The New Marketing Executive

In the presentation "Moving from Measurement to Management: Making Marketing Effective and Accountable" by John Nardone and Ed See,of Marketing Management Analytics, they noted that today many marketing departments found in entities are still filled very much by the intangible side of measurement and return. With the marketing departments managed by people whom earn their strips by splashing the dollars on television and decisions on other media expenditure.

However,today a new type of marketing executive is highly demanded by senior management, someone whom can deliver real time tangible results and returns on dollars spent.

According to John Nardone and Ed See,the essential competencies required to run the future tangible and accountable marketing department are:

• Project Management,
  
• Business Metrics Design,
  
• Organization and Process Design,
  
• Data/Database Design,
  
• Marketing Analytics,
  
• Systems Integration and
  
• Change Management.

Is your current or existing team ready for the future ?
Is your current marketing head armed with
the required competencies ?

Are you ready ?

What do you think ?
Please share your views and critique via the comments. Thanks.

Goodbye ink ! Hello Zero ink !

Soon to hit the world....
A world without the need for ink cartridges or ribbons replacement for your office printer, your photo printer at home....

Imagine printing from your mobile phone....
Imagine printing from your laptop....
Imagine printing from your desktop....
Imagine printing from your digital picture frame....
Imagine printing from your TVs....
Imagine printing from your digital camera....
All without a printer.

How is it possible ?
ZINK™ (also stands for zero ink)....
Makes the impossible possible....

All you need is a special paper produced by ZINK™ Paper, and zero ink printing becomes possible this coming festive season, when ZINK™ begin selling the mobile printers.

Not only is it less costly to print your photos,it is also durable and it allows you to print as when you require. No more dumping the used ink cartridges or ribbons and worrying about causing environmental pollution.

Let the impossible become REAL....
and lastly a tagline from ZINK™....
"Take away the limits - Zero Ink. Zero Boundaries™."

Ready for the possible ?

By Physicians, for Physicians

First there is Friendster,
there is MySpace,
than Facebook,
than Foops!,
now comes Sermo....





A community created by by physicians, for physicians.
So how does this works ?

Physicians from anywhere around the globe can just register at Sermo, which is FREE, and once registered they get to exchange knowledge and observations with other physicians in real time. Which allows them to learn and share the latest clinical findings, unusual events, trends and new insights on medications, devices and treatments, ultimately achieving better outcomes for patients around the globe.















Not only do physicians get to share and collaborate knowledge, Sermo reward physicians financially for their astute observations and clinical insights that are deemed highly relevant and valuable.

A win-win situation for the physicians and patients alike.
Hmm.....what's the latest medical trends and insight you ask ?

Sermo might just have the answer.

Do you have the answer ?
Please share your views and critique via the comments. Cheers.

Share This:

Where did my money go to ?

It's pay day of the month.....
And it's time to get the new gadget I'm eyeing for the past month....
And guess what!
Think I'll have to put on hold for the new gadget.....been spending way too much on stuff I didn't really need at all. Time to have my expenses accounted for, hmm how about getting a financial planning software,Quicken or Microsoft Money, to manage my accounts and spending. However both software comes at a price tag and it's not really that easy to use it....

Here comes Expensr,





The web-based application which is FREE to use,
And easy to use.
It can help keep track where your money is going and the interesting part is, it helps you understand how people like you are doing with their money. You can even compare with your peers on how you're spending your hard earned capital.

Quit guessing and help yourself by predicting how long are you....
On your way to become a millionaire ?
Or on your way filing for bankruptcy ?
with the projection plan found in the web application.

Where did all your money go ?

Sing, Hum, or Whistle

It's Friday....

Finally after a draining week, you decided to unwind at the nearby coffee store and as you're walking through the crowd to your escape. Something suddenly caught you, a pretty smoothing tune coming from the mall, and you started to hum along the tune as it whistles pass through.

After your cup of coffee and you were on your way back home, the tune starts to hit you again but this time it's stuck in your mind.....and you can't get your mind off it....man....who's the artist behind this song you ponder......






Luckily there is Midomi, remember your hum or whistle ?

Now you can sing, hum or whistle a few bars into your microphones on your computer, and Midomi can do the job for you. Hunting for your "that" hum using its search engine to match your tune against its musical library. Not only you can finally get to own the track you're hunting for, you could also contribute to the database by singing in Midomi's online recording studio.

And who knows ?
The next time round, when someone hum or whistle, you're the next top hit !

Hmm....what's that song again ?
Ohh Sing, Hum,Whistle at Midomi
Please share your views and critique via the comments. Thanks.

When Starbucks meets iPhone

What happens when Starbucks meets iPhone ?


Sip.Relax.Listen.Touch.Download

It's a tiring and hard day of work and you told yourself....it's time for a good time to relax with a cup of latte. You're sitting down with the lovely cup of warm latte and hear this relaxing tune that is playing in Starbucks and you really like the tune.


You popped out your iPhone, and tap the Starbucks button and voilà.....there's the title of the current song and the artist that's playing right now. Wow I gonna have it...you tap the buy and download button and it's yours to keep and enjoy the tune anytime.



However, it is only currently available in New York,Seattle,San Francisco Bay Area and coming to LA and Chicago in early 2008.

Please share your views and critique via the comments. Thanks.

Internet culture

What is Internet all about ?
Do you used it often ?
Do your company utilize Internet as part of its strategy ?

Or are you skeptical about its use ?
Or are your company skeptical about its use ?

Either....
For Security reasons.....
For the risk of being affected by virus....
For the spam and intrusion of advertisements....
For being too overly comfortable in the "this is the way it has and always work in our company"....
For being uncertain about the return of investment on it....
Or ?

In the following presentation by Marco Montemagno, whom is an Italian blogger, web entrepreneur, and CEO of one of the largest weblog networks in Europe called Blogosfere , he will try to convince you if are still uncertain about the use of internet for your company.

He has been giving speeches in Italy to help spread the Internet culture. The following Presentation video clip below is given in front of 3000 people at the Interactive Advertising Bureau Forum 2007 conference.

The presentation is in Italian, however you can expand the Full Screen Icon to view the English subtitles.

If you're ain't convince about or just curious just take a look.



A pretty impressive persuasive presentation done by Marco Montemagno, without even using any remote for his slides presentation, all done in sync.


Please share your views and critique via the comments. Thanks

Interactive Marketing

| View | Upload your own

Bookmark this ! Bookmark that !

Startup to watch: Particls

Does the following apply to you ?

Ohh wow a cool site....
I need to bookmark this....
Ohh wow another cool site....
I need to bookmark this too....
And this....
And that....
And this....
News....Yes....
Sports....Yes....
....Yes....
Oh my it's just too much cool stuff....

The web is filled with too much cool stuff....
The web is too big....
And boy....I ain't got the time to read or browse through all....
Oh Yes Yes....luckily there is RSS and I could subscribe to the sites and topics I like and enjoy best and be notified when there is new information....that should solve my problem....
I think so....

Sounds familiar ?
Here comes Particls










How does it work you say ?

Particls helps you to track your favorite sites, topics and keep you update with your news, favorite site feeds through displaying desktop alerts brought to your desktop through Particls' very own desktop sidebar, popping up alert and urgent information and it could be SMS to your mobile phone.

And best of all its FREE !

Web 2.0 Comic

How is Web 2.0 changing our life ?
Are you ready for the change ?
Or are you lagging behind ?
Distinct or Extinct ?

| View | Upload your own

Trivop

Startup to watch: Trivop

How do you normally book your hotel ?

Booking it online or through the traditional way of making a phone call ?

Have you feel disappointed after booking the hotel online and only to find out that the hotel that you booked earlier on was not as good or as what you had expected. The beautiful pictures posted on the website ain’t what we saw over at the hotel when we’re there.

If only, we could take a tour around the hotel and not some kind of computer generated virtual tour but a real video tour, that will be so cool. And guess what, a startup in Europe called Trivop make this possible. How did they do it you say ?

They helped created the transparency for us travelers through real time video of hotels, which is easily found on Trivop. Now thats better than plain old pictures on the various hotel websites.

Seeing is believing.

Mind Map ! Mind Map !

Startup to watch:MindMeister

How do you generate your new ideas or thoughts ?

Do you mind map ?

If so, how often do you use it and why ?

Do you at times wish to share your cool ideas or thoughts with your colleagues or friends but found that you have either forgotten to bring out your drafted ideas or mind map or simply just lost the mind map draft ?

The solution to this is MindMeister,whereby they brings the concept of mind mapping to the web, using its facilities for real-time collaboration to allow truly global brainstorming sessions among you and your peers.With your mind maps stored online, you can view it, share it among your colleagues or your boss anywhere as long as you are connected to the net.

And best of all, once your mind map is done, you can send it for viewing by your colleagues or boss and allow alteration if needed and even reverting back to the original version should you want to retain your original version. Best of all, you can Skype while engaging the real time brainstorming mode, by just clicking onto their names. Once your mind map is ready to share with the world, you can have it publish onto your blog or website.

Hmm….where’s my mind map draft that i created earlier ?

Foops!

First there is Friendster….
Than there is MySpace….
Now there is Facebook….
And finally a first social networking from Belgium for the GENERATION Z (Kids born after 4 April 2006) !! And they have already signed up more than 12,000 members (both born and unborn) according to trendwatching.

So how does Foops! work? The parents of GENERATION Z can place pictures or sonograms on behalf of their offspring !! and helped their both born and unborn kids fill out their profiles !!

Have you registered your born or unborn Generation Z kid on Foops! yet ?

TED Talks: Richard Branson: Life at 30,000 feet

In this TED Talks, Chris Anderson speaks with Richard Branson, the radical yet humble owner of the Virgin empire about the ups and the downs of his career, from his multibillionaire success to his multiple near-death experiences.

Steve Jobs Says:

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and your intuition.” -Steve Jobs-

A very useful advice given by Steve Jobs, useful question of asking oneself.

• Are we living in someone's life ? If so why ?
  
• Are we living the life of what our parents, peers or people whom they wanted us to live their "life" ? Is it because these people in our life, whom have tried in their lives and failed and want to base their past experience onto us ? Choosing us as their so called "Successor" to their "failed" dreams or attempts ?
  
• Or are we living our own way of life ?
• Are we happy living someone else's life ? Yes ? No ? If No, why are we still living in their shadow ?

To end this post with Michael Dell's quote:

The key is to listen to your heart and let it carry you in the direction of your dreams. I’ve learned that it’s possible to set your sights high and achieve your dreams and do it with integrity, character, and love. And each day that you’re moving toward your dreams without compromising who you are, you’re winning. Look around you..." -Michael Dell-

How are spending your marketing $$$ ?

How and where are you spending your marketing $$$ ?
Is it time of the year to spend your marketing $$$ ?

Are you spending all of your firm's marketing dollars wisely or are you spending it just for the sake of spending it, to prevent your already very limited marketing budget being cut down even more ? Are you throwing out your marketing dollars out of of your corporate window ?

It is interesting to note some companies are purely spending their marketing dollars just on creating buzz or chasing after the cool or becoming the "Ipod" of their particular industry and forgetting about whether the buzz will help define what their brand stands for. Does these short term tactical moves actually helps to build the brand or just creating a buzz and be forgotten after the buzz melts down? Sure, one can argue that the consumers are in control today and they are only interested in what they want and zapping away clutter of TV ads with TiVo.

Burger King's online viral marketing, Subservient Chicken, which creates word of mouth and spread like wild fire, sure it indeed created a big buzz among many but does it really have any real connections with Burger king's core brand values ? Instead consider how are McDonald's spending their marketing dollars on, Brand building efforts!

• Does the core message get across to the consumers ?

• Does the buzz or any short term tactical moves reflects the brand or product's core value or attributes ?

• Does the short fixes, keeps consumers coming and longing for more of the brand after the buzz melts down ?

• Are your dollars well spent on building your brand for the long term? Or are you throwing our your $$$ out of your corporate window ?
  

How are you spending your digital $$$ ?

How are you spending it ?

Or are not you spending at all ?

According to McKinsey's global marketing survey, 31% percent of the companies are spending on email as their digital advertising vehicle while 33% percent of the companies are spending on display ads as their digital advertising vehicle.

So how much are you spending your digital dollars ? If not, how much are you deciding to spend on it ? How are you spending it ? and spending it wisely ? Are you spending it for brand building, brand consideration or customer retention for your firm ?

Why are some firm slow in adapting in the use of digital-advertising or marketing vehicles or why are some firm not adapting in at all ? According to the McKinsey's global marketing survey, 52% of the users reported the reason being having insufficient metrics to measure impact on their business through the usage of the digital tools. While 41% of the users report the insufficient capabilities of the firm in adapting being the main barrier. So are your firm not utilizing the digital vehicles because of these reasons or otherwise ? Is it because of fear of brand reputation on hand ? or ? If so, how are you planning to implement any changes ? If not, how can you overcome the other barriers in your firm such as structure, people, system or the corporate culture ?

With accordance to the survey, by 2010 the Web will play a key role in consumer purchase behavior, especially with 70% of the respondents stating they will be using the digital tools for building product awareness among consumers and 83% using it on the consumers' needs for information search. The move will have an impact on every company regardless whether they adapt or not. Are your firm prepared for the move ? If not, what must your firm work on or change ? Change or extinct ?

My Tree !

Buy One = Get One Tree Free !!



Pretty cool stuff by innocent drinks, whereby they are launching a project which helps plant a tree in Africa and India whenever consumers purchased a large carton of juice from them. Innocent then uses the money from the consumers to invest in tree planting schemes.

They even have a section of their site, whereby consumers can view the trees they planted.

Cool idea....
Buy One = Get One Tree Free !!

You got a dream ?

''You got a dream, you gotta protect it. People can't do something themselves, they wanna tell you that you can't do it. You want something? Go get it. Period. Don't ever let someone tell you, you can't do something. Not even me. ''
- Christopher Gardner-

Very inspiring and true from what Christopher Gardner said, the man whom rise from a homeless single father to self-made millionaire.

You only live once,
If you have a dream, go for it !
Go for your passion,
Make it happen !
Quit procrastinating !
Do it now !

Pitch Pitch Pitch

What's your pitch for today ?

Dating...
Lunch..
Dinner..
Client..
Interview for the first job..
Replying an email..
Your favourite toy when you're a kid..
Or...?

Everyday in life,
Everything we do is a matter of presentation and persuasion.

Here's a book on winning all aspects of your Life's Pitch:
Life's a Pitch....How to Be Businesslike with Your Emotional Life and Emotional with Your Business Life, by Stephen Bayley and Roger Mavity.

Stephen Bayley introduces the book:

What we've written here is almost the ultimate design book, because it's about how to design yourself ... how to create a winning and attractive personality...how to get to "yes" in an argument or presentation. So, the book is about the self—communication, self-presentation, and how we create impressions. It's a book about design, but design that is applied to people and ideas...

Cool book website: lifesapitch.uk.com

How's the pitch sounds ?