Nando’s cocky commercial

 
I’m sure everyone has seen, or at least heard about, Nando’s TV commercial featuring a puppet parodying ANC Youth League (ANCYL) leader, Julius Malema. The commercial was not received well by the ANCYL and after talks between the fast food brand and the ANCYL, Nando’s agreed to take into consideration the concerns raised, while at [...]

Freedom Toasters the toast of the digitally divided town

 

At a time when the trend is to download and share information; music; video; documents; and software, a Cape Town-based company has come up with a creative way to bridge the gap between those who have access to the tools necessary to do so and those who don’t.
Freedom Toasters, as Breadbin Interactive has branded its [...]

Taiwan boosts tourism through blogging and incentive

 
I came across an article describing an interesting marketing strategy of sorts today.
The Tourism Bureau of Taiwan has come up with a novel idea to create awareness about Taiwan by offering 50 pairs of backpackers the opportunity to visit the country for four days, on a budget of $200 per day, and blog about Taiwan’s [...]

Two simple steps to increase your blog traffic

Mack Collier of The Viral Garden recently wrote a post titled “Better post titles work, and here”s the proof”. He explained how the blog’s highest traffic received in a single day was 1 508 visitors, but on posting a story titled Six reasons why no one likes you online, the blog increased its [...]

Idols’ success: talent or hype?

Yesterday I wrote a blogpost about Susan Boyle’s sudden rise to fame after appearing on Britain’s Got Talent two weeks ago. At the same time, two other reality TV shows that I am following, South African Idols and American Idol, are currently on air, serving up the latest batch of rags-to riches stories on which [...]

Susan Boyle “dreamed a dream” and it came true

At the beginning of the week, I was asked if I’d heard about Susan Boyle, a contestant on the new season of British reality TV program, Britain’s Got Talent. Being slightly obsessed with all things reality TV-related, I decided to find out about this woman who seemed to have captured everyone’s attention.
Boyle is a 47-year-old, [...]

Laughing with The Crazy Store this election time

It was with joy that I noticed one of my favourite local comedians, Alan Committie, in a TV ad for The Crazy Store, making light of the elections.
ZOOM Advertising (another favourite of mine, as it’s carbon neutral) has produced a series of 15-second TVCs for The Crazy Store. This is the first time 
 
the retailer has [...]

Funny faces on PhotoFace

iLearn (one of my favourite online resources!) recently blogged about PhotoFace, an online tool gaining much international interest, which turns ‘face pictures’ into talking 3D characters. The application converts uploaded images into really funny 3D-avatar versions, which can be synchronised with audio. These 3D faces can also be manipulated with fun effects and emotions, and sent on to friends… [...]

The strange things you’ll find on the SA web…

I read a most interesting article in the Sunday Times Lifestyle section this past Sunday by Ziphezinhle Msimango, titled ‘Surf and strange Turf’. According to Msimango, “boer fanaticism, black pornography and infidelity are just some of the iniquities that make the South African internet a popular place to be.”
While Google estimates that five million South [...]

Google me business cards

Japanese designer, Ji Lee, has come up with an innovative idea for a business card, riding on Google’s popularity and effectiveness. Ji Lee’s website allows you to download the business card template and edit it according to your needs.
I think it’s quite a clever idea, although some may say it is presumptuous to assume that people [...]