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