13 September 2008

Posted at 11:43h in apple, coca cola, coka, fantastic noodles, ipod, ladbrokes casino, pepsi, pimp my kettle, schweppes, spots, television by

One of my marketing hates is when a campaign, usually a television spot, advertises an industry and not a specific product.Most advertising fails to integrate the content with the brand. Throwing a logo at the end of a commercial rarely does anything. Same with making the logo bigger. This spot promotes online casinos, not Ladbrokes Casino. This joke of a campaign advertises instant noodles, not Fantastic Noodles.But when you see an Apple iPod commercial, you know it. They aren't advertising any MP3 Player, they are advertising iPods.Same with Coke and Pepsi do it well too. Schweppes has done it well here and I think Solo has pulled it off here too. In all four cases, they promote their specific product and brand, not the soft drink industry.Yet so many campaigns don't. A waste of money and one of the many reasons the television spot should ensure their will is all in order before a long and painful death....

07 September 2008

Posted at 18:21h in apple, dr horrible, ipod, karl pilkington, podcast, radiohead, ricky gervais, social media, steve merchant by

Just like the Apple iPod launched the MP3 market, The Ricky Gervais Show launched the podcast market and later the audio book market.For anyone who hasn't listened, it is well worth the $50 or so for hours and hours of entertainment. Originally launched as a free podcast, they have since commercialised it at a very cheap price and made millions from it. It turned from podcast to audio book and established two whole new markets along the way. "Podcast" became Word of the Year in 2005 and people are now starting to realise the potential behind audio books...

14 May 2008

Posted at 18:18h in apple, barack obama, dell, eddie murphy, iphone, ipod, jaffe juice, joseph jaffe, notebook by

Dear Joseph Jaffe, If you can challenge Barack Obama to reply to a blog post of yours I don't think its unreasonable for me to do the same thing to you. On recent podcasts, you've been asking what have we, the listeners, have done for you lately. You asked us to recommend your podcast to friends, family and co workers assuming we had done nothing for you already. Well the fact is we don't owe you anything. Just like a consumer owes nothing to a brand. Even if you provide a weekly podcast for free, you can't expect your customers to do anything for you. In fact, shouldn't you be greatful you have our loyalty? This is not to say I haven't done anything for you. You appear on my blogroll, I've linked to you before and even recommended your podcast and blog to others. If you were to ignore that, aren't I at least partly responsible for both your Apple iPhone and Dell Notebook which you received through sponsorship? So Joseph, I challenge you to reply to this blog post and tell me why I owe you anything. In a time where consumers have never been so powerful, we could go one step further and ask, in the words of Eddie Murphy; What have you done for me lately? Kind regards, Zac Martin...