Here’s a very nifty postal gimmick … great for customising envelopes: the Google Map Envelope.
Simply enter a location in the box and get back an envelope ready to print with a Google map picture of the location you chose. Nice!
Here’s a very nifty postal gimmick … great for customising envelopes: the Google Map Envelope.
Simply enter a location in the box and get back an envelope ready to print with a Google map picture of the location you chose. Nice!
A huge sign on a hill shouting out Wellington’s high-standing in the movie industry seems a good idea but the slang word chosen — ‘Wellywood’ — has long been a slightly juvenile, throw-away and ironic term that has somehow crept into the mainstream.
And as a PR opportunity for the capital’s undoubted world-class skills and success in international move-making, the Miramar hill is a great site for incoming tourist flights, but Wellywood is an opportunity wasted. It may be familiar and humorous to some ‘in the know’ but I’m siding with the growing number of voices calling it tacky.
But at Facttactic we’re not in the business of criticising things without offering positive solutions so it was great to see the guys at online-design outfit Skull and Bones with their interactive Wellywood Sign Generator. Type in your own word or phrase and see what it looks like on the side of the hill!
Do you like to ‘think outside the box’? Well, keep it to yourself! The phrase has just been voted the most annoying office buzz phrase, followed by ‘Let’s touch base’ and ‘Blue sky thinking’. Here’s the top 10 most annoying phrases.
It’s great to see that list — for a couple of reasons:
Firstly, because that empty phrase has long annoyed me and I was astounded to see that the pinnacle of Wellington’s international cultural scene — the Arts Festival — seems to have used it as the main metaphor in their marketing for this year. Have they no idea?! Or do they mean ‘one out of the box’? Another corporate and empty cliche. Bring back the zing!
The other, more positive reason I like it is because it is a great example of how to get global media attention. The survey comes from a London firm, Opinium; and, if you Google it, it has appeared in more than 70 media outlets around the world.
A snappy idea, a well-crafted media release, the reach of the internet and you have an idea that can quickly go global. The actual content of the release may not have a direct spin-off for the firm, but the wit and relevance behind the whole thing means its name is highlighted globally and positively.
By the way, the annoying jargon came 4th on a list of things that annoy workers the most. Grumpy or moody colleagues, slow computers and office gossip made up the top three.
A good read here about the marketing efforts of the Big Day Out organisers and whether their ‘controlled kaos’ is really giving the finger to mainstream society as inferred, or is just another slick commercial money-making machine in poor disguise; and in today’s marketplace, where ‘authenticity’ is the name of the game, the article is a good dissection of where the BDO’s marketing authenticity really lies.
Have you ever noticed that a large number of Hollywood movie posters have blue and orange as their two main colours? Blue for tranquility and orange for action and energy.
It’s the best combination of colours to lure people into the cinema, they reckon. Think that sounds far fetched, check this page out!
I’ll never be able to look at another movie poster again … but it does shows the power of colour in communication.
You might also be interested to read an article on an NZ Trade and Enterprise website that looks at how businesses can use colours to guide customers to action, especially on websites.
Digital marketing is becoming the most influential and representative manner in which to engage an audience, and this is down to social networking, according to a report in the NBR this afternoon.
The NBR website reported ‘Google innovationist’ Justin Baird, at the Digital Now New Zealand 2009 conference in Auckland, saying that marketing was “no longer about broadcasting your messages and then moving onto the next thing – it’s now an ongoing dialogue, which in turn is an amazing opportunity to learn from your customers via very direct feedback”.
Not a new message, but good to see it reinforced in New Zealand — and applicable, of course, for PR plays, too. Read more from the NBR here.
Update 27 September
According to this NZ Herald article about New Zealand internet use:
* Nine out of 10 internet users participate in social networks
* More than a quarter have made a major purchase based solely on online reviews
* Ninety-seven percent research online before making a significant purchase
* Twenty-eight percent buy goods as a result of reviews they read on the web
The ability of organisations to get their message across in social media forums is now an essential and significant part of any business communication strategy.