Social Hallucinations

iPod History on Discovery Channel

                 

Interesting documentary about iPod Hisotry from Discovery Channel. Since iPid's introduction in October 2001, Apple sold over 70 million pieces worldwide. An amazing story.

Brain Fitness

 Take a break and train your brain a little by solving the ridlle, Albert Einstein wrote when he w as a boy and said 98% of the world couldn't solve it. The only way to the solution is the pure logic. It is a good fitness for the brain, and when you solve it, you get the bonus - satisfaction of being amongst 2% of people who can use logic. :-)

There are 5 houses in 5 different colors. In each house lives a man with a different nationality. The 5 owners drink a certain type of beverage, smoke a certain brand of cigar, and keep a certain pet. No owners have the same pet, smoke the same brand of cigar or drink the same beverage.

The question is: "Who owns the fish?"

Hints:

• The Brit lives in the red house.
• The Swede keeps dogs as pets.
• The Dane drinks tea.
• The green house is on the left of the white house.
• The green house's owner drinks coffee.
• The person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds.
• The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill.
• The man living in the center house drinks milk.
• The Norwegian lives in the first house.
• The man who smokes Blends lives next to the one who keeps cats.
• The man who keeps the horse lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill.
• The owner who smokes Bluemasters drinks beer.
• The German smokes Prince.
• The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.
• The man who smokes Blends has a neighbor who drinks water.

Tip from the hat: you might want to look at an example methodology to solve the riddle.

Found at: the thinking blog

The Power of Mass Media Spends

I've found this chart at Brand Autopsy blog.

The chart shows the disproportion between the media spend and achieved market share amongst Top 10 restaurant chains. Starbucks has definitely exceptional position: the lowest media spend and 6th position on the chart. As John Moore points out, it is a good example that investing in better products and consumer expriences works better  than millions spend on mass advertising. It is very enlightening chart, it shows where you should shift your focus and it proves user experience is not just another buzz word. It works. Sturbucks has proven it.
Mass media dollars power is decreasing. You have to be clever and have your eyes and ears wide open in order to understand the markets and get the most for your $$$. SOURCE: Ad Age (Jan. 1, 2007) 

To Multitask Or To Not Multitask

We are running all of the time all the time. Sometimes we wish the days to be longer then 24 hours. We sleep for 1/3 of our lives, it leaves us only 2/3 to make all those things we wish and want to do. I can tell, it is not enough. We try artificially to extend the time we have: we drink coffee, lots of coffee, we reduce the time we sleep, we cut on some "unnecessary" social activities, like family dinners, and we multitask.We multitask because we believe that less can be turned out into more. Yes, I do multitask myself, hmm...even now. Stereo is on and I write to the sound of Mahler's V Symphony, the gmail notifier is active, so I can check out if there is anything new in my inbox and of course my mobile is in my pocket, so I can feel it when someone calls me up or sends me a message. Besides I am also ON, to say it straight around 90% of the time I am up. Sometimes I don't even turn out my laptop or phone when I do yoga or meditate at home (I know that's very bad habit! Shame on me!). I read those words, look around me and I think it is pretty scary. I feel constant lack of time and I think that if I do four or more things at the same time I stretch the time I have or manage to do more things within the shorter period of time. Unfortunately, this is not true.

The truth is that the brain can't handle multitasking. What really happens when we are trying to kill two (or more) birds with one stone is that our brain switches among tasks instead of processing them. We can talk and wash dishes or walk at the same time without a problem, but these activities are "highly practiced skills" and we don't think have to think while doing them. Other, not practiced skills need concentration and effort from our side. That's why it is more likely that we make mistakes while both writing e-mail to the client  and using messenger to chat with the colleague from other agency . In fact multitasking doubles or triples the time or more to get the tasks finished than if we were done them sequentially, one after another. Our brain has its limitations for processing information while we multitask.

Another interesting finding is that brain stimulation is bell shaped. Just think about all those times while you were sitting with the important presentation, that should be finished tomorrow before lunch. The more coffee you drink the more stressed you get and in the end you lose it. It can be your presentation is done but this will not be the best job you ever done. The less stimulation can boost performance of the brain but too much of it can be too stressful to it.

Multitasking isn't healthy for our brain and sooner or later it will say stop. We take our brain for granted. When we strain the muscles too much they will ache, the brain won't make us feel the pain in such a direct way.

We should never forget that the brain also needs time for relaxation and doing nothing (actually doing nothing is important for memory processing).

So be more friendly for your brain Guys! And if you would like to learn more about that fantastic organ we have, watch the movie :-)

Inspired by Time's article Multitasking Generation

Tags: Brain, Multitiasking, Neuroscience

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What Restaurant Are You Inviting Your Clients to?

When we choose the restaurant to eat in, we know what kind of menu, kind of service and price level we can expect. And we select the restaurant that sits right with us.

Let’s look at McDonald’s and Formel B (Danishsh Michelin star restaurant I strongly recommend – fantastic experience), whenever you go, you know what you should expect there and you know your needs will be fulfilled. But if you went for a dinner to Formel B and got served burger, even at reasonable price, you would feel disappointed, the same if McDonalds charged you double for McNuggets, it wouldn't make you satisfied or feel that you got a better food.

Why is that so? Both places has success and are known brands. The key to their success is the specialization in different segments. Both know what their clients want and expect. And they deliver it.

Unfortunately such an approach is not common in advertising market. Advertising is full of  lofty wording: added value - coca cola to your drink or maybe juice to your beer?, 360 communication strategy maybe cherry to your dessert?, advertising effectiveness - jammed up or still hungry, strategic planning - Big Mac or McChicken now and here or maybe home made salad a little later?.

Well, we all use those words, but we interpret them differently, and give them different meenings. Both clients and we, agencies. Therefore it is important that there is the dialog between client and agency, so the joint goals can be established. I don’t believe anyone can work out effective, engaging, or whatever you call it communication strategies, media plans without having ongoing conversations and mutual trust. Besides if you can't talk with your client or agency, how can you talk to your consumer.

The relation between agency and the client is a marriage - but it shouldn't be G.B. Shaw's marriage:

"Marriage is an alliance entered into by a man who can't sleep with the window shut, and a woman who can't sleep with the window open. "

Tags: Advertising, Client, Relationship, Marketing

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Going with the Flow - Marketing and Zen

A Taoist story tells of an old man who accidentally fell into the river rapids leading to a high and dangerous waterfall. Onlookers feared for his life. Miraculously, he came out alive and unharmed downstream at the bottom of the falls. People asked him how he managed to survive. "I accommodated myself to the water, not the water to me. Without thinking, I allowed myself to be shaped by it. Plunging into the swirl, I came out with the swirl. This is how I survived."

You , as a marketer have to accommodate yourself to life and get used to dealing with your users, consumers, clients. You must learn to cooperate and respect.

It is you, who has to adapt, people cannot change for you, just because you want it. If you try to fight or control the market and people who constitute it, they will backfire. You should become ONE with your market in order to survive. You are not Almighty, the power is constantly shifting towards consumers, it is time to accept it and go with the flow, not to resist it.

Image from Gapingvoid

Tags: Marketing, Zen, Going with the Flow, Consumers, Cooperation, Respect

Branding? or Misunderstanding?

Tags: youtube, branding, funny

Links for the weekend (13-14 Jan)

Boom of Internet Ads in Europe

For years now Internet advertising spending has been growing at a fast clip in Europe, as in the world more broadly.
As 2007 gets under way, media buyers are expecting more of the same.

Tags: Internet, Advertising, Europe

All the news that's fit to print, as a PDF

If the old model for newspapers was one size fits all, just one edition per day, whether for 2,000 or 200,000 readers, the new model is the fully customized newspaper, an edition for every possible need in whatever format the reader may want. The latest format is, of all things, the PDF.

Tags: Print, Online, PDF

The big trends to keep an eye on in '07

One is user-generated ads on Super Bowl Sunday

Tags: Trends, User Generated Content, Media

A Corporate Guide to the Global Blogosphere

The latest Edelmans report on the state of blogosphere around the world. Lots of interesting information.

Tags: Blogs, Edelman, Global Blogosphere

Bunnyfoot Measures Players Engagement in In-game Advertising

Results showed an astonishing variation in consumer engagement. In fact the engagement is very poor...

Tags: In-game Advertising, Bunnyfoot

Tags: Links

Wind Powered Inspiration

The video is so inpirational. The sculptures Theo Jansen is doing are fantastic. I have tears in my eyes when looking at that video. It is fascinating and so heartening to see what human's mind can achieve, to see that there are some people who dare to look beyond imagination. The works of Theo Jansen are astounding achievment and inspiration.

 

Wind Powered - video powered by Metacafe

You can see more of his works here.

Tags: wind powered, theo jansen, kinetic sculpture

iPhone - It's Official

Finally, iPhone has arrived! After many rumors, Apple has announced its new so long awaited product today - iPhone mobile phone.

The iPhone is a gorgeous little device. It is very sexy and it includes a 3.5 inch touchscreen with a virtual keyboard, a 2 megapixel camera, runs EDGE + WIFI (connects automatically), runs OSX and has plenty of killer features, like for example motion sensor that rotates photos when you turn the phone, and voice mails displayed visually that you can click on and listen to.

iPhone ships Europe in fourth quarter of 2007, it will be available in 4 GB ($499) and 8 GB ($599).

I like the way it looks and what it can. I was wondering for a while why actually iPhone doesn't support 3G, but it may be Apple has skipped the middle phase between traditional 2G access to Internet via mobile phones and WIFI. And has chosen to use so called 2.5G EDGE and WIFI. Clever? Looking at the problems 3G telephony is coping with across the Europe, it is a clever solution.

I can imagine iPhone will appear on my and my  X-mass wishes list this year.

It seems like Steve Jobs has caught a good wave once more and iPhone will prove to be very successful -Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas focused on mobile phones as the biggest development area in the coming year.

Approximately 3 billion people will have a mobile phone by the end of 2007, what will make mobile phones the most widespread electronic device. Mobile phones can integrate many features and services: traditional telephony, music, film, TV, Internet and allows us to reduce the number of devices. Mobile phone can be your communication device, both voice and data, your digital camera, your MP3 player, and finally your cyber window to the world. High mobile penetration and advanced mobile technology allow also to open the new communication window for marketers, that can be very successful when used wisely.

eMarketer predicts that the global market for mobile marketing and advertising will grow from about $1.5 billion in 2006 to $13.9 billion in 2011. Mobile phones are the new lifestyle technology and the part of our social life. We need to understand their role in peoples life before we begin to use them as advertising channels. As well as to understand the need for developing the content, that is relevant and satisfy people's needs and expectations. We can easily cross the thin line and become intruders on the private territory. Mobile marketing must be about involvement and respect to people's privacy.

"A survey of 50 leading brands in Europe by Vanson Bourne found that the top three categories for tactical responses that brands look to drive through mobile marketing included requests for more information, making a purchase or booking, and discovering new attributes about a brand."

Via Engaget

Read more on iPhone website

Tags: iPhone, Apple, Mobile phone, Wireless

Quote of the day

"The problem with marketing isn't that there isn't enough money to spend. The problem is that the people who are spending it are sometimes lazy, selfish, committee-centric, confused or scared. They know better. Of course they do. They just need to be reminded sometimes."
                
                                                                                                                                   Seth Godin

The Truth in Ad Sales

How would it look like if we were saying what we thought. Hilarious. We are such "ego trippers"!

 I do believe that we could do better job when we left our egos at home from time to time.

See also "The Truth in Advertising"

Judging from the videos, we are pretty good at producing air, and it isn't even always fresh :-)

Via Adverblog

Kodak Moments

That's passion! Great viral video from Kodak

Tags: Kodak, Viral

2007 Manifesto

Another year has passed by, and the trends race's begun - everyone foresees trends and the upcoming future in 2007. Around 20.000 blog posts with "2007 predictions"

But the predicting future is impossible, as one of my favorite polish philosophers Kolakowski said - the future doesn't exist. When future "arrives", it's not the future any more and we can't talk about something that doesn't exist. All we can do is to try to guess what the world will look like and hope we've touched the truth.

As long as future doesn't exist and plenty of others did great job guessing how the 2007 come to look like, I've decided to write my own 2007 Manifesto that is my reflection over the modern world of communication and expresses my wishes how we - all sorts of planners and marketers - should embrace the communication in 2007.

1. It is all about people. You and You are those who matter. Human beings are key drivers, pushing not only the wheels of history but of you business too.

2. Ad agencies, media agencies, it is time to understand who is your real client? The company paying you the huge fee for doing and telling them what they want to see and hear? Or maybe you should rather turn your efforts towards the end user?!

3. No more planners and media people arrogance. You can't drive your business by neglecting consumers. In fact, you ignore consumers - your business doesn't exist, it is hard to earn the money when you spend all your effort on scaring off your customers.

4. Let's end the slavery of asking consumers what they think. Redefine insights, get under consumers skin and explore the subconscious levels of consumers' mind. Embrace the culture as the key to understanding markets and people.

5. Long-term thinking should be your focus point. Short-term strategies work ...hmm... for a very short time

6. Embrace the new metrics: engagement, share of attention, emotional quotient, push vs. pull response and attention, world of mouth "impressions". Awareness and loyalty moves in the second row - they are just something people say, but do they really believe in what they say or they say what they think you expect them to say?

7. Become a good story teller. Tell people simple and useful stories. Fulfil consumers needs. Don't be afraid to be personal.

8. Cooperate, collaborate - treat your consumers as consultants, engage them in your business, instead of taking them for naive and undemanding. Use the power of the social media wisely. It helps to leave your ego at home.

9. Communication planning is rather orchestrating than optimizing. Be Mozart, not Crazy Frog.

10. And the most important  always respect consumers. They are people like you.

Tags: Consumers, 2007 Predictions, Communication, 2007 Manifesto, People Business

I am Back

It was a long break I took not only from job but blogging. No computer, no internet, no work in December. Great time and comlete "freedom". Lots of time to think, read and enjoy the simple everyday life.
And today I've just started the new job at Carat Denmark. The first day was pretty chaotic - everything is new, but the first impression is very good. As far as I can tell after a day spent here, good people, great projects and ideas. It will be good to get the deeper feeling of things around here. I am looking forward to this new challange and the new year of blogging.