╠ Marketing Messes with your head! ╣

First off I'd just like to take a small moment to say it's my 100th post here and boy what a ride it's been. Kudo's to anyone who read them all...you may want to...uh...reexamine your life or something.

In order to celebrate I want to tell you a story of how Marketing is really starting to mess with my head.

At the moment I have a pitifully poor phone, the battery dies within five minutes of talk so I've been keeping up to date on all the iphone developments. My final decision is to go with Vodafone because when I went into their store they acknowledged my existence, I've been with them before and the clencher was simply that their advertising doesn't suck(Yes I am that shallow). I've never locked myself into such a big contract, so last night being the night before the release I was tossing and turning in bed because I couldn't sleep.

However when I did get to sleep I dreampt about getting the iPhone and being in a car driving around for a vodafone shop in the outer suburbs with hilarious results. Now what I found the most amusing about the dream was when I finally found the store I discovered their advertisement of the iphone and it was the 'You've got to be tossing possums!' health insurance lady. I had no option but to listen as she spoke, knowing that one of her stupid phrases could come out at any second, luckily however after about a minute of listening in fear I woke from my sleep.

I don't know what to think, my dream purposefully attacked my reasoning for picking vodafone on the grounds of their not sucky advertising by putting in sucky advertising...Does my subconscious not want me to get an iPhone? None the less I thought I'd share with you just how doing marketing can mess with your head.

The second curious thing about the dream was not the single mention of the exam that I have in about 5 hours...perhaps I'm showing a bit too strongly where my priorities lie...

╠ I wish...Death of University ╣

This weekend just past I had a curious meeting where the organization I volunteer for had to talk down to a sub-organization because of their lackluster results. Promotion was a huge issue for them and what I found interesting was that our head said that him and myself were the people on committee to approach because I had been formally trained and he had experience.

This made me realize how little University does for you. This year I've been stumbling through the brand manager position learning everything I have to just before I have to do it. None of which was covered in Uni.

One of the questions raised during the meeting was how do you advertise on twitter. Any marketer would know twitter and how to utilize it, however it has not been mentioned in a single class of mine. I've been at Uni for almost 3 years now and I honestly feel like this one year of experience volunteering as well as blogging has taught me more than what Uni can.

The curious thing though is that in my career management class which contained two parts, one presentation (Which my group rigged so we all got full marks), and then the plan itself I scored 6/10 meaning the plan itself got 1/5. Seems volunteering in the role you actually want to do, blogging about your area of interest and building network contacts is a horrible career plan.

University isn't what it promises to be. It's simply teaching you the core outdated elements of broad career interests. If I had just volunteered for 3 years as the branding coordinator for my organization and used the money I spent on uni to feed myself better and maybe invest in an online journal or two then I would be in a better state than what I am now.

Personally I think what University is should be shrunk down instead of being extended. They should teach you all the basic elements in a year like TAFE and then it's up to you to find experience, or you can come back for another year to be taught more advanced stuff, the latter being the 'if all else fails' option.

So overall this is me once again saying, if you're in Uni and doing nothing else to help you towards your desired career, I worry for you.

╠ Stumbling can get the best results ╣

I found a curious blog on one of the forums I frequent earlier today. Alice and Kev is a blog dedicated to the game Sims 3. What the creator has done is made two fail characters destined fr misfortune and disposed of all of their assets leaving them homeless.

A simple concept but the game has enough twists to draw you into the blog because anything can happen. They're not real but you still and personally I hope that Alice still manages to make something of herself.

When I first heard of it I thought it so succesful that it had to be a stunt by the company, however then I remembered who makes the game and something like this is probably beyond them. Turns out it is just a humble normal person who has stumbled on success.

It is incredibly effective at selling the product though, incredibly well managed. There's even a charity page for CRM so that he's not belittled for picking on homeless people. Personally I'm amazed at the simpleness of the concept and yet how powerful it will be. Goes to show that simple ideas can and will work.

╠ Death of...Death ╣

Those of you who frequent the works of Zac Martin will know all too well about his fondness for death of posts. Usually revolving around a physical or analogue style system trying to compete in the new digital age. Usually with controversial results.

Now as much as I'd love to do a death of death of's, they are far too successful especially for those with ego's the size of blimps, so the closest thing is Death of death.

Death is actually something that has lost a lot of its power in recent years. Death has most often be used in ads like quit smoking or speeding. However death has grown old. Death is currently in a nursing home, rocking back and forth going 'Back in my day'. Death is no longer feared. It's not scary. It's simply an end with no continuation. Fear these days lies in losing everything and having to live on knowing what you've lost. Cancer can do this...Death cannot.

So overall...I can live with dying, if you want to use scare tactics on me, death is as effective as a particularly perturbed unicorn.

╠ Being a Hero is Optional ╣

Recently I invested in the PS3's latest game to receive Sony's seal of approval through ridiculous amounts of advertising support, inFAMOUS.

The main feature of the game is the choice between good and evil. Personally I'm too much of a fan of damsel's in distress and the like so I can't run past any needy individual without stopping. However for some this would obviously be a little easier. I think this quote from the game rings true.

Any man can handle adversity. If you want to test his character, give him power. - Abraham Lincoln

Marketers in particular are not immune to this. We receive great power when put in control of brands or asked the tough questions. It can easily go to our heads, and specially with noone looking over us it can be dangerous. As the slogan goes, 'Being a hero is optional!'

╠ Iphone. Explosion or Trickle? ╣

As most of you connected types would know Apple launched the iphone 3gs late last night and everything has basically exploded with discussion.

An interesting thing I would like to point out is that Apple blurted everything out all at once. No bit by bit, in one night everything got posted.

This raises the curious question about why didn't they save some, let it out as more of a trickle to build anticipation. What I perceive to be the reason for this is the haste in which they are trying to work. No matter what some may say the iPhone 3g will probably still be the main contender and as such will face cannibalism issues.

So they've saved everything until now to give you ten days total until release to contemplate the information and make sure it is prominent in your mind at launch

╠It may not be a cookie, but it still says eat me! ╣

Those of you who have passed through QV recently may have noticed three little traffic light covered balls plastered everywhere. What they signify is a new health kick that QV and the city of Melbourne are participating in.

The way it works is that the green light is obviously the healthy option, yellow is a little bit naughty and red shouldn't be consumed unless you wish to face the same demise as Elvis. Also via a stamp card eating 5 healthy products gets you entry into a prize draw.


What I like about this campaign is that it actually encourages good habits, is actually filling a void by providing an easy identification system and also seems relatively inexpensive. I hope these lovable little balls hang around past the promo period as I see them as a great competitive advantage.

╠ The Internet is Pyramid Selling ╣

Over my many years scouring the internet I've had countless varieties of sites. One element that has seemed to play in each is a pyramid style structure. This blog is one such device.

There's always the person who brought you here who you look up at and think 'Someday that could be me!'. However that is rarely the case as success isn't usually easily imitated with the same response.

When it comes down to it going 'viral' is exactly the same as the aim in any pyramid scheme. You can simply sell them your products(subscribe/view) or join your effort(referrals, references). Similarly it also boils down to your original real life networks to adopt and propel you forward, hoping to find chains of people with sharing interests.

It's weird to think as huge an entity as the internet shares such a risky conotation.

╠ Who can you trust when designing campaigns? ╣

One of my class assignments was to design an advertising campaign. With my appreciation of Dick Smith up and it in its rebranding, it seemed the obvious choice.

My groups campaign idea was two tiered, there would be ads(<-Example) in newspapers, billboards and TV(To suit demographic) which would link to reviews which would be in newspapers, on the radio and obviously online for the more tech savvy.

The entire focus is around the Techxpert, getting the 'Techxperts' to show their knowledge, and by providing that knowledge to consumers, gaining their loyalty.

To contrast this the current campaign by Dick Smith revolves around 'Who do you trust when buying Technology?' which has featured on trams and TV. Unfortunately they haven't appeared on the internet, perhaps hinting they may be a bit wallpaperish.

So thoughts on my first campaign?