livingbrands

10 things we didn't know before the 25th week of 2010

1. More than 5,000 so-called mosquito alarms, which emit a sound to disperse teenage groups, are in operation in the UK.
2. Human hair is used as a food additive.
3. Italy's footballers were pelted with rotten fruit when they arrived back in the country after an early exit from the 1966 World Cup.
4. Scotland has the highest proportion of cocaine users in the world. 
5. Tennis matches can last three days.
6. There are 820 government websites.
7. More than eight million visits were made to news websites every minute, on the night Barack Obama won the US presidential election. On the first day of the World Cup, there were 12m visits per minute.
8. General Stanley McChrystal only eats one square meal a day.
9. Nottingham Forest players got drunk the night before winning the League Cup final in 1979.
10. There are 6,000 islands in Greece, but only 227 are inhabited.

(Borrowed from the BBC)

Toyota's Swagger Wagon

A big old car brand doing a rap pastiche. You just know it's going to be smelly.

Well, no. It's actually rather marvelous (words, acting and style)...

It's like Asher Roth 15 years after graduation...

10 things we didn't know before the 24th week of 2010

1. Whale poo helps absorb CO2.
2. The BBC failed to record Charles de Gaulle's famous broadcast to German-occupied France.
3. Vuvuzelas are pitched at the B flat below middle C.
4. Male menopause exists (in 2% of men).
5. Britain's VAT of 17.5% is one of the lowest rates in Europe.
6. That "USA WINS 1-1" headline in the New York Post? They were joking.
7. Men were taught to change nappies at Fathercraft classes in the 1920s.
8. The government considered blocking North Korea from the 1966 World Cup.
9. Using the words "Games" and "2012" could land advertisers a £20,000 fine come the next Olympics.
10. Mathematicians busk.

(Borrowed from the BBC)

The Great Billy Bragg World Cup T-shirt Auction

Won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but due to a slight ordering confusion I’ve been sent two of these most excellent but in-very-short-supply World Cup t-shirts, sporting the best song lyric ever about the England football team, from Mr Bragg's Greetings To The New Brunette: “how can you lie there and think of England when you don’t even know who’s in the team”...

 
Quality construction, in white, size medium (though maybe a bit on the large size).

Rather than send back, I will offer up to the highest (reasonable) bidder – list price is £18.80 – with all cash going to Billy's charity Jail Guitar Doors, which works with prisoners using music to help in their rehabilitation.

If you know anyone who might like, please pass on.

Although, for sake of simplicity, I think I will limit this to transactions that can be handled in person, maybe over a coffee with discussions of Bragg's finest lyrical moments.

And just to close, a word on the excellent customer service from the people at the Bragg Emporium. Even though my original order arrived a little late, they sent out a second by courier after I queried delivery details (where I had made a mistake when filling out the order form n the first place).

When I dropped an email to say thanks but why, I got this back...

"We got your post code amendment and we definitely hand amended it on your packing slip. However, prompted by your reminder this morning we have now been to the post office and checked through the prove of posting records. Guess what - needless to say they have written the wrong original post code on the prove of posting, which suggests it has got processed incorrectly. We are really sorry for the inconvenience, we did amend the post code,but what happens after we have delivered to the post office is beyond our control unfortunately.

To ease your frustration, I can confirm that we will put a new T in the post to you today whilst we try and track down the AWOL one. We were just so worried that you might not have your shirt in time for Friday, thereby jinxing the whole match, consequently leading to England being knocked out too early, finally resulting in us being personally responsible for England losing the World Cup - well, obviously the pressure was just too much!!

Mind you, we have people threatening to send theirs back after Saturday's performance!!

Please put us out of our misery and confirm when you receive this second attempt.

That's called looking after your customers!

Zynga's (virtual) world domination

If you've never heard of them, Zynga are the company behind games such as Farmville on Facebook.

Though very simple, even simplistic, these games have proven very popular, combining the addictive guilt trip of the Tamagotchi with the 'points mean prizes' appeal of all popular games, all in a social context - collaboration (needed for success) and competition simultaneously.

One interesting fact, just to put this appeal into context: more virtual tractors are bought on any one day in Farmville than there are real tractors sold in America every year.

All of which adds up to HUGE sums of moola: predicted revenue of £450m this year.

Anyway, there's a nice infographic telling the story (via Neil). Although, before we get too gooey about their success, take note of CEO Mark Pincus' quote that Zynga "did every horrible thing in the book" to get revenue.

Making money doesn't necessarily make you nice (as we all know to well)!

 

(Originally from here, where there's some other nice infographic action going on)

Why we make bad decisions

Great talk, given by Dan Gilbert back at TED 05, on our inability to properly estimate either 1) the odds of something happening and 2) the value of that thing to us. Does anyone still think rational decision making actually happens?

Are you selling what you're supposed to

Got to be Rule 1 of advertising: make sure people end up wanting to buy what you're selling.

So I wonder if I'm alone in my response to this new Audi ad: "Audi R8 Spyder - quite nice. But, damn, how great are those hot rods".

I'm sure that's not what they were wanting...

10 things we didn't know before the 23rd week of 2010

1. The number of snakes in the world is falling.
2. Indigenous Bolivians wear bowler hats because of the English.
3. The top sponsors of the World Cup pay on average £75m.
4. Forty-two people die on South African roads every day, on average. 
5. Motor racing is popular in the West Bank.
6. More than one in 10 websites is pornographic.
7. When one police diver is under water, another four remain on dry land.
8. If all the worldwide television coverage of the 2006 World Cup was shown on one channel, it would take more than eight years to watch.
9. Man can beat a horse in a running race, in the right conditions.
10. A seal's whiskers can detect fish movement 100 metres away.

(Borrowed from the BBC)

Want to engage people? Give them something to do

This is great...

As far as World Cup ads go...

...I really like Umbro's England Anthem.

Simple, down-to-earth and emotive, with a nice insight fans will recognise.

And not a high paid football star in sight.

Kind of like the brand (in a good way).