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.
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?
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.
Newspaper reports add credibility to one’s business (courtesy of Matt Callow)
With so much information easily available at the click of a mouse (or the tap of an iPhone), consumers are becoming more enlightened than ever before. As Mulder and Fox would have told you, “the truth is out there”, and it is now showing at an Internet-enabled screen near you. With so many websites, forums and blogs established to conduct independent consumer and product reviews, people will no longer take your word for it.
What can companies and businesses do to ride this trend? Is it enough to claim that you are able to make them taller, smarter, cleaner or more relaxed than the competition? No, it isn’t.
Located just a short drive away from the Adelaide City Centre, Cleland Wildlife Park is a haven for native Australian wildlife in South Australia. Nestled within the sprawling Cleland Conservation Park area in the Adelaide Hills region, the government operated attraction is spread over 35 hectares of pristine bushland. All the usual marsupial suspects like the kangaroos, koalas, wombats, Tasmanian devils, and echidnas can be found here, as well as native reptilian and avian species. What’s great about this sanctuary for beasts is the painstaking attention it pays to keep its surroundings as authentic and natural as possible.
This photo at the entrance of the reserve was taken by our little explorer Ethan himself.
As in all tourist attractions, the souvenir shop is a mandatory feature.
Participants of one of Singapore’s first Flash Mob (Courtesy of nuffnangsg)
By now, almost everybody would have heard of the phenomenon of flash mobbing, which is essentially involves an orchestrated mass activity where people congregate in a particular location to perform a specific act. According to Wikipedia, flash mobs are normally mobilised through social media channels like viral emails, SMSes, social networking platforms (especially Facebook and Twitter) or other social media channels.
The most famous Flash Mob group on the planet is probably Improve Everywhere based in New York City which is founded by Charlie Todd in August 2001. With more than 80 missions under its belt, the worldwide group is probably the most prolific flash mobbing organisation on the planet.
One of the greatest contradictions in life is that “the more the merrier” isn’t necessary true when one is swamped by choices. In fact, having too many options open to you could lead to an analysis paralysis and a freeze in decision making.
So having one hundred different flavours for your ice-cream, a thousand different blog templates, or 10,000 different pantone shades to paint your wall in may actually work against your business rather than for it.
Don’t believe me? Just watch this engaging presentation by Barry Schwartz, a well known psychologist and academic at Swarthmore College who spoke about the paradox of choice. His central thesis is that having a greater variety of options needn’t necessarily improve the quality of life. In fact, the plethora of choices that we have in this Internet-fueled day and age may actually lead to lower satisfaction levels and discontent rather than hyper delighting one’s customers.
If this outdoor advertisement doesn’t catch your eye, I suppose nothing else will. No prizes for guessing what product they are pushing for! What’s more interesting though is how a seemingly simple advertisement like this follows the age-old rule of AIDA. In advertising parlance, this means Attention, Interest, Desire and Action.
1) Attention – Obviously a headline like this written in bright red on a yellow background catches one’s attention. The sentence is also provocative and uses one of the most attention grabbing word in the world (not sex but) – love.
2) Interest – In this case, the same headline also helps to stir one’s interest by using the phrase of “Making Love” and “Doing It…” which piques one’s curiosity.
3) Desire – Instilling desire (in those who are already naturally inclined) is done by weaving in words like “Longer” and “Try” which are positive building words. In other words, you can have your cake and eat it too.
4) Action – This of course is where the rubber hits the road (no pun intended), and the call for action is conveyed through the word “SMS ‘Try’ 1800 711 711”. When one is outdoors without access to the internet or pen and paper, the fastest way to do so is through SMS. And the sensitivity of the subject is such that people will probably find it easier not to have to speak to a ‘live’ person about wanting to “do it longer”!
Came across this really cool Nike commercial which was made in Australia. As somebody who loves to go for hour long runs of between 10 km to 12 km each, I can empathise with the agony faced by the guy in whether he can or cannot go on. While the title of the ad is Reincarnate, I thought that the way the man behaved in the advertisement bore a remarkable resemblance to a character popularised by a leading fantasy film.
Would anybody hazard a guess who I am referring to? And yes, like the earlier series of viral commercials by Burger King, parody does work sometimes.
As a museum and heritage buff who is also a geek at heart, I am pretty excited about this latest campaign by HP to build an online virtual museum of technology. They are looking for photographs and stories of old, outdated equipment that used to occupy a place in our hearts – a typewriter which has outlived its usefulness but not sentimental value, outmoded computers (anybody remember the old Apple II?) or perhaps even handheld games like the old Game and Watch which we loved.
The great thing is that you can stand a chance to win these droolsome prizes!
