Here’s a riddle.
What job allows you to drink endless quantities of fine wine, live in a Victorian mansion, and do all the blogging, Facebooking, Tweeting, and chatting that you want?
Give up?
Want a Dream Job? Blog, Tweet or YouTube It!
World’s Biggest Rocking Horse and More
Have you ever wondered how the Greeks defeated the Trojans in Homer’s epic tale? Or marvelled about the excesses of childhood fantasies?
Well, we had a chance to find out the answers to these questions recently when we visited the Biggest Rocking Horse in the World. Located close to the fertile wine producing Barossa Valleys of South Australia just north of Adelaide City, the wooden (or was it concrete and steel?) wonder was billed as one of the must-sees in the festival state. While the object in mind was certainly mind-blowingly colossal, the record according to the Guinness Book of Records belonged to a much smaller albeit truly rocking variety from Japan. I suppose if one takes out the need for motion, South Australia’s colossal artificial equine would win hands-down.
Here’s a photo journal of our journey in the South. Enjoy!
How HP Marries Art with Technology
Through the kind invitation of HP and their PR agency Edelman, I was privileged to attend a special experiential showcase of HP’s ‘Touch the Future, Now’ technologies last Saturday night at VivoCity (11 July 2009). Its great to see technology companies focusing on enlivening the complete user experience beyond just the features and specifications alone, and HP has done a good job doing that.
Part of their “Touch the Future, Now” Campaign, HP partnered with five local illustrators (or artists as I prefer to call them) – Brian Chia, Soh Eeshaun, Ben Qwek, Neo Ann Gee and Michael Ng – to construct and share their visions for the future around music, art, communications, gaming and the cityscape in Singapore. Their works were projected within the visual of an HP TouchSmart PC on the façade of VivoCity as part of a HP ‘Touch the Future, Now’ Light Show Extravaganza.
First, I made a trip to the “Touch the Future, Now” Experiential Zone at VivoCity Central Court B. Featuring HP’s TouchSmart Technology, it allowed one to interact more engagingly with the PC beyond just the usual mouse and keyboard interfaces.
Of Tribes, Leaders and Heretics
I just completed marketing maven Seth Godin’s book on leadership titled “Tribes – We Need You to Lead Us”.
As a long-time fan of “Sethology”, I have always marvelled at his cutting edge ideas and thought provoking approaches to marketing, lapping up past works like “Purple Cow”, “The Big Moo”, “The Dip” and “Meatball Sundae”. I am also an avid reader of his wonderfully written blog, which is a must-visit site on my list of must-visit sites.
Irreverence Or Irrelevance?
An extreme example of sex selling in NYC (courtesy of lickyoats)
The unassailable growth of consumer clutter has led to two things for marketers to consider.
The first is the need to conceive increasingly innovative and creative ways to attract attention. Most of which are so “In Your Face” that your senses have to be incredibly inured to ignore them. Witness how the outdoor advertising environment has blossomed significantly in the past few years, as well as the rise of online ads that not only pop up or pop under, but also animate themselves, generate annoying noises, and just plain irritate the hell out of you.
Transforming Critical Failure to Box Office Success
Courtesy of wintan29
Like almost everyone else who doesn’t don a skirt, I have watched Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen recently. The action was fast, furious and catered specifically for hot-blooded males of any age. After all, gigantic alien robots and Megan Fox is sure to draw the attention of the Y chromosome.
What’s interesting though is that a movie which is panned and “demolished” by numerous critics both overseas and at home, has taken the box office by storm. It became the first movie in 2009 to breach the US$300 million mark globally, achieving a massive US$109 million taking in the first weekend alone.
Marketing Nuances (or Its The Little Things…)
Have you wondered what differentiates hits from misses? Or why you prefer to purchase a particular brand of toothpaste over another despite their qualitative attributes (taste, fluoride protection, breath freshening, tartar control) being equal?
The answer – like God – is in the details.
More Than Meets The Eye?
Spy movies have always held a certain glamour, romance and intrigue, but most appear to paint the protagonists as super slick agents of the state. Witness how this common premise is oft-repeated in the 007 James Bond franchise, as well as movies like the Bourne Ultimatum and Wong Kar-Wai’s Lust, Caution. Taking a slightly different tact, Tony Gilroy takes a more light-hearted look in Duplicity, which sets itself in the cut-throat commercial world of New York-based MNCs.
Helmed by A-list Oscar winning Julia Roberts and Academy Awards nominee Clive Owens, Duplicity has more twists, turns and double-crossing action than a pretzel store in New York (which is where it is set). Former CIA agent Claire Stenwick (Roberts) meets ex-MI6 agent Ray Koval (Owen) as corporate spies acting on behalf of two feuding MNCs. The object of their affections (other than each other) is a secret formula which is fiercely guarded by Howard Tully (Tom Wilkinson) and his cronies, much to the chagrin of rival CEO Dick Garsik (Paul Giamatti) who appears to be the main perpetuator of this commercial spy-versus-spy tale.
Rolling Hills, Chocs, Cheeses and Vineyards
Standing at 727 metres high, Mount Lofty Summit is the highest point of the Mount Lofty Ranges which is 15 km east of the City of Adelaide. It forms part of the ranges called the Adelaide Hills and is adjacent to the Cleland Conservation Park area. Offering breathtaking panoramic views of the city (on a clear day), it contains television transmission towers operated by the Adelaide Television Station, as well as the Mount Lofty Fire Tower. Naturally, its also an excellent place for picnics and just hanging out in the beauty of nature.
The first order of the day is to get our carpark tickets sorted as fines are hefty here!
Understanding What Makes Kids Buy
Toys R’Us and Power Rangers – a potent kid marketing combination!
As the father of a five-and-a-half year old boy, I naturally have a deep interest in what goes into that little cranium of his.
Why is my son attracted to certain brands and products more so than others? What made his tastes in toys so different from his cousin who is merely 5 years older than him?