Brain Food author, al ries manila seminar has a new print ad - small is good? or is that telling a white lie?

new al ries seminar print ads, much smaller than previous

this al ries seminar has been releasing smaller print ads recently. (click here to view posts on same subject matter, for reference : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/al%20ries)

aside from the size, they have altered it's content in a major way. they took out the specifics about the seminar. the original ad listed the speakers and topics each will discuss. that original ad showed al ries will talk only at the start, which given the number of speakers, to my estimate will only be 1 hour and a half tops!

would you really pay that amount of money just to hear al ries talk for 1 hour and a half? rather than spend that amount for one hour and half of talk, i'd rather buy all the books of al ries and read all of them. i think that would be much more rewarding and smart.

will this omission from the small ad work for them? or will seminar goers be smart enough and call them and ask for an outline of the seminar?

sorry, al, i love your book but i don't like your organizers.

original al ries seminar print ad with specifics

war

double click image for larger view

Couples For Christ anti-RH 5043 bill ad : half truths turn into full failure

this is a half page print ad that appeared on page 2 of the philippine daily inquirer. this RH Bill 5043 is a hotly contested one in congress with the catholic church on one side and progressive lawmakers on the other.


we do not think a plain black & white ad, empty of any visual is enough to attract anyone, much less convince anyone to CFC's position in the RH Bill issue. doing a press release would have been more effective if this was all that they can do as a print ad.

there is an attempt to some creative writing through the use of the idea "kill the bill before the bill kills the filipino family" which is quite good per se, but used in this ad, it became the weakness of the ad.

this ad stepped into the arena of "scare tactics" and "extreme exaggeration". "scare tactics" seem to be the over-all strategy employed by oppositionists to this RH bill. this strategy is applied across all forms of media, press releases, speeches in congress and even in the pulpit. almost forgot to mention that the whole thing is being led by the catholic church.

we will leave the point of the catholic church for the moment and will focus on the CFC, since it is them who released the print ad.

the "kill the bill if you don't want to kill the filipino family" approach does not work as it lacks specifics. the word "kill" and as used in the ad makes it very powerful but consistent with the "scare tactics" approach, it purposely left out a strong reason why or an explanation as to how passage of the bill will kill the family.

we can't even say the absence of the reason why is to leave things to the imagination of the audience. in the first place, ads to be effective do not leave anything to the imagination of the intended target audience. equally important, it's really impossible for the mind to figure out how passage of the bill will kill the filipino family. it's too much of a stretch and these two ideas, even if one uses wild imagination, do not belong to the same page.

i am reminded of the friars of the spanish colonial rule when they first came to the country some centuries ago, their favorite tactic in converting indigenous filipinos was to employ scare tactics, something like - "not converting to catholicism will bring upon you eternal fire and oozing lava to burn you in hell" kind of lines.

the spanish colonial friars may have had some success during that time -- it was the first time that the filipinos met westerners. some of them knew about islam, but most of them were worshipping their ancestors or animals and nature. most of them, specially at the beginning were unable to read, write or speak spanish. in other words, the scare tactics of the spanish friars mostly worked because the filipinos were mostly naive and clueless in many levels, in many ways of the spanish friars.

that, however, is not the case of the intended target audience of the print ad. this ad appeared in the philippine daily inquirer whose readers belong mostly to the AB and C socio-eco class. they are certainly not as naive and clueless as the filipinos were when the spanish friars arrived in the philippines. scare tactics will not work. not only will scare tactics of this sort not work, they will most likely have a negative impact on the target audience.

the target audience will see through this ad. they will probably feel insulted that such scare tactics are being used at them. the ad shows CFC have no respect on the intelligence of the intended target market. insulting the intelligence of the AB and upper C is probably the biggest mistake anyone can make when it comes to this particular target audience.

we have not touched on the part of the title of this post - half truths.

studying and reading the contents of Bill RH 5043 will clearly tell you that opposite to what this ad saying, it is actually for the filipino family. a significantly high percentage of filipino families belong to the poor with meager resources even for day to day survival of the family. this bill seeks to empower the family, women specially to have full control of their bodies when it comes to reproductive health. empowering family members, specially the women is being supportive of the filipino family.

couples for christ employing scare tactics done by the spanish colonial friars popularized centuries ago on naive and clueless pinoy natives and clearly employing half truths in this ad? that's clearly a WAWAM!

oh, and we forgot to mention that this group, couples for christ is a catholic organization which supposedly also follow the ten commandments.

losyang filipina woman slaps herself silly

this is one of the most compelling and most powerful ads for modern methods of contraception.

more on this, next in WAWAM!

la salle's Maierhofer's dirty finger picture - post it here

la salle lost, ateneo won by a sweep as predicted by WAWAM! (read here : http://wawam.wordpress.com/), but what was not predicted was the reaction of the la salle coach and team.

the la salle team and coach refused to come out of the dugout to claim their 2nd place trophy and medals.

not only that, la salle coach pumaren made a big deal about rico maierhofer's ejection from the game after his 2nd technical foul. pumaren says they lost on an account of bad officiating, like it was a set-up from start to finish that ateneo will win, courtesy of the referees. and he made an even bigger deal about the ejection of maierhofer. maierhofer was slapped a technical foul after he flashed a dirty finger.

maierhofer said he did not show a dirty finger - it was not the middle finger it was an index finger and it was meant for a teammate, telling his teammate to do better at guarding.

the video replays on tv wasn't very clear if it was a middle finger or an index finger that the referees saw as offensive.

for now, we will ignore that the tv shots seem to show his hand was palm up and he took his hand on a sweeping motion from left to right. first of all, when you point with an index finger, your hand is not supposed to be in that position. that hand position should be the other way, palm down. and also when you point with an index finger to someone, you don't do a sweeping motion of the hand as he did - a long, left to right sweeping motion.

BUT, we will forget all that for now. to get to the bottom of this, we are asking for readers of this blog to post here a picture of that historic middle finger or index finger. we need proof, send us your cell phone photo to wawam.authors@gmail.com and we will post it here.

this is a marketing and advertising blog, we are squatters here, we will give 48 hours before we close this post.

above pucture sent by conrad

from conrad's email : "This is a close-up of the alleged dirty finger flashed by rico. You be the judge."

submitted by anonymous, source posted in comments. http://www.flickr.com/photos/inboundpass/

submitted by anonymous. source posted in comments. http://www.flickr.com/photos/inboundpass/

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abs cbn news reel on the "dirty finger". view it here.

posted by antenna : those two black & white pictures of maierhofer showing his index finger ARE NOT in the same scene as shown in the video clip in the abs cbn newsreel.

if you look closely in the abs cbn footage, maierhofer flashed a finger to show it to rabeh al-hussaini who was beside him. rabeh is not in those black & white pictures where maierhofer showed an index finger. those black & white photos may have been taken during game 2, but it's not in the same moment when he got the 2nd technical foul that got him evicted from the game

those black & white pictures are a hoax!

comments? reactions?

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posted by antenna:

below is another video from abs-cbn. this one shows rico apparently first "fixing" his shorts, then makes the gesture. some say he put his finger under his shorts before he showed his finger.

> rico said he was just gesturing to a teammate. is it normal to fix your shorts first before you gesture to a teammate?

> putting your finger inside your shorts before showing rabeh the finger i think is on the extreme and kinda sick, don't you think?

in the video, below, you will see one of the referees just a few steps away from maierhofer, almost directly across him and directly towards the direct firing line of whatever finger maierhofer flashed at that moment. at that short distance, the referee must have seen very clearly if it was the middle finger or the index finger. i think the referee was so close to maierhofer that the referee would have even known if rico wore nail polish or not. it is that close!

we still don't have the picture that will definitely show rico showed an index finger or his middle finger! send your cell cam pics please!

give us your comments!

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link posted by bored : http://ateneodelasalle.ning.com/forum/topic/show?id=1998003%3ATopic%3A140549&page=2&commentId=1998003%3AComment%3A140969&x=1#1998003Comment140969

microsoft - apple advertising war - what's coming up next?

apple started it and they started it very well. so well that together with vista's product problems, windows' brand image took a dive. so much to the level that microsoft felt the need to ante up a $300M ad campaign to save themselves from the hole.

now that microsoft's ads are out, what's next in this advertising war?

probably more of the same from microsoft. new ads that they will find the need to explain what they mean. and ads that they will say this isn't it yet, this is just a start, more to come. well, ok microsoft's 3rd ad is better than the first two, so taking that as a trend, microsoft's new ads will most likely be again, baby steps ads - ads with teeny weeny bit improvements from the previous.

what is most worth watching out for would be the new apple ads.

the "i am a mac, i am a pc" apple ads are just great ads. with microsoft's ads, it gave the apple ads a lot of legitimacy and credibility. in the process, microsoft's ads may have enhanced the power of the apple ads. it's interesting that this brand with a tiny market share has defined the agenda in this advertising war.

apple will need to respond and these new apple ads may be nuclear in strength in the next round. the microsoft ads gave apple a lot of new material to play with. they can now be more competitive and sharper against microsoft.

apple now finds itself in a position of greater strength and clearly in the lead versus microsoft. microsoft's lousy ads told apple they are on the right track and gave them the best motivation and inspiration to be even more competitive. it's the best gift any adman can have - one from your competition.



read more posts on this microsoft and apple ads here : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/i%20am%20mac%20i%20am%20pc

Philippine Ad Congress' Araw Awards winning scam ads - "araw ng parangal" or "araw ng lokohan"?

everybody in the philippine ad industry knows this. it's the worst kept secret in the ad industry - the scam ads that win the Araw Awards ("araw" means day or sun, depending on the usage. in this award, it's meant to mean the sun) in the ad competition during the Philippine Ad Congress. these scam ads do win the awards. on the day the scam ads win, is it an "araw ng parangal" (day of tribute) or is it an "araw ng lokohan" (day of scams)?

scam ads are one-shot ads where ad agencies develop creatives for the sole purpose of making the most creative ads to win awards. ad agencies usually look for very small clients, even those who normally can't afford advertising and have not had an ad ever, and convince them to use their business in the ad. they air/publish the ad only once just to comply with the award criteria.

scam ads are not meant to build the business of the client as what advertising ought to do. in the first place, scam ads can never do that - it's aired/printed only once and they're too creative that only creative directors can understand and appreciate the ads. creative directors are usually the judges of ad competitions. scam ads are not tools for building business, they're tools to boost the egos of creative directors who want to win awards.

everybody knows about scam ads. most complain about them, even despise them. and yet over many years of ad competition awards - they continue to be there. it's really easy to stop the scam ads, just ad another criteria to entries for the awards that has the effect of banning them. but the reality is the philippine advertising industry has not done anything to get rid of it even though many have said they don't like it.

ad competitions are set up not only to give tribute to the best work, but more importantly it's to inspire and push creativity to higher levels to improve the over-all quality of the whole industry. the idea is to be able to help uplift the creativity of the ads we see on a daily basis in media.

scam ads prevent that from happening because the creatives know the work they do on a daily basis for their regular clients will never win awards, why bother to improve them? they would rather do their best work for scam ads which has a higher chance of winning awards for them. and scam ads are just too few to make an impact on the industry.

when will this stop? that's probably a question will never be able to answer.

your suggestions on how to stop scam ads? are they necessary? what are the benefits?

the wuzzies versus the coolies - can it work? or is it just silly and idiotic?

this is next in WAWAM!



read more posts on this microsoft and apple ads here : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/i%20am%20mac%20i%20am%20pc

KFC philippines' shrimp ad makes us all shrimpy!

oh, this ad should win an award for best comedy if there is an award like that in an ad competition. see this ad a million times, smile or laugh a million times.

it's a simple story - kfc has just launched a shrimp meal in their menu. we all know kfc is all chicken, but a shrimp among the chickens is a big surprise. and that's what this ad wants you to remember -- that now, there is a shrimp meal in kfc.

and it works! you not only do you remember they now have a shrimp meal, you now think the kfc brand is a really cool brand for having this much humor.





man 1 : tingin ko isa sa tin dito may tinatago (the way i see it, one among us here is hiding something.)
man 2 : may suspetsa din ako (i also have my suspicion.)
man 3 : sino kaya? (who do you think is it?)
man 1 : alam ko na. (i know what to do!)
man 4 : ayyyy! (something like a yelp, very feminine)
pregnant pause
man 4 : may, may shrimp na pala sa kfc, pare. (kfc has now shrimp, pare?) ("pare" meaning buddy is what men usually call each other)
announcer : you too will be surprised with the kfc surfers, made from real shrimp, battered and breaded the kfc way. freshly cooked to a golden crisp.
man 3 : dude, we accept you!
men : o, group hug! group hug! group hug!
man 4 : nabigla lang ako! sarap kasi ng shrimp! (i was just surprised. it's because the shrimp is really delicious!)

brand ateneo-la salle game - time stops at 4:00 pm for the blue and green

game 1 of the uaap seniors basketball game starts today at 4:00 pm. and on the same hour, time stops as most of the country will probably watch the game on tv. forget watching it live, the tickets have disappeared a long time ago.

brand ateneo-la salle game is one of the most enduring brands not only in collegiate basketball, but the whole of the country. it has been there for as long as anyone can remember. it is a rivalry that has not waned, not at the beginning, not in previous years and certainly not now. it is quite a fitting ending to this season's tournament when the blues fight it out with the greens. it's a season ending destined and always appreciated by everyone, even those who do not know anything about basketball.

here's a tiny sample of how intense this rivalry is and how much anticipated it is --- to get a ticket to this game, people start lining up for tickets at 12 midnight, or at the latest at 3:00 am in the morning. in one of these games, i know for a fact someone started to line up at 3:00 am and got two tickets worth P150.00 at 7:00 pm!

day after the game, it is the talk of the town. and that's not just among those who study in those two schools and their alumni, it's also conversation for the rest of the population.

there is no other brand like it in the country.

that always show in every ateneo-la salle game. past records of the competing teams don't count. one team may be doing poorly in the elimination round, but when these two teams meet, everything begins on a zero slate. both teams will ALWAYS raise their games to championship calibre. and in every ateneo-la salle game, no one can predict who will win. it will always be a close fight. to many, it's the only game that matters in the uaap.

today will be no different. ateneo has beaten la-salle 2-0 during in regular season. ateneo also has the best record this season. but at 4:00 pm today, that won't mean a thing as la salle will be a different animal, well archer, all together.

ateneo campus, beside the blue eagle gym

from PDI, coach norman black of the ateneo blue eagles : “The atmosphere is electric. If you attend an Ateneo-La Salle game, you tend to look up. Coaches aren’t supposed to do this, but every now and then we steal a moment, and just look around and say to ourselves that this is unbelievable. Half of the arena is green, the other half is blue and everybody is standing up.”

one more thing, they no longer call themselves "la sallites", they now call themselves "la sallians". i don't know why they changed it. i thought "la sallites" sound so much better. i guess they changed to "la sallian" to be just like "noranian" and "vilmanian". noranian and vilmanian are what you call the fans of the 70s superstars nora aunor and vilma santos.

read PDI article in full here : http://sports.inquirer.net/inquirersports/inquirersports/view/20080920-161745/Ateneo-La-Salle-duel-a-throwback-to-Crispa-Toyota

3rd microsoft tv ad, "i'm a pc" - tells us what we already know, restoring pride in windows

what we do know is that jerry seinfeld is in the first 2 microsoft tv ads. the first two suffered from ADS Sindrome, so we were looking forward to the third one. we told ourselves forget the past, move on and wait for the third one. after failing twice, we were expecting microsoft will come out with a great ad with seinfeld, finally!

what we didn't know, something that we just found out now, is that seinfeld will no longer be in the microsoft ad. well, at least in this third one. with a $300M ad budget, there cane be a gazillion more tv ads coming our way.

with seinfeld not in the ad, we know this ad is not about humor. what it did was tell us something we already know - that a gazillion people already use microsoft windows. and as the ad showed, we knew these gazillion people are of different shapes and sizes, including shoe sizes. oh, wait a minute that is the 1st ad. when i meant was eye glasses.

the other part we know, actually what this 3rd ad confirms is that microsoft's new ad campaign IS A direct answer to the apple ads. this 3rd ad opens with a look-alike of the pc character in the apple tv spot.

ads that tell us something we already know are not really bad or weak ads. it's not the ideal, they are not just as potent and hardly an agent of attitude change. we were assuming that microsoft embarked on a $300M ad campaign primarily to change attitudes of consumers towards windows. windows has suffered massive declines in brand image with the endless problems with vista plus the relentless picking on done by apple's tv ads that poured salt into microsoft vista's open wounds.

having to say what we already know about windows may not be the most ideal weapon to change consumer attitudes towards a declining brand image, but what this ad does is it tries to restore pride in the windows name. seeing all those people, someone just like us and seeing many others better or worse than us does that.

i think the main point of this ad is that - to restore pride in the windows brand name. and that can be a good thing.

given the things microsoft's marketing heads have been saying about their ad campaign, they seem to do things in a very slow manner, involving multi-level, multi-stage, chapter by chapter approach to brand image reshaping.

that's how they explained the first ad. they said the ad was meant to be like an intro or a teaser where all they wanted to do was to get people to start talking about microsoft again. they were saying - yah, we know the first two ads are boring, but hey, we got you thinking and talking about it. wait for the third one! at least that is what they want us to believe.

this 3rd ad could be employing the same multi-stage strategy. it's saying what we already know, it's just restoring pride and that sets the stage for the real thing for the 4th ad --- an agent of change that will improve the sagging brand image of windows.

can't wait for the 4th ad! (there you go, i'm once again waiting for the next great microsoft ad!)



read more posts on this microsoft and apple ads here : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/i%20am%20mac%20i%20am%20pc


source of picture : http://i.usatoday.net/money/_photos/2008/09/19/microx.jpg

microsoft's new "i'm a pc" tv ad - finally an ad in english that we can all understand! what happened to seinfeld?

TAGLINE : WINDOWS. LIFE WITHOUT WALLS.

finally, microsoft launched a tv ad that is in english, something we all understand what it means. this is one is focused on showing people from all walks of life, ages, passions and achievements saying "i am a pc". it's a direct answer to the apple tv spots and shows how pervasive and wide microsoft is, showing the brand's dominant market share.

what happened to jerry seinfeld? he is nowhere in this ad. seinfeld together with bill gates were in the first two tv spots of microsoft. the first two ads to me were completely out of this world and i mean that in a bad way.

the first two ads were saying a lot of things, it had copy and storylines but the words didn't seem to mean anything. it didn't make a sale of any sort and it's humor completely unremarkable that only the writer seem to understand it's funny. well, actually nobody is certain if it's supposed to be funny. we just assume they are because seinfeld is in the ads.

it is very strange that seinfeld is no longer in the latest microsoft ad. they did make a big deal about signing seinfeld. being a great fan of the seinfeld, the tv show, we were expecting gang-buster ads. that didn't happen so it seems. the only thing that has happened so far is that seinfeld got busted in this 3rd ad.

is there pride when an ad agency wins an award on an ad that was plagiarized or copied from another agency?

i hope WAWAM!, the blog owner does not mind this post of mine. i just think it's a great topic to discuss.



dm9 jayme/syfu (philippines) won an award for the ad on the left, above for gabriela, a bronze cannes media lion 2008 award. garbriela is non government organization for the protection of rights ow women in the philippines.

the ad on the right, one done by saatchi & saatchi poland, released in 2005 for amnesty international looks almost exactly the same as the gabriela/dm9 ad. the talents are different, clients different but the concept and executional details of the ad are exactly the same. the dm9 ad is a copy of the saatchi ad, that's pretty obvious.

question, well actually there are two questions:

• does dm9 deserve to win award for work that was just copied?
• is there pride and honor in winning an award for work that was just a copy of another ad agency's work?

let us hear your views, please.

read other posts on this topic here : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/DM9Jayme%2FSyfu

BPI - old and new signage, day and night significant improvement

WAWAM! was lucky enough to witness workers installing the new horizontal signage of BPI while the old one was still there. in this picture, the new signage, with the logo and bold letters "BPI" signage on the right with workers still holding it look significantly better than the old one, on the left that only had the logo in it.

the old signage was in three parts - the logo, the "express teller sign" below it and under that is the branch name. the logo is basically red in color but the "express teller" signage was mostly blue. the new logo removes the inconsistency.

we think it's a remarkable improvement that is worth all the trouble and expense.

how they did it:

dm9 jayme/syfu - the duct tape ad that had something stuck to it

this is an article that appeared in adobo magazine (http://www.adobomagazine.com/global/module.php?LM=news.level1&id=1217825194648) and it is next here in WAWAM!


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DUCT TAPE AND A GOOD CAUSE WIN THE PHILIPPINES' FIRST MEDIA LION

DM9 JaymeSyfu, a Manila ad agency affiliated with the DDB network of communications companies, was awarded a Bronze Lion in the Cannes International Advertising Festival in France last June 17. It won the prestigious metal in the festival’s Media Lions competition for its “Duct Tape” posters for women’s rights group Gabriela. Aimed at friends, families and neighbors of abused women, the Gabriela posters drew the judges’ attention because of its ingenious use of duct tape. Not only did it hold the posters in place, it dramatized the physical and psychological oppression of domestic violence. At the bottom of each ad, the text appealed to readers to help release these women from bondage.

Because of this, DM9 JaymeSyfu was awarded the Bronze Media Lion, which is given to “media efforts that generate access to consumers in ways that are simultaneously innovative, engaging, encompassing and effective.” It was one of 2,000 entries from 76 countries that vied for 31 bronzes, 17 silvers, five golds and one Grand Prix in the Media Lions. The agency’s Chief Creative Officer Merlee Jayme attended the award ceremony in Cannes. Initially, her agency had four finalists in the running, and when the first three failed, she had written their performance as a total loss. “So when I attended the awards ceremony, I was pleasantly surprised. A first for our country! This is certainly something that our agency has been dreaming of!” It is quite an achievement for the creative hot shop, which opened its doors less than three years ago. Led by Jayme and Managing Director Alex Syfu, it services clients like SMART, Schering-Plough, the Department of Tourism, Max’s, Discovery Suites and Greenfield Development. From Manila, Syfu said, “It’s a blessing.

When we heard that we got into the finals, we were ecstatic, and winning just doubled our joy. It’s a very Pinoy campaign. It’s a victory, not just for us and our client Gabriela, but for all Pinoys who are working to eradicate spousal abuse.” It is the country’s first Media Lion.

There were many attempts, and twice, two local ads managed to get on the judges’ shortlists. One was the simple but timely late-night campaign for Extra Joss by creative agency TBWA\Santiago Mangada Puno, and the other was a Rejoice music video initiated by media agency Starcom. A panel of the world’s most powerful and influential media experts judges the Media Lions.

This year’s competition was presided over by Dominic Proctor, worldwide CEO of MindShare. The Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival is the most prestigious international annual advertising awards as well as the world’s largest global conference for creativity in communications. Now on its 55th year, more than 10,000 registered delegates from 85 countries and around 12,000 total visitors from the advertising and allied industries (including 30 Philippine delegates) attended to celebrate the best of creativity in all major media, discuss industry issues and network with one another.

Along with the ads that vied for the Media Lions, over 28,000 pieces of work from 85 countries are competing in the Palais des Festivals in Cannes. Ten juries, composed of top international creatives, judge all the entries in Cannes and award the coveted Lion trophy to the best Film, Print, Outdoor, Design, Interactive, Radio, Sales Promotion, Media, Direct Marketing, Integrated and Titanium which recognize ground-breaking creative work.

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read previous posts on this winning ad and dm9 jayme/syfu here : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/DM9Jayme%2FSyfu

microsoft turns porn friendly? a lesson in communications

this is an interesting study on communication, specifically branding or naming. that's on the marketing side. if this was our personal lives, we can probably call it any of these : "tsimis" (rumor), "paninira" (destroying reputation), dirty minded or good intentions maligned. choose one or a few.

microsoft announced a new privacy tool to be incorporated in the next internet explorer re-transformation - IE will automatically delete passwords, cookies and browsing histories on close down.

microsoft calls it "inPrivate", a privacy tool, but others chose to call it "porn mode". so what is your take on it : tsimis, paninira, dirty minded or good intentions maligned?




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Microsoft adds privacy tools to IE8
So-called 'porn mode' tools to debut in IE8 Beta 2 this month


August 25, 2008 (Computerworld) Microsoft Corp. today spelled out new privacy tools in Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) that some have dubbed "porn mode" in a nod to the most-obvious use of a browser privacy mode.

A privacy advocate applauded the move, calling it a "great step forward," while rival browser builder Mozilla Corp. said it is working to add similar features to a future Firefox.

Slated to appear in IE8 Beta 2, which Microsoft's former chairman, Bill Gates, promised will release this month, the three new tools share the "InPrivate" name, which Microsoft filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office several weeks ago.

The most intriguing tool, and the one that has prompted the "porn mode" label, was dubbed "InPrivate Browsing" by Microsoft. When enabled, IE8 will not save browsing and searching history, cookies, form data and passwords; it also will automatically clear the browser cache at the end of the session.




article parsed, read full article here : http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=knowledge_center&articleId=9113419&taxonomyId=1&intsrc=kc_top

dilbert's taglines and brand positioning

microsoft's seinfeld pool out tv spot launched, i think...

tagline : perpetually connecting

i thought this was a joke, but it's for real, microsoft has launched the pool-out of their seinfeld tv spot. the one where they intend to spend $300M on. and the one that is supposed to address microsoft's weakening brand image.

we're posting it here for everyone to view it while we sit and watch this over and over again to try to understand the ad.

this ad was developed by an award winning ad agency, with a track record of success. it must be real good. will be back soon!





read more posts on this microsoft and apple ads here : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/i%20am%20mac%20i%20am%20pc

read other posts on the jerry seinfeld microsoft tv spot : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/jerry%20seinfeld

Rejoice Shampoo (japan) - strategy visual that feels good

procter & gamble, the company that makes rejoice shampoo is very much well known for their use of demonstrations in their commercials. demonstrations are devices that visually demonstrate the product function, in most cases the superior product performance of their brands.

this rejoice shampoo commercial features a demonstration of the kind of hair that rejoice shampoo gives it's users - smooth hair. in some other markets, they use a comb demo where the commercial cuts to a scene where the model is back to the camera showing her long hair, they place a comb at the top of head, release the comb and the comb effortlessly slides down the hair on it's own.

this commercial in japan shows the same kind of idea, in advertising speak, it's called strategy visual to show just how smooth the girl's hair is.

disclaimer : i really don't know if this is a real commercial or maybe it's a spoof or some kind of home video. it's too racy for procter & gamble. procter & gamble a few years back has declared war on boring commercials. they are known to favor very effective ads but they almost always turn out to be boring ones to the general public and compared to other ads in the market. a few years back, p&g management released a policy asking their ad agencies to drop the drab ads and go into more daring and creative ads.

is this japanese commercial one of those daring ads? or is it just a spoof? i think it's the latter, but it's here because it's fun to watch.



if this is a real tv ad and was actually aired in japan, i would think it's a polarizing ad at minimum to it's a WAWAM!. not sure the women will find the ad amusing. the men definitely will find it amusing but the men are not the primary target market of the brand.

cadbury - "kurot sa puso" ("pinch on the heart") tv spot

this must be one of the best "kurot sa puso" tv spot i have ever seen. ("kurot sa puso" literally means "pinch on the heart", which actually means it's something very emotional or it's tugging at your heart strings.)

when i saw the ad, i reached for the kleenex and some chocolates.




this ad i think is one of the best examples for the expression, "thinking out of the box". the other question in my mind though is this --- when will they show the singer? if that's the drummer, i want to watch the singer perform!

it's amazing how this combines "kurot sa puso" and humor in one ad. this was one ad where i was laughing from start to finish! cadbury made a lasting impression in my mind!

4th gen ipod nano and 2nd gen ipod touch launched -- evolutionary improvements, no big surprises

apple's tuesday event was almost a hohum. some evolutionary improvements but no big surprises of past. has apple spoiled apple watchers that we have come to expect something spectacular at every apple event?



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Apple iPod touch (2nd generation)
by Tim Gideon

The most interesting improvements that come with Apple's iPod touch 2G aren't the physical tweaks, like its slightly slimmer profile or new built-in speaker. It's what's inside. This huge screen isn't just for Coverflow or video viewing anymore—it's for games and apps. Calling it the "the funnest iPod ever," Steve Jobs wants you to consider the touch a portable gaming device, and if "Spore" is any indication of what's possible, he'll get his wish.

The Genius playlist feature is a welcome, if somewhat imperfect, addition, and the touch remains the best portable media player on the market at any price—even if the earbuds still suck. Oh, speaking of price, the touch 2G is cheaper: you'll pay $229 for 8GB, $299 for 16GB, and $399 for 32GB of storage. (The original 16GB touch debuted at $399.)The 2nd generation iPod touch measures a thinner 4.3 by 2.4 by 0.33-inches (HWD) and weighs a comfortable 4.05 ounces. The lovely 480 by 320-pixel, 3.5-inch glass LCD dominates the front panel, with a just enough dead space to rest your fingers without blocking the screen—and for the solitary Enter button below the display. Since it's a touch screen, it's also a fingerprint magnet—Apple thoughtfully includes a cleaning cloth. The back panel is rounded like on the iPhone 3G, but still is still a shiny silver. (Insignificant side note: the original touch was a great mirror—to see if you had anything in your teeth, for example. I'm afraid the touch 2G provides more of a warped Coney Island funhouse effect.) The bottom of the device houses the proprietary connector and the 3.5mm headphone jack, while the power switch is on the top panel. On the left side, there a dedicated volume rocker (a welcome addition) so you can quickly quiet your tunes without touching the screen—helpful when you are, say, browsing the Web while listening.

article parsed, read in full here : http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2330095,00.asp

Brand Philippines : Charice Pempengco On The Oprah Show

countries are like brands, they are also known for something. the difference is that for brands, marketing people can choose and shape what it wants their brand to be known for. no such thing for countries. what a country becomes known for sort of happen almost in a random and uncharted way.

that is not for lack of trying, country leaders do determine and execute what shape a country wants to become. but country leaders are not the only determinant of a country's brand image, every single person in a country's population can help shape that brand image, for better or for worst.

charice pempengco is one who will shape of Brand Philippines that is for the better. she recently (september 9, 2008) appeared again in the oprah show and is again getting rave reviews in the internet.

the internet is a very important medium for charice. and here's why - charice has been joining singing contests in the philippines for many years since she was young. she hit it big when she joined a signing contest put up by abs-cbn, one of the top two largest tv station in the country. charice did not actually win that tv singing contest, she placed second in it but it didn't matter as she nevertheless sprung to international fame and the internet led her there.

charice has already appeared in the oprah show before and in the intro to her, it said charice became internationally famous when one of her singing performances was loaded on to You Tube by a stranger. in three month's time, charice's you tube hits has totaled to 13 M, making her a you tube singing star.

view that intro to charice and first singing performance in the oprah show here :




after viewing charice's first performance in the oprah show, above, it's easy to understand how charice can be very good at defining Brand Philippines. she has done extremely well so far, google her name or search in you tube and there will be a long list of accomplishments. she has not only appeared in the oprah show but she guested at the ellen degeneres show last christmas. she has also appeared in a few concerts in the US and has become a sensation in a korean tv show. her star is getting brighter after every gig.

this one, below, the september 9, 2008 oprah show tells us her star got brighter. we are hoping for greater success for her. charice' success is the success of Brand Philippines, too.

charice pempengco's first appearance on US TV - the ellen degeneres show

smart buddy's "me na me" is who na who?

the philippines is the mobile phone texting capital in the world, sending an average of 600 million texts a day. that is impressive not only because of the sheer number of the texts, but consider that the philippine population is only at 80 million. at 600 million a day, it means on average, including babies who were just born, filipinos sent 7.5 texts to each other.

the country reached that phenomenon through the brilliant marketing effort of the telcos in the country, the top two, smart and globe. smart is the dominant leader and could largely be credited for making what the mobile industry is in the country now. they pioneered best value texting, costing only P1.00 per text (US$0.02).

at that price, sending text easily became very pervasive so much so that a new form of written, err, texting language evolved, to the horror of the country's english and filipino professors. from the written, that has jumped into the spoken language as well.

one of that is this smart telco ad campaign where they use the tagline "me na me" ("it's very much me"). the english word "me" is being substituted to the pilipino word "ako" (same meaning as the english "me"). you say "tulog na me" ("i will already sleep") rather than "tulog na ako". it's youth-speak, the slang that teen-agers and young people use. it's not yet as pervasive in the spoken language, but it is used often in text speak or when you send text.

smart is the dominant leader among the mobile phone service brands. their consumer base is truly across the board and among the competing telcos, probably is the closest to the general profile of the philippine population where a large portion belongs to the lower socio-eco class.




being the dominant leader and having a consumer base with a large mass base, smart can rightfully use and own a tagline like "me na me" ("it's very much me"). smart is the cellphone of the masses, and that is a compliment to their marketing savvy.

the only problem is the commercial that they aired uses that tagline.

the ad uses 4 of the country's hottest celebrities - piolo pascual, the present matinee idol and heartthrob; angel locsin, one of the most beautiful and most popular actress and also a heartthrob; and gerald alcantara and kim chiu the new and up and coming superstars on the footsteps of piolo and angel. aside from being extremely famous and top on the list, they are also extremely rich.

and that is where the disconnect begins. the target market is the broad based consumers, the masa. the tagline, "me na me", is being expressed in the actual language they use in their texting lives. that means that will pull in empathy and will ring very true among their target market.

while these very popular and very rich celebrities in the ads are their idols, these celebrities are not who the target audience are. they idolize them, they can even aspire and dream to be like them, but they cannot truthfully say these celebrities are "me na me". they know the lifestyles these celebrities have is not their lifestyle. they know they live in two very different worlds. aspiration and reality are two very different things and one of the two often times do not become a reality.

it might look cute, but come on, piolo pascual will not use a pre-paid card for his cellphone service as it is depicted in the tv ad. he has a post paid subscription where he probably pays on a monthly basis the amount equivalent to two to three month's salary of an average wage earner in the country.

the use of not 1 but actually 4 celebrities is one heck of a thrill when the ads were conceptualized and developed. the crafting of the line "me na me" could have been really exciting. but merging the two into one ad without even trying to bridge the inherent problems each one had puts into play believability issues and makes this ad campaign a WAWAM!

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Text messages soar in June–NTC
By Darwin G. Amojelar, Reporter

DESPITE soaring consumer prices, the average number of text messages sent per day rose by a fifth as of June, the National Telecommunications Commission said Friday.
Edgardo Cabarios, NTC director for common carrier and authorization, said the agency estimated about 600 million texts per day as of June this year, higher by 20 percent than the average of 500 million texts per day in 2006.

“The system is processing 600 million texts a day,” Cabarios told reporters and calculated that a subscriber sent 10 texts per day from only seven texts two to three years ago.

article parsed, read in full here : http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2008/aug/30/yehey/business/20080830bus6.html

microsoft seinfeld ad's hidden meanings discovered!

ads are supposed to be self-explanatory, not to mention they are supposed to be interesting. advertising talks about ad clutter and the fight for the attention of the audience. ads don't just fight against invisible enemies like boredom and disinterest, they also fight against a very concrete and real enemy -the tv remote control unit and the dreaded "change channel" button.

you know an ad is in trouble, that you have done a lousy ad and it's a WAWAM! when you lose on all fronts, above. the first sign and this is an absolute disaster, is when you find yourself having to defend and explain the meaning of an ad you just launched.

and that is what micrsosoft has been doing on their seinfeld tv ad since they launched their tv spot last thursday.

WAWAM! is again posting a link to this ad so that readers of this blog can watch it again.




after being in the advertising industry for a long time, i normally have to see an ad only once and i can tell if it's a good ad or not. it comes with years of training and thousands of ads that i have viewed and analyzed. i only view an ad more than once, usually 3 at the most when i need to make a formal analysis of it, something written and there is something wrong with it and need to find exactly what went wrong. this microsoft tv spot, i had to view 6 times.

after becoming a veteran watcher of this tv spot, i think i have found the secret meaning of the ad. as i have said, the power and the meaning of this ad is not obvious. it's not at all self-explanatory and that is why i embarked on a self-exploration of the tv spot.

since the meaning of this ad is not self-explanatory, i am forcing myself to draw the meanings from it :

• the ad is about the problems of vista -- if at first install, there's a problem with it, over time, with hard work and lots of fixing, it becomes ok. that's what happened to the shoes bill gates bought. they didn't fit at first but with some stretching and a change in size, it turned out ok.


• talks about value - with bill gates himself buying cheap shoes, it tells you that windows is good value on the long term. who would imagine bill gates buying cheap shoes? there is supposed to be humor in that. please, laugh.


• the everyday-ness of the ad talks about how we use windows on a daily basis. and that it holds promise for the future. that's the last part of the ad. really, it is.


• why bill gates wiggled his behind to fix his shorts is another story all together. don't ask me about that, i don't know everything. i guess there is also humor in that? laugh, please.

conclusion - yes, it's a boring ad. it suffers from a bad case of ADS! Sindrome. i had to firce myself to pick out those meanings from the ad.

the microsoft chief marketing officer said the ad was meant to start a conversation. first time i have heard of an ad like that and i honestly do not know what he means exactly by that.

aren't ads supposed to build brand equity? build brand image? persuade people? what happened to those? does that mean this ad is really not an ad? it's like a teaser for future ads?

it seems to me its all an excuse for coming up with a boring ad. if it's just talk or discussion that is their objective, they have achieved it. people are talking about it but unfortunately for the wrong reasons. most of the talk that has occurred centered on why they don''t like the ad and asking each other what the ad means. why spend money on ad that is not really an ad?

if this is just a teaser ad for future ads, i am totally scared to see the next ones! this ad is like a sample of what is to come, a track record established and it does not make me feel excited about the next ads. if the teaser ad is this boring, how can be next one do better?

no matter how you look at it, it's a WAWAM!

read more posts on this microsoft and apple ads here : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/i%20am%20mac%20i%20am%20pc

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Microsoft tries to explain Seinfeld ad
Deborah Gage
Saturday, September 6, 2008


Did you "get" the new Microsoft commercial? Apparently, some people didn't, so Microsoft officials were calling reporters Friday to explain it.

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Nevertheless, the Microsoft officials who phoned reporters Friday said it is indeed a campaign to brand Windows, "the start of a conversation ... easily the largest marketing campaign we've ever had."

article parsed, read in full here : http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/05/BU7Q12P30T.DTL

al ries, WAWAM!'s Brain Food author - coming to manila!

two of al ries' books are Brain Food in WAWAM!. actually many more books of al ries are on the "active" book shelf, with a tag "read again" on each one. and he is coming to manila!

i would send my whole brand management and account management team to this seminar. that is, if your company has been making very healthy revenues and profits in the past months. the price tag is very stiff.

if my company doesn't have enough training funds to send the whole brand management and account management team to this talk, i would be selective.

what i would use as criteria, would be to send those people who have heard AND read at least one book of al ries. i would call a staff meeting of the department and ask two questions --- (a) who has read any of al ries' book? then (b) for those who read any of his books, i would ask the 2nd question -- what do you remember did al ries say in his book? correct answers to both would mean that person will be sent to the seminar courtesy of the company.

i think people who have read at least one of his books would be the ones who would benefit the most from the talk. it's a 1 day gig and based on the course outline, it seems ries will only talk in the first hour or so of the seminar.

given that very short time, i would think 1 hour at the most, that ries will be talking, it will be more productive if you already know some of his writings.

but if i am going to spend my own money, i am not going to this one. i don't think it's worth it. ries is only 1 of 5 speakers. it's not really a ries seminar, he is just a keynote speaker. in other markets, even in asia, he conducts 2 to 3 day seminars, all the days having rise as the speaker and facilitator. given the number of speakers, ries will probably talk only for 1 hour at the most.

rather than spend the money on the seminar fee, i would spend it in buying other books ries (or jack trout) will publish in the future.

actually, i got turned off by the description that is on the print ad - "Al Ries is the architect behind the groundbreaking marketing tool known as positioning - the concept of replacing a product and its function with a brand name." what the hell is that?

double click image for larger view

positioning is a marketing tool that has been around for decades, even before al ries wrote about it. brand managers all over the world have been using that tool since marketing was invented. al ries DID NOT invent "positioning", he just wrote about it and his writings on it were very well done. others before him have written about positioning, but they just did not become as popular and not as well written as al ries' book.

just for this advertising BS in the print ad, i will not spend my own money to attend the seminar. it's a matter of principle for me.

and the last part - the definition of what "positioning" is, hahaha! that is too stupid and ridiculous to even write about it here. the organizers of this seminar need to take the seminar themselves for them to be able to properly define what positioning is. or at least buy the al ries book on "positioning".

i don't think i should spend my money on an al ries seminar whose organizers have not read any of al ries books. they don't even show they understand what "positioning" is all about. what a shame and what a WAWAM!

sorry al, love your books but hate your organizers!

other posts on al ries in WAWAM!, read here : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/al%20ries

san miguel beer Oktoberfest - brand building or community relations destruction?

WAWAM! is a great supporter and believer of events for brands. when done properly - with executional flair and strategically well thought out, it can build brand equity and create great consumer excitement.

events also work better if they are big and grand in scope. this is no different from other marketing efforts, great ideas should be seen and felt by as many of it's target market. in fact for events, big and grand is a bigger need than compared to other marketing efforts.

most events, like the oktoberfest, are intrusive in nature. and that is where this san miguel event failed, intrusive in a different way.

while it did well for san miguel beer, they got what they wanted - 15,000 participants, guinness world record possibly broken and lots of press coverage day after, including front page coverage like this news article, BUT - the event also inconvenienced the city and neighborhood where they held it.

to hold the event, they closed two streets - the long one in front of their headquarters and the smaller street beside their building. they closed these streets since tuesday or wednesday last week. they held the event last Friday.

the san miguel office is located in one of the busiest streets in that part of the commercial district in pasig city. both are actually main streets - they are the main access roads from pasig to EDSA and SM Megamall. closing one side of the road, they removed 50% of the access road and they did cause monumental traffic in the area. cars coming from pasig going through julio vargas st. took 45 minutes to more than 1 hour to go to EDSA or megamall.

these streets are public roads, for the use of the public, san miguel corporation do not own these roads where they can do anything in their property. i completely disagree with a company who conducts it's brand building event and in the process inconvenience the public in general. that is not good corporate citizenship.

is there a particular brand equity building reason why they needed to do the event in front of their corporate headquarters? i don't think there is. if there is, i don't think it matters to consumers. they could have held it in a stadium like the Ultra in pasig, close to their headquarters or in MOA, by the bay where they already own the boardwalk. i don't think it could have mattered if they held it in MOA or at the Ultra, people would have come just the same and the city would have not been inconvenienced.

it's hard to understand why a corporate giant like san miguel whose sense of social responsibility is keen will do something like that. worst, why did the local government officials allow this to happen? the local government officials' mandate, the very reason they were elected into office is to serve the people. but in this case, they seem to have served san miguel corporation acting like they were employees of the company and disregarded the people they were supposed to serve.

an evening's event affected the lives of thousands of commuters and car owners who use that road for 4 whole days! that sounds very uncaring and yes it's a WAWAM!

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15,000 toast world’s longest beer bar
By Beverly T. Natividad

Philippine Daily Inquirer

First Posted 01:57:00 09/07/2008

MANILA, Philippines—In Heaven, there is no beer.

That’s why last Friday, more than 15,000 people flocked to San Miguel Avenue in Mandaluyong City to celebrate the country’s famous brew with the annual Oktoberfest and at the same time set two Guinness world records.

Barricaded with a long line of steel sheets, the whole length of San Miguel Avenue, from the intersections of Lourdes to Julia Vargas Streets, was transformed into a 603.5-meter-long beer bar complete with four concert stages.

This beer bar has toppled the Guinness record for the longest bar (220 meters) held by Taiwan.

article parsed, read in full here : http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20080907-159163/15000-toast-worlds-longest-beer-bar