London's new Apple store - which opens at 10am tomorrow morning - will be the largest offering of iPhones and Macs in the whole world... and only "just down the road" from the current Regents Street Store - which incidentally, has the highest sales density of any retailer in London - worth about £2,000 per square foot.
Image Source: The Guardian
But... why?! Whether you love or hate Apple - you have to admit they have been hugely successful - and perhaps this retail store sums that success up! Apple claims that the Regents Street store gets "too crowded", and Apple are right to believe that Covent Garden offers a completely different shopping experience.
Read more...
It turns out that the App Store now has a "try before you buy" category, allowing users to immediately find 'lite' or 'free' versions of paid apps to try out before buying the full version. These 'lite' apps have been around for ages, but never has Apple recognised their existence until now.
As an iPhone owner, I personally feel a better option would be to allow users to have a '24 hour free-trial period', if you like, where users can experience an app to its full potential, before buying the whole thing.
Image Source: Mashable
Read More...
Image Source: Bebo
AOL reported a $1bn loss in revenue in Q2 2010, partly because of drops in general web advertising revenue, but mostly because of it's sell of the now pretty-much-dead social network Bebo in early June. Bebo used to be one of the favourite and most popular sites, until users starting ditching it for Facebook or other sites.
To be fair to AOL, no body could have predicted the way social media would go when Bebo was bought by AOL in March 2008. Facebook users were a mere tenth of what they are today - and Twitter wasn't even heard of.
It's amazing to see what has changed in just 2 years within social media. What will it be like in August 2012!?
Read More...
Social media has opened up thousands of opportunities for genius little ideas, but this new one is particularly fantastic – you can now book a taxi/cab on Twitter.
The @tweetalondoncab service comprises of around 100 cabbies, whom react to Direct Messages sent on Twitter. All you’ve got to do is send off your contact number, and your route details, and you’re off. Observe the example below from this Twitter user:
Image Source: tweetalondoncab.co.uk
Go to the Twitter page now…
Radio listening is at its record high in the UK, despite concerns that radio technology is perhaps ‘dying’. Perhaps prompted by the World Cup and the election, recent figures – published today – say an average of 46.8 million adults tuned in to their favourite radio stations each week. This equates to 90.6% of the UK population over the age of 15.
The BBC’s radio market share fell slightly, meaning commercial stations enjoyed higher revenues from advertising.
Read more…
Yesterday, Google officially said that it was to stop work on a project announced last year that had developers and geeks calling it "one of the most amazing social media experiments ever" – so much so, some of the exclusive invites to the free service were sold on eBay for as much as $70.
Wave was a service that combined IM, Gmail and Twitter – which sounds pretty interesting (see image below) – but in reality, wasn’t received with the greatest of receptions.
Image Source: frontiering.com.au
Read More…
If you have a minute, check out the official YouTube page for this month’s must-see movie The Expendables, at youtube.com/expendables
The result is perhaps the most creative viral marketing campaign I’ve seen in a long time – taking the YouTube video literally out of the box!
Image Source: movieviral.com
Even I will admit that in the past 4 Daily News posts, I’ve been a tad Apple-baised. Well, to hopefully counteract that – Facebook has launched it’s all-new free mobile app for Android phones – which looks somewhat similar to the iPhone version.
Image Source: Mashable
However, as Mashable has pointed out – improvements still need to be made, most noticeably with a future release featuring Facebook Chat (something iPhone users have been using for a while now).
MoneySupermarket.com announced today that its revenues for the first half of the year went up 4% to £71.6m – the rise believed to be helped by the companies ad campaign featuring comedian Omid Djalili.
Is this a direct result of having a celebrity? Or is 4% just to be expected anyway?
Read More…
Image Source: hongkiat.com
There is no doubt that the iPad has become hugely successful because of features like music, internet browsing and email – but some digital artists are using simple cheap apps, such as Brushes, to create stunning finger-painted drawings.
David Kassan, a New York artist, made this time-lapse video of one of his creations. The final result could be mistaken for a real oil painting – or even a photo of his live model.
Video Source: YouTube
Some other amazing examples: 20 Beautiful Examples Of iPad Finger Painting
Watch out next Saturday night as the confectionary company is set to set off its largest ever, £50m “marketing push”. Cadbury has faced criticism in the past for promoting unhealthy eating – so the move to sponsor London’s 2012 games was challenged by many and had to be defended. 
Cadbury's 'Spots v Stripes' ad for the 2012 Olympics
Image Source: guardian.co.uk
Read more…
Another advertising campaign of mention today is Heinz’s world famous baked beans which will soon be sold in large 1kg plastic, fridge-kept bottles. I personally am a big fan of this – one tin can is far too much for one person, so a fridge kept 5-portion bottle seems a good alternative!
Image Source: Brand Republic
But what do you think of Heinz and their decision to market the bottle? Read more…
Image Source: BBC
London’s new bike rental scheme has been launched – there is even a bike docking station just round the corner from FK at Warren Street! But who is the big winner in all of this? We think it’s Barclays – the £25 million sponsor, whose logo now litters the bikes and the docking stations.
Read more...
The latest free social media app released for the iPad is Flipboard, which allows the user to view, read and share articles that their friends have posted on Twitter and Facebook. It also comes with feeds from other news providers for a real-time, digital magazine feel and look.
Image Source: AppShopper.com
Sky has announced that its 3D service will be launched on October 1st. Sky plans to show some exciting new 3D movies that will work through home Sky+HD boxes, but only if you have a compatible 3DTV.
Image Source: Sky News
It will be interesting to see though, if 3D advertising will take off for this channel. Would the amount spent on expensive 3D adverts pay off?
Read more... or visit sky.com/3D for more information.
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Image Source: campaignlive.co.uk
This may be welcomed news for campaigners against retouching, and those who believe airbrushing in magazines and such may be causing public health issues in young men and women. Airbrushing is known to distort reality, providing a ‘fake’ ideal that young people aspire to. In 2006, Unilever, more specifically Dove, launched an advertising campaign that addressed re-touching issues. Some saw it as a hypocritical move by Dove, whom go about retouching images for campaigns every day – but others saw it as a daring step forward.
Video Source: YouTube
Yet the change in the law may bring about severe changes in the way agencies advertise with people, and may even negatively impact some companies and their views.
This poses the question, is it right for agencies to take the blame regarding airbrushed, or even ‘faked’ campaigns? Take for example Coca Cola’s recent back-firing campaign which resulted in a bumpy relationship with their digital agency Lean Mean Fighting Machine, following the use of the pornographic-film reference in a social media promotion for its Dr Pepper brand.
Oil giant BP was caught red handed not long ago when some official images of the Gulf of Mexico cleanup operation were found to be manipulated by their photographer. BP blames their photographer, yet the images still appeared on the BP website, and BP knew about, and confirmed the editing process. So who here really is to blame?
The edited BP image on the top, with the original below:
Images Source: BP America Flickr
As published in the 28 July ’10 issue of Marketing Magazine, Guy Hayward, the Chief Executive of JWT UK, stated with regard to the Coca Cola campaign that “in a robust working relationship, the agency and client are in it together. So my view is that, no, the agency [Lean Mean Fighting Machine] should not take the blame.”
Mind you, some companies are using the topic of airbrushing to their advantage. Debenhams are trailing a new campaign for its Oxford Street shop window in which truly authentic and non-touched images of models are being used to advertise swimwear for the summer season. Next to each natural image will be a labelled modified image, annotated with where changes have been made.
Image Source: stylefrizz.com
Here, at Fox Kalomaski, there is an Authenticity Index Model (AIM) which ensures what the consumer sees is real – an example of which is in our Bahamas Tourist Office campaign in which we used local characters for the so-called ‘real element of truth’.
What are your views on image manipulation?
Sources:
Campaign Live, Wikipedia, Brand Republic, Marketing Magazine, Telegraph, Flickr, Fox Kalomaski.
Twitter-advertising was born in the US, pioneered by the Disney and Starbucks brands. It’s amazing in many ways that brands have not exploited Twitter as an advertising platform in the way in which brands have used Facebook. Once Twitter sees their ad platform take off, they could be seeing revenues similar to Facebook's, of US$800 million in 2009 – just from advertising.
Example of a Starbucks “promoted” tweet:
Image Source: wesnovak.com
Read more...
As part of the new governments cost cutting, health and safety policies may be watered down slightly – and the government is considering a possible ban of “no win, no fee” advertising on TV. The adverts are also said to be bringing and encouraging a US-style ‘compensation’ culture to the UK.
Image Source: wow-tube.ru
So is this a good thing? I for one find these ads irritating, though am surprised to see that these companies, such as Injury Lawyers 4 U and The National Accident Helpline spend around £40 million on TV advertising each year – so they must be successful.
Read more...
That’s right, rather than using a formal car show, media savvy Ford exclusively announced and revealed the new 4x4 Explorer model on Facebook. Every fan (now over 50,000 of them) of the page has been entered into a prize draw where one lucky fan will win one of the Explorer’s - which could be the reason for its success.
However, Mashable recognises that Ford’s strategy is risky, and has never been attempted before. Plus, it is still 6 months before the car actually goes on sale – is this a big flop too early?
Read more...
Image Source: Mashable
Cathay Pacific has launched a rather intelligent-looking iPad app, which enables users to view flight information, book flights, check in and view city guides – all before stepping into an airport. The app is free to get and matches the international release date for the iPad in Hong Kong.
It is clear that both the iPhone and iPad App Stores have become hugely popular – arguably now at the centre of modern society. With more and more apps, such as this one being developed, people are becoming accustomed and expecting to carry out their daily tasks whilst on the move.
Image Source: Cathay Pacific
Read more...
Renault has launched an ad campaign aimed to make British consumers think more positively about French cars. The advert promotes the French Renault Megane saloon, which is currently losing out to the Ford Focus and Vauxhall Astra, directly comparing the stereotypical ‘romantic and sunny’ Côte d’Azur, with the ‘grim’ Gisburn in Lancashire.
Video Source: Brand Republic
It made us chuckle. Read more...
A couple of days ago, The Queen expanded her social media connections to include Flickr. The Palace already operates a Twitter profile and a YouTube channel, all with the intent of keeping the younger generation and tourists interested and ‘in touch’ with royalty. 
Image Source: Mashable
It’s interesting to see an institution so immersed in tradition embracing new and social media, however, the account does not permit comments on the photos, perhaps missing an element of interaction with Flickr’s users.
Read more... or visit the Flickr account directly...
It appears that the boss of Ryanair, Michael O'Leary hasn't learnt his lesson. In the London Standard it was said that O'Leary was forced to pay out £50,100 in libel damages to easyJet, plus Sir Stelios' legal costs, after running an ad campaign which showed Stelios with a Pinocchio-style nose and calling him “easyJet's Mr Late Again”.
But Ryanair has been up to its old tricks again. Brand Republic reported Ryanair running a black and white ad that takes yet another dig at easyJet over its punctuality record in a press ad quoting newspaper headlines such as "Easyjet less punctual than Air Zimbabwe". Read the full story here
However, Ryainair's Michael O'Leary may not be as stupid as people may think, in a competive and crowded market place all this publicity is free and with the low-cost airlines battling it out, it seems bad publicity is good publicity. As long as people keep flying with O'Learys' airline it seems for now he can get away with it.
Launched in 2004 it was reported that Facebook, arguably the kings of social media, hit the 500million user mark with 100 million new users signing up in the last six months. The success of the site has mainly been driven by word-of-mouth and shows no sign of slowing down. The founder himself, Mr Zuckerberg was reported saying that the site was almost gauranteed to reach the billion new users milestone. Read the full story
Facebook fact: People spend over 500 billion minutes per month on Facebook
Well that's according to the Gaurdian. Foursqaure is a geo-location social media application that helps users to explore bars. restaurants and point of interests near by that other users have recommended. An interesting article suggests apps like Foursquare is a cyberstalkers dream. Read the full story here
]]>...Tunisia National Tourist Office appointed Fox Kalomaski for a further 3 years in January, extending Fox Kalomaski's marketing responsibilities for the TNTO beyond the UK to include The Netherlands and Scandinavia. Travellers to Tunisia this year are up 26% and as a result Tunisair and BA have introduced extra scheduled flights to Tunisia to cope with the demand.
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We recently launched a new TV campaign for thecentre:mk. The campaign reinforces the centre's positioning as the place for 'serious shopping' by demonstrating differing and relevant customer needs; be it brands, style, range, quality or value.
CMK - TV Ad from FOX KALOMASKI on Vimeo.
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In the recent Sceptre Awards Michelle
Moffitt won Marketing Manager of the year at The
Chimes and Robert Goodman was awarded Centre Manager of the year
for thecentre:mk. Congratulations to both!
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Nando’s restaurants appointed Fox Kalomaski to design and produce 500,000 kid's packs to promote repeat visits.
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Fox Kalomaski received global recognition from the United Nations World Tourism Organisation winning 'Best Poster' for its Bahamas Tourist Office UK brand campaign poster. And our online work has been short-listed for two Travolution awards: Best Travel Information Website for www.bahamas.co.uk and Best Use of Social Media for the 14 Islands Film Challenge campaign – www.14islandsfilmchallenge.co.uk
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Fox Kalomaski and Ekornes has broken all records with the nationwide Stressless Atlantic recliner retail campaign. The activity generated a 95% uptake amongst retailers and smashed sales targets, delivering a staggering 229% increase in sales on 2009
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We welcome back Scandinavian Airways (SAS) with a new trade DM, highligting the unique benefits of flying SAS, outperforming all previous trade communications…welcome back SAS!
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And we welcome back Bluewater, even after 4 years, it feels like you have never been away... nice to have you back!
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Sean has an aptitude for mischief. Can you spot him among this line up
of what the department might have looked like in an alternative reality?
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The
Internet Advertising Bureau has launched measurement tools for advertisers and agencies
better understand the complexities of social media.
IAB SMC
(Internet Advertising Bureau Social Media Council) set up a framework which can
be downloaded here, and was specifically designed to be flexible enough to be
applied across the broad spectrum of social media platforms.
Using the
letters ‘I’ ‘A’ ‘B’ as reference point, in which the ‘I’ stands for intent, ‘A’
stands for awareness and ‘B’ stands for benchmark, IAB are hoping that with
feedback from the wider industry the framework can become a structure for
advertisers when deciding upon their social media strategy.
Co-founder Mat
Barritt said “Despite the recession, the UK Cruise market is a thriving one”. The large brand, owned by retailer Cruise118, obviously
sees the
For more
information about cruises.com’s plan to exploit the
The
European Union have given British Airways planned merger with Iberia the thumbs
up after the final regulatory approval by the European Commission on joint
business agreements on transatlantic flights which also had the inclusion of
American Airlines.
Though no
conditions have yet been applied on the merger and transatlantic alliance, the
three airlines will no benefit after soaring fuel prices and less demand in the
market place. Further to the agreement, back
in April in order to compete in a fast consolidating aviation sector, BA and
To put more focus on
digital communication, Waitrose are launching a site for their Waitrose Kitchen
magazine.
The site
will be accessable through Waitrose.com and shows an ambition from Waitrose to gain
more of the market by using digital channels. Waitrose had
recently joined forces with top TV chef Heston Blumenthal to launch a range of
kitchen ware and the new Waitrose Kitchen range will be available in not only
their supermarkets but also their service station stores across the
Thomson
will be the first airways to fly the Dreamliner and they have started off their
campaign to coincide with the Dreamliner’s first
According
to the Office of National Statistics the number of Britons travelling abroad
last year fell by 15%, the fastest rate since 1970. In 2009 there were 58.6 million trips abroad, a fall
from the 69 million travellers in 2008.
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Domino’s
Pizza has attributed its recent growth in online sales to the location based
social media mobile application Foursquare.
The pizza delivery company announced a 29% increase in pre-tax profits and attributed it's link up with Foursquare as key in it's recent performance.
For more details on Domino's excellent recent online performance please click here.
Google have
recently acquired travel software company ITA in a move which could be a real
danger to travel intermediaries such as Travelsupermarket and Expedia.
The software company uses data of up to the minute flight times and fares so users can find the cheapest deals.
Travel
companies are being given the chance to win £200,000 worth of advertising on
tripadvisor.co.uk by creating the best campaign.
Tripadvisor are looking for the most innovative and creative campaign which will be turned into advertising space on their website. The campaign's will be judged by a panel and cannot be an existing piece of advertising.
Interested in tripadvisor's new incentive to creative design click here...
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The recent research by PSP (Sage Pay) has revealed only 7% of all users visiting an online store will make a purchase, whereas 71% visiting from a social media site will complete transaction.
So why is it that a user being linked through a social media site is significantly more likely to make a purchase in an online store? A study performed by ForeSee earlier in the year provided some very insightful results which means retailers should really be considering social channels as a means of attracting users to their sites. The study consisted of 10,000 visitors to the Top 40 retail websites in the UK, 69% of the shoppers were social media users and out of that group 37% have subscribed or followed a retail store online. Out of those who follow a retail store through social media 54% of the shoppers do so to learn about the products, compared to 40% of the shoppers follow to learn about promotions. Interestingly, the report shows that UK shoppers are engaging with retailers and therefore creating a relationship on social media sites.
This relationship is the most important factor when users are making decisions on potential purchases. By building a trust through social media, shoppers are more likely to interact with the company and build a relationship which will lead to future purchases over time. Social channels are a good form of listening and discovering the thoughts of your users and therefore applying techniques and strategy to getting the best out of the relationship, which doesn’t just benefit the retailer but the customers themselves. By engaging conversation with the customer this can allow the business to gather clues about what products may be in demand and which may need a greater amount of promotion. One example of engaging with your customers was a recent Facebook open discussion in which Lynx asked its followers to decide on the new name and size of its upcoming deodorant.
The social media space is becoming a very important aspect of the marketing strategy for any business and as studies show has real potential to drive purchases of online retailers. Consumer’s are now more than ever more concerned in the products they are buying and look for the reassurances of a review, while other customers are seeking special promotions on offer. By offering this service to the consumer you are likely to create a loyalty and therefore repeat purchases.
From the 1st of July Apple has attempted to attract more advertisers to the iPad and iPhone devices by creating a way for Apple to sell, produce and host advertisements.
The arrangement will mean developers of the advertisement will take 60% of the revenue generated and Apple taking the remaining 40%. Already Apple have reported that they are taking in over £40m in bookings, however the new platform has been critised as it will be blocking off third parties.
News International have decided to proceed with plans to make daily news content on TheTimes.co.uk and TheSundayTimes.co.uk a payable service.
The move will mean that editoral content will now be set behind a paywall. However they will offer a free one month trial period for registered users.
To find out more about News International’s controversial move and how they have explained their decision click here..
In an attempt to pay off its rising debts Greece have now placed land up for sale on any of its 6,000 islands.
After the countries £90bn bailout from the EU last month, Greece have now gone to desperate measures by trying to entice foreign investors to either buy or let island land and by doing so investing in local infrascture.
To find out more about this drastically move by Greece and who my be the tempted buying parties please click here.
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After England's Monday defeat to Germany there has been a huge rise in holiday bookings with Travel Republic’s website crashing straight after the game.
To find out more about the increase online bookings due to England’s failure in South Africa click here
Microsoft have used crowdsourcing (a method of outsourcing data from a community of users) data from 9 Million users of their new Beta version of Office 2010 to provide feedback in developing the software for its release this month. In addition to collecting 2 millions comments from the beta testers Microsoft also set up a virtual research lab, where 600 people were monitored using the new software.
To find out the extent of research and the time taken by Microsoft to ensure best usability click here.
Over the last 12 months the amount of British online users has risen by nearly 2 million. Another statistic from the research performed by UKOM (UK Online Measurement Company) reveals that over half that number of new users are over the age of 50.
To find out more about UKOM's recent study click here.
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Google have tried to calm the row over censorship with China but has warned it could “go dark” and therefore no longer re-route users through its Hong Kong site.
If you want to learn more about the most recent development in the Google/China senshorship war- click here.
It a bid to retain customers bmi have launched a campaign that will give discounted fairs once a month.
To find out more details on the new bmi discount scheme click here.
Ryanair have planned a 16% winter cuts starting from November with the company stating the governments taxes have forced their hand.
To find out more about Ryanair’s capacity cut and which airports will be most effected click here.
Unilever’s brand new Chief Marketing Officer Keith Weed is planning on doubling the firms digital spend, quoted as saying “We fish where fishes are”.
Digital is clearly on the minds of fish both big and small...
To find out more about Uniever's new marketing strategy click here.
Customers who access an online store via a social networking site such as Facebook are 10 times more likely to complete a transaction over other online users.
For more information on how social media helps drive sales click here.
New York City is planning a new 1 Year £20 million advertising campaign where they wish to promote themselves as a tourist attraction in a hope to attract an extra 9 Million visitors to the city.
To find out more about New York's new advertising campaign click here.
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This is less a blog, and more a quick thank you note to everyone here at FK, Brik and Dvision who I've worked with and learned from in the past month and a half. And I have learned. Quite a lot actually.
I've come to realise just how much information a job in marketing involves. And it's not just skimming over material either. You have to consume a brand, an industry or a target market, and let it consume you in return. In the first two weeks here, I became utterly engrossed in politics after being assigned political blogs to write. I breathed in every word uttered by the blues, reds and yellows, and hungered for any text written about them. Hourly political updates kept me abreast of Gillian Duffy's role, all the words and looks exchanged in the debates, each constituency's ballot count, every opinion, no matter how small, on the implications of a hung parliament, and all the scraps of fallout from the resulting coalition. In my blogs I've been from politics to public relations, social media to marathons, and was consumed by ash somewhere inbetween.
Outside of my blogs, I've become a cruise critic one day, a savvy supermarket shopper another, and a standalone flight comparison service yet another. I've had a crash course in digital, brainstorming sessions in brands, and a masterclass in marketing insight. Every day is different, and I love that about this industry. My brain feels tired and full at the end of each day, and yet the day that follows invariably proves that there's still more information it can take in.
On the other side of the coin, I've learned that there is, in fact, life before 8am, keeping fit is extracurricular, and I have the most horrendously addictive personality when it comes to the Evening Standard's Killer Sudoku!
Anyway, that's enough from me. It's been a pleasure, again, to work with you all, and I wish each one of you and your respective companies the very best of luck in the future.
Thorfinn
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Is this the right response? Should we censor comedy to ensure feelings don't get hurt? Or should comedy be a matter of taste, with those who don't like it simply removing themselves from its scope, and not watching or listening in? In a country enjoying freedom and range of choice this is, at least, an option.
Comedy is just the tip of the iceberg. Political and corporate careers have been damaged or even ruined. Just a few weeks ago, Gordon Brown was utterly humbled when he let slip a throwaway comment about Gillian Duffy which was picked up on mic. Much public attention and a grovelling apology later, and the damage seemed to have been contained but a day's campaigning ruined. Was he wrong though? Had he misheard her saying 'flocking', leading him to his comment? Either way, it seems that a public image and private comments should definitely not be mixed. Another who discovered this recently was the head of our World Cup 2018 bid, Lord Triesman. The day after sharing concerns with a friend regarding Spanish and Russian corruption in football, he found himself on the cover of newspapers, and was forced into resigning from his position. Whether his 'friend' was wrong or not in this betrayal, exposing his private views to the public, it highlights once again that one can never be too careful in choosing what to say, and who to say it to.
On the subject of private comments, there are many, far more tragic stories around. Just last month, a man killed himself after being suspended from a job he loved in the wake of a borderline racist remark he made to a friend, which was overheard and reported. The friend was the subject of the joke and took it lightly, but it seems that the word 'racist' sends people running to the hills and cowering in fear of disapproval. From my personal experience, I and all my friends would be locked up tight if half the things we said were overheard by sensitive ears. As a group of male friends, insulting banter is the order of the day, and with different races and religions among us, nothing is sacred. But without this abusive, derisive (and often very witty and creative) interaction, half the fun would be gone. How sad it is to think that if any of us ended up as a public figure, our personalities would have to be self-censored to a horrifying extent.
In advertising, we have seen some major cutbacks to what is and what is not allowed (clearly for the better in the above case). Back in the 80s when I was growing up, my favourite was the Kia-Ora orange juice ad, the theme tune to which was in my head perpetually. Unfortunately, featuring a plethora of black stereotypes as it did, it wouldn't stand a chance in today's world. Yet there are rays of light. Some of the most effective advertising is that which is non-PC, dancing somewhere between edgy, provocative and outrageous. Some ads take it just that bit too far, getting themselves banned from TV broadcast, but if anything, that can do more good than harm. The internet allows such material to prosper ever more, as the word 'banned' adds to its value immeasurably in seeking an audience. The banned Zazoo condom ad has received over 20 million YouTube views, with banned ads from Levis and 7UP racking up 14 million and 5 million respectively. These aren't just views either. Unlike a TV ad, a YouTube video doesn't just appear in front of you; a viewer must actively click on it, and usually, actively watch it. They aren't annoyances inbetween programmes, they ARE the entertainment, and the fact that they've been given a 'banned' label makes them ever more enticing. Some brands thrive on this, with Lynx/Axe ads regularly tickling the boundaries of sexual discrimination, but being loved all the more for it.
I, for one, hope we backpedal just a small way. With Cameron clamping down on Political Correctness's twin brother, Red Tape, maybe we will see the noose slacking off a little, but until then, I'm very much looking forward to the next South Park.
Shopping Centre marketing is continuing to innovate and be effective….that was the message we got from The Purple Apple Marketing Awards last week.
Some of the Fox Kalomaski team and our Clients attended The Purple Apple Marketing Awards Dinner at the Brewery, London on 12 May to see if we had won a converted Purple Apple. The venue was amazing and with a lovely dinner and wine flowing - a great night was had by all. The lovely Claudia Winkleman did a great job of presenting the awards too.
The awards demonstrated that despite the recession, lots of really creative marketing activity is still being produced within shopping centres by stretching budgets and making them work harder - with results standing testaments.
See you next year!
Finally, the results are in. Actually, we're still waiting for Dudley North, St Ives, etc (what HAVE they been doing?), but even without them we already know enough. Yes, our parliament is well and truly hung, so what now? And what will the public and political responses be to each of the different scenarios? Let's explore.
The Conservatives' options are limited. Despite winning the most number of seats, and around 36% of the popular vote (compared to Labour's 29%), they will need the support of another party's seats for a majority. According to the pre-election polls, this might have been possible with Northern Ireland's Unionists, but the reality of the election is that even with that support, a majority would not be attained. Instead, this support now must come from the Lib Dems, either in a formal coalition or a minority rule, the latter which would surely involve yet more campaigning and another general election well before the 4 year term.
Labour meanwhile, have become slaves to the whim of Nick 'The Kingmaker' Clegg. Constitutionally, Labour, as the incumbent party, should have had first go at forming a coalition, but the Lib Dem leader in his benevolence has granted that opportunity to Cameron as the party leader with the most public support. If a Tory/Lib Dem agreement cannot be made however, Gordon Brown may actually stand a chance at staying in office. Even though the total number of seats between Labour and Lib Dem would still be lower than the number required for a majority, it seems that having the backing of the third strongest party would be enough for a coalition to receive the Queen's speech and officially form government. Whether Brown stays on or not in this circumstance would be a major point of contention; if he stays then we'd continue to be governed by a man who barely 1 in 4 voters supported, and if he were to go, we'd be led by someone who hadn't been voted for at all.
So, after all this kerfuffle, we're basically left in a situation where a single man and his band decides who rules the country for the next 4 years, and may be able to make some major demands in the process. Nick Clegg has proven to be quite the central character in this exciting campaign, but who would have guessed that his views would have become the single most important in the country? I'm sure I'm not alone in being slightly concerned about the amount of power that this one man currently has.
Now imagine it was Nick Griffin...
But will the final installment of the trilogy have the desired effect? Undoubtedly it will have given the audience more to mull over in the last week before the big day, and with 8 million viewers, will have educated the voting public to greater levels than ever before. With that in mind, what has the public reaction been in the places that count? Inside the space of a single week, all of the social media sites have seen an explosion in activity, with rises of 10s or even 100s of percent in numbers of fans, followers and video views. Here are the stats:
| Conservatives | Labour | Lib Dems | ||||||||
| 16th April | 23rd April | 30th April | 16th April | 23rd April | 30th April | 16th April | 23rd April | 30th April | ||
| Youtube | ||||||||||
| Channel views | 245,149 | 313,378 | 469,718 | 270,353 | 276,534 | 280,218 | 104,577 | 113,880 |
120,806 | |
| No. of videos | 272 | 278 | 352 | 362 | 157 | 166 | ||||
| Total video views | 1,847,978 | 2,001,617 | 2,365,693 | 1,237,200 | 1,251,061 | 1,442,969 | ||||
| Party Fans | 45,615 | 55,622 | 74.386 | 21,877 | 28,018 | 32,852 | 25,042 | 58,112 | 74,185 | |
| Leader Fans | 27,809 | 33,081 | 39,786 | 51,598 | ||||||
| Anti-Cameron |
166,724 | 172,320 | ||||||||
| Party Followers | 26,671 | 28,284 | 29,533 | 14,437 | 15,225 | 15,814 | 13,483 | 16,889 | 18,487 | |
| Leader Followers | 24,733 | 30,223 | ||||||||
Despite a few missing bits of data, the trends are obvious. Interest has leapt in all areas, between the first and second debates initially, but much more so in the past week. Each party has seen growth in its followers, though it is much more noticable with the Conservatives and Lib Dems. The number of people visiting the Conservatives' YouTube channel has nearly doubled in the fortnight since the first debate, while the Lib Dem Facebook page has seen its number of fans treble. These media allow the parties much greater accessibility to their audiences, and as such may convey more personal messages and pleas, moniter reaction and opinions, and in turn adjust their key campaign priorities accordingly. Twitter meanwhile has shown a fairly steady, understated rise in numbers, but the real difference is the fact that Nick Clegg elected to use a personal account as well as a party one. The personal affiliation the follower feels has given the Lib Dems a huge advantage in numbers over the other two, and will surely draw more voters to cast their lot in with the party.
Will any of it be enough? Roll on Thursday...
Original Posting - 23/04/10
In the years before and after Obama's election, the use of the internet and social media in his road to the White House has been highlighted as one of the main tools for the future of campaigning. Our own politians have now been looking to emulate the President in the run up to 6th May with active Facebook accounts, regular Tweeting, pages on Flikr and videos on Youtube. So what, and how, are they all doing?
Flickr
While the three parties have branched out onto Flickr, is seems to be the most underused aspect of the social media drive. Labour is alone with any substantial offering, with 13,429 photostream items, while the Lib Dems are well back with 1,328, and the Tories lag further behind with just 412. However, it is Cameron who comes out with the most exposure due to the spin off sites 'Make your own Cameron poster', and www.mydavidcameron.com, with over 400,000 and 1,500 posters respectively. These spoofs have mostly been taken with some humour by the Conservatives, who have gone as far as to create their own spoof images.
YouTube
All three parties have designated YouTube channels, and this is where the Conservatives have started really putting in the effort. Their channel hosts a total of 272 videos, accumulating over 2 million views between them. Among these, their top 10 videos - 8 of which star David Cameron - make up for 600,000 views.
Labour meanwhile have found a very different champion in the form of Eddie Izzard, whose 'Brilliant Britain' video stands tall with nearly 90,000 views. The 351 videos on top of this, however, have seen just 1.25 million hits, showing the greater following that the Tories enjoy. Notably, only 3 of Labour's top 10 most viewed videos (notching up 430,000 hits) actually feature Gordon Brown!
Finally, the Lib Dem channel comes into focus, and highlights the disparity between their online campaign compared to the other two parties. While their designated channel boasts 113,880 views, just 157 videos appear on it, organised into confused playlists and barriers to those who haven't subscribed to the channel. Unlike the Tories, the Lib Dems have failed to use the saleability of their front man, Nick Clegg, who only appears in videos when addressing audiences rather than the camera a la David Cameron in his down to Earth, 'personal approach' clips. Despite these shortcomings, a second channel featuring the phony party 'The Labservatives' (created by London ad agency Iris), has improved their YouTube presence hugely. The party political speech by 'Gorvid Camerown' has attracted nearly 50,000 viewers, far outdoing any other single video on the Lib Dem channel, but oddly, not featuring on, or linked to it.
Twitter
Again, the Conservatives top the charts, with Twitter followers numbering close to 30,000, roughly equal to the two other party followers combined (Labour 15,225, Lib Dem 16,889). Add to that Nick Clegg's personal account with around 28,000 followers and suddenly the Lib dems have the greater presence, and also more of a personal connection with Tweets coming directly from the party leader. Despite this addition, it is the Tweets about the parties that are more likely to have an effect on voter persuasion, with key Tweeters' political orientation being a far more powerful tool than the parties' Tweets themselves. Stephen Fry for example, posted that he is "tempted to vote lib dem" following the 22nd April debate. With nearly 1.5 million followers, he puts the parties' reach to shame. It is likely therefore, that we will see (and may already be seeing) key Tweeters being paid for their support, and Tweeting favourably for that party, or against the others. As with Flickr, Twitter appears not to be a medium that has yet been harnessed effectively to gather party support, but puts influential power into the hands of its users, whose opinions can be shared ever more widely.
Facebook
With regular UK users numbering in the tens of millions, Facebook has the potential to be the most powerful influence of all the social media. Of course, each party has a dedicated page, with the Lib Dems and Conservatives tying in first place with 60,000 fans apiece, while Labour lags in third with a meagre 28,000. What separates the parties more however, are the leaders' pages. Cameron has an official page with an additional 29,000 fans, whereas Clegg has an unofficial fan-made (yet serious) page with 40,000 fans. Gordon Brown meanwhile, has no official page, but a few parody pages in which he is not painted especially favourably. Perhaps the most telling page of all though, is a user group entitled 'I bet I can find a million people who DON'T want David Cameron as our PM', which has notched up more than 165,000 members! Once again, a demonstration of the power of social media in the hands of the voters, and an indicator of the potential reach that Facebook could have if harnessed effectively by the political parties in the way that Obama's used his own site, MyBO.
Blogs
As with Twitter, the parties' power over blogs is relatively limited. Bloggers will write their own opinions, and have their own agendas and orientations. This can, however, be used to political advantage, with Labour and Conservative both following the U.S. model of providing influential bloggers with briefings to be included in their widely read commentaries. With a good balance of covert bias without sounding preachy, the bloggers with the widest followings have the potential to become effective champions for their parties.
What does it all mean?
Post-debates, the social media sites have exploded, with blog and Twitter chat abounding and YouTube videos being watched by thousands. Popularity on Facebook has soared, with the Lib Dems raking in the fans. Being pushed from a small degree of obscurity into the political lime light, Nick Clegg has helped steer the Lib Dem page to the top of the charts. On the 16th April there were around 25,000 fans of the page. A week on, that number has climbed to 60,000 and is rising by hundreds every few hours. Cameron and Brown meanwhile have done little to bring in the fans, with relative rises of 15,000 and 6,000 in the same period. This clearly shows the power of recruitment that the TV debates have had, but without the social sites, the follow up would be limited to round-the-table discussions or the odd phone call.
So, will social media swing this election? Probably not, since there are some major, fundamental differences that exist between the US campaign and the British ones. First of all, Obama was able to use the internet to rally people around a very attractive brand - himself. Obama the brand and Obama the man were exciting, inspiring, charismatic, and were able to connect with a huge variety of demographic areas. It's fair to say that the British parties all have a harder sell with their leaders. Secondly, the UK voting system requires the electorate to vote for the candidate in their constituency, rather than the party leader. This makes the campaign process much more complicated than gathering support for a single man with a handful of messages. Finally, Obama had far more resources at his expense than the UK parties. His digital teams consisted in total of over 140 full-time staff, while the Conservatives have just 9, Labour 5 and the Lib Dems a grand total of 3. His 'call to action' to his supporters was also a massive success, often via his own social networking site, MyBO, and resulted in door to door campaigning going on around the country by his 1.5 million registered volunteers.
Despite the unlikelihood of a huge swing in party loyalty as a result of social media means, its mass proliferation in the 5 short years since the last election will undoubtedly attract a new breed of voter - the younger generation. In the past, the under 25s have been notoriously underepresented at the polling stations, and when asked why, the terms 'Boring', 'Irrelevant', and 'Out of touch' have commonly been heard in relation to politics and politicians. This time around, the massive presence of this age group on the very internet resources under scrutiny means that they are far more informed, interested and opinionated than ever before. Will this cause an upsurge in Lib Dem interest while the 'Old' parties are left to rely on the support of older generations? Or will David Cameron's direct, inclusive approach come through for the Tories? Or could it be that Gordon Brown's 'substance over style' will do enough to ring in the more discerning type?
Only May 7th will tell...
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This year, the 2010 London Marathon was, for the first time, not adorned with cholesterol advice and that pretty sunflower we've learned to associate it with. Instead, the start line (and much of the first mile stretch) took on a slightly different look, covered with red banners with the word 'Money' written on them. This is the new face of the London Marathon, after a recent 5-year sponsorship deal worth £17 million with Virgin Money was signed, ending Flora's 14 year legacy. While using the new sponsorship deal to launch its new credit card, the financial services arm of Branson's empire doesn't appear the most obvious of partners to such a prestigious sporting event. Instead, it manages to promote the tenuous link via it's Virgin Unite and Virgin Money Giving companies to the Marathon's status as the single largest annual fund raising event in the World. In this respect, the marketing might of the Virgin brand may well provide the event with extra avenues for sponsorship, but it won't all be so charitable.
Advertising at the Marathon has become big business. The £17 million deal aside, the corporate sponsorship from Adidas, Fullers, Nestle and others makes up a significant proportion of the revenue of London Marathon Ltd. This entitles Adidas to sell official Marathon gear, have its logo on countless banners, websites and handouts, and most valuable of all, created a platform from which to roll out a 'runner tracking' app, which allowed friends and families to keep track of their favourite runners in the race. Nestle meanwhile, used the marathon to promote its new brand of drinking water, Pure Life, at the expense of the previous official bottled water, the increasingly unpopular Vittel (another Nestle brand). As well as Lucozade, water is provided free throughout the day, and as such the event is littered with some 400,000, branded bottles, and that same number of attempts to inspire some brand loyalty to the drinkers. Churchill and Monster also made their presence felt with gigantic hot air balloons overlooking the start line, dwarfing Virgin's own contributions attempting to further flog the 'Money' message.
Despite the obvious exposure that results from it, corporate sponsorship is expensive, and there are cheaper, yet effective alternatives. Guerilla marketing and ambush advertising have become widely used in order to get the same brand exposure as an official sponsor, with a huge reduction in cost. Nike is a major culprit, and marathons appear to be their speciality. At the 2002 Boston Marathon, Nike were there at the finish line to help Adidas-sponsored runners celebrate by supplying a spray painted 'swoosh' that commemorated the date of the marathon, without mentioning the marathon itself of course. In London Marathons of the past, Nike has been known to plaster adverts across benches, bus stops and railings all along the route of the race, thereby affiliating itself closely with the event, yet avoiding the hefty sponsorship fee.
Charities meanwhile, spend a significant proportion of their expenses budget on marketing at events such as these, with stands, T-shirts, branded guides and giveaways, all with the aim of attracting more donations to their cause. As well as these costs, many charities shell out for Gold and Silver Bonds, allowing a number of guaranteed places for their runners, amounting to a £300 fee per runner, and often a £4,300 advertising fee paid to the website 'RealBuzz' for minimal advertising space. Despite the costs, the Marathon provides such a successful platform for fundraising that the Bond applications are fully subscribed every year, with hundreds of charites on the waiting list. During the life of the London Marathon, over £450 million has been raised for charity, including over £47 million in 2009 alone. So while the costs for charities are undoubtedly fairly high, the numbers show just how much they can raise for their cause, and as such, aren't likely to give up their Bonds, despite the expense and much-disputed fairness in their allocation.
So, where does all this money go? London Marathon Ltd is the company whose name appears on all the cheques from sponsorship, much of the advertising, Bond fees, registration costs, and more in partnerships and promotions, and in 2009 accumulated £17.4 million. The fact that, of this, the London Marathon gave just £4.45 million was the subject of a recent Channel 4 'Dispatches' programme, which highlighted the statistic that only 25p of each pound earned by the company went to charity and asked accusatory questions about where the money went. However, before any delusions about corporate greed or misleading the public set in, the difference between turnover and profit should be pointed out. The turnover of London Marathon Ltd is was £17.4 million in 2009 and £4.45 million of that was profit, 100% of which was donated to the its charitable arm, The London Marathon Charitable Trust, which supports the provision of sports and recreation facilities for local boroughs.
By comparison, Oxfam Activities Limited last year had a turnover of £17.9m and made just £1.8m profit to provide support for its causes. A full and persuasive response to the claims made in the Dispatches programme was issued shortly after the program aired, and was well received by much of the TV audience who had not thought the programme to be particularly impartial. One viewer went as far as to say, "Very unfair, why target an organisation which is a force for good? Dispatches once again, in a bid to be controversial, creates a programme which is heavily one sided." Either way, whether or not the London Marathon Ltd needs to rebalance its books, the vast majority of the money involved at the event is that raised by the runners themselves for their multitudinous causes, and all of that goes to the charity.
At the end of it all, while the focus can easily drift to the financial aspects of the race, what really sets it apart from other sporting events around the world, marathons included, is the physical achievement of nearly 40,000 people, along with each of their individual efforts to do all that they can to raise support and awareness for others. For some, charity is enough. Others just want to prove that, against all odds, they can.
And then there's one who's still going strong...
Last January, everyone at Fox Kalomaski, made a movie to mark the new decade.
The 'We will' video expressed personal goals and although It was more of a journey than a destination, someone had to be the first person to turn their vision into reality. At the Jetlag bar at 10pm, Saturday 17 April, my statement "I will be the singer in a rock 'n' roll band" was fulfilled. With the incredible support of four very talented members of the creative dept (that's Vicky, Scotty, Niki and Davey) i think i can safely say I kicked bottom and rocked out!. Job done. What's next?
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To the small fraction of us who hadn't visited the World's youngest country in the past month, Ash Thursday came as a bit of a surprise last week. Without much mention of ecological or humanitarian impact, the news desks cried out in one unified voice that the skies above Britain would be closed until further notice. Chaos at the airports, massive economic damage, stranded holidaymakers, trade freezes and other doomsday headlines littered the front pages, and even now, 5 days on, show no signs of letting up. One Scotsman, clearly feeling doubly let down after Iceland's banking failures of 2009, even went as far as to publicly damn the country during a discussion on Sky News.
The tourism industry too, has felt the heat of the volcano in a number of ways. Tour operators are losing big, with TUI Travel, the owners of First Choice, claiming losses of £20million to date, with a further £5million estimated loss for each day the crisis continues. Thompsons are resorting to fleets of coaches to give their Europe-stranded customers a route home, while other operators and airlines are incurring significant hotel bills as they put up holiday makers in luxury hotels.
Of course, much of this economic loss isn't loss at all, rather a re-distribution of finances to other parties. Taxi drivers, ferries, charter planes, coach companies, trains and Eurostar are all reaping the benefits, as well as smaller airlines who will undoubtedly see more business in the days following the grand re-opening of European airspace as the passenger back log is diluted. Entrepreneurial companies have already started up, with alternative travel arrangements being made via websites such as www.stuckineurope.com. Iceland itself, one of the more obvious financial losers in this escapade, have already cashed in on the volcano in the month running up to 16th April, with a massive rise in tourism seen as travellers flocked to see the initial, fairly calm, stages of the eruption.
What about the climate, life away from air travel, and disruption to everyday life? Most will have heard about the part closure of many schools around the country, but what of the happy students with an extended Easter break in another country? 14 years old, given 5 days extra in Rome, New york or Beijing instead of a return to a stuffy classroom? Yes please. And while the school closures are bemoaned, the environmental impact of tonnes of ash being spewed into the atmosphere is also under fearful scrutiny, though in reality, the drop in CO2 emissions from the cancelled planes outweighs this by a factor of more than 40, and jet fuel consumption in Europe is 20% of the level it was before the eruption (The Times, April 19th, p7).
As for quality of everyday life, some people have found the break in air traffic to be nothing short of a joyous reprieve. Those living under flight paths have been denied the roar of low flying 747s during the early hours of the morning, while our recent bout of Mediterranean weather has been intensified by the lack of the flight trails that ever pollute our skies. Even I, a part-time tennis coach, have felt the lull when I realised that I no longer had to raise my voice to a group of kids to speak over the planes on their quarterly-hour approach to Heathrow over Chiswick Park. Having looked up at the sky just days before and counted no less than 12 planes in my field of view, our currently clear, unblemished azure sky is quite the treat.
We'd love to hear how the Volcano has affected your daily life too.
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The Product - At a most basic level, the product is delicious, it makes me feel instantly better and kick starts me every morning. DID YOU KNOW – if you were to swap a Starbucks Frappuccino for an Innocent Blackberries, Raspberries and Boysenberries Smoothie you’d save 372 calories and 18.5g of fat
The Packaging - The packaging actually entertains you. The sense of humour and tone of voice are fantastic. My daughter and I read the packs word for word and laugh out loud (OK, bear with me, she’s only 5!) Our favourite bits are the ‘what’s not in our ingredients’ eg a bungalow or a guitar. The content changes regularly, so it’s a bit like reading your favourite column in a magazine, it makes you feel involved with the brand.
The Vision – I like the way they started - by selling a few smoothies at a music festival. They had a sign on their stall saying “should we give up our real jobs and sell these full time?” Drinkers voted by putting their empties into a bin saying either yes or no. – the yes bin got filled and innocent was born. From a handful of smoothies that day, they now sell two million a week.
They are the polar opposite of Sunny Delight. They established at a time when our focus was shifting heavily towards eco, green, natural products, fair trade, and sustainability and they just do it well.
Their Promotions – My favourite is the big knit. This started in 2003 when they knitted 20,000 hats to raise £10,000 money to support older people in the winter months. Seeing rows of bottles with little woolly hats in the supermarket just makes me smile and of course, buy one!
Ok, they’ve signed up with Coca Cola, but the 3 guys are still at the helm and if anyone can tackle growth ethically, then Innocent can – don’t let me down now!
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John Grant, co-founder of St. Luke's and author of four books, uses the term 'Pro Social Media', in essence a social action coming from social media campaigns, and illustrates the growing movement within media towards more open systems, greater collaboration and experiments in co-creation within the public. John suggested a new operating model for society, organisations and brands and also discussed that by harnessing new technology and social media consumers can - and in many cases already do - take an active part in shaping brands, culture and society. So is social media already facilitating social change? John Grant proposed that the following brand initiated projects have managed to use this format successfully:
Plan A - M&S goal of becoming the world's most sustainable major retailer.
The Girl Effect - created by The Nike Foundation with critical financial and intellectual help from other organisations, raising the standard of living in developing countries.
Pepsi Refresh - Pepsi's massive crowd-sourced charity platform
Kiva - transforming the concept of 'charity'
You can follow John Grant's blogs at:
Co-Opportunity - www.coopp.net
The Green Marketing Manifesto - www.greenormal.blogspot.com
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Gary
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You don't see Ronnie much these days, which is sad when you consider that when the first 'Golden Arches' UK eaterie (Woolwich 1974) was not doing too well until they bought in the burger loving clown to lure the locals from Wimpy.
Over in Thailand a life size fibreglass Ron adopts the local gesture of greeting, and I'm not sure how genuine this sentiment is but as Ronnie is out of favour over here, we're not likely to see him (even although Maccy-d's are healthy corporate partners to the 2012 Olympics) welcoming visitors at the games. Which is a pity as the traditional British two fingered salute would certainly make our international guests feel at home, however it could be worse, imagine what gesture Ron might have beem making at the German Olympiad In 1936.
]]>Apparently depending on what phase of sleep your in our boides behave differently. Basicily when we're in a deep and peaceful sleep we're not moving, and when we are in REM or dreaming sleep we're moving and twitching about; the nearer we get rise and shine time the more restless we become.
You set your alarm and the Sleep Cycle app wakes you, in a half hour window just before it goes off. The idea is that you wake peacefully and refreshed, awaking during your lightest sleep/dream phase, ahhh. You also get a graph of sleep pattern to look at and show your friends.
Sleeping is a serious problem in the UK with nearly a third of us having problems; just look at everyone on the tube in the morning.
I had a go with this a couple of times. First night actually got less sleep because I was worried about my phone exploding and catching light to my bed in the night (the phone has to plugged into the mains and put on the corner of your bed to work). Second night just thought it was a bit weird having my phone watching me sleep, and got even less snooze time.
Oh well, the graphs look cool though.
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So, Wednesday 27 January saw the unveiling of the much talked about, iPad. Pretty much everyone knew that Steve Jobs (Apple CEO) would, in his usual black roll-neck attire reveal a touch screen device, however, the negative responses to the iPad has been rather amusing.
I'm not too sure what people were expecting but the iPad is an amazing mobile device. I think people have forgetten that Apple already produce a brilliant range of powerful laptops for serious work (MacBook, MacBook Pro and the MacBook Air), so it's obvious the iPad is designed to be a mobile multi-media device, and the fact people keep saying it's just an over-sized iPhone couldn't be more wrong either, if anything it's more akin to that of an iPod Touch.
The way I see it, it's a device that you will use mainly at home; as an organiser, address book, photo album, something to watch TV and films on in bed, or read news and books on. This is why the cheapest of the range ($499) is wi-fi only, yes there are merits of having 3G so you can use it on the move, but to be honest, the way things are going, (Guardian App for the iPhone is a great example) you will download all the news content, magazines, books, music and videos at home, using wi-fi and your computer via USB, before you go on your journey which means you'll have access to everything you need without needing to connect to the internet. Plus it has a 10 hour battery life, which again is a great break-through in battery technology, so I'm sure we'll see this having some kind of positive affect on iPhones in the near future.
And finally, it looks stunning, no one can surely deny that, the amount of other devices out there that are desperately trying to look as good as Apple simply just don't cut it, why? Because they have to alter their design just enough to avoid copyright infringements and in doing so create something lacking in any grace or desirability.
You'll all see, the start of great things to come!
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Sherbet Fountain Magic Marker
When I picked up the sweet talcum like delicacy I was crest-fallen, "this is not a Sherbet Fountain" I screamed to myself "this is a Magic Marker dressed up to look like a Sherbet Fountain". The soft paper-wrapped cardboard outer that I had loved as a child was now a hard plastic exterior housing and what I could only imagine to be of non-edible ink-based matter more akin to a felt pen than a childhood memory. The licorice head too was plastic and capped shaped, again leading me to believe it was indeed a Sherbet Fountain facsimile of a Magic Marker. My mouth had been watering at the prospect of tasting the beautifully sweet and light white powder dusting my tongue with the licorice stick of pleasure. But no, my mind screamed, this is a Magic Marker of the inedible variety. Deeply disappointed, I sulkily pulled at the 'magic-markeresque cap with the reluctant intention of sniffing the inky-based solution as a poor substitute for the taste of sugar. And, low and behold, my confused mind became even more befuddled.
The Sherbet Fountain masquerading as a Magic Marker was indeed a Magic Marker masquerading as a Sherbet Fountain. If I was disappointed before I was totally pissed off now. As a soft supporter of the save our planet party I was appalled at the disgusting use of hard plastic packaging, which would take a millennium to decompose and which undoubtedly the recycling blokes would turf out of my black box of plastic bottles, wine bottles, tin cans and cardboard discards. A plastic tube designed and engineered to accommodate one stick of licorice and a mere few grams of sherbet, of which the costs of the content must have been severely out classed by the cost of the packaging, left a bitter taste in my mouth. And, if I had spent my own money on the offending article, rather than nick it from one of my children, I would have been even more offended.
Such was my distaste that I didn't even eat it. Which upset me even more. String the packaging department up, shoot the product designer, sack the production controller. And bring back my soft paper-wrapped childhood memory of a Sherbet Fountain. Please.
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A decade that will be defining for this country
A decade that will be defining for each of us
This film, in a small way, has set out to reflect this moment in time
in a way that is personal to us as individuals
We are sure it will reflect some of your own personal goals too
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Well here's a little example i found this morning about a WPMI-TV television network and an electronic billboard in the states.
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Date: 25 October 2009
Weather: Blue skies with cirrus clouds
Catering offer: One mobile eaterie
In-field entertainment: None
In-field services: None
Irrelevant item of interest: Llama in adjacent field
Dwell time: 1 hours 35 mins
Guest currency: Taiwan new dollars (TND)
Total spend: £11.50 (609.7 TND)
Number of items bought: 5
Average item price: £2.30 (121.9 TND)
Most expensive item: Toy car - £5 (265.1 TND)
Budget buy: Toy car - 50p (26.5 TND)
Credit crunch discount: 30% Using the 'Do it for a fiver?' gambit
Find more car boot facts and figures at carbootjunction
Booter rating 3.5 stars
Bought this week:
Radio - 70s, beverage can design, Pepsi, FM/AM, partly blue, made in Hong Kong, working
Toy spaceship - 1977, Klingon Battle cruiser, Dinky, blue with firing photon torpedo (yellow plastic disc)
Toy car - 60s, Man from U.N.C.L.E, 'Thrush buster' Oldsmobile, blue, made in Great Britain
Toy car - 1975, Matchbox Superfast, Cosmobile, made in England, blue
Booklet - 1940, Spot them at sea, published by the Daily Mirror, 32pp, blue, 6d old money
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Date: 30 July 2009
Weather: Partly cloudy with cumulus clouds
Catering offer: A wide selection of mobile eateries including homemade samosas outlet
In-field entertainment: None
In-field services: Watch battery fitting
Dwell time: 2 hours 55 mins
Guest currency: Cuban convertible pesos (CUC)
Total spend: £9.50 (14.41 CUC)
Number of items bought: 8
Average item price: £1.18 (1.79 CUC)
Most expensive item: Toy car - £5 (7.75 CUC)
Budget buy: Vintage calculator - 50p (0.75 CUC)
Credit crunch discount: None
Find more car boot facts and figures at carbootjunction
Booter rating 3.5 stars
Bought this week:
Toy figures - New, Gonks, assorted selection, plastic, made in China
Electronic calculator - 70s, CBM, Model 776M, LED display, with leatherette case
Pocket Microscope - 60s, pen design, 25X, made by Compound Optical Industries
Vintage toy car - 1956, tin plate, with original rust, manufacturer unknown
Collectable car - New, Ford Corsair, with opening doors, silver with vinyl roof
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Date: 9 July 2009
Weather: Blue skies with a few altostratus clouds
Catering offer: A wide selection of mobile eateries including a fine pizzeria
In-field entertainment: None
In-field services: None
Dwell time: 3 hours 9 mins
Guest currency: Kenyan shillings KES
Total spend: £8.60 (1090.6 KES)
Number of items bought: 5
Average item price: £1.72 (218.1 KES)
Most expensive item: China pot - £5 (634.1 KES)
Budget buy: Vintage car brochure - 10p (12.6 KES)
Credit crunch discount: 18% using the "will you take a fiver?" gambit
Find more car boot facts and figures at carbootjunction
Booter rating 4 stars
Bought this week:
China pot - 50s, Beetroot design by Sylvac, made in England - complete with lid
Propelling pencil - 60s, 7UP promotional graphic and amusing floating bottle, includes lead, working order, made in Denmark
Car brochure - 1969, Renault car range by Renault 6pp fold out, more stylish than the actual cars
Vintage watch - 70s, Sekonda, with day, date and 26 jewels, strap not included (photo as wearing suggestion only)
Book - 1964, Aircraft by Ladybird,, printed in England, includes Gloucester vampire jet 2/6 old money
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In celebration of the Bahamas’ hosting of this year’s Miss Universe event, our experiential promotion kicked off in glamorous style with Miss Universe GB and 10 Beauty Queens on the Millennium Bridge. The event attracted journalists from the UK’s national newspapers as well as thousands of onlookers.
Then throughout the week, 5000 beach towels were laid out across London with competition entry details to win a trip to the finale in the Bahamas.
Participation in the promotion has been phenomenal with more than 27% uptake.
Competition winners will be announced on www.bahamas.co.uk
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Last week whilst I was enjoying some credit crunch beers (six for the price of one in a pub) in Regents Park, with a frisbee and some of the more stylish and sporty agency types, my wife had gone a bit upmarket down the road at the York and Albany - Gordon Ramsay's latest eaterie. Nothing unusual in that, but as my wife and her friend (Hullo Mand!) were enjoying their meal, they noticed a pair of well groomed ladies on the table next to them ordering the meat platter for two. Not so odd until... the two ladies then brought pre-packed supermarket salads out of their handbags and put them on their plates with Gordo's meaty selection! I hope they didn't ask for mayo and what a pity Mr Ramsay wasn't there because I'm sure some free form culinary swearing would have been on the menu. It's credit crunch BYO!
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I don’t know if any of you have been following the fantastic ‘Mary Queen of the Charity Shops’ series which finished this week? Episode 2 made me a little uneasy so I wrote to Save the Children – see below ....
Dear Save the Children
I watched your TV programme last night, and whilst I admire what Mary Portas is trying to achieve, I was very disappointed that she used £15k of the charity's money to carry out the makeover. Surely, given the high profile of this project and your charitable status, it would have been feasible to get some/all involved to donate time/materials free of charge?
I would hope that if this idea does get rolled out nationally that this would be a big consideration. Ironically it would cost you less, but potentially have a far more positive longterm effect than you might first imagine. My mother for example, was a subscribed donator to Oxfam for many years but ceased contributions when they spent thousands employing an expensive designer to refurbish their stores.
Kind regards
Jennie
Dear Jennie,
Thank you for your email. We really appreciate you taking the time to write to us as the feedback we receive helps us to improve as an organisation.
I would like to reassure you that Conran donated their time and expertise to create the design. The refit was cheaper than the majority of charity shop refits, and we got the best value throughout. At Save the Children we always try to ensure that the money we spend will be of most benefit to us as we try and make dramatic and lasting improvements to the lives of some of the world's most vulnerable children. I am pleased to be able to say that since the shop refit the net contribution of the Orpington shop has doubled. You might also be interested to know that from every £1 donated to Save the Children, we spend 83 helping and saving children. With the remaining 17p we go out and raise another £1.
Once again thank you for your comments, I really hope that my email has addressed your concerns and that you will consider supporting Save the Children in the future.
If you have any other queries or comments please do feel free to contact me.
Yours sincerely,
Tom Smith
Customer Service Adviser
After receiving Tom's response, I felt sufficiently reassured to watch the final episode. I'm glad Conran gave their time for free, but I still think that they could work harder to reduce the £15k outlay each time. If you watched too, please share your thoughts....
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In fact it was a rather brilliant day the glorious weather helped and the noise warning did come in handy as I gently adjusted my ear plugs. However nothing had prepared me for the engine sound that followed, with finger fully poised on the record button I think you'll agree that I captured the essence of the day perfectly..
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Date: 23 May 2009
Weather: The sun has got its hat on!
Catering offer: A wide selection of mobile eateries
In-field entertainment: Yes, but thankfully the country and western man was on his comfort break, bouncy pirate castle
In-field services: Mobile phone unlocking
Dwell time: 1 hour 45 mins
Guest currency: Costa Rican Colones CRC
Total spend: £12 (10,942.28 CRC)
Number of items bought: 5
Average item price: £2.40 (2188.14 CRC)
Most expensive item: Toy aeroplane - £7 (6,9383 CRC)
Budget buy: Biscuit tin - £1 (911.62 CRC)
Credit crunch discount: 0%
Find more car boot facts and figures at carbootjunction
Booter rating 3.5 stars
Bought this week:
Toy plane - 50s, Gloucester Javelin, by Dinky, made in England
Toy plane - 60s, De Havilland Comet airliner, BOAC livery, by Dinky, made in England
Tin box - 60s, Playbox biscuits by Peek Freen, of England, biscuits missing
Tin box - 60s, Ronsonol lighter fuel by Ronson, of Leatherhead Surrey, fuel missing
Portable mp3 speakers - newish, by Packard Bell, made in China, including power lead
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It does get noticed... but what comes along with that I think is negative, desperate and maybe reckless advertising which I think harms the whole brand.
Does it work for you...
in the mean time visit http://www.futuresonic.com/
or follow activity on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Futuresonic09
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Outraged taxpayer of Aldeburgh
]]>The Importance of Humour in Advertising
I believe the key to funny advertising is assuring the humor is appropriate to both product and customer, humor tends to be those that consumers have to think the least about and maybe products that are relatively inexpensive...... what do you think,,,,?
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Date: 3 May 2009
Weather: Bit parky
Catering offer: A wide selection of mobile eateries
In-field entertainment: None
In-field services: Key cutting
Dwell time: 3 hours 15 minutes
Guest currency: Thai Baht
Total spend: £11 (THB 579.25)
Number of items bought: 6
Average item price: £1.83 (THB 97.19)
Most expensive item: Electronic game - £5 (THB 265.73)
Budget buy: Key ring - 50p (THB 26.52)
Credit crunch discount: 17%
Game reduced from £6 to £5 using the low risk 'what's your best price?' negotiation technique
Find more car boot facts and figures at carbootjunction
Booter rating 4.5 stars
Bought this week:
Toy robot - newish, Thunderfighter, transformer type robot, made in China
Hand held game - 1982, Game & watch, Donkey Kong JR, by Nintendo, Pat pending
Key ring - 60s, plastic, metal and enamel, S and A of London, keys not included
Book - 1965, Aircraft of WWII, published by Hippo books, 3/6 old money
Toy car - 50s, Model unknown, blue and rust coloured, made in Japan
Ashtray - 60s, Empire State Building, paint on smoked glass, by Howz Art
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Date: 19 April 2009
Weather: Not a cloud in the sky
Catering offer: Indoor cafeteria
In-field entertainment: Zoo
In-field services: None
Dwell time: 2 hour 30 minutes
Guest currency: Slovakian Koruny
Total spend: £41.20 (SKK 1,406.32)
Number of items bought: 5
Average item price: £8.24 (SKK 281.27)
Most expensive item: Sign- £40 (SKK 1,365.60)
Budget buy: Booklet - Paper emphemera 20p (SKK 6.82)
Credit crunch discount: 20%
Sign reduced from £50 to £40 using the risky 'walking away disinterestedly coming back later' negotiation technique
Find more car boot facts and figures at carbootjunction
Booter rating 5 stars
Bought this week:
Enamel sign - vintage, Bristol cigarettes, 5 by 1.5 feet, manufacturer unknown
Electric fan - 60s, Pifco Model 1063, red with plug, made in England, working
Paper emphemera - 60s, model kit header, Hawker Hurricane MKIV by Airfix, torn
Cutlery - vintage, cheese knife in box by Thomas Turner, made in Sheffield
Hardback book - New, Top Gear's Midlife Crisis Cars by Matt Master RRP £9.99
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Location: Bromley, Kent
Date: 13 April 2009
Weather: Misty
Catering offer: Hot snack vans
In-field entertainment: None
In-field services: None
Dwell time: 1 hour 45 minutes
Guest currency: Vietnam Dong
Total spend: £12.50 (VND 328,896.34)
Number of items bought: 4
Average item price: £3.12 (VND 73,614.83)
Most expensive item: Game- £10 (VND 263,151.65)
Budget buy: Booklet - 50p (VND 13,157.75)
Credit crunch discount: None
Booter rating 3 stars
Bought this week:
Board game - 30s, Tri-tactics, tactical game by HP Gibson & sons Ltd
Tea card album - 60s, Wings of speed, world record planes, presented by Lyons Tea, 20pp, complete
Tea card album - 60s, Wings across the world, airliners by Lyons Tea, 24 cards, complete
Guide booklet - 60s, Model car profiles by Spot-On, by Tri-ang, only 7 cars - in colour
]]>each missive now includes purchasing data converted into a guest currency and the cheapest item is also highlighted. A new haggle discount index will also be included when a price reduction was negotiated by our accredited car boot auditors.
Location: Chingford, Essex
Date: 5 April 2009
Weather: Balmy
Catering offer: Hot snack van
In-field entertainment: None
In-field services: None
Dwell time: 45 minutes
Guest currency: Albanian Leks
Total spend: £1 (AL 141.19)
Number of items bought: 1
Average item price: £1 (AL 141.19)
Most expensive item: toy - £1 (AL 141.19)
Budget buy: toy - £1 (AL 141.19)
Credit crunch discount: None
Bought this week:
Toy animal - Vintage, Walrus, painted plastic by Britains of Britain
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The ordinary folk in the UK have been misled and systematically deceived by our banks, pension funds and insurance companies over the last 20 years and the Government has just given them a smack on the wrist, a warning to do better and £500 billion to keep them employed. And the rest of us have been told to keep quiet and get on with our lives as best we can.
Well the French said no, we will not put up with this we are not going to let these people carry on as if they are invulnerable to this money crisis. How dare they stay comfortably employed while ordinary workers live in fear of losing theirs. How dare they pay themselves bonuses out of the money we have given them.
Gordon Brown is weak and no leader of ordinary men. He really does not understand the meaning of fair play, honesty nor plain common sense.
If he does not control these money men then he will lose control of the people. The French have shown the way.
If the UK go to the streets on this I will be there with them.
]]>What Can
Retail Learn from Travel?
(It’s All Down to Trust)
Consumer price perception is real – in the
eyes of the consumer – but is not necessarily borne out in the reality of the
point of sale. In grocery retail, the temptation today is
for premium brands to compete with discount stores. Such an urge to descend into an unseemly
gutter brawl is damaging to the premium brand value and based on the assumption
that you have to pander to those consumer perceptions. The real need is to communicate a
VFM/quality/service message revealing that discount stores do not actually give
better value. Consumers are just misled (or mislead themselves) into
getting what they pay for at discount stores. I offer this basic necessities-of-life
example: a tin of tomatoes at Waitrose is full of high quality product; a tin of
tomatoes at a discount store is not quite full and with thin red mush,
too. And look at this
luxury necessities-of-life example: Chablis at M&S is a credit to the
Chablis brand; Chablis at a discount store disgraces the famous wine
label.
And just because there’s a recession
doesn’t mean that shopping has to be a bad experience – shoppers will always
appreciate good service. The proof
is out there that service really does make a difference. So, savings are
exaggerated and not worth the culture shock of poor surroundings and
service. To abandon the principles that created a
great brand is to abandon the future of that brand But in the travel trade, by contrast, with
a different sales structure, it’s the opposite story. Many
want to fly on an economy airline but no-one wants to use one that can go bust
and leave you stranded. Or use a bucket-shop holiday package firm
with the same result. Travellers want the reassurance of strong travel
brands. Also, travel agents are the front-line
retail protectors of consumers from such mishaps – these high street specialists
are much less likely to go the discount route for fear of the immediate dangers
to their customers. The essential difference here is that in
travel, consumers stick with brands they trust, while in retail, consumers are
tempted to abandon brands they trust. At
the same time, premium retailers themselves contemplate ditching the very
characteristics that generate trust. So, a new marketing
strategy is required for premium retail brands to capitalise on what makes them
respected: value + quality + service = trust. The need is to change
consumer perceptions of value, because it’s a long, slow climb back from the
gutter.
"Out of this world duffing... top marks!" Gideon Coe Radio 6Music
The talk chaired by Dominic Mills, editorial director of Haymarket Business included four leading professionals from the marketing and advertising industry who gave short talks on where they saw the future of outdoor advertising heading.
John Slatkin from Titan Outdoor presented stats and figures about the growth of digital outdoor advertising and how people where spending more time than ever outdoors, and the opportunities that this presented.
Mark Greenstreet, MD of evolve spoke about the growing awareness and the effectiveness of digital media and how it could add to a campaign. His talk was backed with facts about increased dwell and the general positive response digital media has had with a wide age range of the general public.
David Bedwood of award winning agency 'Lean Mean Fighting Machine' gave the most amusing talk, sharing his experience with clients and showing some inspiring ideas and uses of digital media from exploding billboards to kicking Big Macs into someone's face.
Lastly, Greg Grimmer, founder of HMDG rounded up the talk with some examples of how flexible digital media can be. Using examples of Tag Heuer’s recent campaign with Lewis Hamilton, which used time sensitive messages. In a matter of minutes of Hamilton winning the championship, a "Congratulations Lewis" message was displayed.
Overall the main impression I took from the event was that digital out door advertising doesn't have to completely replace traditional advertising, but it can add to a campaign. It also has the advantage of being flexible and easily updated. But the impression in the industry is that its expensive and there's not enough research to justify the spend, which is a bit of shame.
A few links to some of the examples used and some of the talks, as well as some other stuff I've found,
Greg Grimmer's talk
http://www.ipa.co.uk/Content/Greg-Grimmer-Presentation-from-Digital-Life-Out-of-Home-Seminar
Jon Slatkin's
http://www.ipa.co.uk/Content/Jon-Slatkins-Presentation-from-Digital-Life-Out-of-Home-Seminar
Frog game
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-ZMMe9rlkI&feature=related
Exploding billboard
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yb4yEa6l6I4
Tags time sensitive messages
http://www.jcdecaux.co.uk/news/?id=249
Which means that with inflation heading for 0%, bank rate heading for 0%, salary increases heading for 0% and petrol prices going down to 80p? then so long as you are in a job the future for most of us should be looking very very bright.!
So why isn't it?
Because the media tells us that we are all heading for oblivion through unemployment , death by debt or serious illness from not being able to borrow money.
BUT... It is not us that needs the doctor.
It is our businesses that are suffering, because the banks will not support them as they should, which means our businesses are now struggling to support us and we get worried so we ease up on our spending.
The Govenment can borrow £120 BILLION, the taxpayer (us)now own 57% of most of the UK banks and yet we are still not allowed the money to grow or run our businesses.
Why? Can somebody please explain?
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So, if we follow the lead set by Mr Darling I will be going out next week and spending shed loads of money in order to make a reasonable level of savings from the VAT reduction, thereby reducing my cash reserves and the ability to meet my regular liabilities, the little things like utilities, petrol, food and clothing for the family (the latter two which don't attract VAT in the first place). But I needn't worry
because I can always go to my bank and ask for a loan to get me through the rough times! What do you mean the banks aren't lending any money... preposterous!
]]>And then after say three years and you decide to sell the car the chances are that its value may well have dropped by 50%!
Why do we do this? Name any other really major investment we make where we are quite happy to lose up to + 50% of our money? And we often repeat it!
According to the media, property prices have dropped by 15% in the last year. Yet they have grown by at least 300% since 1991.
So as long as you didn't buy your property in say the last two years what's the problem if you lose 15% or even more?
But if you buy a new car...........
The media once again create a fear of doom and to what end?
]]>
It was a truly excellent launch of a magnificent retail operation and frankly we should be proud that it is in our city .
That said all the press news is about recession and the likelihood of consumers just not spending at all and not spending in this temple of shopping.
But they all miss the points
The first being what was Westfield meant to do? Cover the whole thing in bubble wrap and say let's wait till times are better. It had no choice, but to open and it did so with tremendous enthusiasm and style.
What is the consumer going to do? Well they are going to visit in their thousands. They will, during that visit, decide for themselves whether they will spend their money there or go back to their previous shopping destinations. They will decide whether Westfield is for them or not and then carry on with their lives.
The question that has not been investigated properly is will there be enough spenders to sustain our shops if we are going to be living through a recession in 2009?
The answer is yes for many and no for some, but this issue applies to all shopping centres and high streets throughout the UK.
If the area in which the shopping centre/high street resides suffers from increased unemployment in 2009 then they will suffer.If the area, does not then it will survive ok.
It will be the regional economic demographics of a centre that will determine its success next year not the social grades.
How can Westfield not be a success in its catchment of London?
The fear of unemployment (and actual unemployment) will stop people spending. It's the not knowing that is stopping people spending. Nothing else.
Gas bill or new shoes?...come on its a no brainer. Prada or Office? Now that's a different dilemma.
]]>
BECAUSE if the banks don't start lending money, your company starts losing control of its day to day cashflow needs and then it has to start cutting its overheads to work within whatever cash it can generate independently.
Which means businesses start laying off staff. Which means that if you are employed you will be fine in 2009 and if you are unemployed you will be stuffed.
In 1991 we had high inflation, high interest rates, low salary increases and growing unemployment but at least the banks lent you money.
Without cashflow businesses go bust. When banks stop lending money businesses go bust. And yet the rest of the economic statistics suggest all will be well!
What is the rescue plan for the man in the street Gordon.?
It looks like you've given all the lifebelts to the people who threw us in the water.
]]>Date: 18 October 2008
Weather: Bit nippy
Catering offer: Doughnut and jacket potato vendors - no ice cream van this week
In-field entertainment: No country and western singer - Yee-ha!
In-field services: Key cutting
Dwell time: 45 minutes
Total spend: £6
Number of items bought: 3
Average item price: £2
Most expensive item: Money box - £3
Cheapest item: Map - £1
Find more essential car boot facts and figures at carbootjunction
Bought this week:
Money box - Vintage, owl, by Denmead potteries, brown china ,takes old and new money
Map - Vintage, Ramblers map, published by Geographica, Epping Forest, 1/6 old money
Figurine - 2005, Chiro, by Hasbro, manga style, Hyperfocre hero with thunder punch!
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Date: 11 October 2008
Weather: Balmy
Catering offer: Doughnut and jacket potato vendors plus.... an ice cream van
In-field entertainment: Country and western singer - again
In-field services: Tarot card reading
Dwell time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Total spend: £14
Number of items bought: 5
Average item price: £2.80
Most expensive item: Decorative bowl - £7
Cheapest item: Watch - 50p
Bought this week:
Alarm Clock - 60s, musical, plays theme from 'Bridge over the river Kwai', made in Japan
Wrist watch - 1989, Swatch, broken glass, needs battery
Decorative bowl - 60s, fern pattern, by Burleigh Ware, glaze slightly crazed
Board game - 1965, Cat and mouse, by Waddingtons, one mouse missing an ear
Music cassette - 2002, Only for the barmy, by Jethro, 2 cassettes, also available on CD
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Date: 4 October 2008
Weather: Bright 'n' breezy
Catering offer: None
In-field entertainment: None
In-field services: None
Dwell time: 25 minutes
Total spend: £22.60
Number of items bought: 6
Average item price: £3.76
Most expensive item: Car brochure - £7
Cheapest item: Toy car - 10p
Bought this week:
Thermos flask - 1925, Bakelite, by Thermos, No.24 jug, missing stopper
Car brochure - 60s, Ford Anglia Super, a product of Ford Motor Company, Dagenham
Car brochure - 60s, Triumph Vitesse, by Standard Triumph, 8pp, full colour
Transistor radio - 50s Toshiba, 5TR-221, all transistor, made in Japan, might work
Toy car - 1971, Mercedes C111, by Matchbox, with pop up headlights, and opening boot
Toy car - 1975, Dodge Challenger, by Matchbox, Speedkings, white vinyl roof
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To read more from the BBC on Mandelson's dramatic 3rd return
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Mention Dubai, and one of the first things that people mention is the Palms, or the World, or the Universe… The developer Nakheel (translating as ‘Palms’) has succeeded in forever altering the very shape of Dubai, creating man made structures dredged from the sea bed to create the iconic islands well known now for being visible from space.
What can we take from this?
Well, where money and passion go hand in hand the - frankly implausible - can suddenly become a global icon. Incredibly, Nakheel were simply given the land off shore (yeah, that’s right, the sea) when Dubai was divided-up between developers. From this totally inauspicious start they have succeeded in surpassing all expectations. see more from Nakheel here
However in my mind this isn’t the pinnacle of the audacity of Dubai development. In terms of sheer credibility, raising land from the sea becomes almost commonplace when some of the more ‘ambitious’ projects being mooted in Dubai are considered:
Dubailand will cover an area of 3 billion square feet when completed and estimates a population of 2.5 million people once fully operational. This includes the creation an area to be known as "Restless Planet", a Jurassic-Park style area with giant, animatronic versions of over 40 extinct species –including obviously our favourite dinos. visit Dubiland's website here
Is astonishingly the world’s tallest structure and that’s before it’s even been completed, the eventual height is being kept a secret for the moment, a rough estimation suggests there will be around 164 habitable floors! See the world tallest building here
Burj Dubai Downtown Dubai (Artists impression)
Or how about a revolving skyscaper??? Not for those faint of heart, the 68 floors will rotate around a central axis, generating electricity as it revolves. Another seemingly incomprehensible vision which is soon to grace reality!
Or perhaps an underwater hotel is more to your taste?
Dubai is an exciting place to visit, and when considering destination branding, lets face it, Dubai provides a very unique case study for all consultants and practitioners.
Dubai’s planners and developers have successfully created some of the most iconic structures in recent history – manoeuvring the destination firmly onto the world stage in what seems a very short period of time.
However the big question remains; will these developments stand the test of time? Do people want to visit the desert to see modern skyscapers or are they after something more, some culture and heritage. Perhaps we are seeing Dubai’s new culture being created before our very eyes. Can they be considered long term successes that drive footfall to this new destination, or will these ‘gimics’, such as The Palms having carved a niche in public awareness – continue to do so in future generations?
In a land where vision, money and a desire to stand out is the norm it’s difficult to predict what the future holds. Indeed as Nakheel’s own advertising asks at the moment: ‘What next?’
Date: 28 September 2008
Weather: Foggy then sunny
Catering offer: Burger vans
In-field entertainment: None
In-field services: Key cutter and mobile phone unlocker
Dwell time: 57 minutes
Total spend: £1.10
Number of items bought: 2
Average item price: 55p
Most expensive item: Stamp case - £1
Cheapest item: Paperback book - 10p
Bought this week:
Paperback book - 1996, Riding the rap, Elmore Leonard, Published by Penguin, includes plastic wipe clean cover
Stamp case - Vintage, Stainless steel case, engraved with enamel Bournemouth emblem, postage stamps not included
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We'd like to draw your attention to a new and artistic feature currently gracing our office walls; The Foxkalomaski Art Gallery featuring five framed artworks created by various hidden artists within our agency personnel!
The pieces of work are individually priced and available for you to buy with frame. All profits of each piece sold will be donated to a charity chosen by the artist.
Here is a list of the five framed works available for you to buy today; left to right:
£50 incl. frame
All profits will be donated to Great Ormond Street Hospital Childrens Charity.
Registered Charity No. 235825
£70 incl. frame
All profits will be donated to NDCS.
Registered Charity No. 1016532
£50 incl. frame
All profits will be donated to NSE The National Society for Epilepsy.
Registered Charity No. 206186
£60 incl. frame
All profits will be donated to NDCS.
Registered Charity No. 1016532
£45 incl. frame
All profits will be donated to Great Ormond Street Hospital Childrens Charity.
Registered Charity No. 235825
If you're interested to buy any of these works, please contact our office switchboard on 020 7691 8090 and we'll gladly process your purchase and donation!
Or even better, pay us a visit at the office and allow yourself a closer look! There are currently 10 of each available
Google launched Chrome last week, their first effort at webbrowser. On very first inspections it looks clean, simple and easy to use like most of Google's apps. Immediately after launch Google has had to amend its data capture policy - they'd forgotten to remove a clause stating they could use any information submitted within the Chrome browser. This has been removed now so you can expect normal privacy levels. I'm road testing Chrome at the moment and will let you know how I get on.
(download Google Chrome here)
I am also testing out Microsoft's latest version of Internet Explorer, IE8 beta 2 has, in my opinion, really moved microsfts browser offer on considerably. Firefox's also recent release of Firefox 3 (download Firefox 3 here) has influenced a number of features wihtin IE8 (see the tutorial video here), and knowing Firefox has trillions of add-ins I'd imagine there are all the things IE8 offers and more out there for Firefox. However, I absolutley love the accelerator feature which means you can affectively use info on one page with another site without leaving your current page, highly useful for locating places on maps without opening a new tab or window, just right click and up pops a map. Web slices are also a cool feature that allows you to add another level of tabs so you can keep an eye on websites you regularly visit, the webslice is fed information and updated live so a simple hover over the tab and you get a quick look at what price your new stereo equipment is going for and if its time to bid.
Download IE8 beta 2 here
Normally browsers are given very little time, but they are now showcasing how important they are in helping us search, filter and organise the web. Competition always drives development.
In a recent report from the US, Jeff Grau, Senior Analyst at eMarketer, highlights the fact that more and more people are returning to the high street travel agent to book their holidays rather than booking via the web. “Customer dissatisfaction with online travel agencies (OTAs) stems specifically from unfriendly booking engines and navigation tools. With few points of differentiation, OTAs have a hard time building customer loyalty and have driven travelers right into the open arms of traditional travel agencies — and new online competitors, travel websites built around user generated content,” says the study.
So, if there is already movement towards dealing face to face with an 'expert' on the high street rather than a clunky booking engine on the web, what effects will the demise of XL, Zoom, EOS, SilverJet etc have on customers who prefer to book their travel direct and are therefore not covered by ATOL - Air Travel Organisers' Licensing?. This also raises the question; 'are the majority of passengers even aware that when they book direct with an airline that they do not have the protection and security of ATOL if their chosen airline defaults?' In such an event the passenger is left stranded and unless their travel insurance or credit card company, given that they used a credit card to book the trip, returns them to their country of origin or refunds the money for future travel plans, the customer has to pay over again.
It is widely recognised that the web is an excellent tool for carrying out research and price comparisons, but until there is protection for passengers booking their flights direct we might just see consumers returning to the high street travel agent in larger numbers. 40,000 or so stranded XL passengers who booked direct with the airline might just agree.
Date: 14 September 2008
Weather: Sunny spells
Catering offer: Burger vans and vegetable stall
In-field entertainment: Pirate themed bouncy castle and country and western singer
In-field services: Will making stall
Dwell time: 2 hours
Total spend: £12.20
Number of items bought: 22
Average item price: 55p
Most expensive item: Tea card book - £3
Cheapest item: Paperback book - 10p
Bought this week:
Board game - 1967, Chutzpah, a sort of Jewish version of Monopoly by CFC games of Chicago, unplayed
Toy plane - 50s, Dinky, Meteor jet fighter, Meccano Ltd, made in England, needs respray
Transformer - Vintage, Friedland C75, 12 volt bell and chime, untested
Plush toy, Newish, Were-rabbit, from Curse of the were-rabbit, starring Wall ace and Gromit cracking
Tea card book - 30s, The kings and queens of England 1066 to 1935, by John Player, one penny old money, watermarked
Paperbacks - Assorted, x15, includes 1962 Rave for a roughneck by Hank Janson, vintage pulp fiction, pages loose
Music Cassettes - 70s and 80s, pre-recorded, London calling by The Clash, Substance by New Order, Fact 200c
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England are on the way to winning the World Cup, Theo is going to be the next David Beckham.
Did I just see pigs flying ....no, can't be... that airline recently went into administration.
Football and football commentary come from a planet far away in a universe that we know nothing about,a place where the glimmer of hope becomes the shining light of reality in 90 minutes only to die four weeks later when another 90 minutes brutally snuffs out that light and puts Theo back in the poverty stakes on a mere £20,000 a week.
It's in the game.
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Living and working in London you expect to be accosted fairly frequently by disorientated tourists asking for directions to this square or that museum. Recently, however, I have noticed a change in these direction requests. It’s not Buckingham Palace or the Tate Modern that they are seeking, instead they are desperate to lay their eyes on that famous London landmark – Primark. It seems that Primark, in all its cheap and disposable glory, is fast becoming London’s premier tourist destination. Once rated the least ethical place to buy clothes in Britain by Ethical Consumer magazine, I find it highly distressing that for the outside world, Primark is not only the face of British fashion, it is the face of Britain!
Read more about how Primark's profits beats the doom and gloom on the high street here
Read more on Primarks unethical practices here
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Date: 16 August 2008
Weather: Partly cloudy
Catering offer: Burger vans plus a jacket potato trailer
In-field entertainment: Pirate themed bouncy castle and country and western singer
Dwell time: 1.75 hours
Total spend: £14.70
Number of items bought: 11
Average item price: £1.33
Most expensive item: Wrist watch - £5
Cheapest item: Toy train - 20p
Bought this week:
Toy train - newish, Peppa Pig , plastic, with sound effects, Made in China
Deco Vase - 30s, mint green, with handle, china, made in England
Space toy - 2005, Star wars, X Wing, plastic, from Burger King
Vintage game - victorian, Royal Series, Halma, cardboard, missing pieces, one penny old money
Vintage dexterity puzzles - 50s, Cogwheel and Pondsnag by Journet, glass and wood
Wrist watch- newish, Paul Frank, needs batteries
Door plaque - 60s, china, made in Harlesden
Deodorant - new, 3x Nivea for men, aqua, 250ml made in Germany
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I was then somewhat confused and spent the next 15 minutes debating whether I should leave an additional tip but decided on principle not to. After all, my bill stated that service was included - and I paid it, what the restaurant does with it is not really my problem?!
However, 2 days on, I'm feeling quite guilty and not very happy with the restaurant for placing me in this minor mental torment.
Where does the 'service' amount I paid go then if not split between the staff? Should tipping not be a discretionary act based on the specific service you receive? Should the waiter have told me his woes or kept quiet saving me from any guilt.
Am and tight or am I right?
Your thoughts....
Location: Collier's Wood, Essex
Date: 3 August 2008
Weather: Sunny, windy and then rainy
Entrance fee: No
Catering offer: A comprehensive range of burger vans
In-field entertainment: Bouncy castle and centrifugal sphere ride
Dwell time: 1.5 hours
Total spend: £54.90
Number of items bought: 5
Average item price: £10.98
Most expensive item: Grundig radio - £50
Cheapest item: Toy car - 20p
Bought this week:
Vintage radio - 60s, Grundig Yacht boy, black, LW, MW, SW and FM, working, not to be confused with a Game Boy
Vintage toy car - 1971, Matchbox, Superfast, bright orange, Mazda RX 500, windscreen cracked
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Both the US and UK Governments realised at the beginning of last
year that unless they dramatically 'cooled' the property market the
whole economic structure of the two nations would eventually
explode/implode with the mountain of mortgage/credit card debt that was
being accumulated by increasing numbers of people, (of all types), who
in no way could pay off such debt through normal salaries/wages income
etc
SO they conspired with the banks to create a situation, whereby in
return for the Governments' agreements to bail out any bank that went
wrong, the banks would agree to 'stop' lending money to the general
population and to businesses.
SO the banks stop lending money, house prices start to stabilise and
come down and those who cannot afford to borrow can no longer get
loans. Stability returns to the market place and some realism starts to
evolve. True a certain number of folk will either lose their homes or
be in negative equity, but they are in the minority and the Governments
will cope with them.
What they have successfully achieved is to bring back some sanity to
the 'lending/borrowing ' culture that is actually destroying the
credibility of both economies, not in reality growing them. What they
didn't plan for were the increases in food prices etc...but they did
want and plan higher fuel charges, 'cos it stops us driving (and
polluting) and it still provides huge and growing tax revenues to the
Government. The recent 2p tax drop is irrelevant to the issue and is
merely a PR stunt to keep us sweet.
Ultimately, the worst that is going to happen to most of us is that our
home values come down to more realistic levels, people will still be
able to borrow, but only at levels they can really afford and inflation
will settle at above 2.5% but it won't go beyond say 5% WHICH FRANKLY,
IS NOTHING.
The downside is that we will all have to go through some economic pain
for the next 12 months, but it is minor pain compared to the
possibility that a one bedroom flat in London might end up costing say
£400,000 and consumer debt would be so vast that the UK and USA
economies would both go bust in a future real recession created by the
growth of China, Russia etc...but that's not due until 2013.
So why won't the Tube people let those lovely Proctor & Gamble people and the lovely soft drinks folk distribute samples of their cooling products either at points of entry or on the platforms. I know they made a pathetic attempt to distribute water last year, but I am talking about having fixed places all over the tube map where companies can sample their marvellous products at relevant seasonal times, just like the buskers have their own spaces. Probably some planning law against it. Phoar what a scorcher!
]]>Date: 13 July 2008
Weather: Sunny
Entrance fee: No
Catering offer: None
In-field entertainment: None
Dwell time: 1.25 hours
Total spend: £7.30
Number of items bought: 6
Average item price: £1.21
Most expensive item: Tea cards album - £2.50
Cheapest item: Vintage electronic game - 50p
Bought this week:
Vintage hand held dexterity puzzle - 30s, Journet, Ping-u-ringit, glass loose
Toy robot - new, handsome and stylish, clockwork, made in China, tin, missing key
Vintage electronic game - 1983, Nintendo, Game & watch, Mario Bros, might work
Vintage comic books - 60s, assorted war and science fiction, from 1 shilling old money
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For a limited time only, there are 3 interesting additions to Bedford Square, I’ve nicknamed them the ‘Banana’, ‘Speaker’ and ‘Wave’.
Wave’s my favourite, as for me it works as a sculpture and interacts with its audience making me walk round it following the curves and geometric shapes.
SPEAKER BANANA
WAVE
I’m a fan of happening upon random works of art and even more so with my new camera phone so check it out and I hope to share more findings soon…
Which is your favourite...?
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[Tas, aka Anthony Tasgal, is a Strategic Planner and a Course Director at the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) as well as a lecturer at Bucks College of Creative and Design.]
]]>Date: Summer 2008 review
Weather: Not raining
Entrance fee: Occasionally
Catering offer: More often than not
In-field entertainment: Frequently
Average dwell time: 2.25 hours
Total spend: £182.35
Total number of items bought: 93
Average item price: £1.99
Average booter rating 3.5 stars
Bought before the start of this season's Car Boot Bulletin:
(Not included in statistical data but shown as a visual resource for future reference)
Vintage transistor radio - 60s, Sony TR 84, coral pink, with original price tag $69.95, not working
Advertising promotional item - 50s, Exide car battery desk tidy, bakelite, bits missing
Vintage Toy - 60s, Sutcliffe submarine Sea Wolf with box, tin, clockwork, bit missing, not working
My wife used to be a closet News of the World reader until she got upset at their 'outing' of a cross-dressing bank manager, who subsequently lost his job and probably a great deal more too, after which she, my wife, refused to buy or read the newspaper ever again. I must admit it did confuse me rather as I thought that that was the kind of story she read the paper for in the first place!
However, whilst I'm a great believer in freedom of speech and I support the concept of free press, it does piss me off terribly when on the receiving end of incorrect media reporting, as happened to Fox Kalomaski recently at the hands of the trade press. There is a fine line between responsible reporting and creating news for news sake and it strikes me that some journalists, hopefully the minority, don't give a monkey's what happens from the fall out created when they lob a misquoted piece of editorial into the marketplace.
It was always my belief that journalists wanted to do their jobs in the first instance to help inform the public about the real things going on in life all around them and if they continue to report inaccurate stories, which basically means they're not
