Traditionally and prior to the deregulation of the taxi industry in 1989 the industry was comprised mainly of co-operative style groups which were managed and directed by the members who also derived their incomes from the business.

Taxi cooperatives faced many inherently difficult obstacles in diversifying their operations in line with new business practices as most cooperatives required approval from the owners to make any changes to the structure.

Franchising is riding a wave of global growth, the opportunity to be the master of your own financial destiny while enjoying the support of an established organization and the resources it commands.

Franchising can have its drawbacks, lack of independence, inflexibility and the obvious risks associated with a brands overall performance.

Are the opportunities and drawbacks of both structures not too dissimilar?

Unquestionably the win-win will be in synergism by maximizing potentialities.

NZTAXIBLOG

With a brand boost for North America – it was great to hear that the United States and Canada recently took the top spots for country brand strength.

With the U.S. taking top spot for the first time – it was difficult to imagine that Australia would drop down to number 3. The fifth annual Country Brand Index (CBI) showed that Canada’s investment in international marketing is starting to pay off. With the approach of the 2010 Winter Olympics, Canada is in a great position to extend its tourism message even further.

____________________________

“The Country Brand Index (CBI) features expert opinions, statistics and proprietary global quantitative data to create the largest study of its kind. Assessing 102 countries across 29 image attributes and seven measures of brand strength, it also contains an extensive array of trends, insights and topical points of view.”

CBI is a comprehensive study of international business and leisure travelers from nine countries, and examines how countries are branded and ranked, and identifies emerging global trends in the world’s fastest growing economic sector – travel and tourism. For more information please visit FutureBrand.

Gostaria de compartilhar este meu post no Blog Sebrae Pernambuco, eu reflito sobre as consequencias da pirataria das grandes marcas. http://sebraepernambuco.wordpress.com/2009/11/15/pirataria-versus-grandes-marcas/

Aguardo seus comentários a respeito da temática!

The Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (BRMC for short) is an American alternative rock band from San Francisco.  They formed in 1998 and took the name from Marlon Brando’s motorcycle gang in the 1953 film, The Wild One.  In the film the gang was referred to Black Rebels MC.

But, I smell a legal battle because Marlon Brando’s estate signed off on a new project with Triumph Motorcycles to debut Brando-related apparel at the company’s dealerships. As you may recall Brando played a tough biker gang leader Johnny Strabler and rode a 1950 Triumph Thunderbird 6T.  The Triumph Legends Line will offer replica leather jackets inspired by the movie.  The replica includes key features of Brando’s original jacket right down to the embroidered ‘Johnny‘ name tag and the BRMC (Black Rebel Motorcycle Club) distressed print on the back of the jacket. They are also developing Brando print men’s and ladies’ T-shirts.

All of this will likely add to the “what-to-wear” debate and whether you’ll get beat down for imitating or wearing so-called “colors” of a motorcycle club (i.e. SOA: Son’s of Anarchy or BRMC).  Maybe you’re indifferent.   If so you wreak more Brando than you think.  He was famous in the movie for being outright contemptuous for contemporary middle-class society.  Asked what he was rebelling against and his response was “What have you got?”

Photo courtesy of Triumph

All Rights Reserved © Northwest Harley Blog

Now available at the Aircomplane.com Online Store: Aircomplane.com T-Shirts, hats, Teddy Bears, polo shirts, children’s clothing, and other great items!

Show your support for Aircomplane.com, and look really slick doing it!

When we launched Aircomplane.com, we had no idea how helpful and successful the site would become. From the beginning, we wanted it to be more than a bitch site, and it is. There is valuable information on how to reach, deal with, and effectively complain to the airlines, and we are proud to be a part of it.

As with any such movement endeavor, the more people that know about Aircomplane.com, the better. To that end, we have arranged for a line of Aircomplane.com clothing and other items that support what we are trying to do. Your Aircomplane.com mug, T-Shirt, Teddy Bear, or throw pillow (we’re not kidding) tells the airlines and others that we intend to be heard. And each item is branded accordingly: Aircomplane.com – The herd being heard.

We invite you to visit our online store and be the first on your block or in your cubicle to own Official Aircomplane.com swag.

Thanks again for your support! Keep reading and writing.

http://store.aircomplane.com (There is no www.)

Aircomplane.com Official Polo Shirt – Tasteful yet bitchy.

Aircomplane.com Boxer Shorts – Hot!

Aircomplane.com Bumper/Luggage Sticker and Aircomplane.com Black Cap – Cool!

Photo by Edilsa Lopez

“Robert Heinlein said specialization is for insects. Be as much of a renaissance man as possible.”

Skyler Kanegi wants you to know who he is, and if you have any doubt about that just look here, and here, and here, and here, and over there. If there is any online or social media venue where his smiling face isn’t found, let me know. I asked him about this extreme level of online visibility and his answer was simple, “If you know how, you can find all this information online anyway. So why not make it easy?” (He’s an MIS major at the McCombs School, so go figure.)

Besides, Kanegi has grand plans, entrepreneurial plans, and he desires connections with others who share similar dreams. When I mentioned Gary Hoover, the Kelleher Center’s Entrepreneur in Residence, his eyes brightened. Kanegi and Hoover have already connected; both share an insatiable curiosity about the interplay between culture and business. Both believe business is an enterprise for people with broad interests and goals that stretch beyond profitability.

That Kanegi is a second-year undergraduate student doesn’t moderate his perspective or enthusiasm. This is a young man with full-bore intentions and a work ethic to match. I was fascinated to listen as he talked about the life of a young entrepreneur.

Branding Yourself on the Web

David Wenger: I notice you’re very transparent online. You’ve got your website, you’ve got your resume, and you’ve got all your social media identities. What prompted you to take that approach?

Skyler Kanegi: I’m an MIS major, so I’ve studied a lot of information systems and technology and I realize that a lot of this information is available anyway. For other people it’s going to be available all over the internet, you just find it in pieces. I do searches on people and I find information about them pretty easily, and this is just a way for me to consolidate everything into one place.

Building your own brand is very important. An associate of mine is the CMO of Brand-Yourself.com and they’re doing some pretty exciting things over there. What I’m trying to do with my site is brand it myself, and I want this to be the first thing that pops up whenever people Google me. Basically to be able to control what people see about me, because they’re going to find information about me anyway. If I put it all in one place I can make the first impression for people and it’s a way to create your brand online.

Photo by Edilsa Lopez

SK: I definitely want to make an impact on anyone, from other entrepreneurs that I meet, to associates, recruiters, or anybody who goes to my site. It makes me stand out on the web next to other people who wouldn’t necessarily have a site with all their information on it. It’s just a way to differentiate and create a unique brand that sticks with people.

Skyler’s Entrepreneurial Interests

DW: You’re in your second year here at UT Austin, and I get the impression you came here already having some entrepreneurial interests, is that correct?

SK: That is true. I started my first company when I was 16. It was a non-profit art magazine. I’d been the chief editor of the school’s magazine and the school had this policy where as the chief editor I could edit any work that people sent in. I could just change it. And I didn’t think that was fair for the artists because we weren’t respecting their artistic license and their creativity. I talked to the sponsor about this and we came to a disagreement about whether or not it was right to respect the artist’s original creation. So I went ahead and started this alternative magazine for people in the community, and it ended up growing into this global magazine. This was my first experience creating a website. For the first issue we ended up getting submissions from six countries, and we printed 60 copies of the magazine, by hand, and sold those in the community. We gave the artists more exposure and respected their artistic creativity.

DW: That explains your interest in Rainey Knudson with Glasstire, because in a way she’s doing the same thing.

SK: Right absolutely. Our magazine ended up growing into a nonprofit organization because we really wanted to help out artists, and after a while I realized you can’t just publish artists in order to help them grow, you really have to work with them, have workshops, be more proactive about their development process, working with the technical aspect of art, making them better at the creation of art. So when we grew it into a nonprofit art organization our focus ended up being elsewhere, and the magazine right now is on a bit of a hiatus. That’s one of the main reasons I wanted to contact Rainey because she definitely has grown a successful art magazine, and during our re-launch I would like to have her feedback on changes we would have to make.

Creating Artists of Tomorrow

DW: You’ve got a section on your website that has art and some of the creative writing you’ve done. How does your interest in art and business come together?

SK: Business is an art. It’s not the same type of art as writing, poetry or drawing but in business you have to write business plans and write papers and it’s still writing. It’s a different type of writing, but being strong as a writer is very useful in business. I really like business and I really like art, just in different ways. It’s not that I prefer one over the other, they’re very different but there are areas where they do mesh. For example, creating a social organization like Artist of Tomorrow that embraces the art but also requires business knowledge in order to become sustainable and grow as a business.

DW: Tell me about that organization.

SK: Our mission statement is to foster art in a sense that you have artists who major in fine arts and then they spend their lives doing art, but aside from that small percentage of people, you have all these other people who are majoring in business or engineering or natural science who may be artists. They do it as a hobby, but they don’t really do it professionally and we definitely want to foster that. We want to encourage people to express themselves creatively, even if they’re not fine arts majors, because art is a way for us to express ourselves and have a voice, to be heard in a creative way. We’re helping non-traditional artists express themselves.

The magazine helps give them exposure, whether you’re a fine arts major or somebody who just…you like to write poetry and it’s something that you feel people should read, then you should submit it and we’ll print it and let people read what you have to say.

Launching The Underground

SK: We’re also doing this project called The Underground. The Underground is a collaborative art project in a sense that people are doing community based art and murals and getting their art out in public places. For example, the “Hi, How are You” frog down on Guadalupe. We’re trying to get more of that and Austin’s a really great place for that.

So we have a group of students who have just registered as a UT organization, who are going to be focused on creating public art. Just doing community art, murals, putting stuff up on bulletin boards, getting art out there so that it’s very visible. I don’t want art to become this thing that you have to go to museums to see. Visual art is very alive and there’s a lot of art out there that people aren’t exposed to, so bring that out into the public and it enriches people’s lives.

We’re starting a chapter here, and then we’re going to be starting chapters in other cities as well. The Underground has grown into a large project that is going to branch out all over the United States, and we have a presence in about 20 countries, so I’m going to talk with some of our representatives there about doing projects such as The Underground over there.

Value of Art in the Community

SK: A lot of people might disagree with me but I think that art, no matter the skill of the artist, is worthy of people’s consideration. Just because you read something that may not be the best piece of writing, or you see something that may not be the best piece of visual art, doesn’t mean that the artist wasn’t trying to express something. That’s the heart of Artist of Tomorrow, getting at the expression and also helping people grow their technical abilities so that they can channel their expression more efficiently.

Business in the Left-Brain

DW: I’d be interested to hear your perspective on how the ability to write correlates with your ability to analyze business strategy.

SK: I think there’s a correlation but not really causation. Both of these are very left brained tasks so writing is something that you need your left brain to do and a lot of categorization analysis…it’s very logical. I personally am a very left brain person. I did visual art for a while but I just couldn’t do it anymore because I couldn’t think like a right brain person. And so I ended up focusing on literature and then doing business as well because they’re both very left brained tasks and that’s how I see it.

Life of the Student Entrepreneur

DW: How do you maintain balance?

SK: I try to focus on one thing at a time. That’s really the only process you can take. If you have a long list of things you need to get done, you’ve just got to prioritize what’s due first, what matters most, what’s going to be done most efficiently and quickly. For example if you have a variety of projects due on one day you might prioritize and do the ones that are smaller first so that you can get as many out of the way as possible, and then do the long project last so you’ve managed to finish all the smaller projects and maybe half of the long one. It’s just a matter of taking them down one at a time.

DW: What’s a typical work/study day for you?

SK: I’m up at campus usually at least 12 hours, maybe 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. This whole week I’ve gotten home at about 10:00 p.m. and after that I will generally be working on some projects that I have on the side, and then homework that I have to do. So in terms of the number of hours, anywhere from 12 to 18. While I’m on campus I go to my classes and in between I oftentimes meet with people or work on projects with my laptop. I just try to make it mesh as well as possible and get it done. I answer emails on the bus, and that’s the only time I can answer emails. It’s interesting, always on the move.

Moving Forward with Artists of Tomorrow

DW: Of all the ventures you’re engaged in, what has the most likelihood to turn into something that will continue on after you leave the school?

SK: I definitely think Artist of Tomorrow has the most potential because it’s already creating a lot of social change. It’s very diverse, because we have so many projects underneath the umbrella of the organization. What’s great is that we have a lot of people already working with us as volunteers. That’s probably the biggest reason I think it will continue on because there is an interest in it.

People are passionate about art, and the great thing about a nonprofit is the people you have on board realize they’re not there for money. They’re volunteers. They’re there because they’re passionate about it and that’s very different in a for-profit because sometimes you’ll get people who pretend to be passionate about the company but they really just want money. That’s how you corrupt your company’s culture.

Developing Breadth

SK: It’s important to have a varied set of skills. On the surface it seems like being a writer isn’t really connected to being a business professional but you should try to pursue as many different areas of interest as possible, and if you have hobbies that are not related to your major, you shouldn’t be afraid to also do those.

I know business majors who are very active within theatre groups, and people who can balance their hobbies with their major and their professional lives. It makes you a more competitive individual for companies, because they can see you have a diverse skill set, and you’re good at thinking from different angles. That means you’re more valuable in a lot of different situations, and you can adapt to different industries and positions. Having a lot of hobbies is enjoyable, and then later on it makes you a more valuable hire. Or if you’re going to start your own venture it gives you the skill set to do that successfully.

Robert Heinlein, one of my favorite writers, has a quote that starts with “Specialization is for insects.” You should be as much of a renaissance man as possible.

Kanegi’s list of most influential courses he has taken so far:

SOC 308. Poverty and Social Policy in the United States
PHL 325L. Business, Ethics, and Public Policy
Doggett’s MAN 385.24 Entrepreneurial Growth is also fantastic
LIN S306. Introduction to the Study of Language has been useful because we are in the process of developing NLP software.

It’s really about finding interesting classes that apply to your field, as well as classes like philosophy that expand your perspective.

A noticia, direto do press release: A Kaiser iniciou na última sexta-feira (13/11) uma ampla campanha publicitária que destaca os resultados do maior teste cego já realizado no Brasil e que avaliou os principais players de cervejas do País.
Promovido pelo Instituto de Pesquisa Datafolha e com a auditoria da Ernst & Young, a pesquisa envolveu consumidores de nove capitais brasileiras que analisaram e votaram na qualidade das seguintes marcas: Antarctica, Brahma, Kaiser, Nova Schin e Skol.

O resultado apontou a qualidade superior da Kaiser frente aos concorrentes, que apresentaram empate técnico. “O objetivo desta ação é destacar que a Kaiser é uma das cervejas mais gostosas do Brasil e queremos estimular as pessoas para que façam o teste cego e verifiquem a cerveja que realmente preferem sem considerar o rótulo, mas sempre bebendo com moderação”, explica Marcelo Liberado, gerente de marketing da Kaiser da FEMSA Cerveja Brasil.

A metodologia da pesquisa consistiu na realização de mais de 2.500 entrevistas com homens e mulheres, de 21 a 54 anos, pertencentes às classes A, B, C e D, que tivessem tomado cerveja clara pelo menos uma vez nos últimos 30 dias e que residem em Belo Horizonte, Curitiba, Fortaleza, Manaus, Porto Alegre, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador e São Paulo.

O teste promovido foi do tipo blind monádico sequencial, que consiste na degustação de duas marcas de bebida por pessoa, com a avaliação de cada uma individualmente e comparativamente ao final da entrevista. Todas as marcas foram testadas e avaliadas contra todas as outras.

A propaganda de TV:

Olha, se a estratégia de teste cego funcionasse, a Pepsi já teria derrubado a Coca Cola há décadas. Na verdade, grande parte dos lideres de mercado estariam em situação complicada.

Infelizmente para quem faz este tipo de ação, na experiência de consumidor existe o impacto de uma coisinha chamada “marca”. Muitos executivos de marketing parecem nem saber o que é isso, mas a “marca” influencia diretamente em como experimentamos o produto, o que achamos dele, nossa sensação de gosto e qualidade. Testes cegos só funcionam quando o consumidor escolhe o produto de maneira cega… ou seja, nunca (nem se ele for cego)!

Peguem estas 400 pessoas que preferiram Kaiser no teste (mais ou menos 20%) e perguntem que cerveja elas vão tomar quando estiverem em um bar: Kaiser ou Skol?

Visitors get a running tally of the pledges made toward buying Pabst Brewing Company.

Pabst Brewing Company (the brewer of Old Style, Old Milwaukee, Schlitz, Lone Star, Pabst, and many other brands) is for sale and the news has struck a cord with many beer drinkers. With an asking price of $300 million, owning the storied company seems out of reach … but just barely. With billion-dollar mergers and buyouts becoming the standard, $300 million seems like mere pocket change. How can you pass up a chance like that? Of course, reality sets in and the dream of owning your own brewery—Pabst, no less—painfully fades away.

Not so fast. Thanks to crowdsourcing, the thoroughly modern manner of working together, you still have a chance to own Pabst Brewing. At least part of it. The folks at Forza Migliozzi and The Ad Store, two advertising agencies, have launched the webstie BuyABeerCompany.com, where beer lovers can make a pledge toward the purchase of Pabst. They are encouraging pledges of $5, $25, $100, or $250,000 in an effort to raise the $300 million price and it looks like it’s working. The movement’s Twitter feed says they got half-a-million pledges in the first six days.

Not only does Pabst Brewing produce a popular and (arguably) delicious list of beers, but also AdAge listed Pabst Beer as one of the hottest brands of 2009. So, $300 million gets you all the beer you can drink and more brand equity than you can sweat out the next day.

There’s no real information on the website regarding the legality of making an online pledge, nor about how the crowdsourced bid might be handled by AB-InBev, Pabst’s current owner. If the bid goes through, and that’s a BIG if, this could be the begining of a new economic model. Public ownership is nothing new. Neither is collective ownership. Using the Internet to collect pledges toward the ownership of a bricks-and-mortar company, however, is something that would not be possible without consumers developing a high comfort level with on-line transactions. On-line banking, stock trading, and gambling have made us comfortable with the idea of putting up a few bucks and going in with a bunch of strangers to buy a stake in a beer company.

I, for one, have made a $25 plege. I hope to see you at the stockholders’ meeting.

Star 102.5’s Christmas Wish makes the Holidays a little brighter for people in Central Iowa by granting their Christmas Wish.  Each year we ask listeners to share their story of someone special who deserves to be honored in a very unique and personal way.  Thousands of listeners respond from around the state, sending touching wishes for the Star 102.5 Christmas Wish Committee to review.  Your sponsorship will build brand awareness by tying into a heart-warming promotion during the Holiday season.

I recently wrote about this topic in my latest business piece for Nolcha.com. When you start a new fashion label and you’re on a shoestring budget, it’s understood that you have to make the most of what you have. But when people are sizing up your brand in the blink of an eye, not only do you have to use every tool to your advantage to get customers to identify with your brand, but you have to make those tools work extra hard to meet your strategic goals. This is where hiring the right models comes in. Wanna learn how?  Please read my Nolcha piece here:

The Model Puzzle: Choosing the Right Model to be the Face of Your Brand

Enjoy!

It’s a good life philosophy. But it also rings very true in the wonderful world of advertising and marketing communications.

It’s all too easy for marketers to drink their own Kool-Aid and serve up pablum. Some are so steeped in their own corporate culture that they fail to look at things from the market’s perspective. As agency folks charged with delivering campaigns and messaging that moves the needle for our clients, it’s our job to ask tough questions. Many times, it can be very difficult to get clients to take an honest look in the mirror.

This may come as a surprise to some, but advertising (and communications, in general) can’t fix everything. Sometimes, there are underlying operational, product development, or customer service challenges that must be addressed first — with as much gusto, passion, and urgency as directing an agency to come up with a killer campaign. Always, it’s critical to get honest about what value you’re delivering to your customers and prospects, how you’re delivering it, and whether it is truly meeting the market’s needs. There are just too many alternatives to whatever it is you are selling.

Keep the following question in mind when you start touting the merits of your brand: SO WHAT? Most times, that’s the first thing that pops into my mind when I see or hear any type of sales pitch. And it’s how the company answers that question that determines whether I will do business with them or not.

It’s just not enough these days to rest on the laurels of a storied brand. You have to be in touch with your audience’s needs and address what’s important to them. You have to fix what’s broken before you can effectively communicate how terrific you are. Or, if you can’t fix everything, be honest about who you are and what you can deliver, letting people know you’re working on the known issues. People appreciate honesty, not false promises or arrogance.

So go forth and ask yourself why you think what you think about your brand. Is it because you’ve been told to, you’ve always done it, or it’s in the company handbook? Or is it really true? Then get honest about your strengths and shortcomings with your agency partner. I promise, the work will be better. And your customers and prospects will respect your authenticity.

Infamous Atlanta-based brand, Chilly-O recently sent me their Holiday 2009 lookbook.  Their brand really captivates and promotes true local Atlanta culture.  I also greatly respect their business ethics about not trying to flood the market with their brand or by hyping it up through all of the popular blogs.  They want people to buy it because they like it and want too, not because it’s hyped.  However, through this mentality and ethics major magazines including Antenna, Transworld, YRB, XXL, Vice, and others took notice.  Now it’s time for the rest of the world to take notice!  Keep your eye out for Chilly-O as you’ll be seeing and hearing about them a lot more in the near future.

If brand is synonymous with reputation, and I think it is, then the U.S. is in a profound reputation crisis. At one time, thought of as the greatest country on earth, it now seems the prestige of the world’s most powerful democracy, its leaders, its financial sector, and its largest companies are at an all time low.

How can the United States rebuild the mistrust that consumers here and abroad now have of the United States, its leaders, and its institutions? Like a big brand gone bad, it is a long and arduous path that requires a well-thought out and comprehensive recovery plan that is compelling, relevant to the issues at hand, truthful and consistently executable.

Local economic investments, tax cuts, and a financial bailout of companies, industries, cities, and states will be necessary components of such a plan. In 2008, over $382 billion in market value evaporated with the demise of four corporate titans just alone.* But these bailouts are not sufficient alone. They must be matched by a dramatic change in the national thinking and conversation that the public will embrace with enthusiasm.

Like any other brand that fails to fulfill the expectations of its key constituencies, it will lose the trust and support of its stakeholders. The U.S. has done just that globally. The recovery plan we need from our leaders, must go far beyond the ones Congress has passed. It must address how the U.S., its leaders, and its institutions will rebuild our damaged reputation capital by living up to the promises we have made to our global stakeholder community.

As recently stated in a Wall Street Journal article and I paraphrase… we are in a time of constitutional crisis, and need to return to the tenets our Constitution to find our way home.

*Dr. Charles J. Fombrun is founder and Chairman of Reputation Institute.
**Wall Street Journal, Opinion, November, 15, 2009

Am primit acum ceva vreme un link de prezentare pentru Romania si am ramas placut impresionata. De atunci a ramas in history la browser si de fiecare data cand il vad imi aduc aminte de lucrurile faine care sunt spuse despre tara noastra. Parta urata este ca sunt atat de multi romani care nu stiu ce se povesteste acolo, altfel n-ar mai spune ca Romania nu e o tara frumoasa. Uite cateva lucruri care ne reprezinta si pentru care ar trebui sa ne multumesca o lume intreaga :

- Primul stilou a fost realizat de Profesorul Petrache Poenaru

- Stefan Odobleja este parintele Ciberneticii Moderne

- Nicolae Paulescu a inventat insulina

- Henri Coanda a inventat primul avion

- Nadia Comaneci a luat primul 10 in istoria gimnasticii

- Vlad Tepes a devenit Dracula in literetura si cu acest nume a facut inconjurul lumii

- Mircea Eliade a scris “Enciclopedia Religiilor”

- Suntem prima natiune din lume care a creat “Cimitirul Vesel”

- Helmut Ducadam a respins 4 penalty-uri la rand, Steaua Bucuresti castigand Cupa Campionilor

- A doua limba vorbita in corporatia  Microsoft este romana

- Portile lucrate manual din Maramures sunt unice in lume

- Tara noastra se mandreste cu cele mai frumoase femei din lume – romancele

- Vinurile si gastronomia romaneasca sunt recunoscute la nivel international

- Lucrarile lui Brancusi au demonstrat talentul unui tanar roman cu idei artistice moderne

- Avem o culoare inventata de noi, ce nu a fost repetata de nimeni pana acum – Albastrul de Voronet

- O contributie adusa arhitecturii este stilul brancovenesc recunoscut la nivel mondial

- Romanii au inventat jocul “Oina” care este parintele Baseball-ului

- Berea excelenta facuta in Romania a depasit granitele tarii

Dupa ce urmariti acest filmulet, poate spuneti ca si mine : Sunt mandra ca sunt romanca! (si olteanca pe deasupra).

Vogue Italia November 2009
Editorial: Beauty
Photographed by Emma Summerton
Fashion Editor: Patti Wilson
Models: Janete, Alexa Yudina

Perhaps this signals a new trend in editorials: the generic concept. We look forward to future editorials entitled “Clothes,” or “Skinny Bitches.”

Aw, don’t mind us. We’re just wearing our bitchpants today. Once again, it’s an array of striking images, and to be fair, they are kind of going out on a limb with that title since most of these pictures don’t embody traditional western ideas about beauty. And since you’re not likely to ever see these clothes anywhere off a runway (except on the Daphne Guinnesses of the world), it’s a good way to look at some of the more out there corners of fashion.

Aki Quang (Images: TheFashionSpot/Diciassette/Style.com)

There are so many posts from “experts” debating whether or not to use Twitter for Business.  I believe they all have valid arguments depending on how you want to read the latest report or statistics that are available.  After all we can make statistics tell any story we want to, can’t we?

These reports are all informative, but who do you believe??  They are all “big picture” stories and do not really answer the simple question that most clients want answered.  IS TWITTER RIGHT FOR ME?

Below are 3 easy steps to decide if you should invest your time in Twitter.

Before you start I want you to think of Twitter as a search engine, much like you would Google.  The only difference is that you are searching real time conversations and you are able to read what people are talking about right now!  Is your brand, competitors or industry spoken about online?  Well here is how to find out.

1. go to http://search.twitter.com/
2. Enter in Keywords that relate to your company, your products, your competitors and your industry.  Remember that these keywords relate to conversations.  Not many people will type in a full company name or brand in a conversation so think about how you talk about your industry and enter those keywords and acronyms. Think conversationally, not Google-ly.  (Strong brands are mentioned all the time – Search Starbucks as an example, but companies are less mentioned)
3. View the results

It’s that simple.

Now you need to analyse the results.  What does it all mean?

If your company or products are not mentioned well then no one is talking about you.  Try searching your competitor’s brands and see if they are appearing?  Finally search your industry and industry terminology. If no results appear from these searches, then Twitter is not for you.  Look at other social media platforms (LinkedIn, Xing, FaceBook etc) and do the same type of searches.

If your keywords are appearing, then people are using this platform to discuss your interests.  Read the conversations, what are they saying?  Are they saying the right things?  Can you contribute to the conversations or answer any of the questions? – If you feel that you have something to add to these conversations, then you should definitely be in Twitter participating in them.

I know of many companies that are mentioned incorrectly in a press release or where there products are spoken about incorrectly  If they were actively involved in social media, they could have stopped this misinformation quickly and given the right information before it became “gospel” online.

So is Twitter now right for you or not?

If it is, Download Tweetdeck (www.tweetdeck.com – a Free application) or some other free Twitter application that allows you to monitor what is being said.

Enter in your keywords

Start monitoring, participating and creating these conversations….

Have fun!

Questo sembra essere la parola d’ordine dei brands all’interno dei tanto chiaccherati Social Media.

E si, perchè tu sui social network ci vai per condividere, discutere, divertirti, informarti. Ma dall’altra parte vuoi i tuoi amici, followers, subscribers, friends (o che dir si voglia).

Ed allora le aziende perchè dovrebbero “interferire” questo rapporto? Ma sopratutto, le aziende ed i loro brands, perchè vogliono diventare nostri friends su Facebook, nostri followers su Twitter, nostri subscribers su Friendfeed? Tante aziende ci stanno provando, alcune ottenendo risultati eccellenti.

Le aziende diventano “umane” nei social media. Parlano come il tuo vecchio compagno delle scuole medie che non vedevi da 15 anni (e che hai ritrovato grazie a Facebook) o come il tuo nuovo utente su twitter che ha appena condiviso una notizia che hai lanciato.

I brands su Facebook ti dicono “se diventi mio amico, la prossima volta che compri un mio prodotto, dì alla cassa che ti mando io, vedrai che ti fanno uno sconto del 10%”.

Perchè le aziende non sono solo pubblicità tabellari sui quotidiani nazionali, claim televisi da urlo. Devono aprirsi al confronto: discussioni che, sui social media, hanno spesso toni accesi; discussioni che aiutano a conoscere quello che davvero (e senza filtri) il pensiero di una buona fetta di consumatori. Ci si può nascondere certo. Si può solo comunicare dall’alto verso il basso, senza alcun dubbio. Ma domani?

Domani siamo certi che i consumatori non privilegino le aziende che si aprono al confronto “aperto”? Siamo sicuri che, il nuovo consumat(t)ore, non sia “stufo” di subire passivamente i messaggi promozionali dei prodotti che utilizza ed acquista?

Io sono sicuro del contrario. Ah, non solo io ovviamente.

Chiedetelo a Google, più nello specifico a Google Social Search. Cambierà anche il modo di fare ricerche. E sopratutto cambieranno i risultati delle ricerche, o chiamatele SERP se siete esperti.

Saranno privilegiati le attività social della nostra cerchia di amici online. Ognuno di noi avrà una SERP differente, a quanto pare. Signori, brands, aziende, questo Signor web non scherza.

Anche perchè lo scenario si evolve, in continuazione.

Oggi il “consumo” di Web settimanale è pressochè identico a quello televisivo: i giovani, nella loro camera, spesso non hanno la TV, ma certamente hanno un PC. Oggi chi guarda un video pubblicitario online, pare abbia un ricordo 4 volte maggiore di uno televisivo.

Alcune ricerche dicono che solo il 14% delle persone si fida della pubblicità, mentre il 78% delle persone si fida del consiglio degli altri (qui la fonte).

Ed allora? La mia conclusione, da addetto ai lavori è scontata. Perciò facciamo finta che io sia un brand: ditemi cosa ne pensate del mio prodotto. Sì, sì, il mio prodotto è questo post, avete capito bene

IAB ha presentato la ricerca “Building Brands Online: An Interactive Advertising Action Plan”, condotta in collaborazione con Bain & Company, che

finds several disconnects between what big brand advertisers are looking for in an online media buy, and what online publishers can offer them.

Press release IAB
Summary (.pdf)

Via ClickZ