Other stuff
20 May, 2010
A recent Economist story tells that Anna Wintour, the 61-year-old editor-in-chief of Vogue (widely believed to be the subject of the film The Devil Wears Prada), was not very pleased when Tavi Gevinson was given a better seat than her at a recent fashion show.
Who is Tavi Gevinson? Gevinson is the 14-year-old author of the StyleRookie blog. Gevinson started her blog at the age of 11 and has built a huge following in the blogosphere:
Guess who is going to be all fancy n stuff and talk at L2’s Generation Y conference this Friday? Me, that’s who! And I’m going to be talking about the Unpredictability of Gen Y …
And not surprisingly, as reported by the Economist, she stole the show that had been put together to focus on “tomorrow’s affluent consumer”. Representatives of luxury-goods businesses, hung on Gevinson’s every word.
The lesson for today’s businesses is that those of Generation Y (people born between 1980 and 2000) know more than us about how to make the most out of social-networking technologies.
Some of us are Baby Boomers (born after 1945 until about 1960) who didn’t own a computer until we were well into adulthood. We possibly had to program our computers to perform our calculations and may even remember having to feed paper cards into a mainframe. Computers were calculating machines.
Most of us are X Generation (born between 1961 and 1981) we experienced the growth of personal computers and witnessed the birth of the Internet. Internet 1.0 was about sharing information and we played space invaders by putting lots of coins in arcade machines.
But those of Generation Y have grown up with computers and treat them as an essential part of their everyday lives – technology is social and about entertainment. They have participated in the growth of Web 2.0 as a means of participating in online communities, for sharing gossip and for on-line collaboration. They are also known as the Net Generation!
Do you know how to use Web 2.0 to connect and engage with Generation Y? Madrigal Communications can help you put together a do-it-yourself social media marketing campaign for as little as $250! Our consultant will sit down with you and show you how you can use a combination of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Foursquare and your website to connect your business with the Net Generation. Contact us to find out more!
31 Mar, 2010
The word fool comes from the Latin word follis, meaning a bag or sack, a large inflated ball, a pair of bellows. So a fool referred to a person that resembled the bellows or the inflated ball – a windbag.
Fool first meant a mentally deficient person, an idiot. Then it was used to describe a member of a royal or noble household who provided entertainment by joke telling or peculiar antics. It was not always clear whether the fool was a professional entertainer (otherwise known as a jester) or an amusing idiot.
So what is the modern fool? The negative definitions are someone who:
- is deficient in judgment, sense, or understanding
- acts unwisely on an occasion
- has been tricked, duped or made to appear ridiculous
But to be called a fool is not always a bad thing. Nowadays a fool can be a person:
- with a talent or enthusiasm for a certain activity (eg a dancing fool)
- who subverts convention or varies from social conformity in order to reveal a spiritual or moral truth
In Tarot, The Fool card can stand for a new start. When it turns up you could be ready to make a move – it can be renewal and a brand new beginning.
So today? While everyone is being an April Fool telling people that their flies are undone or that their shoelaces are untied I encourage you to be a networking fool. Don’t waste your time on pranks. Make a brand new beginning to your networking efforts. How?
Treat the day as a day for enthusiastic networking activity. Get excited! Use the day to change the way you talk to people. If you are shy or just getting a bit jaded I want you to challenge yourself. Your homework today is to do at least three of the following:
- Ring a friend that you haven’t spoken to for a year
- Ring an old customer that you haven’t spoken to for a year
- Talk to a complete stranger on the bus, train or in a café (but not in a park in the middle of the night)
- Engage in a conversation with someone that you only ever say hello to – ask the waiter or waitress at the café if they are having a good day
- Sign up to join a new club, Rotary, Lions, or a sporting club to meet people in the community – join the Chamber of Commerce
- Is there a business referral that needs to be chased up? Do it today
What is the worst thing that can happen? You might look like a networking fool!
1 Nov, 2009
The Australian reported on the annual Shonky Awards this week. The Shonkys are handed out to companies for making dodgy claims about their products.
Poor L’Oreal was given a Shonky for claiming that Nutrileum, a substance said to be in its conditioner, actually does any good. When I went to L’Oreal’s website to investigate I came to a very graphical section named the Magic of Research which really gave the game away don’t you think?
But perhaps it is a little unfair to single them out. There are quite a few shampoos out there using imaginative copy to persuade prospective customers to trust their hair to a particular chemical treatment.
How many tautologies can you get onto one label?
One website suggested:
The word “organics” in the title will annoy true organic lovers since many of the ingredients on the label are three and four syllables long — a good indication that they’re not entirely organic.
No it indicates nothing of the sort – organic chemical names can be wonderfully long!
Say no more…
Only to be used by vulgar, vulcanologists in Venezuala with vasectomies vying to be venereal with voluptuous virgins in the vicinity of the vestry on Valentine’s Day.
22 Oct, 2009
The other morning my cat came and sat on me and started to purr. I started to think about the whole cat-owner relationship as if it were a business-customer relationship. In marketing terms why am I such a satisfied customer of the cat?
1. The cat delivers a unique service – it shows clear differentiation: it purrs – it doesn’t bark; it lounges – it doesn’t require walks.
2. The cat manages expectations – I get affection for providing food, accommodation, entertainment and free health cover!
3. It is consistent – I get the same product/service every day – a few purrs and a bit of affection.
4. The cat has clear communications – it purrs when it is happy and meows when it wants something – easy to understand.
5. It constantly reminds me that it’s there – persistent advertising ensures it gets fed and therefore survives.
6. But best of all if it makes a mess it covers it up (that’s not marketing, thats PR!).
14 Aug, 2009
The news was announced today that the London Olympics has proposed two new sports: women’s boxing and Rugby sevens. Now although I am impartial to boxing I am very pleased to see the rugby included, it is a great sport with a potential champion from Fiji.
However, as an Anglophile I am disappointed that the opportunity has not been taken to include some real British sports, some with wide international appeal.
1. Morris dancing – ageing men dance around in silly costumes with bells on their ankles and silly smiles – essentially the terrestrial version of synchronised swimming but with a greater participation rate.
2. Welly wanging – is a soft rubber version of discus throwing using a wellington boot (gumboot). It requires less space than discus and relies more on technique than strength.
3. Caber tossing – is one for the ladymen but requires strength and manliness. Wearing a kilt while tossing the caber makes it a post-modern sport.
4. Darts – this is the indoor version of javelin. It offers the advantage that a keen eye and a firm resolve will win over brawn and healthy lifestyle.
5. Ferret legging – an indoor sport similar to the equestrian jumping; a ferret is required to negotiate barriers between the belt and the end of the trouser leg in the longest amount of time. No penalties are given for bites.
6. Queuing – this is a team sport at which the English are certain gold medallists. The English have been known to queue for blocks simply to undertake minor transactions. There will no doubt be large queues at many of the London venues in tribute to this tradition.
7. Gurning – its loss to these games is perhaps the most keenly felt. When are we ever going to have a greater opportunity to showcase the Northern English sport of gurning, or face-pulling.
8. Boat-racing – this is a companion sport to rugby and does not involve water but beer – it is a beer drinking relay.
9. Cheese-rolling – this Gloucestershire tradition may seem like a very eccentric sport but it attracts international competitors in a cross between downhill skiing and stair-diving (another less common companion sport to rugby) while controlling a giant cheese ball.
10. Pheasant shooting – clay pigeons tend to have predictable trajectories and are inedible.
11. Fox-hunting – politically incorrect but now that the foxes are becoming more annoying time for reconsideration. Alternatively combine the event with the steeplechase.
12. Sheep-dogging – the equestrian sports involve a rider persuading a horse to jump fences or to walk around an arena in figure-eights. Sheep dogging, where a handler persuades a dog to bring sheep through a series of obstacles using a whistle, is real beauty.
13. Cricket – based on the performance of the English team at Headingly last week this is no longer an English sport but has been included for politeness.
11 Aug, 2009
The ten funniest clips on Youtube. My selection with a little help from my friends on Facebook. Rude, politically incorrect but all very funny in their unique ways. Any others for next month?
1. Rowan Atkinson The Devil
2. Monty Python What have the Romans ever done for us
3. Blue Collar Comedy Big Deck
4. David Armand Torn
5. Dead Ringers Maximus (Russel Crowe Skit)
6. Potter Puppet Pals The Mysterious Ticking Noise
7. Badgers
8. Spitting Image I’ve never met a nice South African
9. Ronnie Johns half hour - Chopper Reid Heimlich Manoeuvre
10. Peter Sellers Does your dog bite?
4 Jun, 2009
The author, J.G.Ballard, died in April. He was known mostly for his successful autobiographical work, Empire of the Sun, but his work is found most often on science fiction shelves. His brand of science fiction created dystopian visions of society challenging his readers’ perceptions.
As a young man I had read mountains of science fiction, including Ballard’s, which I either bought or borrowed from the library. I was a bit surprised when I searched through my old and yellowing paperback collection to find only one of Ballard’s books amongst the Vonneguts, Moorcocks and Philip K Dicks. I enjoyed reading the pulp adventures stories of galactic battles and malevolent extra-terrestrials but it was these writers exploring the perversities of our own real world that I recognized as providing the true alternative futures.
Ballard was one of these writers who used the science fiction genre to explore the dark side of modern, suburban life; to create dystopian worlds where what we take for granted is twisted and darkly exposed. In an obituary his works were described as apocalyptic fables of technological and social anarchy.
Dystopian is the opposite of utopian. Utopia was an island invented by Thomas More (1516) as the location of his perfect society; a society with perfect legal, social and political systems. His derivation of the word is based on Greek and its literal meaning is nowhere - a deliberately ironic derivation. Utopian came to mean idealistic and impossibly visionary.
Dystopia was coined by John Stuart Mills (1868) to describe a society where all things are bad. It is a portmanteau word made up of dys meaning bad, abnormal, or difficult and a modification of (u)topia.
The great fictional dystopias include the Brave New World of Aldous Huxley, the society of George Orwell’s 1984 and the misfunctioning bureaucratic place of Franz Kafka’s The Trial. They were Ballard’s stock in trade.
28 May, 2009
Tolkien’s stories are among the most popular of the 20th century. The books have sold millions and Peter Jackson’s recent films won Oscars and grossed millions.
But what has made them so successful? Perhaps because of the strong success factors that Tolkien portrayed in all his characters, for example the Hobbits.
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Bullroarer Took, was a brave, strategic-thinking hobbit who successfully led the hobbits against an orc army.
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Frodo Baggins fulfilled his vision to travel to Mount Doom to destroy the ring and save Middle Earth.
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Peregrin Took’s integrity and loyalty helped to bind the Fellowship together.
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Samwise Gamgee, “the stout-hearted”, fearlessly supported Frodo in destroying the ring.
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Merry (Meriadoc) Brandybuck, the most intelligent of the hobbits, was the first to understand the dangers they faced.
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Bilbo Baggins, in his separate adventure, a bumbler who learns to negotiate between dwarves and elves.
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Gerontius Took, a lesser character, lived to be 130 and, following the principles of self-renewal, had twelve children.
What can businesspeople learn from them? By being strategic and visionary, by showing integrity, fearlessness, and understanding, by using negotiation and above all always seeking self-renewal we can be successful.
Don’t forget them, they are the Seven Hobbits of Highly Effective People!
12 Apr, 2009
Our Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, apologised for losing his temper on a Royal Australian Air Force flight in January when questioned at the G20 last week. He had lost his temper because he had only been offered red meat as his meal.
It was bad PR for the PM because it overshadowed his participation in the success of the G20. It was made worse because his press secretary had previously denied it.
-6 to Kevin
The RAAF was portrayed as being deliberately disrespectful of the PM as part of a dispute with the Defence Minister.
-2 to the RAAF
For Malcolm Turnbull it was only a minor PR win when it should have been bigger. He is not getting much traction.
+4 to Malcolm
However, the Opposition’s Agriculture spokesman, John Cobb, announced that it was possible that Mr Rudd was just suffering from a lack of iron in his diet:
Farmers probably understand why he might have anger issues or a mental meltdown while on a red meat free diet.
He managed to deflect the potential damage to the livestock industry.
Ten points to John Cobb.
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