What it takes to be a good designer?

To understand better how people work, it is recommended to use Myers-Briggs Indicator.

Jung Myers-Briggs Type Indicator documents 16 personality types based on four categories: Extroversion vs. Introversion, Intuiting vs. Sensing, Thinking vs. Feeling, and Judging vs. Perceiving. ISFJ is said to be the perfect personality if you wish to be a designer.

According to Myers-Briggs Indicator designers are believed to be:

• Introverted – likes to work alone, seeks to understand the world, prefers depth over breadth
• Sensing – trusts facts and data, accepts the world as it is, prefers practicality
• Feeling – seeks harmony, considers the feelings of others
• Judging – gains control through planning, focuses on results

Michal Roller was curious if it’s really so and carried out the test among 64 designers, to prove it is not true and designers may have other personality traits and still be creative. The results were following (click on it to see bigger):

Results showed a strong level of Intuition and Judging among the group. And there was no strong personality trait that was the most popular. If you wish to know more about yourself please take the test HERE.

Vimeo takeover

Vimeo is known as a high-quality competitor to YouTube. Here are same good examples how to take over Vimeo. For full experience please see the Honda video here and my personal favorite Frito Lay Dips video here.

Honda Insight - Let It Shine from Honda on Vimeo.

“And Then There Was Salsa” from Frito Lay Dips on Vimeo.

Pepsi Max's TVC

Asteroid is coming. Show some love. Now.

Battery test

I know what happens to kids when they are bored. Some versions are presented here:

The brief given to agency was to increase sales of Energizer Lithium Batteries over the Christmas period. Target audience being parents, due to the amount of batteries being purchased over the Christmas period, namely for toys.

The slogan is: The world’s longest lasting battery.

But here is a very nice time-lapse video test showing which battery actually dies first. So do not let their toys dye, but to not buy Energizer. As these ads do not give a competitive advantage to the Energizer battery and as they are not the market leader then these ads are just nice battery ads, but to not directly increase Energizer sales. This doesn't count that they are saying to be the longest lasting batteries. As they are not telling the truth, obviously, and customers are not simple-minded.

McDonalds in the Vancouver 2010 mode...

Simple Viral

Now that Vancouver will be hosting the 2010 Winter Olympics, these are some questions people from all over the world are asking. Believe it or not these questions about Canada were posted on an International Tourism Website. Obviously the answers are a joke; but the questions were really asked!

Q: I have never seen it warm on Canadian TV, so how do the plants grow?(England )

A. We import all plants fully grown and then just sit around and watch them die.

Q: Will I be able to see Polar Bears in the street? ( USA )

A: Depends on how much you've been drinking.

Q: I want to walk from Vancouver to Toronto - can I follow the Railroad tracks? (Sweden )

A: Sure, it's only four thousand miles, take lots of water.

Q: Is it safe to run around in the bushes in Canada ? ( Sweden )

A: So it's true what they say about Swedes.

Q: Are there any ATM's (cash machines) in Canada ? Can you send me a list of them in Toronto , Vancouver , Edmonton and Halifax ? ( England )

A: No, but you'd better bring a few extra furs for trading purposes.

Q: Can you give me some information about hippo racing in Canada ? ( USA)

A: A-fri-ca is the big triangle shaped continent south of Europe. Ca-na-da is that big country to your North...oh forget it. Sure, the hippo racing is every Tuesday night in Calgary. Come naked.

Q: Which direction is North in Canada ? ( USA )

A: Face south and then turn 180 degrees. Contact us when you get here and we'll send the rest of the directions.

Q: Can I bring cutlery into Canada ?( England )

A: Why? Just use your fingers like we do.

Q: Can you send me the Vienna Boys' Choir schedule? ( USA )

A: Aus-tri-a is that quaint little country bordering Ger-man-y, which is...oh forget it. Sure, the Vienna Boys Choir plays every Tuesday night in Vancouver and in Calgary, straight after the hippo races. Come naked.

Q: Do you have perfume in Canada ? ( Germany )

A: No, WE don't stink.

Q: I have developed a new product that is the fountain of youth. Where can I sell it in Canada ?( USA )

A: Anywhere significant numbers of Americans gather.

Q: Can you tell me the regions in British Columbia where the female population is smaller than the male population? ( Italy )

A: Yes, gay nightclubs.

Q: Do you celebrate Thanksgiving in Canada ? ( USA )

A: Only at Thanksgiving.

Q: Are there supermarkets in Toronto and is milk available all year round?(Germany )

A: No, we are a peaceful civilization of Vegan hunter/gathers. Milk is illegal.

Q: I have a question about a famous animal in Canada, but I forget its name. It's a kind of big horse with horns. ( USA )

A: It's called a Moose. They are tall and very violent, eating the brains of anyone walking close to them. You can scare them off by spraying yourself with human urine before you go out walking.

Q: Will I be able to speak English most places I go? ( USA )

A: Yes, but you will have to learn it first.

The golden rule of Facebook marketing.

As a keen Facebook user, I think I’m going to explode if another Facebook fan page I belong to, declares sth. like “some more effort and we have e.g. 300, 1000 or 10 000 fans. Go tell everybody... and we will maybe give you a free ticket to the cinema/spa/ or wherever”. I do not want to feel their effort and I do not want to feel that I, as their fan, have become a marketing tool for them. I want to see interesting/useful content and warm-hearted/smart people behind it. Why they have to beg people to become their fans? Earn the trust, do not beg for it.

Teletransporter

Somebody realized how funny men are when they are lying and campaigned it.

Opera marketing

Last night was an important day for the Estonian National Opera. Finally they have got the point how real entertainment marketing is made. Although Estonian National Opera has its keen fans and loyal customers, their big dream has been that opera would spread to masses and it would be more popular.

Last night the Estonian National Opera and Estonian Television merged their forces and broadcasted a premiere of a light comedian opera emotionally fed into every Estonian: “The Love for Three Oranges” on two different channels. ETV showed the live performance on stage and ETV2 did live broadcast 1 h before, during and after the show. Estonian National Opera got their fame for musical theatre and Estonian Television had the chance to promote their ETV 2 channel, which has not reached masses yet, using it to broadcast the most interesting behind the scenes part.

The best part is that it did not come out stiff and boring, as to be expected. It was lively, interesting, full of good emotions and what’s most important: showed the side of the opera singers usually kept in vain: a very humorous and humane side. I’m not a big opera fan myself, but this was just a pure pleasure. And those who are afraid that showing a premiere on TV would reduce the ticket sale are totally wrong. Singers are made into the starts, everybody wants to see for themselves and the atmosphere described made even me wanna go and buy opera tickets for an upcoming season. It was a brilliantly conducted image campaign.

Brilliant, just brilliant.

L O G O R A M A

French guys have completed a short film that consists only of logos. The plot itself seems meaningless, but the execution is very funny and well done. Apparently they have won many prizes. Congrats. See their website.

Authors seem unwilling to share the full 17 min. short movie and already there is buzz that as soon as somebody downloads it to Vimeo or YouTube, it will be removed claiming to be under author protection. Well, I had the lucky chance to see it before removal and can say that all that buzz is not really worth it.

But everybody wants to see the movie everybody is talking about, but only a few have had the chance to see, so I hope that soon we get a nice case study how to generate buzz in order to promote a movie. I’ve made my small contribution here.

Here’s a short trailer:

Fish bouillon cube

Areas of expertise overlapping. Heavily.

When I came to advertising it was all black and white to me. Advertising agency does advertisements and marketing strategies, PR takes care of publicity and hard-core lobbying, media broker books the media and Social Media guys keep up the buzz. Today if I were a client I would be very confused, as the lines overlap heavily and in the era of economical slowdown companies have broadened their area of expertise not horizontally but vertically, taking over professions from other area-related sectors. And it’s perfectly wise to have a media-oriented person in classical ad agency to develop well-directed communication strategies or a web-designer in PR company to offer full service online campaign for clients who have decided to use only PR channels for public awareness. But it raises many questions. E.g. who should do the Social Media monitoring? Is it SM provider itself, PR, media or research company? Whom to choose finally to get the best value for money solutions that work: the price leader, the most prestigious one, the most enthusiastic one, the one who promises ROI etc.?

I think the answer relies in every company’s core needs and marketing strategies. But well known fact is that companies do not create effective complex strategies, people behind them do. So trust your inner guts and choose the right people behind your company/brand. Do not only judge by the reputed company name or the wide area of expertise. Choose the best professionals from every field and do not opt for all in one solutions, although it might seem more comfortable. The trick is to put them all working for you in the best way possible, so no one has a chance to get lazy.

Someone got Mini for Christmas !

Looks like someone got Mini for Christmas and threw the box away.

Ambient campaign by Mini, who placed large boxes on the streets, so garbage men could pick them up.

As an AM, I really want to know the city government who allowed to trash up the city centre. I do not admire the idea as it’s nothing new (look here), I fancy the people behind it.

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.