Advertising & Branding

Quotes for the week ending 16 Jan, 2010

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

“This isn’t actually an article form a newspaper. It is part of the ad…”

Copy from a fake piece of editorial that’s part of a creative ad buy for Aflac in The Wall Street Journal, linking to the microsite, getquack.com

“They just had a name that was hard for Chinese to pronounce and harder to spell.”

Kaiser Kuo, a Beijing-based consultant and former head of digital strategy at Ogilvy & Mather in China, on Google’s decision to pull out of the country.

“I don’t think it’s wrong to take chances …Sometimes they work.”

Jeff Gaspin, of NBC, on the network’s decision to move Jay Leno back to his original slot –11.35 pm

a “pact with the devil”

The reason, according to televangelist Pat Robertson, why he thinks Haiti is cursed.

“Our alleged “pact with the devil” helped your country a lot.”

Haitian ambassador’s response, to Robertson

“This is citizen journalism at its best, bringing the news of nature’s worst to a global audience.”

John Savageau, on CNNs use of citizen journalism in Haiti

Summing up 2009: 4Cs of Communication

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

It’s been a totally unpredictable year for me, as I am sure it was for you.

While I wanted to say Thank You to my readers, friends and family, former colleagues at ASU, I also wanted to share with all of you the core of what I believe in when it comes to the intersection of traditional and new media.

I call it the Four Cs. I realize there may be five, or seven. But think of these as four lenses through which you could clarify what’s happening to marketing, PR, media and advertising. It was a result of a mixed year.

  • It was an exciting year. I had a front seat in seeing communication change at a once top-down, yet collaborative environment such as Arizona State University (population 68,000 +) as faculty, staff and naysayers shifted gears to experiment with and then embrace social media.
  • It was a tough year. I travelled to Sri Lanka for a final goodbye to my dear sister, and experienced how the real power of community works minus Facebook and Tweetdeck.
  • It was a landmark year, when took the bold –some say much belated– step of hanging out my own shingle with Public Radius.
  • It was a  year of experimentation. I’ve recorded conversations with people in coffee shops, interviewed others via Skype, done a series of ‘Twinterviews,’ and even conducted a video conference for the State Department. While at ASU, I got into podcasting (covered topics such as the outbreak of swine flu), helped organizations and individuals start blogging for a variety of reasons –from job seeking to external communications.

So as we close out on 2009, I plan to condense the four things that I have learned. The starting Monday, I will cover them:

Collaboration. Crowd-sourcing. Content Curation. Community.

I hope they are valuable. Enjoy!

Quotes for the week ending 12 Dec, 09

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“However Mr. Jobs, now that you got into this mess …You are the only person who can get our APPS ‘everywhere.’ despite the fact that their MAPS have blanketed the country.

Commenter named Gary of Chicago, on the Advertising Age story on how Verizon Wireless created buzz for the Droid phone –a distinct shift in the way a carrier is advancing the popularity of a handset.

“And, the warning? Don’t read too many blog posts like this.”

43 Folders, on NaNoWriMo

“Living Stories,”

Google’s experimental project to save newspapers, featuring content from New York Times and the Washington Post

“Our role is actually stronger than ever, because we are more than  just a magazine … to promote travel around the state.”

Robert Stieve, editor of Arizona Highways magazine

“When you’re using search engines, you’ve got to be diligent. You can’t trust that just because it’s Number 2 or Number 1, it really is…”

Jim Stickey, on how fake web sites trick search engines which become ‘unwitting accomplices’ of Google, Yahoo and Microsoft.

“Industry Listening Program”

One of the four recommendations by Rohit Bhargava, who advises companies on easing into listening via social media by keeping an eye on keywords rather than brand mentions

Quotes for the week ending 5 Dec, 2009

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“The general consensus about my hair, among our team and the client, was that it was distinctive and instantly recognizable — a characteristic we ad people long for in our campaigns, but it sounds funny when we’re talking about my hair.”

Andy Azula, the guy in the U.P.S. whiteboard commercials, in a Q & A with Stuart Elliot. He has a Wikipedia entry!

“Once you start restricting access on the websites, if you have content that can broadly be found somewhere else, then you really restrict the number of people coming to websites.”

Emily Bell, Guardian’s director of digital content, on a regional British newspaper publisher charging for online news content.

“She’s more caustic than a manure lagoon.”

Paul Shapiro, senior director of the US Humane Society Factory Farming Project, on Kerry Trueman, a contestant for the Huffington Post contest for citizen journalists. One person will be chosen to report from the Copenhagen climate change summit next week.

“Most painful for us is not the minaret ban, but the symbol sent by this vote.”

Farhad Afshar, of the Coordination of Islamic Organizations in Switzerland, com

And speaking of symbols…

“It’s that image that has been shattered, sort of like the back window of his SUV, but maybe I’m pushing another metaphor too hard.”

Bill Saporito, on Tiger Woods’ apology

“I realize there are some who don’t share my view on that. But for me, the virtue of privacy is one that must be protected in matters that are intimate and within one’s own family. Personal sins should not require press releases and problems within a family shouldn’t have to mean public confessions.”

Tiger, having dealt with his ‘transgressions’ in a 6-paragraph apology, on his web site.

Quotes for the week ending 21 Nov 2009

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“She is not a girl, and she is not a pinup.”

Susan Estrich, Columnist, on Sarah Palin, saying she hates defending her, but is annoyed at Newsweek for featuring her on the cover in running shorts.

“I am applauding Bebo …I don’t understand the  logic for the others not following suit.”

Jim Gamble, of Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop), saying social networking sites need a help button for children to report predators  bullying.and bullies

“we should not make the perfect the enemy of the good,”

Barack Obama, conceding that the Copenhagen summit would not come up with a binding agreement on global warming.

“A portable device with an appropriate wifi connection, and a very powerful browser.”

Google CEO, Eric Schmidt’s definition of a Netbook, in a broad discussion of the future of the internet.

“Huh? If you’re already a Fortune 100 company, ‘brand awareness’ is probably not your biggest problem.”

Fast Company, commenting on a study by Weber Shandwick, that says only about 3/4 of Fortune 100 companies have Twitter accounts, few follow best practices, and most are chasing after brand awareness.

“Would I be cynical if I said I believed Apple was secretly fueling the hype by leaking bits and pieces of information to raise expectations? Does it matter?”

Linda Vandevrede, at ValleyPRBlog, on the role of PR in hype, or whether it evolves in some ‘organic’ way.

Hopenhagen: inspiring creative, but no offline visibility?

/ Angelo Fernando / 3 Comments

I’ve seen a lot cause marketing campaigns, so perhaps my expectations are high for this one, particularly.

The presentation by Ogilvy Earth (yes they did set up a group with this name for sustainability-related clients) is eye opening,.

It hinges on the word ‘Hopenhagen‘ which initially struck me as yet another clever pun. But it’s been well thought out, to focus on this city less as a destination for activists and tree huggers, and more as a symbol, a buzz word, a starting point for conversations, individual and collective actions…

Two things going for it:

  • An impressive media-backing. Speaking of media, those donating TV, print, radio, online and ‘out-of-home’ media include The Economist, EuroNews, The Financial Times, GOOD Magazine, Google, Harvard Business Review, International Herald Tribune, Reader’s Digest, National Geographic, Newsweek, Scientific American, Business India, Time Warner Cable, and a host of others. JFK and Los Angeles International airports, the Thomson Reuters building in Times Square, and even The Wall Street Journal, typically not supportive of such global warming attention, is also in this group.
  • The campaign is bristling with social media elements –with the usual suspects – Twitter, Facebook, a YouTube channel. There’s an interesting ‘passport’ to be obtained. I like how someone has setup a simple way to use the campaign as a Twitter background, at Twibbon.com.  The flash mob, that was also part of the campaign, and turned intio a video,  ‘sunbathing’ is very funny, though it’s not gone quite viral. Watch this:

But while all this is impressive and works well in the digital world, I was hoping to see more real world events, local visibility, community calls to action. Passports and online petitions can go so far.

The city of Copenhagen itself has adopted the campaign. Why stop with that?

  • Why shouldn’t citizens of other cities adopt the idea as well? Or claim ‘sister city’ status with Hopenhagen?
  • Where are the meet ups, the walks, the school programs, the spontaneous –copycat flash-mobs events, even– the engagement of utility companies, art venues, universities, churches and temples etc?

We get so focused on digital media, with its global reach, we often forget to communicate, through local channels, and our human networks. If people can change their Twitter background, they will be ready to change some aspects of their analog life as well, if only for a few weeks.

It’s not too late. If only Ogilvy Earth could get slightly more down to earth …

Quotes for the week ending 14 Nov, 2009

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“Yes, it’s important to change the light bulbs and windows, but it’s even more important to change the laws and the policies,”

Al Gore, in Phoenix, keynoting the GreenBuild conference

“When put together, we have the tools and technologies to solve three or four climate crises … But the missing element is political will.”

Al Gore in Cambridge Mass, at a book signing of Our Choice.

“Who wouldn’t buy a pair of socks for the Mount Olympus of commercial exposure?

Mitch Albom, on American Eagle’s promotion that lets a customer enjoy the his or her 15 seconds of fame on a billboard in Times Square, — the ‘famous airspace that once featured a giant winking penguin…’

“And the fun won’t end Nov. 27 …”

Story in the Associated Press about how shoppers would  the  checking social media sites for Black Friday specials

“Facebook is for brands – the careful ones”

Headline of a great post by Neville Hobson, commenting on research about using Facebook, about the need to not act like marketers!

“It’s a hole in your heart, just like 9/11.”

Spc. Chris Monge, on the tribute to 13 soldiers killed at Fort Hood, Texas

Quotes for the week ending 31 Oct, 2009

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“The thrill of naked guys in public aside, this marketing scheme did involve a bit of trickery.”

Advertising Age, revealing the story behind the ‘worlds’ fastest nudist’ in New York this week, who turns out to be a guy doing a stunt for Zappos, via an ad agency, Agent 16.

“Look, people the message is this: Do not tell me you cannot do this.”

Josh Bernoff, on how the Groundswell Awards, and how excellence in social media can come from anyone, anywhere.

“If there’s metadata in there, that’s public record.”

Dan Barr, attorney for the Society of Professional Journalists, on the Arizona Supreme Court decision that now requires public entities to disclose Meta Data, the ‘hidden data’ embedded in electronic records.

“A Friday afternoon news dump…”

Huffington Post on the list of visitors to the White House, released on Friday. The list includes lobbyists and prominent people

“It comes down to data and money.”

Story in Fast Company, that ‘Facebook plans to Geo-tag your life’  by linking geo-location information to users actions on the site.

Quotes of the week ending 24 Oct, 2009

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“Let the little dogs lap, Mr. President. It’s good for the nation’s spleen.”

Kathleen Parker, on the noise from Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh on Obama’s attack Fox News

“For Rush and Glenn and Balloon Dad, the allure of media attention is too powerful to be curbed by a sense of social responsibility.”

John Del Cecato, of AKPD Message and Media.

“So there you have it. Ignite a future for the high-profile navel-gazers of tomorrow with your own bottle of Twitter wine, which goes for $20 a pop.”

AdRants, on Crushpad’s use of Twitter on wine labels

“It’s winemaking, which is usually for us a four or five person endeavor, mixed with Twitter.”

Michael Brill, president and CEO of Crushpad, the winery teaming with Twitter and the pro-literacy group Room to Read.

“Let’s hope the Millennial Generation isn’t becoming the latest Lost Generation.”

Chad Graham, in the Arizona Republic, on how graduates are worried about the present job outlook, their future and even retirement.

“My ‘maternity break’ will end in mid-November.”

Charlotte Shaff, CEO of The Media Push (who blogged about her pregnancy) interviewed by Linda Vandevrede at ValleyPRBlog.com, on ‘Pregancy and PR.’

“First, I felt that after five years my blogging was getting long in the tooth….”

Steve Rubel, SVP and Director of Insights for Edelman Digital, interviewed by Tech Crunch

“For the people, for the planet, for jobs, for you!”

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, on the role of the UN, on the anniversary of the United Nations, which falls today –the day the UN Charter on 24 October 1945 was formed.

Quotes for the week ending 10 Oct 2009

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“In the surround-sound media environment of today, there is no shortage of places you can go to see an expert’s view of business and where it is headed. What I took from the first day of the World Business Forum, however, was just how important passion is as a common thread in the people (and their organizations) who are accomplishing something.”

Rohit Bhargava, on the World Business Forum

“While 60% of employees use word processing daily, only 42% actually create documents.”

Forrester Research report on technology adoption in the workplace.

“In a real-time, social media world, marketing has to react immediately to the successes and shortcomings of operations, product development, legal, finance, customer support, and the idiosyncrasies of company personnel.”

Jason Baer, on how social media gives everything a marketing focus.

“A turtle travels only when it sticks its neck out.”

Tweet by @lspearmanii

“Hi! This is your aspirin bottle calling. I haven’t seen you in a while…”

Peter Svensson, of the Associated Press, on the technology that connects the pill bottle cap to an AT&T network.

“Does our Cicero even glance at his speeches before reading them in public?”

George Will, conservative columnist for the washington Post, on Obama’s overuse of words and concepts in his speech at Copenhagen.

“Nice headlamps”

Headline of a billboard ad for a Northern Ireland used-car web site, that got the advertisement banned in the UK. The accompanying visual was not about cars…