Yes, sometimes TV spots (still) work!

In a world where TV spots and radio advertisements are losing its impact versus new media channels, here's an example of a commercial that goes against this trend. This time by the giant Coca-Cola, with a 1 and a half TV spot launched in Christmas, in Portugal.

The marketing mix is something easily understood on paper but difficult to put in practice if you don't know your brand and your consumers properly. And even when you do know them well, the right balance is hard to determine. Currently more and more companies and leaving classic media channels such as television and switching to, for example, social media vehicles to promote their products and services. By doing this firms keep up with their consumers' trends as they communicate to (and with) their consumers while they are facebooking or simply writing posts on blogs.

However, a good TV spot still makes an impact. And what is a good TV commercial? For me a good TV commercial is evaluated by 1) the consumer's understanding of the message presented and 2) how much they like it, which ultimately leads to a word-of-mouth snowball effect. This ad clearly transmits the "happiness" core value of Coca-Cola, while at the same time is so good that made people talk about it. It became viral, with hundreds of people posting it online. So even the ones that didn't catch it on TV, they saw it anyways online.

So for all the companies re-thinking their marketing strategies, here's an advice: most of the marketing tools you can use are worth going for, as long as you make sure you are doing it right.

Alta Definição - Entrevista a Zé Pedro

Mais uma grande entrevista conduzida por Daniel Oliveira, desta vez ao guitarrista dos Xutos e Pontapés - Zé Pedro. O eterno músico português fala, sem preconceitos, de cenas marcantes da sua vida pessoal e de como saiu por cima em relação às adversidades com que se deparou, principalmente nos últimos anos.

O tema das drogas e do alcool abrange grande pate da entrevista, e é bastante interessante observar a perspectiva de vida de uma pessoa que, durante grande parte da sua vida, viveu nos limites.

Uma última nota para a já habitual banda sonora do programa, com músicas excelentemente selecionadas e adequadas aos diferentes momentos da entrevista.

Aqui fica o link! http://sic.sapo.pt/programas/altadefinicao/article777008.ece

3 British Movies Worth Watching

I have been watching a couple of British movies lately, so if you want an escape for the typical American movie, here you have 3 nice films definitely worth seeing.

1. "This is England"

This is England is a look back at the early eighties of British working-class life through the eyes of a young boy and his gang, while dealing with outside influences such as racism and xenophobia, mass employment and the fall out of Falkland's War.

Tremendous picture and an emotive soundtrack. Among many other awards, winner in the BAFTA Awards (2008) and in the British Independent Film Awards (2006), both for Best Film category. A must-see movie.

2. "Layer Cake"

One of those kind of movies that many things happen in a very short time period. Actually, a movie from the same producers of Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, this time more from a crime perspective, mainly in the drug scene. The title Layer Cake refers to the layers of levels anyone in business goes through in rising to the top. What is revealed in the modern underworld where the rules have changed. There are no "codes", or "families" and respect lasts as long as a line...

All in all, a good script and the talent of Daniel Graig make this one an enjoyable film, with some pretty funny moments in between.

3. "Dead Man's Shoes"

My favorite among the three. The story revolves around the character of Richard (Paddy Considine), a paratrooper returning to his small home town in England's Peak District. After having discovered what a couple of bullies did to his mentally disabled brother, he starts his revenge. In the opening line of the film, Richard narrates "God will forgive them. He'll forgive them and allow them into Heaven. I can't live with that." 

The soundtrack is amazingly executed. It suits every single occasion of the movie, and often puts you through some deep thoughts. One of those movies that after it finishes you wait for the music to end while you think about what you just saw.

Chromebook - Beginning of an Era?

Cloud computing is, according to many, the most probable future direction that technology will follow. For those who never heard of it, it basically allows you to store all your data online, in a cloud, instead of storing it in your computer's hard disk. Dropbox is a good example of such an application. Also Apple already came out with an application that will allow you to store all your music in your online cloud, where you can afterwards access it from any of your apple devices.

One of the leaders in this technology is Google, which has been investing significant resources in aligning its future products with cloud computing. Most recently, Google has just announced the launch of the Chromebook, a small laptop equipped with Google Chrome and where there's no longer a hard disk available; only through internet access you are able to reach your personal data, in a platform linking your files with your email Google account, YouTube, Facebook, etc. In terms of manufacturers, both Acer and Samsung worked together with Google to develop the new device, which you can see below.

Now this is a big breakthrough innovation... And as a consequence, it brings several risks with it! Although the technology itself does not involve any major change compared to what already exists (netbooks, ipads,etc), the product involves a high degree of change in terms of the consumer behavior. More precisely, the challenge is concerned with changing people's routines and habits, and not just adding some extra feature to the product. And even after people understand the actual benefits of the technology (in this case, the advantage of being able to store everything online, making things easier, safer and more practical), they have to start using it. Which means stop using regular laptops together with their hard disk, and get used to placing everything online and access it there.

At the end of the day, those who manage to convince people in changing their behaviors and buying the product shall succeed, regardless of the whether the technology is very good or not. And this is where marketing plays a key role in launching the product into the market. So lets wait and see how Google "shows" their new toy to the market, and if they are able to take the best out of their marketing tools to successfully convince consumers. So far, they did a good work with their website ( http://www.google.com/chromebook/), with a clear value proposition touching on some essential points. Lets take a look...

Chromebooks are built and optimized for the web, where you already spend most of your computing time. So you get a faster, simpler and more secure experience without all the headaches of ordinary computers.

In two sentences tells people what it is and why they should use it - more practical, faster, and better that "ordinary" computers. Additionally, it makes it look easier: "where you already spend most of your computing time".

Nice job so far Google, but the hard part is still to come.

Convince consumers in changing their routines and become the leader of a new technology era. Fail to do it and join the high failure rates pool where many others eventually end up falling in.

Exceeding Customer Expectations - A Hangover Hard to Recover

Marketing is a powerful weapon used by companies to create certain expectations on consumers, who create themselves a perception of a product/service after having been exposed to such things as advertisements or promotions. And which company is the final winner in the marketing race? The one promising everything and giving few, or the one keeping promise and meeting consumer's expectations? Obviously, despite less sales on the beginning, the long-run shall see the second succeed. And this is what many fail to understand: Exceeding your customer's expectations with promises you aren't able to deliver is surely one of the biggest mistakes you can do as a manager.

Here's a recent example... Two weeks ago I went to see the movie "The Hangover - Part 2". Given the success of the first movie, I was expecting a lot from its sequel and actually couldn't wait for the day to come. So I took a look on the trailer to have an idea of what the movie might look like... The scenes showed were extremely funny and the trailer promised a great movie, probably better than the first!

A couple of days later, I finally went to see the movie. Upon my arrival, I found the place covered with posters and lots of references to the film! Uau... an epic sequel was expecting me! Well, at least that's what I thought... After the movie ended I was extremely disappointed, basically because more than half of the funny parts I had already seen on the trailer! Me and obviously many others.

It's OK if your consumers have existing expectations upon your products or services due to previous use. But what it's NOT OK is when you elevate those expectations to a point where you cannot deliver them. What happens then is a feeling of dissatisfaction much worse than if you hadn't placed those expectations on their minds in the first place. And that was exactly what happened with this movie. I was expecting an entertaining and good film, but after watching the trailer, having seen all the ads displayed in the area and all the buzz created around it, my expectations grew even more! In the end, as the product failed to deliver me what I (and, again, many others...) was expecting, I was more dissatisfied than ever with the outcome.

Let us look now to the company side... What are the consequences of such actions? On the first few weeks will certainly provide high sales and maybe a couple of nice reviews. But eventually the end result will be a more negative evaluation of the movie, along with a decrease in customer loyalty and, most probably, a decrease in future purchases.

So manage this trade-off carefully. Take a look of what you have to offer and market it in the best possible way. But do not exaggerate, or you may never fully recover from that hangover.

Die Welle

"Do you think a dictatorship isn't possible anymore?"

"No way. We're way beyond that."

And so it starts. After having being told he was teaching "autocracy" for the school's project week, a popular but unorthodox high school teacher starts an unusual experiment to demonstrate his students what life is under a dictatorship. The students are told to follow the teacher's leadership, create their own set of values and beliefs for the group, and behave according to the rules during that week. The result?

Well, you should watch the movie to see by yourselves the consequences of creating a small but powerful dictatorship, based on core values such as discipline, unity and team spirit. Very interesting to see how everything develops each day and the meaning the whole movement brings to the lives of every student.

A very interesting movie, with a good cast, and with a strong message successfully delivered. Must see.

Marketing on Facebook: Focus and Simplicity

A couple of weeks ago I made a post about the latest trends that brands are using in social media, more specifically on Facebook. Today I would like to share with you Intel's latest tool on Facebook, the Museum of Me.

Many of you already saw this on Facebook, and perhaps even created your own museum. So what is it about this that makes it so special?

First of all, Intel created something based on the core essence of social networking websites: your life. The museum shows in 4 slides a general overview of your life on Facebook, the people you most interact with, the pages you "like" more and photos you have recently uploaded. Basically, the museum triggers some kind of emotional click on your brain and makes you feel a little bit nostalgic, but at the same time proud and happy of what your life is all about.

Secondly, another factor that makes this platform so appealing to consumers is the simplicity involved. For you to have all this, you just have to open the website and click "Connect to Facebook". After a few seconds your museum is done and ready to be shared on Facebook, if you wish. How simple is that? Very simple! And if you take into consideration the current emergence of this kind of applications and platforms offering so many different things to users, simplicity becomes a crucial factor in successfully creating a positive impact of the platform on Facebook users.

Last but not least, by focusing on the consumer experience and giving them something to feel happy about, Intel eventually earns positive recognition for the work developed. Here's what a consumer might think...

"Intel created a platform where I can see my social life displayed in a really nice way. When I look to the photos I remember the value of my friends and family, my life experiences through the photos I upload, and the way all comes together to give my life a meaning"

While people do not directly think "Thank you Intel", unconsciously this thought might be present. And this is where Intel wins where many others keep failing.

O Homem da Luta em Alta Definição

Vi hoje uma das mais interessantes entrevistas dos últimos tempos, a uma pessoa bastante conhecida do povo Português, o Jel. A cara dos "Homens da Luta". Já há uns dias que esperava poder ver esta entrevista online, pois não me encontro em Portugal, e por fim tive a oportunidade de a visualizar.

Achei interessante e motivadora a perspectiva de vida deste actor, desta pessoa que "luta" contra o sistema e que faz disso o seu dia-a-dia. Sou um grande admirador do seu trabalho, pois acho que encontrou uma maneira original e, acima de tudo, inteligente de protestar contra a situação actual do nosso país, arrastando consigo centenas de pessoas. Nesta entrevista é bastante interessante observar aquilo que ele sente, diz e faz. Admite ter medo, mas é da opinião que é preciso haver medo para existir reacção nas pessoas. É conhecedor dos seus erros, da sua personalidade, e é graças a isso que chegou tão longe.

Aqui fica o link da entrevista.

http://sic.sapo.pt/video/?articleId=536283

Na próxima 3ª feira estarão presentes na meia-final do concurso Eurovisão, em Dusseldorf. Mais do que a competição em si (onde Portugal é o único país que nunca ganhou nada), é de extrema importância a visibilidade que os "Homens da Luta" darão ao mundo sobre o nosso país. É, sinceramente, a presença que melhor ilustra aquilo que o nosso país pode oferecer à Eurovisão.

Uma última nota para o programa "Alta Definição". Sem dúvida alguma um dos melhores programas de televisão em Portugal, com entrevistas excelentemente conduzidas por Daniel Oliveira.

Social Media - Focusing on... the Consumer

The tools and strategies used by companies to communicate with their customers have been changing significantly since the emergence of a phenomenon known as social media. Particularly on Facebook, we have seen the emergence of thousands of "fan pages" that constantly share comments, photos, events and so on...

But what is the right way to do it? Which effect (positive or negative) will your fan page have on your consumers?? Well much has been written about it, and you can find hundreds of opinions saying what you should do or not do when using social media. My motivation for today's post came this morning after seeing Magnum's latest website (obviously through a friend that post it on Facebook...). The website is a "simple" game that uses a women as the main character and guides you through a bunch of websites, probably the ones that Magnum will have on their next promotional activity... Which in the end primes you with their latest ice cream.

But what I liked about it was the interaction with the consumer, the fact that you can direct your character through all these websites, exactly like a video game, but with the exception that you are actually being advertised (though smoothly) by plenty of other brands and their products! And what is the effect in the end?? Well, in my case it was worth a "like" on their Facebook fan page, and a post on my blog, which for them will hopefully help increasing positive word-of mouth for this campaign.

What we are seeing right now is a transition from an experience stage - where companies and their brands were almost randomly posting content on Facebook and hoping to, ultimately, increase sales - to a stage where companies learned some of the effects of using social media from their own experience, and are now correctly targeting their consumers using the latest available technology and, most importantly, placing the consumer at the center of all attentions. By giving power to the consumer and the opportunity of interacting with your brand, you are giving him/her something that most of the pages are not giving to their communities - interactive entertainment. Real entertainment! Not just simply the one that makes a person "like" the page, but the one that is a worth a post on someone's wall with a label such as "Uau, check this page out!!".

What I have seen lately is the emergence of a couple of brands that are starting to use social media in an effective and appealing way. Here's 2 examples. Enjoy... and "like" it ;)

http://pleasurehunt.mymagnum.com/

http://www.youtube.com/desperados

Today's final thought - definition of customer-centric organization:

Describing an organization that is operated from a customer's point of view. Rather than developing new products and attempting to convince consumers to purchase them, a customer-centric firm listens to their customers and develops products and services their customers need.

The Prestige

"Now you're looking for the secret. But you won't find it because of course, you're not really looking. You don't really want to work it out. You want to be fooled"

Did you like Inception? Memento? What about Dark Knight? If so, you will love this movie.

This masterpiece from Christopher Nolan will make you believe in something that, in the end, will turn out to be quiet different from what you expect. Are you watching closely?

The movie tells the story of a rivalry between two men in chasing the ultimate magic trick. This rivalry is seeded by love, anger, jealousy and by the thirst of becoming better than the other. In the end, the ultimate illusion is performed by the one who successfully manages to live his whole life as a magician. His whole life.

This is one of those movies that have forum topics such as "What is the real meaning of the end scene of The Prestige??"


For sure one of the best movies I have seen so far. A must see!

El Orfanato

It's been a while since the last time I posted something around here, but i have been a bit busy getting my life back. Which i did! :)

So here is my movie selection for today: El Orfanato (The Orphanage).

This Spanish movie from 2007 was one of the most awarded international films of the year, and obviously won most of the Spanish awards as well, including 7 wins out of 14 nominations on the famous Goya Awards. Internationally, it was mostly awarded as best movie, actress (Belén Rueda), and director (Juan Antonio Bayona).

The movie is a stunning thriller about a women that moves with her family to her childhood home, an abandoned orphanage, with the intention of opening her own orphanage for handicap children. Soon things get pretty exciting as her son starts to communicate with a new (invisible) friend.

I must say I was very impressed with the movie. I particularly enjoyed the soundtrack - very good! gets into you from the first scene - as well as the particular way in which the movie is shot. Well done to the (very) young director Juana Antonio Bayona.

Here's the trailer. Enjoy ;)

Adidas is All In

Marketing is all about satisfying the needs of your target customers. Following the market trends of the society in several fields such as fashion and music. In the end, the ones that exceed what consumers expect and keep innovating will for sure succeed. Well done Adidas. Well done Justice.

Black Swan

And here it is, the "Movie of the Year"! (or at least that's what has been said about it... I still don t think it beats Inception :) )

Here are a few remarks from this very good movie..

1) Natalie Portman

To begin with, is brilliant, and it is almost for sure that she will win the academy award for best actress..
Nina (Portman) is a ballerina in a New York ballet company whose life is completely consumed with dance, and when Thomas Leroy (Cassel) gives her the main role in Swan Lake for their new season, her life starts to change. Swan Lake requires a dancer who can play both the White Swan with innocence and grace, and the Black Swan, who represents guile and sensuality. The movie soon catches you up as soon as Nina starts to obsessively perform the Black Swan character, which eventually consumes her inside and turns her life into a mess!
Take a close look at the final scene where she is dancing the Swan Lake.. Is that the sane actress dancing the Black Swan? Yes, it is.


2) Darren Aronofsky

A second remark for Mr. Darren Aronofsky, who once again directed a movie in a perfect way! After "Requiem for a Dream" and "The Wrestler" (which by the way are really good movies!), one could totally see that he would be the perfect choice for this movie. And he sure was.

3) Plot
The story of the movie is quiet simple, but behind it there is much more going one than one would expect. I love movies with unexpected endings, and although this one is not that much unexpected, it is definitely perfect!

How far would you go in pursuing your dreams? How strong do you believe it is possible to achieve them? And most importantly, what would you let go?

Presidential Elections in Portugal - A Foreign Perspective

Yesterday I followed carefully the news related to the election of the new President of Portugal. Without any surprise, Cavaco Silva will remain the President for another 5 years (53% of the votes). Also without any surprise, a couple of other things happened that marked these elections as another demonstration of incompetence of a country that I love, but also of a country that makes me sad.. specially now, seen from a foreign perspective.

Yesterday, a new system was tested in the whole country to facilitate people's votes. A new website was created that allowed a citizen to comfortably vote at home, without having to face long queues and the usual lack or organization of the places to exercise this right. Obviously, this didn't work out! The system "crashed" and everybody had to go to the usual places to vote. Together with this, the new electronic citizen's card (a truly remarkable card that puts together ID, tax no, social security no, health no., and also the old voter registration card ) also faced several problems leading a lot of people to give up voting and contributing to a turnout record number of 53,4% (the highest number ever seen)!

Well, if half of the population didn't vote, and half of the one that did vote for Cavaco, then with some simple math we conclude that 1/4 of the country wanted him to be elected. Nice!

Of course the turnout rate is not totally explained by these technical problems... This election took place amid a mounting debt crisis in Portugal. The country's economic problems have been compounded by sluggish growth and stringent labour laws that weaken business competitiveness. Unlike Greece, however, there has been no violent unrest in the streets. And unlike Ireland, where the economic crisis has led to a political near-collapse, its banks have not been exposed to toxic assets or property bubbles.

The president’s post is largely ceremonial but he does have the power to dismiss the prime minister and dissolve parliament without having to justify the decision.

The BBC's Alison Roberts reports from Lisbon that many on the left fear that, with a renewed mandate, a conservative president might be tempted before long to take such action in the hope of seeing the party he once led, the centre-right Social Democrats, return to government.

But after casting his vote in a chilly Lisbon, Cavaco Silva, a former economics professor who was prime minister from 1985 to 1995, said he did not want to speculate about that possibility.
“I am a president in favour of stability. I consider that it is very important for Portugal to have political stability to solve its problems,” he said.

This result is expected to ensure short-term political stability as the government fights to avoid an international financial bailout. However, my opinion is that everyday people care less and less about a possible change is the country's route. I see no hope on a beautiful country full of potential, but trapped under corruption, bad leaders, and no hope. As I usually say, the typical portuguese is happy as long as Benfica wins. The rest, doesn't matter that much.

The Usual Suspects

Yes, I know it's a classic, but it was missing me for a long time. Tonight I saw it and yes, it's brilliant!

You get trap in the movie as soon as it starts. Looks confusing in the beginning, but you quickly get into the plot..  When it gets to the middle you already want to know how it is going to end, and as time goes by you loose yourself trying to understand what is really going on. The end... excellent!

The movie is about a boat that was mysteriously destroyed, and follows the interrogation of Roger "Verbal" Kint (Kevin Spacey), one of the "usual" suspects in this complex accident. Using flashback and narration, Kint's story becomes increasingly complex and interesting. Kevin Spacey plays a very good role on the movie, and without surprise he was awarded with the "best supporting actor" Oscar. Besides his superb performance and the complex but addicting plot, I also like the soundtrack very much! Helps getting you all in the movie..

This is one of those films that when it finishes you are still trying to connect the dots and make everything fit. Nowadays there are a couple of good ones doing it. This was one of the first. A truly must-see movie.

Rodrigo y Gabriela

Today I'm gonna tell you about a man and a women, that with a single guitar each are capable of doing very creative music, catchy from the first moment you hear it..

Rodrigo y Gabriela are a Mexican musical duo who specialize in playing fast, rhythmic acoustic guitars. After having started playing in a trash metal band (yes, a trash metal band!), they moved to Dublin where they start playing in some pubs. Soon they became famous and in 2001 released their first album - Foc. So far they have released 6 albums in total, being "Rodrigo y Gabriela" my favorite.. Particularly I like when they play Metallica cover songs and some other nice oldies (Check "Stairway to Heaven", beautiful cover..).

Nowadays they have become very popular, having performed a song from their latest album "11:11" in "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno". Also in May 2010 they performed in front of Barack Obama, with Beyoncé also featuring..

Well enough of talking and more of listening. Check the video below, as you can truly get a sense of what kind of music they play and especially how they play!

"Diablo Rojo"

Fun isn't it?! Just read on Wikipedia that last September they had to stop some shows because of a stress injury caused by the heavily playing style of Gabriela...

If you are looking for a "best of" kind of thing, check the album "Live in Japan". It's amazing! I spent some weeks listening to is from the first to the last song. They are really entertaining and their music unique!

But do it, don t just say you will...

Here is my remark for this new year...

"There is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction"
Winston Churchill

I come from a country where hope is the most common strategy used for everything. Hope for a better wage, hope for a better medical system, hope for lower taxes, hope for the football team to win, etc. By now, i guess all of us know that most of the time hope does not help the world to change that much. On the contrary, action does! Both for the society as a whole and, most importantly, for us as individuals. Subscribe to the gym, engage in volunteer work, learn guitar, look for a new job, spend more time with your family, get a dog (or cat, crocodile, whatever). But do it, don t just say you will..

To keep in mind: less hope, more action!

As for me, after more than 1 year without any sports and a surgery in between, I will return to rugby as soon as possible this year. My prediction points to April (maximum!), as until then I will need some work on the gym to be able to play :)

I wish all of you a great 2011!

And so it is

Hey everyone, and welcome to my blog ;)

As this is my first post, I should tell you what you can expect from this blog... Well, even I don't know exactly what to write around here. I actually created this blog some weeks ago, but so far haven t really had time to start it..

In case you might be interested to know: Where did this idea come from??

I must say that in the last couple of months I felt like writing many times, about many different things. And I realized that happened mostly due to what I am currently doing, a master degree. "And what's so special about it?" you might ask. A lot. I ll come back to this one of this days..

Anyways, i will publish some nice stuff mostly about cinema, music, sports, business, economics, travelling, and many many more. Basically, whatever comes to my mind. Hope you like it ;)