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Winston Man fights death and RJ Reynolds

One of the most iconic faces of tobacco advertising, Alan Landers The Winston Man (Read his blog) is dying of lung cancer. He has sued his former employers for claiming their products destroyed his health. After he was diagnosed in 1987, Landers became a spokesman for the World Health Organisation and teamed up with Wayne McLaren, the one-time face of Marlboro cigarettes, as anti-smoking campaigners. More.

copywriting returns?

Everytime we make a visit to the Dieline blog we discover how good writing is making a comeback in the most unlikeliest of places. On packaging. See some excellent examples here… here… and here…

Brands to Pay Twitter Tax

Marketing Magazine recently spoke to Biz Stone, one of the cofounders of Twitter, who acknowledged the fact the Twitter was looking for ways to work with brands for a fee so that these brands can offer an enhanced experience to Twitter users. ‘We are noticing more companies using Twitter and individuals following them. We can identify ways to make this experience even more valuable and charge for commercial accounts.
More in the Magazine.
According to TechCrunch Dell is one brand that has claimed that it makes money on Twitter, having made a million dollars on Twitter during the holidays. Infact TechCrunch has another story on how Dell is setting up a Twitterstore front, Dell Outlet , waiting to give out discount coupons to its 11,000 customers who use Twitter. Mashable has a compilation on 40 brands who have a good presence on Twitter.

pepsi does invertising

One of the things we at iContract do is help companies market their thinking internally. So stories like these just add to this belief. Why marketers need to sell their messages to people within the company, before it is taken out to the world. According to AdWeek magazine the Pepsi campaign heralding the new logo was first launched within the company. A week before the world at large would be introduced to the company’s new logo and optimistic attitude an in-your-face word play campaign rolled out within the company. "Howdy", "Hope", "Tango" and just "Yo." Pepsi’s new circular logo stood in place of every "o" in the words. According to the story subtlety played no part in the proceedings. Hall posters, floor and elevator decals and other placards made it impossible for anyone at headquarters to miss the brand’s new look and message. The push culminated with "Rally Day" on Jan. 15. Pepsi execs gathered up to 4,000 employees, in person and online, and laid out the brand’s strategy for the coming year. An invertising campaign ensured, according to Bill Wyman, senior marketing manager for trademark Pepsi. "If we were going to be successful in the marketplace, we were going to have to live and breathe the Pepsi brand with all of our employees," Wyman says. "We set out to find every opportunity to communicate what we are doing, and why and how we are doing it.
Read More in AdWeek

mobile marketing analysis

Nice little synopsis on Mobile Banking and how it is the future. On the Mobile Marketing site: “As mobile commerce becomes more secure, we will see a paradigm shift in the way people do their banking,” said Sean Moshir, CEO of CellTrust and Mobile Banking Sub-Committee Co-Chair at the MMA. “We believe that mobile banking will parallel the Internet era in many aspects, leading consumers and financial institutions alike to become more comfortable with mobile transactions. The Mobile Banking Sub-Committee is pleased to present the Mobile Banking Overview as a key milestone in the evolution of mobile commerce.”
Here’s the link

recession myths

Newsweek Magazine has put out a list of myths that editors and analysts are seeing about the recession. There are five of them up there. The credit crisis is over: Globally, banks have already absorbed about $1 trillion in losses on mortgages and other bad debt holdings according to Jan Hatzius, chief U.S. economist of Goldman Sachs. That’s a startling figure, but his group’s models indicate the financial-sector meltdown hasn’t even reached the halfway point: Goldman expects another $1.1 trillion in losses. Until that bad debt is accounted for, the memory of the collapse of Lehman Brothers will stay fresh. All Industries Are Suffering: According to the story, not every company is reeling because of the downturn. Accountants at ExxonMobil, Apple and other large, thrifty firms are, for now at least, still smiling. The Dollar Will Collapse: In the first half of 2008, smiles were a rare sight among dollar holders. But rumors of the dollar’s death have been greatly exaggerated. The U.S. economy has been in free fall for more than a year now, yet the dollar has defied gravity since mid-2008. It’s climbed 25 percent against the euro and 41 percent against the pound since last year’s lows. Gold has fallen back to about $900 an ounce, and investors are pouring money into U.S. Treasuries and, by extension, putting their faith in the dollar. Credit Cards Are Killing Us: Consumer debt certainly isn’t a good investment these days; Innovest estimates that credit-card issuers ate $41 billion in losses last year, and will have to face up to nearly $100 billion in bad debt this year. But compared with the mortgage sector, which has already suffered $1 trillion in losses, credit cards aren’t nearly as scary as houses. Here Comes Protectionism: The stimulus bill’s "Buy American" clause worried free-traders, but it was ultimately watered down by the Senate. And while the World Bank says that trade will contract in 2009 for the first time in 25 years, the dip is almost completely attributable to the economic slowdown, not to any new trade restrictions. Read the article here

more local currencies making comebacks

More news from local communities who have decided to take on the problem of people in America hoarding up currency, fearing a recession. This time in Newsweek. In Reverside Milwaukee, they are printing their own. The proposed River Currency would be used like cash at local businesses, keeping the area economy humming whatever the health of the country at large. "We can create our own value," explains Sura Faraj, 48, one of the plan’s organizers. Communities print what looks like ordinary bills with serial numbers, anti-counterfeiting details and images of local landmarks (the Milwaukee River, for instance) instead of presidential portraits. Dozens of such systems flourished during the Great Depression. In the 1990s, they re-emerged as a way to fight globalization by keeping wealth in local hands. Now the dream of homespun cash is back because it keeps people liquid even if they’re unemployed or short on traditional dollars. Read more in Newsweek. A more elaborate story in MetaFilter. Earlier in this newsletter

Cups that stay

Wonderful little idea from a coffee shop Down Under. Inducing a deep sense of loyalty among their best customers. Cups with names on it. More..

Do You Do Listening?

One of the things that brands and marketing departments will be doing in the future, if they are not doing this already, is listening. Finding a way to make sense of the endless noise emanating from millions and millions of connected customers. Matt Dickman, writing on Techno Marketer has put out an interesting framework on how companies can set up the listening business. And he believes that humans will have a key role to play. The human level according to Matt sits between the data level and the action level. Listening without action is wasteful according to him and this is where the organisation steps in. A cross functional team of people who need to be 100% integrated in the company’s culture/process. They need to know the legalities of the business, HR issues, communications opportunities, brand/product feedback, how employees are engaging and representing the company and what is being said about the companies media properties. Read more on Matt’s blog Here is a review of listening companies by Forrester.