sparking curious mind

I've been away for a week. A much deserved vacation. This year we've been to Bulgaria, in Albena.
The main criteria was the price and the vicinity to Romania. This way we were able to take our 10 months daughter with us.

I didn't have high expectations beforehand. To my surpreise, the Bulgarians have a decent tourism, with clean beaches, good accomodation, great food, smilling people and beautiful scenery.
It was great!

Unfortunately, although Romania has a great seashore, I don't dig the quality of the service and the prices they have. It's a rip-off!
So, until there will be significant improvements in the quality of services, I'll never go to Romania sea resorts.
And for all of you willing to visit Romania, I'll recommend to go to the mountains or up north to visit the monasteries. You'll have decent accomodation at good prices and beautiful scenery.

Australia’s world cup soccer bid is heating up ahead of the official submissions in 2010. Starting with a very cool video showing people playing soccer across the country in all sorts of beautiful places.
This is one of the elements of the campaign to come. The campaign's website is an clever comms platform where, among other things, one can play and eran points for Australia's bid.
As they say, football dares to dream. And I salute and support aussie's bid.

Pentru lansarea Renault Logan in Columbia, Publicis a dezvoltat campania "Legea Atractiei" cu trei executii diferite.








Agentie: Publicis Colombia/Publicis CB
Productie: Rhayuela

It has indeed been an eternity since I put forth enough time and effort to comment on our fascinating world. For that, I can only offer an apology to the few people who flick back from time to time.
I’ve been wondering, “has anyone even noticed?” I mean, with so much stuff being written every day and seemingly less and less time available to just casually “browse the web,” who would notice, much less even care, if another blog just sort of fell by the wayside?

The reasons for my long hiatus are both personal and professional.
Nine months ago Mara Cezara, my beautiful daughter (picture above) was born and came to make my life a constant source of wonders and happines.
In the same time, I had to take care of my new professional endeavour which is Wunderkid, a small, creative agency with big ambitions. We've been doing well lately and I'm satisfied with the way things go, both internally and externally.

So, I decided today that not only do I have the time to speak softly but I may even find the time to shout about a few things. I would like to take this blog in a somewhat new direction. It will include anything and everything that we can think of. Probably, I'll post more in Romanian.

I look forward to jumping back in…

Stefan a facut o lista de cuvinte dacice si le-a postat in Wordle. In spirit Apolod'or!

Am facut un nou spoof pentru Adfel- Grand Spoof!

De data asta parodiem Coca-Cola Train si Cava D'oro. Totul plasat undeva in anul 106 i.Hr.




Aceeasi echipa care a facut celebrul Budai Beer. Plus Alex asociatul meu de la Wunderkid, care s-a ocupat de productie si filmare.

Ave!

For many years Beck's have been supporting young talent and showcasing the established artists by offering them to use Beck's label as a canvas for their work. Artists whose designs appeared on Beck's bottles include Damien Hurst, Tracey Emin, Jeff Koons, and many others.

2008 saw a beginning of partnership between Beck's and the Royal College of Art, which resulted in four promising RCA graduates having their work put on Becks' Canvas.

The four successful Beck’s Canvas artists are:

• Riitta Ikonen, 27, who is studying a two year MA in Communication Art and Design at the Royal College of Arts and graduated last month.
  
  
• Tom Price, 26, is an alumni of Sculpture (2006) who received a First Class BA (Hons) Sculpture degree from Chelsea College of Art in 2004 and currently works from his Brixton studio.
  
  
• Simon Cunningham is an alumni of the MA Fine Art, photography course (2007) who lives and works in London.
  
  
• Charlotte Bracegirdle, 34, is an alumni of the Masters degree in painting (2006). Originally from Devon, Charlotte spent seven years applying to art schools across the UK before accepting a place at the RCA.

One of these collectable bottles can be yours - they can only be purchased in the UK during August and September.

“The campaign vividly illustrates that Beck’s is different by choice. The updated ads should act as the start point on a ‘discovery trail’ - building intrigue and interest for the viewer - which will be rewarded when they see the bottle in a pub, bar or off-licence or experience the campaign on-line.” - Will Morris, Senior Brand Manager for Beck’s at InBev UK

Excellent

Consumer-based brand equity goes far beyond just the trigger communication. It comprises the long-term market benefits for the company from customer satisfaction and brand loyalty, caused by positive brand imprinting of customers. The latter is achieved through the net effect of a brand-conscious marketing strategy, product/service usage and word-of-mouth effects. Advertising is but one part of the whole process.

From the consumer perspective, the three fundamental building blocks for building brand equity are a) brand/name awareness, b) perceived product quality image, and c) perceived "extended brand image".

Awareness is necessary as a base for good brand management, because without awareness, the two - holistically perceived - image components can otherwise not be "hooked in". As a cardinal rule, it is important that both the perceived product/service quality image and the perceived extended images are distinctive - and synergistic! A not very distinctive commodity-quality-like product (or service) is difficult to brand. A brilliant luxury-quality product with a weak "extended image" is equally difficult to market.

Fun with Wordle

• Internet use stretches ahead of TV amongst youth audience
• 16-24 year olds now spend 10% more time online than watching TV
• Uplift in online driven by rising use amongst silver surfers and digital women
• Internet users on average spending nearly 12 hours per week online and nearly a third (29%) spending upwards of 16 hours online
• Internet users access the internet 5.5 days per week
• Social networking sites now visited by 42% of internet users
• 8 out of 10 Europeans connect to the internet via a broadband connection
• For the first time ever, 16-24 year olds across Europe are now accessing the
  internet more frequently than they are watching TV
  
• 82% of this younger demographic use the internet between 5 and 7
  days each week while only 77% watch TV as regularly (a decrease of
  5% since last year)

There is huge potential to engage and interact with a rapidly growing online audience if marketers can fully understand how consumers are spending their time online. For example, internet users are spending much more time interacting with content and new online tools and services: 42% of internet users regularly communicate via social networking sites and 30% of people watching TV, film or video clips online.

Aflu ca anul acesta Pangea Day va avea loc si la Iasi.
Evenimentul se va desfasura, incepand cu orele 21:00, in sala Azur de la Casa de cultura a studentilor organizat de Alex in parteneriat cu OSSEI si Lecupo.

Pangea Day este un proiect care are ca scop realizarea unei experinte comune care sa uneasca toata populatia globului, pentru o mai buna intelegere a oamenilor si a problemelor lor.

Pe 10 mai, 2008 oameni din intreaga lume se vor uni pentru a trai o experienta comuna: vizionarea gratuita de filme create de intreaga lume pentru lume.

Mini site interactive pentru Foltene. Din aceeasi campanie despre care vorbeam anterior. Amuzanta si in ton cu pozitionarea. Well done!
Fetelor, intrati si vedeti daca stiti care este remediul potrivit impotriva caderii parului. Testul aici

Commercial for the new station wagon by Dacia/Renault. Made for the German market the,
TV Spot starring Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, Mao Tse-Tung, Karl Marx, Lenin, Martin Luther King, Rosa Luxemburg, Ho-Chi Minh and Mahatma Gandhi.

"We are all advertising, all of the time. Even the priest, with all his or her fervor, is advertising God." - Paul Arden

The former executive creative director of Saatchi & Saatchi and author of the bestselling title "It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want To Be.", has died aged 67. Good bye, maestro!

Research suggests that sticky ideas share six basic traits:

1. Simplicity. Messages are most memorable if they are short and deep. Glib sound bites are short, but they don’t last. Proverbs such as the golden rule are short but also deep enough to guide the behavior of people over generations.
2. Unexpectedness. Something that sounds like common sense won’t stick. Look for the parts of your message that are uncommon sense. Such messages generate interest and curiosity.
3. Concreteness. Abstract language and ideas don’t leave sensory impressions; concrete images do. Compare “get an American on the moon in this decade” with “seize leadership in the space race through targeted technology initiatives and enhanced team-based routines.”
4. Credibility. Will the audience buy the message? Can a case be made for the message or is it a confabulation of spin? Very often, a person trying to convey a message cites outside experts when the most credible source is the person listening to the message. Questions—“Have you experienced this?”—are often more credible than outside experts.
5. Emotions. Case studies that involve people also move them. “We are wired,” Heath writes, “to feel things for people, not abstractions."
6. Stories. We all tell stories every day. Why? “Research shows that mentally rehearsing a situation helps us perform better when we encounter that situation,” Heath writes. “Stories act as a kind of mental flight simulator, preparing us to respond more quickly and effectively.”

boomp3.com

boomp3.com

Fetelor, este un fapt medical atestat ca mai mult sex nu duce la orbire, ci la cresterea mai rapida si mai lucioasa a parului ;)
Mai sus, puteti asculta doua spoturi radio spumoase facute de Headvertising pentru Foltene (tratament anti-caderea parului).
Deci baieti, daca va cade parul, folositi Foltene. Fetelor, daca aveti aceeeasi problema, sexul este remediul. Preferabil cu baietii cu incaput de calvitie. Confidence boost! ;)

Aflu de la amicul Ciprian de desfasurarea primei conferinte dedicata mediului online la Iasi. Nu pot decat sa salut si sa incurajez initiativa. De buna seama ca voi prezent avand in vedere vorbitorii, unii dinte ei buni prieteni.

Deci, ne vedem pe 18 aprilie la IMTO! Începând cu ora 9 , la hotel Astoria din Iaşi.
Doar 170 de locuri disponibile, asa ca eu zic sa rezervati din timp. Chiar merita :)

Brand: Zertifikat
Client: Kober
Agency: CAP
Branding and Strategy: Grapefruit

The pinkest protest, ever!