Brazil and the South African experience

Nice place to surf and play soccer. 

South Africa, a country in development, hosted this year's World Cup. It is now time for Brazil to do the same in four years time. What experiences can Brazil learn from South Africa? Apart from the uncomfortable noise of the vuvuzelas, it was an admirable spectacle to watch, but the country had to make lots of arrangements to accomplish the feat.


Many South Africans claim, however, it was a World Cup owned by FIFA, soccer's international organizing body, instead of a World Cup by South Africa. The point of view of how tickets were sold and the opening concert organized was predominantly European. An aspect that Brazil has to take care of.


Along with these facts, South African minister of tourism inquired the hospitality industry, whether the hotel prices were too high or not. It follows concerns that the flight tickets became costly too. This practice is not new, and it is observed in other sports as well, when there are major events schedulled.

The infrastructure of the country was questioned by New York Times readers, in relation to declarations by Danny Jordaan, head of the South African committee. He stated that the infrastructure in South Africa for the World Cup would be superior than 'any previous tournament host', but the train tickets were difficult to book, and the train station's staff wasn't helpful prior to the beginning of the competition.

Brazil has to observe such problems in order to deliver a beautiful show. FIFA has to work together with the country's committee to understand the internal ambience, and the Brazilians need to improve the organization of the tournament.

100% Pure New Zealand

New Zealand was a good ride. One week and a half of short trips and sightseeing. Before that, I was living in Australia for a long while, and, my apologies to all, I thought both countries would be the same. I mean, there is a sense of community between the two nations, and it caused me to think they were one.

Of course, they are not the same. Different history, different politics, industries… Different mentality. Yes, it does make a difference. Not staying as long there as I did in Australia, I could not say whether there was a huge difference between societies or not. It is too short a time to tell.

What I could see was the sightseeing, and the difference was there. Auckland – the city that I stayed the most – has billboards displaying reasonably good ads. They were quite intelligent and cheeky. There was something inside of me telling 'I kinda knew it'.

Billboard near Halminton, NZ.

What I’m saying is, Australia's advertising industry compared to New Zealand's is creatively poor ( not only New Zealand ). I wanted to stay In Australia for good, but thankfully I did not. My aim was building a career in marketing and advertising. I do not think I would be happy there. On the other hand, I heard about New Zealand’s advertising, and I liked it.

                               Billboards near Beach road,in Auckland,NZ.


It is not only me saying Australia does not make good advertising. The British media coverage website, The Drum, reveals that in 2009, the ASB, the Australian Advertising Standards Bureau, received 4000 complaints in relation to bad ads. In 2008, the same association in the United Kingdom, got 2500 viewers complaints.

Australian tourism campaigns turn out to be known for bad taste, instead of good publicity. This opinion is also shared on the Truth.Travel website. There is also a channel on YouTube on bad Australian ads called Badaussietelly. No need to say anything else perhaps.

New Zealand ads are fun and witty, and this is something Australia is finding hard to be. In this sense, only an alternative Aussie TV program about advertising, The Gruen Transfer, would bring the discussion on prime time, and talk about it. Nonetheless, it pokes its jealous finger on NZ’s ads.

I´M OUT OF THE BED AND DRESSED - WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT?*

* quote by Banksy

Ahh, while in Auckland, NZ, my girlfriend and I found time to watch 'Exit Through the Gift Shop', by Banksy, a British artist. It was better than expected, considering the fact Kat and I are both artists, well, in our free time, at least. She draws whatever entices her, unicorns, dolphins, yeah, kinda fairy things, and I, cartoons, people's face details...

Not only because of that we would watch this flick, but because it seemed really fun. Also it has been screening for a long time already and with so much buzz, we "needed" to see it. The result was really captivating!

Mr Brainwash (Guetta), Banksy (Banksy), Shepard Fairey, and others are amazing people.

Art was made very entertaining at 'Exit Through ...'. In the movie, Banksy says to anyone 'to do art.' I wouldn't be artsy on a regular basis. Maybe just in my 'free' time, and not so incisive as it is portrayed in the flick. The movie shows art mostly in this perspective, and as a share of the street art movement.

Going from art to fitness for a little while, the monthly publication Men's Health magazine has displayed on its pages that people who scribble and draw, develop mental focus and stimulate the brain.

Art is all about that. You make yourself entertained and develop new abilities. Mr Brainwash is a proof of that (!!) Well, Banksy may deny it, but I think he's a bit creative indeed!

The social network soundtrack

Poster of 'facebook' movie on a bus stop, in Melbourne CBD

This weekend I went to the movies to see 'The Social Network', which I was anxious for a while. Bear with me - the movie is good, the story is utterly interesting. I value facebook now more than before - which wasn't much.

I was impressed by the cathartic pace of the film, and for the most of it, it runs like a documentary (a very good one). The film tends to be very analytic on the story, and it feels like you are watching the news on TV, but it is David Fincher, and it's his way to tell a story. I think it is his personal touch, and it's cool.

How can I say anything different about this movie than other popular sources did, like New York Times, Business Week? Well, I can't. What other sources paid little attention to is the amazing soundtrack, by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. I don't know if sighting Trent Reznor's name in the intro of the movie influenced me a bit - I have always been a fan of his band Nine Inch Nails. On the other hand, never heard about Atticus Ross, but, as it looks like, he has done a good job too!

The tracks are compelling, to say the least. They take the audience away and board them at this fantastic new reality, the first year of facebook. My girlfriend quote the songs as 'video game' soundtrack. Facebook is a game indeed: one of the co-founders won, Mark Zuckerberg, so I acknowledged her impressions.

The soundtrack could be compared to a hobby of Trent Reznor. I don't really know what his hobbies might be like, but to portray the songs as an intensive share of the movie like that, it's something that deserves an encore.

SunChips has it all

Why not serving on a bowl every once in a while?

At our recent times what we see is snack food businesses becoming 'straight', or something like that. Junk food kingdoms such as MacDonald's and Burger King are constantly adjusting their menus to provide healthier options to customers.

Nevertheless, Frito-Lay decided to adapt to the new times in other realms. It provided the world with something new for a snack food company: a compostable bag, or in other words, a degradable bag.

I'm a post marketing student, with background in design, and I was thrilled by this idea! It's ok that we may eat what we feel like, whenever healthy or not, but if we counteract the rubbish accumulation around the world, yeah, we can delay the search for another planet to live in the future (yeah, people think about that).

It started as loud as a stomp (this is not sarcasm, please note) with raving reviews, for example, one from Packworld.com, that would query if Frito-Lay wanted to be locked-in a 'compostable bag' category. A Facebook page for Frito-Lay's product, SunChips was also devised, and it's quite fun too.

Some months later, a setback in Frito-Lay's plans. Although the message of the chips package is clear,'This Bag Is LOUDER BECAUSE IT IS COMPOSTABLE', people massively opted out for a cleaner planet.

'The bag is too noisy.', customers claimed.

The bags, and the Frito-Lay products are not available everywhere in the world, for example where I am now, Australia. The fact is that a big market like US gonna go back to normal bags - although Canada keeps the new package. It would be a kick-start in a transformation of recycling habits, and the way people see packaging that goes to landfills. Everyone's attitude could change.

I think this is such a milestone that can't be ignored, and hopefully won't be for too long.

It is such an advancement, that, maybe, it is needed one step a time. As mentioned at the Green, environmental blog by the NY Times', the spokewoman for Frito-Lay declares 'Innovation is a journey'. Yes, it is, and it has proved so far.

How did you go on the interview?

I have been through many interviews. Of all kind. Retail, hospitality, marketing (the most), and few others I can't remember. It's the real thing for some people, for others not.

For me it's one of those moments that your life passes by in front of you. If you fail, you are out. Time for you to leave the stage. Give room for someone else.

Ok, i went too far, but sometimes...

Just to remind you, I have prepared and rehearsed many times, and was happily faced with positive 'uh-uh', 'yeah', 'very good'. On the end I haven't had the response I had hoped for.

It's disappointing, and everbody knows if you try, push it, you gain confidence, and you make it at 'extra time'.

A job is mostly what you put into it - once you are there, you will learn it the company's way, reproduce it, and if it goes standard, yes, you are cool. So why the drama?

You will do what the company demands. Jobs are mostly reproduction of what has been done. I agree that in the marketing position you are expected to win markets, achieve KPIs. Not all companies go the extra mile for champions - there are not so many 'olympic' workers outthere.

Scientific jobs are the real Herculean jobs! They are so many. These are the jobs to change the world, and qualification is all they are about.

I believe the world has a large amount of people that are keen, and enthusiastic to go the extra mile once they are given the opportunity (I'm counting the obvious academic background or work experience.)

I get embarassed by questions that I listened to so many times before in interviews, "have you disagreed with your boss?", "why you want this job?" among other examples.

Your job won't revolutionise my life, and I'm probably not the hero of the new millenium. I think here in Australia, 50% or more of the population do what they don't like to do, or didn't study to do so, according to a survey on Triple J, aussie radio.

The employer and I, we help each other. We might achieve our individual goals, if this is together, then it's amazing.

iHaveAProblem

Apple: customers can't avoid the temptation of having it.

Oh, Apple has not fixed the antenna on the new iPhone, and stopped giving free bumper cases for the iPhone 4 customers that still have problems with the antenna!

The new model of the Apple phone has got allegedly mistakes seen during design stage. The signal reception is a problem that has been addressed to Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple and CEO, but not enough to stop producing the phone and lauching it, according to itnews post.

Other issues also have sufficed after iPhone hit the shops worldwide.

Was it a case for recall? Maybe not for a company that successfully sold so many phones all over the world in such a short space of time. It would be an impossible mission to accomplish.

What we can see is a behavioral attitude towards iPhone. People will buy it, for no specific reason. It is totally understandable. Is a bit difficult to understand how not to take other models instead, like XTC Hero, or the Motorola's DROID X, that surfed on the Apple's phone wave, but have several good factors to be them, a very good purchase.

The battle of smartphones will continue for a long time, but hopefully not so much to the customer's expense, if people compare plans, operating systems and telephone's carriers performance.

At the end, some would say, 'who cares? Give me my iPhone!'

The winner is ...

The future world cup awarded by FIFA

In the bid for the 2022 World Cup, Japan promises high technology in order to be the favorite ones to host the event. People from all 208 FIFA member nations would be able to watch the World Cup in real time, in real stadiums, watching holograms of the real match from Japan. That's quite a promise.

The groundbreaking technology FIFA utilised in the 2010 event was merely 3D, an agreement with one of the official sponsors, Sony. "3D viewers around the world will feel as they are inside the stadiums in South Africa, watching the games in person," according to Howard Stringer, president of Sony Corporation. They forgot that not everyone owns 3D TVs. Looking at this aspect, Japan is already a winner.

What about using technology simply to achieve more 'sustainable' results, such as goal-line technology? It's a method invented by Dr Paul Hawkins that is successfully being used in tennis and cricket. Football supporters, players, journalists, agree the world cup organisers would be better off using the technology than any hologram or 3D effects.

Few examples are England's lost goal against Germany, and Carlos Tevez's goal in the match Mexico battled Argentina, and lost the game.

The future could reserve a holographic world cup, with goal-line technology. That's an improvement.

#bpcares

BP Global PR logo for Twitter

BP, the giant energy company, really got some dirt on their hands. A new oil spill in the sea is no surprise. Lots of them happened before: there is a major spill in Nigeria almost every year, but what to do when it is in the backyard of a nation as big as the US?

Well, some public relations would do the trick. It seems like the energy company is the one being tricked. Few weeks after the beginning of the oil spill, a fake twitter account, named BPGlobal PR, has been voicing funny tweets about the spill, such as:

“Please do NOT take or clean any oil you find on the beach. That is the property of British Petroleum and we WILL sue you.”

“Cleaning up oil spills is expensive. Buying judges so we can keep drilling? Relatively cheap.”

No surprise, BP – the real one – has asked Twitter to cancel the account, or to disclaim who is the person or organization, just to avoid confusion with what they’re doing. Yeah, right.

The real BP’s chief executive, Tony Hayward, is really concerned with the situation. Prior to unveil second-quarter financial figures, he has been to a yacht competition, “to stress down”, or buying terms as “oil spill”, “volunteer”, “claims” from search engine providers on the Internet, to draw attention of the public to their recovery in US.

That’s a lot done. They believe helping people to locate themselves on the Internet, is one of their cleaning efforts at the Gulf of Mexico. It would be good to be more proactive on the cleanup, than improving visits at the real BP’s homepage.

Let the public find information naturally, on their own way, will lead, presumably, the Internet users to the real BP’s website site.

Real BP’s amount of money and time spent in building a PR strategy may flounder, just like the leased Horizon rig, now at the bottom of the ocean, precisely, 5000 ft (1500m) below.

I don’t even think this post will be read by Internet users anymore. #bpcares

Vuvuzelastylin'

Kids play with vuvuzela

The World Cup is almost at the end, but I think there is no problem talking about the vuvuzela now.

I am Brazilian, and I am used to the sound of vuvuzela for a long time. In every major or minor competition in the country there is vuvuzela. A friend of mine even drank beer from one, in the Brazil's 1994 World Cup victory.

Vuvuzelas are taking over the world of sports in this World Cup 2010. So many stories, so much controversy, for such a simple device that represents the enthusiasm of a cheerful crowd. I think it’s fun.

Of course there is not just good news about vuvuzelas.

During the world’s largest sport event press, players, and some supporters complained about the noise. All others blow out their vuvuzelas creating a wall of sound that is transmitted to the world via tv broadcast. Ah, there are cases of supporters who got their ears injured and had to be hospitalised, for example, Sven Wipperfurth in West Germany. Or worse, like the South African kid who was shot for blowing the vuvuzela out; in the city of Pamplona, Spain, the council banned the vuvuzela sale at the San Fermin festival (mX News, p.6, Tuesday, July 6, 2010. Melbourne, Australia).

The way the audience manifests itself keeps changing over the years: from ripped paper and singing echoed by supporters, in the seventies, to inflated sticks that are hit together to produce noise, in the first competition of the millennium, in South Korea and Japan.

In South Africa now there is a new way that will go into history forever. It’s like that saying, “say something bad, or something good, but say something about me”. In this World Cup it happened involuntarily. For the better or worse.

News Corp on the unpaid news

It sounds like a corporation that you might have seen in comic books, but News Corp is real, is large, and it’s growing its tentacles everywhere. It’s demanding, too.

The latest about News Corp is that they are going to charge for journalism on the Internet. It started some months ago as the media mogul and Fox network owner, Rupert Murdoch, announced plans to offer paid content to subscribed users. This is already experienced with the London Times and the Wall Street Journal – the latter owned by News Corp. Does it have to be this way?

The public wasn’t the intended user of the internet when it was invented by American computer scientist, Vinton Cerf, in 1973. It was mostly regarded for academics and students, back in that time. It is openly used now by anyone with an available computer and a proper connection. The internet is not owned by any organization in the world.

The internet is very much integrated to everybody’s lives across the world. In one way or another, people would acknowledge that the internet is here to stay. One good fact linked to all of this is that it’s free. It’s enough to pay for technology to connect, and pay the monthly data costs.

Corporations can’t see this from the consumer’s point of view. Journalism is usually a service, either on the internet, or on the TV, radio etc. Publishing news on the internet started as an arm of the news organization’s services, this online service has become a trend, which people usually get for free. Reverse that trend and it becomes complicated.

Not that the music industry hasn’t done this - it has. People are happy to pay for songs. Nevertheless, it is not a trend. There are numerous ways to get songs for free, and internet users will always find songs for free to download.

News Corp and Journalism Online, for example, another business that has similar plans to Rupert Murdoch, need to understand that not everyone is paying for their special news in the future. Someone needs to put this in the news!

Wayne Rooney in billboard for the World Cup 2010

This is my first post, and I would like to share my likings and 'dislikings' on all different topics in the media, with all that would stop to read some ingenious points by a random person in the crowd.

I’ll start by talking about the latest effort of Nike in the 2010World Cup. The spot "Write the Future" is entertaining, and well done.

Some time later I found out the director of the video is Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, a talented film director, who has won an Oscar and who improves the movie industry every time he makes something new.

Above all, however, Nike is the name behind the ad. The company has some eccentricities on TV and there's always a chance for them to reinvent themselves, proven with the video, which is why the company is a big player (yes, almost literally) in the industry.

Video is a successful tool in advertising that helps marketing significantly.

The new products that go with the TV ad, also have great creativity, like the crayons made by artist Diem Chau, commissioned by Wieden + Kennedy Portland agency, in US.

Nike is writing their future now with this excellent campaign, and unstoppable attitude.

I’ll be offering my thoughts and opinions whenever I get the chance on this blog.