Twitter birds are liars

How reliable is Twitter as a source of information, especially when other media channels are sleeping?

Twitter itself is saying that they are without a doubt the best way to share and discover what is happening right now. Well, I must agree about the way to share and “right now” but "discover"  thing should be improved with words  “discover what is happening right now in the mind of users fantasy”.

Let’s take an example. 19 of December. The elections of Belarus president where Alexander Lukashenko won. the things what happened after the elections in short: 

Thousands of opposition protesters in Belarus have tried to storm the government headquarters, following the country's presidential election. A lot of people injured, because demonstration broke out in the capital city of Minsk in support of opposition presidential candidates. It happened because Alexander Lukashenko has been declared the winner, but the opposition claimed that the result was rigged. Interesting note: European Union promised to give 3 billion euros to Belarus, if the election will be held in democratic way. More about the protest  read here.

While all the media kept silent, the social network Twitter made an awesome buzz. Hundreds of new tweets every minute wrote about the situation in Minsk. All the main information channels was waiting something. One of the most popular tweets was: „CNN, BBC, Euronews WHERE ARE YOU?! Yes, Korea is tense and yes, it's snowing, but the big story is October Sq, Minsk, Belarus.”

On that time it was the only source of information to understand, what is happening in October Square. From this point of view, the Twitter really showed it’s power, when the other media channels are slow or unwilling to broadcast the happening. One very popular tweet of that night was: „The entire value of Twitter is not in tweets like "I'm Valerie, I was in a toilet ", but manly in such kind of moments.”

At the same time the main information what was retweeted the most was that there are tanks all around October square and 4 people are already killed in Minsk.” These messages created mistrust in my mind, because there was no prove- is it true or not. Hundreds of people retweeted this information and spread all over. 
Next day when finally news channels started to give an information about this happening, nobody talked about tanks and killed people. Why? Because it was lie. Anyone could write down whatever come in mind and spread it, because the attention for any information about this event was enormous. Those twitter users who didn’t understand the tweets in Russian but wanted to know what is happening, asked to translate these tweets in English. More and more misleading information came out. Another interesting thing. While this buzz in Twitter happened, immediately a fake profile of the Belarus president was made, where "he" gave "his" opinion, which again was immediately retweeted.

So, how really powerful is twitter in such kind of moments when people are the journalists and tell the news? The bright and really amazing thing is that you can get these news immediately and from the person involved in the happening, but from the other point of view, they have the opportunity  to manipulate and spread untruth information. I don’t say that the news channels doesn’t do, but I think it’s more about hiding the information or telling the half true. In Twitter case the lies are more brutal.  

My Starbucks idea- success or failure?

"My Starbucks Idea" is the site of Starbucks where Internet users all around the world can register and post their ideas about how to improve Starbucks business, than vote for other Internet user ideas, leave comments and see the implementation of the best ideas. The point is that customers know better than anyone else what they want to improve  in Starbucks.

The idea is really simple- you as a customer post your idea, then other Internet users will vote if they like your idea, their comment your post, discuss it and if your idea get a lot of attention (votes), Starbucks will implement this idea and Starbucks will improve customer satisfaction.

It’s a good and clever point to listen your customers and threw listening get their involvement and their ideas. Internet users discuss them, comment, say their opinion. When they post their idea, their spread this message to all social networks they are involved and Starbucks get a lot of attention.

 In this way Starbucks also implement the idea Starbucks is all about experience, it’s not just a cup of coffee. They have created this feeling into customers minds that they are the 3 place between work and home.

So, this in my opinion is the success part of the campaign- perfect engagement with customers and personalized communication. Then where is the dark side? I made some research and found a lot of articles about the failure of this campaign. “My Starbucks Idea, despite receiving over 75,653 ideas, has only implemented 315 ideas to-date, an even more miserly 0.4% of the total.” The negative aspect is that they are claiming to be a company which are listening their customers and get the input from them. At the same time it’s clear that they actually don’t use it. It’s like a cheating, because they actually implement the customer ideas which they already had in their minds. Here you can read about it. So they declare that they have implemented customer ideas when actually, they haven’t. So you get a feeling of cheating and  create some kind of gap between customer satisfaction and customer expectation.

In conclusion, my opinion is that in terms of social marketing campaign, it’s a success, the way they promote their website and their brand idea is great, but from improving business from customer research is a failure. Customers are not stupid. And I don't mean here the "Diesel" stupidness. I hope that kind of stupidness is inside of all of us!

Pepsi refresh the word

 OR "engagement with customers  nowadays is the key aspect of success"

I want to share a good example how to use the social media towards  customer engagement- „Pepsi”  campaign called "Pepsi refresh project". The idea of this campaign is to look for the ideas of people and businesses that will have a positive impact on society and get  these ideas awarded. The total amount of money "Pepsi" is going to spend are 20 million dollars. It encourage people to think about how they want to change their community. Who wins? The ideas which have the most votes from Internet users.  "Pepsi" spread this message using social media such as Facebook, Twitter, website and Youtube with the aim to involve and engage customers. 

Of course, "Pepsi" still need to go a long  way to reach the amount of the audience like their main competitor- "Coca Cola"- on Twitter "Coca Cola"'  has 3 times bigger audience and on Facebook- 18 times than "Pepsi". 

It’s a good example of social media use and how the company „work” and show their vision- „PepsiCo's responsibility is to continually improve all aspects of the world in which we operate - environment, social, economic - creating a better tomorrow than today." At the same time this vision sounds very modern, so I'm not sure they haven't came with this vision now, to get an idea into customers minds about "socially responsible company", because that's the hot topic now.

Anyway, they have gain a lot of good things with their campaign- the number of fans  is growing, they are getting more and more ideas how to make the word better .They see what people are concerned about, which are the most popular topics, they are engaging with customers and what is not bad at all- they are showing their attitude towards a better life. 

The only thing I’m a little bit confused is that I don’t see how this campaign goes together with their previous one, where they used expensive testimonials to advertise their brand. Now this idea about making the word better place for me is like a contrary with the things they did before. For me they are like saying: „Hey, instead of paying a huge amount of money to Britney or Timberlake, we donate this money for the aim of better world." 

But anyway, good job Pepsi, I like your new attitude! 

Website of Pepsi refresh project 

Successful Multibrand stratergy case in Pharmaceutical company

 or "Sometimes the most unbelievable strategy works the best"'

When company launch a new medicine or new formula, they have patent protection for 15-20 years.  At the time company has their patent protection, they are the only player in the market and it means a very good profit for company. But what to do after the patent date for the product  has been expierd? A lot of other competitors copy this product. In that case there are 2 options. It’s time to develop new formula, because it’s the fastest way to get profit for the company or the second- to fight with competitors and try to get the biggest market share as possible. But, how to get a good market share if there are more than 50 players?

I had a wonderful lesson with Andrea Tomasini which has worked in pharmaceutical industry for a lot of years and he said that the strategy he applied and let him get the biggest market share for his pharmaceutical company, is the multi-brand strategy.  

Multi-brand strategy refers to a marketing strategy when 2 or more similar products of one company are putted under different brand names. It is based on principle that if the first brand has became successful, than the company develop the second brand without a lot of expenses. Also a very good advantage is to get a bigger shelf-share and leave little share for the products of competitors. It also gives possibility to generate different price and quality gaps. Because as we all know, customers are like prostitutes, going from one brand to another one. So this is a good strategy to “fight” with customers who are not always loyal to your brand. The worst scenario of multi-brand strategy  is cannibilization. 

So, how multi-brand strategy works in Pharmaceutical company?

From my great teacher experience, he launched 2-4 brands which was actually the same product  inside. He made different positioning for each brand, and there was one person of each brand who took responsibility for this brand. Also he never forgot the Pareto principle.

For each brand there was only one responsible person, so that made this person get in love with the brand. Of course the brand managers were "fighting," also inside the company, but the clever strategy influence this ""fight" in a positive way, because they felt a very high responsibility for their brand, so to escape from too big competition inside one company, Tomassini gave the same investments for all managers. And the most important thing he did- he never played with price. Price for all the brands (for the same product) was exactly the same. Tomassini: “The innovation, in my case, consisted in setting up an organizational structure and culture that maximized the opportunities offered by the market at the less relevant cost.”

He gave the same investment for every brand manager to develop the brands and what is more interesting- he gave the freedom them to choose, which would be the best activities and strategy for each brand. So you may think that the Internal Competition could make you lose focus on the market, but in some cases it really works. Also the decision about the price is quite interesting. If we are taking other example like Procter and Gamble, they are also making very successful multi-brand strategy by putting different prices and quality, but this Pharmaceutical company case is different, because there was no price strategy., the price of all the brands was the same. And there was no case in A. Tomassini long year experience, that the multi-brand strategy would cannibalize the first brand. Never. And that is really incredible. And what makes the whole story more appealing, is that with every case launching a new brand for the same product, he always succeeded taking away  a big market share of their competitors, but never from their own brands.

This in my opinion is a very good case to study from and to keep in mind that sometimes also most incredible and even unpopular decisions might work and make you the leader in your market.

Read more:

Positive and negative aspects of multi-brand strategy

Multi-brand strategy

How to work in a group

This article is about my experience and thoughts about this hard job- working in the TEAM. It’s about how person should or shouldn’t act with their group members.

The moral of the article is that never, never forget that you are a human first and only then (or in the university- you are trying to be) the professional in your field.

My experience and observation

In my IED experience I have worked in 3 groups with different people and also I have observed have other groups are working and I have absolutely different experience.

Advices to a better group work despite what I have experienced:

1. Don’t cut other people ideas just because it doesn’t go together with the strategy you imagine or it’s something you didn’t think before. Of course it makes you feel uncomfortable a little bit, because that means you need to come out from your comfort zone and maybe think in some other direction, so actually you are afraid a bit of this idea and you just don’t want to accept it because it makes you think again and look to your project from other horizon, but it can make your project better.

2. Don’t cut other people ideas even if you think the idea is stupid, because it’s only your perception and maybe it’s not the best one. Try to discuss it, develop it and you will see, it will lead you to a new idea! Try to understand group needs and characteristics, what every person of group can give. What are their strong characteristics which can be useful.

3. If you are not discussing ideas other group members’ advice, or you just cut them, they will be afraid to tell you something next time, so the whole climate in the group will be destroyed and they will not be able to give as much contribution they actually could. Listen, listen, listen! The climate in the group is essential important to succeed. There are always people in the group, who try to lead through creating a climate for fear, competition and that in my opinion is the straightest way to have problems. Try to lead by creating positive atmosphere.

4. Don’t be afraid to admit you are wrong, make joke on yourself. Group members appreciate person who admit his own mistakes because after all it’s a human quality and then other members of group will not be afraid to tell their thoughts, opinion, even if they are not sure about it.

5. When it comes to the presentation, let your group members talk if they want! Let them grow! (Come on, guys, it’s a school!) Not keeping the bad climate, atmosphere by not letting your member speak! Image how much energy you spend? If you are a member of a group (especially in the university) what gives you the right to decide- who will talk and who will not? You are all equal and if you can help your group member to grow- let him do it! And if before the presentation you say him: “Our asses are on fire because of you!”, do you think you will really help him to be the best on presentation after that kind of words? I have a big doubt. In every single step try to support your group member and let them feel your shoulder! And after- be happy if he did a great job, because you let him grow.

6. Sometimes students in university, when it comes to a group work, try to have a certain role. I absolutely agree in the group there should be a person, who is putting together all the ideas, like the responsible one. BUT- that doesn’t give you a power to decide, what you will put on the presentation and what not. You are just a secretary who put everything together not the person who gives the green or red bottom for your group member ideas.

7. The last but not least- humanity. I have seen some students are really punishing themselves because they are not use to be the “bad persons” who are trying only to tell their opinion and the rest one they don’t matter. I also was the bad person in one of my projects. That made me feel bad and I was so happy that I finished that project. So, the question is: “How to “fight” whit such kind of person? Why you need to be bad, to make them respect you?” I still don’t have the answer to this question.

Team success is usually the reason of combined hard work with the respect of your team members and that’s the key to success.

P.S. I'm not sure that the attitude I wrote is professional, but I’m sure it’s human.

Stop motion = Step By Step motion

OR " A fantastic tool to use in a viral marketing"

In this article I will share an information what is "stop motion", what are the main tools to create "stop motion" and have it has been used in commercials, video clips and movies. 

In my opinion stop motion is like a step by step motion, created from a lot of pictures which follows each other and making the story. The pictures follow each other and in every picture there is some little change which is making movement. Step by step movement, like making an animation. The only difference is that you can also make this animation with real things, real people and etc. Together it creates story. 

Wikipedia explains the main idea of “stop motion”. It is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence.

“Stop motion” was born on the 19th century and it’s the first special effect used in cinema. Nowadays anyone can create this moving animation effect. What are the main attributes to create a „stop motion” movie/clip/commercial? 

Firstly, you need an idea. As we know it’s actually the hardest step. Afterwards you need a lot of time and patience, because usually it takes more time than expected. Then  you need camera, tripod and program „Windows Movie Maker” which is the easiest  one or „Adobe Premiere Pro”. Ready to start? 

In Internet world we can see more and more videos made in "stop motion" technique. Mostly though it is the amateur level and professional level is seen rarely. Usually, they also exceed the 10-minute length. This is largely explained by the fact that this technique is very time consuming and requires great attention and concentration. But "stop motion"  is an excellent way to draw and retain Internet users' attention, especially for making the campaign viral. 

The most common „stop motion” tricks are object „revival”, give people and object possibility to move, fly and to create unusual situations. 

In my opinion here are the best examples where the "stop motion" technique have been used:

 Sony Bravia commercial

 xBox360 commercial 

As we saw on these examples, the clay figures were used. That is called clay animation or clay-mation technique. Clay figures are used a lot  in "stop motion" because of their ease of repositioning.

This is the most popular "stop motion" video, it was made as a music clip for a song by Oren Lavie:

Her Morning Elegance 

This video was and still is incredible popular. Here you can see have it was done and how many awards they won:

Behind the scenes

Of course this video become so viral, that it has also a parody:

Parody 

As we can see "stop motion" is a fantastic tool to attract viewers attention! And to develop your own creative thinking, take your camera, go outside and create your own "stop motion" video. It's really fun. 

P.S. Here you can find very simple "stop motion" videos which I have created just to understand if it really works. And it does. (It took 3-5 hours to create each of them)

Flying people

"Life" objects

Painting with "stop motion"

“The new trend of social media – Foursquare”

OR  “Let burglars know that you are not at home”

When today I was posting a tweet on my twitter account, I noticed a new feature. The idea is that you can add information about your current location. The information is shared publicly and it can be either your exact location (coordinates) or place. Of course you need to have other applications or mobile devices that support this feature.

So, I started to think that it’s actually the main idea of location- based social networking service which already has been offered by a lot of networks. The main players are Foursquare and Gowalla. Why these new location- based platforms are so appealing? How you can use them from business point of view? I tried to understand the  positive and negative aspects of Foursquare.

What is Foursquare? 

It’s a web and mobile application, that incorporates gaming elements and you can use it wherever you go.  Click here and find out what is Foursquare

The good things I found out about the Foursquare from the business point of view are:

• It’s a perfect tool for tourist business and hospitality industry. There are many benefits you can get out from it.

• You can see how many loyal clients you have and use the Foursquare (how many checking they have in your place) for giving them discounts. It’s the most common one.

• If your place is hard to find, Foursquare is the right tool to help you. 

• It helps to build loyalty. Eugene Schoen: "Speaking about Loyalty building & Location, Foursquare’s business model statement comes to mind: “Helping users connect with local business and helping local businesses connect with their best consumers”.

• It can be a good tool for giving you the recommendations, suggestions for things to do or in contrary- places to avoid. Everything nowadays are  based on people recommendations and advices. So, that leads to the fact, Fq.  can really help to improve services offered to consumers, because services will struggle to get „higher score”. Then better  recommendations and „check-in” for your service (hotel, hairdresser’s, cinema, club etc.) you have, then more possibility, that it will attract more and more people. So it work on both sides. Better for service providers and better for consumers.

• You can learn from consumer „bad feedbacks”.  That means that people can give their feedback about things to improve (they give general advices to you). So you get free and honest recommendations which comes directly from the consumers which are using your service.

Click here and read more about Foursquare marketing potential

• You can use Fq. to connect with your friends, see where they are right now, what places they usually visit and the opposite. You can also post your „chek- ins” on your account on Twitter and Facebook.

• From the consumer point of view, you can see the list „things to do” and explore and find a good service offer around you. You can also see the „The things to avoid” list.

• Fq. is the right place for people who love competition and game elements. You can get badges and points based on where, when and how often you "check in." It reflects your statistics. Then higher score you have, then better for your statistics.

• Fq. is for the „lazy travelers”, for the ones who haven’t done the homework and before  their trip, didn’t really check and plan the places they would like to visit. So, the only thing they need to do, is to open the application and see the nearest monuments, exhibitions, bars, disco clubs and choose. It’s also good for people who like to be spontaneous. The quote from the foursquare: „You can find happiness just around the corner.”

So far it’s about good things which I found out about location- based social networking service. Now it comes the point which bother me a bit.

 The thing is that if you use this network, then actually everyone know your location, where you are, what are you doing, your hobbies, the places where they can usually find you and so on.  It makes me bother a bit.

It’s obvious that you get a virtual value out of this network service, expecially if you have a service to offer, but on the other hand, I choose not to be so naked for the whole world. That's why I don’t have Internet on my phone. I don’t wan't that anybody can achieve me easily. On the other side, if I would have it, I’m sure I would try to use Foursquare and maybe even get in love with it.

P.S. As I said before, the biggest competitor for Foursquare is Gowalla. If you are interesting on that, but it’s hard for you to choose, click here and decide

The biggest failure of management

"The railroads did not stop growing because the need for passenger and freight transportation declined. that grew. The railroads are in the trouble today not because that need was filled by others (cars, trucks, airplanes and even telephones), but because it was NOT filled by the railroads themselves. 

They let others take customers away from them because they assumed themselves to be in the RAILROAD BUSINESS rather than in the TRANSPORTATION BUSINESS. 

The reason why they defined their industry incorrectly was that they were RAILROAD oriented instead of TRANSPORTATION oriented. They were PRODUCT oriented instead of CUSTOMER oriented."

Marketing Myopia by Theodore Levitt

Diesel campaign “Be Stupid”- too stupid for you?

Diesel, the international jeans brand, a couple months ago launched a campaign “Be Stupid” and opinions about this campaign are very different, from big feud to true love.

Here you can find “Be Stupid” campaigns posters:

http://www.diesel.com/be-stupid/ 

My opinion about Be Stupid is that it encourages people to look at things in a different way, to see beyond the “smart” life philosophy and be and act in a different way because only in that way you will feel the real essence of life. It is about to be brave and to try many options. 

The other thing that comes in my mind thinking about this campaign is that Diesel is going against the fashion. In my opinion this campaign’s message is that the entire fashion thing is pretty stupid. And Diesel tells you to play this game, to be the part of this game, so it encourages you to be stupid.

The strength of this campaign in that the messages are told in a funny way. The whole attitude, the way of talking is funny. This attitude has only helped to engage people into this campaign and its activities and that is the most important things of today’s communication- interact and entertain consumer and let him feel the part of the brand. 

Other important thing is that brand need to behave on what it believe and when you see the Diesel webpage or every single activity they are making now, it’s clear that they believe and they approve that they trust the message they give to us.

Here is a great example of engagement: “The “Be Stupid” campaign looks for 100 creative individuals to feature its coming Diesel Stupid Music Video.”

My conclusion is that Diesel make a deep connection threw the time about living in a cool and esay way  and also they are doing what the same category brands never dared to do. And I think it’s cool. 

P.S. The most I like the sentence: „If you have never done anything stupid, you have never done anything at all”.

The New generation

From all the books I have red about brand development, advertising and  marketing, one of my favourite one is "Brandchild" by Martin Lindstrom. 

This book is about today's gloal kids and their relationships with brands.

There is a lot of useful information, but some of it is really interesting or funny. I have added only few of statements which I wanted to share with you:

1. Nowadays the interactive generation is used that they get everything HERE and NOW. The generation that knows only immediate satisfaction, is very demanding.

2. The difference between our generation and the new one is that they have grown with abundance of information. They don’t know another world. 

3. Consumers who are 34-45 years old don’t change the brands they have chosen. The only exception is that their children force them to change the brands. 

4. Frequently children can been called the key decision makers in the family, also, when they are not using this product. Teenagers can really persuade their parents to try something new!

5. In one family of three, the parents ask child’s view, purchasing a new car.

6. For attachment to one of the car brands, it is found more teenagers than the affection of a particular brand of modern clothing. 

7. Child has better hearing, smell and sharpen vision then adult. For these reasons, child is a great aim for commercials which cause feelings.

8. The loyalty towards brand may already begin to form children who are 2 years old. 

9. Teenagers in USA, Australia and United Kingdom in front of TV spend for 60% more time then at school. 

10. It is useful to work with paradoxes. Children don’t want products for “children”.

11. Regularly contact with children and follow their life's. 

12. Everything points to the fact that if the brand ignores children's market, it is doomed to extinction.(I like this one a lot!:) )

How to sell sustainability in the fashion industry

The most important rule I learned working for a project for sustainable fashion is following: want to sell sustainable product, don’t mention it is sustainable. So, the question appears: “Is it possible to transform the ethical fashion into a business interest in fashion companies?” 

This video was made for the project of sustainability for a network which business model is to sell sustainability but at the same time fashion, so there you can find an answer about sustainability from my and my group point of view after research we made.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8kEhvOsR30

To start, I want to explain what in my opinion is a sustainable business. It’s a synergy between environment, people and profit. If we talk about sustainability, then every each of you have a different thoughts and opinions what it is. “what is sustainability? ..no one knows” Vanessa Friedman (Financial Times). So that's why it’s so important to define, whats for your business is sustainability. 

Why it is so hard to sell sustainability especially in the fashion industry? Because there is no knowledge how to sell it. Sustainability is the new direction to get attention but it’s very hard to communicate it. You have to say in a light way that the goods are sustainable. It’s the vanguard of sustainability- you sell it but you don’t say anything about it, because nowadays all that people want is the word “fashionable”. First the good need to be chick, fashion. They need to be showed by the design point of you and then maybe mention also that it’s a sustainable product. At first consumers need to be involved into something and only when they are involved, you can show the sustainable part of it. 

Sustainability in fashion means fashionable yet responsible. Unfortunately, people think that sustainable goods are ugly what is not true. It’s hard to change this attitude from customers, especially in the fashion area. Sometimes consumers are scared about sustainable products, because they think it’s something very expensive. 

It’s important to understand that sustainability isn’t the same as green. 

My opinion is that this is unique business opportunity- sustainability together with good design. Everybody say that sustainable is nice, but when it comes to action, nobody wants to buy it. 

It’s important also not to look into categories and categorize customers. For example, into customers who want to buy only sustainable product or into ones who are interested only in fashion. The more important thing is to look into people needs because nowadays they are going into too many directions and business will lose if it will categorize customers.

There you can also find a presentation for this business model example. 

http://prezi.com/qzu-oiwdyjpa/class/ 

Voyage into the „Internet 3 Italia” world

My  experience with the ''Internet 3 Italia"  as a customer is a priceless example how company shouldn't communicate with customers.

From 10 points Internet 3 doesn’t have more than 3, maybe for this reason the name is as it is.

To those who can’t decide which Internet is the best in Italy I’m sure of one- it’s NOT Internet 3. Italia .I would like to describe Internet 3 with these words: concealment of facts, providing of false information, anviling to understand customer, clients=rams.

I got Internet 3 when I came to Milan, it’s now 4 months ago. Why i choose exactly Internet3? Because this Internet deal very good with concealment of facts. Despite it, I thought it’s the best and one of the cheapest Internet offers, so I should take it. At first the only fact I dint’t like but I thought that it’s quite fair and that’s why they are so „cheap” is that I had to sign contact for 2 years. „Ok”, i thought, „I will be in Milan for 2 years, so Internet key for 19 euros per month and using limits sound good for me”. I signed contract and got my Internet key. Of course, all this process went 3 days, but that’s not the story.

The story is that I got my bill for Internet (i got it for 2 months), and the price was not 19+19 (for 2 month). It was 99 euros! I was really shocked and i went to the shop where they sold me the Internet. Guy from Internet3 looked at me and said: „Sorry, i don’t understand it, I don’t know what are these numbers”. He gave me the address where I need to go to solve this problem.

So, I went there, but the Internet guy gave me wrong address (they should improve they system), because when he gave the address, he looked in system. OK. I found the Internet3 store by myself and trust me guys, it wasn’t easy because in Internet you can’t find the address!!!

I went at 14:20 and it was closed. They start to work on Mondays from 14:30. OK, thank God I didn’t go some hours before because then it would feel a real disappointment. So, when they opened the store, at least 30 people run into the store and took these things you see on the picture.

I had to wait 1 hour. When my turn came, I explained everything (in my special language- half Italian, half English). So, here’s the explanation and you will not believe what you will read now:

31,67 euro per 2 month about Internet (OK, i agree)

0, 85 euro per activation (What kind of activation?)

16, 51 some other costs!!! (The explanation I got: „It’s just how it is!” I suppose taxes)

And 50 euros again Internet. So, how you think, what lies here? Why I again need to pay such an amount of money for The Internet? The explanation is MARVELOUS:

So, when Internet 3 has a bad connection (so, that means when they repudiate for what I’m paying them), Internet 3 switch to another Internet service called „TIM”, because they have better connection. And for that I need to pay extra 25 euros per month! Really nice, very inspiring.

So I pay extra 25 euros per month because they can’t offer me good Internet. That’s really incredible! And customer is so satisfied! So, I could take TIM which cost 35 euros per month and no limits, but now I'm paying Internet 3 25 euros and 25 euros to TIM, because Internet 3 can’t offer their service.

And for the sweet dish: When I said to the Internet 3 guy at the store that Internet 3 works really bad for 2 weeks now, the guy made a happy face and said: „Yes, yes, we now it, it is normal, our system is not working good now, but don’t worry, after few days Internet 3 will work again normally”. No comments.

After some while, I founded out that you can switch off the possibility to use „TIM” if „Internet3 doesn’t work”. How could I now it?? Internet 3 should really think about the communication part, starting from sellers, who are not competent enough.

 So, this is a very bad example how to make a communication with clients. "Internet3, I would like to give you a smart advice- 

Consumers give feedback and they expect to be heard. Otherwise they make noise. 

P.S. Mi dispiace for the bad quality of pictures, they were taken with mobile phone. 

Maslow and advertising work together

As I promised, here are examples of advertising messages based on Maslow’s pyramid needs.

So, the first level reflects on basic needs. My opinion is that this basic need level is used a lot to reach an audience, expecially the need- sex and there is no more important what kind of product it is- car, plant, shampoon or candies, this need can be used in all product categories.

Here are some examples:

The commercial of shower gel: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_ySo29c-Gg&feature=related

TV commercial of energy drink

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c81eRD2v0FY&feature=related

The second level reflects on safety, security needs. Insurance companies, baks uses a lot securiyt need to persuade people. I founded two quite good examples.

The commercial of insurance company

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aFosKYFlDg&feature=related

The commercial of travels insurance company

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5G7bGBUlx2M

Social advertisings also try to reflect people on this level: protect yourself, feel secure there is an example of social commercial about seatbelts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6Qhmdk4VNs&feature=related

The campaign of Obama is the third level in my opinion. The slogan: Yes, we can! Reflects on the need of belonging (together) we can do it together, we are like one power, so vote for me and you will belong to those who can!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsV2O4fCgjk

The fourth level is more about esteem needs. A loto f comercials try to attract their customers in this level, for example, promotion of social status.

Commercial of car:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8kiz2jNuLA&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqZZht9e-aQ&feature=related

What about fifth level? Well, as Malsow’s said, there are only very few people who have reach this level and actually I think that there aren’t much advertising which try to persuade their audience using the needs of fifth level. I suppose that such advertising reach very specific audience in specific fields, for example, science or medicine.

Finally, I would like to say that most advertising reflects on the level 1, 2 and 3!

Could you give me some example of the fifth level advertising?

Innovation+ Creativity= Crenovation!

     Yesterday evening I was absolutely amazed by the teacher and information she gave us! Her name is Serena Sala and for over 20 years she has been working in the field of Communications applied to image, compiling fashion tendency forecasts for major international fashion design studios.The most important topics we discussed was trend and consumer. So, I want to share about this experience with you!

      The trend is never what is happening now, but trend is something that will happen in future. It’s something that is coming, but not yet existing.

Watch this. Mac commercial “Think different”

And the commercial spot after 10 years:

Watch it here.

You see the same message, events, and people to underline who this company represents and what is their message. They had a clear vision about their brand and they still follow it. Trend- is something concrete and it is the best way to develop vision, to have an idea which will guide you. It’s important to create common vision so that people understand where the brand is going. 

You need to be different because then you are able to change the things. If you want to think different, open your imagination, otherwise you will see like everyone and then you will not catch people attention. To catch people attention- the most important thing today!

Nowadays we are in front of new era. The human being is in the center. And not the product or marketing.

How to think?

•Think of term of paradoxes.

•Think how you can measure things together, use things in different way.

•Everything can be created in geometric forms think of term of shapes.

•Environment. Relationship with nature will become more stronger.

•We need to take new things from other cultures.

•Keep the things simple and at the same time smart too.

•Change your tomorrow, changing today. Make your ideas concrete. The only time to act is today! What are you doing today, will make your future.

•Let your customers’ improve your brand!

•Sentence: “We can’t do it!” is the right direction to do something really good.

It’s all about people nowadays.

You need to catch people attention. You can catch it if you show something people don’t think about in everyday situations.

Nowadays catching people attention means catching their eyes.

People want to be involved.

People don’t like fake people. They want to feel that you are true.

Personalize everything.

The more you know about them, the more you are able to sell. Remember about people, they are alive!

Tell a story! People like stories! If you have a story, underline it, because consumers want to trust. People need and want to have some point of trust. They want to trust in something. Exellent example of making story:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vayGuuFiUI I guess if they would just show their new collection, it wouldn’t be so effective. You start to think about this story and interpreted it. It is different, so it works.

The other example, look, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhswOlqbPUU

Did it catch you? Prada goes close to art. What they meant with it? No idea! But, Prada can do it, because it’s Prada. If they are so powerful, they can speak in their own language. They have the power to do that.

You need to look at people and try to understand how they will change and what will happen in future?

Now it’s a digital era. It will change everything, people will have different values. What kind of values? We need to listen and predict. Think and try to see from different point of view.

Communicate today means get in contact with people. They don’t want to be informed. If they need information, they can go into google and find everything they need.

What today is reality yesterday was just an imagination. Try to connect the imagination and the reality today. Think what people want nowadays? They want to get more time.

Without problems there is no creativity. People ask for products which are full of creativity not only a comfort product.

You can make them feel little bit scared and get their attention.

Make people feel a little bit uncomfortable and you will gain their attention.

Put your add to places people don’t expect!

Don’t scream, everybody is screaming!

Get out from people world: “Wow!”

“Good enough” doesn’t work nowadays. You need to be more than “good enough”.

P.S. Serena Sala told us: "When you are working for some project and have an idea, but other collegues or boss say: “We can’t do it!” then you need to know that it is the right direction to do something really good! Trust me! I have more than 20 years experience."

My view to Maslow's pyramid

The basis of Maslow's theory of motivation is that human beings are motivated by unsatisfied needs, and that certain lower needs need to be satisfied before higher needs can be addressed. In advertising field the Maslow’s pyramaid is really important. In my next article I will talk and give examples to all 5 level of needs and how advertising messages are based on these needs.

Does virus marketing really help to sell?

Till the Music Business (tough by F.Selden) lesson on Friday I was absolutely sure, that virus marketing is one of the best advertising ways to talk with people and that you should definitely include it, writing a new advertising plan campaign for some product/ service/ music group or etc. Why? Because virus marketing has a dozen of good points. Here is my list of some of them:

Virus marketing provides an opportunity to break through traditional advertising fuss and gives an opportunity to reach audience more effectively;

If you are using virus marketing than product/service etc. don’t need to have resounding features to increase its visibility and create noise, because virus marketing already consists of communication components causing surprise and interest;

Unlike traditional advertising, virus marketing is not intrusive. On the contrary, people are willing to watch them in Internet and if it really works, then send this link to other Internet users. This is a very good word of mouth distribution technique.

Last but not least, it doesn’t cost any money. You don’t need to pay for space and audience attention.

To have really good virus marketing campaign, you need to follow some “rules”:

The most important thing is to create STRONG emotions (laughter, fun, sorrow, hatred). Virus marketing is 100% about feelings! Make something unexpected. Don’t make advertising, make story!

So far everything looks really great.

BUT! Let’s come back to advertising main purpose. There are a lot of various aims, but in terms largely there are 2 aims. The first aim is to attract more sales for the company.

The other one- help customers recognise the product of competitors. The second aim include a lot f other aims, for example, to build the overall company image, to effect immediate buying action, to create a reputation and etc.

My opinion is that the use of viral marketing depends from the main aim, it’s not for the entire.

The second thing about virus marketing („thanks, my teacher”) is to now, what are you going to do after you will put your video on Internet? OK, the idea could will be very good and the video will be watched more than 100 000 times, but what comes next and what will be the result of this video? You need to think about these thing BEFORE you make the viral. Whether it will be only one element? How does it fit into the overall advertising campaign? What comes AFTER the viral and what will be the RESULT of it?

I want to show 2 examples of virus marketing videos. One of them works, the other- no, but both of them are great and people love them!

The viral marketing video for the song "Here It Goes Again" by OK Go.

The video ir great and it has more than 2,682,760 views, 5,531 comments, 31,695 people added this video as a favourite. These guys get a contract because of its video („Thanks, teacher”), but nothing happens after that. The guys made an attractive virus, but they didn't consider about the next step. And what else- this video is sooo good, that they are now not able to surprise people with another such a great video. So, this example is like a Boom! And everybody likes that and everybody is looking it, but actually nothing else is happening. So the result of it is nothing. So, it’s a fail actually. One big „boom” and that it. The video now is living his own life and it doesn't help the band to reach some other goals on their career as a group. But anyway, this is a great example how you can build a video without a big budget behind it.

The second example of viral ad:

This video had an aim and a strategy. The aim I suppose is to show the companies attitude towards artificial beauty and it build the image of the company.

This video has more than 10,918,485 views,it has 5,364 comments and 39,664 people added this as a favourite. And what is more important- they follow their strategy. The company has defined the values and with this viral video they represent it.

Also, there are more than 10 videos who make an answer to „Dove” commercial, so people are really addressed in and they have their opinion (good or bad) about this commercial. So, this is an example, how viral marketing commercial fits into the whole strategy of company and reach the target audience.

Finally, I would like to say that you it’s a failure if companies uses virus marketing only because it’s modern and timely. It is really important to consider all the steps: the aim of the video, how it fits into the whole strategy and what will follow after it, it should be continued. People have just seen the campaign. They think, it was interesting, unexpectedly, and their emotions have reached a high level, the video has obtained their full attention. So what will follow? Of course it depends of the goal. Maybe it’s the right time to attract more sales for the company.

That’s all!

P.S. For the sweet dish...The teacher also showed a funny virus comercial example (parody) for the Beyonce song "Single Ladies". This video is watched more than the official video clip version :) Enjoy!