(de)ploys (MARKETING)

First of all, it's a branding coup that the Springbok logo has done so well. It's a self-reinforcing feedblack loop thing...the Bok logo becomes the stuff of legend, the players aspire to the legend, they become legends, further reinforcing it. Now even Bafana Bafana are copying the green and gold thing, and Mbeki, having experienced Bok Power firstahd, is telling the soccer lads to chuck Bafana and get a Bok-style makeover.

Then, simply because I feel it is my duty (and I'd like to encourage the collective, communities all over) to celebrate nature, I love Pam Golding's new print campaign. One image shows a massive whale and a diver in a pristine, crystal clear ocean lit with desaturated carbon color. The charcoal appearance understates the simple but important message: Discover the place that makes you happiest. I like the implication behind that; that nature is where a person can find themselves, and some of their highest happinesses.
"A new home is an important contributor to the overall feeling of happiness."*

Sonja Bulkin in the Saturday Star punted the TOTAL ad. It's an excellent concept promoting the economy of the fuel, using The Three Degrees song: "When will I see you again?" Caltex is onto the same thing, but they render it less well. BP has their split screen version; also not quite bad.

Lowlight: Terrible ads include the perfume spray that a cartoon elephant punts, then suggests that even smelly shoes aren't a problem if you're a mother to centipede. But you're an elephant!

Highlight: At Vida e cafe I noticed on the earpiece - is that the correct term - of the white cup, a small card dangling. It was branded with Halo 3 advertising. A great ploy. Nowhere is offlimits, and the fresher the advertising turf, the more effective the message comes across.

This is Your World - Nike

If JUST DO IT ever gets old, here's my pitch for the next generation slogan:

You show a conventional city park like New York's Central Park, Seoul's Horse Shoe Lake Park (actually in Ilsan) and/or Johannesburg's Zoo Lake: you show footage of these parks absolutely swarming with people. Picnicers, people lazing about, lovers cuddling on blankets. Then you cut to 5am on a Sunday morning, and actually put this as cold, hard, white courier subtext over the dull gray of the early morning. Cut to a single runner, running through these deserted park environments. The runner stops, drinks from a water bottle, and looks around. Superimpose the outline of the Nike logo. Pixelate it rapidly with red and underneath:
This is your world.

The Blog as a Brand (and Brand Partner)

Hi Nick

Thanks for your request, we're flattered you'd want [our brand] on your personal site, however we can't be seen to endorse individual view-points. We are seen as the leader in exercise and wellness and the views we express need to be developed by ourselves.Thanks and we wish you all the best,
Regards

AB
National Marketing Manager - [a brand in]South Africa

NVDL: Is it really a matter of the brand endorsing the individual or the other way around? Isn't it mutual endorsement, which is to say: compatibility. I think more careful consideration should be given to the broader category, meaning, why not associate soort met soort (like with like).

In any event, why not use the above explanation to force people not to wear branded t-shirts or caps? Why? Because it is more important that the brand is endorsed, than that the brand is seen to endorse an individual. Let's face it, who is more important, the person or the product? Thus the leveraging at work - if you're sane anyway - is always in the direction of person > product/brand.

It's a mistake, in my view, to look at the details and say, wow, I wouldn't want to associate my brand with this and that detail in this or that blog. Just as people have some irritating aspects to themselves, so do brands (as much as they may imagine themselves to be perfect icons). People visiting blogs will have and will make broad associations in terms of brands and messages.

Another aspect to consider: What if the individual is actually a leader/an example, an exemplary individual etc? So in the sense of a brand based around 'fitness' or 'lifestyle' or 'health', in my case I have done an Ironman, often participate in cycling races, marathons etc. and go to gym regularly. Shouldn't this particularly brand category [fitness/health/lifestyle] aspire to have their members meet someone-with-this standard? Time will tell.

USA (traffic) Overtakes SA

Green shaded areas show traffic sources from the USA. The darker the color the more visitors per State - Source Google Analytics
Recently the traffic from the USA has overtaken my core audience - if there is such a thing - on this site. According to Google Analytics 87% of new visitors have been from the States, and the most popular page has been an embedded video showing a road exploding in Iraq (video shot from a vehicle on the road).
Click here to view.

The rest of the top 5 worldwide sources are:
1. USA
2. UK
3. Canada
4. Australia
5. South Korea.

Most American visitors are based in New York, California, Colorado and Texas.
Average time visitors spend on this site is 2 minutes. I'd like to bump that up to 5. If you have any suggestions, do leave a comment.

I've also emailed a number of brands that I would like to associate with me-as-a-brand. These include Kauai, Virgin Active, Oakley, Timex, Polar, Cervelo, Samsung, Chrysler and others.

Brands are not represented on the internet, but I think we can safely add the word 'yet' to that sentence. Brands and blogs are a natural synergy; naturally some brands and blogs are incompatible.

Since there is a fair amount of girls-in-bikini's on this site, I wouldn't mind adding to the above list: Speedo, 'O Neil and Victoria's Secret.

Now, time to get back to the traffic...

Humorous Accident - The best video clips are here