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Monday, 31 May 2010
Monday morning
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Friday, 28 May 2010
Nike World Cup Ad is now the most popular Viral Video
The fabulous Nike ad that I blogged about earlier today has just made it to first spot on the most popular list…
No surprise really. It’s a great piece of work.
Nike Breaks Own Viral Record With World Cup Ad - Advertising Age - Digital: Viral Video Charts
It's a job interview, and not a competition…
It’s easy to forget the real reason behind an interview – sometimes we want the job so much that chasing it becomes an all consuming competition where the prize is the job itself… something we can tell our family, our friends, and our ‘to-be-ex-colleagues’ about with pride in our voice.
We compete, show our best side and best version of ourselves, learn all the answers for all the possible questions we may get, to outwit the rest.
We sidestep asking the right questions (I want the prize regardless), and get so emotionally blinded (I really, really want that job) that we even forget to make a realistic assessment of the guy at the other side of the table: our future boss…
To combat ‘competition fever’, here is a great article from Suzanne Lucas to get you focus on the important stuff again:
It's a Job Interview, Not a Beauty Pageant | Personal Success | BNET
YouTube - NIKE FOOTBALL WRITE THE FUTURE - FULL LENGTH VERSION
Addressing investors earlier this month, Nike VP-Brand and Category Management Trevor Edwards declared that the marketer's TV creative for June's World Cup was "among the best we've ever done," no small statement from a company renowned as a master of the form. (AdAge)
The ad shows the soccer’s ripple effect globally. Advertising at its best. Brilliant work Nike!YouTube - NIKE FOOTBALL WRITE THE FUTURE - FULL LENGTH VERSION
Thursday, 27 May 2010
Sydney celebrates history
Wednesday, 26 May 2010
Tuesday, 25 May 2010
12 Presentation tips
Just out from a refresher course on presenting, and here are my tips to share:
1. Make eye contact with your clients and change it at the punctuation. (Hi, my name is .. || the objective of today’s meeting is .. || )
2. Get rid of all the ‘am’, ‘aa’, ‘uhm’, etc. Pause or take a breath instead.
3. When writing your presentation, start with the summary first. Decide what you want to get out of it, the key things you want the client to remember and work your way back.
4. Have only a handful (3-5) of key points to cover. The rest can be in the handouts.
5. Tip for the structure:
- Tell them what you are going to tell them,
- Tell them, (body)
- Tell them what you told them.
6. Divide the body between your key points. Start with a few words of lead in, make your point and summarize. Your last sentence should lead into the next key point.
7. Have 2 different copies of the presentation if need be. One to present, the other to leave behind. (genius.)
8. Stand up, walk around, use the space you have.
9. Use visual aids like images, videos and charts – and explain.
10. Be mindful of your body language. Turn towards your audience at all times, don’t talk to the chart on the projector and / or the laptop in front of you.
11. Prepare: Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. Also make sure you arrive early.
12. Have the right energy. The audience will feel it if you are faking it. Be passionate about your topic.
More on how you can practice 1 & 2 tomorrow.
Monday, 24 May 2010
Wednesday, 19 May 2010
Dwell & Engagement
I just spent a very enjoyable 10 minutes getting lost on this site and learning about the new VW Polo (new to Australia). What a fabulous creative execution!
Great graphics, clever ideas, videos, photos, animations, etc. etc. But is it really effective?
The answer is yes, because it generates precious engagement and dwell time, which is defined as a user initiated interaction. Engagement is gold, because it feeds familiarity, which then creates trust that will have a positive brand impact, and all this will ultimately result in an increase in acquisitions. Users who dwell convert – according to Eyeblaster’s “Global Benchmark 2010” report.
The answer is yes, because it generates precious engagement and dwell time, which is defined as a user initiated interaction. Engagement is gold, because it feeds familiarity, which then creates trust that will have a positive brand impact, and all this will ultimately result in an increase in acquisitions. Users who dwell convert – according to Eyeblaster’s “Global Benchmark 2010” report.
How engagement and dwell time drives conversions: engagement ► familiarity ► trust ► positive brand impact ► conversion/ acquisition/ sale
In addition, according to a joint research conducted by Eyeblaster with Microsoft Advertising and comScore, high dwell campaigns, as a trickle down effect, generated a 39% increase in brand-related keyword searches. Because once there is a positive brand impact, or once we trust a brand, we will seek it out when we are ready to buy.
So if you are responsible for marketing and / or advertising decisions, you may want to ask yourself these questions before launching your next campaign:
Is my creative engaging the target audience?
Does it generate user engagement?
What can I do to increase dwell time?
So if you are responsible for marketing and / or advertising decisions, you may want to ask yourself these questions before launching your next campaign:
Is my creative engaging the target audience?
Does it generate user engagement?
What can I do to increase dwell time?
Tuesday, 18 May 2010
The power of words
Poorly chosen words can be damaging and detrimental, whereas well chosen ones can encouraging and motivating. He knows, he is an encourager.
Be An Encourager Today - Nicholas Bate
What do marketers want?
After receiving another client brief recently I caught myself reminiscing on all the different type of media I have sold and managed campaigns on over the past few years. Radio, promotions and events, magazines, direct marketing, metro print, and digital. The briefs can vary quite a lot in campaign objective, duration, budget, just to mention a few; but there is one thing that never changes: what marketers want.
Sure, sometimes the objective is to improve unprompted brand awareness in a certain market, generate audience engagement, or increase people’s trust in the brand. However all these will eventually contribute to the bottom line, and in the end, that is exactly what marketers want. Sales, conversions, acquisitions.
And the way to get that brief in the first place is to convince them about how your media outlet can assist in increasing their numbers.
Monday, 17 May 2010
Australian ad revenues forecast to rise 6.2%
While the EU zone and US are working hard to lift that recessionary curve back up to growth mode, Australia is powering ahead – at least for now. Here are some great news as we are about to start FY11.
’Stronger than expected ad revenue growth in digital media,
TV and outdoor has led Magna-Global to revise its Australian
estimate for media growth this year from 5.1% to 6.2%’, as quoted in B&T’s newsletter.
Also quoted on Advertising at its best…
Released early May for the UK department store chain, John Lewis, a captivating TVC, with flawless and creative execution that takes you on a woman’s life journey. Brilliant work.
Thursday, 13 May 2010
Execupundit.com: Surviving the Dysfunctional Organization
Truly brilliant advice on how to survive a dysfunctional organisation. Thank you Michael Wade.
Tuesday, 11 May 2010
Targeting & privacy – what’s ethical and what’s not
Microsoft adCenter’s specification on display advertising makes a very interesting point about what messages are and aren’t allowed when it comes to Targeting:
- Targeted ads that identify the particular target are not allowed. For example, ads cannot include content such as "Single men, 18-24 who live in Washington State click here."
- Ads that are geographically targeted can indicate the region being targeted. For example, "Contoso Real Estate. Providing home buying assistance in the Seattle area."
The world of digital advertising is amazing. We go online every day, search, browse, and consume and forget all too easily that ‘Big Brother’ is watching. Publishers and advertising networks can these days more often than not tell your address down to the suburb, your age bracket, gender, clickstream and even some of your buying behaviour or preferences – just to mention a few. We need to know, we ought to know, so that we can retain control and decide what information we are willing to share.
Sure, many people give out information voluntarily. But there is a big difference between signing up on a social networking site and between casual internet usage, the latter which does not necessarily prompt people thinking that they are being watched when they are just casually browsing, reading, searching, buying, etc. online.
In one hand ad-targeting is a great tool.
- reduces waste for the advertiser and
- increases relevance for the user.
The coin however has, as always, two sides.
- purely from an advertising perspective, it reduces overall reach, therefore branding and
- privacy.
There is something mesmerizing, almost G-dlike in thinking that by using technology we can pick and choose our audience – both for the seller and buyer of display advertising. But privacy is a very important issue when it comes to Targeting and must be safeguarded.
Privacy law is based on ‘reasonable expectation’, but the more we collectively accept that giving up privacy is the new ‘social norm’ (as coined by Facebook’s Zuckerberg) the less control we retain. And as Dr O’Hara, a senior research fellow in Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton said ‘when our reasonable expectations diminish, as they have, by necessity our legal protection diminishes as well’.
Nokia to Apple: mobile latecomer is infringing patents big time - Mobile Marketer - Legal/privacy
Collaboration is applauded within one organisation. It does happen between companies as well, but to be fair, royalties or licensing fee ought to be paid to those who invested time and effort into R&D and came up with the new technology first…
“On information and belief, Apple is aware of these patents and is infringing them willfully and deliberately,” it says.
Nokia to Apple: mobile latecomer is infringing patents big time - Mobile Marketer - Legal/privacy
Monday, 10 May 2010
Geek In Disguise : TV advertising meets art
Nice find by Steve Clayton: Audi TVC with a touch of class.
Geek In Disguise : TV advertising meets art
Thursday, 6 May 2010
Save first!
Seth's Blog: Consumer debt is not your friend
What an eye opener blog post!
My take? I save.
I spent the first 9 years of my life in Communist Hungary and the following 10 in the hopeful but weak capitalism which followed the fall of the ‘System’ and was mainly about paying back a huge debt that the country accumulated behind the Iron Curtain. Which meant ‘Greek conditions’ – meaning high taxes (in excess of 50%) from an already low income.
We never had credit cards, in fact I never knew what credit was until very recently. I saw my mother buy a car for cash. In fact I saw her buy a property for cash... and seeing 2.5 million Forints (Hungarian currency) sitting on the dining table in the mid-nineties still remains vivid in my memory…
If we wanted something we saved first. It’s a wonderful thing. Teaches you discipline and gratitude.
What an eye opener blog post!
My take? I save.
I spent the first 9 years of my life in Communist Hungary and the following 10 in the hopeful but weak capitalism which followed the fall of the ‘System’ and was mainly about paying back a huge debt that the country accumulated behind the Iron Curtain. Which meant ‘Greek conditions’ – meaning high taxes (in excess of 50%) from an already low income.
We never had credit cards, in fact I never knew what credit was until very recently. I saw my mother buy a car for cash. In fact I saw her buy a property for cash... and seeing 2.5 million Forints (Hungarian currency) sitting on the dining table in the mid-nineties still remains vivid in my memory…
If we wanted something we saved first. It’s a wonderful thing. Teaches you discipline and gratitude.
Promotions: 10 Tips for Moving Up the Corporate Ladder « Life After College by Jenny Blake
I particularly liked point 2… (Nicholas Bate hammered the message home already of point 1 and some others…)
”Build your career like a pyramid not a ladder (Carol Bartz) – Don’t be afraid of horizontal moves. Focus on finding work that is soul-stirring (as Tim Gunn would say) and make adjustments along the way. Much better (for most people) to focus on finding work that is a great fit rather than just on getting promoted. Sometimes you have to make a lateral move, but if it leads to greater happiness and productivity, it’s probably worth it in the long run.”
Promotions: 10 Tips for Moving Up the Corporate Ladder « Life After College by Jenny Blake
Wednesday, 5 May 2010
Forgive yourself for procrastinating
Do you ever put things off? Paying the bills, calling a friend, planning a holiday – anything at all. Do you ever avoid what has to be done, even though oftentimes it’s even harder to tackle things later?
Well here is a cure for all of us who do: practice forgiving.
Forgive who? Ourselves.
After conducting a research on students – before, during and after exams, Michael Wohl concluded that ’by realising that procrastination was a transgression against the self and letting go of negative affect associated with the transgression via self-forgiveness, the student is able to constructively approach studying for the next exam’.
More on why and how forgiving works here.
Changing print media - Execupundit.com: Thoughts on News and Papers
I love newspapers. And I often read them to get insight, a detailed background, or perhaps a new and intriguing angle – something I haven’t thought of yet. But I have to agree with the ‘Thoughts on News and Papers’ blog post. I, too “gather my news from blogs or online sites and occasionally hit the news button on Google. The delivery is immediate, a service that newspapers just can’t supply simply because the type of delivery they use just can’t move that quickly.” (source: View from the Ledge in Execupundit.com: Thoughts on News and Papers)
”What I do look for is opinion, analysis, feature articles, and personal essays. In essence, newspapers have become magazines where I look for entertainment and perspective.” And that’s a great USP (unique selling point) for papers. No wonder the sales of the chunky weekend papers are holding up strong in Australia. There are glossy mags, lengthy feature articles and everything in between. And the more papers embrace the new order, the firmer will they hold their place in the today’s media landscape.
Newspapers we still love you. Only a bit differently…
”What I do look for is opinion, analysis, feature articles, and personal essays. In essence, newspapers have become magazines where I look for entertainment and perspective.” And that’s a great USP (unique selling point) for papers. No wonder the sales of the chunky weekend papers are holding up strong in Australia. There are glossy mags, lengthy feature articles and everything in between. And the more papers embrace the new order, the firmer will they hold their place in the today’s media landscape.
Newspapers we still love you. Only a bit differently…
Tuesday, 4 May 2010
Less corn syrup…
It’s bad for you…
Nicholas Bate: Outrageous 101
47. That corn syrup is no longer for you:
48. ever, ever again.
49. Ever.
And it’s bad for Pepsi’s marketing…
’If your success depends on sickening the poorest and least educated portion of your customer base (and the ones that buy the most from you), it's time to redefine success.’
Seth's Blog: Rights and responsibilities
Seth's Blog: In search of a jealous chipmunk
How to capitalise using “fear marketing”… although bear in mind that it can backfire…
“Marketing that preys on fear (buy duct tape!) has the shortest path to follow to success, because the public can't wait to get scared. An entire portion of our brain (the same brain the lizard has) is dedicated to fear. And it can't wait to spring into action. “
Dear Meeting » THXTHXTHX
We’ve all been there… expressing gratitude at the conclusion of a meeting. Perfected by Leah Dietrich here:
Dear Meeting » THXTHXTHX
Monday, 3 May 2010
Two Power Sales Questions - Nicholas Bate
Always remember to ask these two questions…
Two Power Sales Questions - Nicholas Bate
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