Sites to Get You Through This Holiday Season
I’m taking a break from the digital space until mid-January. Part of the sabbatical is heading off to Zanzibar’s hottest beach resort to do some sun and ocean worshiping while practicing my Hakuna Matata skills.r
2009 starts off on a very busy note with a jam-packed consulting schedule, some Cape Town trips in January till March followed by a multi-city trip to Europe (para um, portugal está chamando) in April (get in touch for consulting, speaking, or a plain coffee). Parelleled to this are some exciting business announcements. Now you know why I need this break in December.
If you’re not going away this holiday and can’t bring yourself away from you computer, here’s some interesting sites worth paying a visit:
- Play around with some fridge 3.0
- Get a dog to do some tricks
- Exercise your Imagination
- Write something and become famous
- Get oohing and aahing over doggy pictures
- Practice some Zen
- Get stuck into the superficial world of celebs
- Be amazed
- Get to know yourself with some free personality tests
- Install a number of free menubar items for your Mac
- Check out some awesome underwater creatures
- Gain some knowledge
- Witness the Icon War
Happy Holidays. Feliz Férias. Joyeuses Fêtes. Felices Fiestas. I hope you enjoy it as much as I will! See you in 2009; it’s going to be great.
Three Apple Ads of the 20th Century You Just Gotta Watch
I love Apple. Not because I’m a geek or a bouncing-off-the-walls creative but because one look at any Macintosh and you just want to touch it. Their ads, old and new, are equally as powerful as their products.
Most of us are familiar with the more modern ‘Get a Mac’ adverts, however Apple’s history showcases a pool of creative talent that resulted in who they are today. Below, in order of preference, are three of my favourite Apple television adverts from the 80s and 90s. What do you think?
Think Different
I’ve already blogged about how we should all live by Apple’s Think Different print ad. I thought I’d share with you the 1998 television advert featuring Einstein, Ghandi and Amelia Earhart, to name some. Influential stuff!
1984
Apple introduced the Macintosh Computer to the world in 1984 with a remarkable television modelled from the George Orwell novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. The ad also introduces Apple’s very powerful message of “not conforming to the norm”. It’s an absolute classic.
The Y2K Computer Bug
Part freaky, part funny, Apple’s 1999 Superbowl ad promoting Macintosh’s immunity to the Y2K bug leaves an imprint in your brain. Perhaps it’s the voice or something in that red eye. You be the judge.
Caua Raymond Auctions Off His Chewed Trident
Trident in Brazil launched an auction whereby folk could bid on a still flavourful piece of Trident gum chewed by Brazilian actor Caua Raymond for 15 minutes, the proceeds of which would go to charity. The winning bidder would also get to accompany Caua to the handover ceremony. The video below (it’s in Portuguese, like me) shows Caua’s chewing achievement.
Pessoalmente, penso que é um pouco bizarro 
A Question about Social Media…
Is social media marketing about giving a brand a voice and starting a conversation for the purposes of swindling people to buy a product? Or is it about creating a utility they can’t live without?
Nandos & Evita Bezuidenhout Take On The ANC
Hilarious!
Nine Things Salespeople Won’t Tell You…
- That idea will not work.
- Your company isn’t suited to this.
- We cannot help you.
- We’re prepared to work - and charge - based on performance.
- We have no idea what we’re doing.
- This is going to be time consuming.
- Don’t stop your traditional media spend.
- The only products we understand are the ones we’re selling you.
- That shirt you’re wearing doesn’t quite suit you (hey, we all need to look good).
Please Fix the iPhone
When Vodacom introduced the iPhone to South Africa in September, I was one of the first to spurge R7k in the hopes of getting one of the most advanced cellphones on the market. Then, like many others, I realised that while I love my iPhone’s applications. sleek sex appeal and “oh so lick me” interface, it’s quite an archaic device; bad battery life, bulky size, no MMS or forward SMS functionality, no 3G sharing with a computer, no wireless synching capability, to name just some. In fact, it is like having a vibrating, sexy loaf of bread in your pocket.
I’m not too bothered about the price of the phone - it is an Apple after all - but I do think the iPhone user community should be somewhat disgruntled about the phone’s missing (basic) functionality. And that’s why I applaud the guys behind pleasefixtheiphone.com, a website where iPhone users can vote for the things they want Apple to fix on their mobile devices. There’s also an iPhone version of the site so that we can add to the wish list as we come across bugs.
The website has received to date an incredible 1,843 wishes and 376,607 votes! Here’s hoping Steve and his Apple geek force are listening!
Americans, Please Don’t Vote
This engaging PSA (public service announcement) as created to encourage the American youth to register to vote in the American election, currently underway. Brilliant!
Quite frankly, this is something that needs to be created for our own country.
A Lesson on Word of Mouth (Viral) Marketing
Sometimes when you want to come up with the next best online campaign, you need to study those websites that get the fine balance between knowing your target market (customer) and building a successful brand.
Here’s some to get you started.
- Jamie Oliver’s Ministry of Food
- Barack Obama’s website
- MySpace layouts website Whateverlife.com
- Puma’s Mongolian Shoe BBQ
- Philips Bodygroom’s series of websites
- Coca Cola Zero’s microsite
Introducing DestinyConnect
You may have noticed that things are a little quiet on the blogging front, mostly because things at Cosmedia are heating up. We’re currently working on a number of corporate projects and I’d like to boast - if I may - about one project in particular.
Over the past few months I have been working hard with DESTINY Magazine, South Africa’s first high-end women’s magazine combining business content with fashion, beauty and lifestyle, on the strategy for an exciting new website called DestinyConnect, “a social networking site for entrepreneurs, professionals and business-minded women, to connect, support and empower themselves and each other.”
The website went live on 27 October to coincide with DESTINY magazine’s birthday issue hitting the shelves, and has started to receive attention from readers and the press alike, enjoying a significant amount of traffic and interaction. On-site, users can create a personal and/or business profile free of charge, engage with each other and a panel of experts via blogs and forums, read magazine-related content updated weekly, and watch business and lifestyle videos on DESTINY TV.
The launch of the website sees the start of some exciting competitions too. First off, users who register and create a profile, either personal or business, could receive a Montblanc watch worth R36 000! There’s also a viral competition where users stand a chance to win one of six Sony Ericsson T303 phones from Virgin Mobile over a period of six weeks.
As I blog this I’m already hard at work on the next phase of this project, which has one goal in mind: to grow into South Africa’s leading online destination for female entrepreneurs, professionals, businesswomen and women interested in business. If this is you, be sure to register online.
David Ogilvy & The Truth About Advertising
In a revolutionary video, the late “The Father of Advertising David Ogilvy calls for a shift in the role advertising plays; how direct response advertising is far more powerful than “general” advertising. His brilliance translates to how social media and online marketing - in fact, all communication activities - should be about bottom line results.
Surviving Johannesburg, South Africa
Four years ago I moved from Cape Town to Johannesburg to claim my part of this vibrant, energetic, chaotic and dynamic city. Many called me mad. How could I give up waking up to the sea, the mountain and laid back lifestyle?
During my many travels each year, both business and personal, I’ve come across many cities that I could easily call my home. Munich, Lisbon and Bangkok are just three examples. It’s the nomad in me I guess. Yet nothing quite equals Johannesburg. It’s a mad place for lack of a better expression. Where wealth, luxury and success meet poverty, crime and pain. It’s a place that defines the word survival!
A friend shared a promo (shown below) with me for an upcoming documentary called Surviving Joburg. It does a great job of explaining what Johannesburg is really like and I can’t wait to watch the full tell-it-like-it-is movie.
Unhinged: Surviving Joburg - Promo from Loveland Plant Hire on Vimeo.
Breaking The Silence On Poverty
According to UNICEF, 26,500-30,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world.” In 2006, about 9.7 million children died before they reached five years of age. 923 Million people across the world are hungry resulting in one in three people dying prematurely or having disabilities.
This is the reality. All over the world there are people - mainly children - who don’t have enough to eat. They go to bed hungry and wake up the next morning with no food or water. They live in this cycle every day until eventually they lose their battle. It’s a sad reality that we must be aware of and willing to support!
Through simple acts of kindness we can make a huge difference to the lives of countless men, women, and children who live in the poorest parts of the world. These people live with hope that tomorrow will be a better day. It can be if we all help!
There are countless ways to help (please comment below with other suggestions). Donate food, clothing, funds and time to local charities. Support projects such as Street Smart, Care, Joinred and One. Sponsor a child. Visit the Hunger Site daily! Use Ripple. And break the silence by talking to others about poverty and its affects.
It’s as simple as this: if you care enough, you can save a life and change the world.
Today is this year’s Blog Action Day, an annual nonprofit global event that aims to bring together the world’s social media community to post on the same day about an important issue for the sake of raising awareness and sparking a powerful global discussion. This year the issue of focus will be poverty.
When Your Hard-Drive (& Apple) Lets You Down
After what can only be described as an incredibly relaxing indulgence at The Saxon this past weekend I woke up on Monday morning to find that my to-do list had miraculously produced more babies over the weekend.
One hour into my Monday morning routine of replying to emails, going through my week’s appointments and preparing for an important workshop, my Macbook froze. Thinking that it was yet another one of its routine dramatic gestures protesting that I work the machine too hard, I rebooted. And that’s when the unthinkable happened; a little grey folder with a question mark appeared on my screen. Nothing else happened.
After numerous failed attempts to reboot, including via the recovery CD, I rushed to Digicape - in a very dramatic manner I might add - in hopes that they would be able to assist. The verdict, after eventually getting the installation CD to work, was that my hard-drive had failed and was damaged, which equates to having lost all my data (except for my last backup of two weeks ago).
I love Apple products, not because I’m a geek or part of the advertising fraternity but rather because I think they are super sexy products (their icons are sexy enough to lick in my opinion), have the right mix of business and personal usage, and find that they’re really simple to operate. They’re also a great attention magnet - much like a dog or baby is. But this event - and other performance issues I’ve had in the past - has left me feeling somewhat annoyed, especially if you consider that the machine was literally, to the date, one year old and that I know of 3 exact incidents from my social and business circles. It begs the question “Is there something wrong wih Apple’s products or is this just bad luck?”
Lesson of the day: backup your data daily!
It’s My BEE Partner’s Birthday
Anyone who knows me knows that I’m the very proud owner of an English Cocker Spaniel. One of my clients even calls her my BEE partner.
Today Becks turns one. It seems like yesterday that I lay awake listening to her cry after I brought her home from the breeders.
In lieu that she spends much of her time with me at the office (and gives me a large amount of love), I thought it apt to share her with you.
Isn’t she adorable?
