Great New! I've Been Offered A Business Deal Via Email...

Check out this little gem arrived in my inbox this week:

Dear Sir/Ma,

Happy New Year!.

I would like to intimate you on the possibility of your company partaking in the

on going Tender bid for the Supply of your product to Iraq.

The product are to be supplied in large quantities, to 18 Iraq Government

Protectorates (Provinces).

I will be acting as your middle man in Iraq to submit your Company

biding information’s to the Task Force Command Office in Iraq.

I am currently on board of the contracting command Office for Economic

Development in Iraq and with my connection, I am quite

Confident of securing approval for you to supply your product.

I want you to note the issue of different financial regulations between

Iraq and your country. As such you will be paid 100% through the Iraqi

Ministry of Finance upon the approval of your quotation and Invoices before

you commence supplies.

When you’ve received the payment, we would be expecting a monthly supply,

as the sum budgeted for this Tenders is quite enormous as to outstrip your

capacity And capability to supply. A consideration also is that your quotation must

be CIF Port of Umm Qasr (or the Jordanian Port of Aqaba).

I will reveal more procedural information to you upon your receiving the

acknowledgment of this proposal from you.

Best Regards.

Yours Sincerely

Nabeel Salman Kadhim.

[Via http://speakyourpeace.30careers.com]

Guerilla Marketingu(LUI) Lucian Mindruta

Omul care a scris ASTA a “patit” ASTA.

N-as putea crede intr-o mie de ani ca acesta este epilogul acestei povesti. Sint convinsa ca urmeaza ca domnul Mindruta, dupa ce s-a expus cu buna stiinta pe postul national cerindu-si iertare nevestei intr-o “problema” care nu interesa pe nimeni, va aparea sa ne explice adevaratul motiv al acestei povesti: as intui ca e vorba de o campanie menita sa atraga atentia unui public foarte numeros interesat de birfe si cancanuri, care sa fie sensibilizat pentru stringerea de fonduri pentru copiii bolnavi, de pilda. E un instrument de marketing inedit, dar foarte bine gindit si care cu siguranta va avea feedback-ul scontat.

Domnule Lucian Mindruta, ati generat interes prin valurile desigur, magistral create. Asteptam sa vedem ce faceti cu el, cu interesul adica.

[Via http://cuvintre.wordpress.com]

Nokia: if you can't beat 'em, sue them

Earlier this week there were a variety of posts about how Nokia is filing all kinds of injunctions against Apple to prevent them from importing anything that is remotely tied to the mobile phone business, including everything from the iPhone and iPods to the MacBook (read more). This seems to be the norm in the tech world these days. However, I have to ask, instead of wasting a bunch of money on lawyers and lawsuits, wouldn’t Nokia be better served by actually trying to take on Apple by creating superior products and services?

We’ve seen this same scenario playing out between Verizon and AT&T as of late. Both companies were suing one another and launching a barrage of expensive television commercials discussing their competitor’s problems, while neither company did much to actually make a difference in their customers’ lives.

So here’s the deal Nokia. Instead of copying the iPhone like every other company has done, why not pull your talented research and marketing team together and actually listen to what mobile phone users want. There are opportunities to create better products. I am a loyal fan of Apple and the iPhone; however, I will also admit that neither the company or phone is perfect.

It’s easy to sue. It’s also expensive, but hey, you can pass those costs on to your consumers. Resentment will build, as will a complete lack of loyalty. What we really want is great products and service, but this is a lot to ask for – it’s where the hard work is required.

[Via http://jwsokol.wordpress.com]

Are super brands like religions or are religions actually super brands?

I’ve always agreed that in order for products, or indeed services to establish super brand status they must establish the same ideology as those wishing to maintain or increase the number of religious followers. After all, it is the strong belief in something that ensures a followers (consumer) complete loyalty.

The three principles of religious ideology are identified as ABC, Assure, Believe and Convert. The same is true when wishing to create a brand’s identity, maintain a brand’s perception and grow a brand’s awareness and understanding amongst its target audience.

One super brand ideally placed to compare to that of religion would be the super brand created by a dyslexic farm boy called Ingvar Kampard back in 1930s, we know it as IKEA. What started off as regional belief by Swedish consumers, who would spend a day travelling to their nearest store, has now become an international icon – a ritual if you will, where millions of people spend their weekend travelling to their nearest store buying what the store is selling! Kampard even produced a furniture dealer’s testament, which at the heart lay a reiteration of the IKEA spirit. (Acknowledgement: Matt Haig, Brand Royalty)

I’m not claiming that people will kill others for their belief in the IKEA Spirit, but the belief and continued faith of consumers (followers) has to be strong to maintain their trust in a product, service – or even a name!

So it begs the question, are marketers and communication practitioners brand guardians or actually spiritual communicators? Or am I just over egging the whole process for word count reasons…you decide.

[Via http://talktojason.wordpress.com]

Googly, Woogly, Woosh and Spaaaaaar Fresh

In todays post, I would like to cover two specific advertisements to mention two points – the first one talks about the need for adapting advertisements to different media and the second one will talk about brand building based on customer perception.

1. Ponds Charmis has been running an ad campaign with the song “Googly, Woogly Woosh” (ad here) for sometime now. I recognize the tune and LOVE it, seriously! However, I recently heard (repeatedly) the same tune on radio, without a mention of the product name or any words to indicate what it was about. Left me wondering….with the visuals, the tune in the background adds a lot of value, without the visuals one would need some amount of audio (apart from the really catchy tune) to build your brand on the radio. Else, aren’t we talking about wasted airtime?

2. Spar Hypermarket is running a major campaign on Bangalore FM with the tagline “If it is not spaaaaaaaaaaaar fresh, it is just not fresh”. Again, I love the tagline, it is fantastic and the ads are innovative too. However, one of the major reasons I go to Spar in Bangalore (a really long drive from my home) is because it has one of the largest ranges of groceries and the store is always well stocked. One might argue that there is always “Big Bazaar”. I would say that by limiting the scope of what they offer, Spar has been able to offer a reasonable depth in what they offer and do so in a format that doesn’t feel over-crowded or messy. If they are trying to reach out to the people on a weak spot and build a brand around this specific fact of “freshness”, it might be a good strategy. But if this is how they are trying to build their brand, they might want to ask their customers why they choose to come to Spar vs. other options and build a story around that.

[Via http://discoveringthepurpose.wordpress.com]

The Reason Why Keywords Are Important

Throughout our marketing effort, we’ve been fortunate to have seen the effects that keywords can have.

Currently, we have 39 blog posts each about a variety of different topics.  We’ve mentioned books that we’ve read, movies that we thought we interesting, and topics about our own games.

With the relatively large sample of topics to choose from, you’d think that we’d get some interestesting results when people do searches…

So, would you care to guess which search terms bring us the most traffic?

Well, the results of what we find are NOT suprising.  The search terms that are bringing us the most traffic are:

1. John Carmack (our article on John Carmack)

2.  Merry Gear Solid (our mention of Merry Gear Solid 2)

Both are video game terms.  With John Carmack we specifically mentioned him in the title (I’m not actually sure that matters or not), and I think that with Merry Gear Solid, we just beat the crowd (or people are not that interested).

Unfortunately, we can’t seem to think of a way to effectively come up with marketing keywords.  Our plan is literally to keep doing what we’re doing: speaking honestly, and trying to help people as much as possible.

I have a feeling that once The Good Apprentice is finished, we’ll see a huge amount of traffic on this blog.  Hopefully, we’ll be able to gain a lot of information that will be useful to you guys that we can share!

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As a side note, we’ll be re updating the website AGAIN.  We’ve been thinking about going in this direction for a while, so check out the site for our new look:

Jr. Jellybeans (They’re All Gonna Laugh At You)

[Via http://jrjellybeans.wordpress.com]

A New Year's Resolutions Template for Marketers

Market smart, always test, always measure and always analyze.

Experience and listen to experience.

Be flexible, be responsible and be quick.

Be good in data mining and be good in story telling.

Socialize with your audience (and you know what I mean), don’t just give them what they need, give them what they just wished for.

Think big, go niche.

Go mobile and go offline too.

Don’t stop when everyone else does.

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[Via http://senaertem.wordpress.com]