Budweiser’s “Lost Dog” TV ad at Super Bowl 2015 – Americana, the heart and the beer

Budweiser has a habit of airing ads at the Super Bowl that is decidedly American. this one at the 2015 Super Bowl is no exception. it has the feel, looks and tone of the everyday American, even the cowboy, but it has heart too. delivering the heart part is of course always done best with a cute puppy. with all these things in the brew, how can we resist? come on, lets pop open a Budweiser now!

McDonald’s makes a goal with this promo that will be aired at Super Bowl 2015

this is really a great promo. it is very creative and a perfect match to the advertising brand sell campaign of McDonald’s. it is rare to see promos that work so perfectly well with brand sell advertising.

McDonald’s has been running the “loving it” campaign in the US. in this promo, some customers will be chosen to pay for their McDonald’s orders with “acts of love” rather than money, acts of love like calling your mother to tell her you love her or a family told to do a group hug. they will air this promo TV ad at the upcoming Super Bowl 2015 this weekend in the US.

ad visuals that kill interest – gross out potential subscribers

we saw this ad at facebook. it is an ad for an iOS app where all you do is say the foreign words and the app will translate the words into your preferred language for you to understand what they mean.

that is potentially a great idea for an app except that the app is being sold using this visual in the ad.

i don’t know about you but to me nothing in that visual is pleasing or inviting. it is gross, scary and feels very, very painful. i don’t know how many FB users will find that visual appealing or enticing for them to go to the app store to buy the app because of that visual.

one of the principles in good advertising is visuals that work hard. one way to achieve that is have an image that visualizes the benefit.

yes, okay that visual does the latter – the visual is showing the closed zippered mouth is being opened for it to be able to speak. that is what the app is supposed to do – open the mouths of a foreign language so you can understand them. a closed zippered mouth is something we will not be able to understand.

while the zippered mouth being opened is what the app does, the choice of the zipper on the mouth goes beyond the message. the visual delivers another message which we think is more compelling and more powerful – that of pain and being grossed out. we can have a tagline that says “it’s so good you will kill yourself to get it” to communicate strong desirability but having a visual to execute that thought with something like someone blowing your brains out with a gun will not do it.

this ad forgets that there are other considerations other than accurately visualizing the message. a great  ad is a combination of many components and each of these components while they should work well together, all should also help the ad sell. one of the components not working for the ad and in this case killing the ad will make the whole ad fail.

this is a WAWAM!

~~~mindscape landmark~~~
carlo arvisu

 

 

consumer data is king, consumer insight is the queen

“consumer-driven-data” – that is a principle in marketing that is central in any marketing or advertising plan. it is also often used and referred to in many marketing and advertising plans and yet in reality it is hardly used and even more often very few really know what it is and how to find it. it is in many ways something of one of the most “lip service” done in marketing and advertising (“strategic” is another lip service”).

here is one article we found at the Washington Post on fashion retailer Timberland where consumer data is king and was used to renew and in many ways reinvent the brand to a successful turn-around. while consumer data is king, the consumer insight is queen.

always, it is not enough to have consumer data, what is equally important and to some degree slightly more important is to know how to understand, interpret and translate consumer data into a consumer insight that is used in marketing and advertising plans.

it is in that bridge between consumer data and consumer insight where most marketing and advertising practitioners fail at or are weak at.

How Timberland used customer data to reboot its brand

STRATHAM, N.H. — There are few shoes more recognizable than theTimberland yellow boot. You know the one: The high-top styling, the sturdy-looking nubuck leather, the rubber lug sole to protect feet from sheets of rain or piles of snow.

But the durable boot — and the rest of Timberland’s footwear and apparel line — was having trouble weathering a fast-changing retail climate.

Timberland’s revenue was basically flat from 2006 to 2012. It was losing market share in the Americas, its home turf and most crucial market. And it was barreling forward with a confusing and slapdash patchwork of marketing and product strategies.

Here in the United States, it had become something of a hip-hop brand as rappers name-checked “Timbs” in countless songs. In Asia, it was thought of as a comfort brand; in Italy, it was more fashion-oriented. Still more customers perceived Timberland as gear for the rugged outdoorsman, the kind of guy who hikes in the woods for days with nothing but his backpack and his Eagle Scout skills.

“The brand had become stale in many ways, and the focus wasn’t there,” said Stewart Whitney, Timberland’s president.

In the past year, though, Timberland has staged an impressive turnaround, with salessurging 15 percent in the most recent quarter even as the broader retail industry has posted only modest growth. Its sales have improved in every global market and every product category, delivering a fatter profit margin — about 13 percent in 2014, up from 8 percent in 2011.

Timberland has revamped everything from its product design to marketing to merchandising strategies. And data science provided the fuel and the framework for each of its changes.

The company says that the cornerstone of the comeback has been a two-year customer study in which it collected data from 18,000 people across eight countries. In analyzing the trove of responses, Timberland was able to diagnose its problems and to zero in on its ideal customer — an urban dweller with a casual interest in the outdoors.

“Research wasn’t a driving factor as much in the previous 20 years,” said Jim Davey, vice president of global marketing. “It was kind of a product-driven organization.”

This data-driven approach was implemented after the family-run business was bought in 2011 by VF Corp., an $11 billion apparel company based in Greensboro, N.C., that has undertaken a similar analysis at other brands, including the North Face and Vans.

read the rest here : http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2015/01/02/how-timberland-used-customer-data-to-reboot-its-brand/

what is this queen? how do we define and how do we get this queen that is consumer insight?

1. consumer data is not consumer insight – results from consumer research, be it quantitative or qualitative is NOT yet consumer insight, they are just raw data on consumer information, attitudes or preferences. these are just raw data that needs to put into some kind of a mental machine that will churn own consumer insight. many confuse “consumer data” and “consumer insight” as one and the same as when they certainly are not.

for consumer data to become consumer insight, you need to put a few of them together, connect them into a sensible whole and get them to jump out of a trampoline. consumer insight is something that needs to leap out of something, a composite of many points where eventually what comes out is very different from what came in.

2. your experiences or observations, those of the advertising and marketing executives, from the client or from the ad agency is NOT consumer insight nor is it the penultimate consumer data – okay, fine what you or your client think may be part of consumer data and consumer insight, it is not in no way the whole thing or even the core of what consumer data and consumer insight is. a person or even several people’s points of view, experiences or observations are of course valid but they may not be what most of the consumers think and feel. they may or may not be the prevailing and most dominant among the target market. the real and maybe the painful truth is that we, those of us in marketing and advertising are NOT the target market or target audience. our views and experiences are at best anecdotal and taking them as THE consumer data and consumer insight is like playing russian roulette.

3. once the right consumer insight is discovered, it becomes magic where everything makes sense, it gains power on its own and everything flows – that is how powerful consumer insights are. once you find it, your marketing and advertising plan will flow very smoothly from start to finish. you will see that ideas, concepts and strategies build on each other, on to like a strong pyramid. that is how consumer insights are used – they become the core of what you do,

it is possible to have several consumer insights and several may be used in a marketing and advertising plan but there will be a very clear order of things where the weight of one is the shadow of the rest.

we have been witness to just how powerful a consumer insight is. finding it defines the success of a brand. do not use it as lip service, take it seriously, its discovery will make you.

 

~~~mindscape landmark~~~
carlo arvisu

 

Most Viewed Video Advertising Campaign Of 2014

Top Ten Most Viewed Video Advertising Campaigns of 2014

While First Kiss tops the chart, the other 9 places belong to well-known brands, veterans of successful marketing campaigns. 4 of the 10 most viewed ads revolved around the 2014 World Cup, with Nike, Samsung, and adidas attracting 306 million views between them. The average World Cup themed campaign ad generated nearly 3x the amount of average views for a branded video campaign compared to 2013.

1. Wren’s “First Kiss”: True Reach of 156,670,932 views
2. Nike’s “Risk Everything”: True Reach of 138,929,384 views
3. Nike’s “The Last Game”: True Reach of 122,249,570 views
4. Samsung’s “Galaxy 11 The Training”: True Reach of 78,130,824 views
5. Always’ “#LikeAGirl”: True Reach of 60,281,400 views
6. Turkish Airlines’ “#EpicFood”: True Reach of 59,549,152 views
7. Budweiser’s “Puppy Love”: True Reach of 59,074,980 views
8. Dove’s “Patches”: True Reach of 58,645,812 views
9. Samsung’s “Official Introduction”: True Reach of 52,692,263 views
10. adidas’ “The Dream”: True Reach of 47,828,815 views

source : http://www.reelseo.com/first-kiss-viewed-video-advertising-campaign-2014/

Wren’s “First Kiss” Overtakes World Cup Campaigns as The Most Viewed Campaign of 2014

read here : https://finance.yahoo.com/news/wren-first-kiss-overtakes-world-140000694.html

 

Coca-Cola’s Fairlife Milk ads – sexist, sexy, senseless or strategic?

yes, you read it right – it is “Coca-Cola”. the drink company that we all know for its Coke drink in that familiar red colored bottles launched a brand called Fairlife, a milk product and the advertising campaign they launched it with is calling a lot of attention. the ads are called even by the company as “pin-up girls” and that is a great summation of what the ads are – they are a throwback to the 50’s pin-up girls of the Marilyn Monroe type of pictures and posters US soldiers used to have in their lockers while at war in Europe. for these ads, pin-up means sexy girls showing a lot of flesh, long legs in particular but this time liquid milk is covering the bodies of the pin-up girls.

first time we read about it, the article described the ads a “naked girls covered with milk”. that of course caught our attention but when we saw the ads, we thought the description was too much hyped with imagination, “naked girls” is something that did not come up to our minds. yes of course with the liquid milk as the clothes of the women, it means the girls are naked under the liquid milk. but then again aren’t we all naked under our own clothes?

the over-imagination aside (pun intended), we looked at the ads and asked ourselves several questions:

 

are the ads sexy? no, they are not. sure they show long legs and the women in them have bodies that will allow them to join beauty contests but sexy is not what we see in the ads. it did not inspire us to think sex when we saw the ads. what we saw were good looking women in the ads. not seeing sexy or sex in the ads may be a function of the proliferation of images in media and the internet that are far more sexual and body baring than these ones. heck, we recently saw the magazine cover of Kim Kardashian in full nude. compare these images to that and these are not at all sexy. it also helps that the over-all concept of the ads is the 50’s pin-up girls. it did not make me think of my grandmother but there is a certain playfulness and innocence when you think of the 50’s now that it is 2014.

are the ads senseless? no it’s not. it does make a good argument for being sensible as an ad. what it is doing is equating health with looking good. health to many of us humans is invisible and we need a lot of help to visualize health. doctors and science give us a picture of “healthy” through lab tests and numbers that show how much cholesterol we have in our body. but after a few seconds of seeing those numbers, we quickly forget how healthy looks like. seeing abs, muscles and in this case well proportioned bodies and long legs are excellent visualizations of “healthy”. they are memorable images that we usually keep in our minds as our goal in life and as we age.

are the ads strategic? yes, we think it is. the choices of the elements in the ads – liquid milk, nice looking bodies, women and health do have a certain strategic flair to them. this is the first time we are being asked to look at milk and what it does to our health in this way. what we are used to are children, cows and nature. the imagery is very eloquent.

are the ads sexist? first, the word “sexist” is one that can be very confusing to many. perhaps because it is a word that has been used as a weapon too many times and that it carries so much emotions that the real meaning of it has been hidden from many of us. if your target audience is women, it is not sexist at all. milk is a health drink and it is most useful for women for its calcium content and its importance to women. it can’t be sexist if women are the brand’s primary target market and target audience.

in essence this is what we are saying – we all got to chill! and yes, we do like the ads.

Nike’s Together-LeBron James TV ad works with its powerful visuals

TV is a visual medium and so are TV ads. TV ads are at their most powerful when the visuals deliver. this Nike ad of LeBron James and for the city of Cleveland has exactly that – powerful visuals.

it is a welcome back to Cleveland  TV ad for LeBron. LeBron is front and center getting his teammates to join hands as a team to play for the city. soon enough people in the stadium and the rest of the city join hands with LeBron and the team. the ending is the idea that the whole city of Cleveland has joined LeBron and the cavaliers on their quest for the championship of the NBA.

the ad in black and white is an excellent choice. it ads a lot of drama and grittyness to the ad. the only weakness we see in this ad is the copy. it’s a long ad, it’s almost 2 minutes and the copy was too repetitive and lacked depth and interest for the time that the ad was running for. it’s either the copy was too sparse or the commercial too long. either way, we thought the ad somewhat suffered with poor copywriting.

the poster that was shown at the end was just as powerful too. the poster says it all and says the message very well.

 

great tourist attraction & marketing gimmick at Times Square NY

this is one of the most fun gimmick at Times Square – see yourself on that giant screen at Times Square.

it’s that iconic giant screen we see in almost all pictures of Times Square in new york. now, it does not just display ads and announcements, it now shows people who look at the screen in front of it.

the iconic Times Square NY giant screen – that is the screen that has “Hyundai” on top of it. it now shows the actual people standing in front of it.

everyone who stands on that railing facing the giant screen are captured for a few seconds and shown on the screen. that means all the hundreds who are on time square can see your image  on the screen. it’s a moving image, so whatever you do in front of it is shown.

it is really a great tourist attraction idea. everyone but everyone who goes to Times Square goes up to the railing to have themselves seen on the screen. it is technology obsessed 21st century kind of fun for the tourists.

it is also a great marketing gimmick. it has “Hyundai” on top of the screen and yes, Hyundai tv ads are shown on it one after the other with the live footage of people in front of it. you need to stay on that railing for around 45 seconds to watch the Hyundai tv ad before the camera turns on to show your image on the giant screen. that means  everyone who stands on that railing would have seen the Hyundai tv ad.

small, cheap fun but great for tourists and marketing.

guy on the left with brown jacket, black backpack and white baseball cap looking at the screen is shown on the giant screen left side

teen age boy in a red jacket is on the left side of the giant screen

~~ mindscape landmark~~

New Balance ad blooper – also need to pursue excellence in grammar

i was impressed by the number of New Balance billboards in Boston, MA – they were like all over the place. it’s hard to miss them, they are in the subway and the streets in almost every place where billboards are allowed.

but being impressed stopped there as i read the headline.

first time i saw the billboard was when i was riding the subway train. it passed my view for a few seconds, something got lit up in my mind – was that what i read? it bothered me throughout the train ride and kept assessing the words. i told myself i have to look at their billboard again to make sure i read the right thing and take pictures of them.

the New Balance billboard had this headline : ” To Light, Liberty and the pursuit of excellent”

i liked the subtle touch on patriotism, specially when at the time i was in Boston, the Boston marathon bombing just happened and the city was still looking for the perpetrators.  being patriotic which was what the billboard sort of said was a good thing for the brand.

i thought to myself, okay it’s good they want to get to “light”, truth (?) and liberty, but to the “pursuit of excellent”? that was shattering, New Balance needs to take on the “pursuit of excellence” in grammar.

that does not end there. just now, we checked the New Balance website (http://www.newbalance.com/) and we found this one. The need to pursue “summertime excellence” in grammar.

this is a WAWAM!

 

~~mindscape landmark~~

the big and long malice in Kraft’s “Let’s get zesty” ads

kraft released these ads for their salad dressing, Zesty Italian  where they took the meaning of “zesty” to another level. it got a lot of notice, many were complaints on what they were trying to do in the ad – selling salad dressing on the basis of a hunk removing his shirt while making the salad.

i don’t know if women will be encouraged to buy the Zesty Italian dressing based on seeing a hunk with great abs using it in a TV ad, but i thought they went too far, in fact there is obvious malice in the print ad version (above) of the TV ad. the TV was straightforward on using sex to sell salad dressing, but the print ad takes that to a higher level with using the body part covered by the picnic cloth in the print ad.

to make it more obvious, here is the print ad that emphasizes the emphasis made in the ad on the body part.

the tiny piece of picnic cloth strategically covering  what can’t be shown in the print ad is actually shaped to give an illusion of what is by implication not tiny under the piece of cloth. it appears they put a giant cucumber under the cloth, pointing to the left. that was obviously intentional. picnic cloths do not normally behave that way, like forming the shape of long and big cucumber, when placed on something. the rest of the picnic cloth are behaving naturally in the print ad, except that part.

i think that part of the picnic cloth was done digitally, a good photoshop effort. the shape is too perfect and the shadows on some red parts are unnaturally darker than the others and in most given the light source should not be darker than the others.

with the intentional art design, it is obvious the ad campaign is meant to use malice as a selling point for the salad dressing.

~~mindscape landmark~~

Kraft Salad Dressing Ad Gets Best Present Ever: A Slap From One Million Moms
http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/kraft-salad-dressing-ad-gets-best-present-ever-slap-one-million-moms-150412

valentine ads that will turn you red in the face, for better or worst

here are three ads that has the power to turn you red in the face, for better or worst.

 

beer on valentine’s? that is not the usual alcohol usually considered during velantines. something italian or some bubbly perhaps but not beer. this heineken ad gives beer a new respectability and yes a romantic twist to what happens when you see the bubbles coming out of the chilled heineken. romance with a beer, that works very well.

 

this ad got replies from a lot of people in my timeline in twitter, all of them ladies.

a girlfriend who wanted to be an ex bought ad space in a place where her boyfriend goes to buy his lunch at work. in that ad space, she told her boyfriend she was breaking up with him, complete with the boyfriend’s name and some important information like where his stuff are. for sure the boyfriend would read the message, plus a few more hundreds who go to the same place, the ad space was rented for a month.

and the replies from the ladies in my twitter timeline was unkind and in disagreement with laura. your take?

 

 

this ikea promo ad is for what i think is just a brilliant promo for ikea.

it’s an ads that reads the habits of its target market very well. call it consumer insight that hits home and sits very well on reality among the target market. aside from roses, chocolates and dinner, what else do you do on valentine’s day to celebrate the day of love?

this promises to give a free crib for babies born exactly nine (9) months from valentine day 2013.

for sure this ad will give smiles to couples who read the ad and will generate such an abundance of brand loyalty and goodwill among those who goes to ikea to claim their crib.

my only want on this ad is this – it should have been a full page ad in the leading newspaper with better graphic design and copy. that is really a minor point. on its bare bones design and copy writing, it is still a brilliant ad and promotion. 10 stars plus one!

 

the power of the picture in capturing and communicating ideas

 

 

we have heard it many times before – a picture captures a thousand words. this picture has 10 words in it but beyond that, the picture speaks of a thousand unspoken words on what the picture is communicating, the title of the picture  “judgement”. or how women are judged on the length of her skirt or dress. we don’t just enjoy looking, we also enjoy attaching one of the 10 words based on the length of the dress or skirt about the woman wearing it.

it is a very simple picture and yet it communicates the message very well, with utmost ease and in a very provocative way. words need not be used to communicate the message, we just have to look at the picture.

this is one of the amazing pictures we have even seen in our entire career.

 

 

source:

Rosea Lake, Vancouver Student, Posts Powerful ‘Judgments’ Photo Of Skirt Lengths (PHOTO)

Prudish. Flirty. Whore. Proper. Cheeky. Slut. These are just a few of the words that could be used to describe a woman’s sexual behavior based on her appearance alone, and 18-year-old college freshman Rosea Lake chose to display them starkly — on a young woman’s legs in a photo that has since gone viral. (Scroll down to see the image.)

Lake, who studies graphic design and illustration at Capilano University in Vancouver, never thought she’d become an Internet sensation when she posted her“Judgments” photo project to her Tumblr on January 5th. But something about the picture struck a chord with those who saw it, and within 24 hours the image had been re-blogged 100,000 times.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/18/rosea-lake-vancouver-judgments-skirt-length-photo_n_2504950.html

must see Thailand anti-smoking TV ad – one of the best ever

it is said that the simplest ads are the best ads. that certainly applies to this anti-smoking tv ad from thailand.

cinematic and directorial techniques used were simple and direct to the point, very much like the reality tv shows that is the rage on tv. this directorial style lends to the reality of the ad, making us believe these are real people with real problems on smoking.

the story is also a simple one but its delivery to good dramatic effect. it dramatizes very well the dilemma faced by many smokers – they know it’s bad for them but they keep on smoking cigarettes just the same. they know that it is so bad to their health that they will not recommend it to kids.

the irony in the ad is what makes this ad works very well – smokers consume something that they know can kill will not recommend it to kids but does not seem to realize it is actually on the way in  kilingl them. the note the children give to the smokers hits us who see the ad – don’t worry about me, worry about yourself.

it pulls the right strings in our hearts. let’s hope it does the same in the hearts of smokers that they take action for themselves and stop smoking.

wawamTECH: steve ballmer announces major strategic shift for microsoft’s business model – software, hardware, integration & the cloud

note: underscoring are mine.

TO OUR SHAREHOLDERS, CUSTOMERS, PARTNERS AND EMPLOYEES:

Last year was a big year — we delivered strong results, launched fantastic new products and services, and positioned Microsoft for an incredible future.

For fiscal year 2012, revenue grew to a record $73.7 billion. We also maintained strong cost discipline resulting in cash flow from operations of $31.6 billion, an increase of 17 percent from the prior year. In addition, we returned $10.7 billion to shareholders through stock buybacks and dividends.

We delivered these results while preparing a pipeline of new and updated products that will launch in the year ahead. To best understand what we are about to deliver and what we’re building toward, it’s important to recognize a fundamental shift underway in our business and the areas of technology that we believe will drive the greatest opportunity in the future.

Our Business: Devices and Services

Last year in this letter I said that over time, the full value of our software will be seen and felt in how people use devices and services at work and in their personal lives. This is a significant shift, both in what we do and how we see ourselves — as a devices and services company. It impacts how we run the company, how we develop new experiences, and how we take products to market for both consumers and businesses. The work we have accomplished in the past year and the roadmap in front of us brings this to life.

Devices With End-User Services

We will continue to work with a vast ecosystem of partners to deliver a broad spectrum of Windows PCs, tablets and phones. We do this because our customers want great choices and we believe there is no way one size suits over 1.3 billion Windows users around the world. There will be times when we build specific devices for specific purposes, as we have chosen to do with Xbox and the recently announced Microsoft Surface. In all our work with partners and on our own devices, we will focus relentlessly on delivering delightful, seamless experiences across hardware, software and services. This means as we, with our partners, develop new Windows devices we’ll build in services people want. Further, as we develop and update our consumer services, we’ll do so in ways that take full advantage of hardware advances, that complement one another and that unify all the devices people use daily. So right out of the box, a customer will get a stunning device that is connected to unique communications, productivity and entertainment services from Microsoft as well as access to great services and applications from our partners and developers around the world.

A great example of this shift is Windows 8. Windows 8 will come to market Oct. 26, 2012, with beautiful hardware that will light up with our consumer cloud services. Windows 8 unites the light, thin and fun aspects of a tablet with the power of a PC. It’s beautiful, it’s functional, and it’s perfect for both personal and professional use. Xbox Music, Video, Games and SmartGlass apps make it possible to select a movie from a PC, start playing it on the TV, and finish watching it on a phone. SkyDrive, our cloud storage solution, effortlessly connects content across a user’s devices. Bing’s powerful search technologies in Windows 8 will help customers get more done. Skype has a beautiful new Windows 8 app and connects directly into the new Office.

Office, too, is taking a major leap forward. The new Office was designed from the ground up for Windows 8 and takes full advantage of new mobile form factors with touch and pen capabilities. It unlocks new experiences for reading, note taking, meetings and communications and brings social directly into productivity and collaboration scenarios. The combination of a Windows 8 tablet with OneNote and SkyDrive has truly revolutionized how to take notes, annotate documents and share information. The ultimate experience with the new Office for both consumers and businesses will come when it is paired with a Windows 8 device and delivered as a cloud subscription service with Office 365.

Services for the Enterprise

Fantastic devices and services for end users will drive our enterprise businesses forward given the increasing influence employees have in the technology they use at work — a trend commonly referred to as the Consumerization of IT. It’s one more reason Microsoft is committed to delivering devices and services that people love and businesses need.

Today, businesses face a number of important opportunities and challenges. Enterprise IT departments are tasked with deploying technology that drives the business strategy forward. They decide what solutions will make employees more productive, collaborative and satisfied. They work to unlock business insights from a world of data. At the same time they must manage and secure corporate information that employees access across a growing number of personal and corporate devices.

To address these opportunities, businesses turn to Microsoft. They count on our world-class business applications like Microsoft Dynamics, Office, Exchange, SharePoint, Lync, and our business intelligence solutions. They rely on our technology to manage employee corporate identity and to protect their corporate data. And, increasingly, businesses of all sizes are looking to Microsoft to realize the benefits of the cloud.

Helping businesses move to the cloud is one of our largest opportunities. All the online services people use today — both from Microsoft and other companies — run on servers in datacenters around the globe. The volume of Internet services used will continue to grow as people connect to the Internet from more devices for more purposes — fueling incredible opportunity in our server business. Unique to Microsoft, we continue to design and deliver world-class cloud solutions that allow our customers to move to the cloud on their terms. For example, a company can choose to deploy Office or Microsoft Dynamics on premises, as a cloud service or a combination of both. With Windows Server 2012, Windows Azure and System Center infrastructure, businesses can deploy applications in their own datacenter, a partner’s datacenter or in Microsoft’s datacenter with common security, management and administration across all environments, with ultimate flexibility and scale. Our business customers tell us these capabilities are critical to harnessing the power of the cloud so they can reach new levels of efficiency and tap new areas of growth.

nokia trips on day 3 of the Lumia 900 US launch – windows phone software bug triggers a 100% refund

US nokia decided to launch the Lumia 900 on Easter Sunday when most of AT&T and Microsoft stores are closed.  every brand manager worth his or her high paying job knows you choose a launch date for a new product only when you are sure your product will be available in the retail stores for consumers to buy it from.

choosing a date when the retail stores themselves are closed is the first time nokia tripped on their Lumia 900 product launch.  now, nokia not only trips but takes a fall – on day 3 of the launch, nokia announces a 100% rebate to those who bought or will buy Lumia 900 due to a data connectivity problem with the windows phone OS. the product is priced at $100 with contract with AT&T, giving a $100 rebate is like givng it away for free.

it’s a magnificent gesture to nokia customers (hello, apple are you listening?) but it does leave a bad taste in the mount for those who have not bought their Lumia 900 yet. this fear that even though it has been fixed (to be done in the future) getting a brand new Lumia 900 that will not work can be very real even if its for free or back to the regular $100 price.

potential buyers will definitely think twice before buying the Lumia 900 or for those decided on it will probably postpone the purchase for as long as they can. with aggressive and more popular competitors lurking, nokia might just lose the sale.

this windows phone OS problem is puzzling to us –  doesn’t  nokia test their products before they launch it in the market? we would think extensive lab and field testing would be in order for cellphones  before they are launched. discovering the OS defect on day 3 of the market launch just sounds too amateurish for such a huge company.

bad news does not end there.  nokia  sent out a press re;lease as advance notice to their 1qtr call scheduled next week:

Our disappointing Devices & Services first quarter 2012 financial results and outlook for the second quarter 2012 illustrates that our Devices & Services business continues to be in the midst of transition.

nokia has announced it will have first and second quarter 2012 results will be below expectation.  it looks like the business decline for nokia that has been going on for sometime has not been arrested.

but here is what puzzles us as well – the announcement states 1st quarter and 2nd quarter results will be bwlow expectations. our question is this – what is the share of  Lumia 900’s launch in their first and second quarter forecast?

there are several possibilities here :

• Lumia 900 was forecasted  very low versus the rest of the Nokia business that its impact to its business is very minimal. marketers typically show a bump in sales forecast when new products are launched.
• if nokia forecasted this very low, does that indicate nokia has little confidence on the success of Lumia 900?
• this early nokia is already anticipating very low sales on the Lumia 900?
• the rest of the business is nokia is expected to perform so poorly that even the bump in sales from the lumia 900 will not be able to push its total sales up?

we have seen thousands of new product launches before but this lumia 900 launch we think is one of the weirdest ever and to some degree has gotten a lot of  bad luck.

————-

from the above, a big  sell down in the stock market for Nokia.  investors sold down NOK by almost -16% to just $4.24 at close. NOK also reached its 52 week all time low last night at $4.20.

 

 

 

 

 

 

why in the world nokia chose the wrong date to launch Lumia 900 in the US – on a day when AT&T and Microsoft stores are closed!

nokia and even microsoft has been making a big deal out of the launch of their flagship cell phone in the US, the Lumia. they even had a pre-launch featuring nicki minaj in times square. the lumia  for both companies is a very important product t launch.

microsoft has launched their mobile phone platform windows but it has not really taken off in the US market with its market share still low even though it has gotten relatively good reviews. the lumia launch with their latest microsoft mobile OS is supposed to bring microsoft back into play in the smartphone market.

the lumia is even more important for nokia. nokia has lost a lot of market share in the past years when it decided to ignore the iphone and stuck with the dumbphone market. it’s key competitors samsung and lg did not ignore the iphone and went after it by coming out with touch phones of their own using the android platform. the result is that samsung and lg are the top two smartphone makers in the US, followed by the iphone. nokia on the other hand is a poor and far 6th or 7th in the market.

though few understood why it went with windows rather than android, the lumia 900 is supposed to give nokia its stage to get back to the smartphone market.

that is great, except that for another strange move nokia chose april 8, Easter Sunday to launch the lumia 900 in the US.

some news articles and bloggers reported that most AT&T and microsoft stores, the outlets who are supposed to sell the lumia 900  are closed for easter sunday.

On Release Date, Crucial Nokia Phone Is Hard to Buy in New York

AT&T said last month that when Nokia’s new Lumia 900 phone went on sale April 8, it would benefit from the company’s biggest product introduction ever, exceeding even the iPhone’s.

The big day is here. But nearly all 39 AT&T stores within proximity of Times Square in Manhattan were either closed for Easter Sunday or did not answer phone calls. The few that were open did not have the handset in stock.

When AT&T stores within five miles of Times Square were contacted around noon, 18 of them played an automated message saying they were closed for Easter. Nineteen stores that were authorized AT&T resellers did not answer the phone, and two AT&T resellers that were open said they did not have the Lumia 900 yet.

The stores that played the automated voice message also played a short advertisement for the iPhone 4S and made no mention of the Lumia 900. “Visit our store to see the exciting iPhone 4S and how only AT&T’s network lets your iPhone 4S download three times faster,” a female voice said.

There was some Lumia-related action in Times Square on Friday night, when Nokia sponsored a performance by the pop singer Nicki Minaj to spread the word about the phone. Nokia roped off a section of Times Square and blasted promotional messages on screens for the show, and even served free signature cocktails with names like “Lumia Light” and “Beautifully Different.” There was only a single table of Lumia 900 phones on display, ignored by most of the guests in attendance.

It’s odd that such a highly anticipated phone is so difficult to purchase in a store on its release date, at least in New York. Analysts and tech followers view the Lumia 900, priced at $100, as the make-it-or-break-it device for Microsoft and Nokia, two tech giants who are struggling to gain a foothold in the smartphone market. Nokia made the Lumia’s hardware, and Microsoft made its software, Windows Phone 7.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/0…easter-sunday/

here is another article on the matter:

Why Is AT&T Releasing Nokia’s Big Phone on Easter?

AT&T has said that the release of the Nokia Lumia 900 will be its biggest product introduction ever. But the phone is coming out on Easter Sunday, when some AT&T stores won’t even be open.

Melissa Havel, a spokeswoman representing Microsoft, confirmed thatonly some AT&T stores carrying the Lumia 900 would be open on Sunday. And she said that “many but not all” of Microsoft’s own stores would be closed. The phone will also be available online.

Mark Siegel, an AT&T spokesman, said: “The Lumia has received tremendous product reviews and we have been taking pre-orders online and in our stores all week. We are already off to the races.”

The choice of date is a puzzling one. Many analysts and tech watchers view the Lumia 900 as the make-it-or-break-it product for Microsoft and Nokia, who teamed up to make Lumia handsets. Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 mobile software, which had its debut in 2010, has barely gained any traction in the United States, and Nokia’s share of the phone market has been rapidly shrinking. The Lumia 900, a Nokia-made phone with Windows Phone 7, was supposed to be the “hero” device with the potential to turn things around for both companies.

It’s difficult to imagine that American shoppers will scout for an AT&T store that’s open on Easter just to try a Lumia 900. And for companies, day one sales are important, because they can serve as a measure of the public’s excitement about a product and determine how it will sell over all.

New models of the iPhone, which is the best-selling handset for AT&T, are typically released on Fridays, giving shoppers a full weekend to line up at an Apple store and buy the phone. And these product introductions consistently turn in big numbers. For instance, first-weekend sales for the the iPhone 4S last year topped four million, according to Apple.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/0…ia-900-easter/

first day,  first weekend and first week sales and internet pre-orders are important milestones to cellphones. actually its apple who has started this trend. apple would make a big deal about how much they have sold and whether records have been broken by their first day, first week-end, first week and pre-order sales on their gadgets. even the length of the lines in front of apple stores during the first day sale has become some kind of measure for the success of its new products.  analysts, techies and consumers apparently have learned to look for these numbers to judge whether a gadget is a success or not.

it’s really just for brownie points and bragging rights,   but as anything apple does, it has become an important yardstick of success.

it drives us nuts to think the marketing team of nokia missed out on the fact that they picked a day 1 launch for their most important new product on a day when most of their retail stores are closed. distribution and sales . specially pipelining sales is one of the most important things you worry about in launching a product into the market. every brand manager makes sure his pipelining sales or month 1 sales is a huge success.  choosing day 1 when the stores are closed is a really dumb idea.

we’re wondering why easter sunday was chosen. it really does not make sense that nokia will choose a launch date when most of its retail stores are closed.

we can only make a guess – the marketing director or whoever it is that chose the date must probably be a christian or catholic. easter is one of the most important dates for chritians and catholics. it is the day when Christ rises from the dead.it is like a new beginning , a restart and the glorious resurrection of Christ from death.

that must be have been the  thought behind the choice for the date. the lumia 900 is meant to resurrect nokia from the grave. launching it on easter sunday totally echoed that sentiment and hope,.

the religious undertone and meaning  is a great idea but it is the same religion that has  kept customers from buying the nokia lumia. stores are closed, not even a religious miracle can save the day for nokia.

12 years ago Kodak was warned of Chapter 11 bankruptcy risk

in september 2000 a power point presentation was sent to the chief marketing officer of eastman kodak that essentially warned the company of a collapse of its business if it did not take action in response to the emerging changes in consumer habits and the market it operated in.

the market that kodak was operating then was fast changing brought about by stand alone digital cameras, cameras in cell phones, the computer and the internet. at that time less and less people were using cameras that needed film, and therefore less pictures were printed and more and more pictures were being shared electronically or digitally.  while smartphones were not yet widespread then, cell phones already had basic cameras and were able to take acceptable pictures. cameras in cell phones was an emerging trend during that time.

that development among consumers were affecting the very market thatr kodak was operating in. it was starting to shrink at a rapid pace.

the market situation kodak was in in 2000

the change that was happening was among the consumers themselves. habits were being changed, usage was altered and consumers were substituting kodak products with other forms of products outside film and picture printing.  this was a major revolution in consumer needs and wants. kodak in effect was becoming irrelevant to the consumer and not even considered as a choice or option.

the powerpoint presentation was not based on any consumer or market research or any business data. it was just based on observing what was happening to consumers, the environment and the author’s personal experience.  it  was calling for a major and almost reinvention of the marketing philosophy and strategy for kodak.

not having real data, it was not exhaustive but the idea was to spark some start page thinking and to develop a roadmap for a major change in strategy for kodak with the end view of not just growing the business but actually helping ensure its survival as a company.

the powerpoint presentation intended to paint a preliminary picture of changing consumer habits, needs and wants that will change the market that kodak was competing in for a change in marketing strategy for the company and eventually lead to new product development for the company that will probably be very different from what kodak was manufacturing and selling at that time.

the powerpoint presentation was sent to another marketing officer, a woman but no action was taken on it.

we wonder now what would have happened if kodak took the contents of the powerpoint presentation and how kodak would have avoided filing a chapter 11 bankruptcy protection that it filed in january this year.

read the full powerpoint presentation here: KODAK Growth Focus

~~mindscape landmark~~
carlo arvisu 

calls by local singers to regulate and tax higher foreign acts are way out of tune, very pitchy

in the last few days, we have been seeing in the news some local singers like ogie alcasid and kuh ledesma  calling for the regulation of foreign acts holding concerts in the country. kuh ledesma was on the forefornt of that one.  ogie alcasid on the other hand has suggested foreign acts should be taxed higher while the amusement tax levied on local artists should be removed.

all this noise from the local singers  is being made as we approach valentine’s day.  there is a large market for valentine’s day concerts in the philippiunes where many go out on dinner and concert dates. on that day, heavy traffic is expected the whole evening through early morning and all the restaurants, hotels and concert venues will be full.

producers of foreign acts know this and they have also made it a point to bring foreign acts to the country on valentines day or a few days before and after valentines itself. bringing the foreign acts to the country on or around valentines day ensures a market for them. there is a ready and willing set of concert goers for these acts even though they will need to pay much,much more for the concert tickets. after all, lovers will not scrimp on a valentine’s date.

why are the local artists calling for regulation and higher taxes?

well, the local singers are singing this tune because they know these foreign acts are very strong competitors for their own valentines concert plans.  many if not all the local singers also have their own valentines concerts. they do this in all types of venues, hotels, restaurants big and small and for the brave ones big venues like he araneta coliseum.

in other words, the local signers are scared shit of competition.

is the solution regulation or banning foreign acts in the country or imposing higher amusement taxes on these foreign acts as the local singers are singing?

these local singers are suggesting these to basically ensure that the local singers have an audience during their valentines concerts, that the foreign acts do not siphon out all the concert goers and leave the venues of the local artists empty or not full. in other words, this is a question of their target market or their audience buying  in to their concerts.

what are the local signers afraid of?

are local concert goers not buying tickets to local concerts because there are foreign acts around?  or because  tickets to foreign acts are cheap that as ogie alcasid is suggesting, the amusement tax on local acts need to be removed and the foreign acts increased?

they are all out of tune.

the reality is the prices of tickets of foreign acts as they stand now are already way costly versus local concerts, anywhere from 3 times to 5 times the cost of local acts.  if price is the issue which the taxes are supposed  to fix, then the foreign acts will not get an audience. but the fact is the foreign acts scheduled for valentines are already sold out since late last year when the tickets went on sale.

these foreign acts are being sold out for one reason – they are world-class performers, world-class singers and they have world-class acts.

we are talking here of someone like justin bieber who at the moment is one of the hottest acts not only in the US but all over the world. bieber has sold many millions of records worldwide. has won awards in the US and considered a phenom in the US music industry. that is the kind of entertainment and performance one buys in spending 3 tp 5 times more on a bieber ticket versus local concerts. and to us that is very much worth it.

if these foreign acts did not go to the philippines, the only way we can see them perform live is for us to fly to the US and watch one of their concerts there. how much is a plane ticket to the US? and how much will you need to spend in hotel and food just to watch a bieber concert in the US? spending 3 to 5 times more than a cost of a local concert ticket is definitely much cheaper than all of the above one needs to spend in the US.

the local artists need to accept that not only do they compete among themselves, they also compete with other singers from abroad. we do hear their songs on philippine radio, watch them on tv in their music videos and other US shows. we even hear the local singers perform their songs on tv almost on a daily basis.

and that is where the core of the problem of the local singers lie.

these foreign acts are popular not only in the philippines but all over the world because they sing and perform their own original songs! they have an audience basically because of the original songs they sing and perform.  some of them have even started trends in music and have changed the music industry in the US and in the rest of the world.

bieber, swift and gaga have their own very distinct styles and universe. they are loved for their individuality and the messages they have in their songs.

our local singers cannot even compare to any of them. in this regard. when was the last time that kuh ledesma and ogie alcasid release an original song of theirs?

the local singers , ledesma and alcasid in particular need to accept that the local acts are nothing, as in zero compared to these foreign acts. the local singers are just that – singers. the foreign acts on the other hand are “acts”, “preformers”, “entertainers” and yes they do carry their own message both in terms of music and lyrics.

the foreign acts have set trends in the music  world with their own unique brand of originality while the local artists have done nothing but sing the songs of foreign singers and composers. that is the reason why local concert goers do not mind buying concert tickets that are 3 to 5 times more expensive than local concerts. if the local singers want to compete with the foreign acts, then they should start singing their own original songs and setting the trends in the local music industry.

our local singers really need to stop being just singers but more being artists. that is what the foreign acts are – artists.

regulating the concerts of foreign acts will not stop the foreign acts from being popular in the country. we see them on tv and hear their songs on radio. tey are already famous and have a wide fan base in the country even without them being seen in the country in person.  the local singers on the other hand are based in the country  and we see them in our tv sets almost daily or at least weekly. but when we see them perform on tv, we hear them sing other people’s songs, often the very songs of the foreign acts that they want to regulate.

imposing higher amusement taxes on the foreign acts will also not do it. ticket price is not the issue. local concert goers do not buy the tickets of the foreign acts because they are cheap. these tickets in fact are already way too expensive. they buy them because of the artistry of these foreign acts. they like to see them perform the original songs they are famous for.

martin niviera in this article said it right – he is not afraid of the foreign acts because he knows what to do to compete with them. he says he will deliver a great concert to compete with the foreign acts.  i do not think he meant original songs, but martin is on the right track.  it’s a good beginning.

alcasid and ledesma on the other hand are way out of tune and yes very pitchy.

Ogie Alcasid wants higher tax rates for foreign acts

abs-cbnNEWS.com

Posted at 01/07/2011 5:30 PM | Updated as of 01/07/2011 5:30 PM

MANILA, Philippines – Amid all the preparations for his Valentine concert, Organisasyon ng Pilipinong Mang-aawit (OPM) board member Ogie Alcasid has also called for immediate regulation of foreign acts here in the country.

In an interview with ABS-CBN News on Friday, Alcasid seconded Filipino pop diva Kuh Ledesma’s suggestion to regulate concerts of international recording artists in the Philippines.

He said higher tax rates must apply to international artists who wish to hold concerts here.

“We must push for higher taxes on foreign shows and lowering of taxation sa local concerts,” he said.

Meanwhile, Concert King Matin Niever and Popstar Princess Sarah Geronimo refused to get affected by the upcoming foreign shows.

new starbucks logo – the resto without a name or the queen with two tails

what? the starbucks logo has a siren? where? since when?

seriously, until now i did not realize the starbucks logo had a siren in it. i know there is some kind of image in it but i didn’t realize it is a siren until i read this whole new thing that is happening to starbucks.

starbucks on it’s 40th year anniversary has announced a change in it’s logo. – from a siren in the middle and around is a band of green with the words in white that says “starbucks coffee”.  they have now changed that to having just the siren and the words all together taken out. the starbucks CEO says it is reflective of the changes that will happen for the companystarung this spring.

to me the starbucks logo are the words “Starbucks Coffee” in white over green, dominant, strong and very clean, very simple and great or in many cases those words on green. geea, they just removed the logo i am familiar with and like from their logo. it  might be the end of the world!

we don’t get it – starbucks just removed from it’s logo their own name. and the one element that most people can relate to and have come to appreciate.  they have removed the equity they have successfully built over the years and during the years when starbucks was most successful.

we think starbucks has 3 enduring brand equities – the logo and name, the decor and design of their shops and their coffee. they just removed 1 of 3 equities that they own.

with the siren logo without a name, what are we supposed to call starbucks now?

we can just see a new generation of consumers, those who are children and not yet coffee drinkers referring to starbucks as The Siren resto or as someoen attempted a similar thing – The Resto Without A Name.

we have seen that happen with  Prince. prince built his act and popularity with the name prince. but for some reason and i am sure a stroke of genius in his mind, he changed his name into this characters or symbols that nobody understood, much more pronounce. (they had a sound?) with the name change, he was then called The Artist Withyout A Name or the Artist Formerly Known As Prince. Prince eventually gave up on his creative idea and brought back his old name.

So now we have the same two options to call this resto – The Resto Without A Name (TRWAN?) or The Resto Formerly Known As Starbucks (TRFKAS?).

Oh, there is a 3rd option, people can call it The Siren. That is of course assuming it will be obvious to people the image in their logo is a siren. Come on, let’s face it, with that logo, people can vfery well call it Queen With Two Tails (QWTT?)

if starbucks persists on using this logo, we can have the next generation of starbucks consumers all confused and referring to their restaurant in many names other than starbucks or the options we have  here.

why a big company with fiercely loyal customers will want to confuse their future customers is beyond us.

not that they are not having problems with their present customers. there is va firestorm being raised by its customers over the internet complaining and disliking the nameless logo.  seriously, we think the starbucks logo is exactly like the Coke or Gap logos – you simply do not mess with it.

this is a WAWAM!

 

reason for change, from thestarbucks website (source: http://www.starbucks.com/blog/looking-forward-to-starbucks-next-chapter):

As we look forward to Starbucks next chapter, we see a world in which we are a vital part of over 16,000 neighborhoods around the world, in more than 50 countries, forming connections with millions of customers every day in our stores, in grocery aisles, at home and at work. Starbucks will continue to offer the highest-quality coffee, but we will offer other products as well – and while the integrity, quality and consistency of these products must remain true to who we are, our new brand identity will give us the freedom and flexibility to explore innovations and new channels of distribution that will keep us in step with our current customers and build strong connections with new customers.

You’ll begin to see our evolution starting this Spring. And there will be much more to come, as we celebrate our 40th anniversary by honoring the millions of customers and thousands of partners who’ve made Starbucks such a welcoming presence around the world. We think you’ll like what you see.

the creatives explain the design change, from the starbucks website (source:  http://www.starbucks.com/blog/so-who-is-the-siren

As a writer, though, I can tell you that there is a lot more to her than just the design and how she looks. This is what she means to me, and to us.

She is a storyteller, carrying the lore of Starbucks ahead, and remembering our past. In a lot of ways, she’s a muse –always there, inspiring us and pushing us ahead.

And she’s a promise too, inviting all of us to find what we’re looking for, even if it’s something we haven’t even imagined yet.

She means something different to every one who sees her, who knows her. For me she’s kind of the final say on the spirit of everything I write and everything we do. Even as I’m writing this, I wonder what she thinks. (She likes it, by the way.)

Here we are today. Our new evolution liberates the Siren from the outer ring, making her the true, welcoming face of Starbucks. For people all over the globe, she is a signal of the world’s finest coffee – and much more. She stands unbound, sharing our stories, inviting all of us in to explore, to find something new and to connect with each other. And as always, she is urging all of us forward to the next thing. After all, who can resist her?

Not me.

apple airs ipad intro tv ad at oscars telecast

we are a fan the ipod touch but we’re not a fan of the ipad. don’t get it why its necessary to buy a bigger ipod touch. we would have bought the ipad if it was a smaller, lighter and thinner macbook, but that is not what happened here.

the tv ad shows it. read more about it here: apple ipad’s intro tv ad – the magic is in simplicity