Are we too sensitive?

 Huffington Post reports on an advertisement for Red Bull that is attracting complaints in the U.K. and yet remains on air.  Personally I love the ad, it incorporates a bit of risky humour, but nothing offensive in my view.  I think enough time has lapsed not to make humour of this kind offensive. 

No fun is being made of the people who lost their lives.  It is more a case of 20/20 hindsight.  The majority of viewers ought to identify with it - who hasn't looked back on decisions they made and thought: If only I knew then what I know now.

What do you think?  Do you find it offensive or distasteful?

Can a pirate be good for business?

Today is international Talk like a Pirate day.  Not exactly the type of event that makes the world stop, but a good enough reason for creative marketers to have a little fun while promoting business.

Both Krisy Kreme and Long John Silver's took to Twitter to create a buzz about their pirate offerings (#TLAPD).

Krispy Kreme in Portland, Beaverton and Vancouver gave a FREE doughnut to customers who talk like a pirate.  In some cases customers who dressed like pirates were rewarded with a dozen FREE doughnuts.

Long John Silver's simply required a half decent "ARRR" from customers to receive a FREE piece of fish.

Now if only the Rum manufacturers would see the brilliance of this marketing opportunity ;-)

Brilliant use of technology

There is a growing unease in society with the lack of manners people display when using mobile devices.  We've all been in the vicinity of people talking loudly on their phones in public spaces or sneaking a peek  a their texts during a conversation.  Seinfold joked about this very thing when he referred to people putting their mobiles on the table when meeting somebody.  According to him it sends the signal that the person has other options, if you bore him he can start texting any time.

What do you do in such a situation?  I ask the person politely to stop texting as I value my time and their undivided attention.  Should it happen a second time, I simply walk away.

Well, that was my tactic until I discovered Polar Beer's solution!

This company has listened to the grievances of its public.  Mobile devices are draining the life out of social encounters. The solution to this problem?  A stubby holder that not only keeps your beer cold, but blocks all 3G and 4G signals within a 1.5m range.  Sheer brilliance and something polar beer consumers can drink to - cheers!

The end is in sight!

Today is election day in Australia, finally!  This has been a long and exhausting run - and not only for the politicians.  The Courier Mail provides one final look at the weirdest moments of this election campaign.

With my new found insight into social media and marketing, this campaign took on a whole new dimension for me.  It was interesting to note that Labor spent most of their efforts on social media, while foregoing traditional ways of advertising.  The wisdom and reason behind this eludes me.  Surely all marketers know that social media is just another way of reaching target markets and not THE way.

In that sense the Coalition has run an excellent race.  Our oldest will vote for the first time today and our household was overrun with advertising media from the Coalition.  It arrived in the form of personalized letters and the variety impressed me.  Some explained their policies, some was written as thank you notes for the patience of young voters to put up with it all and others were promises that they asked young voters to hang onto.  The idea is accountability - the Coalition asked young voters to check whether they keep their word.  Maybe a bit risky when it comes to young impressionable voters and the track record of politics and specifically election promises ... but much better than the deafening silence from the other parties.

The only candidate that came knocking was the Coalition one.  We have also received  some advertising material from Clive Palmer.  However, that is all behind us now and all that remains is to learn in order to improve on future campaigns.