I'm a big fan of Seth Godin's, and part of the reason is his love for making new words. Its why I attempted it myself and run a series called Vary Your Vernacular; Part I and Part II. Here is one of my favourite thus far which I thought I'd share...

Or is it? In what was set to be a very creative campaign Sprite's Thirst For Truth was launched a month ago. Appearing as a cross between the Chaser's War On Everything and Hamish and Andy, Truth Hunters AJ and Nicos aim these three minute videos at 16 to 24 year olds in an attempt to uncover "unspoken, brutal honest truths". The campaign has your usual vitals; a Facebook page, YouTube channel, blog and more but it seems the campaign hasn't quite received the attention they wanted. A contest asking for user submissions of people videoing their own Truths didn't receive a single entry. Promotions were run through billboards, bus sides and a cinema spot, yet $500 and a free trip to Sydney went unnoticed. Even after a month, I only heard about this campaign through someone at Naked Communications. It raises the question, does new media require old media? Can you successfully market a campaign digitally without a traditional launch? Perhaps in two years things will be different but at least here in Australia and now in the present a thirty second spot would have benefited this campaign greatly....

Vary Your Vernacular is a small intermittent series designed to increase one's vocabulary relating to all things Web 2.0. sneezer n. sneeze·er Coined by Seth Godin, he defines it as "someone of influence in the community that spreads the word about a product or service". Bascially, if a viral campaign is spread like a virus, then a sneezer is the person who spreads it. flog n. flog A portmanteau of the words fake and blog, usually found when a brand fails to be transparent with a negative outcome. Perhaps one of the best known examples was Sony's All I want for Xmas is a PSP which significantly backfired when revealed. word of mouse n. word of mouse The Web 2.0 version of word of mouth with the ability to spread much faster via the Interweb. Previous Editions + Vary Your Vernacular I...

I know I go on and on about Google but its simply because they have such a great product. And we all know marketing is more than just advertising and promotion. Here's an interesting feature I stumbled across in the Herald Sun. 1. Go to Google 2. Type "find chuck norris" 3. Click I'm Feeling Lucky 4. Enjoy what is one of the greatest Chuck Norris Facts ever. Having a sense of humour only further adds to an already remarkable product....

So we're now a couple of weeks into Rexona's Million Ball Mission and I still don't like it. What a great idea to use Ricky Ponting, Australia Cricket Captain, to head up your campaign. Dispite his inabilty to act, its an ideal celebrity endorsement to bring in to really boost your campaign. This is all fine and well, the problem I have is with the balls. To receive your free ball you have to attend one of only a few events run in your State. And if you do attend, all you get is a ball? Even if I did make it out to one of these events for my freebie, I still wouldn't consider using a Rexona product. This one should never have left the ideas room. Also worth checking out the hopeless 'official' Rexona website. Surely in this day and age of new media every brand needs its own webpage, particularly a big one like this....

This clearly isn't going to be the greatest blog post ever. In fact, its probably far from it but I'm allowed to make such claims because it's only mere puffery. Those unfamiliar with the term should check out the Facebook group The Carbolic Smoke Ball Cured My Cold. So when Skins claimed that they "don't pay elite athletes to wear" their sports gear, they were using the same thing. Apparently the ACCC isn't aware that consumers aren't idiots. Contrary to popular belief, people don't believe everything we tell them....