|
TheStar : Fees for local delegates to AdAsia 09 slashed by 30% |
|
Wednesday, 14 October 2009 12:24 |
KUALA LUMPUR: The organisers of the Asian Advertising Congress (AdAsia 09), to be held in Kuala Lumpur from Oct 22 to 24, have slashed the registration fee for Malaysian delegates by 30% to RM1,800 to attract as many local delegates as possible.
AdAsia 09 organising chairman Peter Das said this would make it a bargain because companies could even claim RM750 per day from the Human Resources Development Fund.
“Initially the discounted rate was only to apply to those affiliated with industry associations like the Malaysian Advertisers Association, the Association of Accredited Advertising Agents and the Media Specialists Association, but we decided to extend it to every Malaysian because such a premier branding event comes by only rarely,” he told StarBiz.
The registration fee for foreign delegates had been reduced from US$1,000 to US$750 earlier.
Das said he was disappointed with the response from overseas given that Malaysia was one of the cheapest venues for AdAsia.
“Initially we were expecting foreigners to make up at least 40% of the delegates, but at present, it’s only 25%. I’m disappointed that the foreigners are not taking advantage of what Malaysia has to offer. It looks like the economic situation is still bad overseas,” he said.
|
|
FastCompany : Hard Work's Overrated, Maybe Detrimental |
|
Tuesday, 13 October 2009 09:03 |
A co-founder of Flickr argues that hard work often doesn't amount to much--and neuroscience offers some backing for the claim.
Caterina Fake, who, with her husband Stewart Butterfield, founded Flickr, knows a thing or two about bliztkreig work schedules. But she points out that late nights are seldom very useful in the grand scheme of things. Hard work? Overrated:
When we were building Flickr, we worked very hard. We worked all waking hours, we didn't stop. My Hunch cofounder Chris Dixon and I were talking about how hard we worked on our first startups, his being Site Advisor, acquired by McAfee--14-18 hours a day. We agreed that a lot of what we then considered "working hard" was actually "freaking out". Freaking out included panicking, working on things just to be working on something, not knowing what we were doing, fearing failure, worrying about things we needn't have worried about, thinking about fund raising rather than product building, building too many features, getting distracted by competitors, being at the office since just being there seemed productive even if it wasn't--and other time-consuming activities. This time around we have eliminated a lot of freaking out time. We seem to be working less hard this time, even making it home in time for dinner.
Much more important than working hard is knowing how to find the right thing to work on. Paying attention to what is going on in the world. Seeing patterns. Seeing things as they are rather than how you want them to be. Being able to read what people want. Putting yourself in the right place where information is flowing freely and interesting new juxtapositions can be seen. But you can save yourself a lot of time by working on the right thing. Working hard, even, if that's what you like to do.
|
|
BrfandRepublic : Underwear showdown as Beckham takes on Armani |
|
Tuesday, 13 October 2009 08:42 |
LONDON - David Beckham is set to launch his own range of underwear, while his current employer Emporio Armani has signed up another celebrity footballer, Cristiano Ronaldo.
Ronaldo will become the official worldwide 'spokesmodel' for Emporio Armani men's underwear and Armani Jeans, the company has confirmed in a statement to Brand Republic. He will begin starring in global ad campaigns from Spring/Summer 2010.
Beckham has appeared in a series of seductive press and billboard ads for Armani wearing skimpy briefs for the last four years, though it is understood his contract with Armani is due to run out in January.
Beckham is planning to launch his own range of briefs next year in a move that will see him join his wife Victoria in the fashion business. Mrs Beckham already produces a clothing range called dvb.
The LA Galaxy's representatives have opened advanced talks with suppliers about a deal to launch his own brand of underwear, with price points and retailers still to be finalised.
The Armani switch also marks another occasion on which Ronaldo has emulated Beckham, having replaced the former England captain at Manchester United when Beckham departed for Real Madrid.
Madrid then signed Ronaldo this summer for a world record transfer fee of £80m, which has helped fill the void left by Beckham in its global marketing profile.
|
|
NYTIMES : Surprise Nobel for Obama Stirs Praise and Doubts |
|
Sunday, 11 October 2009 10:09 |
PARIS — The choice of Barack Obama on Friday as the recipient of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, less than nine months into his eventful presidency, was an unexpected honor that elicited praise and puzzlement around the globe.Normally the prize has been presented, even controversially, for accomplishment. This prize, to a 48-year-old freshman president, for “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples,” seemed a kind of prayer and encouragement by the Nobel committee for future endeavor and more consensual American leadership.
But the prize quickly loomed as a potential political liability — perhaps more burden than glory — for Mr. Obama. Republicans contended that he had won more for his star power and oratorical skills than for his actual achievements, and even some Democrats privately questioned whether he deserved it.
|
|
TheStar: The pursuit of creative awards |
|
Saturday, 10 October 2009 11:37 |
JWT regional executive creative director (South-East Asia) Tay Guan Hin and Taproot India founder and chief creative officer Agnello Dias are two of the foreign judges for this year’s Kancil Awards – the country’s premier advertising creative award show. StarBizWeek emailed them some questions on awards, scam ads and jury selection.
StarBizWeek: Are creative awards necessary for the advertising industry? Why or why not?
Tay Guan Hin: Creative awards are created to inspire, invigorate and reward the best creative work done annually. It’s a barometer to see how well or badly the industry is doing. It’s a great benchmark to measure Malaysia’s creative standards compared to the rest of the world. Most importantly, it helps to recruit potential talent into the industry because of the publicity it generates.
Agnello Dias: Awards are necessary for any industry where the evaluation of the output is subjective. This is true of the entertainment industry as well. Banking or information technology, on the other hand, produces output that can be evaluated objectively and their fiscal results become the sole yardstick of excellence. Therefore in the advertising industry and the entertainment industry a common benchmarking by peers is necessary to constantly evaluate our progress.
|
|
TheStar: BBDO/Proximity’s Ng dives into new waters |
|
Saturday, 10 October 2009 11:34 |
|
By M. HAFIDZ MAHPAR
RONALD Ng, BBDO/Proximity Malaysia chief creative officer, thought he would be posted somewhere in Asia when he mentioned to his bosses last year that he was ready for a different kind of challenge.
Little did he know that he would be made executive vice-president and executive creative director based at BBDO’s headquarters in New York, possibly becoming the first Malaysian to reach such a level in the advertising industry.
|
|
TheMalaysianInsider : Ikea tries to build a case against Russian graft |
|
Thursday, 08 October 2009 12:22 |
MOSCOW, Sept 12 — Weeks before the opening of its flagship store outside Moscow in 2000, Ikea was approached by employees of a local utility company. If the Swedish retailer wanted to have electricity for its grand opening, it had to pay a bribe.
Instead, Ikea rented diesel generators large enough to power a shopping mall. The generators roared to life in a loud rebuke to the corrupt executives who thought they had the retailer cornered, and soon the utility turned on the power.
As Ikea opened stores across Russia, and became one of the most outspoken Western corporate critics of Russian corruption, renting generators to thwart extortion from power companies became standard practice.
Ikea executives took great pride in their creative solution — renting generators “instead of putting ourselves into a squeeze,” as Christer Thordson, an Ikea board member and global director of legal affairs, put it in an interview.
But Russian graft may have proved more stubborn than Ikea.
The board of Ikea’s operating company, which is based in the Netherlands, has concluded that the Russian executive hired to manage the generators was taking kickbacks from the rental company to substantially inflate the price of the service.
Ikea said that such a fraud could cost it about US$196 million (RM84 million) over two years.
Ikea canceled the contract and sought redress in Russian civil court. But in rulings over the last two weeks, Ikea has lost another 5 million euros (RM25.4 million) in damages that the judges awarded the generator rental company for breach of contract.
Ikea disclosed the details of its loss to The New York Times last month, saying that it hoped publicity might compel the Russian authorities to investigate.
“We have encountered something here that is outside the scope of what we normally encounter,” Thordson said, describing the global retailer’s situation in Russia. “I have never experienced anything like this.”
|
|
Mashable : Do You Go to Google.com? |
|
Wednesday, 07 October 2009 16:53 |
It’s a serious question. I know Google is more ubiquitous than ever, and despite some solid efforts by Bing, it’s still, by far, the number one search engine in the world – and it’s still growing.
However, I’m not asking whether you’re using Google (Google); I’m asking whether you actually open the Google homepage, and search from there. Because I don’t. Until a while ago, occasionally – perhaps out of habit – I’d open it and search from there, but lately I never do it. Searching directly from Firefox (Firefox) or Chrome (Chrome) is one step less, and I’m not going to do something the hard way if I don’t have a good reason.
I don’t think it’s just me. You don’t really need to ever type Google.com into your browser; regardless of what device or software you’re using, you can almost invariably skip that step. And yes, many users are probably still opening Google.com for various reasons, but when there’s an easier route available, it’s only logical that more and more people start taking it.
What tipped me off is the recent onslaught of Google logos. A couple of years ago I’d get a bunch of tips from friends about it: hey, have you seen Google? It’s really cool. Lately, I get less and less of those; since Google’s doodles don’t appear in the search results, people obviously don’t see them any more.
Which also makes me wonder about Google’s frequent logo changes and their plans for the homepage. Today, I have a reason to open Google.com: there’s a bar code instead of the Google logo there. Maybe Google has realized that people simply aren’t that interested in visiting Google.com, and they’re spicing it up with different logos every couple of days.
Logo changes, I’m afraid, won’t be enough to keep user interest. Once, it was really cool to see a company as big as Google pay someone a tribute by changing their logo (most major companies would never, ever, change their logo, even as a joke). Now, it’s happening too often. Today, Google’s logo is completely incomprehensible (unless you can read bar code), but the stunt isn’t as impressive as it once was.
What’ll Google do with the homepage when logo switching stops being news? Even if people completely stop opening Google.com directly, Google won’t lose much traffic, as everyone is still conducting Google searches and opening the result pages. But having people actually visiting your site – which, in Google’s case, is notoriously devoid of all advertisements, and any superfluous elements – has certain benefits; brand recognition and better connection with your users come to mind. It’s tough to predict; after all, Google’s changes to the homepage were so minute that it’s almost identical to the original version presented in 1998. For Google, “redesiign” means moving something a couple of pixels to the side; anything more than that would be a revolution.
While it’ll be interesting to see if Google has any radical plans for the homepage, I’d like to hear your opinion. Do you actually go to Google.com and conduct searches from there, or do you do it from a third party application? Would you notice the new Google logos if you hadn’t read about them somewhere? Please, share your thoughts in the comments.
Source: Mashable
|
|
FastCompany : The Wacky Ad Firm: Am I Being Too Conservative? |
|
Wednesday, 07 October 2009 11:09 |
Q: I run marketing at my company, and our ad firm is always coming up with really over-the-top concepts. Sometimes the concepts are fun but more often they are wacky or outright embarrassing. This has become a constant source of tension. I feel like I'm always reining them in, and they always tell me we've got to be edgy if you want to generate word-of-mouth. Am I being too conservative, or should I find another agency? - The Reiner
A: Dear Reiner, I bet I can out-wacky you. I once worked at a startup where we offered online tutoring help to college students (with courses like calculus and biology). We had an ad agency that we'd hired to help get the word out. After months of creative brainstorming, the agency's creative director pitched the following concept: "So you're a college student. You open up your dorm mailbox and there's a mysterious postcard in it. It says 'DORMSHOWERCAM.com.' There's nothing else printed on the card. So you're intrigued and later you type in the URL, and a video launches. You see an attractive coed taking a shower, though you can't see anything naughty. Suddenly, just when you think you'll get a peep, she turns around and looks straight into the camera and says, 'Why are you studying anatomy when you should be studying calculus?' And then--POOF!--you're redirected to the calculus tutoring site!"
True story. And it would have been the perfect campaign, too, if it weren't for a few small details, like our aspiration to have the occasional female customer, and also our hope of respecting the basic norms of human decency. (Nor did it seem particularly fair to the poor people who responded to the ad, hoping for some hot shower action, only to be redirected to the Central Limit Theorem.) We fired the agency the next week and hired a different agency that ended up doing great (and porn-free!) work.
|
|
Yahoo! : NBA prohibits use of Twitter, Facebook during games |
|
Thursday, 01 October 2009 10:42 |
The National Basketball Association is initiating new social media guidelines for its players, banning the use of web sites like Twitter and Facebook during games.
League officials sent a memo to all 30 teams on Wednesday announcing the guidelines for the proper use of social media sites by the players, coaches and front office workers.
"During games, the use of cell phones, PDAs, other electronic communication devices, and social media or networking sites (including Twitter, Facebook and other sites and services) by coaches, players and other team basketball operations personnel is prohibited," said a portion of the memo obtained by AFP.
The memo states that the ban will be in place 45 minutes before the start of each game and last until the post-game media interviews are finished.
The announcement also stated teams "are free to adopt their own rules relating to the use of electronic communication devices and social media sites and services during practices, meetings and other team events."
Source : Yahoo NEW YORK (AFP)
|
|
|
Copyright © 2007-2013