This article by Jack Neff indicates a return in companies’ spending on brandvertising. However, I would take it a step further and say this indicates an initial recovery in our economy, and THIS is something I’m looking forward to.
The cruise I’m on is the epitome of experience marketing. I’ve never seen a more perfect and clever example of a company draining people’s wallets.
Tonight, I went to the opening performance that launched our vacation aboard the Ruby Princess. However, the show was simply a way for Princess to advertise its extra-cost services.
Although it was a rather cheesy performance, I admit, I had a bit of fun. With some entertainment mixed in, it started with crew introductions and finding out where our fellow passengers were from. Mike, the cruise Director, joked a bit and made everyone feel part of the Princess community.
Considering the broad range of passengers (3085 people from 43 different countries), they did an excellent job creating two critical aspects of branding.
On the first day on my trip, I went to Venice and it was every bit as beautiful as I remember. EXCEPT, there was one not-so-minor difference. I wanted to show my parents the usual tourist attractions, but two of the places were… covered with ads!!!...
I couldn’t believe it. Really? Ads obstructing the wonderful Italian history and architecture of the Doges’ Palace? Ugh.
The Bridge of Sighs:
On the other hand, the ads are only temporary during restoration AND it’s an incredible media buy.
I’m torn between hate for covering up the architecture I wanted to see and love for brilliant media placement.
I'm away for the next 3 weeks
Money makes the world go round!
So what better, than a way to monitor your personal finances. And, did someone say trends? I can use
mint.com to check up on all of my bank accounts, without endangering them.
Slick. Secure. Smart.
I love it.
This has gotta be the coolest thing I've seen in a while.
Logos that float! Logos that are eco-safe! Logos that stand out!
Check them out. I can't wait until I find a use for them.
Mobility is inevitable. The Kindle, iPhone, smartphones, netbooks, etc. are just the tip of the iceberg, and in the next 10 years, I think we'll be diving into it head first.
In an
interview, Russ McGuire (Sprint's futurist) paints an
intriguing and attractive picture of how mobile technology might look in 2025.
He states that no application or technology is (currently) advanced as what he describes, and it will be a while before it gets there. However, I would argue that the technology, and applications of it, are just around the corner.
Soon, we'll all be running on wireless protocols like 3g, 4g, LTE and WiMax, and who knows what will come after that.
Mobile technology is a wide open market for businesses to latch onto, and really, what better time to do it? Especially here in the US,
we need to jump start our technological innovation.
Ok, so maybe Twitter isn't going to disappear, but I think it's going to plateau. This AdAge article,
"Why Twitter's Reach is Limited" made me start to think.
As with Sylvester and Tweety, it's great for a while, but unless the content keeps changing, people will lose interest. Also, as similar services keep popping up, there's increasing less need for it.
A simple example: Facebook's revised method of content syndication.
