTAR and Carrot Creative were mentioned on Art Things, Considered, one of the more well-regarded and relevant blogs pertaining to all things artistic. We could not be more excited about the potential this project has in bringing Social Media to the Live Stage and vice versa, and we are delighted to have worked so closely with the New Haven Theater Company to develop both the creative vision and online representation of UBRSTAR. Here is a small piece of what Lex Leifheit of Art Things, Considered had to say about UBRSTAR:

“Designed by Carrot Creative , the website includes video instructions on how to create and upload your own video “role,” and offers several scripts to choose from…another feature of UBRSTAR, the “sound-offs,” is brilliant. One of the joys of live theater is the chance to see how people around you respond to the play in front of them. In today’s on-demand culture, the opportunity to get a taste of what that post-show conversation might be like, through a sound-off video, is far more authentic than a review or e-group hyperbole.”

Remember to submit your videos to be an online actor ASAP! For any questions, contact audition@ubrstar.com.

It has been an exciting and busy time in the office lately as we have been working on some very exciting projects. We have recently partnered with Saatchi & Saatchi’s New York office and have been commissioned to work on a Web 2.0 project for JCPenney.

There have been a lot of jokes thrown around the office about back to school shopping while working on this project. It’s funny to be working on a project for a client when we can remember our moms bringing us to their stores every year before we went back to school.

It certainly brings back a lot of memories of being dragged through the aisles of the department store with my sister picking out a little bit of everything, my brother punching me in the arms and mom asking me from outside the dressing room, “What do you mean those jeans don’t fit? I didn’t think you’d gained that much weight!” Then, of course, I’d return to school with the latest fall fashions, and damn … I looked good.

Here’s to a long and happy partnership with Saatchi & Saatchi and JCPenney.

I just got off the phone with Blake Burris of Joyent, in which we discussed application scaling and hosting concerns, and I am thrilled to endorse Joyent for any application deployment needs. After working with Joyent to deploy the MLB.com Facebook Application, we found it necessary to further discuss future collaborations as well as offer support to one another as both Carrot and Joyent figure to be at the forefront of most New Media trends. Be sure to keep your eyes on the lookout for the great meetups that Joyent has planned in NYC, which Carrot will definitely be a part of. Dates will be released soon.

Carrot Creative is excited to announce the launch of the UBRSTAR website. As the primary developer of content, design and social network implementation, we are proud to partner with The New Haven Theater Company to offer live theater and stage stardom to the world. UBRSTAR utilizes a troupe of both live stage performers and online performers that can become part of the performance by submitting online videos of their character of choice (given the specific performance). The live performance, in which live stage actors must interact with their online counterparts, is broadcast live through Ustream.tv for the global audience to view and simultaneously comment and provide content at the leisure of their own chair. This summer’s show will be a contemporary version of a Shakespeare classic entitled “Run to the Capulets, Raise Up the Montagues: The Investigation of Romeo and Juliet.”

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Social Change is making great strides on Facebook in just one week. Social Change, of course, is the newest endeavor of Dank Apps that is positively altering user interaction for the betterment of mankind on the Facebook platform. Having already raised hundreds of dollars since its launch on April 8th 2008, Here’s how Social Change raises awareness and support for the most pressing social issues: For every new user to the application, $.02 is raised. After that, any activity within the application generates revenue to be donated to the cooperating charities. Currently, Social Change works with: The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, The Clinton HIV/Aids Initiative and the Nature Conservancy. This impressive and innovative utilization of Facebook users’ activity has already garnered media praise from VentureBeat and AllFacebook. We, at Carrot, are so proud of Dank Apps and are so grateful to be a part of SocialChange. We hope you enjoy our creative design on this project, but more importantly, we hope you engage in such a simple, fun yet world-changing experience.

It’s not every day that a man finds a woman, falls in love, and knows he never wants to leave her side. And she, in return, will always tolerate his late nights at the office and quirky blog postings about a cat. Alright, so maybe this did not happen all in one night, but rather the course of a few years, still we are elated to congratulate Chris Petescia on his engagement to his long time girlfriend Lisa. After deciding that it would be in poor taste to offer an engagement ring logo for his proposal, Chris enlisted the help of Mike to assist in the dispensing of his entire life savings for the perfect ring for his special lady. And while he will not give us the full details of the magical night, one thing is for certain… We need to start planning for a huge bachelor party.

After weeks of meetings, phone calls and e-mail correspondences, I am proud to announce that Carrot Creative will be working with MLB.com (MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL!) on their social community utility endeavors. Although I can not further elaborate on the specifics of this project, I can say confidently that this baseball season will be greatly enhanced by a new interactive, user-generated presence of MLB.com online. I can barely begin to describe the Carrot Crew’s excitement as we all grew up loving the game of baseball, and still have strong ties to friends, family and each other in part due to our love for the game. With MLB.com, and the variety of other great clients Carrot has had the pleasure of working with, we have found a way to work in what we love (Web 2.0) with clients we truly care about. Thank you all.

We’ve been keeping silent about this for a couple of weeks now, but we are very excited to announce that Dank Apps Inc. has received a $250,000 investment from Bay Partners! (more…)