Brands at Work

More High Street Stores Go Under

2012-01-01T01:42:00.000-08:00

2011 has seen a number of high street brands go under and the end of 2011 has not spared surprises...Deloitte, administrators at Barratts Priceless said they had failed to find a buyer for the shoe chain's concessions business.

In a statement, Deloitte said that regretfully they have to make approximately 1,610 full and part-time employees redundant, given that they didn't manage to find an appropriate buyer.

Barratts, which is the second time that has called in the administrators in the past two years, ran almost 400 concessions in large stores, mostly Dorothy Perkins. It is hoped a buyer will still be found for the shoe firm's 191 shops.

The blow came as bosses at retro-gifts chain Past Times said it was going bust.

Barratts was not the only store which went into administration, toy store Hawkin's Bazaar confirmed it had also appointed administrators. The Sun, has also reported that experts are also fearing that lingerie chain La Senza, which has 2,600 staff, will go bust within days.

Such events risk putting more pressure on the economy as almost 4,000 full-time and temp jobs could be lost with all these closures.

The high street has been badly affected this year by Internet shopping and a squeeze on spending, as more and more people become price consious and start looking out for bargains. Big names including TJ Hughes, Jane Norman, Alexon, Habitat and Focus DIY have all collapsed.

Is the retail world as we know it changing to a more price conscious model?

The Mobile platform war...Android still Leader

2011-12-29T08:36:00.000-08:00

Kantar Worldpanel has issued the latest figures of smartphone market share. Surprisingly enough Apple has seen mixed results.

While Apple has increased its share of the UK smartphone market it saw a decrease in its Smartphone market share elsewhere in Europe.

According to the published results, in the UK Apple’s market share grew to 31% in the 12 weeks to 30 November, up from 21% the previous year. This increase was partially attributed to the release of the latest member of the iPhone range...the iPhone 4S. Accordingly, Apple also made gains in the US and Australia.

While Apple grew sales in the UK, the picture was the opposite elsewhere in Europe. In France for example, Apple's market share dropped to 20% from 29% the year earlier, while in both Germany and Italy, its share fell from 27% to 22%.

On the other hand, Android continues to be the smartphone market leader in every territory included in the study, commanding a 47% share of the UK market, up from 35% the previous year, while one in two (53%) smartphones sold in the US run the Google-owned operating system.

BlackBerry, which faced a number of service issues this year, saw its market share slide to 17% in UK compared to 22% the previous year.

The Windows Phone has reported only round 1% market share. This share is expected to increase with the launch of the first Nokia Windows phone (Lumia) although sales of this model have yet to peak.

What do you think about the future of Mobile Phones platforms?

Samsung set to Challenge iPad - New Tablet Unveiled

2010-09-04T07:24:00.000-07:00

Samsung has decided to go head to head with Apple. After launching it's own smart phone to rival the iPhone, now Samsung has developed it's own iPad which it promises to be a better option. The new device was unveiled at the IFA consumer electronics unlimited show in Berlin. Rumors have it that the new table will go for sale at as low as half the price of the iPad. Apple sells the iPad starting at £429. Data plans are then sold separately by mobile companies, including O2.

Image: Ipad on the left and the Samsung Tablet on the right

The Galaxy Tab, as Samsung has named it, has a seven-inch screen, making it smaller than the iPad. It runs on Google’s Android operating system, for which there are thousands of apps available, and can be used either with a wifi connection or on 3G, as long as the user has access to some sort of data plan.

Unlike the iPad, Samsung’s device is able to load web pages built using Flash. It also has a camera on the front and back, a feature not included on current models of iPad.

Moreover, users can continuously communicate via e-mail, voice and video call, SMS/MMS or social network with the optimised user interface.

Reports say that it could go on sale for as little as £200, although the company has not confirmed the pricing or the exact launch date. Samsung is only one of a number of tech companies that is entering the tablet computing market. Amongs other rivals are Binatone who revealed their model earlier this week (which however does not have 3G capability) and BlackBerry and Lenovo, who are set to unveil their option later on this year.

Samsung’s Galaxy S smartphone has been a hit with consumers and reviewers. It has been promoted in a wide-ranging ad campaign, including television, outdoor and online.

Is social media still an option for businesses?

2010-08-30T12:28:00.000-07:00

Today I'n not writing an article as I'll let the video below do the job...

Do you think that Social Media is an option for Businesses today? Well think about the internet, do you think business have an option whether to have a presence there? The same can be said for social media...the number of users there is not small at all, so it might be worth a try.

Have a look at this video and then let me know what you think...

For those who cannot access Youtube, you can access the video from the following free proxy site:- www.myprxy.com

Is your website customer focused?

2010-08-27T14:16:00.000-07:00

Recently I finished working on a couple of website and while analysing the different competitor website before undertaking each and every job, I noticed a stunning fact...some companies still haven't realised that the world does not revolve around them! Some sites are simply egocentric - they are more interested in telling people what they do, who their people are, what achievements they made etc etc, rather then serving their customer needs..i.e. solving customer problems.

The fact is that it is already difficult to attract visitors to your site, and probably when you do manage to attract them the average visitor has an attention span measured in seconds, and he scans the web instead of reading every word. Hence an egocentric website simply turns people off.

A well thought website on the other hand, doesn’t leave a visitor stranded, searching for the customer benefits of the company’s products or services. It is customer driven, provides clear benefit statements and is designed using an outside in perspective. Just think of the reasons your visitors go to your website and your goal should be to help them achieve their goal as effortlessly as possible.

Let's take a fictitious example to illustrate this:

We’re visiting a florist website. Their target market? Flower buyers for special occasions.

The homepage leads off with:

"Since 1975, ABC Florist has delivered flowers to more than 500,000 persons worldwide. What distinguishes us from competition? State-of-the-art technology – including the latest in flower growth and monitoring devices – along with six sigma processes to ensure the highest quality."

How does this sound to you? Where do you, as a customer fit in?

While prospects and customers care a lot about the companies they deal with, they care first and foremost about their own needs. In this instance: “How will ABC Florist help me?”

Here’s another version of the homepage into:

“Whether you are looking for Red, Blue, White or any other color matched flowers, there no need to look further as no other company offers a wider selection, faster delivery or more customer-friendly service than ABC Florist.
Independent surveys show that ABC Florist is the most reliable when it comes to product delivery and we're working to continue improving...
ABC Florists stands for Great selection, Fast delivery, Friendly service...there's no other match.

This time, the homepage speaks to customer and how the company can help them. In this case I still refered to the fact that ABC Florist has the best delivery and the widest variety, but I did so in the terms of the benefits this will bring to the customer...Best selection gives the user more choice and best delivery ensures that the flowers arrive fresh and when the customer needs them.

This is simple marketing...you identify the customer needs and provide a product or service that meets that need...In this case the website in an extension of the company products and hence must make sure that this too meet customer needs.

Tesco launches new initiative

2010-08-24T12:56:00.000-07:00

In the race to keep its market share, Tesco is constantly trying to find new ways how to increase sales. The the initiative that the retailer unveiled will allow customers to order groceries online then pick them up without having to leave their cars...they just drive through give their name and order number and will be able to pick up the groceries.

The trial is to launch at the Tesco Extra store in Baldock, Hertfordshire, and will be promoted with leaflets distributed in-store and via online deliveries locally. Tesco hopes that this initiative will boost its online shopping, which to date generates sales of about £2.1bn and profits of £136m. This service, if it picks up, will also decrease the delivery costs and increase the potential profits of this service.

Who is expected to use this service mostly? The supermarket expects the service to be used by busy mothers, as well as young professionals who cannot commit to waiting at home for delivery. The need flexibility but at the same time cannot afford the time to shop instore. Customers will be able to order their shopping via Tesco.com, choose the 'click and collect' option and book a two-hour collection slot.

Unfortunately the service is not provided free of charge, which might affect the success of the project. A flat fee of £2 will be added to the bill. However the £2 could still be worth it for time pressed people.

Will people be willing to pay for online access to newspapers?

2010-08-22T06:36:00.000-07:00

Does it pay to offer news services online for a charge? This question has been asked by most of the newspapers that offer free content online but very few of them dared to test whether this would work. Surprisingly News International, publisher of the Times decided to take the challenge and start to charge for what it considers a quality newspaper.

Comparative results were recently issued by ComScore and it shows that in May, the free-to-access website Timesonline.co.uk attracted 2.79 million unique users in the UK, a slight increase on the level of the previous three months. News International launched its separate Thetimes.co.uk and Thesundaytimes.co.uk websites on 25 May. It made registration compulsory and began redirecting users from the old site on 15 June and started charging for access to both sites on 2 July.

From figures released by ComScore, the combined number of unique visitors to the two new sites (pay sites) has fallen to 1.61 million in July, from 2.22 million in June, and 2.79 million in May. This had an effect on the average number of minutes each user spent on the site which was 7.6 in May, 5.8 in June and 4 in July. Also page views have dropped from 29 million in May to 20 million in June and 9 million in July.

To try to attract users to their pay sites, News International has run an introductory offer offering subscribers 30 days' access for £1. Its normal pricing is £1 for a day's access to The Times and The Sunday Times and £2 for a week, while subscribers to each newspaper get free access to the related website.

No indications have yet emerged from the company as to how many people have subscribed or how much revenue subscriptions have generated.

Will such strategy be effective? Will thetimes.co.uk have to reduce the cost of advertising due to the drop in visitor figures; and if so, will the revenue generated from subscriptions offset the difference? Few people tend to be willing to pay for what other competitors offer for free especially for something as intangible as online access to a newspaper...will News International rethink its strategy to move back again to a free version?

Mining giant BHP makes huge offer for Fertiliser giant

2010-08-17T05:24:00.001-07:00

Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, the world largest fertilizer producer, on Tuesday has rejected a takeover bid of around $39 billion from BHP Billiton. The bid which is reported to have been made, was for $130 per Potash share, which represents a 20% premium on the share price of last week. The offer is believed to have for cash.

According to the Financial Times, the BHP's offer was rejected on the basis that is was grossly inadequate as it undervalues the company. Potash vowed that it will remain independent as it is believed that it has the right to use a poison pill, that will enable shareholder of the target company (in this case Potash) to acquire additional shares in the company after the takeover for a very discounted price. Such right would make the takeover less attractive as increases the price the acquirer has to pay (or suffers dilution).

Potash refused the bid on the belief that the fertilizer industry is just coming out of the recession and hence it is greatly undervalued. It is believed that PotashCorp shareholders could benefit from the current and potential value of the company as Potash is well geared to take advantage of the upturn. The industry is geared to become more consolidated as the further companies in different countries such as Russia and Canada seek to buy competitors to strengthen their market position.

Today BHP announced that it will take the bid to another level as it said it will take the offer directly to shareholders and hence become hostile...let's see how this huge proposed takeover will eventually end

Peperami will launch first crowed sourced advert

2010-08-17T04:16:00.001-07:00

Peperami have launched their crowed sourced advert after they ended their relationship with media agency Lowe which has lasted 15 years. The ad which can be seen below, features Animal, the brand's famous character, who speaks to the viewer about a day spent with his offspring, mini mischievous versions of himself.

The strapline reads "Peperami Nibblers. It's little bits of an animal", referencing the established Peperami strapline "It's a bit of an animal". The ad will first air on ITV1 during 'Coronation Street' on 23 August, with media planned and bought by Mindshare.

The idea for the advert was conceived and scripted by Rowland Davies, an ex-creative director from Munich. Davies entered a competition together with Kevin Baldwin, a copywriter from London, who came up with a press treatment. The team was crowned winner from 1,185 entries to a competition with a $10,000 prize handled by crowdsourcing specialist Idea Bounty.

Peperami managing director, says that Peperami is a brand which is bold enough to experiment with new ideas and advertising techniques in an increasingly consumer-driven world. However this could be a very dangerous idea as sometime entries might be of the level of an ex Munich director and the company might have ended losing time searching for a crowed sourced advert and having still to go back to an agency for the idea development of the advert.

What do you think about this technique?

Android crowned winner

2010-08-16T07:52:00.000-07:00

Figures published by Gartner (tech analysts) reveal very ineresting figures. Although the finnish company Nokia has sold more handsets in the second quarter of 2010 then the same period last year, its share of the market has slipped from 51% to 41%.

But you might say, is this possible giventhe hype around the iPhone? Apple's share of the smartphone market increased only by 1.2% points, up to 14.2% for the quarter, which includes the first few days of iPhone 4 sales in the US. In this regard, Apple has claimed that iPhone 4 has been the most successful launch in its history. Gartner's figures show that 8.7 million iPhones sold for the period, but this includes the older iPhone 3G and 3GS, and it forecasts strong sales throughout the second half of the year.

The winner for of this battle was not an individual headset but the Android operating system, which is being used by manufacturers including Samsung and HTC to run smartphones. These have overtaken the number of phones running on Apple's iOS and have increase their market share from 1.8% last year to 17.2% this year.

This success is being attributed to the branding strategy adopted by Anroid and the non-exclusive strategy that enables the system to be used across many communication service providers. This availability to so many device manufacturers, is making the operating system more attractive to use in the latest generation of mobile phones.

Loaded Magazine Launches Energy Drink

2010-08-15T00:25:00.001-07:00

British men's magazine Loaded (http://www.loaded.co.uk) is trying a new diversification strategy to try to boost it's revenue streams. After going into affiliate marketing by promoting Paddy Power and PKR amongst others, it has now unveiled its own branded energy shot drink product.

The magazine, owned by major publisher IPC, will launch a stamina shot, which the company claims it could help it's consumers boost their sexual performance. The drink which has been produced by Podium Brands will be available in a 60ml bottle. The company is hoping that Loaded energy drink will tap into a growing trend towards smaller, more functional energy products.

"It has been launched at a time when new research shows that energy drink consumers are making a switch from standard-sized energy drinks to energy shots and are keen to explore functional benefits other than pure energy," the magazine said.

Will IPC succeed in this brand extension? Will it manage to take a share of from existing energy drink power houses such as Coca Cola and Red Bull? Given that the Loaded readership has been decreasing year on year, the prospects are not so good as their readily available market is shrinking...they must invest in capturing new markets, but will people like to been seen with a loaded energy drink and associated with the magazine...let's wait and see

M&S to launch new breed of Ads

2010-03-22T23:52:00.000-07:00

Who hasn't seen the M&S food adverts like those chocolate puddings with melting chocolate flowing from them! They were simply divine....you wanted to go and grab one!

This form of advertising was termed at the time as "food porn" for the way adverts were developed and the way there were presented....however this new form of Porn might come to an end as M&S has decided to focus on price and quality.

The retailer has stopped using its "This is not just..." endline in a new series of ads, in favour of the news strap line "Just because". According to M&S executive director for marketing, Steve Sharp, the ads will now concentrate on "quality, provenance, price, innovation, ethics and offers".

He said: "Virtually everyone loves M&S food – I've certainly never met anyone who doesn't – and everyone has their favourite things. However in these economic circumstances it's not enough to have a nice advert filled with indulgence...people need a bit of a justification to buy. "

The new campaigns which has been built on the success of the 'Quality Worth Every Penny' strap line which was introduced last year to celebrate our 125th Birthday, demonstrates the value and quality proposition that M&S wants to stand for in everything they sell, from clothes to chocolate.

The first of around 20 new M&S food ads, focusing on Easter products with the slogan "Quality worth every penny", is set to break on 26 March on ITV at 7.45pm, while a women swear TV ad launches on 24 March.

EasyJet Advert targets Ryanair

2010-03-03T23:02:00.000-08:00

EasyJet and Ryanair once again face each other in an advertising clash. This is not the first time that one of the airline's advert features the other company. This is what EasyJet did in its last campaign as it was promoting the fact that they fly to major airports whereas the others fly to smaller out of town airports!

The outdoor advert featured the tagline 'Who loves flying you to the place you actually booked?', obviously implying that Ryanair flies to airports some distance from the supposed destination city (sometime the airport can be as far outside the city as two hours bus ride). Under the Ryanair section the advert reported that 'Barcelona = Girona, Paris = Beauvais, Milan = Bergamo, Venice = Treviso'. In comparison to this, under EasyJet section, the same advert reported that they fly to 'Barcelona = Barcelona, Paris = Paris, Milan = Milan, Venice = Venice'.

Ryanair filed a complaint with the Advertising Standards Authority claiming that Beauvais, Bergamo and Treviso had been officially designated as airports for their corresponding cities by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). The budget carrier said also that the way they advertise the destination is faithful to the destination...in fact they report Girona as 'Girona (Barcelona)', rather than 'Barcelona (Girona)'.

The ASA took note of the complaint and agreed with Ryanairn on the basis that it was true that IATA had designated the airports for Paris, Milan and Venice respectively, and advised easyJet to seek copy advice from CAP for future campaigns.

EasyJet UK general manager Paul Simmons said he was "disappointed" by the ruling. He said: "It is a well-know fact that easyJet flies to major airports whereas Ryanair serves out-of-town airfields which can be a two hour bus ride away from your destination."

Sony PS3 faced calendar problem...now solved

2010-03-02T13:54:00.001-08:00

Sony's competition with Nintendo Wii and Microsoft XBOX has taken another small dip yesterday as a problem with the PS3 has left many owners unable to access the PlayStation Network or even worse play some other the most sought after games including Heavy Rain.

PlayStation 3 owners worldwide yesterday report huge issues where they were actually locked out of their online accounts and were unable to use any of the PlayStation 3’s online features. An undisclosed number of games have fallen prey to the problem too, presenting perplexed PlayStation punters with a mystifying error code whenever they try to log on.

The issue has been taken very seriously by Sony who has put most of its engineers at work to identify the issue and come up with a solution. The solution was found a few hours after a it was discovered that the PS3 was recognising the year 2010 as a leap year and hence affected the switch from February 28 to March 1 date.

Sony took all steps to communicate updates to the public and has also been using its twitter account to distribute updates (http://twitter.com/SonyPlayStation)...this helped a lot relieving some of the pressure that gaming groups could have exercised if left in the dark!

HSBC thinking to take bonuses in shares rather than cash

2010-02-28T22:58:00.000-08:00

After the huge issues that banks all over the world faced, with some of then having to be bailed out by public funding there is a huge issue around the issue of senior management bonuses. Some of the bank bosses of these banks, including Lloyds and RBS have already announced that they will be forgoing their bonuses. Now it's HSBC turn...although the bank hasn't been bailed out from public funding it still had to resort to a gigantic right issue (£12 bn) and public opinion was not in favour of such bonuses being handed out.

Michael Geoghegan, HSBC's chief executive, is believed to be ready to announce that he will not be taking the bonus in cash (as this could be a drain on the bank liquid finances) but instead could opt in taking his bonus in shares rather when the bank reports its full year results tomorrow.

HSBC is expected to announce it made profits of more than $11bn during 2009. But its chairman, Stephen Green, who is paid a salary of more than £1m will once again announce he will be waiving his bonus entitlements for the third consecutive month.

Will this surge of public anger in the face of huge bonus paid to banking executives lead to a new era of banking executives?

Milka to attract Dairy Milk...will it end up as the battle between Kraft and Cadbury?

2010-02-19T12:52:00.000-08:00

Kraft...after it managed to acquire Cadbury it decided to go head to head with it's flagship brand...Dairy Milk. In this regard, Kraft is gearing up for a UK roll-out of its flagship Milka chocolate brand in the UK

Kraft will launch Milka with a TV campaign, created by Ogilvy, on April 19th. Shooting for the spots are expected to start next week. The activity will include multi variate advertising including adverts in the press to promote the six different Milka variants and highlight the fact that they are made with Alpine milk.

Currently Dairy Milk is market leader in the UK, with sales of £371m last year, (nearly twice as much as its nearest competitor Mars' Galaxy which made £192m last year).

Will this start causing distress already between these two confectionery brands?

A new flavour will hit the market soon...discover the fifth taste

2010-02-10T13:36:00.000-08:00

A new ingredient will hit British kitchens...it cannot be described as sweet or sour, bitter or salty...it is simply the Fifth Taste. This new taste is being launched by Laura Santtini, a chef and food writer.

The Fifth Taste, is basically a tube of umami, whose Japanese name roughly translates as "deliciousness".Waitrose will be the first supermarket to stock Taste No 5, a paste made from umami-rich foods such as tomato, Parmesan cheese and porcini mushrooms.

The new flavour, can be used as a main ingredient in stews, meat, and even as a condiment spread for panini, crostini and dressings. The existence of the umami taste was first discovered early last century by the Japanese and, although widely adopted in Italian cuisine, has only recently been accepted by Western scientists.

Will you be one who tries it? Let us know what you think about it...next week will be on sale.

Toyota is still not out of the woods

2010-02-08T12:40:00.000-08:00

Toyota's problems might not have ended at all as it is considering the global recall of 300,000 Prius hybrid models as it is being claimed that these might be suffering from braking problems on icy roads.

A spokesman for Toyota in Great Britain said that the company is looking at all the customer feedback and data they have from US and Japanese bases. However for the time being the company hasn't yet decided what to do.

Should it be admitted that yet another problem has affected another Toyota model, it prove to be a huge blow to the Japanese automotive giant, which has already launched the recall of eight million vehicles suffering with an accelerator pedal fault.

Toyota is actively working on PR to help reassure consumers on the quality promise of the brand. These promotions have been launched five days after the marque rolled out a similar campaign in the US.

Toyota is closely monitoring customer opinions and concerns and no decision has yet been taken on whether to run further marketing activity later on this week. In my opinion, Toyota should not look at costs of marketing at the time being and go aggressive to reassure its current and potential clients. One must remember that Toyota is associated with quality and such link must be defended as it represents a competitive advantage for the brand.

Dominos change their route and take onboard Web2.0

2010-02-01T23:11:00.000-08:00

Do you remember when Dominos was hit by a wave of negative publicity after some of its employees decided to put a video of their wrong doings online? At the time Dominos did not have any Web2.0 presence but was forced to go in and reply to the video in a few days.

From them on, Dominos looked at the internet as a good medium to promote. They have now issued a facebook campaign, basically a superfans app that sends users a promotional code linked to an offer. In addition there is an online competition to find Domino’s biggest followers or the 'Superfan King' and 'Superfan Queen'.

Fans have to compete between themselves on the number if fans they recruit. The winner will get prices from Dominos. The Domino's fan page on Facebook will also feature Domino's news, events and details of how to order online. Their change in online strategy can also be seen from the words ofDominos the outgoing marketing director who said that Facebook is central to Dominos social media strategy and this application will enable them to leverage the importance of brand advocates in growing their customer base.

Is this an admitance of the importance of the internet?

HP seeks to make their offer more attractive to the online community

2010-01-25T22:54:00.000-08:00

As more consumers turn online to listen to music and on such sites as Spotify, it is being made clear that to attract more customers these sites are a good tie up potential. HP has recognised this and has agreed a deal with subscription music provider Omnifone for 16 of its PCs in ten European countries to offer access to unlimited streamed music from all four major labels and leading independents.

Consumers who buy Pavilion, Presario and Envy PCs will be offered a 14-day free trial for the Musicstation service. The downside of this offer is that the service is time barred and that consumer, after the 14-day trial will be asked to pay £8.99 a month to continue receiving streaming access of up to ten MP3 downloads each month. Is this worth it after all?

Michael Paull, executive VP of global digital business for Sony Music Entertainment, said, “Consumers are asking for innovative digital music services that blend both access and ownership, and come pre-bundled with devices.” However my concern is that, will customers be lured to buy an HP because they are offering a 14day free trial? Most probably such free trials are already being offered by some of the sites themselves and hence this offer could end up not being attractive at all.

What is your opinion on this?

Kraft made it...Finally it managed to get Cadburys commitment to sell

2010-01-20T11:50:00.000-08:00

As they say the deal is no...and with this, Kraft have managed to get Cadbury's Board of Directors agreement to sell the company. This doesn't come for free to Kraft that has agreed to pay 840p per share which brings the total deal price of £11.6bn in a deal that involves both a cash and share element.

This is the second offer that Kraft made is much higher than the 745p which Kraft had made last September and that Cadbury had totally refused. The market was also expecting a move from either Ferrero or Hersheys as Cadbury preferred to be takenover in a friendly way (rather then in a hostile deal as Kraft tried to do in its initial approach) however both companies took to long to come up with an offer.

This deal did not go down really well with the famous US investor Warren Buffett who said that he had a lot of doubts on the deal. Kraft investors will not have the chance to vote on the deal, which involves the Kraft issuing 265m new shares, equivalent to about 18 per cent of its existing share capital, because that is below the 20 per cent level at which shareholder approval is required.

Mr Buffett, who holds more than 9 per cent of Kraft, said the company was worth more than its current stock price, which fell by 2 per cent at $28.72 in early Wall Street trading on Wednesday and hence the use of stock payment by Kraft make Cadbury's purchase a “very expensive deal”.

What do you think about the deal? Was it an ideal one or could Cadbury have made a better deal by waiting a bit more?

Google takes action against Censorship

2010-01-14T12:46:00.000-08:00

Google has made the first step forward towards keeping faith to it's mission of providing free access to information. In the regards, Google’s issued a threat to China that it is considering pulling out of the country rather than accept to continue self-censorship.

Google declared that it was the victim of a series of cyber-attacks that originated from China. The cyber attacks where not the usual one as these were very sophisticated and targeted Gmail accounts of Chinese Activists. Google said that only two accounts were hacked into and emails were not read.

Although one would expect that other companies would follow suit given that the first step has been taken, Microsoft decided to back out. The chief executive officer of the company, described the Google affair as “a Google problem” and said: “Every large institution is being hacked. I don’t think it’s a fundamental change in the security environment on the internet.”

How will this go ahead? Will Google back down and continue to pursue large earning potentials that China offer or will it step up it's battle?

Google to launch Nexus One

2010-01-08T12:40:00.000-08:00

Google have developed and finally launched a new mobile headset that is set to be a direct competitor of iPhone. This phone is Google's first official mobile phone device from the time it acquired mobile operating system company Android in 2005 (the mobile is being built by manufacturer HTC).

The strategy that Google will adopt will be different from that of iphone when it comes to distribution. Although Google will launch the Nexus through Vodafone in the UK, the operator partner will not be granted full exclusivity (Iphone launched in the UK with partner O2 on an exclusive basis). The phone is set to go on sale in the US, Singapore and Hong Kong initially and will later be rolled out in the UK.

The touch screen, sleek phone will cost $179.00 (£111) for a two-year contract with T-Mobile USA. Nexus One can also be purchased for around $529 (£324) on its own. Verizon Wireless in the US will plan to offer services to customers in the near future.

Like the iPhone, Android offers fully integrated web-browsing and video applications with a five megapixel camera. The phone will offer 18,000 apps and but unlike the iPhone, Nexus One allows multiple use of applications at the same time. Users will also be able access Google maps, emails and aggregated contacts. A voice enabled keyboard has also been embedded for speaking text messages, emails, tweets and Facebook updates.

Royal Mail figures published

2010-01-03T23:05:00.000-08:00

Royal Mail posted an increase in profitability for the first half of the year up to September 2009. The Postal Company said that its modernisation programme is a key reason why postal workers staged national strikes in October however it helped boost operating profit by £7m to £184m in the six-month period.

Various modernisation techniques were introduced including a walk-sequencing machine which involves a device which organises letters into the order the postmen and women will deliver them the next morning. Adam Crozier, the chief executive of Royal Mail, said the profits and improved delivery figures on record in the spring proved modernisation of the letters business was working.

The figures reported although they show an increase in profitability it also shows a decline in mail volumes . Mail volumes fell about 8 per cent in the period. This decrease resulted in an increase in rivals' volumes such as TNT Post UK and UK Mail are gaining share. To date, one in three letters is handled by rival companies, Royal Mail admitted.

The figures reported here do not include the effect of October's industrial action by 121,000 staff. This could mean that Royal Mail might lose more share to competing companies. Let's wait and see what the next results will report.

Theme Park to develop new ride and promises it will be the scariest ever

2009-12-28T13:34:00.000-08:00

First of all Happy Christmas to all of you...For all those that have the patience to read an article today I have found this news to be very interesting...

Have you ever been to a Theme Park? If yes, you'd probably gone to a horror house and some times you laugh with what you see...however this is might not be the case of the new Alton Towers Resort ride. In fact this park is to launch "the scariest ride in the UK" next year, it announced a week ago.

Thirteen, the new attraction is going to built on the site of the old Corkscrew roller coaster (which has gone on pension) and it aims to combine physical and psychological fear and will become the first ever "psychoaster". The ride which is set to cost £15 million will be restricted to 16 to 55-year-olds only and visitors will be limited to one ride per day due to concerns of emotional maturity and physical health. Apart from this visitors will also be required to sign a waiver which assures the resort of their physical and mental health in an attempt to avoid any resulting lawsuits which may result from visitors experiencing the ride.

This is not the first success of Alton Towers' as it had successfully deployed rides such as Nemesis, Oblivion and Air. The new ride will be based on the discovery of an unearthed ancient burial site in an area of unexplored woodland known as the Dark Forest. Thirteen with be built on a burial site that is part of the original Alton Abbey, one of the main features will take place inside the unearthed crypt.

Will you be one of the visitors to take on this challenge?

Ann Summers' rides on BA wave

2009-12-15T11:29:00.000-08:00

Where you searching for innovative marketing campaigns? Then search no further then Ann Summers'. This company is very active in the online media industry and in fact was very fast to react to international events. iCrossing, Ann Summers' digital marketing agency, was very quick to bid on BA strike-related keywords (obviously when you think about it you will immediate notice the potential that these words have given the amount of Christmas travel that was expected) so that when users searched for the latest news on the industrial action, a sponsored ad promoting the retailer emerged.

The link read "The planes may be grounded but you can still join the mile high club!" A link through to Ann Summers Online is also provided. This campaign started a large wave of praise for people who are on the lookout for marketing geniuses especially on twitter... below are some examples of comments on Twitter:-

@funky72 wrote: " Enter BA strike into Google for example of great tactical search advertising ... nice work Ann Summers :)"
@annaats said: "Some nice rapid response paid search ads around the BA strike ;)"

This was not the first smart maneuver by Ann Summers'...During the cold snap in February this year, using snow-related search terms, the agency launched a sponsored link with the strap line 'Brrr...cold out there, why not stay in and get steamy with Sex Toys from Ann Summers'.

Lets all wait and see what's the next big news will be and how Ann Summers will react.

Procter & Gamble adds a new brand to its existing portfolio

2009-12-13T23:09:00.000-08:00

Procter & Gamble is still going on with it strategic acquisitions in order to strengthen key areas of the business. In this regards, Procter & Gamble has agreed to buy the global air-care brand Ambi Pur for $470m from Sara Lee Corporation.

This acquisition of Ambi Pur strengthens P&G's global leadership in home care and specifically air care by extending the reach into new markets and strength the it's position in existing ones.

Ambi Pur which is a market leader in the Air-Care products in a lot of European countries will bring new innovative products to the existing Air Care portfolio of P&G. These technologies include car air fresheners, battery-powered air fresheners, toilet rim blocks and various non-energized air fresheners. P&G will now be able to leverage these additional technologies into it's existing brands in order to innovate and reinvigorate it's current brands.

Ambi Pur generated annual sales of approximately €260 million in the year ending June 2009.

Aer Lingus in a stuggle to save itself against another takeover attempt

2009-11-29T02:12:00.000-08:00

Aer Lingus has started sounding the takeover alarm. The new head of the airline has warned the company risks being taken over by its larger rival Ryanair unless all employees agree to his restructuring plans for sweeping cost cuts.

The issue is that if Aer Lingus isn't capable to control it's own costs and plan ahead , then the likelihood of being taken over and hence remain non independent is more likely to occur. Aer Lingus biggest rival is Ryanair, which has already placed two bids for Aer Lingus over the past years. Ryanair first bid €2.80 a share for Aer Lingus in October 2006, valuing the company at €1.48bn. That takeover was blocked by the European Commission on competition grounds. A second bid worth half that of the first in December last year also failed after the Irish government, which has a 25 per cent stake in Aer Lingus, said it undervalued the airline.

According to Irish takeover laws, Ryanair has the opportunity of making another takeover bid in late January...it is believed that the failure to reach an agreement with unions will increase the likelihood of the bid. Ryanair who already control just over 29 per cent of Aer Lingus is seeking to increase it shareholding to take full control.

The new chief executive officer of Aer Lingus who joined just a few months ago has devised plans and started talks to cut job and pays in order to save about €97m, however the Airline is still struggling in the negotiations with the pilots.

Aer Lingus this year reported a pre-tax loss of €119.7m and analysts say a failure to cut costs could jeopardise its independence.

ASDA Against Man Boobs

2009-11-26T05:30:00.001-08:00

ASDA is trying to improve men's image...but how? The supermarket's clothing brand George has launched a new range of Body Sculpture Vests in response to a growing concern over excess chest fat or ‘Moobs' (man boos) amongst British men.

This was done in response to a National Survey done by ASDA where 60% of the women admitted that their partners have beer belly and most probably moobs. Of these 60%, half of them would like to see their partners doing something to solve the problem.

The Body Sculpt Vests helps support and shape excess fat around the chest and stomach area to give the illusion of a flat chest. The Vest was launched for £7 and will be available only online for now so as to guarantee anonymity for those males that want to do something to solve the fat problem.

A recent survey from the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) reported a 44% increase in male breast reduction surgery and stomach liposuction between 2007 and 2009. A representative for the ASDA's brand said that the launch reflects an increase in male body confidence issues. While woman have been provided with all the tool to control fat and boob issues (with push up bras and minimising bras), why can't men be given a helping hand too?

What could be the next item to come out for sale?..I leave it up to you imagination.

Henry Scandal has its repercussions

2009-11-24T22:40:00.000-08:00

Everybody must have heard about the probably even watched Henry's (French Footballer) latest goal. Unfortunately for Henry he did not use his foot to put the ball in the net but used a "helping hand". As could have been expected, this goal lead to a huge wave of negative publicity against the French international player especially for his unprofessional behaviour.

What was the result of this negative publicity?

Apart from leading the same Henry to consider quitting Football, it left it's repercussions on brands which he used to represent. One of these brands is Gillette. The Sun (British Tabloid Newspaper) managed to notice something. Gillette had an advert on their website showing Federer, Tiger Woods and Henry all holding a symbol of their sport in their hand. It is useless to say that Henry was holding a Football in his hand.

However Gillette had to intervene and edit a little bit the advert on their French site. As can be seen from the following video (http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/video/article300101.ece?vxSiteId=6247211d-66e0-4454-b73a-3f1610efa39a&vxChannel=Football&vxClipId=1347_SUN40364&vxBitrate=300 ), in the French version of the advert the Football was removed from Henry's hand. The disappearance of the ball could be seen as an attempt to save Henry further embarrassment after his scandalous lack of sportsmanship last week.

His double handball helped him set up France's goal which sent them to next year's World Cup at the expense of the Republic of Ireland.

Gillette in reply to this claim denied they changed Henry's picture in response to the recent scandal. They insisted Henry was not pictured with the ball in his hand on the French website

The shaving firm's spokesman James Nunn said: "We have spoken to the French Gillette team and they are not aware of any recent changes that have been made to their website."

Will this have further repercussions?

Everybody wants Cadbury

2009-11-22T22:59:00.000-08:00

Cadbury has become very attractive, not only for it chocolate but for all it's business. After the hostile takeover attempts by Kraft Foods' all other major confectionery brands are starting to see whether they can produce a counter offer to takeover the British Brand.

One of these companies is Hershey which is controlled by a charitable trust. The Trust has encouraged the management to consider making a counter offer for Cadbury of around $17bn in such a way to topple the $16.2bn offer made by Kraft Foods.

However the bid is not imminent as there are a lot of things that Hershey has to analyse...one of these is to weigh the effect that such a huge transaction (that would include a combination of stock, debt and a multi billion-dollar contribution from deep-pocketed investors such as pension funds) would effect the overall viability of the company. Cadbury is larger than Hershey so the latter must be very careful not to end up like Porsche, who tried to take over Volkswagen but ended up being takeover by the same brand.

It is also thought that Hershey is seeking the cooperation of the Italy brand Ferrero so as to form a consortium that would bid for the British Brand. However, although Ferrero has expressed it's interest for Cadbury to the UK authorities, it is sill unclear whether Ferrero is ready to take this large step.

Hershey has an advantage over Kraft Foods as it has been working closely with Cadbury for a number of years by distributing the British Brand in the US. Hershey may be a welcome alternative in what has become an increasingly contentious standoff between Cadbury’s top executives and Kraft.

How would this end up? Will Kraft manage to takeover the British Brand or will Cadbury manage to hold back and defend itself from any takeover bid?

VW overtakes Toyota in manufacturer battle

2009-11-12T22:37:00.000-08:00

A constant battle exist on who is to become the leading car manufacturers in the world and the crown seems to be always changing hands...This year the people seem to have wanted a leader driving a small unassuming little VW bug.

The U.K.’s Guardian wrote that, "Volkswagen-Porsche has overtaken Toyota to become the world's largest car manufacturer as the German group benefits from state-backed stimulus packages around the globe." Volkswagen was reported to have produced a total of 4.4 million vehicles so far this year. This is about 400,000 more cars than its closes rival Toyota. This milestone was possible as Volkswagen took over Porsche earlier this year (after ironically Porsche failed in the attempt to buy Volkswagen).

Apart from this there were other economical factors that helped VW to overtake Toyota...for example Toyota has closed some plans this year and also by looking at the net gainers from the European support for buying new cars, Volkswagen was the leader.

The question is whether VW can keep the lead as Toyota has an estimated total capacity to produce 10million cars a year...what do you think?

Marmite opens it's first branded shop in London

2009-11-11T22:53:00.000-08:00

Unilever, the multinational FMCG group is trying to make the best out of it's marmite brand and after having undertaken various product extensions to it by introducing Marmite-flavoured rice cakes and breadsticks, it has now decided to trial it's first Marmite branded shop.

The shop opened this week on Regent Street and will be open seven days a week. The store stocks more than 100 Marmite-inspired products, some of which will be sold exclusively through the shop. It is surprising that the shop, apart from selling the famous jars of marmite and other marmite based food products, it will also be selling clothes, artwork and Christmas boxes.

This idea has been on Unilever's to-do-list from last year as the company wished to take a share of the lucrative and under served breakfast market. The tea & toast bar aims to promote itself through its social networking website such as Twitter.

So if you're in Regent Street it might be a good idea to drop...even if you don't like marmite as it sells other non food items...let us know what you think about the new shop.

Specsavers vs ASDA...who is the real specsaver?

2009-11-07T22:56:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I posted an article relating to issue with patents and another article about Pimms and Sainsbury clash...apparently these are not the only clashes around. A issue has arisen between ASDA and Specsavers.

The issue arose due to the use by ASDA of a similar logo to the one used by Specsavers (see logos below). Specsavers have been using the logo for quite some time and hence said that the new logo being used by ASDA is misleading customers. Moreover, ASDA has been using a slogan which add a further link to Specsavers as it says 'Be a real spec saver at Asda'.

According to Specsavers this was done on purpose and Specsavers filed a court order for ASDA to stop using the logo and slogan. Given the hot issue, the judge agreed to treat the case urgently, ruling there was enough evidence that Specsavers' reputation was threatened by Asda Optician's marketing campaign, which was launched last month.

In response to this, Asda yesterday agreed to stop using the slogan after this week but will continue to use the logo. Do you think that ASDA will win this case or will Specsavers manage to beat the giant?

Marketing Stunts...do they always work?

2009-10-28T23:53:00.000-07:00

It is said that guerilla marketing or marketing stunts are the best way to attract attention and get free press coverage. However is the result always desirable for the company...apparently not, or at least this was the case of Tele2.

A publicity stunt involving a fake meteorite strike in Latvia has totally backfired with Tele2 (a Swedish telecoms company) possibly losing a government contract. Tele2 admitted that the meteorite crash has been staged in the Latvian countryside and the hoax claimed that this strike caused a 10 metre wide crater. This stunt has alerted the Latvian emergency services who went rushing to the scene together with scientist only to find that this was all a stunt.

All this saga was recorded and posted on YouTube, with the video registering more than 400,000 views. Tele2 said that the stunt was part of a wider marketing campaign that is due to be revealed later on this year. However this has not gone down well with the Latvian Government. The interior minister has told that it is not acceptable for a company to promote itself using public fund, especially in a period when Latvia has been very hard hit by the economic downturn registering a very high rate of unemployment and the biggest fall in GDP in the European Union. In an attempt to save its face, Tele2 has reportedly said that it will reimburse the government over any expenses incurred by the stunt.

Will this be enough to save it from losing all contracts in the country? We'll wait and see...

Advertising Standards Authority rule against Bet365

2009-10-27T23:48:00.000-07:00

How many times have you read or watched an advert promoting free bets? The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has now taken action.

The ASA has pulled two press ads featured in the Racing Post for igaming site Bet365.com, after it received complaints that the ads were misleading. The complaint read that the advert did not clarify that the free bet was not free at all. In fact to get the maximum advertised free bet of £200 the punter had to part with £900 of his own money. Bet365 replied by saying that the advert stated that the offer was subject to terms and conditions.

Bet365 said that the terms were too complex to be included in the ads but were readily available on its website. It felt the magazine’s readership were an educated betting audience and would automatically understand the terms of the free bets. The ASA took noticed of the fact that consumers were required to spend £900 to obtain the full £200 of free bets, with a minimum spend of £25 to receive a bet worth £25.

The ASA considered that these conditions were very important and that if publish they would have influenced consumers’ understanding of the offer and because the information had not been included in the ads they were likely to mislead.

The ASA has ruled that the ads must not appear again in their current form. Will this revolutionise the igaming adverts?

Legal Disputes against giant companies

2009-10-26T23:44:00.000-07:00

Big companies are always under the spotlight when it comes to the introduction of new technologies, however sometimes smaller companies question whether the new technology is really new or whether it actually belongs to another company...this is the case of Elan against Apple. Apple, lately has been acclaiming the fact that it has a lot of multi-touch patents however it must be a little bit concerned about the fact that last week a news came out that it's on the receiving end of a lawsuit from Elan Microelectronics.

Elan makes keypads for laptops, more specifically those used in the EeePC. It claims that Apple has infringed two of its patents and is seeking an injunction on the sales of the MacBook, iPhone, and iPod Touch. Although they are unlikely to get the spot on sales, and given the fact that they have already won a similar case against another company (Synaptics) on one of the same patents, the chance is high that Apple might be forced to settle.

The issue of patent infringement does not only happen between small and large companies but it also happens between large famous companies too...it is interesting to try to find out whether patent infringement is done knowingly or due to a lack of proper patent research. The fact is that the purpose of patents is to protect the inventor of new technologies in such a way that inventors continue to come up with new inventions...hence it is important to protect these inventors ideas while at the same time making sure that everyone can benefit from the new discoveries.

Failing to Act is Acting to fail

2009-10-08T12:51:00.001-07:00

It is interesting and at the same time a pity to read how a company can drive away huge clients and lose money without taking immediate action to tap the source of the problem. I'm speaking about Royal Mail and the strikes which have been on and off since last July. This left a sizable dent on the image of Royal Mail, a reliable postal partner, as well as its bottom line.

Two huge companies, Amazon.co.uk and ebay.co.uk have take action to avoid being caught in the issue both directly and indirectly. Whereas Amazon has decided to act directly (given that it contract the postal provider itself) ebay is using lobbying to try to diminish the impact that such strikes are having on sellers depending on Royal Mail.

It was announced that Amazon is searching an alternative mail partner that will ensure as minimal disruption as possible to its services in the run up to the Christmas period, which is seen as vital after the recession. This could lead to Royal Mail losing a contract of a reported value of about £25 million (Amazon is the second largest client of Royal Mail). Apart from this, one needs to consider the extensive damage that these strikes are having on the brand of Royal Mail. While companies are starting to look at alternatives (which will give a boost to competition), many customers are trying to avoid Royal Mail as it is slow and inefficient.

In my opinion, although the company should not give in to any request made by Unions (who sometimes use strike measures as a threatening tool), it must sit around a table with the representative of its employees and Unions and try to find a solutions as quickly as possible. The sooner this is done the less the harm Royal Mail will suffer...Should it decide to wait and see it might face a higher damage then if it gave in to union request.

P.S. This will be my last article for the next two weeks as I won't be having access to Internet...will see you soon.

Diageo withdraw legal actions against Sainsbury

2009-10-04T22:58:00.000-07:00

Some time ago I had written about the case where Diageo, the company which owns Pimm's, had initiated legal action against supermaket giant Sainsbury. Today we have more news about the issue...at the time I had asked who will win the game, will it be the supplier or the distributor. The answer is that an amicable deal was reached as probably the threat was too large for Diageo.

Diageo who started legal proceedings against Sainsbury's in August over Pitcher's, was resolved last week. Sainsbury's can continue to sell the Pitcher's brand, but will add its name to the label and change the colouring from gold to orange. Sainsburys' own brand Pitcher's is cheaper than Pimm's and is currently priced at £10.79 for a single 70cl bottle on the Sainsbury's website.

In a joint statement the two companies said that Diageo and Sainsbury's are pleased to confirm that the dispute regarding Diageo's Pimm's brand and Sainsbury's Pitchers brand has been amicably settled and the legal proceedings withdrawn. Both companies are very pleased with the outcome and look forward to continuing our strong trading relationship

Before this amicable deal, things did not look good at all as Diageo had issues a statement in August saying that they can confirm that they had initiated legal proceedings against Sainsbury's in relation to an intellectual property matter. However Sainsbury dug its heels in and replied back with its own statement saying that they intended to vigorously defend themselves against these allegations. They claimed that customers are savvy enough to know exactly what they're buying.

The saga has come to an end but there could be other companies who try to go down this route to defend their brands...there will always be a power struggle however in these cases an amicable deal is always worth it for both brands!

Woolworths set for revival

2009-10-01T12:21:00.000-07:00

I was reading an interesting article on the big brands which went bust during the credit crunch over the past year. I remember it all started with the fall of the banks and Woolworths. It was headline news everywhere, the big and long surviving brand lost it's battle...however the economy is recovering and new stores are opening again...it was here that I read that even Woolworth's is being reopened (in it's brick and mortar format) and it seeks to relaunch under the new name 'Alworths'. Could this be the proof of the end of the recession?

The idea is the brainchild of former Woolworths commercial director Tony Page, former UBS banker Gareth Thomas and former Woolworths store development manager Andy Latham.The Independent claims the plan is set for the launch of 50 stores, which will be Woolworths in all but name.

However problems started to merge as Page will not be involved in the new launch and is now threatening legal action against Latham who is set to launch the store on his own. According to the Indipendent, Alworths stores are set to open in Didcot in Oxfordshire, Faversham in Kent and Wokingham in Berkshire. The new chain will not be able to sell Woolworths' former own-brand products which have been bought by various chains including Argos (which bought Chad Valley toy range) and Shop Direct (which bought the Ladybird childrenswear brand).

Taxi's go 2.0

2009-09-29T22:57:00.000-07:00

The new Taxi Service is called greentomatocars (http://twitter.com/greentomatocars) and the company claims to be the first private hire service in the UK to take Taxi bookings via Twitter. The company's green credentials are based on using what it claims to be the greenest car on the market - the Toyota Prius.

Bookings can be made by sending a direct or private message to greentomatocars with the details of the journey required. The company will then Tweet back, containing a unique booking reference confirming and hence confirming the booking.

The company is trying to build a community about it...a way of increasing word of mouth about it's service riding the wave of it's green credentials. Visitors can participate in an online conversation around environmental issues. Asked about why Twitter, founder Tom Pakenham, said: "Twitter has become such a phenomenon and with so many people in London using it, we are delighted to be able to use Twitter to build a closer relationship with our customers and make booking a car simpler and easier than ever."

This is not the only booking service via Twitter, last week, a Twitter-based hotel booking engine launched called Inoqo. This booking engine enables customers to book and check-in within 48 hours and take advantage of special deals.

Tesco Model found to be an illigal immigrant

2009-09-27T22:46:00.000-07:00

Fatou Cham, a checkout girl (checkout number 6, Tesco, east London) was picked by Tesco to model for a glossy advertising blitz however she was later exposed as being an illegal immigrant.

Ms. Cham came to the UK from Gambia in 1998 on a student visa (studying banking, economics and finance at London Metropolitan University) however stayed after it expired in 2001.

Ms. Cham was chosen to model for the Florence and Fred clothing range by Tesco from a pool of hundreds of hopefuls for an ad campaign used in women's magazines. The advert showed Ms Cham modelling in a blue dress with the words below the image saying "Designed by F&F. Priced by Tesco. "

Immigration officers questioned her at her home in East Ham, east London, on Monday. She was quoted to say that she was excited to be chosen for the Tesco campaign and had hoped it would bring her other opportunities. However everything went wrong.

How do you think this might affect Tesco's image?

First Direct Embraces Web 2.0

2009-09-24T23:12:00.000-07:00

Speaking about digital advertising and Web 2.0, First Direct seems to have embraced this concept to the full. In fact the brand, has decided to launch a campaign that will include both positive and negative consumer comments about its service and brand.

The press, outdoor and digital campaign will use a selection of comments about First Direct made on blogs and forums from all parts of the net. It is setting up a new microsite, Firstdirect.com/live, that will serve as an aggregator of all mentions of the brand (both positive and negative) that would allow the users to form their own opinion about the brand.

It's all about being open with one's own customers and try to make advertising more credible and more impartial. According to Natalie Cowen (Marketing Communication Manager of First Direct) ‘It's a very open and transparent way of demonstrating why we're the number-one bank for customer satisfaction...It's a campaign not many brands, let alone banks, would be able to launch.'

The bank has been report that it will be reducing its use of conventional advertising and turn more toward online advertising and speak direct to its users via Web 2.0 application such as blogs, forums and social networking sites.

The Lost Symbol Release - Record Sales Registered

2009-09-17T13:10:00.000-07:00

Two days ago was release one of the most expected book this year... 'The Lost Symbol' by Dan Brown. Its sales broke the record by selling one million copies in hard cover and e-book version in the US, UK and Canada.

In the US the book's publisher Random House was forced to release copies to the media a day before the release after the New York Times posted a review of the book on Sunday. All he papers, as expected, swiftly followed suite and published their own book reviews.

In the UK the competition was between the two big book retailers, Waterstone and Borders. Each held a competition on who will become the first retailers to post their own reviews of the book after having both received advance copies of the book. The first to announce to have finished the book was Waterstone's press officer Jon Howells, who update the retailer's Twitter page and claimed to have finished at 5.10am.

Even though the book was expected to attract a high premium due to the massive demand, ASDA was quick to set a low price record by offering the book at at selling price of £5, a massive £13.99 below its recommended £18.99 price. Was the book in the end worth all the fuss? If you have read it post a comment and let me know what you think :)

KIA goes Green

2009-09-15T23:08:00.000-07:00

Kia goes Green and it is launching a sub brand to highlight this feature.

The Korean car manufacturer Kia is launching a new sub-brand to help consumers identify its most fuel efficient vehicles. With this brand Kia is answering to the go green plea.

The EcoDynamics brand was unveiled this week at the Frankfurt Motor Show and said this brand will be applied to the eco-friendly car within each Kia model range. During the Motor Show Kia has unveiled three new hybrid models:- the Kia Forte LPI Hybrid, the Kia cee'd Hybrid and the diesel Kia Sorento Hybrid. The usual badges will be removed from these cars which will only have the new EcoDynamics legend brand signage.

This move is expected to continue grow car sales as Kia has seen UK sales of new cars rising by 16% year-on-year, benefitting from the Government's scrappage incentive scheme.

The merger of the Titans

2009-09-09T14:11:00.000-07:00

It seems that companies are moving fast in trying to secure business deals before the economy recovers so as to try to capitalise on the recession. After the acquisition of Marvel by Disney, Kraft Foods (the owner of brands such as Oreos) tried its luck with Cadbury.

Although a heavy premium was being proposed to be paid (31% over the share price of the day), the initial offer has been rejected. Kraft offer was of £10.2 billion Kraft said said that the acquisition of Cadbury made good business sense as adding Cadbury would create a company with global revenues in excess of $50bn and create savings across the enlarged entity of $625m annually.

According to the chairman and chief executive of Kraft Foods, the proposed combination is about growth. Basically Karft would continue to build upon Cadbury's iconic brands and strong British heritage through increased investment and innovation. Kraft believes that the next stage for Cadbury will be a very challenging one however given the strength of Kraft,this will be facilitated as it has the experience in expanding and capitalising on brand growth. In rejecting the offer, Cadbury said the offer undervalued the company, and expressed confidence in its standalone strategy and growth prospects as a result of its strong brands, unique category and geographic scope.

The market is eagerly awaiting the next steps that Kraft will take...will it increase its offer further or will it try a hostile take over by trying to lure in large shareholders on Cadbury?

Facebook being used by Scammers

2009-09-06T10:43:00.001-07:00

I read this article and although not directly related to marketing I thought it could be helpful to anyone for two reasons....you learn how to avoid a new kind of online scam and at the same time it highlights how scammers piggyback international brands.

Jayne Scherrman lost about £2,500 in a Facebook scam after her friend, Grace Parry, had her log-in details stolen. Jayne started receiving requests from her friend Grace stating that she and her husband had been robbed in London and needed money to get back home. Apparently apart from the numerous messages, Jayne received a call from a man with a British accent claiming to be an immigration official. He claimed that her friend Grace and Grace's husband were being detained and that they needed money to fly them home.

Jayne, given that the request came from her friend, sent three different wire transfers to London. Meanwhile the real Grace was trying to get hold of her account back but was very difficult as she was locked out.

In these cases the problem is that people have become too trusting of messages they receive via social networks. It doesn't mean that if you receive a message from you friend it is a genuine message as you friend's account might have been hacked into! Especially when it comes to money request, better try to contact your friend on his mobile and double check the story before actually sending out any money. Even after contacting your friend it would be advisable to contact the embassy in that country to report the incident (if your friend claims to be abroad).

Just a word of advise, it's better to be a bit sceptical in these cases...most probably your friend will understand you :)

Employees criticise customers on Facebook

2009-09-04T11:24:00.000-07:00

Brands invest hefty sums of money in PR to try to improve their image in the eyes of the consumer and make them shop more however DSGi, the parent company of PC World and Currys, was surprised to learn what was going on, on Facebook.

A Facebook group named DSGi Employees appeared on Facebook and it had quite opend conversations between DSGi staff with contemptuous comments about the chain's customers. In this group the employees provide ample criticism towards customers, with discussions ranging from 'Chatting up customers....' to 'Arsehole customers!', 'Really Stupid Customers!' and 'Some customers are really really stupid.....'. The group itself points out that it isn't a group for those who love and adore DSGi, just one for people who work/have worked for the same company. The group ask visitors to bear in mind that this is an UNOFFICIAL Dixons Stores Group plc, Discussion forum/Community, any views/opinions expressed on this page by either the group creator or it's members are those of the individuals only and not of DSGi plc or any of its affiliates."

Similar staff mutterings on Facebook have resulted in employee discipline, including Virgin Atlantic, which launched an 'investigation' after staff were found badmouthing their customers last year. In July, Primark promised to probe its staff after several employees posted "malicious" Facebook comments about customers, calling them fat, pikeys, and twats.In January, Waitrose and Tesco also launched investigations following the revelation that some employees had posted abusive comments about customers on various Facebook groups.

I believe this event further proves the need for companies to monitor forums and social media as it must make sure that such occurrences are minimised and promptly tackled. How much do you believe such comments left by employees of these companies leave would have on you if you were a customer of these companies?

Disney to buy Marvel for £2.45bn

2009-09-01T12:18:00.000-07:00

Walt Disney is to grow exponentially as it agreed to buy Marvel Entertainment, which is the owner of such comic characters such as Spider Man, X-Men, Fantastic Four and Iron Man, for £2.45bn in a cash and shares deal. The agreement entail the ownership of about 5000 characters created by Marvel. This will give Disney a more diverse portfolio of characters that appeal to all ages and taste....family figures such as the Disney Classics and violet figures such as X-Men.

Accordin to Robert Iger, president of The Walt Disney Company this deal will combine Marvel's strong global brand and character portfolio with Disney's creative skills, unparalleled global portfolio of entertainment properties, and a business structure that maximizes the value of creative properties across multiple platforms and territories.

As with all major buyouts, this deal will be subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

Look beyond the wrapper...Maoam story

2009-08-30T14:05:00.000-07:00

I was reading some articles on the net and came across a very interesting article...have you ever come across the sweet label Maoam? If yes you should read the following article:-

The Haribo brand did not go down well to a shopper who noticed that the wrapper illustrations appeared to depict pieces of fruit engaged in sexual activity. The complaint was made public by various media including The SUN and The Daily Mail. Mr. Simon Simpkins from West Yorks said he had a "heated exchange" with the shop manager when he saw Maoam's wrappers.

All Maoam wrappers feature a lime character close to, or holding, different items of fruit depending on the sweet's flavour. Mr. Simpkins went for the lemon flavour, however when he looked at the wrapper, the image was quite interesting...but at the same time shocking. He said: "The lemon and lime are locked in what appears to be a carnal encounter. The lime, who I assume to be the gentleman in this coupling, has a particularly lurid expression on his face."

Honestly by analysing the wrappers and try to look at them in different light you might say that Mr. Simpkins is actually right. Have a look at the cherry flavour packaging which is even funnier. It features Mr Lime "tasting" a cherry while another one watches.

According to Haribo the wrapper design was introduced in 2002 and was an attempt to make the wrappers "more lively". It denied there were any sexual connotations intended in the illustrations. Haribo did also confirm that they received the complaint from Mr. Simpkins and published the email.

After having read all this what do you think? Do you think that brands use these imagery as subliminal cues or do people try to interpret images in their way?

Microsoft accused of discriminating in advertising

2009-08-26T23:08:00.000-07:00

It's unbelievable but some companies still find it difficult to include people from different cultures in their marketing material. The last company to fall pray of this potentially discriminating activity is Microsoft, the software giant. It was found that an image was edited and swapped with a white man's photo on its Polish website.

The image appeared in its original form on Microsoft's US website and in an edited format on the polish site. Microsoft has apologised for the incident and taken the offending image down. Microsoft admitted the mistake and reiterated that diversity and inclusion are core values and business imperatives of Microsoft. It apologiesed for any offence caused.

Blogger seeks compensation from Advertisers

2009-08-24T22:53:00.001-07:00

It is a known fact that people are exposed to numerous adverts each day without actually having the ability of doing anything to stay clear of them...However, McCruddon's a blogger was not happy with this situation and in his blog he examines the time he has spent sitting, viewing, queueing and waiting in restaurants, the Post Office, on the Victoria Line, watching TV and in sandwich shops over a six-week period.

From the calculation he made he found that he lost quite a large amount of time in front of adverts and he estimated that the time lost accounted to £6,000. What did McCruddon do when he discovered this fact?

He has actually written to more than 50 companies, and invoiced them for the amount of time he has spent with them. Funnily enough, Pret A Manger was the first company to have paid McCruddon. They have paid him the sum of £62, however the managing director of a fruit and nut stall has taken this battle to the next level...he is actually now demanding McCruddon to pay him for time spent reading his letter and blog.

How will this battle end...will McCruddon claims be met? Companies could actually pay the small amounts and use this opportunity to generate positive PR. McCruddon claims he wants to challenge the the general assumption that consumers are subservient to brands. What do you think?

Pimm's to sue Pitcher...a battle to the last bottle!

2009-08-23T23:07:00.000-07:00

Diageo the drink giant, owner of such brands as Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff Vodka and Pimm's, said that it will be taking legal action against Sainsbury supermarket over what it claims is a copycat version of its popular summer drink...Pimm's.

The dispute started when Sainsbury released the drink, which it called Pitchers, in mid-April and started heavily advertising the product in the same way as Pimm's. It said that it could be mixed with lemonade and fruit (which is how Pimm's No. 1 is traditionally served). Apart from this, the bottle carries a high resemblance to Pimm's same bottle. In fact the bottle has the exact same shape, the letters are written in the same font and they both have a golden boarded with a coat of arms on the top.

Sainsbury, as all other supermarket brand didn't shy away from competition...to the contrary it use price comparison advertising to state that it's Pitchers was cheaper than competition and it performed better in taste tests. This has made it the obvious choice to many consumer for the summer season as the brand was launched in time for for all the top summer events...mainly Ascot, Henley and of course, Wimbledon.

The biggest problem for Diageo is that Sainbury's is one of the country's biggest retailers and one of their major customers...could this affect their trading relationship? Let's wait and see how it goes.

TalkTalk uses innovative promotions...what about put pocketers!

2009-08-22T00:53:00.000-07:00

I'm back...I was in London for a wee time and could not update the blog unfortunately as it was really difficult to find free Wifi spots! However I came across this article and thought it was a good example of a proactive company using innovative solutions!

TalkTalk undertakes another guerrilla marketing campaign...and what a campaign. The company has decided to start distributing money between now and the end of August in areas of central London and on the Tube network. You might think how will this money be distributed...and this is the innovative part!

TalkTalk has employed a team of 20 ex-pickpoketers to actually start "put pocketing". The company has confirmed that lucky recipients of put pocketed cash will receive a branded card along with the cash.The campaign is being promoted with posters at relevant locations proclaiming "Rejoice!

The campaign however has met with a mixed response from those who like the idea of finding a fiver in their trousers, to those who have been victims of bag snatching and other street crimes questioning the sense of such a campaign. However this is what make the campaign successful...it makes people talk about the company. TalkTalk has also anticipated such fears and informed Metropolitan Police about this campaign. Apart from this the put pocketers have been given ID in case they do get caught in the act. Have a look at this Talk Talk Video that shows some of these stunts...what's your opinion on it?

Best Buy offering Unbelievable prices during the recession.

2009-08-13T04:12:00.001-07:00

About two weeks ago I have told you about the launch of Palm Pre and the Pricing mistake that Best Buy did (issued it at a fantastic price of $99). Did you think this was going to be the last mistake done as they would pay extra attention from now on? Unfortunately this was not the case...

Best Buy is apparently trying it's best to try to help customers through through the recession, but no one could have imaged that they could go as far as offering a 52-inch TV for just $9.99! It happened on Wednesday however as usual it was too good to be true.

As soon as the people noticed the price Bloggers and Twitterers lit up the Internet with posts about the offer, some insisting Best Buy must honor it, others making jokes. However the decision of the retailer this time, unlike with the Palm Pre mistake was not to honor the $9.99 price posted Wednesday morning on its Web site for a 52-inch Samsung flat-screen TV but to refund those that bought it. The price was then adjusted by early afternoon to $1,799.99, almost half off the original $3,399.99 price.

Obvious such repeated mistake left it's mark on the share price as it fell 27 cents to close at $36.50 Wednesday. Do you think they should at least subscribe to their own newsletter maybe in this way they can check their own best offers?

Asda to Launch Social Networking Site

2009-08-12T23:29:00.000-07:00

ASDA has decided to give more power to it's shoppers and go embrace Web 2.0. Ithas announced that it intends to launch a social networking site, which will allow shoppers to connect with the Brand.

The site, that will be called Your Asda, will allow shopper and potential shoppers to tell Asda what they don't like, what they like and what they would like to see and will also be able to comment on products they want in their local stores. Although one might think they they are a bit late in following this trend it is a very good sign that even retail giants who's main focus is price are willing to take in customer comments. It is always better to have customer speaking of their dissatisfaction to you (the Brand) rather than say the same things on other formus.

Your Asda will comprise a blog, step by step guides to products, a live Twitter feed and a photo gallery. Asda will also launch a site for staff called The Green Room in which employees can vent their opinions about the retailer. Do you think other grocers will follow this trend?

Absolute Vodka goes Rock

2009-08-11T23:00:00.000-07:00

Absolute Vodka, the Pernod Ricard brand, will launch a limited edition bottle...it will dressed in leather and studs and will go rock "Absolute Rock Edition"

The New Absolute Bottle

As can be seen from the picture above, the exclusive bottle will celebrate rock and the company aims at creating initiative that support the Absolute's new bottle jacket. The latest bottle will launch in Selfridges in early September 2009 and will be sold at £19.99. Following the exclusive launch, the bottle will be rolled out to other retailers at the beginning of October.

As part of this campaign Absolute will create a digital activities on it website that will focus on delivering humorous insights into a rock band's, the person behind the band and lifestyle. As with other big marketing activities, such as the launch of Eminem new album, Absolute will be present in key areas of London, especially those areas that capture the vibrant UK rock scene. This will enable the brand to reinforce it connection to the lifestyle and increase the experiential power of it campaign through gigs and rock concerts.

Marketing Blunders

2009-08-04T23:23:00.000-07:00

McDonald's Tainted MP3 Players

In Japan, where technology frenzy is common place and where even virtual pets have their own MP3 players; McDonald's ran a contest in which customers were eligible to win their very own MP3 device.

After distributing around 10,000 gadgets, customers discovered that each MP3 came loaded with 10 free songs and a trojan malware, capable of communicating user logins and passwords. A software patch was dispersed and a recall was instituted, thereby ending McDonald's worst campaign.

Icy Response to Snapple (Natural Juice Company)

Snapple decided it was time to do something big…as big as attempting to overtake the Guinness World Record for the largest ice lollipop, made out of the company's tasty kiwi-strawberry drink. The company however had a serious flaw in it plans…the record breaking attempt took place mid-June. Immediately upon unloading, the melted juice poured from the truck, creating a syrupy tidal wave which became a major headache for cleanup crews.

LifeLock CEO Tempts Fate

The personal fraud protection company LifeLock guarantees the security of your identity under their employ. So much so that, in a nationwide ad, CEO Todd Davis posts his personal social security number on the side of a van — daring identity thieves to give it a shot. Turns out, they did.

No fewer than 25 motivated thieves stole Davis' social security number — with one successfully receiving a $500 loan. LifeLock maintains its diligence, claiming that for a nationwide ad, only one case of stolen identity isn't too bad. It doesn't advise posting your mom's maiden name on your car, however.

General Motors Inspires Amateur Filmmaking

Three years ago, General Motors did its own marketing blunder too…it tried to tap in the young drivers market by tapping into the YouTube craze. GM launched a website allowing users to create their own commercial about the Chevy SUV and upload it for public view.

That was a good idea however GM forgot one thing…monitor what was being uploaded. GM hadn't realized that it bore favorable connotations, and participants started producing short films about global warming, the war in Iraq, or negative attacks against the auto's quality. The problem was that it took the company one month to realize this!

KFC Underestimate Fan Frenzy

Companies use giveaways as a way to increase popularity and visibility for their products…so what could go wrong? KFC started it own promotion by giving away free KFC meals…a good idea you might say but…

After Oprah announced a KFC giveaway on her much-watched program, the food chain couldn't keep up with the lines of customers…this stampede gave way to a flood of protests which obviously back fired…so be careful as promotions might be too successful which becomes a problem when you can’t keep up with the demand.

Zombie Invasion Credited to Dr. Pepper

It's hard to dislike a treasure hunt, unless the “X” spot lies somewhere over a historical landmark. An international campaign from Dr. Pepper's then-owner Cadbury Schweppes hid coins within 23 American cities to promote the soft drinks’ "23 flavors."But the agency in charge of Boston's location selected the Granary Burying Ground; a historical landmark.

The result:- A flood of shovels tried to find the coin but Cadbury Schweppes ended the contest. However the graveyard had to be closed to prevent a zombie outbreak.

Microsoft and Yahoo! to collaborate again Google

2009-07-29T22:51:00.001-07:00

Finally Microsoft has achieved its target, or nearly...The deal that has been signed between Microsoft and Yahoo caps more than two years of effort by Microsoft to get hold of Yahoo's search business in an effort to become a serious challenger to Google. Although less drastic than the $48bn bid for the acquisition of Yahoo that Microsoft had proposed last year, the move would be still be a very expensive one for Microsoft and it will not an easy one to implement but could help Microsoft to become a credible rival for Google.

Microsoft and Yahoo! have announced a ten-year revenue-share search pact. Microsoft's Bing will now power Yahoo! search while Yahoo! will become the exclusive worldwide relationship sales force for both companies' search advertisers.

Microsoft announced that the agreement will provide it's search engine (Bing) with the scale necessary to attract more advertising revenue and increase the visibility of the brand. This will enable it to compete more effectively with Google in an attempt to come out from a defensive strategy to a more aggressive competing strategy.

Microsoft will acquire an exclusive ten-year license to Yahoo!'s core search technologies, and Microsoft will have the ability to integrate Yahoo! search technologies into its existing web search platforms.

Should this deal pass antitrust scrutiny, do you think this relationship will be a successful one? Do you think Yahoo! and Microsoft will be a real threat for Google?

Palm Pre Launched...and this was done at a very special price!

2009-07-27T14:11:00.001-07:00

Palm Pre, the Iphone's competitor, has been launched and customers searching for a bargain online were just surprised! Best Buy had lowered the price of the Palm Pre by more than half over the weekend. Unfortunately this surprise was short lived as it turned out to be a mistake, although it was one which many were able to exploit.

The confusion stemmed from an in-store promotion offering the device, usually sold by Best Buy for $199, for $99. It appears the idea was to simply promote Best Buy’s standard offer, but an error with promotional material unintentionally turned it into a sale deal.

Palm Pre

If this had happened in the early nineties the impact of this mistake would have been very limited however with the spread of the Internet, the consequences were not small. Potential buyers started noticing the price and started informing others online. As the word spread out the number of units sold started to increase.

Best Buy confirmed, through its marketing manager, that the discounted price as actually a mistake. He said that the company is composed of humans and that these are bound to making mistakes. He also confirmed that the orders were honoured even those that were made at the price of $99.

Some people do not believe the mistake issue but are coming up with various theories of why Best Buy came up with a discounted price. One of these theories suggest that Palm or Best Buy is planning a price cut for later in the year, perhaps for a back to school promotion, and that this promotion was activated in advance by mistake. Another advanced theory is that the firm wanted a relatively cheap way of researching how popular such a price cut would be. The incident has certainly generated plenty of publicity for the idea that a $99 Palm Pre would be good value. However, there’s no guarantee that people giving the obvious response that $99 is better than $199 would translate into a suitable increase in profits.

It's important to know your product well...surely ASDA missed this point this time last week.

2009-07-26T22:44:00.000-07:00

ASDA, Walmart's arm in the UK, felt it was in the forefront to score a PR coup when it went trumpeting the arrival of "Britain's cheapest bike" in its stores. For £70, customers could walk away with a brand new adult's mountain bike. A total bargain! ASDA might have though how could this go wrong!

However they did not consider everything. Although the price was surely a killer, not everything was perfect. They did not take care of all details and someone actually noticed this. The offer actually turned into a PR disaster, when late last week the supermarket was forced to pull a TV advert, which was created by Fallon London, for the bicycles after viewers noticed they had been built so badly that they were dangerous.

The Problem Bike - British Eagle Verona Model

Mark Brown, director of the Association of Cycle Traders, was the one who noticed the mistake. Actually the the front forks of the men's bike in the advert faced the wrong way. The meant that the bicycle would not steer correctly and the brakes would not work properly, thus representing a health hazard for the users. The ASDA bikes come in parts, meaning customers have to attach the pedals, front wheel, handlebars and saddle themselves.

Brown commented on the advert on the Guardian Website and said that "Not even ASDA know how to set up their own bikes. This is indicative of the problems which arise from what we in the bike industry call 'flat-pack bikes'. However, unlike flat-pack furniture this could seriously damage your health."

ASDA spokesperson admitted the mistake and said that "As soon as we spotted the error, we put the brakes on the TV ad and pulled it". ASDA is working on a new ad which will replace the problematic one and this will be launched in the coming weeks. Hopefully this time they leave the bike's assembly in expert hands!

ASDA in the meantime thanked thousands of customers that have already bought one one these bikes and who have managed to correctly follow the instructions on how to assemble the bike, better than ASDA."

Sexual Connotation in adverts...does it really pay off?

2009-07-23T10:40:00.000-07:00

There is a new soft drink advert going round online and it's now being banned from YouTube. It is being claimed by many that that the promotional video is taken from a banned German advertising campaign for Sprite.

The TV ad opens with a shot from behind of a girl performing oral sex on man. While she's at it, she starting thinking and then she stops to say she would like a Sprite whereupon the ad cuts to a side-on shot of her sucking the bottle before it is explodes over her face. The ad uses the Sprite endline of 'Obey your thirst'.

The ad was quickly pulled from YouTube at the beginning of the week, with the site initially blaming copyright infringement. I managed to find a copy for you on this site as a person managed to download it and post a copy online (http://asheq.co.uk/2009/07/22/sucking-sprite-off).

Eventually director of the advert Max Issacson came forward and admitted the ad was actually intended as an experiment to see how many people would be fooled into thinking it was real.

This advert was not the first advert of its type, Perrier had made a very similar ad back in 1976 and it is basically exactly the same as the Sprite one, but without the blow job. This goes to say that the idea is not new...however what do you think such ads pay?

In my opinion, they are very valuable if one wants to produce a lot of PR however one must be really careful with the potential damage that this could cause to the brand.

Microsoft Launches Comparative Advertising

2009-07-20T23:11:00.000-07:00

Microsoft has finally stepped it's game against Apple and recognised that it actually has a competitive advantage, maybe not a so powerful long term one but it's still a competitive advantage. A PC basically costs much less then the equivalent MacBook and given Mac's premium pricing strategy, the advantage it's quite clear....

So what's interesting about this story? Everybody knows it's cheaper to buy a PC compared to buying a Mac, however few know what happened when Microsoft launched it's latest TV campaign. The TV spots launched by Microsoft feature shoppers who are on the lookout for a laptop under $1,000. They consider Apple's Macintosh models but dismiss them because they are too expensive. Upon seeing this advert, Apple's legal team phone Microsoft COO asking him to stop the ads because Apple had actually lowered the prices on some of its laptops. (see advert below)

Microsoft COO, speaking at Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans this week, said: "Two weeks ago we got a call from the Apple legal department saying, 'Hey, you need to stop running those ads, we lowered our prices'. He was actually delighted to hear this and said that given this response he will sure keep running the ad as it is having an effect.

Microsoft's latest ads follow its "I'm a PC" ads, launched last year, which were created in response to Apple's 'Mac vs PC' ads, which feature a geeky PC guy unable to keep up with the "hip Mac user". What do you think about this campaign?

Twitter documents hacked...strategy revealed

2009-07-17T11:04:00.000-07:00

Twitter has been affected from a security breech...a hacker managed to access a number of files that had been saved by one of its employees google files online and disclosed these files to the media. The files contained a number of confidential documents outlining the strategy of the company and the bank account figures.

The strategy documents outline Twitter ambition to roll out roll out a five-pronged commercial strategy aimed at helping it generate $140 million in revenue by 2010 and $1.5 billion in sales by 2013.

According to stolen documents published by Techcrunch, Twitter's long-awaited money-making strategy will focus on verified accounts, search ads, sponsored tweets, AdSense widgets and payments. The use of Verified accounts, will see the creation of paid accounts that can be used by corporate and celebrity users (like facebook does with users/advertisers wishing to create Fan Pages, as opposed to setting up a profile). Search ads would see heavy users of Twitter's search API required to run ads on the service. According to the leaked documents, Twitter will invest in engineering to make the offering ‘flawless' and ‘timely'.

The thirds phase of the strategy will focus on generating revenue via sponsored Tweets that could see advertisers charged for targeting consumers with direct messages offering coupons and discount vouchers.Twitter's strategy will also include AdSense widgets.

All these initiatives will enable Tweeter to turn from a free for all microblogging website to a money making machine. The importance of Twitter has also been highlighted recently with the turmoil in Iran. Tweeter in fact was the tool the US government was using to keep up to date with what was happening in a country that they have little access to. Hundreds of people were using Tweeter to organise themselves and report what was happening. All these have made the world even more global...will adverting on the other hand reduce the amount of people registering for Twitter's services?

Ryanair comes up with another low cost idea...what do you think?

2009-07-16T11:56:00.000-07:00

Ryanair strikes again...It was not enough to introduce a fee for using toilets, but they were able to come up with something more unexpected. Budget airline Ryanair is now considering making some of its passengers stand during flights in a bid to squeeze as many as 30% more people on board. Customers could elect to pay less (50% of the price) to stand and sit on a small stool with seat belts fastened around them.

The company is currently seeking users opinion on http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/news.php?yr=09&month=jul&story=gen-en-090709 on the idea to see whether there's a market potential that could be exploited. Michael O'Leary, chief executive of Ryanair, has reportedly held talks with US plane manufacturer Boeing about designing an aircraft with standing room (picture below).

Proposed Vertical seating (source: www.ryanair.com)

A spokesman from Ryanair was reported to have said to the MailOnline that the seating would completely adhere to safety procedures. This strategy could lead Ryanair to increase seating capacity by 20% to 30% which could result in a good increase in revenues.

Ryanair does not seem to be the only airline considering this strategy. Chinese airline Spring has also put forward similar plans, estimating it could fit in up to 50% more passengers.

The latest idea of Ryainair is in line with the recent ideas, as it will introduce a charge for the use of toilets onboard as well as planning to make passengers carry their own luggage to the aircraft which would slash about 90% of its baggage handlers. Could there be anything else that wasn't thought of that Ryanair might come up with to reduce costs?

Is it worth to keep a blog?

2009-07-15T11:36:00.000-07:00

Who said that blogs and mini blogs are just a waste of time? This could have been the case some time ago however this is not surely the case today...the question today is - How many Twitter followers does it take to get a job?

Best Buy has the answer to this question...The answer is 250. This is the amount that Best Buy require from candidates wishing to apply for a marketing role with them. The ideal candidate should also have a ‘two plus years of mobile or social media marketing experience' and ‘one plus year of active blogging experience', as well as a Bachelor's degree and at least 250 Twitter. So now actually blogging really pays.

While a lot of companies are specifying the need for people to have social media experience, Best Buy is believe to have been the first one to actually ask for a specific minimum number of Twitter followers. Best Buy explains this requirement as Twitter is part of the corporate culture at Best Buy, in fact chief executive Brian Dunn recently encouraged customer and investors unable to attend the company's annual shareholder meeting to follow the proceedings via Twitter.

Dunn in fact has an active twitter account and has currently over 1650 Twitter followers, so he is surely more than qualified for the role. So I'll better start increasing my followers as I'm quite behind when it comes to number of followers :)

Piracy on the decline

2009-07-13T22:57:00.000-07:00

Piracy could be on the down turn in the UK as people are turning to streaming sites rather than P2P file sharing. Teenage web surfers are turning their backs to old-fashioned methods of online piracy, including file-sharing and P2P sites, in favour of live streaming, according to new research.

The study by analyst Music Ally found that overall levels of file-sharing are on the decline. Figures show that downloads are down from 42 per cent , to just 26 per cent when it comes to teenagers between 14 to 18 year filesharing once a month.

The overall percentage of filesharing has gone down about a quarter, 22 per cent of those surveyed were regularly filesharing two years ago to just 14 per cent now. This is despite the fact that the percentage of music fans who have ever fileshared has increased, rising from 28 per cent in December 2007 to 31 per cent in January 2009.

The shift to streaming sites such as YouTube, MySpace and Spotify is evident with the research showing that many teens (65 per cent) are streaming music regularly (more than once a month).

Research also shows the comparative volume of pirated tracks to legally purchased tracks has halved since their last survey just over 12 months ago. In December 2007 the ratio of tracks obtained from file-sharing compared to tracks obtained as legal purchases on an ongoing basis was 4:1. In January 2009 the ratio had narrowed to just 2:1.

The new trend is online streaming...this is the way to beat piracy as these services can be licensed (as are YouTube and Spotify) and are easier and more fun to use.

Google to compete directly with Microsoft

2009-07-09T22:52:00.000-07:00

The battle of the titans could be on again. After Launching Google Chrome to compete against the market leader Microsoft Internet Explorer and launching Google Docs to compete with Microsoft office, the final assault has been announced...

Google will now be launching its own computer operating system next year. This will take it head to head again with Microsoft and now it's the final fight. Most of the PC's and Notebooks around the world run on Windows, more specifically on Windows XP which is now nearly a decade old and hence i hasn't been developed to run efficiently on the net...Hence Google has seen a window of opportunity...

Modelled around its Chrome browser, Google Chrome OS will be initially developed for small netbook computers, launching in 2010, before eventually rolling out across every platform, including all Windows, Mac and Linux based systems. A report on Marketing, says that Google said the software will be "fast" and "lightweight", with minimal bells and whistles "to stay out of your way", much like its search engine and browser. The Operating system seeks to reduce the frustration inherent in Windows-based computers, such as slow loading times and computer viruses.

As with all other products offered by Google,, Google Chrome OS will largely be internet-based and open source, meaning web developers can create applications for the system, as with Google's suite of online products. The announcement had been made early so as to give developers time to begin working with Google's source code, which is likely to be released at the same time Microsoft launches its new operating system, Windows 7, before year end.

We have to wait and see before we can run into conclusions but it seems that Google has all the intention of wanting to dethrone Microsoft in all areas....will it succeed?

Tesco aiming to add a Bank to its portfolio

2009-07-06T12:28:00.000-07:00

What happened of Northern Rock...is the Brisith Government seeking to rebuild the bank or will he try to sell it off with the aim of making a profit?

I found the answer while reading an article on a marketing magazine online...apparently Tesco is reported to be considering a bid for Northern Rock, the bank which was nationalised last year after running into liquidity problems stemming from the sub-prime mortgage crisis. Tesco, the largest supermarket in UK, already offers a range of Tesco-branded financial products, including savings accounts, credit cards and loans.

Opinion at the moment is that consumers see supermarkets such as Tesco and Marks & Spencer as more trustworthy than banks, and these brands are keen to capitalise on the sentiment. The Cooperative group for example already offers banking facilities to its customers. This is not the first attempt by a private company to buy the nationalised bank Prior to this Virgin had tried to buy Northern Rock. The Times reports that it is also considering making another bid, along with private equity firms.

The paper says that prime minister Gordon Brown is keen to sell Northern Rock back into private ownership at a profit before an election and avoid the Conservatives taking credit for any such deal. There are also plans of splitting Northern Rock in different Units and then selling each individual unit indipendently so as to make its sale more attractive.

This would leave "toxic" loans in the hands of the public, with one half of the business responsible for paying back money lent it by taxpayers. The plan must be approved by the European Union

Brands missapropriate famous people image

2009-07-02T23:16:00.000-07:00

Brands have always tried to piggyback on famous names to try to make the most out of their image. This should however be done through brand endoresment however this is not always the case...a case in point is a brand of condoms from China...here's the story:-

There apparently is a brand of condoms named after soccer star David Beckham and they've taken the Chinese contraceptive market by storm. It has become an instant hit and with a population of over one billion person and with the child quota in place you can't image otherwise...the sky is the limit when it comes to success...

The condoms aren't being personally endorsed by Beckham, however the makers of said condoms assure users that they "will score in the bedroom like David does on the pitch." This particular brand now sells more than it's competitors.

David's agent Simon Oliveria said, "It's not an official brand."

This is not he first instance of images image of famous people bein used without their consent however most of the time his finishes on a sour note (as compensations kick in place). This was the case of American Apparel who last May where forced to pay $5 million for the blatant misappropriation and commercial use of his image which said damaged his reputation. Brand owners should be very weary of this as it cost money to gone down this avenue especially when doing this in the western world...

Brand Names Lost in Translation

2009-06-30T22:29:00.000-07:00

International branding and marketing is very important and crucial to the expansion of a company. Given such importance, companies must take it very seriously and an aspect which has to be thoroughly studied is culture and language. Today I met another classic case of a company creating a brand without actually paying too much attention to this concept. If a brand decides to go international it must also make sure that the brand carries the same message all around and that there are no negative connotations to a brand name.

The latter example related to gas giant Gazprom's new joint venture with Nigerian firm NNPC. The two firms decided to call the joint venture Nigaz. While tit's quite easy to deduce from where the name originates; a conjunction of the words "Nigeria" and "gaz", English speakers seeing the word written down find that the brand name has a strange resemblance to a slang racist word..

Incredulous Twitter users quickly spread the story around, dubbing it a branding fail and prompting a number to suggest Nigaz should adopt a strap line along the lines of "gas with attitude".

As I said previously this is not the first failure at creating an international brand. The most classic example is the Vauxhall Nova, however other examples exist... Mitsubishi was forced to change the name of its SUV model the Pajero in Spain, where the term means 'wanker'. Starbucks opted to stick with the term 'latte' when it launched it's coffee shop brand in Germany, to the amusement of locals. While the word "latte", which translated in English means means 'milk', is translated to German Slang it actually means 'erection'.

A simple translation error meant that a Parker Pen ad run in Mexico ended up promising consumers that it would not "leak in your pocket and make you pregnant", which is at least a more honest promise than Pepsi's "come alive with the Pepsi generation" slogan, which famously ended up meaning "Pepsi will bring your ancestors back from the dead" when it was translated to Taiwanese and marketed in Taiwan.

Chinese translations are difficult too and in fact are fraught with difficulties - Kentucky Fried Chicken's "finger lickin' good" managed to come out as "eat your fingers off".

No matter how much we stress the importance of having a brand name or strap line which carries no bad connotations in any language you intend to market in, companies still continue to make this newbie mistake. It's vital to take care of these things although some companies might be tempted to make the mistake on purpose to get some free PR.

Ryanair to take low cost to a new Level

2009-06-25T22:42:00.000-07:00

I was searching for flight ticket yesterday and accidentally I found an article on Ryanair...honestly I could not believe what I was reading and in fact diverted my research from one on flights to one specifically on Ryanair. Read through the following article and let me know what you think....

In a drive to cut down costs, Ryanair is hoping to axe 90% of its baggage handlers and instead allow passengers to carry their own luggage to the plane.

The move has been met with dismay by the airport industry amid concerns that it will make the already tedious security check in process even longer. There is also concern that travellers with bulky luggage to carry are unlikely to splash so much cash in Duty Free. This will enable Ryanair to cut down about £44 million in luggage handling fees.

Ryanair's chief executive Michael O'Leary, commented: ‘What it means is no more waiting at the carousel, no more losing your bags, no more wasting your life in over-priced airport terminals.'

Budget airline Ryanair will be taking no-frills to new levels as it also has plans to to introduce a charge of £1 for the use of toilets onboard. As reported by the Telegraph, Michael O'Leary justified this charge by hinting that lead to fewer people needed to use the toilets and so Ryanair could provide fewer cubicles and put in more seats, therefore cutting prices for all.

Courtesy of: http://aviationgazette.blogspot.com/

Additionally during an interview on Sky television while discussing the airline's cost-cutting measures, Mr Randall (the interviewer) asked Michael O'Leary if he would charge for sick bags. Mr O'Leary replied: "Yes."Although it is unclear if the airline boss was teasing his host, this would once more lead to a new low cost level....what could be next?

Company Launches Mobile Phone for Kids

2009-06-24T09:40:00.000-07:00

Firefly is a brand of Mobile Phones that has sought to detach itself from the main stream mobile user and has sought to develop mobile phones specifically for children. The company has already made available two handsets in the US and is now seeking to grow and expand into Europe.

These phones have the ability to take pictures, record videos, listen to MP3 files and play games, which nearly all other mobile phone have however it has the added feature that enables parents put controls on the phone. Parents can restrict who can be called from the phone, who can call the phone as well as controlling how much is spent.

Although figures show that more than half of children in the UK aged from five to nine years old already have mobiles, the launch of Firefly has spurred criticism from those worried about the erosion of childhood, as well as the health implications. Children are being introduced to the adult world faster and this could be affecting their future quality of life.

The phone will be debuting on the European Scene in the UK where they will be distributed by by Kevin and Frances Crean. The couple say on their website, www.fireflymobile.ie, that they were inspired to find a handset suitable for their children after a health scare involving their daughter when she was away at camp. They have also opened a discussion board on their website to welcome any comments.

Although as stated earlier the mobile phone owning age is decreasing, governments such as that of the UK still advise parents to avoid giving phones to under 16s.

Microsoft Files lawsuit against individuals for fraudulent clicks

2009-06-22T22:47:00.000-07:00

Last night I was reading some articles relating to the Internet and search engine clickthrough rates and came across an article that attracted my attention. It was the first time I came across a search engine owner that files a lawsuit again those that try to manipulate search results by creative clicking

The rivalry for search engine rankings can sometimes lead to "creative clicking"...where competing companies click on adwords, or paid for search results so as to deplete the advertising budget of rival companies so that Fraudster research results gain ranking and can then attract normal customer clicks.

The company in question in this case is Microsoft who is seeking at least $750,000 (£456,000) in damages from the defendants, claiming the three set up a number of false companies in March of last year and targeted ads for car insurance firms and the computer game 'World of Warcraft

In March 2008, Microsoft received complaints from car insurance advertisers who said traffic to their ads was spiking in a suspicious manner.

Microsoft investigated the claims and found an unusual number of searches for "auto insurance quotes" and a high click-through rate for the top paid search ads.

A similar scheme was being carried out with the keywords "World of Warcraft", Microsoft found.

Microsoft estimates the alleged fraud cost the advertisers in the region of $1.5m.

The company tracked down the source of the clicks and found the lion's share came from two Canadian-based proxy servers.

Microsoft claims that the three defendants set up fraudulent auto-insurance companies or worked with legitimate firms and bombarded the top-ranked ads with clicks, depleting the companies of their ad budgets and sinking their ad placements.

The defendants then placed their own ads on Microsoft's adCenter, which quickly rose in results rankings and were clicked on by actual customers. The group then sold the personal data of legitimate customers to low-level advertisers, Microsoft claims.

The lawsuit is a rare instance of a search engine going after individual advertisers and not the other way around.

Google was one of the first companies to do so in 2004 when it sued advertisers who were clicking on their own AdSense ads to make money.

Microsoft General Counsel said that this is a significant case. It shows that more companies are becoming active in the fight again online fraud which does not only entail credit card fraud. In this case, people where trying to change the economies of the game, by making it more expensive for companies who buy adwords."

According to Click Forensics, which measures global click fraud rates with its quarterly Click Fraud Index, about one in every seven clicks (13.8%) is fraudulent.

Who are the new Entrepreneurs?

2009-06-19T23:38:00.000-07:00

I was reading an interesting study about entrepreneurs and found various articles that relate to it...I have summed up what I found and thought of sharing this with you. While reading it remember that any research displays averages...any results are not set in stone and you are the one in control of your future.

The Research Findings:-

When you think of the word 'entrepreneur', who do you visualise? You might be inclined to think of a student who is in his early 20's who dropped out of college to follow his or her dream.

But according to a study by the Kauffman Foundation, it's not young people who are driving entrepreneurial activity in the United States. It's actually the Baby Boomers.

The study found that over the past decade, the highest level of entrepreneurial activity was seen amongst the 55-64 age group. What about the wonder kinds we see featured on most renowned magazine covers? Their entrepreneurial prowess is largely an illusion. It was actually found that the 20 - 34 age bracket who are thought of risk taker youths (think of Google, Yahoo, Facebook) has the lowest rate of entrepreneurs.Perhaps most surprising, this disparity occurred during the eleven years surrounding the dot-com boom—when the young entrepreneurial upstart became a cultural icon.

In a related study that looked at 5,000 companies started in 2004, the Kauffman Foundation discovered that two-thirds were started by founders in the 35-54 age bracket. When it came to technology companies specifically, the average age of a founder was 39.

When you think about it, this really isn't all that surprising. Although stories like that of Mark Zuckerberg, who co-founded Facebook in his Harvard dorm room, make for great stories, they're great stories precisely because they're so unusual. When it comes to the reality of entrepreneurship, it makes sense that older people would be more apt to start businesses. After all, an older founder is more likely to have significant experience, greater knowledge, better networks and the financial resources required to start a new venture. The hunger and ambition typically associated with youth can only take you so far.

In looking at what the future holds, the Kauffman Foundation notes that the ongoing recession could increase the incidence of entrepreneurship amongst those under 30 but also points out that other trends, such as the diminishing notion of the 'lifetime' job and longer lifespans, likely supports a healthy crop of old entrepreneurs.

So what's the key conclusion? As much as the tech startup community values youth, it's a bad idea to ignore those who are more experienced and more knowledgeable. Given that the billion and trillion dollar markets of tomorrow aren't going to be found in the consumer internet, for instance, wisdom is more important than ever. So the next time you're networking, don't forget to talk to the guy who looks like he could be your dad. He may not be starting the next Facebook but he could be the founder of the next Cisco.

Qualities that an innovative product should have

2009-06-18T10:47:00.000-07:00

I always like to surf the net for in search of something innovative...that stands out of the crowd and something from which each and everyone can learn. I can across a very interesting article reviewing a likely innovative and interesting product.

It is well known that now a days the market for promotional products is over saturated and companies tend to sell the same promotional stuff. However brand owners hunting down promotional products are now a days looking to satisfy two main criteria:- the product must stand out from the crowd and must have plenty of use. Well Brightbutton's Willie Wetsuit is certainly going to cover all of these requirements.The following section describes the product in terms of it's use and it's innovativeness.

Use: As far as promotional products got he Willie Wetsuit is primarily a keyring....a keyring with a difference as is designed to hold a condom. Hence it meets the first criteria of being a useful product. The Wetsuit can hold from one to three units.

Branding: The suits come in a choice of seven colours and there is 60mmx30mm of space on the back to place branding. The promotional message can also be printed in four colours so there is plenty of flexibility.

Overall: Well the product is certainly different, but will it get the same exposure as pens and mouse mats? Brightbutton market the Wetsuit as a fun way of promoting safe sex. However from a poll that was done another company it was found that many females wouldn't be impressed with a potential mate especially if they saw what the keyring contained and thought the best place for a condom was in a wallet. Overall the product is bound to be picked up as well as remembered and hence it serves all the requirements for a successful product.

Very Innovative Stealth Marketing Campaign...you must read!

2009-06-16T21:38:00.000-07:00

I was sitting at home in front of my laptop and I was searching for innovative marketing campaigns when I came across the new advert series by Procter & Gamble...It is a very unusual campaign for Procter & Gamble and in fact from what I could find it was only launched of a blog....maybe to test people's reaction to it.

I found a blog featuring a series of short short films about a schoolboy who one day wakes up with "girl parts" instead of "boy parts". The videos show you the problems this guy faces in adapting to the menstruation cycle and finally when the D-Day arrives how this guy deals with the issue. I was quite amazed at this viral campaign and continued to search for the marketer behind this stealth campaign when I found it was none other than Procter & Gamble's Tampax.

Since April Procter & Gamble has been quietly promoting Tampax tampons through the blog www.zack16.com, which features a series of regularly updated short films, starring Zack Johnson.

As of this week, the most viewed of nine online videos produced had been seen fewer than 6,000 times on YouTube, though it's had a few thousand additional views on such sites as StupidVideos.com. The fictitious Mr. Johnson also has a Twitter account, @ZackJohnson16, with 949 followers.

Koogle a new search engine

2009-06-15T10:07:00.000-07:00

I was surfing the net and for new stuff on the net and came across this really interesting article and I said why not share it with all of you...

A web portal called Koogle has launched with the aim of giving orthodox Jews the ability to search the net without breaking any Torah commandments. 'Koogle' is a pun on search engine Google and the traditional Jewish dish 'kugel'. The Hebrew language-site is split in to sections including news, a market place for people to sell second-hand goods and a business directory for everything from Kosher restaurants to bridal wear.

The website is very targeted however there are already some concerns about whether the real market exists. The guide of the website says that it will also filter out items that ultra-orthodox followers are not allowed to have in their homes, such as televisions. However in this case, would ultra-orthodox who are not allowed to have TV be allowed to connect to the Internet and more so, own a PC?

The site is designed to meet guidelines set down by orthodox rabbis, ensuring that no sexually explicit material is shown.

The site will also not allow transactions on the Sabbath, when it is forbidden to work or undertake business.

Let's wait and see whether this will actually be the new trend for search engines and whether the new niche marketing strategy will take off...

Examples of how Failing to use Social Networking may lead to PR Blunders

2009-06-09T13:59:00.000-07:00

I was reading a number of articles and came across this really interesting article written by Mr. Graham Charlton on the 8th of June 2009 and that shows how companies can misuse Social Networking.

A number of brands have fallen foul of social media over the last few years, either due to lack of understanding of how information spreads online, or by attempting to manipulate the system and getting caught out.

The listed ten examples show the reaction of companies who have suffered PR nightmares online, in most cases the bad publicity has come via social media sites...

Ryanair

After a blogger criticised a flaw in the airline's online booking process, staff from the airline left several childish and insulting comments in response to the post. To make matters worse, after the episode was publicised around the web, the company issued a statement saying that 'it is Ryanair policy not to waste time and energy in corresponding with idiot bloggers and Ryanair can confirm that it won’t be happening again.'

Domino's

The video showing Domino's employees doing all sort of disgusting stuff to the food they were preparing went viral on YouTube (mentioned in an earlier post on this blog), and was a PR nightmare for the company. The company did what it could by posting a video response on YouTube, though some found the delivery by President Patrick Doyle less than perfect (the video did not have the same viral effect as the initial one posted on YouTube).

Belkin

A Belkin employee was caught red handed offering to pay other Amazon Mechanical Turk users to write positive reviews of one of its products on the site. These reviews were especially unconvincing given the fact that the router in question had several bad reviews already, making the positives stick out like a sore thumb. The paid reviews have since been removed.

Whole Foods

Whole Foods CEO John Mackey left a bunch of anonymous postings about rival company Wild Oats before being rumbled, causing a great deal of embarrassment for him and his company. The same CEO apologised to shareholders afterwards, but the damage was done.

Wal-Mart

The company was outed in 2006 after a blog chronicling a duo's travels across America while camping in Wal-Mart car parks turned out to have been the work of PR firm Edelman.

Amazon

After removing books with adult content, including Brokeback Mountain and Lady Chatterly's Lover, from its bestseller lists, Amazon was subjected to a torrent of bad publicity on Twitter and elsewhere. The company blamed a glitch but didn't directly respond on Twitter.

Kodak

Kodak recently decided to charge an annual fee for storing photos in its online Gallery, and though it claimed to have emailed everyone concerned, some were clearly surprised when their photos started to vanish. Obviously the company received lots of bad publicity for the company on Twitter.

Target

US retailer Target got itself some bad publicity in the New York Times last year after dismissing a complaint from a blogger about one of its ads with the phrase: 'we are unable to respond to your inquiry because Target does not participate with nontraditional media outlets'.

Just months before, the company was outed for encouraging Facebook users, who were receiving various freebies, to praise the company on the site. Was this a nontraditional media outlet?

Neal's Yard

The retailer of organic products pulled out of an online debate as part of The Guardian's 'You ask, they answer' feature. It seems the company didn't like the question concerning the withdrawal of one of its products last year; a homeopathic remedy for malaria.

As pointed out here, this refusal to engage is not the way to deal with criticism online, and represents a PR failure for the firm. In this way to leave users to draw up their own conclusions.

ExxonMobil

An example of why companies should own their social media profiles, and monitor sites like Twitter comes from ExxonMobil. Someone calling herself Janet set up an account on the site in the company's name and managed to fool plenty of people before the account was taken down.

All these examples are just a snippet of all examples that one might find about Companies failing to use social media effectively to correct or respond to blunders. In this way they let users draw up their own conclusions and possibly offer a the possibility to competitors to have their say too!

Apple plans price cut to boost demand

2009-06-07T00:10:00.000-07:00

I was planning to upgrade my mobile phone and was looking at what's available on the market before venturing to any brick and mortar store. While browsing for news about the Apple iPhone I came across a very interesting news which, if confirmed, will probably have me waiting a little bit more before upgrading.

Apple is planning to expand it market share in the smart phone market as it is thought that next Monday it will be announcing the launch of its new iPhones which will be priced at around $50 or $100 less than the current US iPhone price of $199.

Apple currently accounts to about about 11 per cent of the world’s smart phones market, trailing behind Nokia’s 41 per cent volume and Research in Motion’s 20 per cent, according to Gartner figures from the first quarter.

The news, of the new cheaper iPhone is expected to be divulged by apple during the developer conference, a conference which Apple usually uses to introduce most of their products. However till today, Apple has declined to comment the news which has been widely reported in all international media. The much awaited conference, begins on Monday with a keynote speech by senior vice-president and marketing chief Phil Schiller. Reports are also spreading that during the conference it will also be announced that founder Steve Jobs is planning to return to work after a period of medical leave.

Coming back to the new iPhone, with the price reduction of $100 Apple is expected to increase demand by 100%. The production of the new iPhone is expected to start in July. While iPhone and Apple enthusiasts will be longing to see the latest product from Apple, competitors such as Palm (which was famous for its PDAs in the 90s and is aiming to revive its fortunes and take market share from Apple) will not be very happy to hear this news.

I believe that the latest price cut could lead the mobile market to grow again as users start switching from less functional mobile phone sets to the latest and now cheaper Smart Phones.

Facebook to introduce Payment Gateway

2009-06-04T22:58:00.000-07:00

I was searching for news about Facebook as we as I had read that it had sold about 1.5% to a Russian Company (Digital Sky Technologies) for $200m so as to raise more finances. I came across an article that is very interesting. Facebook has begun tapping a new revenue stream as it seeks to introduce an internal payment system. This will enable it to reduce it's reliance on advertising and to start earning commissions on payments. This has been long awaited and it will enable Facebook users to be able to buy credits that can then be used to buy virtual goods from third party applications running on Facebook.

This revenue structure mimics that of Second Life where developers can start developing virtual items that can then be bought by users to customise their Facebook experience. Second Life was a success as hardcore users where buying property and furnishings to create a virtual life. An example of the potential of Facebook is Zynga, the largest applications developer on Facebook, with 42m users using their games. It is believed that they make nearing $100m in annual sales. Together, developers working on Facebook’s platform are expected to make more than $500m this year perhaps even more than Facebook itself.

Facebook hopes that by offering a site-wide currency it will encourage more commerce on the website. By serving as the payment provider, it will capture a percentage of every transaction. The payment portal will serve the same purpose as PayPal is for Ebay Inc. The percentage profit is small but over time, this will be very significant.

Social Networking sites and now even the mini blog site, Twitter, are suffering from a real problem...they have a huge following but they cannot find a proper revenue generation method. This will give them more possibility as a specialised payment gateway exists to help them monetise on their services.

Could this be the end of an all free service? Social Networking sites need to be really careful with this as they depend on a large userbase and if these sites become too focused on revenue generation they may alienate their user. The right balance needs to be struck.

Vive México a new campaign to promote tourism

2009-06-02T22:47:00.001-07:00

Mexico has been hardly hit by the Swine flu crisis as tourism figures have been falling dramatically. In fact I have been looking at tourism resorts in the country and the prices are really reasonable...I was really attracted to the place and was even considering a bargain holiday in South America but I'm still somewhat doubtful...possibly I have been influenced by the swine flu phobia.

This decline in tourism has led the government to take immediate action. President Felipe Calderón launched the Vive México promotion and communication campaign that will have unprecedented Federal Government investment of 1.2 billion pesos.

In a truly motivational speech, President Calderón described the Vive México campaign as a “true national movement" that requires the participation of all Mexicans, particularly the most outstanding ones who have shown the most talent." He invited every Mexican to let tourist know that going to Mexico is a great experience as Mexico has a lot to offer in term of culture and natural beauty.

Apart from this, resorts are being urged to offer discounted prices to locals so as to try to stimulate internal demand for the tourism sector. This could partly diminish the effect of the fall of international demand. At the same time, figures from the artistic, sports and cultural world will promote Mexico's tourist resorts both within the country and in the rest of the world while the media will disseminate Vive México.

Will the locals support this campaign and help Mexico revive itself and attract more tourists? We'll wait and see and in the meantime I will continue to look for bargain holidays...if anyone has any suggestions please let me know

Motorola and Beckham...their marriage may not be a perfect one afterall

2009-06-01T22:52:00.001-07:00

This week has been a very hectic one as my PC was infect from a deadly worm! I am still without my laptop so I had to revert back to my PC...While searching for ways how to destroy the worm I came across this very interesting article....

As you know PR is an essential part of a company's marketing campaign and having a very famous brand personality is a big plus. A few months ago Motorola signed up David Beckham to launch their new £1,400 Motorola Phone...a big name for a high ticket item.

Unfortunately for both Becks and Motorola something has gone wrong! Becks is in hot water after pictures showing the former England captain tapping away on an iPhone hit the web. Italian paparazzi who are famous for their undercover techniques managed to find the scoop of the month.

The paparazzi caught Becks red handed while eating out alone in a restaurant in Milan. He was actively playing with his toy...surprise, surprise...it was an Iphone! As soon as he noticed the paparazzi he sheepishly hiding it under the table, but it was too late!

Englands captain has been the face of Motorola since 2006, and has signing a multi-million pound agreement including his latest Terminator campaign for the new Motorola.

After this gaffe, it is still unclear whether Motorola will take any actions against it's brand personality for using competing products...who knows, Becks might be considered a normal person and as such is attracted by Apple's gadgets

The German Government has chosen Magna

2009-05-30T03:43:00.000-07:00

General Motor's Euripean Arm has been saved from Insolvency procedures that is expected to hit the US group after an agreement has been announced at about 2am this morning. The Canadian Group, Magna International will be taking over the business with the backing of the German Government.

FIAT, the other group which was in the race to takeover the struggling group and acquiring an good brand at a discounted price, had withdrew from talks with the German Government, GM and US Treasury as it failed to provide guarantee on the number of Jobs that would have been saved and provide clear finance plans.

Under the signed agreement between GM and Magna, shares in the European arm of GM (GME) will be transferred away from GM so as to protect Opel from an imminent GM insolvency (which is expected to be announced on Monday). The German Government will also give GME €1.5bn in credit guarantees while final negotiation take place between GM and Magna. For the deal, Magna, together with Russian bank Sberbank, is offering €700m for 55 per cent of Opel and has agreed to come up with €300m of emergency funding that GM USA says it needs immediately.

The decision by the German Government to grant guarantees to the Magna was a happy ending for all German ministers. Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, German economics minister said that he was not all that happy with the agreement. He would have been happier to see GME become insolvent rather than grant so much money as guarantee to the future owner of the brand. However due to the upcoming elections the German government had to find a solution to this problem as soon as possible and this could have led it to take a less favourable option after all.

So we might consider this deal as another recession bargain...will there be any others as more companies seek to streamline their activities and divest businesses which are not coherent with their main area of business?

Common sense wins and Youtube enable music streaming again

2009-05-27T23:15:00.000-07:00

Last March YouTube had decided to block all premium music supplied by record lables as PRS (the society which collects Royaliets on behalf of composers and Musicians) was demanding high royalty payments without giving signs that it wanted to review its royalty prices.

Google, owner of YouTube, thus decided to take a hard decision...stop all premium music from being streamed, thus blocking any royalties to PRS. This eventually lead PRS to the discussion table and this month a decision has been finally made...

Under the PRS's new pricing structure any digital sites will have to pay 0.0085p per track streamed online. This is a sharp decrease from the 0.22p that digital sites were asked to pay before this agreement came into force. According to PRS, this new pricing policy was necessary as the prices were previously set in 2007 and were never reviewed. Now given the expansion of the digital music market this review became necessary and potentially could lead to higher returns for PRS as more tracks will be played and more digital companies will be attracted to the market thus adding the return for artists and composers alike.

The PRS is moving ahead and changing as market needs change...will other industries follow suit?

Woolworths....is it really dead?

2009-05-26T13:42:00.000-07:00

Who said that Woolworths is actually dead...it could have gone dormant but there still seems to be activity going around the name and the number of outlets it used to have. When browsing for the name Woolworths you come across a blog for Woolworths announcing it's imminent online revival...basically the brand has been acquired by Littlewoods-owner Shop Direct, who has planned it's online relaunch.

However this is not over, Tony Page ex executive director all Woolworths has teamed up with former UBS banker Gareth Thomas in an attempt to raise sufficient capital (it is estimated that they need between £5m and £10m) to acquire the lease of about 200 ex Woolwoths outlets in the next five years. However they would have to rethink the name. Apparently they have come up with an idea of making a poll and people will be asked to vote for their favourite name. This attempt is probably being done to create more customer involvement around the reopening and create a name that is acceptable to everyone.

However is such a branding strategy successful? And what about opening with the same store concept and in the same locations of Woolworths...would history repeat itself? What are your opinions?

Ebay proclaimed innocent...is this the beginning of a new customer driven era?

2009-05-25T12:34:00.000-07:00

L'Oreal has sued eBay in the courts of various European countries including Britain, Germany, France, Belgium and Spain over the sale of bogus cosmetics and fragrances carrying the logo of the said brand on it's site. This move was said to be a necessary step to take as the sale of fake items was on the increase on eBay. Negotiations were underway between the two companies to come to a solution on this issue however, the online auctioneer said all talks were suspended as L'Oreal was being unreasonable in it's requests.

The first decision has been pronounced by the British court...Justice Richard David Arnold ruled out the claims of L'Oreal and said that that eBay Europe was not liable for trademark infringements committed by its users. Ebay said that this decision is a one which promotes free competition and will enable users to buy products a very competitive prices on its virtual marketplace.

A similar case in France was left in the hands of both companies to come up with an amicable resolution and gave then until the May 25 to come up with a mediated settlement. Other cases elsewhere in Europe are still pending.

While eBay claimed victory, L'Oreal said the court agreed that eBay could do more to stop trademark infringement. However of the 15 products hand-selected by L'Oreal as evidence against eBay UK, none was proven to be counterfeit. Could this be a strategy to try to safe guard L'Oreal premium pricing strategy and the protection from grey imports? We can just wait and see however it's very difficult to stop the online avalanche and anybody who does not embrace it risks getting overwhelmed.

Cashing in on Problems

2009-05-21T22:19:00.000-07:00

The recent Swine flu, like its predecessors the Pandemic flu and the SARS has caused quite a havoc amongst the worlds population. It has been a headline news for quite some days and a lot of people are interested in ways to prevent it and, if the undesirable had to happen, how to cure it. You might say this is natural as everybody needs to be informed as to what might happen and what actions need to be taken to prevent such potentially catastrophic diseases.

This natural instinct of people has push them online and billions of searches have been initiated with the words flu, swine flu and Mexican flu...so what did innovative marketers do? Just what is natural to them...analyse that the customer trends are and serve your customer needs. Companies such as google saw a huge potential in this and for example google has launched Google Trends. Google Trends uses time series analysis and tries to find a link between the search behaviour of people and the actual spread of the disease. In this way, they were able to launch the Google Flu Trends in association with the US Centre for Diseases Control.

Google is not the only company that has taken advantage of this. Online pharmacies are all flocking up to try to sell all kinds of stuff that "they say" would prevent the spread of the flu. The sell all sorts of stuff from face masks, gloves to the notoriously known Tamiflu (which is supposed to be banned from online sales). Amazon has also recognised the pontnetial and in fact started supplying anti-flu kits to it's customers (image below)...if the big companies do now there the go ahead for all companies to follow.

The use of Web2.0 is also helping companies in this regards. Website owners are linking up with sites and getting mashup content, such as up-to-date news of the spread of the flue, so that their site increase in popularity and they obtain a better natural search result on search engines...PPC campaign and Google Adsense is another option that companies have...so what are you waiting...the sky is your limit today. The most important thing is that you keep your eyes open and as in any other business try to obtain a first mover advantage...

Susan Boyle a highly requested brand personality

2009-05-20T23:02:00.000-07:00

A numerous number of companies ranging from different industry are in search of a renowned brand personality and whose the person who's attracting the most PR currently? The answer is no sport personality but Susan Boyle, a person who before her appearance on Britain's Got Talent no person knew about. Companies are seeking to sign her up from industries including haircare, household, FMCG and even mobile however with it's contract with the production of Britain's Got Talent, she cannot sign any agreement before the end of the series later on this month.

Susan Boyle has become the brand personality to have. Anything related to her is attracting a lot of interest. In fact it's YouTube video has been viewed approximately 94 million times and it's memorabilia is selling well on auction sites such as Ebay. Even the product of the reality show is trying to cash on this wave of success as it is still seeking to close a deal with YouTube to start generating revenue from the high traffic flow that the video is attracting.

This is a clear example of how the Internet can transform a person from a complete stranger to a global phenomenon in just a couple of months...can this formula be copied by marketers to transform a complete unknown brand into a global success?

Tesla given a vote of confidence as Daimler acquires a 10% stake

2009-05-19T10:08:00.000-07:00

The car industry all over the world seems to be facing a very challenging moment as sales continue to fall and governments go ahead with green legislations to limit CO2 emissions. Manufacturers have started investing in research and development of electric cars however with the current credit crunch companies are finding hard to find sources of finance.

This was the case of Tesla, a Silicon Valley-based manufacturer of electric-powered sports cars. However, Daimler has given it a fresh breath of air...The German company has invested an undisclosed sum of money and acquired 10% of Tesla's stake. This investment has brought the two companies closer to each other as they already contributed on a number of projects. In fact,Daimler and Tesla already co-operate on Daimler’s electric version of the Smart car as it has been providing lithium-ion battery packs and charging electronics for the first 1,000 units. About 100 of the cars are currently being tested in London, and Daimler plans to begin production of them at a plant in France later this year.

Given that Tesla is a pioneer in the development of electric cars, this strategic alliance represents an important step for Daimler to accelerate the commercialisation of electric cars. Although a number of large car manufacturers plan to launch electric cars over the next few years, Tesla is one of the first to have one available for sale on its website.

Google, is there a new competitor on its way?

2009-05-18T11:27:00.001-07:00

Professor Stephen Wolfram a very well renowned British physicist has founded a new company that is set to go head-to-head with Google as from today it has launched it's new search engine http://www.wolframalpha.com/. This new search engine seeks to be totally different to google as it provides answers to specific questions instead of giving users numerous search results that most of the time end up confusing the user more than helping him up. For example in response to the question "what is the population of London?", http://www.wolframalpha.com/ gives a single answer (7.421m), whereas Google provides 28,500,500 website links.

Although this is being indicated as a good candidate to challenge Google, the developer of this idea. Prof. Stephen Wolfram, does not want to admin this. He states that his company does not provide a search engine facility but it offers a computational knowledge engine. The website actually checks the question against a number of database entries and right now can answer questions on topics ranging from the population of a country to the distance between two places or the weather in a particular place. However, the site is unable to answer general questions. If the questions haven't been asked before it is unable to provide an answer...

The company which was set up by Wolfram is actually moving ahead as it currently employs 300 member of staff and is working on the improvement of the computer algebra system "Mathematica" which was created by Wolfram research. With the increase of popularity that is expected from this new search engine capability, the company is seeking long-terms plan to expand this project and if possible it will be willing to sell advertising space along its searches.

Will Wolfram beat Google or will Google catch up to this innovation?

Eminem uses an innovative campaign to attract people to buy album

2009-05-17T14:14:00.000-07:00

I was searching for a good article about the launch of a brand and came across this very interesting article...the famous singer Eminem who can be considered a brand in himslef will be launching his new album today. For this launch his record house has planned various campaigns in London to attract potential buyers to the new album.

The first promotional campaing will involve the deployment of an army of Eminem look-a-likes across London's West End that will try to publicise the release of the album. Eminem revealed that he started writing the album while he was in rehab fighting his addiction to drugs. This event will tap into the current wave of publicity surrounding the album release.

Another campaign will involve the deployment of a a mock rehab centre in London's Covent Garden on Monday. Passers-by will be able to lie on beds and receive "treatment" in the form of listening to Eminem's new album, 'Relapse'. The Relapse Rehab Centre will open at today (Monday) at 9am, and will close at 8pm.

Accompanying these two campaigns will be the deployement of giant letter E's in the centre's whereabouts (North Piazza, Covent Garden), which Eminem's record houses hopes will attract visitors and generate word-of-mouth. Will this campaign be successful? We will be reporting this later on this week when the impact of the campaign's results will be released.

TalkTalk to Aqcuire Tiscali - Is it a credit crunch bargain?

2009-05-15T13:42:00.000-07:00

Carphone Warehouse announced that later this year, after gaining EU competition clearnace, , will be take over Tiscali's 1.45m UK broadband and 300,000 dial-up customers and put them under their TalkTalk brand. This deal is expected to be completed by end next month (June)

With this takeover, TalkTalk will become the a powerhouse in broadband business, placing it in the first place when it comes to residential and second place (behind BT) when considering retail and residential allthogethr. TalkTalk will have an approxiamte 25% market share of the broadband business in UK.

This deak is expected to create significant synergies and could result in the reduction of operational costs. These benefits are expected to provide significant shareholder value and expected to boost 2009's earning per share. According to the CEO of Tiscali, Mary Turner, this deal was a very good one especially for Tiscali customers., however it is thought that the same couldn't be said about shareholders. In fact TalkTalk is said to be buying Tiscali for around £236m which is less than half the earlier bid made by TalkTalk itself earlier on last year. Last year's bid was rejected by Tiscali as it valued itself at more than £1bn however the ecomonic climate left it's signs on Tiscali who saw it's customer base and revenue declining.

Vodafone, BT, Swisscom and Italian mobile network Wind also considered buying Tiscali's UK business, however TalkTalk finally had the best deal. What do you think about this deal....do you consider deal as a credit crunch bargain for TalkTalk?

Prince Charles Moves to Social Networking

2009-05-14T00:52:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been reading more about the potential that social networking offers and the opportunity it provides both companies and brands alike to commuicate their message and interact with their target market. I recently came across an article which continues to highlight the importance that this Social Networking medium plays in today's world.

The news read that Prince Charles had decided to start using Social Networking online and became on of the first (if not the first) Royal to use a social network. This is an absolute breakthrough and a significant milestone for Social Networking as it has managed to attract even the traditionally conservative monarchy. Does this mean that Social Networking is something that has been accepted and a need now a days for those wanting to voice their opinion to a wider community? The answer in my opinion is Yes!

Prince Charles chose to use Myspace to campaign for a worthy cause and raise awareness of his Prince of Wales Rainforest Project. In his page (http://www.myspace.com/rainforestsos) he urges the social network's community to electronically sign a petition to fight climate change and unite together to fight the destruction of rain forests and save biodiversity and the world's lungs. The campaign is being endorsed by the Prince himself and many other influential people such as Harrison Ford, Daniel Craig, the Dalai Lama and other members of the Royal Family.

My only concern about this move is why was Myspace used...should the campaign have been launched on Facebook which is by far the market leader in Social Networking and use You Tube to Link all the Webcasts that are posted on the Facebook group? Maybe this will be the next phase :) at least we have seen the start...hopefully it will encourage other people to do the same and start voicing their opinions online. This is especially necessary when it involvesgood cause campaigns such as theone mentioned above!

Social Network put pressure on M&S and the retailer responds

2009-05-11T13:21:00.000-07:00

Can Social Networking sites influence companies decisions? Some large organisations might say probably not as they surely know it more...however this was not the recent case of Marks & Spencer. Some time ago it had announced that it would have started charging more for larger bras and unlike most retailers, it was going to impose a surcharge of £2 for bras with a cup size above DD .

This did not go unnoticed and with today's spread of social networking Beckie Williams was very fast to set up a lobby group on Facebook called "Busts 4 Justice". This group was set up last summer as she was was fed up paying extra for her 30G bras and saw such policy simply "ridiculous". However the company did not give in immediately and said that it's surcharge was actually fair as it reflected the extra cost of producing a bra for larger bust sizes.

The Facebook group gained momentum as it counted more than 17,000 members and soon other media groups followed in this campaign. Media groups such as the Sun and the Daily Mirror were in the forefront to support the unhappy consumers. After some months and various complaints, last week M&S gave in to customer demands and decided to ditch its surcharge...

The company is also trying to use humor to excuse itself from this failure as it took out full-page adverts in the press to tell consumers that from last Saturday, all bras will cost the same. M&S admitted that "They boobed" as the adverts says: "We were wrong, so as of Saturday 9th May the storm in a D cup is over." The store is also offering a further 25% discount on bras for the coming two weeks to excuse itself and try to recover some of the bad publicity.

Social Media can thus be an effective lobbying medium as this was not the first time a Facebook campaign has played an important role in persuading a company to change its route. Some two years ago HSBC turned down plans start charging graduates for overdrafts after a group set up by the National Union of Students attracted more than 4,000 members. Hence we need to be more aware of the power of this medium and listen more to our customers...

Innovative way how to revitalise a country's brand online

2009-05-10T13:47:00.000-07:00

I recently came across the new website of the Moroccan National Tourist Office (MNTO), which is increasingly trying to promote Morocco as a relaxation destination.Morocco has seen its visitor number declining over the past few months, and wanted to create a website that helps in reversing this trend.

Its aim is to promote the added value on offer to holidaymakers, such as free spa treatments.The new website, www.moroccotherapy.com, is certainly worth a visit. Although there is not much Web 2.0 content on the site, I was immediately struck by the unusual use of video content, which enables continuous customer dialogue and interaction by suggesting the perfect treatment for your individual "illness".

I think that the use of video on the site definitely enhances the online customer experience and at a very minimum, generates awareness and interest in this destination, making you want to find out more. Indeed, the last tab, is a call to action that links to the main MNTO site, www.visitmorocco.com.

Daniela Attard

Bigger companies following inovative ones in the use of Web 2.0 to engage with consumers

2009-05-07T23:17:00.000-07:00

Innovative companies already sought ways how to engage with their customers, however today this is apparently becoming a necessity for most companies to do. With the recent economic depression, companies are seeking more ways how to retain their present customer base and only if possible, try to grow it.

Unilever is no exception to this. Last month, the FMCG giant attended the media and content event MIPTV to search for different ways how to engage more with their core customer...mainly woman. One of the ideas that emerged from this event was the creation of a campaign aimed at helping woman to feel better about their aging. Aging is a reality for everyone hence people need to come to terms with it...the more this is included in advertising and made to feel as something that's not the end of the world but actually one can discover beauty in aging the easier it will be come to live through this period.

The project is being developed with long-time agency Ogilvy. It will use interactive technology that lets customers see changes to their skin caused by aging. A similar project is also being launched for Persil in the UK.

Unilever isn't the only FMCG company using online strategies to involve customers. In March, Johnson & Johnson launched its own campaign for its Clean and Clear skincare brand. The company created online soap opera for teens featuring two best friends, Celia and Chloe. The content was distributed though webisodes and could be shared though social networking sites.

The Internet is empowering companies to engage further more with their target customers and adopt new forms of retention and acquisition marketing campaigns...what might be next? What will the new Web 3.0 offer to us marketeers?

Tourism New Zealand - Using You Tube to communicate the with potential visitors

2009-05-06T23:01:00.000-07:00

Tourism New Zealand, the National Tourism Organisation for New Zealand, set out to become more innovative in a drive to try to obtain a creative edge over competing destinations and attract extensive PR to attract more the eye of potential visitors.

The Campaign called 'Have Your Say" involves the production of short film (interviews) involving actual tourists on their trip in New Zealand. These are asked to speak about their trip and the interview is then edited and posted on social networking sites around the web as well as on the Tourism New Zealand You Tube Channel.

Tourism New Zealand said the campaign is a first in tourism marketing, and enables travellers to share their experiences with other potential visitors to New Zealand through social networking. This Campaign seeks to capitalise on the fact that people tend to believe more the opinion of other people who have tried the advertised experience (in this case the experience of visiting New Zealand) if they hear or read it from past visitors rather than from the Tourism organisations themselves. In fact this is why site such as Trip Advisor have become so popular, as they report first hand experiences from past visitors of different destinations.

The campaign seems to have been a success as the videos were After four months more than 1,500 video diaries were recorded and viewed by almost 140,000 people on the dedicated YouTube site. Gregg Anderson, Tourism New Zealand's regional manager UK and Europe, said: "Social media is used by people from all walks of life to connect with people back home while they are travelling.

Apart from this, this campaign aims on riding on the wave of word-of-mouth as it is one of the most effective marketing tools to promote a destination. The agency report that the mobile movie studio was a real proven success and was worth it. Tourism New Zealand is currently developing working on developing further it's Social Media Strategy since it has proven to be relatively inexpensive and successful. Other Destination Management Organisations should learn from these best practice examples and adopt these online guerrilla marketing strategies to increase the impact of their campaigns.

The power of Creativity in Marketing

2009-05-04T11:45:00.000-07:00

An important aspect of marketing and advertising, especially from the point of view of both the marketeer and the commissioning company is to use creativity in a way to attract attention to the brand. Companies are in a contast search for innovative ideas as these can be used to increase exponentially the impact of an advertising campaign. One company which made effective use of this guerrilla marketing tactic was Flygbussarna, a Swedish bus company.

The company concluded that a coach, on average, can carry the equivalent of about 50 cars (taking into consideration that the average car carries about 1.2 persons). At the same time coaches emit as much carbon dioxide as 2 cars. Hence the company armed with such information embarked on a very innovative campaign...it used 50 scrapped cars painted them in the shape of a bus and placed this live billboard alongside a highway.

Have a look at this video to see the full campaign in the making and it's results

The result was simply fantastic...they got themselves a traffic stopping campaign that got mentioned in all media in Sweden, from TV to newspapers. The total value of free PR was more than worth it in the end, making the campaign an absolute success...if you know of any other such campaign go ahead and leave a comment here. It is nice to learn from such innovative companies

Pepsi Co in a marketing blunder that resembles 1985 New Coke Launch

2009-05-02T11:18:00.000-07:00

PepsiCo, the American Beverage Giant, biggest rival of Coca Cola Co has actually fallen in the same trap as it's rival...however the product is a different one; this time it involves it's orange juice brand Tropicana.

Arnell Group had been assigned the job to redesign the package (carton) of the Tropicana Orange Juice. The launch of the new design took place in early January and according to according to AgencySpy. it has cost Pepsi Co about $35 million. The launch of the new redesigned container was far less than successful as Tropicana is set to abandon its trendy new orange juice carton and revert back to its traditional packaging, featuring the iconic orange with a straw in it.

The PepsiCo's Tropicana had to bow to public demand and scrap the changes made to its flagship product as consumers, especially those very loyal to the brand, complained about the makeover in letters, e-mail and calls made to the company's customer service and clamored for a return of the original look. Complaining customers called the new package as ugly and stupid as it resembles the package of a generic brand. In fact articles also report customers calling the company complaining that they couldn't find the product on supermarket's shelves. The new package (as can be seen below) is more simple and it has removed the iconic orange from the package and replaced it with orange juice. This has, according to some complaining customers removed the attachment to the claim that the juice is fresh. Being it's premium product, Pepsi has to intervene to limit the damage to it's brand!

This problem came about at the same time as the company (Tropicana) registered a decline of about 20% in sales in favour of competitors such as Minute Maid and other private labels.

This event has thought management of Tropicana that they have a very loyal customer base, who actually care about the product. Now with the advent of new technologies such as Twitter and mobile emailing it has made it much easier for the latter to voice their opinion and the company has to listen to its customers. One must remember that marketing is not about making products look better but meeting customer needs and demands; marketers must be good listeners. This event is very similar to that of Coca Cola's launch of New Coke in 1985 where Coca Cola had received an avalanche of complaints and they decided to recall New Coke and get back the original Coke version. Consumers were just attached to the brand as although in focus groups they liked the New Coke taste, they were not ready to give up the original Coke.

It's essential to identify all the elements that make customers loyal to the product and do extensive tests before risking damaging the brand...Pepsi Co will think it twice now before doing any further changes to any of their brands.