Internet new wave of restrictions

According to Jeddah-based Saudi Gazette, Saudi’s Ministry of Interior has made it mandatory for internet cafés in the kingdom to install hidden cameras, and to supply a record of names and identities of their customers.

Included in the new wave of restrictions? A ban on using any Internet service subscription, prepaid cards or unlicensed satellite Internet other than the one certified for use by the café. Those under 18 will not be allowed into the cafés, with the exception being computer science students. Cafes have to close by midnight...

Singapore Tourism Board :::MAD in Singapore

BRAND OWNER :Singapore Tourism Board
CATEGORY:Travel/Airlines
REGION:India
DATE:Feb 2008 - Jul 2008


In India, Singapore was not on the radar as a holiday destination for the entire family. Singapore Tourism Board's challenge was to reposition the way Singapore was perceived - from being a business destination to a family destination.

Singapore Tourism Board realised that the best way to influence India's holidaying habits, was to make Singapore a cool destination for children.
So Singapore Tourism Board partnered with POGO's (a top rated India Kids' Network) program MAD (Music, Art & Dance) and its popular anchor Rob, to take the show on location in Singapore in the summer of 2008.

After fervent negotiations MAD - the highest rated show in the key Sunday morning time period - was rebranded MAD in Singapore. "MAD in Singapore" kicked off in February with a competition - on-air and on-line - that would give the lucky winners the chance to travel to Singapore with Rob on POGO's 2008 "Summer Special".

Six half hour episodes were created, following the kids' adventure-laced journeys. Each show promoted a different aspect of the island city. The episodes aired every Sunday morning throughout May-June, with midweek repeats.

The programme reached 1.3 million children on average each episode. Research following the campaign revealed that 1 in 3 families were pestered by their child to take the family to Singapore.

Actual travel to Singapore converted to an overall 9% year over year increase versus the previous summer.

Best Ads April 15, 2009

American Express:::Members Project

BRAND OWNER:American Express
CATEGORY:Financial
REGION:USA
DATE:Mar 2008 - Nov 2008


The American Express Card was struggling to maintain its uniqueness in a flooded credit card category. Its competitors were also beginning to target a more affluent customer – Amex’s traditional target. American Express needed to differentiate itself and establish new relevance with today’s consumers in sensitive economic times.

Amex decided that what made it unique was the community of card members, which it decided to activate to make ‘the value of belonging’ central to American Express’s core value proposition.

Digitas identified a strong “sense of purpose and moral integrity” among American Express Card-members. Members Project had launched in 2007 to allow Amex cardholders to channel donations to specific charitably causes. MP ’08 saw those who participated the previous year contacted at a grassroots level and then activated via social media. They were invited to submit their project ideas and use a wide range of promotional tools, including Facebook pages, project widgets, HTML emails, IM techniques and video to rally support for their favourite projects.

Having submitted their cause ideas they were hosted on a powerful Web 2.0 platform and voting was encouraged by the project owners themselves, promoting their entries and buoyed by paid media tied to milestone voting dates. The winning causes received up to $2.5m from American Express.
The social and self-promotional elements of the communications strategy increased organic visitation and engagement with MembersProject.com over 500% from previous year. Participants in MP ’08 were also more than 5 times as likely to socially promote the program compared to previous American Express marketing efforts that did not contain an appeal to the collective power of Membership.

Vaseline:::Getting men to moisturise

BRAND OWNER:Unilever
CATEGORY:Toiletries/ Cosmetics
REGION:USA
DATE :Oct 2008 - Nov 2008


When Vaseline launched its men’s range of hand and body lotion, it wanted to raise awareness about the product and ensure that men connected the dots between skin health and body health.

The idea was that Vaseline Men helped fortify men’s skin to help it perform more efficiently.
The target audience was an average guy in his mid-30s with a family who used lotion every so often. He loves sports and is picky about his media usage.

Vaseline's main challenge was to differentiate Vaseline’s sports theme from other brands such as Gillette and Gatorade..

Vaseline chose athletes as brand ambassadors whose sports seasons were peaking during the Q4 launch: baseball and football.

The campaign idea was “15 seconds a Day to Stronger Skin”.

Athletes spend countless hours practicing their sports and preparing their bodies to deliver strong performance. But it only takes them 15 seconds a day to strengthen their skin.

Vaseline partnered with ESPN and worked across TV, radio, digital and print to create content featuring New York Giant’s football star Michael Strahan and Philadelphia Phillies baseball champion Chase Utley.

Not only were there TV vignettes about the sportsmen’s off-field regime, but there was also a digital hub and radio sponsorship of ESPN’s top-rated radio broadcast. There were also advertorials in ESPN magazine with a Vaseline ad on opposite page.

Additionally, content was delivered beyond ESPN properties to a broader audience with a homepage takeover of both YouTube and AOL, as well as Broadband Enterprise, and NFL.com. This was the first time ESPN created non co-branded content and allowed it to be syndicated across multiple channels.
As a result, Vaseline Men ended the year 40% ahead of the share target. The 24.5oz (lead product) was in the top 3 selling Unilever variants for 12 straight weeks at WalMart, making it one of Vaseline's most successful launches.

Hapoalim::: Wedding direct

BRAND OWNER :Hapoalim Bank
CATEGORY :Financial
REGION :Israel
DATE :Nov 2008 - Dec 2008


Setting up a new home is an expensive business and it’s top of mind when young couples get married.
Ha’Poalim Mortgage Bank identified weddings as a key moment in which to reach out to this potential target market.
It created a special product designed to appeal to newlyweds, offering a competitive rate, the ability to take a payment holiday and no penalties for early redemption.
The bank then sent out dozens of representatives to weddings across the country to spread the joyful news.
Taking advantage of the tradition of putting cash or cheques in envelopes into gift boxes, it posted a congratulations card, an Ikea gift voucher and an invitation to meet with the Ha’Poalim mortgage team to discuss the special mortgage package.
On the evening of the wedding when families were noting the generosity of family and friends they would discover the gift from Ha’Poalim as well as a personally signed card from their representative wishing them future happiness.


For eight weeks representatives targeted hundreds of weddings in the Tel Aviv area on Thursdays – the traditional day for weddings.
Twenty-five percent of the couples approached called to set up a meeting, and many more came into bank branches. Ha’Poalim will be targeting weddings again in 2009.

Staircase to heaven

Product: Voltaren Pain Relief Gel
Advertiser: Novartis 2008
Agency: FP7 Doha
Creative Director: Fadi Yaish
Country: Qatar





Product: Voltaren Pain Relief Gel
Advertiser: Novartis 2008
Agency: FP7 Doha
Creative Director: Fadi Yaish
Country: Qatar








Product: Voltaren Pain Relief Gel
Advertiser: Novartis 2008
Agency: FP7 Doha
Creative Director: Fadi Yaish
Country: Qatar









Advertiser: COCA-COLA
Brand name: POWERADE ENERGY DRINK
Agency: McCANN-ERICKSON
Country: Spain (Tag)
Awards: Cannes Lions 2003 Press No-Prize





















Advertising Agency: Jung von Matt/Alster, Hamburg, Germany
Creative Directors: Daniel Frericks, Thimoteus Wagner, Götz Ulmer
Country: Germany
Year: February 2008

Online marketing glossary

"Above the fold"
Refers to banner ads that can be seen by the user without scrolling down the webpage. It's not a fixed line, though, because a user's monitor size and resolution can vary.
"Below the fold"
Refers to banner ads that can only be seen if a user scrolls down the webpage. It's not a fixed line, though, because a user's monitor size and resolution can vary.
Ad network
A company that aggregates available ad space across a large number of websites and sells it to the advertiser. There are many types of ad networks, from the very large to those targeted on a particular audience.
Ad server
A program that manages the delivery of ad banners for a web site or advertising network.
Ad space
The location on a webpage where a banner advertisement can be placed.
Ad Specs
See 'creative specs'.
Banner ad
A graphical advertisement that appears on a web page or email newsletter. When clicked, a user is brought to the advertiser's website.
Behavioral targeting
A strategy that determines which banner ad to show a user based on that user's observed behavior (such as the pages they've visited or searches they've made). By making the ad more relevant to the user, behavior targeting tries to improve the performance of that ad.
Click-through
When a user clicks on an advertisement and follows it through to the resulting webpage.
Contextual targeting
A strategy that determines which banner ad to show based on the content (text) on that webpage.
CPA (Cost per action)
Cost of advertising based on a user taking a particular action (such as a purchase, download, or sign up) in response to a banner ad.
CPC (Cost per click)
Cost of advertising based on the number of clicks your banner ad received.
CPM (Cost per thousand)
The cost associated with 1,000 views of your banner ad. For example, if a publisher charges a $10 CPM and there were 10,000 views, the cost of your ad is $100.
Creative specs
Guidelines for the type of advertising that a certain publisher will accept. For example, their ad specs might say they accept banner ads that are certain sizes or file types. adcherry helps make it easier for you to find creative specs by linking you directly to them (when they're available online) from our ad listings directory.
Creative
As a noun, refers to the actual banner advertisement.
Demographic targeting
A strategy that determines which banner ad to show a user based on attributes of the audience such as age, gender, income, etc.
Display ad
See 'banner ad'.
Frequency
The number of times a banner ad is shown to the same user in a single session or time period.
Geotargeting
Choosing what banner ad to show based on a user's location.
Impression
A measure of the number of times a banner ad is served to a users' web browsers.
Insertion order
A purchase order between the company buying ad space and the company selling it.
Inventory
The number of ads available for sale on a website.
Leaderboard
A wide banner ad often seen at the very top or bottom of a webpage. It measures 728 pixels wide by 90 pixels tall.
Rate card
A list of the prices of advertising available at a given website or ad network.
Reach
The total number of unique users who will be served a given banner ad.
Run of Network (RON)
When an ad network shows your banner ad across its network of websites based on what space is available. Usually less expensive than 'premium' ad space on those websites.
Run of Site (ROS)
When a website shows your banner ad across its entire site. Run of Site may be less expensive than choosing only to run your ad on a certain section of the website.
Skyscraper
A banner size that's tall and thin, often seen along the left or right hand side of a webpage. It could measure either 120x600 or 160x600 pixels.
Wide skyscraper
A tall banner ad that is 160 pixels wide by 600 pixels tall

Digital relationships :Spectrum of Online Friendship

Another attempt to ease the struggle while describing your online friendships to your Arab Marketers who just don't / don't want / cant understand the power of social media.If you did not hear the news yet!! online friendships are different from what we've traditionally called friendships. Digital technology has affected the number of relationships you can maintain, and the intimacy of those relationships, effectively enabling us to create fans who feel like friends.

Passive Interest
This is the easiest level of engagement. It asks the least of your friends, and achieves the least commitment from us. But, it's the crucial starting point. I follow my curiosity to you, I'm interested in what I find, and I choose to pay attention. e.g. repeat visits, blog readers, fans, followers, etc.
Active Interest
This is when I care enough to let you know that I care (in a nice way, not in a stalker way ;). It's a small step, but a big opportunity for you to identify key members of your audience who are candidates to move along the spectrum. We don't yet expect a response, we're just letting you know that we're listening. e.g. people who leave comments on your blog, wall comments, @replies on Twitter, etc.

Sharing
At this point the audience member starts to become a fan. You and your work become part of my identity as I use it to talk to my own friends about what interests me (remember that we share content for social reasons). I also have made myself more valuable, because I am now partly responsible for the spread of your ideas. e.g. social bookmarking, retweeting links, posting links and content to my own sites and profiles, etc.
Public Dialogue
This is the first phase that requires action on your part. I have either demonstrated an Active Interest or have Shared your work with my own friends. You foster a relationship by responding to my interest in a public forum. By doing so, you make the rest of your friends aware of my existence, and welcome me to the group. e.g. public @replies, referrals in a blog post, and references posted to our various sites and profiles, etc.
Private Dialogue
At this step, we begin to transform mutual interest into mutual trust. We are willing to share thoughts, ideas, experiences with each other directly. We trust each other with direct access, which has increasing value in an increasingly always-on world. e.g. exchanging email, TXT messages, IM, and direct messages on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, etc.
Advocacy
At first glance, Advocacy looks a lot like Sharing. But, the crucial difference is that Advocacy means that I am making an explicit recommendation of you to my friends. It's too easy now to simply share, all it takes is one click on your bookmark tool bar. Choosing to actually say, "This is important. It's worth my friends' time. And I'm willing to risk my own reputation to convince my friends to check it out." e.g. same tools as Sharing, but different language; usually entails recommending the person or brand, and not just a specific piece of content
Investment
The brass ring of online friendship. This is the most difficult achievement to recognize or quantify. But it's the most important because it represents the willingness of your friends to take action on your behalf.

Investment, became clear to me in the wake of well-wishes deservedly showered on David Armano after his announcement last Friday of his move to the Dachis Corporation. I was one of those well-wishers myself, and was genuinely proud and excited to hear about his new gig.

Van Gils:Dating a dummy

BRAND OWNER:Waalwear Group
CATEGORY:Accessories/ Clothing/ Footwear
REGION:EMEA
DATE:Aug 2008 - Sep 2008

Van Gils was a successful formal menswear brand across Europe in the eighties. In its prime it rivaled Hugo Boss, but had fallen into decline and had become largely unknown. Van Gils wanted to rebuild the brand’s visibility among 28-40 year old men in four local markets: Sweden, Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands.

While other fashion brands use celebrities as models to add borrowed interest to the products, Van Gils understood that it is really only the suit that counts.

The campaign consisted of magazine spreads featuring an anonymous mannequin who “gets a life” and lives out a celebrity life.

The strategy was to take the mannequin (an actor in costume) to high profile events in each market. On each occasion the mannequin would be ‘dating’ a glamorous female star with a high profile in that market.

This meant model Susan K at the Survivor TV Party in Denmark; Miss Belgium, Alizee Poulicek, at David Coulthard’s pit at the Belgium Grand Prix; model Carolina Gynning at a film premiere in Stockholm and actress Lieke Lexmond at the Netherlands Film Festival.

Two international events saw Pamela Anderson ‘date’ the mannequin at Vivienne Westwood’s London Fashion Week show and Channel 5 presenter Laura Esposto at the ‘Burn after Reading’ premiere at Venice Film Festival.

This helped to generate major press interest and PR. In each market an exclusive content deal with one key publication was negotiated (such as FHM) to ensure a minimum level of coverage. To raise the profile beyond this base level they used extensive online seeding and blogging, while employing a local PR agent in each market to gain exposure in more channels.

Despite a relatively low weight of press advertising, the campaign achieved a 6% increase in Van Gils suit sales. This was accompanied by a 90% increase in new visits to the Van Gils website.

The viral

Scandinavia Online :::Digital answer guru

BRAND OWNER:Eniro AB
CATEGORY:Publishing & Broadcasting
REGION:Norway
DATE:Aug 2008 - Oct 2008


Guru.sol.no was a Norwegian web service similar to Yahoo answers, where users can post questions, answer people’s questions and get answers. With a September launch, the challenge was to encourage people to use the service and obtain 100,000 unique visitors by the end of 2008 on a limited budget of €140,000.
Guru.sol.no created situations on street level that would engage the consumer and encourage them to visit the site to find out the answer. Fifteen different ambient scenarios were executed in four main cities in Norway during a two week period. Some 1000 posters were placed next to ‘missing cat’ posters, along with the question “What is kebab made of?”. A broken grand piano made to look as if it had fallen from the sky and landed in the centre of Oslo on street level with a ‘person’ trapped under it, complete with moving limbs, was accompanied by the question “What is Karma?”. This was supported by a digital campaign involving more than 200 banners on 60 websites including MSN and Facebook as well as more niche websites. The web campaign lasted for 8 weeks and each banner was tailored to its environment. On Facebook the question “can I get fired by checking my Facebook profile while I work?” was posed. On a fitness website they asked: “How does liposuction actually work?”. Answers to the question would be found at guru.sol.no.
The new approach of using niche websites saw click-throughs reach 1,2%, while the benchmark in Norway is 0,15%. The site achieved 100,000 unique visitors in the first week and maintained 100,000 unique visitors weekly, 3 months after launch, all within budget.