vp palin - haste leads to marketing blunder?

the honeymoon is over on palin.

there is a part here that bothers me very much --- a presidential candidate chooses a vice president partner when they hardly met? not so much as talked face to face? is it that easy to get the job of US Vice President? and the job of US Vice President can be taken that lightly?

the miss universe beauty contest seem to take the no. 2 position more seriously than mccain did. in every miss universe contest we always hear the announcer say how important the runner up position is. but i don't see that resolve on this matter.

that leads me to think that palin seem to have been chosen purely on the basis of being an excellent marketing strategy. obama did not choose hillary, a female, so get one over the democrats by choosing palin. obama chose biden, a man older than obama, so why not get one over the democrats by choosing a much younger woman than mccain. mccain made a big deal of obama's inexperience, so why not get palin as VP, who has no experience and contrast that to biden who has a lot of experience.

the best marketing strategies are those that clearly differentiate versus all others in the same category. it's not only clarity, it is also discrimination and uniqueness. and those seem to be the overriding consideration in choosing palin.

as predicted, the next few weeks will be the most interesting and exciting time in the US presidential elections and that is not because it will be tight race. WAWAM! can't wait to see which marketing strategy worked the best.


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Disclosures on Palin Raise Questions on Vetting Process

ST. PAUL — A series of disclosures about Gov. Sarah Palin, Senator John McCain’s choice as running mate, called into question on Monday how thoroughly Mr. McCain had examined her background before putting her on the Republican presidential ticket.


On Monday morning, Ms. Palin and her husband, Todd, issued a statement saying that their 17-year-old unmarried daughter, Bristol, was five months pregnant and that she intended to marry the father.


Among other less attention-grabbing news of the day: it was learned that Ms. Palin now has a private lawyer in a legislative ethics investigation in Alaska into whether she abused her power in dismissing the state’s public safety commissioner; that she was a member for two years in the 1990s of the Alaska Independence Party, which has at times sought a vote on whether the state should secede; and that Mr. Palin was arrested 22 years ago on a drunken-driving charge.

Aides to Mr. McCain said they had a team on the ground in Alaska now to look more thoroughly into Ms. Palin’s background. A Republican with ties to the campaign said the team assigned to vet Ms. Palin in Alaska had not arrived there until Thursday, a day before Mr. McCain stunned the political world with his vice-presidential choice. The campaign was still calling Republican operatives as late as Sunday night asking them to go to Alaska to deal with the unexpected candidacy of Ms. Palin.


Although the McCain campaign said that Mr. McCain had known about Bristol Palin’s pregnancy before he asked her mother to join him on the ticket and that he did not consider it disqualifying, top aides were vague on Monday about how and when he had learned of the pregnancy, and from whom.

While there was no sign that her formal nomination this week was in jeopardy, the questions swirling around Ms. Palin on the first day of the Republican National Convention, already disrupted by Hurricane Gustav, brought anxiety to Republicans who worried that Democrats would use the selection of Ms. Palin to question Mr. McCain’s judgment and his ability to make crucial decisions.


At the least, Republicans close to the campaign said it was increasingly apparent that Ms. Palin had been selected as Mr. McCain’s running mate with more haste than McCain advisers initially described.




New Yort Times photo and article, parsed, read complete story here : http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/02/us/politics/02vetting.html?_r=1&em&oref=slogin

microsoft's $300M seinfeld ad campaign has ADS? Sindrome

tagline : The Future. Delicious.

microsoft launched the much anticipated $300M ad campaign featuring jerry seinfeld last thursday. this ad campaign intends to shore up microsoft's sagging brand image due to problems on vista and as a reaction to the growing popularity of apple computers and its OS. apple has also been running ads that was chipping away on windows brand image highligthing the problems with vista.

we love jerry's seinfeld tv show because it is about "nothing". well, this microsoft ad seem to have followed the same concept from that tv show. microsoft's seinfeld tv ad is also about nothing, only it's quite literal and we don't find it funny at all. could it be because instead of having seinfeld's 3 other friends in the tv show on the ad, we only have bill gates in it with seinfeld?

in line with the seinfeld storyline of "nothing", this is what this ad is all about - a day in the life of jerry seinfeld's walk in a mall and bill gate's purchase of a cheap pair of shoes. you know how it is, these multi-billionaires have the same lives as we do. as we cross paths with acquaintances in shopping malls, bill and jerry experience the same thing.

there is no mention of the word "w-i-n-d-o-w-s" in the tv ad, either spoken as a word or spelled as you read it here. and that makes sense. i take that to mean they recognize the fact that in our daily lives, we don't really say that word, specially when we are in a store buying for shoes. thank God for such brilliance.

i think what the ad seeks to do is to pull us in into the everyday life of bill gates as he buys cheap shoes. never mind that bill gates has enough money to buy anywhere from 217 to 2,170 shoe factories not only china but in every country in the world. you see, gates in his slightly untucked shirt is like everyone else.

somewhere in that ad is a consumer insight. with seinfeld in the ad, then bill gates himself and a $300M ad budget, we all expect this ad at minimum will have a brilliant consumer insight. bill and jerry, though in very different businesses, both built their fortunes and popularity on their uncanny skill at picking out consumer insights. i mean that in a most serious way.

seinfeld the tv show became the icon that it is because it was great in showing us who we are in our daily lives and make it incredibly funny. same thing with gates - he had the uncanny ability to extract what exactly we need in our current and future computer needs.

the consumer insight is there in this commercial. i will let you know as soon as i find it.

i wondered a lot when micrsosoft announced jerry seinfeld will appear in its commercials. we all know him from his tv show but the current audience know him from the re-runs of his shows. that is the biggest problem in choosing him for this ad project. on the other hand, jerry has great comedic timing, aside from being a great and funny writer. so i thought maybe seinfeld is not a bad choice. seinfeld's stand-up comedy revolves around ordinary, simple and everyday things that he somehow finds some great humor in them and we laugh with him when he says things like that. so, it could be a very interesting commercial.

then i saw this ad! i was giving myself the chance to accept jerry seinfeld in a microsoft commercial but i totally closed out when i saw the ad - i didn't expect that aside from seinfeld, they will actually use the storylines in the seinfeld tv show - all about nothing. what happened to interesting ads? smart ads? entertaining ads? if you have seinfeld in your ad, at minimum you expect him to be funny. but seinfeld was nowhere near funny in this ad. he was just nothing.

and why is bill gates in the ad? that's a separate discussion all together for another day.

by this time, you might be wondering already what is the point i am making in this post. WAWAM! is supposed to be about understanding tv ads, why they work and why they don't work.

and that is exactly it -- this is a post about nothing. the ad has nothing, what else can i say? wait a minute, it has something - it has ADS? Sindrome and that makes it 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

read posts in WAWAM! on microsoft's ad campaign here : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/microsoft

read about ADS? Sindrome here : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/2008/08/wawam-launches-ano-daw-sabi-ads.html

toshiba laptop promo suffers from ADS? Sindrome!

it is obvious that the computer market in the philippines is growing. it's easy to see - an ever increasing number of brands being sold and the large increase in number of ads for computers and other related products.

one print ad is for this toshiba laptop on the left (double click image to enlarge). major retailers together with BPI credit card recently had a huge sales effort at the ayala center mall. a few of the laptop brands released print ads to generate interest, one of which is the toshiba print ad.

it's a captive market, so this toshiba print ad is actually a consumer promotion print ad. that's a very good idea. people who will go to the booths at the ayala center are already pre-disposed to buy laptops, so it's a smart idea to come up with a consumer promotion.

you do consumer promotions to attract buyers to your brand. the idea behind a promo is offer consumers something extra like a premium item or a discount on the regular price. the main idea is that a promo is a MOTIVATOR to purchase your brand and not others. the bigger the promo offer, the more attractive. a 20% discount on the price is much better than a 10% discount and definitely much better than no discount at all. same thing with prizes to be won or given away - a house and lot as promo price is definitely much better than a ballpen. the bigger the prize or discount, the more it will attract buyers to your brand.

below is an enlarged portion of the the toshiba promo print ad. now, make sure you are seated, don't want you to faint. get this - this print ad is enticing consumers to buy a toshiba laptop which based on the print ad cost P36,000.00 to P60,000.00, by offering consumers, hold your breathe....

FREE 2 MOVIE TICKETS!

wow! isn't that such an amazing consumer promo?!! it's an amazing incentive -- can you imagine, you pay P36,000 or P60,000 for a laptop and you get for FREE - 2 movie tickers which cost no more than P300.00 for two tickets! now, that's an effective discount of 0.83% or 0.5%! wow!

the headline says it all, it's a BLOCKBUSTER BARGAINS!

i don't get this ad at all! this is one hell of a Ano Daw Sabi? (ADS) Sindrome! did the toshiba brand management team actually write up a recommendation, maybe some powerpoint presentation for this brilliant consumer promotion? did they bother to do one?

if you have P36,000 or P60,000 to spend on a laptop, you can certainly buy for yourself two tickets to see a movie! how in the world did they even think this kind of consumer promo will ever in their wildest dreams entice consumers to buy toshiba laptops over others when they are offering such a puny, inconsequential and i might say most likely insulting incentive to their prospective buyers?

when thinking of a consumer promo, the first thing that a brand manager thinks about is what kind of fabulous prize can he think of to make an offer the consumer cannot refuse. the brand manager came up with 2 movie tickets!??

to add insult to injury, the ad even describes the effort as "blockbuster bargains", "absolute madness", "absolute-good-value" promotion! there are other premium items, like an ipod shuffle and a canon printer, but what drives me crazy is that they chose to highlight the 2 free movie tickets rather than the ipod and the printer. where is the logic in that?

this is a WAWAM!

the 4th generation ipod high-class rumor - is it still a rumor if it comes with a picture?

with this much interest and press coverage, i would intentionally leak parts of my marketing plan to the press and a few selected "insiders". it just makes sense that you do this on a regular basis, well actually at least twice a year - in july or august, two months before the usual september gig and in january or february after the peak sale season to sustain interest during lean months.

of course, the process of leaking these things will be done in complete secrecy. you want to make it appear it's all the work of the "insider" and it's not coming from apple itself.

we have here another ideal situation for any brand manager -- you don't even have to develop plans before the actual launch, the press and "insiders" do it for you. and i suppose you don't even have to spend anything on it.

every brand manager wants his product launch to get optimum hype, interest and audience. apple seem to have a built in hype machine.

is it still a rumor when it is accompanied by a picture and drawings? at minumum, that to me is one hell of a high class rumor! we are propagating the rumor machine in this blog. let the rumors roll!


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This mockup of a revamped iPod Nano on the right, next to a Microsoft Zune, is a leading rumor for the fourth-generation iPod Nano design.(Credit: iLounge)

The most persistent buzz over the past month has circled around a revamped iPod Nano that brings back the long, slim design from earlier generations but provides for a widescreen video display as found on the current generation. That rumor looks even more promising after the discovery of "fourth-generation" iPod Nano cases by Engadget Spain over the weekend that would fit the design laid out by iLounge and Digg's Kevin Rose.

Another likely candidate is a revamped iPod Touch at a new price. The iPod Touch looks set to get the curved outer shell (manufacturing efficiencies) and the cheaper price tag (marketing efficiencies) that came along with the introduction of its sister, the iPhone 3G. And Apple has said that iPod customers responded well to the price cut on the iPod Shuffle, so perhaps it wouldn't be much of a surprise if Apple decides to test how they'll respond to more capacity at the same price point.

article parsed, read in full here : http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10030344-37.html

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read WAWAM! posts on globe's iphone launch : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/globe

read WAWAM! posts on the iphone here :http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/iphone

new ipod and new ipod touch - don't we love the rumors?

september is a very special month, to many it's even better than december. it's special as it's the month when the apple faithful does nothing but listen, watch, dream, think and yes speculate and about what apple will do next. oh, and did i mention spread rumors? september is the favorite month for the big event for apple.

september is 4 months away from december, the christmas sale season to be specific. in marketing terms, that means september is the introduction to the peak consumption months of november and december. apparently, apple buyers like to plan ahead their christmas gift purchases. announcing the goodies in september primes the market for a big sales bulge in november and december.

this rumor, i like very much. it's one of the most impressive rumors as this one even has drawings of their rumor. to be honest, if you have a drawing it's really tough to classify it as a rumor, don't you think? we call it a rumor as, well, it's not september 9 yet.

if this drawing turns out to be right, that's when we read this blog again on september 10, then this ilounge dude will be hailed as the next apple outsider expert.

i have to admit, with these drawings, i am totally impressed!





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iPod nano 4G, touch 2G dimensions revealed?
by: charles starrett
Senior Editor, iLounge
Published: Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Confirming details first reported by iLounge in July, apparent dimensional drawings for both the fourth-generation iPod nano and second-generation iPod touch have appeared, suggesting that the devices will have familiar measurements but with interesting new shapes and features.

Images of the supposed new iPod nano show a device that measures 90.75mm tall by 38.75mm wide by 6.08mm deep, compared to the second-generation nano’s measurements of 90mm by 40mm by 6.5mm. These numbers suggest that the device will be the thinnest and narrowest iPod nano yet released, though almost inperceptibly so, while also just a hint taller than the original and second-generation models. An oval-like body shape will be similar to, but apparently more pronounced than the one on the second-generation nano. Notably, the images seem to extinguish a concern that the device’s screen would be curved to match its shape; the metal body will give way to a plastic-covered screen that is as flat as prior-generation screens.

The second-generation iPod touch is depicted as having a shape similar to the iPhone 3G, masking increases in both the height and thickness by using a more tapered enclosure. This device is shown as measuring 111mm tall by 61.8mm wide and 8.4mm deep, versus the original iPod touch’s 110mm height, 61.8mm width, and 8mm depth, and the iPhone 3G’s 115.5mm, 62.1mm, and 12.3mm measurements. What appears to be an antenna enclosure is shown on its rear top left, with the same headphone port and Dock Connector port arrangement at its bottom. Notably, the drawings show what appear to be volume controls on the left side, addressing a key concern of iPod touch users; the added thickness might be attributable to changes in the battery.

As always, advance reports on Apple products may or may not prove entirely accurate, and should be treated as speculation until confirmed by the company. In any case, we’ll have more on the new iPod nano and iPod touch in the days to come.

source : http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/news/comments/ipod-nano-4g-touch-2g-dimensions-revealed/




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read WAWAM! posts on globe's iphone launch : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/globe

read WAWAM! posts on the iphone here :http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/iphone

pantene's most beautiful wet beauties shine in gold

any woman's product that can make judy ann santos beautiful, i am buying it! that is what this pantene, "the most beautiful" commercial did to me.

the commercial starts with supers that says "the most beautiful" and then we see 4 gorgeous, well yes beautiful women who seem to have just come off from a bronze tanning machine, everything about them - their skin and their clothes were in gold. the ambiance of the room they were in was also in a nice golden hue. (so they were probably still inside the bronze tanning room when they shot the commercial?)

and you do a double take, move closer to the screen when the first beautiful woman speaks. who is she? then the shock of your life, it's judy ann santos. she is beautiful! you quickly make a mental note : find out who the make up artist and director of photography responsible for turning judy ann to a beauty!





this commercial succeeds in convincing you they are beautiful women. never mind that at the opening shot, they had this fine print declaration that the title "beautiful women" came from Preview Magazine's April 2008 issue. watching the commercial (refer to mental note) persuades you to it.

then the tv ad shows the beautiful women talk about how their hair are strong even when wet. apparently hair when wet is at its weakest state. i didn't know that but i believe it, four beautiful women told me so. who can refuse?

it ends with the copy and supers that says "shine. pantene." shine? where did that come from?

and that is the part when some debate must have ensued on. pantene's long term brand equity is "shiny hair". but a huge 99.99% of this ad does not talk about shine. it didn't even show it. what it did was talk about strong hair. my guess is they probably rationalized that by saying the consumer insight is strong hair. ahhhh, well, hmmm..... we will let that go for now because we are still high from looking at those golden beauties.

and that brings us to the strategic question of - is this ad about beautiful women, golden ladies, strong hair or shiny hair?

as for me, hands down it's about beautiful women. after watching this commercial, there is this urgent need to find out the names of the director, the make up artists, the director of photography and the costume and set designer. if they can make judy ann santos look beautiful, i'm buying pantene and hiring them for my next commercial with women talents.

iPod phone for $99?! iphone 3G sales - 3 million handsets!

there are two interesting points in this article :

• apple will most likely announce they sold 3 million iphone 3Gs since launch
• this analyst is speculating an "ipod phone" that will sell at $99 is being developed by apple

on both points, even if one is untrue means globe really screwed up on their pricing for the iphone 3G in the philippines.

aside from regularly updating their products in terms of performance, apple has been known for almost always reducing the prices of their products after a few months or years in the market. they are one of the few companies who are able to make their products better and sell them at lower prices.

ah, what a blunder for globe!

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RBC says sub-$100 "iPod phone" market up for Apple's taking

Apple could announce sales of more than 4 million 3G iPhones at its media event next week, according to investment bank RBC Capital Markets, which also suggests the company may be looking into a low cost "iPod phone" to build on its momentum.

Analyst Mike Abramsky made the comments in a research note Wednesday, saying "resilient post-launch" sell-through has paced the company ahead of Wall Street's expectations and on target with his forecast of 5.1 million 3G units in the September quarter and 14 million total iPhone units for the calendar year.

Apple plans to hold a media event next Tuesday to usher in a refreshed line of iPod digital music players and unveil new iTunes services, but may also use the forum to provide an update on iPhone 3G sales, Abramsky said. He added that the Cupertino-based company has also promised by September a new version of iPhone Software (v2.1) with system-wide push notification support and improved GPS tracking, which may also make an appearance.

The analyst also used his report to toss around the prospect of a completely new device that could be brewing at Apple, but one that he does not expect at Tuesday's event. Though unsupported by any hard evidence, Abramsky said he has reason to believe the electronics maker is exploring the possibility of an "entry level, low cost (less than $99 subsidized) prepaid iPod/phone" that would be restricted to music playback and voice calls.Such a device would allow the company to "capture an untapped global opportunity," he said.

Marketing the pre-paid handset through retail outlets worldwide would provide a residual effect that would both "boost iPhone's momentum by 50 to 100 percent" while establishing future iPhone upgrades and enhanced global Mac sales.As is the case for the iPhone 3G, the current quarter is proving to be yet another breakout period for Mac sales.

Abramsky, who previously published the most bullish known estimates for Mac sales at 3.04 million units, said he stands by that forecast, which continues to see support from his firm's proprietary data.He sees refreshed MacBooks and MacBook Pros with "aluminum enclosures, larger multi-touch trackpads, and updated specs" arriving sometime after next week's iPod event. He also expects Apple's global PC market share to rise to 4.2 percent by next year, up from 2.9 percent in 2007.Abramsky maintains an Outperform rating on Apple shares.

source : http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/09/03/rbc_says_sub_100_ipod_phone_market_up_for_apples_taking.html





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read WAWAM! posts on globe's iphone launch : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/globe

read WAWAM! posts on the iphone here :http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/iphone

new ipods - analyzing the invitation

tell me how brilliant is this and exactly how strong is the ipod brand name and apple --- media and everyone else are now down to analyzing the invitations sent by apple to their gig on september 9. everybody wants to know what is going to happen on september 9 and there are no clues around except this invitation. can you blame them?

one more question, well actually something to be admired --- how great is apple at keeping things secret? there are no slippages, no leaks. nobody knew about september 9 until media got the invitation. while september / october are the usual months the apple fraithful are called to the mountain top for things of this sort, nobody seem to be able to get any advance notice. what is that. everything is done in steve job's private office?

till september 9......

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Apple To Announce Something Music-related


The Apple invitation is being analyzed and deciphered -- a fuchsia-colored man jumping with white iPod headphones. One point to anyone who guessed it would be music-related.
Most likely, the Cupertino, Calif., company will unveil a refreshed line of iPods at the Sept. 9 gathering. Maybe a few bands or musicians will perform, since the event will be held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts theater in San Francisco. Some speculate Apple could announce that the Beatles catalog will join iTunes.

One thing the announcement apparently won't be about: a digital music subscription service. Music-industry sources say such a service, which Apple has been discussing for a while, isn't going anywhere at the moment.

But think about the five stars. Decoration? Or, could it be a reference to a rating system, maybe from the users? That makes me think about a new iTunes, complete with its own social network. Apple observers have long noted that by adding social networking tools, such as ways for people to find each other and recommend and talk about music, Apple would surely sell more on iTunes. And what about the "Playing Soon?" Of course, that could be in reference to the event itself but could it also be a hint that iTunes is going to open up in a way that lets artists interact with fans, such as announce upcoming tours?

Perhaps one early sign of artist/fan interactivity: The band Snow Patrol said it would be the first artist to release an interactive album for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

As an aside, the Apple invitation cannot be good news for Billboard, which is having its Mobile Entertainment Live event, which is part of CTIA Wireless I.T. & Entertainment 2008 and happening on the very same day (one block over).

Almost at the very hour of the Apple event (will it be Steve Jobs talking?), the Billboard keynote speakers -- Paul Smith, head of major label relations at Nokia, and Michael Nash, executive vice president of digital strategy and business development at Warner Music Group -- will speak, no doubt facing a thinner crowd than they had expected.

-- Michelle Quinn

source : http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2008/09/apple-to-announ.html





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read WAWAM! posts on globe's iphone launch : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/globe

read WAWAM! posts on the iphone here :http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/iphone

september 9 apple event - rocking the ipod and ipod touch?

Apple Hints at iPod News

BOSTON (Reuters) — Apple is expected to show off its new iPod music players, and possibly announce price cuts, on Tuesday but may not release a long-awaited update to its MacBook laptop computers until a later date.Apple, which also makes iPhone devices, e-mailed reporters an invitation to a Sept. 9 event titled “Let’s Rock,” which has an image of a man jumping while listening to an iPod, with the words “playing soon.”No further details were available. Creating an allure for its brand has helped drive Apple’s market capitalization above Google’s, despite fears about the weak economy.An analyst at American Technology Research, Shaw Wu, said the iPod line needed to be refreshed and the price of its iPod Touch models needed to be cut because they have a higher starting price than the iPhone, which includes a cellphone and other features not included in the Touch. The Internet-ready iPod Touch starts at $299 in the United States, compared with $199 for the iPhone.

source : .http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/03/technology/03apple.html?_r=1&ref=business&oref=slogin

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read WAWAM! posts on globe's iphone launch : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/globe

read WAWAM! posts on the iphone here :http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/iphone

new and better iPods, iPod Touch coming sept 9. lower priced too?

nobody does it better than steve jobs! apple is the only electronics company, in fact consumer product that generates this much excitement and anticipation. all it's product moves are watched and in fact calendared into everyone's PDA.

this september 9 is no exception. brilliant marketing? apple owns that!

hold off purchase of the ipod and the ipod touch -- wait after september 9.



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Come September: iPods

To absolutely no one’s surprise, Apple has announced a San Francisco-based special event for September. Like past September special events—where the iPod nanos and video capable iPods have made their debut—this one will surely focus on the iPod. (The invitation, with its title Let’s Rock, iPod interface, and silhouette figure makes that clear to even unsubtle folks like me.)

And it comes as no surprise because in Apple’s eyes, September means the holidays are a scant Autumn away. That can only mean that it’s time to issue the latest batch of tempting portable media players. And, in turn, that can only mean that it’s time for us iPod watchers to don our speculation hats and ponder what September 9 might bring.


The new nano


September 2005 brought the original, scratchable iPod nano. 2006 introduced the tougher aluminum 2G nano. And 2007 saw the birth of the ittier-bittier aluminum, video-capable iPod nano we enjoy today. The iPod nano is Apple’s most popular iPod—not too expensive, easily slipped into a stocking, attractive, and capable as hell. And because it is, the company can’t seem to leave the thing alone.


Given how capable the nano is, what does it need? Right. A bigger screen. Although you can watch video on its 2-inch (diagonal) screen, viewing a letterboxed three-hour epic gives even the most robust of us a crashing headache. With the advent of the iPhone and iPod touch, those who enjoy video on the go are accustomed to watching that video in a widescreen view and on a display that can’t be covered with their thumb.

So, that means a nano with a wide screen. And that’s accomplished by returning to the old form factor—the hunk-o’-beef-jerky long iPod nano—and turning the thing on its side to watch video. Digg’s Kevin Rose has foretold just such an iPod (complete with a picture he claims is a prototype of the device) and he’s probably right. Such a nano gives us the change that Apple needs to sell customers yet another iPod and because it doesn’t feature a touchscreen and performs only iPod functions, it doesn’t eat into iPod touch and iPhone sales.


The “big” iPod

If Apple does indeed issue a sideways iPod nano and maintains the iPod touch pretty much as it is, where does that leave the “traditional” hard-drive bearing full-sized iPod? Currently the advantages that iPod has is storage and a slightly larger screen. The use of flash memory in the shuffle, nano, and touch necessarily constrain them to holding only a small-to-medium-sized media library. The full-sized iPod, currently available in 80GB and 160GB capacities, makes it possible for those with heaping helpings of media to pack a good portion of that media with them.
But storage isn’t sexy. And sexy is important if you want to continue to sell these things in large numbers.

What would bring sexy to the full-sized iPod—and keep its capabilities from being compared unfavorably to the iPod nano—is a similarly sideways display. Again, retool the form factor, keep the storage capacity up, and you provide zazz as well as utility.


The littlest shuffle

Much as I’d love to see another go-round of the iPod Flea parody, I’m pretty sure that Apple can’t make the shuffle any smaller without also making it a pain in the neck to use (and keep track of). The current clip-on form-factor is darned convenient and, should Apple add some more capacity (4GB, up from 2GB for the “top-of-the-line shuffle), round off the edges, and slap on a few different shades of paint on the things I think they can be fairly confident of their chances of selling a boatload of them during the holidays.


iTunes

A few weeks ago, in my Imagining a New iTunes entry, I suggested that it was time for a new version of iTunes. And by new I don’t mean “even more cluttered with capabilities” but rather a version of iTunes that’s more focused. This could come in the form of a reorganized interface or as a couple of different products that more specifically zero in on particular chores—managing, obtaining, and encoding music, for example.


When releasing new iPod models Apple has been known to also unveil major new versions of iTunes. Seems the timing is right for Apple to do so again. In a setting where Apple “returns to its iPod roots” one could argue that it would be easier to sell a slimmed down, music-focused version of iTunes.


And the rest

We haven’t heard a lot about iTunes in Starbucks lately. Now may be the time to provide a little refresher on that one as well as detail additional ways to obtain music—from other retailers, streaming, and maybe… gasp… in an all-you-can-eat plan that Apple takes pains to describe as anything but a subscription model.

Oh, and of course there’s the Musical Guest at the end of the presentation. I know what you’re thinking. You know what I’m thinking. But I’ve been burned too many times to mention The Name or The Group again. And frankly, I just don’t care any longer.

What I do care about is that the fall TV season is about to kick into gear and NBC and Apple have yet to make nice. Here’s hoping that the One More Thing is Jeff Zucker and Steve Jobs exchanging a big wet one before Paul McC… er McCandless and the rest of Oregon take the stage.

source : http://www.macworld.com/article/135337/2008/09/september9event.html




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read WAWAM! posts on globe's iphone launch : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/globe

read WAWAM! posts on the iphone here :http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/iphone

buying philippine stocks online, citiseconline's print ads - lost twin found, but unknown still!

citiseconline, one of the country's online stock market brokers has come up with a second ad to the one that was previously discussed here in WAWAM!

it's a pool-out from the first one, with the same layout, design and under the same strategy, and that includes the same weakness as the first one.

first, the good news: this new ad was released side by side with the first one. the ad placement of the ads were brilliant! both ads appeared in the philippine daily inquirer, august 19 issue.

the first ad was printed on page B4, that's the left side of the double spread and the 2nd ad was placed on exactly the same level on page B5, the right side of the double spread. that was simply excellent media page placement! the media agency deserves a bottle of champagne for such a superb placement.

that placement made the ads look much bigger than what they actually are and were more effective. the ad placements enhanced the creative design of the ads.

the 2nd citiseconline print ad (double click ad to view larger image)

now, the bad news: the 2nd ad, above, was an exact pool-out of the first print ad (below), and that includes the error of the first ad - weak reason why.

in this ad, they featured a female employee, april lee-tan a CFA and citiseconline's head of research. that's a good contrast and pairing to the first one which had a male, juanis barredo, head of investor education.

the first ad failed because it featured a face in the ad who is not known to the intended target audience. barredo conducts seminars for citiseconline clients on technical analysis of stocks, so if you are not a citiseclonline client and even if you are but if you have not attended the seminar, you would have no idea who barredo is and most specially you would not know how good he and what he does.

the role of barredo in the first ad (print ad, below) is to lend credibility or to provide a strong reason why people or a strong permission to believe on why citiseconline's product is a great one. safeguard soap uses PAMET to bolsters their superior skin germ protection claim. other products use doctors, nurses, professionals or authority figures to help convince the target audience the product can deliver it's promise. you believe the claim because as in the case of safeguard soap, you know that PAMET is the authority on germs. the thinking is that it is easier and more convincing if PAMET says a certain product is good in killing germs.

in the citiseconline print ad, nobody knows what kind of authority or credentials barredo has, rendering barredo's inclusion in the print ad as a no-bearing component. it is not contributing anything to the sale.

that same weakness was put into the second ad. just like barredo, the target audience do not really know who lee-tan is. both barredo and lee-tan are being used as "experts" or "authority figures" that nobody recognize now even know about.

the 1st citiseconline print ad (double click to view larger image)

but i can appreciate what they are trying to do with these twin ads. barredo, the Head Of Investor Education is being used as the "teacher" for investors, with the headline "learn how to build wealth -- the easy way!". lee-tan, the Head Of Research, on the other hand is being used as the "expert", with the headline "with expert advice, we make investing simple." ( but that assumes new investors, who are the target audience, know what a research person does in a stock broker company.)

the thinking or intent seem to be somewhat there, but they are not being delivered in it's full power because of a very weak "reason why". this kind of ad and strategy needs one. citiseconline's first print ad may have found its twin, but they are unfortunately still unknown and ineffective.

read all WAWAM! posts on citiseconline here : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/citiseconline

globe iphone 3G's pricing blunder

you have probably seen the tv ads for globe's iphone 3G, some print ads were also released and we see the posters in globe hubs for the iphone 3G. globe's iphone 3G ads exclusively talk about the excellent features and use of the iphone 3G. these marketing activities makes a lot of sense as globe is the only authorized dealer of the iphone.

clearly, globe is selling the iphone handset.

globe in the case of the iphone 3G has taken the role of handset marketer and seller, not anymore just a mobile service provider. in these iphone 3G ads, globe does not at all talk about their mobile services or plans. it's 100% talk on the iphone 3G as a handset.

and that is where the problem of globe's over-pricing the iphone 3G begins. i would even say that is where globe's marketing blunder in pricing also starts.

first, let's look at the consumer. based on globe's over-pricing of the iphone 3G and now it's advertising, it is obvious globe is targeting the upperclass, AB upper C target market.

these upperclass target market i would say already own a cellphone, i would think a high 99% of them own at least one cellphone and is already a current subscriber of a mobile phone service.

the marketing objective therefor of globe iphone 3G is to get the target market to switch from their old/current cellphone to the iphone 3G.

since globe is asking the target market to switch, or to change their old cellphone to the iphone 3G, consumers will naturally look into the features of the iphone 3G and compare these to their current handsets.

not only will consumers compare the features of the iphone 3G, they will also look into the price of the iphone 3G that globe is selling it for.

they will compare the iphone 3G's price versus the price they bought their current handset for, the present price of an equivalent model now and the top of the line models of nokia, sony ericcsson and samsung. and because these are from the upper class, they probably will go to t he internet and find out that THE IPHONE 3G HANDSET is being sold in the US for $199 or P10,000 while globe is selling exactly the same iphone 3G handset for P16,000 or P38,000.

that clearly says the iphone 3G as priced by globe is over-priced.

the first battleground that globe needs to win on their marketing push for the iphone 3G is handset sales. the question of mobile service subscription plan is a second stage battleground. they first need to win consumers on the handset battleground. if globe does not win their target market on that first battleground, their intended consumers WILL NOT move to the second battleground.

in fact i think this second battleground of mobile service subscription plan is actually not really a battleground. i think there is no war on that level, that globe does not even have to fight for anything at this level. why is that? for the simple reason that these target consumers of globe ALREADY OWN A CELLPHONE AND ALREADY HAS A MOBILE SERVICE SUBSCRIPTION PLAN (pre-paid or post paid).

in other words, these consumers are actually already spending money on a subscription plan. it's no big deal if they move from their current plan to a new one with the iphone 3G. it is the shelling out for a new handset, to buy the iphone 3G that is a new expenditure. and because that is where they will incur a new expense on, that is where the battleground of value or price comes into play. and in that battleground, globe lost because they over-priced it.



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read WAWAM! posts on globe's iphone launch : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/globe

read WAWAM! posts on the iphone here :http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/iphone

new bank signages picture gallery

here are the pictures of the various new bank signages that have been discussed in WAWAM! for your comparison and appreciation.

the differences are very obvious, as they should be. aside from the differences in style, color and design elements, you can also clearly detect the differences in brand characters. each of these signages communicate a specific brand image or personality.





banks should pay a lot of attention and effort into their signages. most banks don't have advertising, some might not need them even and for many, their signages would be the main if not the only source of brand image for prospective bank customers and are not just physical directional signs.

banks should have a very similar attitude to that of restaurants who know the value of signages, location and ambiance. getting it right in signages can mean to many banks getting it right in brand image.

globe iphone 3G - over-pricing or good value?

to answer that question, we need to look into the consumer psyche. that's next in WAWAM! tonight.

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read WAWAM! posts on globe's iphone launch : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/globe
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read WAWAM! posts on the iphone here :http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/iphone

palin as republican VP - brilliant marketing move or biggest blunder

are we confused? yes we are.

we are looking at this as a purely marketing move, in fact within the realm of strategic marketing – palin as the republican vp partner of mccain in the presidential election.

are we confused? yes, we are. oh, i said that already.

palin as republican vp is either a brilliant marketing move or a big marketing blunder.

it's brilliant as for now, all the good things that were with the obama campaign - obama being an african american, hillary as a strong contender, and all the goodies that went with that, specially the one on hillary and the great convention that just ended have just evaporated and moved over to the republicans.

this choice for now has stolen the thunder away from the democrats. "stunning" is a word often used to describe the choice of palin. i agree wholeheartedly.

that leads us to downside. she is an unknown, at least for now but we will get to know her very well in short order. and that is where the other part comes in -- it can turn into the biggest marketing blunder made in political history.

while we do not know palin much, we do know hillary very well. hillary, the other woman candidate is very much a known candidate, almost the opposite of palin. while we may not know palin yet, it's almost a sure thing that hillary would have a longer list of accomplishments and credentials.

it's possible mccain just took in the weakest leak in his campaign.

while we do not know yet if palin as vp choice is a marketing blunder, we did know before and we are much more certain now that obama not choosing hillary as vp is a marketing strategic blunder. pailin in the mix reinforces and makes obama's non-choice of hillary as a much bigger and more obvious mistake. (read posts in WAWAM! on biden as a good choice but choosing hillary a brilliant move : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/2008/08/obamas-vp-choice-biden-is-great-but.html).

as of this moment - the US presidential election is in a flux. much more interesting days ahead. take your seats!