Today’s post is rather light-hearted, and we take several digs at Digg, poke fun at poking, and titter away at Twitter.
First, a meeting of social media addicts anonymous:
Followed by a short and chirpy little love song fit for these social media enabled times.
Courtesy of gapingvoid.com
As I trawl through my RSS feeds this week, the following posts caught my eye.
The first is this fascinating titbit in Branding Strategy Insider which noted how Chinese adopting Western names are using more unique monikers to make themselves stand out from the usual Toms, Dicks and Sallys. They include a young lady who calls herself Vanilla Wang, an artist working on wood-block prints who is renamed Colour Zhao, and a Beijing video editor called Thunder Wang. The rationale behind this is to give greater significance to their names and to also make themselves more easily remembered from the seas of Johns and Janes – a legacy of the traditional Chinese emphasis of according meanings to names.
As I was walking along Russell Street in Melbourne’s CBD area, I saw the above banner perched high up where it is visible to all. Quite a novel way to seek spiritual sustenance don’t you think?
Transe Express Performing Mischievous Bells at Festival Opening
It is currently the season for the Melbourne International Arts Festival, which is the city’s most internationally oriented showcase of its vibrant and diverse art scene. Major roads in Melbourne’s city centre are festooned with its characteristic purple and white banners, flapping on flagpoles in the wind. At many of the busy street corners like Swanston and Flinders Street, one can also find the festival posters pasted on billboards, tram-stop shelters and other public places.
By adhering to a strong thematic design aesthetic that is woven through all elements of the festival’s brand touchpoints, the Melbourne International Arts Festival has embraced the principles of Integrated Marketing Communications or IMC. Through this, it is able to reinforce awareness, recognition and interest across multiple platforms by applying a consistent message through both visual and textual means. This is important for a short-lived (17 days) event, and requires significant investments to gain the greatest amount of visibility in the most cost effective way.
Like peacocks, we all have our pride (beautifully shot by ClaraDon)
There is nothing worse in the marketing rulebook than to humiliate one’s potential customers. Or to make them look or feel inadequate, insecure, or just plain stupid.
Often, these outcomes are unintentional and accidental, but they result in an eroding of a company’s goodwill and trust amongst its customer base. They also result in negative word-of-mouth, which is an affliction that can result in untimely corporate morbidity.
Does being beautiful and handsome give you a head start in life?
Well, despite what should have been a fairer and more equal world, the ugly truth is that looks still matter. At least according to Beauty Bias – Discrimination and Social Power authored by sociologist Bonnie Berry.
Courtesy of Garron Nicholls
What is indulgence?
It is the ability to act according to one’s whim and fancy, whenever and wherever one feels like it. It is the availability of multiple choices which offer varied sensorial experiences, steeped in delicious decadence. It is about being able to savour the moment, untouched by the ravages of life.
Context helps one understand where and how consumers purchase (Russian Market in Phnom Penh, courtesy of Larpoon)
We have all been caught in the wave one way or other. The rush towards speed and efficiency in business – partially abetted by the global craze over social media – has led many to forget about the foundational strategies of marketing. There is such an emphasis on tactics (10 ways to be richer, 7 tips to make your wife happy, 15 of the most important ideas in social media marketing…) that people forget about that all important factor.
Namely, context.
On the final leg of our trip to Wilsons Prom (and beyond), we drove from the Mount Baw Baw ranges to the Thomson Dam, which is located just a short distance away from the alpine region. While the view of the dam was pretty awesome in terms of its sheer size, it was also a sad reminder of how severely dehydrated Australia is. The water levels were so low that the dam, which has a capacity of 1,068,000 megalitres, was only 16.7% full (178,783 megalitres).
A view of the Thomson River showing how far water levels have dropped over the years.
On the morning of our third day at Wilsons Prom, we checked out of our comfortable cabin and drove to the Taralgon area (in the La Trobe valley) enroute to the alpine regions. The idea behind this was to see if we can experience the different environments of the lovely Gippsland area of Victoria – from the pristine forests and sandy beaches of Wilsons Prom, rolling hills of pastures and farmlands, to the snow-capped summits of Mount Baw Baw and the alpine regions. With a height of 1,567 metres, Mount Baw Baw is just 120 km east of Melbourne, making it the nearest skiing region to the capital city of Victoria.
Our first stop at Taralgon, where we got down for some rest, food and even retail therapy!
