Advertising & Blogs: Steal my Ideas!

Ethan Zuckerman: Listening To Global Voices

2010-07-23T00:19:00.000+10:00

I love watching videos from Ted.com, it always inspires me.
Ethan Zuckerman: Listening to global voices | Video on TED.com

As I have spent last year testing out the theory of creating niche networks and subgroups. I always thought it was an inevitable and positive direction. This lecture has pointed out that it is also increasing our ignorance towards other cultures and ideas.

Being a xenophile, I've always liked that I have one foot in traditional asian ideals and one in modern western mentality. I see myself as the 'Bridge figure' that Ethan refers to. One from two worlds and endowed with the translating ability between worlds, in my case, at least five worlds. " Language is the access key to knowledge" this quote rings true for me as I know that after learning Mandarin and its writing, you understand how it shapes culture, how it sets the foundation for interaction between humans.

I think Ethan makes a very good point that we're all generating this filter bubble within the internet that cuts off information from other sources. We may stumble upon a different sources of information, like a page in arabic or spanish or japanese, but we would usually just leave the page asap. The fact is, we are just concerned with our immediate surroundings.

The other interesting point that Ethan brought up reminds me of my mistaken presumptions too. The idea that bits would be move faster than atoms is currently wrong. We can get our hands on an Evian bottle of water that was packaged yesterday at the 7 Eleven shop, but we wouldn't get direct news from the french government. Just like how I thought the world was moving into the virtual world. However it is more likely that physical objects will get embedded with technology, bringing the virtual world into the real one.

Mobile Coupons

2010-07-22T02:01:00.000+10:00

With the new Iphone apps and the world of portable technology coming up, I wondered how could I bend this little channel/platform to my advantage.

Seeing that mobile coupons are not something new, and the advent of the Smartphones have taken hold of daily life, Can CLUMFF get a hold of the shares before it plummets into outdated-ness.

Here's an interesting article I just read. http://gigaom.com/2010/03/12/are-mobile-coupons-finally-ready-for-prime-time/

I've also just downloaded mobiQpon and Sherpa coupons and a few others (http://www.mobilecoupons) that I shall test out in this week, to learn how they currently work and also as a benchmark for the CLUMFF app to work towards. I will report my findings in a weeks time, giving a day to each discount app to get a feel for their system.

Ideally I hope to achieve the interactivity of the Foursquare app, the addictiveness of Ebay and the communal support of traffic tracker app.

Research Theories in practice. Applying learnt skills

2010-06-23T02:08:00.000+10:00

Hey guys, After 6 months out in the wild wild world, I've finally found a proper outlet to funnel most of my research and ideas into.

I remember researching the ideas of small networks taking over large monolithic top-down message structures, the trend of how niche markets will eventually be the aim for advertisers rather than mainstream marketing.

We are moving away from 'how many' are watching our advertisements and have already entered the 'which groups' are watching them.

Based on the idea of creating a subject where others can gravitate towards, 8 partners and myself have started a company called CLUMFF. CLUMFF is targeted at the Pan-Asian community within Melbourne. The industry we're tapping into is the entertainment industry. The idea of linking the subject to both an interest and a geographical location would seem to be contrasting points.

From what I remember, Clay Shirky argued that by giving the tools to web-surfers, we essentially let everyone do the dirty job for us without lifting a finger. Readers bound by their interest will continuously contribute.

On the other hand, the web is supposed to break down geographical barriers (i.e. anyone anywhere can submit) but by focusing on Melbourne as the location and physical placement of the subject, I hope it is once again creating the niche community rather than a limiting of readers.

Anyway. this is the Result.

http://clumff.com.au/

How To Boost Your Intellect

2010-01-10T17:47:00.000+11:00

According to the BBC, playing Sudoku or taking a shower with your eyes closed can make you up to 40% cleverer.

Brain exercises can make us 40% smarter in just a week!
BBC created a programme that combined healthy eating, physical activity, sound sleep and mental stimulation for the study.

This is the programme they created : THE GET SMARTER GUIDE! ooh

SAT = Brush your teeth with your 'Other' hand, and take a shower with you eyes closed.
SUN= Do a crossword or Sudoku in the papers and take a walk
MON= Have oily fish such as Salmon or Tuna for dinner, and cycle or walk to work.
TUES= Select unfamiliar words from the dictionary and work them into a ubiquitous conversation. (I just tried it)
WED= Do Yoga, pilates or a meditation class. Talk to a stranger
THURS= Take a different route to work, Watch Brainteaser (what's that?)
FRI = Avoid Caffeine or alcohol, memorise shopping list.

Hmm, seems like pretty simple list of things to do.
I wonder if playing bejeweled has the same effect . lol

Friends For Sale

2009-11-30T03:56:00.004+11:00

It sounds remarkably like the application on Facebook where users get to 'sell' and 'buy' their friends like some form of digital black market trade. However, the friends for sale implied here is the one offered by the marketing firm, Usocial.

Friends and Followers should not be bought, is the message from Facebook. Connect only to those who want to connect to you and we will stop those companies who sell online friends. USocial is a web-marketing firm, operating form Australia, providing Facebook, Twitter and FrontPage marketing services. Their Facebook marketing service states "For an investment of only $197, we'll bring you 1,000 brand new targeted Facebook friends to your existing account, or we'll set up a new account for yourself or your business at no charge in order to deliver the targeted friends." USocial has package of buying 1000 to 100000 Twitter followers at varying price range. If such kinds of activities are allowed to run under the banner of web advertising then the thin line between web promotion and spamming, disappears.
(Friend shopping not allowed: Facebook
Mon Nov 23 15:17:16 IST 2009, by Abhishek Mehta)

This case marks the line where social network advertising begins to slip into the internet black market. Advertisers flock to successful social network platforms like Facebook and Twitter to sell the users to marketers like freshly gutted pigs. Due to the sheer amount of users, and the availability of data harvesting tools on facebook, it is a gold mine of information for advertisers and marketers alike.

There are tons of applications on Facebook that actually helps with promotions and advertising of all sorts. It's a wonder how anybody can keep up with all of this.
Though it may look like a rather bleak future in terms of keeping our lives from being commercialized, I still hold to my Honours year's research that the work of advertisers will eventually be one of managing communities, niche communities, and trust will be the currency.

Social marketing is a dangerous game. Where is the line between customer care (because you have to care) and to con your customers. Both involve a form of superficial relationship to extract benefits. Chaos theory.

I Think, therefore I have. A Lesson in Perception

2009-10-22T06:25:00.002+11:00

Never ignore the lessons of an Ad man.

This makes working within the advertising industry a lot more beautiful.
We are making new things familiar, and making familiar things new. That's something that I am going to remember for a long time.

Twitter Volkswagen Ad

2009-10-10T18:43:00.003+11:00

This is so cool.

based on your personal twitter feed, Volkswagen is able to pick out a car for you.
There is probably keywords that it picks out based on how often it appears on your feed.

you can try it for yourself :

http://caseyshultz.com/vw-ad.php

My result :
I saw it pick out words like loves, family, christine, work.
Perhaps the similarity to my name also plays a part?

I must say it would influence my decision if I knew that a car was designed based on my values and character.

The Production

2009-08-16T21:17:00.003+10:00

Things have changed quite a bit and now I've begun on the production of my new project

Basically, the presentations in class helped me get a better picture of my project outline

The problem I'm investigating is essentially the age old advertising problem, which is getting the product to the audience.
Under that problem is the subcategory of how advertising methods will be integrated into the webscape. How will it deal with the collapsing of categories and traditional hierarchy of roles.

So I created a persona/character to be her own PR manager, advertiser and content generator.

This is one of her sites that leads to all connected social networking platforms.
http://ladylavidaloca.blogspot.com

My project has definitely changed alot since the first term. After realizing that time constraints and partnership planning will take too long, I decided to change the project subject and product.

Even though this has changed, I think the core investigation of how brand and identity can become malleable and constantly changing ; how mass communication trends lean towards catering individuals as opposed to whole sectors is still what my project seeks to experiment with.

The most important lesson was the realization that this doesnt have to be a finished project. but an ongoing one that will continue to grow. i simply have to document the year's worth of work and decisions.

Good luck to the rest of you who are working hard on your projects.

You Tube

2009-08-02T13:52:00.005+10:00

After speaking with Adrian, I realized that my advertiser's training has become my hindrance. I've been looking at this as a one-off campaign once again rather than a practical lifetime investment.
Now that I have to look more into the world of free advertising and social networking, building an online presence. I'm am going to gather a case studies from different social networking applications to learn a thing or two.

Here's what's on the list

YouTube
YouTube : JumbaFund phenomenon
http://www.youtube.com/user/JumbaFund

Every month JumbaFund donates all the revenue earned from Youtube to a charity of your choice. Just by watching the videos on JumbaFund, you are raising money for the charity of the month.

The charity of the month is nominated and voted by you the viewer. At the end of each month I allow viewers to nominate and vote for their favorite charity. The one with the most votes will receive all the profits that JumbaFund earned for the month.

It is quite a brilliant idea. Viewers watch his video and he earns money. I wondered how does this work and found out that You Tube has a partner program

Monetization (from Youtube Site)

As a YouTube partner, you will be able to share in revenue-generating opportunities.

Share revenue from relevant InVideo ads overlaid on your videos and banner ads running next to your videos to earn money
Participate in co-marketing & branded entertainment opportunities with top brand advertisers.
Utilize your own sales to sell your own ads.

It also had these statistics

YouTube is the number one video site on the internet and the 4th largest Internet destination in the world. (Nielsen NetRatings, December 2008)
YouTube attracted over 300 million unique video viewers across the world in December 2008. (Nielsen NetRatings, December 2008)
YouTube is the #2 Search engine in the world, after Google and before Yahoo! (comScore, October 2008)

Choices & Defaults

2009-07-21T04:24:00.003+10:00

When we make a choice, we think we know what we're getting. We assume that our reasoning is fully capable of making the best choice.

Wrong!

this video by Dan Ariely demonstrates how default options can strongly affect our decision making. Having an uglier option may be the best option for a marketer.

I believe the example Dan gives about the forms or the package deals can play a big part in "tricking" the target market into picking a favored option.

I can see this being applied into something as simple as
{ Please tick the box if you do not want to receive newsletters - [ ] }
I know it works because that's what Rmit's Student Union does. hahaha.
We have nearly a full 100% that leaves that option unticked.
Which explains the spam people :)

Exegesis Shrinks

2009-06-30T03:24:00.004+10:00

Adrian has helped me focus my documentation for the Honours project which is a great relief to me.

However, there is still the same amount of research and tasks to be done for the business. This is some of the new things I've been looking at but haven't had the time to process.

Links of more types of fashion blogs :
http://www.indiesin.com/catalog/
http://bonitochico.livejournal.com/

Also for my Social networking reference , I should find out more about the application Stumbleupon.

My exploration into the world of Twitter intrigues me. How topics flow constantly from one board to another. It makes me wonder if it is possible to influence certain the trends in topics.

Add me = www.twitter.com/roycetan

On a side note, trying to spam & trick strangers into doing my survey is harder than I thought.
my first try was to make myself sound friendly and unique by putting the title

"You Are the Melbourne Fashion Fairy"
but as usual, when others saw that it was from the email "Primandpoppers@gmail.com" nobody dared to open the email for fear of spam.

So I've just changed my strategy, I placed the Survey link at the end of a funny joke email in hopes that ppl will circulate it for me. However, it may just be edited away :(

SO If you guys are lovable kind Survey fillers- please do fill this 10 questions up
FASHION BLOGSHOP SURVEY

And these are half of the first photoshoot!

Bing

2009-06-12T17:50:00.008+10:00

sounds like the tone of the microwave when the frozen meal is done.

But it's actually the new search engine launched by Microsoft. Perhaps an attempt to fight against the big players like Google and Yahoo!

5 things about Bing: By Jesse Corbeil

1- Bing has already surpassed Yahoo! in search traffic
According to Dublin-based StatCounter.com, Bing outstripped Yahoo! almost immediately after its launch to take the No. 2 search engine spot. Search engines being what they are, second place equalled 5.6% of the global market and 16% in the U.S., so we’re not talking about numbers that even scratched at Google’s dominance of the marketplace, but as far as strong starts go, Bing’s wasn’t bad. -

2- Bing wasn’t the only search engine to launch last week.

So, it’s too bad for Microsoft’s busy little bees that
they launched their “Google killer” into a field that has just had its paradigm
shifted by not one, but two new sites: WolframAlpha and Google Squared. To be
fair, both sites are far more likely to put butterflies in the stomach of geeks
than they are to move the masses into a new relationship with information.
However, the more press inches there are dedicated to WolframAlpha and Google
Squared, the less there are for Bing. And then there’s Google wave, which is
nothing like Bing, but rained on the Bing launch party by virtue of being
announced simultaneously.

3- Microsoft has already spent a lot to promote Bing

Microsoft sees Bing as something special; special enough, in fact, for a $100 million advertising campaign. For the rollout, MS tossed aside its usual admen at McCann in favor of JWT.That being said, the first TV spot, though quirky and poppy, is also messy and incomprehensible, so we’re not sure how much value MS is getting for all those dollars. Business Week’s Peter Burrows says that even the news of the ginormous budget has helped generate Bing buzz. And according to Advertising Age, a large budget for a national product rollout sits somewhere in the vicinity of $50 million, so it’s clear that MS really wants you to Bing where you’d usually , which brings us to…

4- Microsoft wants you to use “Bing” as a verb

OK, it’s clear that A) “Live Search” is just too boring and old-school a name for today’s market, and that; B) A totally re-jigged service usually does better with a totally re-jigged name, but Bing? Why not stick with the portal’s prerelease moniker, Kumo? Well, turns out that Microsoft’s bigwigs are looking at the use of “Bing” as a verb as one of their goals. And some would say that it’s the Holy Grail of search engine marketing.However, it’s really just a lousy choice to get your verb on with: Who wouldn’t feel mildly goofy telling a friend or a co-worker to Bing it?

5- Bing is just one of several big Microsoft ventures

they’ve been prepping Windows 7 for prime time. Microsoft engineers are apparently finishing up Win 7 development to get ready for the new OS’s launch this October. Early reports say that it’s going to be expensive as hell. We have also been led to believe that Windows Mobile 7 will be released at some point in the second half of 2009, though Motorola won’t commit to having the OS on its phones any sooner than 2010. This year’s E3 also saw the announcement that Last.fm will be coming to Xbox Live Gold subscribers later in the year. With all these developments coming down the pipe, it’s clear that Microsoft is working hard to keep all its eggs out of the same basket.

Looks like we're about to see a showdown. Bing Vs Google.

Could you please 'Bing' it...LOL

reference: http://au.askmen.com/entertainment/special_feature_300/364_bing-5-things-you-didnt-know.html

3G marketing on the Internet

2009-06-11T20:25:00.003+10:00

DOREY, S. S. A. M. E. (2006) 3G Marketing on the internet, Canada, Jim Hoskins.

This is some information I've garnered from the book on 3G marketing.

ClickZStats (http://www.clickz.com/stats)
Click Z represents a huge collection of online statistics and research from many sources and on many categories including:

Advertising/Marketing
B2B
Broadband
Demographics
Email/Spam
Finance
Search tools
Software/IT
Wireless and so on

MarketingVOX
Subscribe to newsletter for online marketing and e-marketing news

Nielsen/Netratings
Nielsen does vast market research and offers its findings for free.

________________________

Long Term planning and your website strategy.
The difference is that some companies understand this is a long term medium with potential rather than having a website just because they think they should.

Planning is a critical role in the success of your internet marketing strategy. Planning internet strategies in advance help you capitalize on the mainstream use of the Internet. How we can execute each campaign.

It's not unrealistic for search Engine Exposure to represent 60 to 80 percent of the website's total traffic.

How do you plan an Internet strategy when the online world is changing constantly?
- Yes technology changes, but this does not affect only your Internet strategy, but every facet of your business. The best way to answer this is with another question :
How do you plan to grow your business?

Forecast to the best of your ability where your business will be in six months, one year and two years from now. The website and internet strategy should be flexible enough to grow with your business without having to start from scratch every time the business reaches a new milestone.

The key components should include:

Understanding Your Primary Online Objectives
Identifying your primary and secondary target market segments.
Having a clear understanding of what you're promoting on your site.

When setting an online objective, It's not enough to just say "Increased Revenue". It needs to be SMART. (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timed)

Things like "To generate increased brand awareness by 20% in two months" is a much better goal.

"increase customer retention", "Provide increased customer service by providing the web users with more self-service tools and information" are also examples.

________________________

Internet Marketing Techniques
We don't want just web traffic, but targeted traffic. We can do this with :

Search Engine- organic optimization
Linking strategy
Affiliate Marketing
RSS
Blogging
Podcasting/Videocasting
Mobile Marketing
Viral Marketing
Permission-based E-mail Marketing

Abstraction Definition

2009-06-01T03:28:00.004+10:00

Not in Tune with my sleep cycle, my course timeline and workload.

It's the ending of the First term already, but I do feel alot better with the sense of direction I have now. I must say that Adrian has been a great help and I appreciate the help and effort my friends put in.

Rika and the P&P gang has been important to where I have reached today. The symbiotic relationships may just be the thing that saves me.

Aside from the progress update, I think I'd like to redefine my project one more time.

the title (may still change) :
Brand Identity : Schizofranchise (omg I just came up with it, I love it!)

The abstract idea :
Who are you? What defines your identity? If an identity is the consistent image of something since its past, how can there be room for changes? Branding is so much about putting an image that sticks in the minds of consumers. Is it possible to create a brand identity that can adapt to changing times and environment? With the internet, the need for a static identity is irrelevant. Progress is measured by seconds, Space and distance is not a barrier. The immaterial and the physical are interchangeable. Today's society are all living double lives on the internet and in the real world. I desire to explore the ramifications of the new generation's brand identities, adaptive and able to interact with the audience in a whole new sense. My term 'Schizofranchise' expresses it perfectly. How much change can an identity go through in the name of profit, before it ceases to be an Identity?

Creaed word : PerHumoDaptive

Netizen's Fav Youtube Videos

2009-05-28T06:51:00.003+10:00

Here's a phenomena called one take, online video phenomenons, where a video is seemingly completely unedited making it seem like a whole lot more effort goes into getting it right for the raw film.

Here's one with 47 MILLION hits and counting
OK GO - Here It Goes Again.

Two that pokes fun at advertising
14 Million views

The Most viewed Youtube Video of Alltime strangely has the word Campaign in it.
The Free Hugs Campaign

How To Make Money Blogging.

2009-05-25T02:42:00.003+10:00

Reference: Blogwild! (Andy Wibbels)

The age old desire to make money does not end at the cyberspace frontier. Using a blog to promote your own business and products is not a complex idea, and therein lies the very answer. A good strategy is a simple one.

I like Andy's description of the blog as an ongoing survey; a conversation between your audience and your business. It brings the shop and its products into the comforts of their own home. The audience will let their guard down as they visited of their own will and do not have to worry about pesky sales promoters pushing the products down their throats.

Get A Sponsor
Blogs also allow one to get a sponsor. Wendy Cheng AKA www.xiaxue.blogspot.com gets heaps of stuff due to the high traffic of her blog.

Get Hosted Ads
Hosted ads such as BlogAds or Google Adsense can boost your income as well - www.blogads.com www.google.com/adsense

Make Your Own Products
You can even turn your ideas into custom made products, and order them from places like Cafepress and Lulu. or just buy the materials, make them by hand and open and ebay store.

There's more than one way to skin a cat, so obviously, there's lots of ways to do this. Just keep it current and unique.

The other thing to consider before doing this is :
Personality and Professionalism.
...or in some cases, one or the other. Some people get really personal with their blogs, which would attract a certain type of crowd. And if you're too clinical with your audience, they might just click on that "close" button at the top.
As I've heard from an Advertising veteran, always begin with the target market in mind. Write as you want others to listen, with an open heart and mind, and with interest.

To be safe, you'll want to check out this overview of ethical and legal boundaries a blogger should avoid. Legal Guide for Bloggers

BlogWild!

2009-05-21T19:15:00.003+10:00

I love the title of the book I'm reading now." BlogWild!" by Andy Wibbels.

A guide for small business blogging. I totally agree with the authors view on how beneficial a blog is. I should redouble my efforts onto this blog.

Here are some gleanings from my readings:
Notable blogospheres

To search specific topics within the blogosphere, there are these search engines:

I think my project has shifted towards a marketing perspective since I last looked at it carefully. it currently looks like a project with the title "How to standout from other small businesses using a blog platform." except, the title would be a lot shorter and catchier.

Since trying to organize and timeline my whole project, I realise I'm not too bad a planner, but I'm not a good follower of plans. I like to to handle tasks randomly, as I get the motivation for it. Having said that, I do not see that it would devastate the project as I have a feeling I'm working much faster this way.

This is the projected timeline that I came up with before

Click to enlarge

I am really proud of how the project is going. The project is also going to end up as a future business endeavour for me, so its a double stake. The company is in the midst of being set up and registering for trademarks and so on. I'ts all very very exciting, and I should not risk compromising the partners by giving away too much, but I will announce things properly when it's all in black and white.

However, the juicy details are , I will be flying back to KL malaysia in Mid June to meet some suppliers and also to Bangkok in early July. Talk about an expensive project , lol. but its worth it :)

Whats the Stats?

2009-05-11T21:55:00.002+10:00

I Am considering a viral campaign with the use of the YouTube platform.
Here are some relevant stats , however it's based on the US citizens. However, We're talking about the World Wide Web which includes anyone anywhere.

Fashion crashin

2009-04-30T00:46:00.006+10:00

I will begin group meetings with my "company" tomorrow. We're currently looking at brand names that we want for the clothing line for the blog. The key words that will form the brand are

Elegant, Confident, Affordable

Target Market Psychographic
Wants something elaborate but not too loud, Understated glamour, should be a little funky. Would wear to clubs, girls night out and dinner events.

Competitors:
These are a few screenshots of the competitors. So all that jazz right! They've got cool art direction and like all the right motifs for fashion. I've got my work cut out for me.

Ok people, Do Not Go there and Shop okay! Competitors!! Competitors!
HerVelvetVase.com

Casual free sized clothes catered to Singaporean girls.

========================

Sputniklittle.

Funky vintage style clothes with edgy art direction

========================

SchwingSchwing

Mod casual, understated glam. reminds me of Witchery

========================
Project Muff Stit (from RMIT)

Unique designer wear, ready to wear and expensive. pro photoshoots

I've got lots of research to do on the behaviour of online fashion shoppers. Which I shall begin developing and surveying with polldaddy.com

OMG~somuch to do. Royce

Defined Project Description

2009-04-23T12:38:00.007+10:00

For purposes of seeking a supervisor, I shall now attempt to organize my project description in a cohesive manner.

My initial topic to explore was Advertising in the Web 2.0, however, this would be irrelevant if there were no context to visualize it in. Therefore, it is fortunate that I have a group who wish to start a small business of their own, which would consequently become my honours project.

The project would be a fashion retail store set up within the blogosphere. The main target market that my 'partners' wish to use are middle to upper class female university students, or of ages 16- 25. My job would be helping them out with the branding, and advertising of this blogshop.

The concept of this blogshop would be based on my research of Advertising and social trends of the Web 2.0. I have already begun drafting some ideas at this point. My outcome would most likely be the website where the blogshop resides; and some viral ads for the blogshop.

These are some rough sketches for my current idea. To draw the audience back continually, they should have a reason for more than just clothing. I suggest the idea of selling the clothes within a photoblog drama series, reversing the traditional story within the fashion photoshoot that we see in magazines, to the clothes within the drama series.

My project will also involve a Business Plan,Social network plan, Order forms, photoshoots, storyboarding.

This is an ongoing project and may be subject to change at any stage.

I can see my project!

2009-04-22T18:09:00.003+10:00

Finally I've found my glasses.

before this, I felt like I've been looking at my project outcome through a haze. With the last discussion between a few friends, I now have a rather clear idea... I get the same feeling when I've lost my glasses and finally found them again.

I will be working on a fashion reseller's blog as my project. Basically, this is rather popular in South-east asian countries such as Malaysia and Singapore. As far as I know, it isn't adopted here. A fashion reseller's blog is to sell clothing through a blog, which would fit my advertising on the Web 2.0 project.

This also helps me to clearly imagine an outcome of my project. Of course, now I'll have to come up with tedious business plans and branding solutions. But I'm just so glad to have the goal within sight now.

here are some links that I've gathered from friends for reference.
Existing Fashion Reseller Blogs.
Malaysia
www.sashavintage.blogspot.com http://morooom.wordpress.com/ http://hugsandjellyfishes.blogspot.com/

Singapore
http://www.schwingschwing.com/ http://shop.koumikoumi.com/ http://sputniklittle.livejournal.com/

Now I have a list of things to do :

Come up with brand value grid
then the Business plan.
research on different types of target market and their buying patterns on the internet.
organize weekly meetings with the new "company"

Friendly discussions.

2009-04-14T16:54:00.003+10:00

Upon speaking with my friends about my Project.

Advertising in the Web 3.0 (note to self - catchier title needed)

My friend suggested that I do an experiment using Second Life and all that. perhaps documenting the reactions of others.

We also had a debate on how sure I am that everyone will be using the virtual world in the future. Second Life was said to take the world by storm..but has since only made ripples amongst gamers.

This brought on the discussion of trends.
Remember? : MIRC came then came ICQ (the annoying Uh-Oh~!) , then came MSN and Yahoo Messenger. Skype and other messenging services, seem to suggest constant waves of technology and programs.

Friendster to Myspace to Facebook. I may have to work on advertising that is immune to communication evolution.

I think I can crossreference this with literal evolution of species in Nature. how certain traits survive hostile environments. (a lot to work on)

In the meanwhile, these are some pictures from Second Life.
Meet the Lady Aurielle, visiting the space room.

Childlike thinking

2009-04-08T00:35:00.004+10:00

Its already the mid of first term. omg. And things, rather than calming down, seem to be speeding up.

Thankfully, the theory-based subject - Communication Revolutions, is catching my fancy.

I started out feeling so out of my depth with this subject. However, as it went on, I began to see the link between this subject and the Honours project. They both involve thinking in the abstract domain.

I find myself recognizing the train of thought I used to have as a child. 'How can the thoughts of a child be the same as an Honours student?' Is what you might ask; Well, just like when you first experienced the world in your younger years, You had no conception of categorizations, of subjects, of what should be labeled as logical, and what constitutes as artistic.

The world was one big formless blob and everything was interlinked in your mind.

Teachers were in the same category as creatures. Candy was the same as Pills.

Communication Revolutions requires such a mind. Looking at things without prejudice and trying to redefine them in your mind. I find it very similar to the course Intro to Philosophy which I took few terms ago.

I recommend it to those who are thinking of an elective that is relevant on many levels.

I believe Phiosophers are tomorrow's Rock Gods!

2009-04-03T20:18:00.006+11:00

2/4/09
Workshop with Adrian Miles
This week, We analyzed our own strengths and weaknesses in regards to the project process. After plotting a graph of our likes and dislikes of each process, we came to better understand our approach towards the aspects of research, readings, production, editing and so on.

As for my own strengths, I would term myself as a Big Idea Person, the type of person I call the "Telescope" able to see the big picture and core concepts easily. Therefore, making the production process appealing to me as it is hands on and going towards a general direction.

The trouble with a "Telescope" ability type is the weakness towards noticing details.

This group of people, I would call the Microscopes. Able to organize details, make good lists, and itemized time line. People like Rika and Sandy. which I should work closely with in order to maximize our efficiency.

I still have a lot of catching up to do.
OMG!

Help from Adrian

2009-03-30T15:49:00.006+11:00

Things cleared up alot after speaking to Adrian.

My project is much more focused now.

It will be about Advertising in the Web 3.0, or if found to be more useful. I might work on Advertising in the virtual world.

After thinking about it. I think this direction is definitely useful to my future career path.

Adrian has helped me with thinking about the execution of my theory. Which could be just describing a fictional future of the adscape and how Advertising works in that framework.

I personally think a master at this is acclaimed author - Neil Gaiman. I loved his ability to describe fictional postulations in the book Smoke & Mirrors

Most of you will know Neil Gaiman only as the author of Stardust

As Adrian,my course coordinator was saying, "imagine a virtual world where viral ads could actually infect users' avatar."

This got my head rolling into the possibilities of that area. My task would be to dream up an advertising arsenal of communicative weapons for the future adscape.

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As for the blog reading that Adrian emailed to me:
Clay Shirky

It will be most useful to me as it discusses the past plans of the newspaper industry at dealing with the new models of communication.

It was cool to see how he also referred to Elizabeth Eisenstein and her approach to print press. I am glad that we've covered the material in Comm Revolutions.

I believe that the modes of communications we are now seeing, with the way the internet is evolving, is another revolution happening at a condensed pace. Just like the ones described by McLuhan and Eisenstein.

The old systems of a stable Brand Identity will no longer work with the new generation. It needs to be malleable and constantly reinvented. I believe that advertising in the Web 3.0 will be able to address this problem. Celebrity endorsements will be replaced by Avatar endorsements, updates and campaigns are immediate rather than asynchronous.

An exciting world of possibilties.

Research Reviews

2009-03-27T19:35:00.004+11:00

My eyes are now open to so many different ways of approaching research methods.

Firstly, I looked to Wikipedia and its definition of Research Methods

"The goal of the research process is to produce new knowledge, which takes three
main forms (although, as previously discussed, the boundaries between them may
be fuzzy):
Exploratory research, which structures and identifies new
problems
Constructive research, which develops solutions to a problem
Empirical research, which tests the feasibility of a solution using
empirical evidence

The research room at the New York Public Library,
an example of secondary research in progress.
Research can also fall into
two distinct types:
Primary research
Secondary research
Research is
often conducted using the hourglass model Structure of Research[1]. The
hourglass model starts with a broad spectrum for research, focusing in on the
required information through the methodology of the project (like the neck of
the hourglass), then expands the research in the form of discussion and results. "- Wikipedia

These are other stuff I synthesized from the web.

Action Research

Action research is a reflective process of progressive problem solving led by
individuals working with others in teams or as part of a "community of practice" to improve the way they
address issues and solve problems. - Wikipedia

“a comparative research on the conditions and effects of various forms of social action and research leading to social action” that uses “a spiral of steps, each of which is composed of a circle of planning, action, and fact-finding about the result of the action”. - Kurt Lewin, MIT Professor

Poetic Research - The ability of the mind to create associative thinking, resulting in creative and unique results. A great video that talks more about this is here.

Vilayanur Ramachandran on your mind Video on TED.com

Interviews & Focus Groups - a very basic qualitative form of research concentrating on the target market's psychological, physiological and emotional profile. Usually best to do it on a one to one basis as trendsetters tend to influence the group within the focus group sessions.

Content Analysis - Used to discover concepts and ideas within writing. What we read is deconstructed into its core idea to understand the message of the author.

OMGquestions!

2009-03-26T03:42:00.003+11:00

What problem am I beginning from?

My Problem is the trend of the Advertising industry in the future, will soon divide target markets into such small sections that eventually, it will become customized for each individual.
I foresee an era of ads that are different for every person.
I theorize that, just like the evolution of any species, when a species specializes too much, it breeds weakness. Therefore, I think that advertising will begin to divide communities and encourage selfish individualism.

2.What existing research in how to do this (methods/practice)?
*After looking at some of the research methods available. I find I will begin from a sort of Poetic research and then nail down the project with action research. Since advertising is all about interacting with the community, this is the most appropriate method.

3.What existing research in the content area?
*There are so much prior research in this area, I am still taking time to filter through this area. more research into the area of those in authority of the Advertising within the Web 3.0

The Status on Stats!

2009-03-26T03:19:00.004+11:00

Thanks MOM! finally, my mother's nosiness has paid off. After bothering a Kind Mr Gary Thompson, he's kindly given me a whole load of info on Marketing Statistics.

The website - EMarketer.Com is really useful

For Example - I find this might be potentially useful to my project - (Taken From the website)

Facebook Audience Matures
FEBRUARY 25, 2009

Acting like kids

The faces on Facebook are looking older these days.
Inside Facebook, an independent blog that reports on the Facebook platform, found that 45% of the social network’s US users are ages 26 and older, and nearly 25% are over age 34.
In fact, women ages 55 and older are the fastest-growing demographic group on Facebook, with membership numbers up 175.3% since the end of September 2008. The number of males in that age group grew 137.8% in the same period.

Are older adults using Facebook and other social networks differently from the 20-somethings who have been on the site since their college days?
For one thing, they don’t visit as often.
The JPMorgan “2008 Consumer Survey” found that 45% of social network users ages 34 to 49 logged in one to four times per month.

For more on this, click here > - Facebook Users mature

The thing is, Mr Gary will guide me in the ways of his company's product - IMPRO. A program that detects and counts how many people click on what links and collects that data for a certain company.

Definitely looking forward to working with him and getting to know more on this.

Mindmaps and links

2009-03-25T02:19:00.004+11:00

Click For an Enlarged version.

I have now included the TED.com link in my links list.

On some Conferences about the future - http://conferences.ted.com/TED2010/

I particularly like the Most Fascinating Talks section

Problem Based Everything

2009-03-19T02:59:00.003+11:00

To me, PBL or Problem Based Learning , Is like figuring out how the microscope works before using it to study the microscopic life on the slide.

It is difficult and demands a lot of hardwork.

In both the reading that Adrian gave to me and Adrian's talk itself, I discovered that both indicated that learning should involve a shift of paradigm.

Adrian called it horizon of understanding. I call it paradigm.

Solving any problem should involve a paradigm shift, which should improve oneself by allowing a self-awareness during the shift ; We see where we once were and where we are now. Since improvement of oneself is a subjective evaluation, One needs to realize how solving the problem has changed oneself rather than just the subject.

In my reading, the writer describes that a designer's task is problem-solving.
He goes on to describe how it happens in three stages

Problem Stating
Problem resolution processes
The resolution that is the consequences of these processes.

Archer (the author being quoted) suggests that it is our "Cognitive Modeling Capacity" that makes a capable of the design activity.
It seems to me that this is the ability to imagine anything in 3D within the imagination. No matter how improbable, the imagination can exist within the mind.

But it is not so much the objects we create within our minds, but the meaning we give to it.

We are Semantic Creatures.

To the Future!

2009-03-12T15:53:00.006+11:00

I believe that in the near future, computers and the internet will be able to simulate every detail of this world. I've been waiting for that time since I was a pre-teen. I think this is just a few years off.

Imagine being able to create any type of object that is part of the virtual world as the AD itself!

take Spores for example, the Creature creator by the makers of SIMS now allow you to create ur own race.

http://www.spore.com/what

Imagine creating M&M creatures? Or a Race of the Jolly Green Giants? Any mascots could actually exist now. Mermaids,Dragons,Angels and Hobbits won't just be mythical anymore.

Why Honours?

2009-03-12T01:22:00.002+11:00

Why did I do Honours? Like the four chinese expressions of honour, It's a little bit of everything.

Honour and Fame
Righteous Honour
Honour from Respect

Besides this, its something you know that will get recognized at the end of the year. A year's effort that is sure to be rewarded - with another certificate.

And if it turns out bad... there's a reason why we make mistakes...to realise what went wrong and what can be done right.

Furthermore,I need to do this to qualify for an Australian PR :P LOL

Whirlpool of Ideas

2009-03-12T00:13:00.003+11:00

WHAT ToPic To Pick FOR HONOURS?

When it comes to picking a single idea for myself. I find it comparable to picking a single grain of sand out of a bowl of salt.

I think I shall employ a technique I use a lot. Which I call the "Brainsplatter" throwing all my thoughts out across the table and then coming back to edit them.

IDEA 1: The Counter-Trend.
research on all the past & coming advertising trends, then do a project based on the direct opposite of those trends; then measure the response. Is it true that every Action has a reaction? If so, then a trend would evoke the rise of a opposite trend- a counter-trend?

IDEA 2: Advertising in WEB 3.0
The future of the internet will be more than interactive. It would practically run our lives for us. How can one advertise to increasingly selective target audiences, granted the power to choose their media? Will advertising become a form of money? Read an advert, earn an item? Will QR Codes be the new tattoos?
(Idea spin off - Ad in virtual reality)

IDEA 3: Ad Zen
will the best, be the one with less? Minimalistic art direction and messages may be the way to go in the future. The age of information overload has taken over. Will the world prefer bite-size ads?

IDEA 4: Dirty. Sexy. Advertising.
What will the future boundaries of advertising be? With the Gen Z desensitized to sex and scandals, how do we sensationalize our content? Do people want boundaries pushed?

hmm......

Made of Honour

2009-03-10T17:38:00.000+11:00

Once again, The year starts off with a new name - 2009.
The economy is doomed.
Everyone's losing their job.
A black man finally becomes the president of America...
and Royce starts his Honours in Advertising.

Even though it says 'graduated with distinction' on the Advertising degree that I received last year, I still feel I've gotten into something way over my head. Enrolling into Honours is not my first option; and phrases such as "harder than Masters or PH.D" don't help either.

Transported here from Malaysia ( located above Singapore for the clueless) a year and a half before, I've learnt that I have a knack for presentations and group work. Therefore you can understand how Honours seems like such a OMG-daunting-as-hell one year research project.

Having said that, I do look forward to self-discovery whilst completing this. Hopefully the year's work will seem like a roadmap, where I would've subconsciously mapped out the landmarks of my being.

MAN! my first anniversary of my 21st birthday can't get anymore annoying!