Daily maths

I recently decided to solve a puzzle every day – just for the challenge and to keep my mind fresh.
So here is today’s puzzle (found here):

How can you get 24 from 3,3,8,8 using only the main signs of add, subtract, multiply and divide?

solution: using fractions… .

Choosing the right environment for your message

The morning Sun is up, and it’s so bright that it makes everything look black and white. The water is so cold that when I put my head in my throat tightens. It’s 8 am on a Sunday and I’m swimming laps in the pool that’s caved in the rock at Sydney’s Bronte Beach.
Soon the junior swim squads arrive, parents are settling in on the benches above. There is quite a crowd now.
I surface again between two strokes and wondering why aren’t there any advertisements of the harmful effects of the Sun anywhere in sight…

Bronte Beach, Sydney NSW, Australia

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Integrated marketing communication

Just another day, going home after work, waiting for the train at a busy city underground station, and suddenly I find myself checking out a billboard, giving me about 10 good reasons to visit a well known, online auction site to do my Christmas shopping at.
A couple of minutes later the exact same message reaches my consciousness as my mind surfaces from deep thoughts about the podcast I’m listening to. This time, the advertisement is printed on the page of the free metro magazine (Sydney’s mX) the person next to me is holding. And now I remember. I also saw the same advertisement online, earlier today.

I get home, routinely switch on the laptop and of course, while my emails are loading I’m on the auction site – for just a quick look.

Three touchpoints in one day that I can instantly and knowingly recall plus a message with ‘call to action’ (price point, Christmas) and I, as well as thousands of others are hooked. In today’s world, when a person gets bombarded with thousands of marketing messages every day, and ROI is at utmost importance, ‘success requires maximum efficiency and effectiveness’. Therefore, for any marketer, integrated marketing communication is no longer the goal, but the absolute minimum. .

when Hungary broke free from the communist block

It was 1989. Mum and I would drive about 20 minutes north of Gyor to cross the Slovakian border to fill up the car, because it was cheaper. The closest border crossing was closed due to upgrading works on the bridge above the Danube, so on this occasion we had to drive to Komarom, or as the Slovakians call it: Komarno.

We were just passing the Hungarian checkpoint, and started driving up the bridge, when we saw a group of people, about 10-15 of them as they just reached the bridge half way, where the flags of the two countries were blowing in the wind side by side. As they stepped into Hungary, they raised their hands and started clapping, and cheering… Mum waived back smiling, as we passed.

'East Germans, she said. 'They are crossing over to Czechoslovakia, than to Hungary, only to continue to Austria, and to finally arrive back in to Germany, but on the West side.'

There were a number of futile efforts by the member countries to break free from the communist block previously, such as Hungary’s 1956 revolution, so no one knew whether this time it would last. Just like before, the young and restless packed up and fled immediately. East Germans couldn’t just cross over to West Germany, neither to Austria at that time, so they had to do a round trip. And thousands did as their cars with the DDR sticker (Deutsche Demokratische Republik) filled the streets of Hungarian cities along the way. Until at least the Wall fell, months later…
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Brand association

Having accumulated a bit of a backlog on my The Economist podcasts, I listened to about four or five of them in a row, on the way to work this morning. In between the podcasts, deep in thoughts about the previous discussion, a brief advertising message, a tag line kept recurring. Something about Conrad Hotels & Resorts...

In my current job I rarely travel for business, especially not outside the country of my current residence (Australia), which is probably the reason why when I woke up this morning, I didn't have a brand recall of Conrad Hotels & Resorts.

But why would I even think of business travel…? But that is exactly what I did. In between podcasts, I caught myself imagining what Conrad Hotels & Resorts look like. I imagined neat and stylish receptions, quick and polite service, businessmen in suits, looking the part.

Why? The answer is very simple: brand association. The marketer chose the environment, and my mind did the rest: it associated Conrad Hotels & Resort with all, that The Economist stand for

Advertising via brand association: it works.

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The 'book-buyers' and the value of audience research

I saw a clever advertorial (or if not, fabulous free advertising) on Kmart slashing book prices in time for the Christmas shopping (ACA, Channel 9, 28/10/09) last week. Apparently books make a great gift. But why would any retailer slash prices so much where it's hardly profitable anymore?

Well, Seth Godin helped me understand. Because 'some people are better than others'. That is better customers. Kmart is discounting books to draw in a desired crowd: book-buyers, who are cashed up and tend to buy other products as well. So they know who their lucrative audience is. But how? Via research.
This is exactly why audience research in media is so important, and why marketers want to know who they are, what they consume, when and how often.

In fact, one of the first things that you learn when you start working in media sales is the value of research. Because you are not really selling the column cm's, page impressions or 30 seconds of airtime, but you are selling the audience, preferably the most suitable, and most lucrative one for your client. And to know where to find this audience, we need research.

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