Happy New Year!

I’m late? Just a little bit?

As social media communication in marketing has taken over in a rush, then saying this at 00.30 would have done the trick, but now i'm desperately late. Now when you say something has higher importance than what you say. Timing, timing, timing.

PR people have been aiming the timing of their press releases in order to predict when is the right time to hit news on the prime time. Now in the era of instant communication everybody has the possibility to share news at the core moment of their happening. There is so much power in one sentence. This has created a new possibility for the marketers to create marketing communication relevant to the moment. Sharp, determined and fast. Happy New Year.

Discover sharks in Discovery

See how many sharks there are in Bondi Beach from here.

Leave your heart in Riga.

The Riga Tourism Development Bureau (RTAB) launched a marketing and communications campaign aimed to promote tourism in Riga for five weeks and invites travelers from Estonia, Russia, Lithuania, Norway, Finland, Germany and Sweden to visit Riga as an attractive destination.

What I like about that campaign:

I love that they have taken one leading idea and visualized it so well. The idea is that once you have visited Riga, you will leave your heart behind. Those hearts are a pleasure to look at and are Latvian by every meaning. The concept of the website is very organized and simple. As a regular tourist I find it as very easy to use while planning a getaway. So I love the brand design and web.

What I do not like about that campaign:

Live Riga consider their symbols – a heart which remains in Riga and the city as the birthplace of the tradition of Christmas trees – are sufficiently powerful and of use both in the West and the East. About that heart they are right. This heart is cute and won my heart, but as a true Estonian, I know that the tradition of Christmas trees originates form Tallinn (Wikipedia), so I consider this money bad spent in this country. They should have picked another approaching angle to Estonians.

They have also brought out that they will be active in social media. That’s good. The funny thing is that Facebook link leads me to nowhere. When I type in Live Riga it is not a community, it is listed as a person and displays only “Limited information”. Second option in Groups is Riga Escort. So much for the reputation-building attempt. In YouTube you can see five different videos starring a person correctly chosen to match the target countries. Those videos are quite boring narratives telling what the person speaking likes the most about Riga. These actually do not speak to me at all.Last but not least. The budget for the campaign is LVL 898,000 (EUR 1 222 909) !

But I still love that heart and probably will visit Riga in the future many times.

What destroys great ideas ?

Pics made by Scott-C. Thanks to Helene, for sharing.

Augmented Reality

By now everybody knows that print is dead and internet has taken control. It’s hard to let go. So Esquire magazine figured out how to keep those readers buying magazine, creating a buzz plus raising curiosity in those who have not read it before. They use Augmented Reality meaning reality mixed with virtual content. You need Esquire magazine, webcam and a small downloadable widget. Please check out how it works from here:

I do not think that this is going to save the print. I do not think that they are going to use Augmented Reality in every issue from now on and i do not think that print will have anything to do in the future with entertainment or massive information sharing . But nice try though.

City bacteria in action

Kliinik 32 initiated a social campaign, focusing on a fact that more you take care of your teeth, less you have to spend on dental care.

2,5 m installation was placed in front of a popular shopping mall giving the citizens the opportunity to act as bacteria and destroy the teeth. In less than two weeks the bacteria had done their work with upper determination and the result is seen here.

They also opened YouTube channel to raise the awareness of the right dental care and teach how the basic everyday moves of hygienic procedures are really carried out. Please check out. A life changing experience.

My favorite video:

Simple life

As the true minimalist and simple things lover, I got to love those. More minimalist ads from here.

Browse magazines and books online

I came up with this site searching for a contact I needed for one client and I was totally amazed. As I saw in what quality and simplicity it is possible to browse magazines, documents and any other stuff you normally find in print. In my moments of boredom I have been looking around in Google Books, but this has a different target group and is far more better (read: looks better). The best features in my opinion are that it integrates with social networking sites, you can embed it to anywhere you want (like I did embed it to my blog here) and what’s most important you can search throughout the text inside the documents/magazines.

Besides fashion and advertising magazines I’m interested in, I found Estonian Hooaeg in superb quality. Pure joy. I hope all other Estonian magazines - the ones I usually have pay for- soon find their way to the online, as knowingly Hooaeg if for free.

If you’re interested in online browsing please check up also Issuu’s main competitors Docstoc and Scribd as well.

Photo montage made easy

PhotoSketch: Internet Image Montage from tao chen on Vimeo.

Now it's made easy to montage e.g. Obama with Martha Stuart into some dreadful composition. AD-s are about to loose their jobs.

Pension from LHV

I like big, bold and simple things. So I had to love the view from my office window this morning

Because I said so.

What does that mean? Who are you to tell me that? I do not believe you. This time is over when some authority can sell a brand or an idea by just telling “because I said so”. Even if you are the president. Go and explain yourself. For example this idea is good because: it gives you positive ROI, influences consumers in such and such way, creates buzz in this and that sector and according to research will influence this and that kind on people. Tell me about the brand differentiation and consumer engagement. Do not just assume everybody knows who you are and trusts you just because you said so.

Shower the web away

Website that browses through different environments with hectic playfulness, finally landing on Facebook. Time consuming but interesting.

See it from HERE

Flaunt your testimonials

Sunny Saturday. Road trip to Estonia’s summer capital Pärnu. Right in the heart of it, city centre, I found this pearl. “Margit’s beauty parlour” has realized the power of testimonials and knows that a good recommendation is worth more than a slogan that has been sucked out of the pencil. 

Besides testimonials there is also the visual context I cannot leave out. Although it is unclear weather this is the result you can expect or the lovely hairdresser. 

The power of copywriting

Living up to the professional standards

Standardisation is good. It disciplines. Gives a regime to follow and gives you confidence solving problems. But who knows where to draw a line and take a break? Professional standards make you a working robot. Robots knowingly do not have any feelings of thoughts of their own. Robots do not create innovation or long lasting relationships. Where are humanity, social responsibility and just good will? Standardisation killed them.

This post is powered by an emotion received at the local children’s hospital. 

The influence of centrifugal force

Science of motivation

Now I understand the gap between my 9-5 job and modeling fees. 

Think global, drink local.

I do not drink bottled water, but I do not think that bottled water is the cause of all worlds’ disasters. Some people do. And they have started a movement called tappening. They are acting for a good cause, so please check out www.tappening.com.

The interesting part is the viral concept they have initiated. It sais “Start a lie about bottled water industry. If they can lie, so can you. “ See it from www.startalie.com.

My favourite lie: Chuck Norris doesn't drink bottled water

After telling your lie, you can spread it via e-mail, facebook, twitter or digg.

As badmouthing, in my opinion, is not the best marketing strategy you can come up with, then I hope no one will copy this. Unless you belong to Estonians centrist political party Keskerakond. This is their kind of viral content.  

A new level in fashion marketing

I absolutely adore the concept of this website:  www.uniqlo.com/collection

An average person can only dream of going to a fashion show and walking out from there with their favorite outfit. It’s what rich and famous people seem to do. 

Here you can see the actual shape and the garment movement , instead of 2D catalogue pics.

This is how I would liked to shop.  Monton or Ivo Nikkolo, please take over. 

Social media is like teen sex

How to measure ROI for Social Media. Do not tell me that by the number of followers. All the qualitative benefits like loyalty, trust, passion and brand awareness sound very nice but are not really measurable. Or do nice comments count? I need something quantitative. Like sales increase, new clients etc. But these do not really seem measurable, unless you are specialized on online sales. Only thing that seems reliable is increase in traffic numbers. But are these numbers reliable and generate real cash?

One Indian web analytics guy said: Social media is like teen sex. Everyone wants to do it. Nobody knows how. When it s finally done, there is surprise it s not better.

Well, I think that finally all the teens grow up. And start to know better.  As the Indian guy said this 5 months ago then now should be all another era for Social Media. 

Internal error

Do not expect brilliant results from creatives, while they feel comfortable. They need internal error to push them into actions. Internal errors like fatigue, hangover, hunger, sexual tension, messed up personal life etc. Faultlessness does not lead to great success. Imperfection does.

Contemporary Beer

Years have showed that beer means different things to different people, so it is hard to make an ad that suits every taste.

Although Zoogami has positioned itself very strongly, it still leaves open air to the brand, by letting everyone to create their own image of the brand (in Zoogami frames – just in case)

Check out the website: www.zoogami.net/beer

Im not so overwhelmed by the design nor the result, but Im engaged with the experimental use of media.

Who does not find that link interesting, could find some pleasure of recognition from the beer ad below:

Personal budgeting via Internet bank

What if I could have a better overview of my incomes and spendings in the Internet bank. What if money movement would be classified and I could follow it in a simple chart. Then I could keep better track and have a clue what to save and how much money do I really have. Mortgage, grocery, entertainment etc. If its too complicated for a bank to make deals while making payment contracts with companies, I could have a possibility to classify those numbers my self (and a program would memorize my moves), what is what and see the result in a simple chart. Far better, it could be pegged to my husbands Internet bank and we could run a family budget together. After all that I would liked to see forecasts and future periods’ planners as well.

Please someone write a program. Not just some excel chart they offer in the Internet, but some kind of a mix-up of what I see, when filling in my tax return papers and Google analytics.

2020 - Traditional is dead