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I Hate Ads
Jun 21
I haven't been doing my homework...
I have another confession to make… I haven’t been doing my homework. Part of what we’ve been told to do as marketing students is take in a lot of marketing communications from the world around us, including advertisements on TV, radio, junk mail, and so on.
This morning I was trying to remember when the last time I actually watched broadcast TV was. I couldn’t. I honestly don’t think I’ve sat down and watched TV at all this year.
When people talk about ads they’ve seen on TV, I no longer have any idea what they’re talking about. As for radio, my dial has been resolutely fixed on the non-commercial Triple J for years. Our mailbox has a no junk mail sign up on the mail box, so I only see what comes bundled in with the newspaper. And even then, it’s not often that I pick up a newspaper any more, as I to read it online while I’m connection to friends on Facebook and MSN.
So my exposure to traditional media of late has been extremely low… should I start cramming?
Jun 20
When you've got nothing left to lose...
It’s no secret that Microsoft’s Internet Explorer has been waning in popularity, with some statistics showing IE’s global browser usage market share hitting a new low of 65.8% this year as Firefox continues it’s phenomenal growth (22.56%) and new browsers such as Google Chrome (1.58%) and Apple Safari (8.3%) diversify the market.
So when flat out lies and deception still can’t convince users to stay with Microsoft’s behind-the-game software, why not just resort to blatant bribing?
That’s exactly what Microsoft Australia are now doing in attempt to get people to download their new version of IE, with the promise of a chance at winning $10,000. “We’ve buried $10,000 somewhere on the internet and the first one to find it, gets to keep it,” exclaims their competition site, TenGrandIsBuriedHere.com. Presumably the ten grand isn’t, as the title proclaims, buried on the competition website itself. Of course, you’ll only be able to find the prize using IE8.
Microsoft is not new at bribing potential users, however, they attempted to bribe Aussies with Apple iPods and other prizes to use their search engine, Live Search. But it wasn’t enough to gain them a decent market share and they’ve now completely re-branded the service as “Bing”.
I Hate Ads encourages readers to use more advanced browsers such as Safari, Chrome or Firefox to support competition in the browser industry and the advancement of web standards.
Apr 21
Barack Obama has asked Cass Sunstein to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. If you’ve heard of a law professor (who isn’t Lawrence Lessig), it’s probably Cass Sunstein. Sunstein recently wrote a book called Nudge in which he advocated what he called a sort of “paternal libertarianism.” While the name should send shivers down libertarian’s spines, the idea is pretty good. The idea was to improve the default options. Choice is a great thing—but gathering the information to make an informed choice is costly. Suppose you’re buying a car and trying to decide which safety features you want. The dealer says, “For an extra $400 you can have side curtain airbags.” You might think you don’t need to spend that kind of money for anything unnecessary. On the otherhand, if the dealer says, “We could remove the sidecurtain airbags and save $400,” you might think that you’re unwilling to sell your safety and keep the airbags. Of course, in either case, you have the same choice and the result will be the same—but the way the information is presented could affect your decision.
Apr 07
Apr 02
Me at the Louvre, Paris.
When I grow up, I want to be an architect…
The other day I was talking to someone who works at a brand strategy agency, who said she’d always wanted to be an architect. This was interesting because when I was a kid I wanted to be an architect too, and we’ve both ended up doing the same thing. Why? Well, I realised quickly that I’d be no good at architecture. I simply don’t have that artistic streak. Instead, I have a different sort of creativity, I’m more interested in innovation and strategy. Architecture is about designing functional spaces that fit into people’s lives. Marketing is about designing functional products and services that fit into people’s lives. See the similarity? I want to create great stuff that makes people’s lives better, and build a great customer experience around it. To me, that’s what marketing is all about.
Apr 01
You may have noticed that this blog has been rather quiet for the last few months. That’s because on Christmas Day last year I left the country for a couple of months. The main reason for this was that I went on the Monash International Marketing Study Program, or MIMSP for short, an absolutely fantastic program where, as part of a group of 26, I went to Hong Kong, Dubai, London, Paris, Madrid (and northern Spain), and New York, visiting the headquarters of some fantastic global brands along the way (including Google, Zara and L’Oreal among others). I had the time of my life and learnt a lot about marketing in a global context. Over the coming months I’ll be sharing some of these experiences with you here. For now, let me just thank everyone who contributed to making this a truly awesome experience!
Mar 22
“ Most people make the mistake of thinking design is what it looks like. People think it’s this veneer — that the designers are handed this box and told, ‘Make it look good!’ That’s not what we think design is. It’s not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.
— Steve Jobs, via Daring Fireball
Dec 10
If there’s one piece of wisdom I can share from my 16 years of education so far (holy crap!), it’s that its not the subject, but the teacher that makes all the difference. A crap teacher can make a good subject dull and uninteresting, while a good teach can make a dry and boring subject quite bareable. Unfortunately our society doesn’t seem to value the teaching proffession, with the result that great teachers seem to be few and far between. Occassionally you get a teacher that not not only makes a subject great, but inspires you to think, challenge your ideas and engage in the material, even outside of the classroom (for instance, on a blog).
Peter Wagstaff is one of those teachers, and we’d (Julian Cole, Josh Strawczynski, Zac Martin, Simon Oboler and myself), like to show our appreciation to him today, on Peter Wagstaff Day!
