Nokia N97 Vs. Apple iPhone 3G S

Nokia N97 Vs. Apple iPhone 3G S

Everything Electronic?

Over dinner, my neighbours and I were discussing a recent interview of Steve Ballmer (Microsoft's CEO) with the Washington Post. Steve proclaimed that "There will be no newspapers, no magazines that are delivered in paper form. Everything gets delivered in an electronic form." He is so sure that "there will be no media consumption left in 10 years that is not delivered over an IP network." This bring us to the next question : If every print media is turning electronic, what is the fate of the current physical promotion - be it street ad, print ad...etc. - all turning electronic too?

Lets look at some of the great non-electronic campaign that came to our mind at that very moments - Advertising wrapped around an airplane. Avis, Disneylands (Tokyo, Hong Kong and Orlando) and Universal Studios did many such promotion with the airlines around the world.








These ads are really larger than life and their effectiveness could be seen by the number pix been taken around the world since these campaign began.

One more campaign that came to mind was the BBC's ads on "See Both Sides Of The Story". The impact it delivered was more than just visual. See some of the samples below...






And not forgetting when the message was to discourage drugs abuse in Mackenzie University campus, extra large life-size stickers were used at various campus entrance to recreate the pit hole that was awaiting the drug abusers.


It was so real that even one student walked at the side of it, just in case he fell into it. (see the right pix of the 2nd row from the top in the attachment below).


What do you think? Can these 3 campaigns above be turned into electronic format and still retain their effectiveness? I doubt so. But neither am I saying electronic campaign is not powerful. I particularly like the interactive nature of these electronic campaigns.

See this Jet Blue web interactive...so engaging...



And not forgetting that Starbuck Coffee's Ordering Apps in your iPhone...




For sure I might even give it a try even if I am not a coffee or tea drinker.

So, in 10 years time, we shall see what Steve said is true? Go out now and enjoy all the physical & electronic campaigns out there while they are still here.

Publicity Stunt Or A Dangerous MBA?

Is publicity getting so expensive that a big IT giant like HP has to try out this cheaper (albeit still costing US$1,799) option in the blog world?

Rahul Sood, the CTO of HP's Global Gaming Business, used a working MBA (Mac Book Air) to cut his thick, chocolate birthday cake recently. And he did that while wearing his company's 'HP' t-shirt!! He even proudly posted it on his blog.


After attacks from Apple fanboys, he claimed that it was NOT any HP shirt. He posted an image of that supposedly "esdj co" reinvent t-shirt image. But that disclaimer has brought up the possibility of a publicity stunt that was carefully executed - with right camera angles. He claimed that no Apple product was harmed in that moment, but ouuuch, that MBA is US$1,799!! (though it is considered extremely cheap for HP, judging from the amount of attention it is going to get worldwide. I am sure you will soon be able to see these photos on your local newspapers.)

One more question : Is the MBA really that sharp? Well, if you explore the web, you will read some horror encounters like how the elbow of a German user was badly injured by it, and how it can be used to cut the bread. (Caution : the original link is in German.)


Wow...an expensive kitchen helper -- hmm, this image above might be the source of inspiration for the HP's publicity department.

Well, that shows one thing in common - to use this new blog media, you need to be equally creative as well, to get all the attention.

The Inspiration

Not that I am saying he is or he is not my inspiration.
The very fact that his blog of 30-day-old has achieved 1 million hits made me rethink of this platform as a medium for communication.

"...the mainstream media [MSM] might become irrelevant." was how his post ended. Was he saying that the MSM might no longer able to attract that many readers? Or was he saying that the MSM might no longer have any probative value upon any issue published?

My day job is in the MSM (mainly) with some web presence somewhere. ;-) Am I supposed to be in a hurry to update my CV to get a new job? Or should I just need to evolve to assimilate myself into this new culture? Should I also raise the flag to alert all my peers in this MSM industry?

When I discussed this with a friend over dinner just now, he raised an interesting hypothesis - a scenario of how one politician like him can achieve such feat of 1 million hits in 30 days. He just needs to start with 100 loyalists who would broadcast to 100 more each whenever he posts and ensure that these 100 more that they wrote to, repeat the same broadcast to invite 100 others to come to read the blog.

100 loyalists x 100 broadcasts = 10,000 hits in first post and stay "loyal". By the second post, the 10,000 x 100 more broadcast = 1,000,000 hits !!!

The fact that he took 19 posts and 30 days means he might have started with less than 100 loyalists or these 100 never tried the 100 broadcasts.

Hmmm...that is the beauty of internet.
The pyramid scheme mechanism works as charming as the viral marketing. Can this method be applied to the MSM over the web too?

We got to try to know the effects.

Now, where are my 100 loyalists that will do my 100 broadcast?
Gee...if I find that 100, I might be able to beat his record...hehehe.