Thursday, September 25, 2008

Tudish Piip is Back with REVENGE

I can´t believe they did it. I don´t understand it, I don´t want to understand it and I´m little scared. The whole situation reminds me of "Return of the Killer Tomatoes" - sequel to one of the silliest and the funniest low-budget flicks ever, but not in a good way.

It did not make sense the first time around and it´s not gonna work this time either, but they will not give up. Persistence - not always a good thing. Makes me wonder though, next year - they gotta do it - right? Right?

In case you forgot, here are my past thoughts about RIMI advertising efforts - Rimigratsioon.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Best Marketing Esimene Eesti Internetiturunduse Kongress

DAY 2


LIKED:

Cherry and white chocolate tartes.


Will McInnes, sotsiaalmeedia agentuuri NixonMcInnes tegevjuht - Somewhat likable, teddy-bear resembling stage presence. Made an effort with limited success to get the audience involved in the process.


DISLIKED:


Will McInnes, sotsiaalmeedia agentuuri NixonMcInnes tegevjuht - Kept it real basic,considering that the event was called Internet Marketing Congress I would have to say insultingly basic.

Used out-dated slides in his Power Point, realized and apologized for it. C'mon, is it really too much to ask for you to go over your stuff the night before?

Kept showing example Virals that date at least year an a half ago.

Talked and talked about what has happened in the past few years. It's Online Marketing man...nobody cares what has happened, we want to know what's gonna happen next and next and next. If you don't know - you should stay off the stage. You got nothing.

That pinkish brownish substance offered at the lunch buffet. Oh, the catering was done by Bonaparte. Good to know.

Best Marketing - see you next time.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Best Marketing Esimene Eesti Internetiturunduse Kongress

DAY 1

LIKED:

Reval Auto turundusjuht Rivo Saarna ja ADM Interactive loovjuht Erki Peinar - Online Marketing Old School, but done real well and with big money. New ideas on integrating Online CRM with Home-Page experience ( ability to access maintenance records for example).

DreamGrow tegevjuht Priit Kallas annab 10 nõuannet paremate tulemuste saavutamiseks veebiturunduses - Short, fluent maybe self-explanatory for some, but a lot of value for most.

Paul Clements, Cannes Lions 2008 Cyber žürii liige, TBWACopenhagen loovjuht - Energetic, fun, loved the look of true disbelief on his face when it hit him, how little most of the audience understands what his talking about.


DISLIKED:

Miguel Moreno Toscano, EU Interactive Digital Consumer Marketing Manager - Using stats from 2006 in his PowerPoint when talking about Online Marketing. Why not 1906?
What an idiot.


Aleksander Smigielski, Unilever Central and Eastern Europe Media Director - Not showing up and sending a really dorky video interview instead. Where's my partial refund?


Marta Klepka, Gemius International Brand Manager - Puts Time Spent up on the big screen and then doesn't answer my question about the possible insignificance of the Time Spent and Page Views metrics. Also sensed hostility from her even 20 rows away.


Overall atmosphere : Would it kill everybody to have at least little bit of fun. You got out of the office... Why not to smile or something?


I'll be back tomorrow. To find out more about the Best Marketing Conference click here

I'll be tweeting a lot, so if you're half as bored as I will be, you can check my short format rambling going to my Twitter feed

OOPS

Oops, forgot to include this one in the September 12 post " Best Video Ads Ever Made "
Got to be my all time favorite. Spike Jonze at his very best.


Monday, September 15, 2008

%%% JOOP %%%




WHAT A F%%K IS J%%P THINKING?

DO THEY THINK WE ARE %%%%ING BLIND?

ARE THEY TRYING TO MAKE US %%%%ING BLIND?

DON'T THEY REALIZE THAT WE ARE WAITING FOR 100% OFF?





As you can see I didn't use a single " ! ", lots of question-marks though.

Friday, September 12, 2008

Best Video Ads Ever Made

Funny = Best in my book.


See more funny videos at Funny or Die


Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Brand Tags - Fun with Brands for Everyone

Brand Tags. I stumbled upon this without any help from StumbleUpon and liked it right away. It's simple, easy to use and fun. Yes, you're probably not gonna use hours on the site and not visit the site over and over, but the concept in it-self is absolutely ingenious. So I got curious and ran a search that came up with this great article about Noah Brier and the way he came up with the idea during a sleepless night. Gotta give it to him, not everyone get's epiphanies like that when they can't get any sleep. I'm jealous.

Try it, have fun with it. I specially like the battle mode, it's like a childhood card-game "War", but with today's brands.


http://www.brandtags.net/

Monday, September 8, 2008

AS Starman - Efficient Customer Service with a Smile

In case you don't remember, I had a bone to pick with Starman back in July. In my post "AS Starman Can You Hear Me Ground Control" I was complaining about how I had no TV channels and an Internet connection that was not as continuous as I had hoped for.

Here's living proof that I can be fair if compelled to do so. Today I woke up in a battle mode so I decided to take my fight into the Lion's Den - AS Starman Customer Service Office.

Well...there was no line. A customer rep was dealing with a customer when I walked in, but she acknoleged me with the nod and that's enough for me. In about 20 seconds an another rep showed up, invited me to sit and then did something I was not prepared for - She smiled. I almost dropped the cable-box i was holding.

The rest of it is just as incredible, sure I did not get my problems solved right then and there, but that was my fault. See if I would not have forgotten the remote to the box they would have replaced everything at that very moment. They did give me directions though to their mid-town office, so I wouldn't have to drive back to them and told me that they will inform the other office about my visit.

Other than a little hick-up on a part of a trainee at the mid-town office everything went real smooth. She was asking for a document nobody should ever ask for, but sitting right next to her was another customer rep, may I add a very attractive one, who told her that they did call from the other office and she should just give me the new box.

And then she smiled. WOW. Customer service with a smile really is the best type of Marketing. No need to mindlessly spend money on mindless advertising. Thank you Starman for not ruining today. In case you didn't know - there's enormous value in that.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Tony Hawk, Shaun White and Jeep Wrangler

Birdman and Flying Tomato. How cool is that? Jeep Wrangler and Birdhouse. Not once does anybody mention the brands during the program, but they're always present. How cool is that?

Product placement combined with advertising that's not intrusive. That's the way to do it.


See more Tony Hawk videos at Shred or Die



OK maybe I'm not being completely objective since Shaun White is possibly my favorite athlete.

Monday, September 1, 2008

I Love My Car

I do. I love the way it looks, I love the way it drives, I love that it's not an expensive car, I love that it's not a cheap car, I love the looks I get from passersby, I love the way kids smile when they see it, I love when other people driving the same make wave at me( specially the pretty women ), I love the way pretty women know after seeing my car that I'm not overcompensating and I just love my car.

For everybody who's not seen my car, I drive a black Mini Cooper with speed stripes. How did they do it? Pretty much every brand, every company is looking for this kind of customer loyalty, this kind of customer devotion. This is it - the Holy Grail of marketing. People who paid money and have no regrets, people who will not be shy about telling others about not having any regrets. Unbelievable.

In todays marketplace that is usually over-saturated with competition and looking for an easy way out with plain stupid advertising it is hard to imagine that a brand can accomplish this. Does that mean that everybody should quit? I beg you, please don't.

Just think about it, you don't have to make the best product or the cheapest product. All you should shoot for is making a product that your customer cares about and maybe , just maybe they will call it Love.