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Hellow,
I thing that its time to say - that blogging was an interesting subject but live is hard and full of work thats why, we didn't have enought time to blogging a lot but for me it is interesting that I have e-life.:))
Thank you - it was a really great experience.
Successful Marketing Stunts - some cases
Company: SnappleYear of the Stunt: June 2005
The Stunt: Snapple attempted to erect the world's largest popsicle, made of frozen Snapple juice, twenty-five feet tall and weighing 17.5 tons.
What Went Wrong: It melted. As a crane pulled the frozen treat into an upright position in Times Square in New York City, someone at Snapple made the decision to abruptly call the whole thing off--it was very clear that something was wront. With the temperature at eighty degrees, the popsicle was melting fast, sending a flood of kiwi-strawberry-flavored fluid pouring onto the streets of downtown Manhattan and forcing innocent bystanders to flee from the sticky, sugary mess, according to the Associated Press. (Apparently, Snapple executives understood that the snack would melt but not as fast as what happened that day.) Firefighters then closed off several streets and used hoses to wash away the melted gunk.
Lesson Learned: It's pretty obvious, isn't it? Stunts take planning--a lot of it--and not taking even the smallest detail, such as the weather, into account can really trip you up. That may explain why Snapple's more recent stunts have been slightly more safe: When the New York City-based marketing company, EMCI, contacted them to be the sole sponsor on a Boston radio station for six weeks, in effect giving listeners ad-free radio, or at least less ad clutter, Snapple snapped at the idea.
Company: JMP CreativeYear of the Stunt: 1990
The Stunt: Jim McCafferty, a magician turned marketer, was trying to promote his marketing startup business and decided to pull something worthy of Houdini to advertise his new venture. As the opening act for a concert, McCafferty allowed himself to be put in a straightjacket and then enclosed in a welded-shut steel cage and hoisted by a crane to the height of 300 feet. He was supposed to escape from the jacket and cage in two minutes and secure himself to a harness before a timer released the cage and allowed it to crash to the ground.
What Happened Next: While he escaped his straight jacket relatively quickly, the cage malfunctioned and he was trapped inside with less than a minute to go. Struggling with the cage, he scrambled onto its roof with 10 seconds to spare. But before he could attach himself to the harness, his time ran out and the cage dropped, plunging 60 feet before Jim clicked himself onto the harness, just seconds before the cage smashed into the ground. The crowd, thinking this was part of the act, loved it. Meanwhile, McCafferty was placed on a stretcher and carried to an ambulance, suffering from first- and second-degree rope burns. Before he was taken away, he asked one of his guests, a potential client, what he thought of the act. "I love the illusion of drama," the guy said, apparently not realizing how close Jim came to dying. "I truly didn't believe you were going to make it. And that fall, it was brilliant. It scared the daylights out of everyone." McCafferty didn't miss a beat: "Yeah, but just imagine what I can do for your brand."
The Lesson: In many ways, McCafferty's stunt did work--he has a multimillion dollar marketing business today--but we can't in good conscience say this stunt was a success. Marketing stunts are a game of chance, and if something can't go wrong, it's probably not much of a stunt. But gamble with the company, not yourself. No entrepreneur should ever risk his or her life.
Company: VodafoneYear of the Stunt: 2002
The Stunt: At a rugby match between New Zealand and Australia, two streakers interrupted the game, wearing nothing but the Vodafone logo.
What Happened Next: The police got involved, arresting the streakers before the game was over. Sure, there was a lot of attention and publicity from the media, and if you feel that even bad publicity is good publicity, then consider exposing your company by having somebody expose themselves. Just know that Grahame Maher, one of the CEOs of Vodafone, an international telecommunications company, was forced to apologize for encouraging these two guys to streak through the game--and thus break the law. The company also ended up donating $30,000 pounds to a nonprofit campaign aimed at reducing sports injuries.
The Lesson: If you have to break a law to pull off your marketing stunt, it's probably not a good idea. In fact, it's not a bad idea to consider the law even if you aren't breaking it. Paramount Pictures learned that the hard way earlier this year when it teamed up with the Los Angeles Times to rig 4,500 randomly selected newspaper boxes around the city. Unwitting customers paid for the paper and opened the rack, unaware that the Mission: Impossible theme song was about to start playing. It sounds harmless enough, but the machinery that played the music had red wires stuck out of it and looked like an explosive device. A bomb squad was called in at one location and actually blew up a newsrack before learning what was really going on.
Company: SonyYear of the Stunt: 2005
The Stunt: Sony had graffiti artists design--and spray paint--various pictures of their PlayStation Portable at several locations around New York City.
What Happened Next: Many people hated the look of the ads--after all, who wants graffiti in a city--and others saw it as a blatant attempt to be cool, or to get cheap labor from struggling teenagers. An online petition was started with comments like, "Stop cynically exploiting graffiti artists." Another declared, "I will never buy a Sony product again."
The Lesson: If you don't have street cred, really examine whether you have any chance of getting any. If something about your company or brand doesn't have it, it might be worth living with that.
Company: PontiacYear of the Stunt: 2004
The Stunt: If you haven't already heard, Oprah Winfrey gave away a Pontiac to each member of her studio audience--her entire audience--for free one day.
What Happened Next: Sure, the audience members were thrilled and the marketing stunt made news in all corners of the world. But advertising experts have argued that the real winner of this marketing stunt was Oprah--not the car manufacturer. Who actually today remembers that the car given away was a Pontiac G6 sedan--or even that it was a Pontiac? Everybody was applauding Oprah Winfrey for her generosity, but not Pontiac, which had come up with the idea for the giveaway. And there was some bad publicity, too: The winners were upset when they had to pay a huge tax bill for their gift. And for those who did pay attention and try to buy a Pontiac G6 in the immediate media aftermath, the new sedan wasn't yet available at many dealerships.
The Lesson: There's plenty to chew on, but certainly one lesson is that while it can be useful to partner with a bigger entity than yourself--see
SonicYoga.com--if you partner with somebody really big, every time you're in the same room, you might find that you're not getting any time in the spotlight and you've simply become a prop.
Grow your business with Internet Marketing
IntroductionIf you see the Internet as just another marketing channel like billboards or Yellow Page ads or printed brochures, then you are overlooking a major upheaval that is going on around you. The Internet is a significant infrastructure change for all segments of society. Companies and individuals are fundamentally changing the way they do some of the most basic business and work functions.
The Internet is a Two-way Communication ChannelThere are two principal strengths of the Internet. One is the ability to communicate. Rich-media information can go from one individual to another individual via the Internet. That could be an animated web page, or a video clip, or a detailed quotation or a simple e-mail message. It's all powerful stuff and well justifies all the efforts.
Indeed this aspect of the Internet is causing major organizational changes. Companies outsource operational functions to other companies around the world. New alliances of companies are possible as each performs in some collaborative arrangement with its partners. It also means that many individuals are changing the way they do their jobs. There are now privileged ways of communicating with them. At the same time, they often need to put up walls to keep out unwanted intruders. That often includes sales people.
The Internet Creates Connectivity
The other strength of the Internet is connectivity or the ability to make new interconnections. This means that a purchaser can become aware of the existence of a new supplier and can then make contact. It has now become a reality as high-speed computers through advanced searching techniques find potential suppliers from around the world. This allows purchasers to look for suppliers in a much more thorough way. It also allows sellers to find potential prospects in ways never before possible.
Internet MarketingMarketing is concerned with the total two-way communication between a company and its customers and prospects. Internet marketing is becoming the principal vehicle for this customer-contact process. Other traditional marketing activities still have a role but are often used in a complementary way to give maximum impact and return on the total effort.
Internet Marketing (IM) is concerned with the total process of attracting prospects and creating sales. Search engines can be powerful vehicles for bring traffic to a website. Maximising this is the objective of Search Engine Marketing (SEM) or Search Engine Optimization (SEO). These are part of the total Internet Marketing function.
Internet Marketing cannot be sub-contracted out since it is so central to the company's vitality and growth. It must be supported as a core company function. A web designer can rarely handle this aspect of Internet activity. A website is a key component but web designers have their hands full just handling all the intricacies of creating websites that perform as they should.
Developing the core Internet Marketing skillsOne problem in developing the necessary in-house skills to do Internet Marketing successfully is that the Internet changes rapidly and continuously. The Internet is complex and different skill levels can produce very different outcomes. This can be catastrophic if the competitors know how to exploit the Internet better than you do.
To help reinforce your Internet Marketing skills, it is preferable to involve an Internet Marketing consultant or coach. Such an expert will be aware of all Internet developments and knowledgeable on the most effective ways of making sales grow. Such an individual can work as part of the company team to ensure the most effective Internet Marketing is done. At the same time, an outsider's perspective can ensure that plans are using the best techniques available and are realistic.
Create a Blog to Boost Your Business If you're still not quite sure what blogs are or how they can benefit your business, this blogging veteran offers some words of wisdom.
By John NardiniSeptember 27, 2005
Blogging is the latest innovation to take the web by storm. According to blog tracking firm
Technorati, there are currently 14 million blogs with 80,000 more being added every day. And 30 percent of all 50 million internet users are blog readers. In short, a lot of people are reading and writing blogs.
Yet despite their popularity, you may be one of those people who doesn't really know what a blog is or what relevance blogging has to your business. In this article, I hope to answer those questions and cover the basics of using blogging to deliver favorable business results.
So just what is a blog and why should you care? Basically, the word "blog" is short for web log, a frequently updated web-based journal that's intended for general public consumption. So what do people write about? Anything from personal stories (from the mundane to the bizarre) to theme-centered creations (finance, politics, parenthood) to businesses (philosophies; updates; branding methods) to...you name it!
And while writing a personal blog can be fun, business blogging can be a powerful tool, allowing you to communicate with a significant number of consumers and achieve many of your business objectives. And best of all, these results can be delivered in a very cost-effective manner.
Let me give you an example. Scobleizer is a blog written by Microsoft middle manager Robert Scoble. Scoble's openness and responsiveness to comments--both good and bad--have helped put a personal touch on a company that many previously saw as an evil empire. Not that the blog has changed everyone's perceptions, but it's certainly giving a human face to Microsoft and helping to soften its image a bit, something that will ultimately impact business results.
Here are some additional advantages for businesses that blog:
Word-of-mouse. Because so many people have access to electronic forms of communication, it's easy for information to spread quickly. If you have a great new product, an innovative idea or an exciting marketing strategy, you can be sure your blog readers will pass it along via e-mail to others who will pass it along, too. Soon, your marketing message has reached hundreds if not thousands or millions of people.
Speed. If something goes wrong or if you have quick-breaking news, a blog can get the word--or your response--out immediately, much faster than any other form of media.
Awareness and loyalty. Purchasers of your product can read about it, post comments and engage in discussion. You can respond. Others can comment. This personal communication can create an open, honest, trust-building dialog that will make consumers more aware, more willing to try your products and more loyal to your brand.
Feedback. Businesses can find out immediately what people think of their company, products and ideas. But be warned: This takes a thick skin, as all feedback is not positive. But if you're really willing to listen, this information can be invaluable. Better yet, feedback can be generated quickly--over days, if not hours. A blog can act like a never-ending focus group that gives a company great insights into their consumers' thoughts, likes and actions.
Community halo-effect. Overall, most bloggers are friendly, helpful (by linking to each other's sites), and eager to cooperate to make the blogosphere--the collective group of blogs--a better place. By simply being an active part of the culture, you get the benefit of the doubt and your product becomes one that bloggers will consider purchasing
What do you thing?How Blogs Can Deliver Business Results ?
Strategy – Distinction - SEPHORA POLAND
step by step
Step by step I try to create my blog but after work I'm so tired and I can write maximum 2 sentsnses:)
I think that I have to write somethings about time but I realy dont' know what I have to exaclly write.
Best Regards
SM
What do you think about this??
Berlioz wrote, "Time is a great teacher. Unfortunately, it kills all its pupils."
My first step
Now - I create my blogg (first time in my life) - yes,yes,yes!!!
