evian babies have fun

watching sci-fi and adventure movies, one of the things that impresses you is that there is now nothing that movies cannot do. putting into movies the super heroes we love to read in comics are now on screen in their smallest detail, erasing the divide between real and man-made.

this evian commercial is one commercial that fits the description above. and it is enjoyable

this was posted by "anonymous" here: http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/2009/08/magician-21st-philippine-advertising.html

The magician was imagining a full house because as a performer... that was what he wanted to see. *Every* performer longs to live in the limelight, to be acknowledged and cheered on by a crowd. The sad reality for him was, the 'standing ovation' was nothing more than an illusion, a thing he conjured up in his own mind OR it could have been a memory of his former glory days. Hence, with a flicker of the light, the hurrahs are replaced with yawns, from a less than ecstatic audience.

In this way, it is creatively intellectual, (as opposed to "just being creative for creativity's sake"), for its irony, for he, who gives illusions to please others, creates an illusion for himself, to keep his spirit alive. You may see this in Psychology books filed under the subject: "Coping Mechanism." You see, performers die a little inside every time they realize that nobody gives a crap about their "art". However, he also knows that the show must go on, and that he must prop up that smile because that is what 'professionals' do. How can you not get that?

no, i did not get that at all that the magician was imagining a full house. how did you even get all that from the tv ad? where is it in the ad that all that you said is shown or said? you must be writer of the ad to know all that.

that says to me that aside from the weakness in the copy-writing of this ad, there is a bigger weakness in the directorial treatment of the ad.

the director failed to execute that idea from a visual and movement standpoint. the directorial treatment failed in establishing the visuals being shown come from different perspectives. in the ad, it was just a flash of light that was supposed to signal the change in perspective. that is a very weak visual treatment.

the copy also did not help. it hardly had copy in the first place but the the change in perspective visual was shown just before the copy said "witness this death defying act". the story is about a magician making a woman disappear, it will confuse the audience- what is supposed to disappear, the woman or the audience.

because of the very bad directorial treatment, i don't think anyone will get there is a change in perspective but will rather stick to the story in the ad.

one of the thing i remember about effective ads is this - "what you see is what you get". in this ad that is what i got because that is what i saw and it was in fact what was given visually and copy-wise.

more on this later. it is a WAWAM!

unilab

will scam ads win big again in 2009 Philippine Advertising Congress?

‘Goodvertising’ top Subic ad talk
By Robert Gonzaga
Philippine
Daily InquirerFirst
Posted 04:51:00 11/20/2009

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — By doing good, the advertising industry could thrive in the future, a top advertising executive in South Africa told delegates to the 21st Philippine Advertising Congress (PAC) here Thursday.

Mike Schalit, chief creative officer of Network BBDO South Africa, said the advertising industry should “turn away from cute, clever advertising designed to win awards but don’t do any good in the world.”

“What about the real problems of the world? Like homelessness. What can we do about that?” he asked.

read in full here: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20091120-237322/Goodvertising-top-Subic-ad-talk

this one caught my attention: “turn away from cute, clever advertising designed to win awards but don’t do any good in the world.”

cute and clever advertising are great, it’s the last part that i have problems with – “designed to win awards”. we got reminded of the “scam ads” that populate the philippine ad con awards that we had written about in 2008.

no doubt, scam ads will once again win in the adcon. it is almost like an industry within an industry, a mafia like operation that ad agencies, creatives specifically run. all the effort just to win awards.

these efforts that creatives run in mafia like fashion does not do anything good to the ad industry, all it does is enhance the egoes of individual creatives. it does not even build business for clients.

creatives do not do the same kind of quality work on a daily basis that they present to legitimate clients. this kind of award winning work are just too difficult to do, to time consuming, very risky for them and offers no ego reward for them. it will be a miracle if we see these types in print or in tv for 10% of the work.

there are 3 parts to what Mike Schalit said, the third part is the point i am making:

“turn away from cute, clever advertising designed to win awards but don’t do any good in the world.”

posted here: http://wawam.wordpress.com/2009/11/20/will-scam-ads-win-big-again-in-2009-philippine-advertising-congress-2/

"Hornitex" - what does it sell? for adults only?

no, this is not a joke. we were driving down mandaluyong one time and right beside our car is the small van that had this brand name painted on its back door, side and front - HORNITEX.

it was shocking! i thought, geez this is the first time i have heard of a pornsite or cyberden in wheels! i thought, man, the police must be on them that they need to have their operation inside a small van to always be on the move to avoid being caught.

of course it was not a pornsite or a cyberden on wheels! it was just my imagination. i did not have my camera with me, so i quickly got my cellphone out and took this picture of the van. traffic was about to move, i got my hand out of the car and took the picture.

there was something written on the van but since traffic was already moving, i did not get to read what it said. it must have explained what Hornitex was selling. i am sure it was something legal, but i did not get to read what it was.

Hornitex -- textile? animal horns? viagra-type meds?

i got my hand out of my car and pointed to the name for the passengers of the cars behind me to take a look. looking at my back and side view mirrors, i saw a group of teen-agers and adults in a car and a van snickering at what i pointed to them.

i googled the name. whoa! there really is a company called Hornitex! it is located in san juan and check out what they sell. just google it.

must be tough to work for the company.

salesman: hello, sir. i work for hornitex. can i call on you to sell you something?

telephone operator: hello, hornitex. can i help you?

salesman: i am from hornitex, can i give you a demo?

tHe idiOts proMo: LRT'S "Bike-On Bike-Off (Bike O2)” - not good even on paper

this one landed on page 1 of PDI with a huge picture - LRT's "Bike-On-Bike-Off (Bike 02)" service. the LRT will now allow people with bicycles to ride the trains. we are so confused with this new service - we do totally understand what it is for, we do not see any advantage and we don't see the point.

first of all, commuters on the train with bikes will only be allowed to ride the train IF their bikes are the foldable types. commuters with regular bikes will still not be allowed to ride the train.

how many filipinos own foldable bikes? not very many. in fact we think extremely few filipinos own foldable bikes. there is a simple reason for it - foldable bikes are much more expensive than regular bikes. also, the appeal of foldable bikes is that owners can stow them inside the trunk of your car. that means the target commuters of Bike 02 are people who own cars. why would foldable bike owners park their cars someplace, remove the bike from the trunk of their cars and carry the foldable bike up to the LRT when they can just drive to their destination in the comfort of their cars?

right off, this idea says it is a totally useless service - it will cater to an extremely few number filipinos, probably less than 0.00001% of the metro manila population who own foldable bikes. and of those 0.00001% who own foldable bikes they will never use the service as it gives them no benefit and no advantage. in fact it inconveniences them as they need to carry the foldable bikes up the unforgiving stairs of the LRT from the ground to the trains.

allowing commuters who use regular bikes to ride the train may give some benefit to many of the poor who use bikes to go to their work and who use them in their work like messengers. many messengers can't afford motorcycles and use regular bikes. being able to ride the LRT with their bikes rather than bike along the treacherous Taft Avenue will be of great benefit to them as it will not only save them time, it will also keep them safe from being run-over in the streets. none of them can afford to buy foldable bikes as its cost will probably be equivalent to their salary for 3 to 5 years.

it leads you to ask a very important question --- who are the intended beneficiaries of this new service at the LRT? who are the target users?

it cannot be ordinary folks as they own only regular bikes. since they allow commuters with foldable bikes, the target seem to be the rich folks as they are the only ones who can afford to buy these types of bikes. but rich folks don't take the LRT, they have their own cars. in fact these rich folks buy foldable bikes because they want to be able to stow their bikes inside the trunk of their cars. if you own a car, you don't usually take the train, you use your car. we do not think you will find a rich folk who will buy a foldable bike just so he can take the LRT.

we are stumped! we can't figure out who the target market or target beneficiaries of this new service at the LRT. brands and companies launch new services to answer a need or to serve a target market. this one does not do any of that.

30 bike enthusiasts were on hand when this new service was launched by the LRT. the commuters, rich folks for sure, led by no less than Senator Pia Cayetano, took the train at the Araneta Center in Cubao then got off at the Legarda station in Manila. the article said the train ride took only 15 minutes versus riding the bike that will normally take them 30 minutes.

so what is the big deal with a 15 minutes of saving riding time? these 30 people are leisure bikers and health enthusiasts - saving 15 minutes of biking is not what they want to do. the point of being a leisure and health biker is to use the bike as long as you can, as often as you can. cutting biking time for these types of people is not the point for them!

the conclusion is that the LRT launched a new service, got page 1 coverage, that does not serve anyone and does not give anyone any benefit. it is a classic for tHe idiOts proMo.

you may be having a headache now at this point. this new service is probably driving you crazy. well, we have one more to drive you completely nuts. take a deep breathe -

the name of the new service is "Bike-On Bike-Off ” which is of course a play on the now famous RO-RO (Ride-On Ride-Off) service that allows people to use their cars to go from one island to the next. commuters ride their cars to barges and rides it off them on the next island.

here is what will drive you crazy. "Bike-On Bike-Off ”, the acronym for this service is actually BO-BO! hahahaha. a perfect name for a perfectly bobo service.

congrats to the LRT and the brilliant communication person who thought of this new service.

sunkist iced tea : sarap, honest

apples' anti-windows 7 tv ads

pantene shampoo thailand - ad that did not shine

this is a tv ad that asks a lot from the viewers for you to like it. it asks you to like it both in obvious and not at all obvious ways.

its easy to like the ad - there is a story and its a very dramatic story. everyone likes a story of triumph where the unlikely overcomes barriers and succeeds. this is also told in a very graphic way - there is a protagonist we love to hate and a heroine we love to love.

i forgot - this is a tv ad for pantene, a shampoo brand. yes, shampoo for the hair. but lets not get into that. its not that important.

the other part that this ad is asking us is what science fiction movies asks us to do and it is the only way we can appreciate this tv ad. we all know what science fiction movies are - they are make believe, the exact meaning of the word "fiction". the only way we can appreciate a science fiction movie is for us to suspend logic, throw away common sense, ignore truth and yes forget about science. there is much irony there - to enjoy a science fiction movie, we need to forget science.

that is the only way to do it. in a science fiction movie, we need to believe super heroes are real. humans in human life forms can fly and women have super powers. if we don't do it that way, there is no point in watching the movie as none of it will make sense.

that is what you need to do in this ad. you need to believe that a person who does not have the sense of hearing can learn to play a musical instrument and that a beaten up violin put together only by crude industrial tape can still sound beautiful when played, of concert quality no less.

if you don't treat those like you treat elements of a science fiction movie, you won't be able to appreciate all 4 minutes of this commercial. it is one of the longest tv ads i have seen. we don't think the ad was aired a lot of times in thailand given the length and the cost involved in airing it but even that we are willing to suspend logic for.

its a long ad because of many repeated scenes, over-extended sequences, unneeded scenes and subplots. we think the editing was very bad as many of the scenes specially those repeated were unnecessary to repeat. many of the scenes could have been taken out, specially the repeated ones and the story will still be intact.

the scene with the cocoon transforming into a butterfly then in flight we thought was unnecessary. the story itself of the little girl growing up then learning how to play was enough and actually very obvious that we did not need to see the cocoon to butterfly transformation. besides, in the first place that is not the point of the story. the story is about a girl who has dreams of playing a violin overcome adversity both her physical inability and the other girl protagonist. this is a story of overcoming adverssity, not of birth to adulthood or fulfillment.

before we forget, this is an ad for a shampoo brand. that is one more weakness of the ad. the ad forgot what it is supposed to do. it even missed the part of showing glorious hair at the end pay-off sequence. they tried to do it with the flowing and flying long hair but the shot was very poorly done. the hair was not shiny at all and the lighting was over-exposed that you are unable to see good volume of the hair. having poor cinematography at this sequence we think is a mortal sin and a huge opportunity loss in making a great sale for the brand.

ironic that the tagline at the end is "you can shine". we think its a WAWAM!

    

steve jobs back on the job

The Magician - 21st Philippine Advertising Congress TVC

did i miss something in this tvc? a hidden message i did not get? a footage that did not show in my computer?

i swear at the start of the ad, the whole theater was full of people watching the magic show. it is wall-to-wall people. then, as the camera panned to show the stage again, a flash of light, the theater was half empty of people. in fact the density of the audience gyrated from half empty to just one third full from shot to shot.

was there a meaning to that slight of hand of the audience (pun intended). i watched the commercial a few times trying to understand what it meant. i thought maybe the magic was not was happening to the volunteer but the audience, that the magician was making the audience disappear. but if that was the message, i don't get it. it does not make sense. and there were not enough visual and copy clues that that was what the ad meant. i gave up on that ideas.

this ad really has great production values. the colors are great, the characters are excellent, the set design and art design were very well done. even the slanted english spoken was a good touch to the ad. it was very pinoy and it works very well.

but with all the terrific production values, the ending was so cheaply done. it was obvious a dummy, a badly made one was what fell from the enclosure. it certainly did not leave you hanging if what fell was the woman or a dummy. i don't know if it was the way the clothes were put on the dummy or the way it fell to the ground that made it so obvious as a dummy. or maybe both.

this tv ad left a lot of questions in my mind. and the question was not the one that was asked at the end of the commercial.. they are - why did the ad start with a full audience then all of a sudden much less than full and why did they not make an effort to make that falling dummy look better.

its a WAWAM!

2009 21st Philippine Ad Congress Teaser Ad

direct pick up from the youtube posting:

A HISTORIC COLLABORATION

Fitting with the theme of this years Philippine Ad Congress (PAC), Perspectives, the PAC has called upon four of the industrys top directors to come together for a historic collaboration. Each director takes on the perspective of a single character on the night of a mysterious magic act. Henry Frejas, director of Nescafes Home/Batanes, Nestle Creams The Offering, and McDonalds Simbang Gabi, tells the story as seen through the eyes of the Magician; Sid Maderazo, director of the C2 Green Tea TVCs, the Coke Beat Game commercial and the Roadrunner short film Power, takes another view of the events on stage through the Assistants eyes; Carlo Directo, director of the Sky Cable TVCs, the McDonalds Burger, Burger TVCs, and the SMART Buddy Double-decker commercial, tells the tale from below through the Stagehands perspective; and AF Benaza, director of Nescafes Jewel, the Selecta Gold Series Platinum, and the Viva Mineralized Water Boy commercial, tells the tale as seen from the audience through the eyes the Volunteers Date.

sarah geronimo tv spot cebuana lhuillier

pro-reproductive health (RH) bill print ad shoots itself in the foot

double click image for larger view to be able to read copy.

this is a print ad published/sponsored by like-minded NGOs, groups and organizations who believe in the passage of the Reprodictive Health Bill which has been pending in congress for the last three and a half centuries. reading the print-ad, it is most probably spearheaded by RHAN or the Reproductive Health Advocacy Network.

all of these organizations want the reproductive health bill (read the bill here: http://2010presidentiables.wordpress.com/text-of-rh-bill-no-5043/) passed. that is the same objective of this print ad.

the print ad aims to persuade the target market to be supporters of the RH Bill, to get readers to push their congressmen to approve the bill or at least to generate a groundswell of support for its passage. to have a large portion of the target market to oush for it will get the congressmen take notice and approve the bill. well, at least that is what they hope to achieve.

after reading the ad, however, we think what the ad is able to achieve the opposite. we think it is turning the target market against the RH Bill. this pro-RH Bill ad has shot itself in the foot.

this is next in WAWAM!

Michael Jackson 1958-2009 : icon, epic, timeless, artist, genius, master, entertainer

icon, epic, timeless, artist, genius, master, entertainer – there are more but these are just the few words that describe michael jackson so perfectly well. from his childhood to adulthood, he knew what those words meant and he lived them. we pay tribute to one of the greats of music.

Rin On The Rox - pinay fil-am duo a youtube sensation and a guesting at the Ellen DeGeneres TV show

Rin On The Rox is a pinay fil-am duo who became a YouTube sensation, that got 15M hits to watch them sing inside a bathroom. ellen degeneres saw their youtube videos and got them to appear on her tv show.

more on them here: http://pinoyoutube.wordpress.com/ and here: http://wawam.wordpress.com/2009/06/25/rin-on-the-rox-duo-who-sings-inside-the-bathroom-2-pinays-in-the-us-youtube-sensation-appears-in-the-ellen-degeneres-tv-show/

NHI Chair responds to wawam.wordpress on Jose Rizal's house painted green

in his reply, ocampo gave the link to a column he writes at PDI. in that column he wrote he sent a text to someone and said he as the "idiot" who painted rizal's house green.

read it all here: http://wawam.wordpress.com/2009/06/19/shocking-historian-wants-us-to-appreciate-rizal-through-trivial-purssuits-we-need-significance-meaning-from-our-heroes-not-trivia/#comment-1391

it is not trivia we want from rizal, it is meaning and significance - rizal's house painted green

picture above is a scan from a photo published at the PDI. it is the house of jose rizal, the national hero of the philippines. it is a good example of how bad taste, in this one the choice of the color green can insult the memory of the country's national hero and how it can be insulting to a whole country of filipinos.

if this was marketing, it is a good example on how poor taste in color can screw up the brand image if a national hero and insult and embarrass a whole nation.

National Historical Institute chair Ambeth Ocampo rationalizes the choice of color this way:

In his column in the Philippine Daily Inquirer on June 3, NHI Chair Ambeth Ocampo explained that the reason for painting Rizal’s house green was to “highlight, and inform visitors of, the meaning of his surname.”

The surname Rizal is rooted in the Spanish word “ricial,” which means a green field ready for harvest, Ocampo said.

well, it is an intent or in marketing it is a brand intent but just because it is there does not mean it is usable and should be used. there are products for example that cause diarrhea if eaten too much, but these brands do not choose to highlight that in their marketing strategy.

we are all familiar with Tide Detergent brand. we all know what "tide" means but we do not see depicted in it's packaging design nor do we see sea water included inside a pack of Tide Detergent Powder.

there are many other more important considerations as to why one should act or not act in meanings of names.

for example, i would like to remember rizal for his writings, his genius, his hard work and his actions and sacrifices that helped the country become independent from spain. in fact, i will be interested to know what he ate for breakfast or what were his study habits that made him such a genius. it can also be interesting to know that the meaning of his surname rizal. but it does not necessarily mean i like to see his house painted green. i'll be happy to see it written down somewhere in a brochure. i do not need to see the color on his house.

the idea behind preserving rizal's house is to give homage and pay tribute to our national hero. we like to preserve the house where he was born and where he grew up so that we can get a first hand view, to somewhat experience his life in that house. we do that out of awe, respect and even love for rizal who has done so much, his life included for our country and the generations and generations of filipinos who have benefited from his sacrifice and heroism.

painting rizal's house green, just because it is some trivia about his name is not a good reason enough to actually take action on. i actually do not care about the meaning of his surname. that did not even play any role in his heroism or his life and i doubt in his own writing.

what mr. ocampo has done is give us trivia. everyone knows we enjoy trivial pursuits for fun or to make fun of. but that does not at all apply to a national hero and most specially to apply that to his house to make it look horrific and trivial.

it is not trivia we want from rizal, it is meaning and significance that we want. when we find meaning and significance in rizal, then we become a better nation. something i am sure rizal would have wanted.

for a historian, i am shocked that mr. ocampo did not know that.

read more about this here: http://wawam.wordpress.com/2009/06/19/rizals-house-painted-green-an-insult-to-jose-rizal-and-all-filipinos/

No To Con-Ass Power – across the board, in lightning speed : Marketing & Advertising 101

the efforts executed by No To Con Ass supporters is an excellent case study for Marketing & Advertising 101.these are the key points:

• the most impressive was the lightning speed by which the various efforts were launched all within 24 to 48 hours of congress approving HR 1109. within that time frame - blogs, websites and facebook accounts were launched; a logo was created and distributed, small groups organized who did pockets of small protests around the city.
• a major rally was announced, organized and executed on june 10, less than a week after congress approved HR 1109 and the rally in makati was very well attended.
• a no to con ass, tv ad, "Hindi Ako Papayag" was written, produced and aired within 3 to 4 days of the congress approving con-ass. this ad had an excellent concept with a strong and memorable strategy visual. copy was sparse and very sharp. there was no mistaking what the message was and delivered in a very compelling way, the visuals as the main driver. we also noticed the production values of the ad, it was well made and well directed.
• within the same very short time frame various groups who attended the rally executed their own concepts of protest with many of them very creative, persuasive and to the point. it's amazing to see all sorts of unique groups expressing their protest on the issue in their own way.

from a marketing and advertising perspective, these are what happened:

• on the over-all excellent marketing strategy that covers all components of persuasion
• communication strategy was brilliant - sharp, insightful and highly creative
• succeeded in connecting with a very wide target audience through a long list of efforts that appeal to each audience segment
• succeeded in capturing participants from a very wide demographics and psychographics profile from the rich to the poor
• excellent use of various media (traditional and non-traditional) and events all executed within the same short time frame for optimum impact and visibility
• lightning speed and flawless execution

in this marketing and advertising effort the line between marketer/advertiser and target audience is almost invisible with both groups crossing the line in various degrees and efforts. but as in any mass media exposed marketing and advertising activity, the true audience will always be those at home or at the office watching the event unfold who are always large in number.

it is the marketer and adman's dream. it's secret in it's success? those who executed the marketing and advertising activities were highly committed to their cause and believed in it with a passion.

that by itself is another marketing and advertising lesson in Marketing & Advertising 101.

read more here: http://2010presidentiables.wordpress.com/2009/06/11/no-to-con-ass-power-across-the-board-in-lightning-speed/

"No To Con Ass" logo

we would have preferred a more communicative and thought provoking visual, but this design works very well as is. the other impressive component of this logo is the speed by which this was released in the internet for others to use it. from what we know this was released within 24 hours of the action in congress.

Smart/PLDT's "Ako Mismo" TV Spot

it's a simple ad and very easy to understand. but what gets you in this ad is what seems to be the unending number of celebrities from all fields appearing in the ad. the talent fee cost of this ad is mind-bogglingly crazy. it has probably has the most number of zeroes anyone has ever seen in a production cost estimate.

it's not a surprise that the company that paid for the ad is smart/pldt, two of the country's largest and most successful businesses.

no to con-ass HR 1109, "hindi ako papayag" tv ad

we were told that when something does not feel right, when it is wrong, we have to say NO! and we need to say it the loudest and strongest way we can when it comes to things that is patently wrong and patently evil.
saying no, “HINDI AKO PAPAYAG” is what this tv ad is saying. this ad is saying NO to the House Of RAPISTSentatives who has gang-raped the country and it’s constitution through Con-Ass  HR 1109.

cocaine in Red Bull - will it push up its market share or kill the brand?

we ask this in all seriousness - this news on article that there are traces of cocaine in the energy drink Red Bull - will that increase it's market share or kill the brand?

people take energy drinks like red bull want to be awake, fully alert or slightly hyper even. isn't that the same effect as cocaine gives? well, ok it will depend on how much cocaine you take and since only traces of cocaine were found, drinking a bottle of red bull might not have the same effect as taking a full dose of cocaine on a folder dollar bill. but then, i don't know that for sure.

the next question is - will traces of cocaine be enough to make you addictive?

is this bit of news bad for the brand's market share. of course the most immediate impact is that red bull might not be allowed to be sold in kong kong retail outlets. but assuming red bull is able to sort that out and it's allowed to sell again in hong kong - will red bull suffer in market share or will it increase.

i wonder if the image of this energy drink having cocaine in the past will boost up it's market share. the traces of cocaine might not be there for real but people can simply imagine it that it is. it can become some kind of a status symbol or a badge to show around. it might sound perverted to some but being able to drink something that has traces of cocaine in them just might be attractive to consumers. the danger is day. the bad boy image is percolating. and hey, it's just traces of cocaine, it's not going to be addictive, so what is the harm?

just asking questions here....

HONG KONG (AFP) – Hong Kong officials say they have found traces of cocaine in cans of Red Bull, a few days after Taiwanese authorities confiscated close to 18,000 cases of the popular energy drink.


Officials at the Centre for Food Safety said a laboratory analysis found tiny amounts of the illegal drug in samples of "Red Bull Cola," "Red Bull Sugar-free" and "Red Bull Energy Drink", a spokesman said.

The drink has now been taken off the shelves of major supermarkets, the spokesman said in a statement issued late Monday. He added that the amount of cocaine found in the drinks posed little health danger.

Red Bull moved quickly to deny the findings and said independent tests on the same batch of drinks had found no traces of cocaine.

The Centre for Food Safety found traces of cocaine between 0.1 and 0.3 micrograms of the illegal drug per litre, the statement said.

Hong Kong's commissioner for narcotics, Sally Wong, said the government was now taking legal advice on any possible liability for importers and retailers.

"Cocaine is a dangerous drug... The possession and dealing in the drug is a criminal offence," she said in the statement.

Red Bull's Asia Pacific marketing director, Daniel Beatty, said the firm strongly disputed the findings.

read in full here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090602/bs_afp/hongkongaustriacrimedrugsdrinkredbull

cellphone service providers steal our money - the philippine experience

this is the life of a cell phone service subscriber in the philippines:

• texting (SMS) is cheap P1.00/text.
• we get a lot promotional text that we do not subscribe to
• for some of these promotional texts, we get charged for every text our cellphone receives even though we did not subscribe to it
• if we do not reply, the texts don't stop, the charges continue
• instructions on the messages say to disable them, you need to send a text reply that says "STOP", some of them charge us for asking them to stop sending us text
• some don't stop sending you texts even if you already send a "STOP" disable message to them
• some of the steps in disabling them don't even work. checking what you are "subscribed" to will tell you are still subscribed to it even though you have a disable text a few times already
• to get relief, we call customer service
• when you call customer service, you are asked to wait a few minutes as they are still serving other subscribers
• when you finally get to talk a customer service representative, she tells you you should have not subscribed to it
• we correct them and say we never subscribed to any of it in the first place
• they give you instructions on how to disable it
• you tell them you have done that a few times already but it has not worked
• she repeats again this thing about not subscribing to these services
• once again you correct them that you had not subscribed to it in the first place
• throughout the conversation she will repeat this accusation and each time you correct her until you get really pissed and order her to stop saying that as it is very irritating
• you ask what will happen to money they took from you on a service you did not ask for
• she says she will make a report and she will get back to you in 3 to 4 days
• you complain why it will take them 3 to 4 days to resolve it when everyone knows it is a problem with their service and that you are not the only one who has complained about it
• she says it will still take 3 to 4 days
• having had enough of it, you ask to speak for a supervisor
• she tells you the script - her supervisor is busy entertaining another customer
• you don't budge and tell her you will wait. she puts you on hold.
• she comes back after 3 to 7 minutes and tell you he supervisor is still busy with another customer
• you raise your voice and you say you will wait. she puts you on hold
• after a few seconds, a supervisor talks to you
• you have to repeat to the supervisor everything you said
• the supervisor repeats everything the agent told you
• you are now mad and insist she returns the money they stole from you
• the supervisor says it takes 3 to 4 days to return the money that they took from you on a service you did not ask for and did not want
• you get even more mad and you insist you want the money back now
• you tell her this has happened to you before and other supervisors were able to return your money instantly
• after some heated words, she relents and returns the money to you
• this whole session will last anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes
• this whole thing will happen again and you will once again repeat the whole thing with another agent and another supervisor

the philippine cellphone service market is mostly made up of pre-paid subscribers, around 80% to 90% of all subscribers. and most of these subscribers are ordinary people who will not have the time or the courage to talk to customer service agents to complain. and many of them most likely are not aware their money is being stolen by the cellphone service providers. sadder still is that most load up their cellphone with only P20 to P30 per day. getting an unwanted text of say 3 to 5 a day means 15% to 30% of their money is being stolen.

and that is why we love senator enrile for telling a lie for us. senator enrile is standing up for cellphone service subscribers like us. he told a lie but it's ok, we forgive him. we don't mind that as long as he helps us and stop the cellphone service providers from stealing our money. read here: http://bit.ly/jLtOH

niche markets, niche marketing vs mass market, mass marketing - what is there to confuse?

these words can be confusing to non-marketers, but it will be a fatal error if brand managers get confused by them - mass market, mass marketing versus niche market and niche marketing.

mass market and mass marketing

first, when you say "mass market", it does not mean a brand is targeting or being sold among low income groups. what that means is the general market or that segment of the market where most consumers belong to. products that are mass marketed are those that are sold to almost anyone in the population. it also means these are products that most consumers have a need for.

within that mass market, there may be further segmentation. segmentation can be in many forms, they could be by consumer group, uses or even product attributes, to name a few.

a popular segmentation is pricing. within the general mass market, there will be a pricing segmentation. there will at least be 3 pricing segments - low, medium or high priced. all of these brands can be used by any of the consumers regardless of income of the consumers.

marketers by choice or strategy select a pricing segment. this is driven by profit or margin goals, product attributes or benefits and marketing strategy. the pricing of a product more often than not naturally selects the consumer group it appeals to. but in many cases even the premium priced brands are used by low income groups perhaps not as often by high income groups but occasionally.

the above dynamics presents to the brand manager many options on what kinds of strategies he/she will adapt to gain the market share the brand intends to get.

one can apply mass marketing strategies to any brand, including premium priced brands. apple's macs for example are premium priced but it is being marketed in the mass market from all income groups.

niche markets and niche marketing

niche marketing is a fancy word in marketing. it is fancy because it is hardly used and often misunderstood.

products that do niche marketing and compete in niche markets are highly specialized products, practically customized to a specific consumer group. this consumer is usually very small and sit in the fringe of the mass market.

very often, brands that compete in niche markets are very high priced given the amount and kind of specialization or customization needed for the brand. being high priced also allows for a very high margin.

the best example here are the cellphone brands we are all familiar with - nokias, sony Ericsson's, motoralla and the iphone. all these brands are mass marketed. but within those brands are several price augmentations where one can buy a nokia for P5T to P30T or even P40T. that is also true for the other brands except for the iPhone which in the philippine market is intentionally placed at a premium price only.

there is a brand called Iridium which competes in the niche market. iridium is a satellite phone that will allow subscribers to use the handset anywhere in the world, even on mountain tops, jungles and the open seas. iridium launched 66 satellites into space that float around the globe to enable subscribers to use their satellite phones in any location in the world.

the iridium is a specialized mobile phone meant for a very specific target consumer with very special needs. these customers are those who need to communicate via phone even when they are in the open sea anywhere in the world where there are no cell sites around.

it will not make sense for iridium to advertise in mass media (the term does not refer to media used by low income groups. similar to the term mass market, mass media means media that is seen by most of the audience.) as it will just be a total waste of advertising funds. if iridium advertises in mass media, its message will be meaningless to at least 99.99% of the target audience who sees the ads in mass media. 99.99% of those who watch mass media will have not need for a satellite phone.

it will also not make sense for iridium to set up outlets in malls or distribute pre-paid cards in sari-sari stores. (malls and sari-sari stores are distribution outlets for mass market products.) it will be more efficient and productive for iridium to reach its small target market almost on a one-on-one basis.

iridium is not a mass consumer product, it is a niche product competing in a niche market. only mass consumer products that compete in mass markets use mass media and are distributed in mass distribution outlets.

sometimes brand managers use the term niche marketing carelessly without really understanding what it means.

google wave- the next brilliant product from google

google announces what appears to be the next most brilliant thing in the internet - google wave. this reminds us the good reasons why google became the darling of the US stock market at its IPO.

google wave to me combines all the good things we love in the internet - twitter, chat, sharing pictures, sharing documents, email, blogging and friendships from across the globe in REAL TIME! it combines everything of what is best on the internet.

being in real time and getting all the goodies into one page are the real genius in google wave. in many ways, in google wave, the promise made by the internet many years ago when it started is fulfilled now.

read more about google wave here: http://www.pcworld.com/article/165779/google_wave_what_it_is_and_how_it_works.html

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2347872,00.asp

what's in the name BING, microsodft's new search engine - a must read on branding & naming

Microsoft’s Search for a Name Ends With a Bing
By MIGUEL HELFT

Published: May 28, 2009

“Why don’t you Bing it?”

A year from now, if you hear someone say that — and actually understand what it means — Bill Gates will be a happy billionaire.


That is because it will be a sign that Microsoft is finally making progress in its quest to challenge Google in the Internet search business.

Bing, the name Microsoft gave to the new search service it unveiled Thursday, is its answer to Google — a noun that once meant little but has become part of the language as a verb that is a synonym for executing a Web search. After months of, uh, searching, Microsoft settled on Bing to replace the all-too-forgettable Live Search, which itself replaced MSN Search.

Microsoft invested billions of dollars in those services and failed to slow Google’s rise, so a new name certainly can’t hurt.

Microsoft’s marketing gurus hope that Bing will evoke neither a type of cherry nor a strip club on “The Sopranos” but rather a sound — the ringing of a bell that signals the “aha” moment when a search leads to an answer.

The name is meant to conjure “the sound of found” as Bing helps people with complex tasks like shopping for a camera, said Yusuf Mehdi, senior vice president of Microsoft’s online audience business group.

And if Bing turns into a verb like, say, Xerox, TiVo or, well, Google, that would be nice too. Steven A. Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive, said Thursday that he liked Bing’s potential to “verb up.” Plus, he said, “it works globally, and doesn’t have negative, unusual connotations.”

Some branding experts said choosing the name Bing was a good start, but also the easiest part of the challenge facing the company, since most people turn to Google without even thinking about it.

Michael Cronan, whose consulting firm helped come up with brands like TiVo and Amazon’s Kindle, said Bing’s sound, brevity and “ing” ending were all positives.

“It has a promise that you are going to find what you are looking for, and that’s great,” Mr. Cronan said. “But its success is entirely wrapped up in the quality of the experience that Microsoft can deliver.”

Peter Sealey, a former chief marketing officer at the Coca-Cola Company, said Microsoft should have picked a name that more directly connotes search.

“Bing has no equity; it signals nothing,” Mr. Sealey said. “It is going to be an enormous expense to create an image for this thing called Bing.”

Google’s name is a play on the word googol, which is a 1 followed by 100 zeroes. The company has said the name speaks to its ambitious mission to organize all the world’s information.

Asked about Microsoft’s choice of name at a press conference on Wednesday, Sergey Brin, a Google co-founder, said he did not know enough about the new service to comment on it. Then he deadpanned: “We’ve been pretty happy with the name Google.”

Meanwhile, some tech people were already noting that Bing is also an unfortunate acronym: “But It’s Not Google.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/29/technology/internet/29bing.html?em

New Yorker Cover Art, Painted With an iPhone

Some people send text with their iPhones, and some play games. The artist Jorge Colombo created this week’s cover for The New Yorker with his.


Mr. Colombo drew the June 1 cover scene, of a late-night gathering around a 42nd Street hot dog stand, entirely with the iPhone application Brushes. Because of the smears and washes of color required by the inexact medium, it comes off as dreamy, not sharp and technological.

“The best feature of it is that it doesn’t feel like something that was done digitally; quite the opposite,” said Françoise Mouly, the art editor for The New Yorker. “All too often the technology is directed in only one direction, which is to make things more tight, and this, what he did very well, is use this technology for something that is free flowing, and I think that’s what makes it so poetic and magical.”

Mr. Colombo bought his iPhone in February, and the $4.99 Brushes application soon after, and said the portability and accessibility of the medium appealed to him. He began the scene by beginning with the buildings’ structure, then layering on the taxis, neon lights, hot-dog stand and people. (A video of the process is available at newyorker.com beginning on Monday.)

It “made it easy for me to sketch without having to carry all my pens and brushes and notepads with me, and I like the fact that I am drawing with a set of tools that anybody can have easily in their pocket,” he said. There is one other advantage of the phone, too: no one notices he is drawing. Mr. Colombo said he stood on 42nd Street for about an hour with no interruptions.

“It gives him an anonymity in the big city that an artist with the easel wouldn’t have,” Ms. Mouly said.
“Absolutely nobody can tell I am drawing,” Mr. Colombo said. “In fact, once I was doing the drawing at some place, and my wife was around, and they asked her why did I have to work so hard? I seemed to be always on my iPhone sending messages.”

STEPHANIE CLIFFORD

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/25/business/media/25yorker.html

sex video scandals - what every brand fear the most

just out in the wilds of the internet and mass media, the dr. hayden kho sex video scandals is creating widespread and well, titillating news and discussion. senator bong revilla even made an impassioned privilege speech at the halls of the senate. that speech was on the sex video scandal of hayden kho and katrina halili, a movie starlet.

but that did not stop on katrina halili and hayden kho. it looks like dr. kho likes to video tape his sexual episodes with his women. there is also one with a local tv actress and a commercial model.

this actress may have appeared in a sanitary pad tv ad. a sex video of the talent you have on your tv ad is one of the worst things that can happen to any brand. it is the marketing manager's nightmare. the sex video was apparently done some years ago. but the timeline will not matter, it is still a sex video. the sex video is exactly what it is - very explicit. hayden kho and the model were clearly identifiable as the people in the sex video, including the doctor fixing the video camera that was placed inside a bathroom pointing to the bed with the door open. apparently, this video camera has auto focusing as in two occasions, the camera adjusted the focus on its own.

what are marketers and admen supposed to do? we draw up one of the more complex and intensive talent contracts. i suppose from now on, a provision on sex videos should be included, either past, present or future. this particular sex video appeared to be have been taken a few years ago. a lesson learned there is that the celebrity or talent need to be asked and i would suggest in writing if the talent has appeared in or if a sex video has been taken of her. getting the answers to these types of questions, and in writing gives the brand a clear legal reason to take back the talent fee and a good way to make sure the brand will not get surprised by a sex video scandal appearing in the wild. talents who admit they might have a sex video in someones computer hard disk should not be hired.

the other learning here is that times have changed so dramatically from just some years ago. the internet and websites are very convenient, very wide and very efficient distribution channels for sex video content, not to mention they are unstoppable. the internet and websites can distribute these content to literally millions of viewers in literally a few minutes in literally across the globe. the initial distribution power will be huge but that will grow exponentially again literally in a few hours.

in some perverted way, philippine marketers are lucky that computer ownership and internet service subscription are relatively still at its infancy in the country, so that means it gets into fewer hands than say in the US or Korea where almost every home has a computer and an internet connection. these lesser numbers, however may be a comfort only in theory as many filipino consumers may not own a computer and internet service at home, but they can access the same at work or shared through MMS using the cellphone.

apparently hayden kho's sex videos that we know of are not the only ones. it looks like kho video tapes all of them. that can mean ruffa mae quintos is next. there have been some still photos already available in the internet of ruffa mae in her underwear preparatory to something. ruffa mae appears in a few tv ads for some brands. the release of a ruffa mae sex video will affect brands.

with ruffa mae next, that seems to explain why senator revilla is livid about the hayden kho sex videos. ruffa mae has been rumored as...... well, we digress.

KRIS ALLEN WINS AMERICAN IDOL 8! an upset win

the results are in, the dark horse has upset the favorite, KRIS ALLEN wins american ido 8.

our forecast did not get it right!

American Idol 8 final performance - ADAM WINS!

after seeing the finals, it is clear adam lambert will win american idol 8!

kris underperformed and actually did badly in song #2 and song #3. adam on the other hand had flawless and outstanding performances in all 3 songs.

adam's artistry and mastery of showmanship was in full display. he showed class and he is a star. we are glad adam as we had annalyzed it (see posts below) where he showed his soft side. he gave up part of himself and that part he gave he pushed it close to things that kris were good at.

kris for some reason was on the dry side. he was not as hungry to win. he did not leave his comfort zone. he stayed inside it most of the time, venturing out only on the fringe. doing essentially what he has been doing the whole season will not be enough to get switchers from adam's supporters, the undecided and new viewers.

kris got into the finals when he showed courage. in the 3 songs he sang during the finals, he did not show any of it.

Adam Lambert Wins American Idol 8 - a marketing forecast

We are writing about American Idol Season 8 not only because we watch it but also because we wanted to point out the applicability of marketing and marketing principles to almost anything, including a reality tv contest like American Idol.

From a marketing perspective, these are the basic components of American Idol:

Target Audience/Market: American TV viewers
Products/Brands: Adam Lambert and Kris Allen
Product/Brand Attributes (or drivers for preference):

• voice
• performance (showmanship, confidence, choreography, stance, delivery)
• song choice
• looks (attire, hairstyle and make-up)
• likeability

For any of the finalists to win, his goal is at minimum to retain his fan base and to capture new viewers and pull switchers from the other finalist.

We think Allen's strength is among women, tending to be older and more mainstream. Adam on the other hand, is among men, tending to be younger and more adventurous. In a simplistic description, Allen is more pop while Adam is more rock. Those are very different music genre with unique audience profiles. That is one way to explain the point we made in a previous post saying these two finalists cannot be more different from each other.

For Kris Allen to win, he needs to get out of his comfort zone, to be more adventurous and more creative, similar to what he did during the top 3 performance where he took Kanye's song and interpreted it in his own way. It was a very unexpected song choice and certainly a game changing interpretation.

The question on Kris Allen is this - was his top 3 performance a one-off performance? That was his boldest move  throughout the season and it was the only time he did that. In fact, he had more performances where his judgement and strategy failed him.

We think a real danger for Kris is he might over-think it, set the bar too high for himself and he might fall short in delivering it. He is the underdog and the dark horse - he needs to work harder and the greater pressure to overwhelm the audience is his.

For Adam Lambert to win, he needs to give away part of who he is and move that part towards getting closer to who Kris is. He needs to show his soft side, showcasing his vocal skills at a similar level that Kris has. He should NOT do an exact Kris, but he needs to dial down a bit his rock star persona and vocal performance.

Adam's greatest strength is his virtuosity at showmanship, the performance, the over-all package of a singing star. He needs to sing a song that is precisely on that and another song in the same delivery but its content closer to what Kris does well.

There is no problem on this one for Adam. He has done that in all of his performances at the Idol stage. He is the consummate artist and has the best in artistry among all the contestants this season. Not only has he delivered on this consistently across all his performances, he has exceeded it on many performances.

This has not been done on the Idol stage, but I won't be surprised if Adam will change his hair and clothes on each of his performance just to get the effect he wants.

Who will win Season 8? We think Adam will win it.

From a target audience/market perspective, Adam's voters cannot be swayed, we think they are extremely loyal to him. Whatever Kris does will not matter to Adam's supporters. Kris' fans, however we believe, can be swayed by Adam to vote for him. Kris' resurgence came only at the very end which means his support base may not be so strong and could be fleeting.

Kris' only chance to gain voters is not to get switchers from Adam's fan base to vote for him, but to get as many new viewers or those uncommitted to anyone of them to vote for him. That is very tough to do and they might not be enough in numbers to give him the win.

At this late stage of the contest, we have gone beyond voice quality now. Everybody knows both have excellent vocals. The question now is how much brighter is one finalist's star quality over the other. People will vote for artistry now and to that Adam has a lot of while Kris is yet to get his at full power.

We think American voters are voting for artistry and star quality and on that Adam wins over Kris by a mile.

From a marketing perspective, we think Adam Lambert will win American Idol 8.

how kris allen or adam lambert can win american idol 8

we have talked about how the two finalists in this week's american idol season 8 finale can be so different from each other. their uniqueness is so clear that we can call them Brand Kris and Brand Adam. in marketing terms, both have very clearly defined brand equities.

in marketing terms, these are the things kris and adam can do to win on thursday, in no particular order:

• song choice of course is most key. we all know both sing very well and both has his own brand of singing. song choice affects differentiation in a significant way. bad or wrong song choice has also been the biggest failure of most of the contestants.
• song choice we will define as one that will showcase their singing prowess, one that allows them to get their voice and singing style in full display for everyone to appreciate. i hope they will not choose a song that they just " like", or a "favorite" or "i enjoy singing". american idol is a singing competition for crying out loud. the song is the medium or stage by which your singing voice is shown, use it in that way.
• is moving for "even clearer differentiation" the thing to do? that we think is something both kris and adam need to decide on. they ought to know one is very different from the other. you can argue that it is this clear differentiation that has led them to the finals.
• will "more of the same" or "do something different" the thing to do. this is related to the point, above. is staying the course on the "defined" differentiation the thing to do or is some change needed? staying the course means applying the same thing that has worked. is that the way to go?
• is "beating the other on his own game" the thing to do?
• should adam sing one song that dials up the cute factor? kris is more like the matinee idol type, the romantic singer and has good looks. we know that adam can be extremely effective even in songs that kris sing. should adam sing a song that captures the strengths and things that kris has.
• should kris do the same? adam is the rocker and one very good at it. should kris sing a song that can appeal to adam's rocker fans or those who voted for adam because they like his rocker style? can kris effectively deliver here? or will he lose his identity?
• in marketing a clearly defined brand equity works very well. but there is also the fact that because of the clear differentiation between these two singers, we can assume each one has his own loyal or core fans who vote for them week to week. for one to win, one needs to get get switchers from the opponent's core fans.
• we think kris needs the above strategy more strongly than adam does. kris has failed in some weeks during the whole season. that can only mean kris has supporters who at times tend to not vote for him. he needs to gain more voters and the way to do that is to sing a song that will appeal to adam's traditional supporters.
• adam on the other hand can exploit the weakness of kris' core users who tend to switch away from kris from time to time. for adam, singing a song that appeals to kris' fans may get him a lot of switchers from kris' supporters.
• this thing called "star quality" is sometimes ignored. that is very important specially in this kind of contest. contestants with "star quality" can get voes despite having a voice that is not so perfect. we have seen this time and again in american idol where some contestants stay on mostly on the basis of appeal or star quality and those with great voices get booted out because they lack appeal or star quality.

these are tough questions. while to the contestants they may see them simply as doing their thing, looking at them more deeply will reveal these are actually marketing and brand issues that they need to tackle.

Brand Adam Vs. Brand Kris : the American Idol Marketing 101

this is probably one of the best articles written about the two finalists for next week's American Idol finale. not only does it give a good analysis on the two contestants and how they differ, it's a good read on what Brand Equity or Brand Image means in very practical ways.

during talks to students in universities, we would talk about marketing principles in terms of practical and real life experiences of the students. we use stories, analogies and examples from their daily lives to explain what the marketing terms mean. we do it that way as it engages the audience and more importantly, it's very easy to grasp.

this is the kind of brand differentiation that marketers need to achieve for their brands to succeed in the market. it needs to be well-defined, clear, holistic and executionally different as well. while this demonstrates the clarity and power of the Brand Equity, not here is the target audience.

food for thought - are both brand equities running after the same target audience? the differences are very clear between the two that it's easy to conclude they can be going against very different target audience.

can the american idol audience be divided into two group distinct groups. is there a common denominator?

we could not agree more on this analysis. read the article both in terms of the contestants themselves and at the same what Brand Equity or Brand Image means.

kudos to the author!

Does ‘American Idol’ want an artist, or a star?
Adam Lambert pulled out
all the stops, while Kris Allen stayed low-key

By Craig Berman
msnbc.com contributor
updated 10:43 p.m. ET May 14,
2009

Adam Lambert and Kris Allen could not be more different. Their musical styles and strengths don’t mesh and their personalities are opposites. But they share a skill that explains why they’re the two singers competing in the “American Idol” finale.

They listen.

The judges made it very clear what they were looking for in season eight; performers who could take a song and make it their own. While other singers took that advice from time to time, no singers took the message to heart more than Adam and Kris.

As the other finalists fell victim to unfortunate song selections and karaoke performances, it was the originality of Adam and Kris that kept them on the good side of the four judges. No finalist in history has been more memorable week after week than Adam Lambert.

Sometimes the impact of an Adam performance may be felt more for its strangeness than its skill — his version of “Ring of Fire” caused guest mentor Randy Travis to spend the whole night wearing a “what is this guy doing?” expression — but most of the time, he hits the mark. His “Mad World” was missed by DVRs everywhere the week the show ran long, and it was good enough that the omission inspired outrage and not relief.

Adam's big weakness would seem to be that he's the most theatrical contestant in the history of the show, but he's turned that into a strength by embracing it. By going all-in and showcasing the lighting, effects, and costumes, he's turned his comfort with stagecraft and his Broadway-sized voice into his biggest assets. Nobody loves the spotlight more, and no other contestant has looked as comfortable standing in it.

Instead, his weakness is that he's the most polarizing "Idol" figure in recent memory. He has fans who will defend him with passion, and detractors who would do anything to bring him down.

It's possible that the anti-Adam contingent will watch the finale for the sole purpose of voting against him. But Adam isn’t going to give anyone else much ammunition to hate him. Although when he’s singing he plays the part of the diva, he’s been nothing but respectful as soon as the music ends and always has kind words to say about his fellow contestants.

To win, Adam needs to keep on doing what he’s been doing; take chances, make songs his own, and perform like he’s going for broke. He enters the week with a slight edge, but Kris has been steadily improving and will seize any chance he's given.

Kris is Adam's oppositeWhile Adam is a natural under the bright lights, Kris looks to be the male version of Carrie Underwood, a small-town singer who uses "Idol" to jump into musical stardom. Even after months in Hollywood, Kris still has a country-mouse-in-the-big-city look that has helped endear him to millions of “Idol” voters.

That wouldn’t be enough, however, if he wasn’t also talented. Kris has made every song his own, but in the exact opposite manner of Adam.

Instead of blowing things up to show-business size via lights, smoke, mirrors and costumes, he uses a stool and a guitar or piano to strip down the arrangement and engage with the audience. That makes him less of a spectacle than Adam but easier to listen to, and it has allowed him a number of memorable moments performing less familiar songs. It's always a risk to pick something like "Falling Slowly," which didn't receive a ton of airtime apart from the Oscars, but he was able to make turn that into a compelling performance.

Kris' biggest strength is that it's very easy to see the kind of album he would create and the audience who would buy it. Is there anyone out there who can’t picture him with a hit record that sounds an awful lot like, say, Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours?” It’s easier to give him a sellable label than it is Adam.

Like Adam, Kris has a weakness that can double as a strength. He doesn't come across with that star quality aura, and seems pleased and surprised to have made it this far. That humility is what makes him so likable, but most seasons that factor is less important in the season’s final days. In last year's finals the more likable David Archuleta fell victim to an edgier David Cook.

source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30754468/

Tough Times Strategy: Introduce New Products

we are starting a new series where we will publish interesting articles we have picked up from the internet on marketing and avertising strategies during tough economic times. here is the first of the collection:

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A Strategy When Times Are Tough: ‘It’s New!’

THEY say money is the mother’s milk of politics. In marketing, it is new products, meant to pique the interest of consumers and thereby stimulate demand at stores, restaurants and dealer showrooms.

In tough times, it would seem the flow of new products would be slowed by companies fearing that shoppers have too much on their minds to consider still another cereal, soap or soup.

But as the recession grinds on, Madison Avenue is serving up a steady stream of new packaged foods, cars, drugs (prescription and otherwise), menu items (for both sit-down and fast-food restaurants) and beverages ( alcoholic and otherwise).

The new product pitches are coming from all manner of marketers, from global behemoths — among them Campbell Soup, General Mills, Mars and Unilever — to family-owned companies like Sargento Foods.

One reason to stay the course on new products is that they can offer marketers new reasons to reach out to consumers when the impulse may be to pull back.

“There’s a saying: ‘When times are good, advertise. When times are tough, advertise more,’ ” said Dan Beem, president at Cold Stone Creamery in Scottsdale, Ariz., the ice-cream chain owned by the Kahala Corporation. “We want to stay with that philosophy.”

read in full: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/25/business/media/25adco.html?_r=1