U2 can get involved.

So if you were at the U2 concert in Cape Town last week, you can go find yourself and tag it and show the world on the amazing gigapixelfancam photo.

To go and see the photo and find youself click here. 

I want a camera like that!

Did you find yourself?

Magazine publishers online, who is bigger?

So print magazines, are and have been for a while, expanding into the social media sphere - a good idea I think to increase your conversations with your communities.  In the end of the day, if you are a print publication, a product or a brand, you need to be building communities and have meaningful conversations with them.

MediaslutZA recently posted a list of the top magazine publishers on Twitter.   To see the post click here.

Then, Memeburn published a list on magazine activity on Facebook.  Once again some very interesting findings.  To see the full post click here.   Great article by Alison Westwood.

Things are getting competitive online.

Viral Genius Ad!

Have you seen this - I wanna try it.

This ad received lots of attention - it is South African made and worked well to bring the Hi-Tec brand into the 21st Century.

8.7 million youtube views and counting.

Nice work.

6 Very NB Social Media tips for Traditional Media.

Everyone is getting into Social Media and companies have started hiring Social Media Specialists to look after the delicate, exciting and instant world of Social Media.

Here are the 6 Golden rules for Social Media campaigns:

Personalized Viral email... This worked well.

We all saw the cover of Time Magazine with Obama's iconic HOPE image:

Now you can have yourself Obamicon'ed by going to:  http://obamiconme.pastemagazine.com/ 

These Obamicon'ed images flooded Facebook when this campaign launched.

Enjoy!

I dare you to say no.

Classic example of risky advertising that just works.

Would you buy this product after seeing this ad?
Or would you say no...? *Cue music*

My top 5 viral videos on you tube.

Here are my top 5 viral videos on the web:

A slogan by any other name would be as memorable. Tips of writing a good slogan.

Slogan, tag-line, payoff line.  Call it what you want, is yours working for your brand?

Here are some of the all time greatest slogans, do you know what they are?

Vorsprung Durch Tecknik
Just Do it!
Finger Licking Good
Let your Fingers do the walking.
Watalotigot
Some things money cant buy, for everything else there's...
Life's Good
Snap Crackle Pop
Once you pop you cant stop
I'm Loving It!
*Answers after the break. 

Here are my 3 tips and things to bear in mind when coming up with a Tag-line.

Let your logo do the walking...

New PPC Cement Advert.

And that's how you make a pretty boring product exciting and inspirational.

Viral Marketing tips - The ad your ad could smell like.

Ok, so I am sure you have all seen the Old Spice ad - the man your man could smell like.  If you haven't, carry on playing snake on your 5210 Nokia.

Here it is again - it is worth another watch

We all want an ad campaign that has legs and spreads through the world like chickenpox, but it is not that easy.  Here are some tips to keep in mind when thinking viral marketing. 

Good things come to those who wait...

There's nothing worse than standing around with a parched throat waiting for your ice cold draft to make its way out of the tap and into your belly. Guinness, which takes especially long to pour, had to explain to their people that even though Guinness takes a little longer to pour... It's worth the wait. Here's the Cannes Grand Prix winner in all its glory.

Valentines day - lends itself well to the sales of Flowers, Cards and KY Gel.

Flowers

Cards

And KY gel

Heineken has my heart on Valentines Day.

Heineken takes love, Valentines Day and Beer seriously.

Some of the Heineken Beer ads from around the world:

Singapore

A personalised Valentines Day, courtesy of M&M's.

Found this online and thought it was a classic example of how to take advantage of a theme, Valentines Day, to boost sales and allow chocolate lovers to get interactive with your brand.

M&M's have taken what many companies find hard to do and made it easy... Personalising the product according to what you want!  Go online, give M&M's the messages you want and hey presto, you have M&M's with a message from you, to you Valentine... M&M have an increase in product sales and an increase in website traffic.  All in a days work.

Check out the M&M ad used for Valentines Day.

M&M have an increase in product sales and an increase in website traffic.  All in a days work.

What would you write on your M&M's?

Can you be my copywriter?

Ok, so you wanna be a copywriter?  See if you cut the mustard?  If you don't want to be a copywriter, do the test anyway, it is worth it!

Awesome initial interview... http://bemywriter.co.za/ 

Well done to TBWA Hunt Lascaris Durban...

The wrong way round.

Great idea, I think - what you think?  

.concept the love I 

 

More competitive advertising... Smart Phones

We all know them, and we all are them.
You either have a Blackberry or you have an Apple Iphone...


This is what Blackberry did when they launched the Blackberry Storm...

This is what Apple had to say in return...

Pepsi vs. Coke. And the winner is...

It seems Pepsi loves slagging off Coca Cola - I quite like seeing it been done....

What do you think?

Here is some more coke bashing!

10 Rules For Advertising On Facebook

1. Facebook Is Least Effective At Direct Sales

2. Create A Greater Volume Of Ads That Target Less People

3. Friend Users Before You Sell To Them

4. Understand Your Market

So you wanna be in advertising?

Here are just some of the unique qualities you'll need to possess in order to survive agency life... 

The Brand Genius

I am sure you have all heard about the marketing, branding and consumer behavior Mega Guru, Martin Lindstrom.

Check out some of his thoughts:

Lost in Translation

Picking a name for your product is a tricky business, just ask these companies:

Running a bit Latte   

Latte means milk in Italy. In English, Latte is a coffee-drink. Many folks like to head to Mugg & Bean, Vida E or other coffee shops to take early morning lattebreaks...

In Germany, Latte is a well known word for an erection. So, "morning latte" is when you wake up in the morning with an erection! The word "break" means "destroy", so taking that "morning latte break" is destroying that erection. I'll leave the details to your imagination, as well as all the puns on how you take your steaming hot drink.

Coca-Cola Fresca

In Mexico, Fresca is a term for Lesbian. Yes, there were some jokes, but sales weren't hurt by this association, I think it might even have helped sales a little.   

Colgate Cue

Colgate introduced a toothpaste in France called Cue.  Unfortunately Cue is also the the name of a notorious porno mag. 

Car manufacturers seem particularly stupid, at risk...

Ford's Pinto didn't do well in Brazil. Pinto is Brazilian slang for "male genitals". Ford renamed the car the Corcel, which means horse or steed. 

General Motors made a car named "Opel Ascona". This model sold poorly in Galicia, the northwestern region of Spain. In the galician and also portuguese languages, the term is similar to the term for female genitalia.  (Do you feel like a "female genitalia" while driving a Ford?)  

Volkswagen named the sedan version of Golf the Jetta. However, the letter "J" doesn't exist in the Italian alphabet, so Jetta is pronounced "Ietta", which means Misfortune... 

Honda introduced their new car "Fitta" in the Nordic countries in 2001, only to find out that "fitta" is an old word, currently used in vulgar language to refer to a woman's genitals in Swedish, Norwegian and Danish. It was renamed to "Honda Jazz". 

When General Motors introduced the Chevrolet Nova in South America, it was apparently unaware that "no va" means "it won't go". After the company figured out why it wasn't selling any cars, it renamed the car in its Spanish markets to the Caribe. 

My 2 favourite of all...

LOCUM

Locum is a Swedish company. In 1991, they sent Xmas Cards to all of their customers. They thought it would be a good idea give their logo a little holiday spirit, by substituting a little heart for the letter "o". For some reason, they also used all lowercase letters. The lowercase "L" can be easily seen and read to be an "i", and the locum logo looked like one of those "I heart ..." bumper stickers, with an nice surprise message for the reader.  (As long as your mom doesn't work at LOCUM it is funny) 

Milk

The Dairy Association's huge success with the campaign "Got Milk?" prompted them to expand advertising to Mexico. It was soon brought to their attention the Spanish slogan translation read "Are you lactating?"

Think twice, no three times before you name your product.  

It was acceptable in the 80's...

Found these classic 80's TV ads.  Do they bring back memories, if not you were not born in the 70's...

The only ad I could not find, but wish I could is: "I'm Huuuungry!  Imagine a river of milk, falling into a chocolate whirlpool swirling with crispy rice and coconuts... Image eating all of that now!"  Do you know what that is?  

Bud...

One of my all time favourites...

F#&king Awesome!

Eskom makes me laugh - in more than one way!

At least the the Eskom ad agency know what they doing...

T Mobile flash mob advertising

An oldie, but still a goodie!

A great advertising idea, but would it make you buy the brand?  I feel like T Mobile cares now, but still not sure I would subscribe.  Would you?