Lee Dunbar

Aug

23

The Round-Up

August 23, 2008

From the, ‘They aren’t buying what you are selling’ department, ComputerWorld is reporting that a full third of PC buyers are downgrading to Windows XP. Even when stripping Vista down to core components to make it as close in functionality to XP as possible, Vista was 40% slower, Barth claimed, citing recent tests Devil Mountain has performed. “Vista’s performance had been an ongoing problem, and the only thing that’s saving Microsoft’s bacon is the faster processors and more RAM on today’s PCs,” he said. “Moore’s Law is always on their side.” I have to admit that since I do a lot of video and photo editing, that a downgrade to XP would be the option I would go for as well.

I guess this is kind of old news, but Ottawa’s 20Q has a Disney version of their 20 questions game, a very addictive game I would add. Think of a place, thing or character that has something to do with Disney and see if you can stump the application.

Speaking of Disney, if you visit their webs site, you can now create your own Disney page. On a side note, when are they going to get rid of the failed go.com part of the URL?

I’m a big fan of Michael Geist. CTV reports, “Critics of the Harper government’s proposed changes to the Copyright Act have launched a cyber crusade to fight the controversial bill. They’re using everything from Facebook to YouTube to Wikipedia to blogs to get their message out. They want the government to either scrap or make serious amendments to Bill C-61 when Parliament resumes next month. At the helm of the digital movement is Michael Geist, a professor at the University of Ottawa who specializes in Internet and e-commerce law. In addition to his own blog, Geist runs a Facebook group called Fair Copyright for Canada that boasts 90,000 members.” I am also a big believer in the effectiveness of social media tools, so I will be interested to see how effective this campaign is.

The Daily Show and Colbert Report are two of my favs. The American Political Science Association has posted an article about what is coined, the “Colbert Bump“. Democratic politicians receive a 40% increase in contributions in the 30 days after appearing on the comedy cable show The Colbert Report.  In contrast, their Republican counterparts essentially gain nothing.  These findings appear to validate anecdotal evidence regarding the political impact of the program, such as the assertions by host Stephen Colbert that appearing on his program provides candidates with a “Colbert bump” or a rise in support for their election campaigns.

Tags: Design Stuff, Marketing Stuff, Neat Stuff, Sports Stuff, Technology Stuff, Web Stuff
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Jul

15

The Capo d’Astro Bar

July 15, 2008

When I was in college one of my profs gave us a paper with the following story, and suggested that if we only learn one thing from him, he’d like it to be the lesson learned from the story of a copywriter, a piano and a Capo d’astro bar.

The story is as follows:

Back in the sixties, I was hired by an ad agency to write copy on the Aeolian Piano Company account. My first assignment was an ad to be placed in The New York Times for one of their grand pianos.

The only background information I received was some previous ads a few faded close-up shots . . . and of course, the due date.

The Account Executive was slightly put out by my request for additional information and his response to my suggestion that I sit down with the client was, “Are you one of those? Can’t you just create something? We’re up against a closing date!”

I acknowledged his perception that I was one of those, which got us an immediate audience with the head of the agency.

I volunteered that I couldn’t even play a piano let alone write about why anyone should spend $5,000 for this piano, especially when they could purchase a Baldwin or Steinway for the same amount.

Both allowed the fact they would gladly resign the Aeolian business for either of the others, however, while waiting for that call, suppose the deadline was attended to.

I persisted and, reluctantly, a tour of the Aeolian factory in upstate New York was arranged. I was assured that “we don’t do this with all of clients” and my knowledge as to the value of company time was greatly reinforced.

The tour of the plant lasted two days and although the care and construction appeared meticulous, $5,000 still seemed to be a lot of money.

Just before leaving, I was escorted into the showroom by the National Sales Manager. In an elegant setting sat their piano alongside the comparably priced Steinway and Baldwin.

“They sure do look alike,” I commented.

“They sure do. About the only real difference is the shipping weight-ours is heavier.”

“Heavier?” I asked. “What makes yours heavier?”

“The Capo d’astro bar.”

“What’s a Capo d’astro bar?”

“Here, I’ll show you. Get down on your knees.”

Once under the piano he pointed to a metallic bar fixed across the harp and bearing down on the highest octaves. “It takes 50 years before the harp in the piano warps. That’s when the Capo d’astro bar goes to work. It prevents that warping.”

I left the National Sales Manager under his piano and dove under the Baldwin to find a Tinkertoy Cap d’astro bar at best. Same with Steinway.

“You mean the Capo d’astro bar really doesn’t go to work for 50 years?” I asked.

“Well, there’s got to be some reason why the Met uses it,” he casually added.

I froze. “Are you telling me that the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City uses this piano?”

“Sure. And their Capo d’astro bar should be working by now.”

Upstate New York looks nothing like the front of the Metropolitan Opera House where I met the legendary Carmen Rise Stevens. She was now in charge of moving the Metropolitan Opera House to the Lincoln Center.

Ms. Stevens told me, “About the only thing the Met is taking with them is their piano.”

That quote was the headline of our first ad.

The result created a six year wait between order and delivery.

My point is this. No matter what the product or service, I promise you, the Capo d’astro bar is there.

Tags: Advertising Stuff, Design Stuff, Marketing Stuff
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Jun

24

The Round-Up

June 24, 2008

What happens when Google and Disney get together to throw around a few ideas? You get the Walt Disney World Resort available on Google Earth in 3D. The project features over 1,500 fairly detailed 3D models of buildings and attractions in all four theme parks and more than 20 of Disney’s Resort hotels. I had a lot of fun scrolling around — what a great way to allow your guests to move around and explore the park when they are either planning or dreaming if a trip to the most magical place on earth.

Montreal is the first North American city to role out a self-service bike rental system. Users will be able to pick-up a bike at one location for a nominal fee and drop it off at another location which are dispersed around the city.

More search engine election fun. A blogger has launched a Google bomb attack on McCain. The strategy was designed to raise the rankings of negative news stories about McCain. Yes, the same strategy you use to raise the visibility of your organization, can be used by your competitors to raise rankings of negative stories or reviews about your organization, officials, staff, or product. It is a good strategy to continuously monitor your own brand, trademarks and product category keywords. It can be as simple as subscribing to a comprehensive Google news alert.

It also seems that people are messing with page views and video ranking on YouTube. In an effort to make it the most viewed video, a blogger has created a refreshing web site that is increasing the number of views of Avril Lavigne’s Girlfriend video.

Tags: Advertising Stuff, Brand Experience Stuff, Community Stuff, Customer Service Stuff, Design Stuff, Experience Design Stuff, Marketing Stuff, Search Engine Stuff, Web Stuff
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Jun

24

Where is Matt?

June 24, 2008

I am not sure who Matt is, the story on the Stride Gum web site and also on Wikipedia is that he’s a guy that quit his job so that he could travel around the world. And this he does — dancing in some of the most beautiful and interesting places on earth. Not only does Matt dance, he has many guests that jump in and dance with him.

I am not sure if this is real, or just a buzz/viral tool developed by Stride, all I do know is that it brought a smile to my face.


Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo

Tags: Advertising Stuff, Brand Experience Stuff, Design Stuff, Funny Stuff, Marketing Stuff, Web Stuff
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Jun

3

The Round-Up

June 3, 2008

The City of Ottawa and ZeroFootprint, a not-for-profit corporation, have teamed-up to launch the ottawa.zerofootprint.net web tool that allows citizens calculate their carbon footprint. They also announced that they are developing a special template for festivals and events. In essence, people can calculate their carbon footprint, view tips on how to reduce their footprint and purchase an offset to become carbon neutral. The money paid to ZeroFootprint to offset your carbon footprint will be invested in companies developing green technologies.

Speaking of footprints — in today’s news an image from NASA that appears to be a footprint on Mars.

Scientists believe that we can see into the future — explains optical illusions.

Will Panama disease wipe-out the supply of bananas?

After Toshiba stepped-down (apparently) from the high def format wars, ceding to Sony’s Blu-Ray technology, many thought they were done. Now word out of Japan is that Toshiba is jumping back into the fray with a high-res upgrade to current DVD technology that provides a picture that rivals HD DVD and Blu-Ray. Is this a stroke of genius or stupidity? You could make arguments either way. The reports claim that not only is the technology backwards compatible, but it can also improve the picture of existing DVDs.

A group of students from Ottawa University is taking Facebook to task. The Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC), as part of a project, has prepared a brief requesting that the Privacy Commissioner of Canada investigate, what they claim, is Facebooks failure to outline how private information is used for commercial purposes.

Tags: Community Stuff, Design Stuff, Just Stuff, Marketing Stuff, Neat Stuff, Technology Stuff, Web Stuff
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May

30

Themepark bans PDAs

May 30, 2008

For a one week period, an amusement park in the UK, Alton Towers Resort, has experimented with a no PDA policy. The experiment could become a permanent policy if things go well, becoming part of a social movement designed to draw lines of proper gadget usage in public places such as movie theatres, convention meetings and restaurants.

They actually had a squad of “PDA police” roaming the park. If any dastardly adults are caught with a qualifying device, they will be directed to a PDA Drop Off Zone where they can leave their device for the day. The web site does not mention what reproductions adults will face if they refuse to turn-over their phone.

Russell Barnes, Divisional Director for the Alton Towers Resort explains; “What we have here is the ultimate short break location where every member of the family can unwind and have fun. We feel it’s so important for parents and kids to focus on nothing more than having the best possible time, we are prepared to take drastic action to ensure that parents really leave their work behind!”

Of course, many people in this day and age will use a device as such to take pictures of their vacation and remain in contact with other family members or friends if they go separate ways for a time period while at the park — as family members have different interests and age will dictate that some family members are not permitted on certain attractions.

It is an interesting concept, and does create/support a perception that Alton Towers is certainly about putting family first.

Tags: Advertising Stuff, Brand Experience Stuff, Experience Design Stuff, Marketing Stuff
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May

25

The wildly popular Lego Star Wars games have been followed up with the soon-to-be released Indiana Jones The Original Adventures game.


Tags: Brand Experience Stuff, Design Stuff, Experience Design Stuff, Marketing Stuff, Neat Stuff, Retail Stuff, Technology Stuff
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May

18

Wall-E Spotted in LA

May 18, 2008

There have been rumours that Disney has built a real life version of Wall-E. Below is video that shows that Wall-E does indeed exist.

 
Wall-E Spotted in LA! from Blink on Vimeo.

Tags: Advertising Stuff, Brand Experience Stuff, Design Stuff, Experience Design Stuff, Marketing Stuff, Neat Stuff
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May

18

One thing I remember from college is what we nicknamed the “Mac and Cheese Theory of Economics”. This occurs when consumers trade down from higher-end products to less expensive products in times of economic down-turn. While a middle class family of four may eat mac and cheese a couple times a month, (kids love the stuff don’t they?), in times of economic pressure they may eat mac and cheese once or twice a week.

We have seen a couple indications of this in the last week. First, Report on Business reports that Miller Brewing CEO, Tom Long, has outlined that while Miller’s premium beers are struggling, they have seen the market shift towards their economy beers. While they expect to see volume remain the same, they also expect to see a continuation of this trend — especially if the price of gas continues to remain at current levels.

Second, there are a couple of stories I saw this week that are related to how gas prices will affect peoples’ travel plans. While there has been a trend for people to travel closer to home because of pressures related to time constraints (a cost as well), the increase in the price of gas is exacerbating the trend. There are two things to look at here that affect the local tourism market. First, air carriers have added a fuel surcharge on flights. Second, the hassle of crossing the US/Canadian boarder.

While we are expecting to see considerably fewer tourists from Northern New York in Ottawa and Eastern Ontario, it is also expected that even more people will travel closer to home.

Look and the trends and focus your resources appropriately. Don’t completely abandon previously strong markets as the economy will strengthen, In fact, studies show that companies that continue marketing through poor economic times return stronger than those who cut their efforts.

Tags: Advertising Stuff, Brand Experience Stuff, Business Stuff, Marketing Stuff
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Apr

30

“Women don’t buy brands. They join them.”

Faith Popcorn & Lys Marigold
EVEolution

I love this quote. It really wraps things up in a nice, neat package. However, I would argue that in many respects this is not exclusive to women. You could say the same about both sexes.

The iMac, iPod, iBook, iPhone. Apple has built a loyal, fervent customer base. It isn’t just because the Apple products are well designed, it’s about what owning an Apple product says about you.

People buy into experiences. To lifestyles. To a brand that they can identify with.

Tags: Brand Experience Stuff, Design Stuff, Experience Design Stuff, Marketing Stuff, Retail Stuff, Web Stuff
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