Currently researching a bit on Youth Marketing for an upcoming project.
This presentation highlights the youth behavioral profile and presents several inspiring case studies on marketing to youths through games.
Showing posts with label marketing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label marketing. Show all posts
10.29.2009
Same Name - Same Logo - Different Company
I signed up for Social Mention alerts to inform me of any "Cellcity" presence out there in the online social community.
So anyways, I received an alert this morning, which brought me to this page. It's a Facebook Fan Page for a US wireless retailer called Cell City. Despite the name being identical to my current company in Singapore, trust me that we have no relations to this US company at all. Having the same name is actually still quite acceptable - 1. the name has not been patented and 2. as we are both in the wireless industry, it's not hard to think of our businesses as "a cellular city" or "building a city in the cellular world" - thus "cellcity". You can't really tell if anyone did copy the other. But to have the same logo (or very very similar) is a little freaky.
Cellcity @ Singapore:
We have been using our logo (plus a couple very minor variations) for at least a year now. I particularly liked the little city landscape captured in that "cellphone" on the right of the text. And what's also so neat about it is the iconic properties of that "cellphone" shape.
Cell City @ US:
This logo is taken from the Facebook page I found. Almost identical to ours, except for the font type and color (tbh, we had this shade of golden yellow/orange in our earlier variations), plus they used a real cellphone image for the icon with the signal sign instead of a city landscape. Other than that, the style of the text (bubbled letters and how "cell" is white and "city" is colored) and the idea/position of the cellphone icon are identical. This logo was uploaded onto the profile May this year. Another logo was used previously if you check out their Profile Pictures album.
Not really pointing fingers here as I don't have any actual evidence of plagiarism here (who came first??) But just a "sigh" at the professionalism of either designers or companies. It's one thing being inspired by another company's logo, but it's another thing when you actually copy 80% of it, tweak the remaining 20% and take it as yours. Hard for me to believe that these 2 examples are actually genuine and original concepts from two different designers for two different companies. Can you?
BTW, every company should be doing this - keep track of brand name mentions and keywords - stay connected with your potential customers the quick and easy way. Social Mention is a handy tool for brands to monitor and analyze their influence/presence in the social media - blogs, Facebook, Twitter etc.
So anyways, I received an alert this morning, which brought me to this page. It's a Facebook Fan Page for a US wireless retailer called Cell City. Despite the name being identical to my current company in Singapore, trust me that we have no relations to this US company at all. Having the same name is actually still quite acceptable - 1. the name has not been patented and 2. as we are both in the wireless industry, it's not hard to think of our businesses as "a cellular city" or "building a city in the cellular world" - thus "cellcity". You can't really tell if anyone did copy the other. But to have the same logo (or very very similar) is a little freaky.
Cellcity @ Singapore:
We have been using our logo (plus a couple very minor variations) for at least a year now. I particularly liked the little city landscape captured in that "cellphone" on the right of the text. And what's also so neat about it is the iconic properties of that "cellphone" shape.
Cell City @ US:
This logo is taken from the Facebook page I found. Almost identical to ours, except for the font type and color (tbh, we had this shade of golden yellow/orange in our earlier variations), plus they used a real cellphone image for the icon with the signal sign instead of a city landscape. Other than that, the style of the text (bubbled letters and how "cell" is white and "city" is colored) and the idea/position of the cellphone icon are identical. This logo was uploaded onto the profile May this year. Another logo was used previously if you check out their Profile Pictures album.
Not really pointing fingers here as I don't have any actual evidence of plagiarism here (who came first??) But just a "sigh" at the professionalism of either designers or companies. It's one thing being inspired by another company's logo, but it's another thing when you actually copy 80% of it, tweak the remaining 20% and take it as yours. Hard for me to believe that these 2 examples are actually genuine and original concepts from two different designers for two different companies. Can you?
8.12.2009
Widget development @ Cellcity
Can't remember when I last blogged about work. Since the very beginning, I have moved from gathering data for website content, to managing part-timers for that same purpose, to creating and managing a presence on Twitter for website content promotion. Plus some other duties on and off, like sending out eDMs and updating the coupons on our website. Now, I'm on widgets testing!
Our current main product line is a series of GO widgets (mobile applications), breaking our original DC2Go content into GO EAT, GO PARTY, GO SHOP, and GO EXPLORE. Primary features include browsing and searching for merchants, check out driving directions using GPS, click-to-call for reservations, and share the info with friends via SMS or email.
The Marketing team has been assigned to QA the end products before they finally get published online across various app stores. Recently, we've just approved our first batch of GO EAT widgets for Nokia's S60 5th Edition family. Hopefully they will be up on the Ovi Store shortly. (Nokia still has to test and approve..)
We already have two free apps on the Ovi Store. :)
1) Buses@ Sg A Singapore bus guide lets you know which bus to take and when it will arrive.
2) Check Flights Suitable for any traveler, live updates on flight schedules.
We also worked with DBS Bank in Singapore to put together a free DBS Indulge mobile app! (If you are familiar with DBS promos, DBS Indulge has been ongoing providing DBS debit/credit card holders exclusive dining discounts..) This app is also on the Ovi Store and linked from the popular Hungrygowhere.com DBS Indulge Foodster page.
Couple weeks ago, I also attended, as from a mobile developer perspective, MDA's FutureMobile initiative launch event, where partnering networks (Nokia, Singtel, Microsoft etc.) put together a presentation & demo session to call for talented mobile content and application proposals in mobi lifestyle, games, and healthcare. The objective is to build Singapore into a mobile publishing hub.
Zingmobile caught my attention in particular - they have signed rights to the Jay Chou IP!!! :D So want to see what Jay Chou apps or mobi content people would come up with. I can't decide what I would do either, perhaps I should start my own list. hehe
That's all for now. Hope to bring more status updates on our mobile apps development soon. :p
Our current main product line is a series of GO widgets (mobile applications), breaking our original DC2Go content into GO EAT, GO PARTY, GO SHOP, and GO EXPLORE. Primary features include browsing and searching for merchants, check out driving directions using GPS, click-to-call for reservations, and share the info with friends via SMS or email.
The Marketing team has been assigned to QA the end products before they finally get published online across various app stores. Recently, we've just approved our first batch of GO EAT widgets for Nokia's S60 5th Edition family. Hopefully they will be up on the Ovi Store shortly. (Nokia still has to test and approve..)
We already have two free apps on the Ovi Store. :)
1) Buses@ Sg A Singapore bus guide lets you know which bus to take and when it will arrive.
2) Check Flights Suitable for any traveler, live updates on flight schedules.
We also worked with DBS Bank in Singapore to put together a free DBS Indulge mobile app! (If you are familiar with DBS promos, DBS Indulge has been ongoing providing DBS debit/credit card holders exclusive dining discounts..) This app is also on the Ovi Store and linked from the popular Hungrygowhere.com DBS Indulge Foodster page.
Couple weeks ago, I also attended, as from a mobile developer perspective, MDA's FutureMobile initiative launch event, where partnering networks (Nokia, Singtel, Microsoft etc.) put together a presentation & demo session to call for talented mobile content and application proposals in mobi lifestyle, games, and healthcare. The objective is to build Singapore into a mobile publishing hub.
Zingmobile caught my attention in particular - they have signed rights to the Jay Chou IP!!! :D So want to see what Jay Chou apps or mobi content people would come up with. I can't decide what I would do either, perhaps I should start my own list. hehe
That's all for now. Hope to bring more status updates on our mobile apps development soon. :p
6.11.2009
@ IMU, June 15-22
Now that the ad:tech show is over, I've got something even more exciting in store for me, starting next week. :)
I can't believe it. This is like the ultimate opportunity I can get to learn all about this whole online marketing thing at once. & it's FREE! The best thing about online courses is how everything can be archived. Makes it very convenient for people from different countries and time zones to participate. Students and professors can come together to form "study groups" on the forums and even use Twitter during class time to live-stream their questions, answers and ideas using the hashtag #IMU.
Have very high expectations for this program. A great training experience, and a chance to "interact" with industry experts like Chris Brogan. Also has a certification exam which adds immense value to this program.
Class schedule online.
Will blog more about the process when the courses start.
I can't believe it. This is like the ultimate opportunity I can get to learn all about this whole online marketing thing at once. & it's FREE! The best thing about online courses is how everything can be archived. Makes it very convenient for people from different countries and time zones to participate. Students and professors can come together to form "study groups" on the forums and even use Twitter during class time to live-stream their questions, answers and ideas using the hashtag #IMU.
Have very high expectations for this program. A great training experience, and a chance to "interact" with industry experts like Chris Brogan. Also has a certification exam which adds immense value to this program.
Class schedule online.Will blog more about the process when the courses start.
@ ad:tech singapore, june 9-10
update:
The ad:tech Singapore ended after two days of keynotes, panels, and workshops, touching on the hottest trending topic in the digital marketing world. There were a number of interesting topics I wanted to join in, but unfortunately, it's still a normal work day for me and I only hold a free visitor pass, so I'm usually out after the first keynote presentation of the day. :\
Don't know what the ad:tech show is? Visit www.adtech.com.
My experience
Considerably my first "official" attendence at a conference, which I went in Cellcity's name but didn't have any name cards to exchange! ><; Yes, so the one thing that I failed most at this show is networking. & What a great opportunity to meet lots of people with the same passion! Definitely need to get my cards made for the next show.
* Many of the tweeps I was following were there too, like @claudia10 and @belindaang, but didn't find a chance to say hi. :\
Part of the reason was probably because my attendence was a "last-minute" thing. I only learned about the show a week ago. It was much related to the online/social media direction that Cellcity is going into, so there wasn't much of an "agenda," just listening in to see what can be learned. I took more of a personal interest attitude to the show, but it did help me to rethink certain issues of Twitter and of social media/mobile marketing in general.
The two keynotes I attended were:
Digital Consumers & Interactive Marketing in Asia Pacific - The State Of Play
As the opening keynote of the show, I was a little disappointed with the quality of the presentation, to be honest. While it might have been a good statistical introduction to businesses outside of this trade, I think the insiders would expect a little more insight on the future trending of digital marketing. Steven also appeared to have a specific focus on China and Australia, rather than Asia Pacific in broad, throughout his speech. Perhaps a quick comparison with the trends in North America or the Europe might be an interesting addition to the presentation? Or so I thought..
Still, there were some interesting numbers and consumer profiles to share. And the discussion session (interview + q&a) was a lot more exciting - specifically on the use of social media and mobile marketing! I always enjoyed Don Knox's (VP of ad:tech Global) interview sessions, where he posed key hot questions displaying his clear understanding of the audience and the objectives of the show.
You can download Steven's presentation here.
The Power of Digital Branding through the Lens of the Obama Campaign
I'm sure you've heard a lot of talking about the success Obama Campaign by leveraging the online media, social networks in particular. Much expectations were generated around this talk, and I thought the outcome was a satisfiable one. Scott talked about various key factors in engaging social media and mobile in campaigns, the evolution of online marketing and where it's headed to, using his experience in the Obama Campaign as core case study. In the q&a, he also gave strong advice to young businesses who were still rather new in social media marketing. My favorite word from Scott - tastemakers.
Read about @bleongcw's interview with Scott here.
There was another small talk by the Global CEO of Acronym Media (one of the sponsors) - Anton Konikoff. Real straight to the point, Anton gave his audience compact but valuable and insightful overview of the search marketing revolution(-ing) and the impact of social media, based off their Global KDM (keyword-driven marketing) Officer's - Mike Grehan - new whitepaper New Signals to Search Engines.
The whitepaper is available for download here.
Twitter intervention
Now here is a real-time great example of the power of Twitter and microblogging. The best of ad:tech Singapore were live on Twitter! All thanks to @claudia10, @uniquefrequency, @summerisque, @danielgoh, @youareonvisual, and @armchairdude for filling me up on the discussions I missed out on. :)
You can still read the old tweets on #adtechasia. Other great tools life streaming are TweetGrid and twazzup. Try them out the next time!
- Thanks to @misenscene for sharing his Twitter analysis on the ad:tech show. Go here to download!
- Found @mashable's 8 Ways to Create Paperless Business Cards. Exactly what I needed! I could have made use of this at the show. ><
The ad:tech Singapore ended after two days of keynotes, panels, and workshops, touching on the hottest trending topic in the digital marketing world. There were a number of interesting topics I wanted to join in, but unfortunately, it's still a normal work day for me and I only hold a free visitor pass, so I'm usually out after the first keynote presentation of the day. :\
Don't know what the ad:tech show is? Visit www.adtech.com.My experience
Considerably my first "official" attendence at a conference, which I went in Cellcity's name but didn't have any name cards to exchange! ><; Yes, so the one thing that I failed most at this show is networking. & What a great opportunity to meet lots of people with the same passion! Definitely need to get my cards made for the next show.
* Many of the tweeps I was following were there too, like @claudia10 and @belindaang, but didn't find a chance to say hi. :\
Part of the reason was probably because my attendence was a "last-minute" thing. I only learned about the show a week ago. It was much related to the online/social media direction that Cellcity is going into, so there wasn't much of an "agenda," just listening in to see what can be learned. I took more of a personal interest attitude to the show, but it did help me to rethink certain issues of Twitter and of social media/mobile marketing in general.
The two keynotes I attended were:
- Digital Consumers & Interactive Marketing in Asia Pacific - The State Of Play by Steven Noble, senior analyst at Forrester Research (jun 2)
- The Power of Digital Branding through the Lens of the Obama Campaign by Scott Goodstein, external online director for Barrack Obama's presidential campaign (jun 3)
Digital Consumers & Interactive Marketing in Asia Pacific - The State Of Play
As the opening keynote of the show, I was a little disappointed with the quality of the presentation, to be honest. While it might have been a good statistical introduction to businesses outside of this trade, I think the insiders would expect a little more insight on the future trending of digital marketing. Steven also appeared to have a specific focus on China and Australia, rather than Asia Pacific in broad, throughout his speech. Perhaps a quick comparison with the trends in North America or the Europe might be an interesting addition to the presentation? Or so I thought..
Still, there were some interesting numbers and consumer profiles to share. And the discussion session (interview + q&a) was a lot more exciting - specifically on the use of social media and mobile marketing! I always enjoyed Don Knox's (VP of ad:tech Global) interview sessions, where he posed key hot questions displaying his clear understanding of the audience and the objectives of the show.
You can download Steven's presentation here.
The Power of Digital Branding through the Lens of the Obama Campaign
I'm sure you've heard a lot of talking about the success Obama Campaign by leveraging the online media, social networks in particular. Much expectations were generated around this talk, and I thought the outcome was a satisfiable one. Scott talked about various key factors in engaging social media and mobile in campaigns, the evolution of online marketing and where it's headed to, using his experience in the Obama Campaign as core case study. In the q&a, he also gave strong advice to young businesses who were still rather new in social media marketing. My favorite word from Scott - tastemakers.
Read about @bleongcw's interview with Scott here.
There was another small talk by the Global CEO of Acronym Media (one of the sponsors) - Anton Konikoff. Real straight to the point, Anton gave his audience compact but valuable and insightful overview of the search marketing revolution(-ing) and the impact of social media, based off their Global KDM (keyword-driven marketing) Officer's - Mike Grehan - new whitepaper New Signals to Search Engines.
The whitepaper is available for download here.
Twitter intervention
Now here is a real-time great example of the power of Twitter and microblogging. The best of ad:tech Singapore were live on Twitter! All thanks to @claudia10, @uniquefrequency, @summerisque, @danielgoh, @youareonvisual, and @armchairdude for filling me up on the discussions I missed out on. :)
You can still read the old tweets on #adtechasia. Other great tools life streaming are TweetGrid and twazzup. Try them out the next time!
5.05.2009
Good ideas, Part I
I meant to write about this 9 months ago. :p
I attended a friend's (of my sister) wedding brunch in the States. Like any other wedding receptions, they give out souvenirs or gifts as memoirs of the couple's union. Sometimes a small wedding photo, sometimes a mini box of chocolates/candy. In Singapore, the Chinese usually give out gift cards/vouchers for wedding cakes/biscuits. Check out this one instead. It's unique!
A Chinese fan.
I know I know, these fans are all over Asia. But in the United States, particularly when you have lots of American friends, this is the h-a-w-t gift. (And very practical in summer from a summer wedding reception!)
Beautiful little pink flowers (Are these 梅花 - plum - or 桃花 - peach - blossoms? :p) growing out from the left as you open up the fan, and the word "爱" (aka. Love) mimicking the style of Chinese seals, gave this Chinese "painting" a finishing touch.
But that's not it! Look closer and you can find the couple's names imprinted (on a sticker) on the surface of the outer bone.
Praises to the couple - Very creative thoughts on your wedding gift! It really made your wedding a special one for the guests, and it showed how much sincerity and appreciation you hold for the friends and family who were there to witness your happiest moment.
And thank you for the coolest idea, I have just decided what my wedding gift would be. :D
A pair of chopsticks. The last character of our Chinese names carved, one on each. Together, tied by a piece of red string.
Think of it as the best and only opportunity to market yourselves as a couple (much like a signature or a name card) to your friends and family. (I mean, how often are you able to gather everyone you know in one place? Just this once.) Make it memorable. Make it valuable. Make it long-lasting.
So what will your wedding gift be? How will you like your friends and family to remember you and your loved one?
Drop me a comment or tweet @chibiryan to share your thoughts!
P.S. This post is simply to help you generate some ideas if you are looking to have a more unique and creative wedding. If you genuinely thought of the same idea, that's great! But please do not copy every single detail from what is posted here. (Or at least give credits to the people who thought of the idea first. If you think you're the first, feel free to voice it out here.) Every wedding is meant to be unique. So be yourself. :)
I attended a friend's (of my sister) wedding brunch in the States. Like any other wedding receptions, they give out souvenirs or gifts as memoirs of the couple's union. Sometimes a small wedding photo, sometimes a mini box of chocolates/candy. In Singapore, the Chinese usually give out gift cards/vouchers for wedding cakes/biscuits. Check out this one instead. It's unique!
A Chinese fan.
I know I know, these fans are all over Asia. But in the United States, particularly when you have lots of American friends, this is the h-a-w-t gift. (And very practical in summer from a summer wedding reception!)
Beautiful little pink flowers (Are these 梅花 - plum - or 桃花 - peach - blossoms? :p) growing out from the left as you open up the fan, and the word "爱" (aka. Love) mimicking the style of Chinese seals, gave this Chinese "painting" a finishing touch.
But that's not it! Look closer and you can find the couple's names imprinted (on a sticker) on the surface of the outer bone.Praises to the couple - Very creative thoughts on your wedding gift! It really made your wedding a special one for the guests, and it showed how much sincerity and appreciation you hold for the friends and family who were there to witness your happiest moment.And thank you for the coolest idea, I have just decided what my wedding gift would be. :D
A pair of chopsticks. The last character of our Chinese names carved, one on each. Together, tied by a piece of red string.
Think of it as the best and only opportunity to market yourselves as a couple (much like a signature or a name card) to your friends and family. (I mean, how often are you able to gather everyone you know in one place? Just this once.) Make it memorable. Make it valuable. Make it long-lasting.
So what will your wedding gift be? How will you like your friends and family to remember you and your loved one?
Drop me a comment or tweet @chibiryan to share your thoughts!
P.S. This post is simply to help you generate some ideas if you are looking to have a more unique and creative wedding. If you genuinely thought of the same idea, that's great! But please do not copy every single detail from what is posted here. (Or at least give credits to the people who thought of the idea first. If you think you're the first, feel free to voice it out here.) Every wedding is meant to be unique. So be yourself. :)
12.25.2007
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