The New Bing

The new Bing has a three column design with Core Search, Snapshot & Sidebar panes. Core Search contains core web results which will help get results easier without cluttering it with social updates. Snapshot is the center column. It is between the web results on the left and the new sidebar on the right. Snapshot has info and services related to your search along with maps, reviews & others. This helps the users to take the intended actions. Sidebar is all about social information with info from friends, experts & others. Social results which were in core part have been completely moved to sidebar. You can even ask friends, experts and others from sites like Twitter, Foursquare, Quora & others to what they are saying about the search. This is a great search interface which will take search to the next level. With the rise of social media, social results appearing along with main search results has changed search results. More info can be had at Bing Community.

Pinterest

Pinterest is the latest socal media site which has made the marketers buzzing these days. Pinterest has become the talk of blogosphere & social networking. In Pinterest, members can pin images, videos & other objects to their pin board. A large percentage of the users on Pinterest are women. Brands can reach more customers, drive traffic, increase visibility & also sell products. It is already sending more referral traffic to many sites. Along with facebook, twitter, youtube, google+ it has become a major site for brands to reach customers. Many pinterest like clone sites have also been started. As women are majority decision makers, brands are finding it easier to reach them through this site.

Corporate Blogging & its Uses

Blogs have evolved into a new medium of communication for the companies to communicate with the customers. The way ideas are communicated can have an impact on the company overall. It is very difficult to engage the customers to read the blog. We have to be very creative in writingthe content for corporate blogs.

The factors which should be considered while corporate Blogging are:

The blog should promote the overall Company branding. Just going for a blog is notuseful. Blog is one of the powerful tools for promoting the brand value.There should be a team put in place in the company OR can be handed over to a PR agency to handle the blog.

The content should be checked thoroughly before posting onthe blog.The comments by the customers should be allowed subject to moderation. This is the most important thing in corporate Blogging. There should be guest Blogging by the VP, CEO or any top management frequently. Thiswill allow the customers to develop a good rapport with the company.There should also be a section for the employees to blog like Product Manager Blogginga bout the New product development.

The blog should be promoted through forum signature, email marketing, websites, pinging, company products & wherever possible. This helps know about the company blogWith the rise of Social networking & social media, it should be utilized in the blog properly. Videos of interview with the customers & employees, photos, customer testimonials, RSS feeds, subscribe to blog by email & others can be included in the blog.

This helps to get updates about the blog in real time for the customer.Blog must be updated regularly. This will help develop a confidence in the customer thathe is getting updates about the company & products.The blog can be a powerful tool if used properly. This can be used to take feedback aboutthe products/company/service & the same can be incorporated for improvement

Daily Deal Sites in India

Daily deal sites are becoming popular due to the great discounts, offers & special promotions they provide to the consumers. Groupon was one of the first brand to enter this market in US & since then has grown rapidly. Several daily deal sites have opened in India & some of it have also closed down or acquired by others. They find enough buyers to be eligible for discounts. Since many sites are launching regularly, they need to have USP to stand out in the crowd. Some of the sites are doing well & have also become a word of mouth marketing. One can purchase the coupons by paying the money mentioned against the deal through card, net banking & others.

Some of the deaily deal sites in india are Snapdeal, Timesdeal, Dealsandyou, Dealivore, Koovs, mydala, Crazeal, Khojguru & others

2012 Most Desired Brands in the U.S.

Buyology has released the 2012 Most Desired brands in the US. Buyology uses its proprietary technology to measure the brands. Men & women have different desired list of brands. This list has been released by Buyology & uSamp. Companies are spending millions of dollars on advertising & Marketing activities to create relationship with the brands. With the advent of social media, consumers are expressing their opinion about the brands. 220 diverse brands were evaluated with 4000 subjects. Southwest Airlines ranked #1 for both men & women. The list can be found at their website.

Hero Billion Voices – Role of Crowdsourcing in Advertising

Hero Billion Voices shows the role of crowdsourcing in Advertising. Users can sing the Heroes song & shoot a high resolution video of it & upload the video. Those selected will have the opportunity to participate in TVC. The Heroes song is about facing the fears big or small or pushing yourself beyond. Hero Billion Voices mobile app is also available on Android & Apple’s mobile app store. Facebook & twitter is also playing a major role in this concept. This is a very creative method of advertising & use of crowdsource in advertising. Several companies are using this new idea in advertsing. Several videos have already been uploaded. With the rise of internet & social media, it has made possible to use this concept.

Finnair’s Republic Day Celebrations – Creative Marketing

Finnair’s republic day celebrations on its flight from Helsinki to New Delhi on the republic day. The crew members danced to the song from Om Shanti Om movie. The crew shook legs, waved hands & danced to the tune of the song ‘Deewangi Deewangi’. The act lasted for around 2 mins & it took the passengers by surprise. It is a very creative marketing stretegy. The video posted on youtube has got lakhs of views. This helps position the brand to a very specific audience & also helps in branding.

Benetton Unhate Campaign

Benetton known for its unorthodox marketing & advertising strategies has launched a new Global ad campaign called Unhate, featuring a series of photos of world’s leading political and religious leaders kissing. The campaign has already generated a lot of controversy & even Vatican has criticised the advt. one of the photos shows Pope Benedict XVI locking lips with Egypt’s Ahmed el Tayyeb, imam of the Al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo. Other photos include Barack Obama and Chinese leader Hu Jintao, the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Some of the earlier Benetton’s campaign include an AIDS afflicted man on his deathbed, a black woman breast-feeding a white baby & a priest kissing a nun. Even though there are scores of photoshopped images on the net, in this case, the advt is from a leading luxury clothier & this has resulted in quite a debate about how far can an advertisement go.

Facebook Timeline

Facebook has introduced timeline. Here is a video showing it.

Vodafone India Zoozoos – New Chapter in Indian Marketing

Vodafone Zoozoos have heralded a new chapter in Indian Marketing. In the recent times, no other character has captured the attention like Zoozoos. It helped Vodafone successfully establish a brand in India. The ad is directed by Prakash Varma of Nirvana Films. The ads were first aired during the IPL & soon it became the talk of the town. More than 20 different types of ads were made featuring the services & products Vodafone India offers.

It became the talk of the blogosphere & currently its facebook page has 2 million fans & social media also played a keyrole in building the brand. The characters were conceived and directed by executive creative director (South Asia) Rajiv Rao of Ogilvy and Mather. Users can also download images & wallpapers of Zoozoos. Several merchandise items also started appearing on the market of Zoozoos. Just like the “Hutch Dog”, Zoozoos also became brand image associated with Vodafone. Even now, Vodafone is successfully using the concept & recently it was used in the launch of Vodafone 3G services. It also became one of the top searched keyword in Google. Videos on youtube have also garnered good number of views.

Vodafone Zoozoos Facebook
Vodafone Zoozoos Twitter