www.marketingvox.com

www.tubemogul.com/blog/

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Moet & Chandon Circle of Appreciation

Desrie Govender
04 February 2009.

Members of the Moet & Chandon Table are in line for quite the treat. BOE and Moet & Chandon have compiled a stunning compilation of some of the finest dining in SA, as well as select dining choices Internationally – all presented in a compact guide.

The BOE & Moet Circle of Appreciation Guide will be reaching the hands of their new owners soon.

We are certain that they will be enjoyed!

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Thinking visual

Desrie Govender
19 January 2009.

Constantly bombarded with information? Want your info in a neat little package? Slideshare might just be your solution.

Slideshare is a You Tube-esque site that houses slide show presentations from various authors. Presentation topics range from Health and Beauty, to Business and DIY; sure to cater to varying interests.

Below is a presentation from the site on thinking visually:

Find out more at www.slideshare.net

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Bright New Thing - Idea Bounty

Desrie Govender
14 January 2009.

Idea Bounty is a recent concept within the marketing/design world initiated by Quirk eMarketing.

The process behind it is rather simple. Clients post a brief, describing the creative requirements for a particular project and in turn offer a reward for the wining submission (a bounty). The brief is displayed on the Idea Bounty site together with the “bounty” that is up for grabs.

Submissions are open to the general public, both professional and amateur. In doing so the client is broadening its scope for fresh, new ideas from a number of creative minds, and creatives get to present their work without the pressure of long-term commitments.

Websites:

www.ideabounty.com/

www.quirk.biz/

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Bright New Thing - Fire Eagle

Desrie Govender
14 January 2009.

Fire Eagle is an amalgamation of Twitter and Wikipedia – on steroids. Created by Yahoo!’s Brickhouse, it provides a GPS service for the average Joe by storing a user’s location information.

With the help of user interfaces such as Dopplr, Twitter, and Facebook, it allows the subscriber to share their current location at any given time. Location details can be updated by using a variety of services and applications such as; social networking applications, mobile devices, RSS feeds, GPS systems, WiFi, etc.

The service extends beyond simply tracking one’s location; it takes things a step further by allowing to subscribers to see if their friends are in the same area, or whether they will be in the same city. Also, by using Wikipedia, subscribers can read up on nearby landmarks, as well as view images taken in the area.

Subscribers can control the type of information they want to go out and who it goes out to. Updates can be both manual and automatic, and with the numerous methods with which to generate those updates they have freedom to choose a method that suits them.



The added benefit of getting to know the environment around them, and being able to locate friends – making planning of social activities easier, are a further bonus sure to change the misconception that technology renders us unsociable, making us unaware of any environment beyond our keyboard.



Website:

www.fireeagle.yahoo.net/

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Valugram - The Algonquin Hotel

Desrie Govender
14 January 2009.

A hotel in New York once frequented by literary greats has reinstated its literary heritage, with a modern touch. The Algonquin Hotel has partnered with Amazon to offer a free service to guests.

Guests can look forward to a free loan of a wireless reading device called ‘Kindle’. The device comes pre-loaded with a guest’s choice of book and is also available with a list of reading classics for the undecided.

The venture allows Amazon to sample its product, while providing The Algonquin Hotel with an exclusive offering to guests.

Website:

www.algonquinhotel.com

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Happy New Year!

Joshin Raghubar
05 January 2009.

Best wishes to all, from the iKineo team, for 2009.

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Crack Jack's Safe Wins SA Viral Marketing Award

Joshin Raghubar
22 December 2008.

The Jack Daniel’s Crack Jack’s Safe website, produced by ourselves, and developed by Hello Computer, one of our key web partners, won the 2008 Viral Marketing Award at The Bookmarks, South Africa’s online awards.

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iKineo Relocated

Desrie Govender
18 December 2008.

iKineo has decided that it will gather no moss and has subsequently rolled on to new offices.

Find us in the new year at our new office in Heritage Square:

99 Hout Street

Cape Town

8000

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Phatset - 2008 and beyond

Joshin Raghubar
10 December 2008.

We have completed campaigns for Tom Ford and Nokia this year, and have just recently completed a large campaign for the Nokia N78, which has gone really well. We have been using various ASP and social media tools to manage the campaigns, and the next step of for us to develop a bespoke mash-up using all the lessons we have had over the year.

Tomorrow evening Phatset is a co-sponsor of Green-T, a green fashion exhibition, in Cape Town, bringing together leading edge designers, photographers, sound engineers, and stylists.

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35 tips for getting started with social media - For beginners starting out with social media

Joshin Raghubar
10 December 2008.

If you are going to start using social media, you should at least have an understanding of what it’s about. Social media is not about the tools, the tools are only a facilitator.

Starting with the basics. Roll your sleeves up, get dirty and stake your claim:

1) Register your domain name, preferably a dot com extension. It’s also a good idea to register any variations and extensions of your domain name. Do it sooner rather than later, or you might be negotiating with a domain squatter, paying a premium in the future, rather than pennies in the present.

2) Find a good, reliable web host, and do your homework. Ask for referrals. If you are just starting out, it’s okay and economical to go with the cheap shared hosting plan, I.E Godaddy. Expect to upgrade to a mid level or higher hosting package within 90 days or less.

3) Install a blogging platform, preferably Wordpress. Find and install the necessary plugins, themes and widgets. Installing a caching-system plugin is also a good idea. You need to optimize not only just for search engines, but also page loading time. Find a simple theme and build around it. KISS is always a good rule of thumb.

4) Customize your permalink structure immediately. By default, WordPress uses web URLs which have question marks and lots of numbers in them. This will severely limit the amount of traffic you will see from search engines. Change your permalink formatting to the following markup: (day and name) yourblog.com/blog/2008/10/25/sample-post/

5) Create an about page. Tell people what your blog is about, and most importantly what you’re about. Put a nice head shot of yourself on the about or profile page. Make sure to include any awards or recognition that may be relevant about the author. Give people an email address to email you, rather than an online form. Add your primary social networking badges and urls on your contact page. Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter should be a starting point. I would also create a blogroll. It can be on your sidebar, or a separate page, but it should exist somewhere on your blog.

6) Install analytic software, such as Google Analytics. It’s a good idea to have at least two stats packages installed and running. All analytic software is not created equal, they all have the same purpose, but vary in their reporting and tracking methods. Results will vary to an extent, comparison of multiple data sources is vital.

7) Give people the tools to promote your content. Social promotional buttons make it easy for your visitors to Digg, StumbleUpon, and share your content. Bring the good word back to your blog. For instance, if you’re active on FriendFeed you should install the FriendFeed comments and likes plugin on your blog.

8) Establish a Feedburner account. Provide easy visibility for new RSS subscribers, use text links in addition to graphics to promote your RSS feed You can also add an email subscription form on your site. People who do not use feed readers, will be emailed your latest postings.

9) Focus and be consistent with your blogging. Most professional bloggers get paid per post. Don’t be intimidated or feel forced to compete with them. Work at your own pace. Quality takes time, plain and simple.

10) Build as many social passports as possible. Passports are basically the profiles that you build on the various social platforms. These profiles all should be consistent, and most importantly point back to your blog or website. The goal is to create as much organic link juice as possible. The core target is search engines. Consistently update these profiles, and use tools such as ping.fm to update them.

11) Leave thoughtful and constructive comments as much as possible on other blogs. Don’t stop there, post comments on Facebook walls, FriendFeed, and Twitter. This promotes good practices in social media, and it also gives you an opportunity for exposure and link placement. This can lead into new networking opportunities and potential new friendships.

12) Establish and actively use your Google Reader account. This perhaps is the most powerful tool in any social media arsenal besides a blog or microblogging platform, such as Twitter. I will outline more in detail as we get further down the list.

13) Find the top 50 blogs in your space, and subscribe to their RSS feeds in Google Reader. Consistently be on the lookout for new blogs, and the voices behind them.

14) At this point you should already have a Twitter account. If not, establish one. If your objective is personal branding, your Twitter username should be your name. Otherwise you could brand your twitter username the same name as your blog. Remember consistency with all your profiles is key.

15) Work smarter not harder. Use the tools to help you manage and stay ahead of the pack.

16) Listen to what’s being said about you. Create Google alerts to monitor for positive or negative chatter.

17) Link out as often as possible when the circumstances permit it. If you are writing a post on a related subject, always look for a chance to reference a fellow bloggers work. This is not only good blogging etiquette, but will also put you on that persons radar in a positive way.

18) Build relationships with key influencers in all the communities and platforms that you participate on. Relationships take time to develop and grow in time. One good example on how to do this, is listed above at #17.

19) The material that you create should be something that people want to share. For the most part, it should be relevant to your networks’ interests. Create newsworthy, thoughtful, intelligent content that has immediate usefulness.

20) Become an expert in your field. Try to align and surround yourself with the best tools, and people to accomplish this. It’s all about networking, networking and networking. Take it offline when permitting. Organize local social media meetups and tweetups. Make it an effort to attend trade shows when possible.

21) Don’t knock it until you tried it at least once. Be open to trying new multimedia applications that enable self promotion, audience engagement, brand retention and participation. Experiment with podcasting, creating video, slide shows, or creating and posting any type of original user generated content.

22) Solicit not only your peers for feedback, but your audience. Ask your readers to submit feedback for site improvements, ideas on new topics to blog about, follow ups on previous topics, participation in polls etc.

23) Good content speaks for itself, and is recognized. Let others promote your content and only promote your best stuff. Ask your twitter followers to spread the word by re-tweeting good posts. Be sure to do the same for others.

24) Promote others, even more than you promote yourself. Practice this, and it will come back to you tenfold.

25) Use Google Reader to share and promote your own work, as well as your core networks content. Don’t limit yourself, share complete strangers work too. Good content needs to be rewarded, recognized and distributed through the appropriate channels and relevant communities.

26) Hopefully you will already have at least one active social bookmarking account established. Delicious, Diigo, Ma.gnolia, any of these will do. Open accounts on all three of these services. Make Diigo your primary account for bookmarking. By doing this, you can use a Diigo feature that allows you to bookmark to all three services simultaneously.

27) Establish accounts on Stumbleupon, and any social news sites such as Digg, Reddit and Mixx.

28) In addition to sharing content with Google Reader, be sure to StumbleUpon, good blogs, or websites. StumbleUpon is key for traffic and exposure. You can expect a large spike in traffic initially, then gradually it tapers off within a few days. You can expect long term traffic from SU, albeit in dribs and drabs.

29) Tag your media, especially blog posts and bookmarks. Social bookmarking, video and image sharing sites also serve as search engines, therefore tag accordingly. The traffic comes in dribs and drabs, but it’s targeted traffic nonetheless. Every click counts. Same applies to any other forms of media you create, including videos you publish on Youtube, Vimeo. Images you publish on Flickr, podcasts, etc.

30) Blog postings, bookmarks, Flickr images and so forth should all be imported into a social content aggregation site, such as FriendFeed.com

31) Be omnipresent on all the networks. I should be able to find out about your latest happenings, and or statuses if I am browsing your Facebook profile, Linked profile, Twitter or FriendFeed stream.

32) Use the cloud to your benefit. Work more efficiently by using online applications to manage and organize the workload.

33) Take full advantage of all the Google services that are offered. Google Calendar, Google Docs, Google Notebook, Google Reader and so forth. These services are all web based, and offer sharing and group collaborating features. You can also import the data publicly via RSS, and an html page via your Google Reader shared link blog. Bottom line is, most of your Google data is easily accessible, manageable and integrateable with the web.

34) It can take months even years to see successes. Stay consistent and focused with your social media strategy. Adapt when necessary, and do not be afraid to take calculated risks.

35) Do not ignore the simple concept of “transparency.” Personalize your brand. People relate to people much more effectively than they can a logo or commoditized brand.

Any additional thoughts?

Read more by Mike Fruchter

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Marketing in the New World - Bemes, clouds and MySpace

Joshin Raghubar
30 November 2008.

This is some edited ideas laid out by Tom Hayes and Micheal Malone in an article in the The Wall Street Journal

While the authors were specifically talking about marketing for online retail, their ideas have relevance to a new mindset that all marketing today requires. The authors conclude that very few of the traditional techniques of classical marketing (call them Marketing 1.0), or even of eCommerce (Marketing 2.0) will work in the world of social networks. A very different set of tools, concepts and practices is needed. Call it Marketing 3.0. Here are five:

- From loyalty to attention. Before you can win consumer loyalty, you have to capture and reward consumer attention. Old propositions – network television’s tired offer of 22 minutes of canned sitcoms in exchange for eight minutes of untargeted commercials – won’t cut it. Consumers are demanding a better deal.

Some brands are starting to flirt with better exchange rates: Virgin Mobile gives a minute of free phone time for every minute of advertising a customer accepts. Ryan Air recently announced it would offer $15 coach tickets from the U.S. to Europe, subsidized by passenger attention to advertising and in-flight sales pitches.

Smart marketers will of necessity become obsessed with customer attention in the way they once obsessed over customer loyalty. The shrewd brands will create elaborate attention-rewards programs, and incentives to break through the noise and make that critical initial connection.

- From crowds to clouds. Once you get that attention – once you generate heavy traffic to your site, gather a large league of “friends” on MySpace, or spawn a dedicated following on Twitter – how do you monetize the crowd?

Smart brands are turning their crowds into “clouds”: organic, self-forming and often self-governing communities of interest. Companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Frito-Lay and Harley-Davidson use their clouds as feedback loops to get better faster by obtaining good, timely, often brutally honest customer insights. And the members of clouds can become true believers; they don’t just watch your commercials, they make them.

Right now, few companies are emotionally equipped to wring the best benefits of a cloud, because the most valuable voices out there usually belong to the malcontents. In the old model, customer-service departments aimed to placate or jettison disgruntled customers. In the cloud model, the idea is to cultivate and reward them. That’s not an easy transition.

- From places to spaces. Consumers are increasingly organizing themselves into new communities – not just the big generic social communities, but myriad idiosyncratic slices of narrow, passionate interest (i.e., BlackPlanet, Inpowr and MomsCafe).

These new market spaces, or “meganiches,” may seem small, even strange at first. But when they’re efficiently targeted, they can be highly responsive, lucrative and loyal. Well-established meganiche Web sites include Gamefaq.com for video gamers, Dpreview.com for digital photography aficionados, and Howardchui.com dedicated to mobile phone zealots.

With this shift toward self-organization by consumers, national advertising campaigns as we know them will increasingly become a waste of time and money for many companies. The trick for brands is to cohabit social spaces with these consumers. Social media, and its verb form, “friending,” requires entirely new forms of advertising: bottom up instead of top down, personal rather than public, and subtle rather than full frontal.

- From memes to bemes. In the Age of Broadcast, good advertising could occasionally manufacture memes of tremendous social impact. Think of “It’s not inside, it’s on top” or “We be doing it.” If you can’t recall an irresistible or effective turn of phrase of late, it’s because it is exceedingly difficult to spread a meme in today’s

fragmented media environment. Marketing 3.0 is now the science of devising and managing directed business memes: call them bemes. Bemes are sent by members of social communities to each other and typically contain a reward or exclusive offer, which, when redeemed, also results in a reward coupon for the sender. This encourages members of social communities to propagate a “viral” ad. One well-documented beme was “The Subservient Chicken” from Burger King.

Brute force marketing won’t work inside social networks. The best online marketing now takes place among people who know and trust each other. Consider how rumors work. Like a rumor, a beme is a bit of useful information that rewards each person who passes it along. Want to be a sensation? Create a beme that consumers willingly accept and share with others.

- From silos to simultaneity. Too many retailers today persist in believing that online shopping is merely a virtual extension of real world shopping. That is a big mistake.

Rather, online and offline need to coexist, and we need to rethink how they relate. For example, to their surprise, companies like BestBuy (which even encourages customers to shop the aisles but buy online from in-store kiosks) and Macy’s are discovering that physical retailing is a perfect way to move units online. That is, the physical world has become the showroom for the virtual realm.

Retailers now must reimagine a world where consumers experience products in stores but ultimately buy them on the Web – Stores are for experiences, the network is for inventories. And what in turn prepares potential customers for what to look for in stores? Online communities.

All of this suggests that Marketing 3.0 is not only different from its predecessors, but actively undermines them. If your marketing program fails to adapt to this new world, it won’t just become irrelevant – it will actually work against you.

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yay :) glaceau vitaminwater is our new account!

Joshin Raghubar
29 November 2008.

glaceau vitaminwater, the iconic brand from the u.s. is soon to be in south africa, and ikineo is a key part of the team :)

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Elvis has left the building

Joshin Raghubar
28 November 2008.

After almost 3 years at iKineo, Franco has decided to leave the team. He has been a big part of the iKineo journey, first as a client and then as a senior team member. We wish him well in his next endeavour.

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Amdec site finally up

Joshin Raghubar
28 November 2008.

As part of developing an overall CRM programme, iKineo was responsible for producing the Amdec Properties website. Hello Computer were our web development partners. We must express our gratitude to them for having such patience, as we had a client brief that became a moving target over many months. It is great work that we are proud of. Included in this body of work is the site for the Evergreen Retirement Villages developments and soon-to-be-live a great site for Melrose Arch the premium urban lifestyle precint in Johannesburg.

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Waste Beer converted into Fuel

  19 August 2008.

When the Democratic National Convention descends upon Denver next week, a fleet of vehicles provided by General Motors for the event won’t be using just any ordinary fuel. Instead, the flex-fuel cars will run on clean-burning ethanol derived from waste beer produced at Molson Coors’ Golden, Colo., brewery.

Whereas most ethanol is based on corn, Coors produces about 12 million litres of the stuff each year from beer that gets lost during packaging or is deemed below quality standards, for one reason or another. Coors says it is the nation’s first major brewer to convert its waste beer into ethanol, having begun the practice back in 1996.

At the convention, the GM fleet—which includes vehicles with biofuel capabilities and hybrid technology—will run on a mixture of fuel combined with ethanol from the Coors facility. The cars will provide transportation for numerous delegates, staff, members of the media and other special convention guests.

Check it out @ www.molsoncoors.com

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Prepaid Gas @ MyGallons.com

  19 August 2008.

Today’s high gas prices are already forcing changes in the way many consumers live, but it’s a pretty safe bet they won’t look so bad in a year or two. A new service from MyGallons.com lets consumers prepurchase gas and lock in today’s gas prices for the future.

Consumers who sign up for a MyGallons Card begin by paying an annual membership fee of USD 29.95. Up to three cards can be linked to one account, and the membership fee is backed by a 100 percent money-back guarantee if the consumer doesn’t save money on at least one redemption during the year.

Members can then monitor their current MyGallons price—a fluctuating quote that’s good for purchase of unleaded gas at a particular point in time, including estimated local taxes—and prepurchase gas when they deem the price worth locking in. Purchasing gas is simply a matter of visiting a participating gas station, where the MyGallons Card is accepted much like a debit card, complete with four-digit PIN. The number of gallons pumped is deducted from the consumer’s MyGallons account balance, with adjustments automatically made for more expensive grades or types of fuel and price differences caused by tax discrepancies or other local variations.

If the consumer pumps fuel from a filling station for less than the lower end of the MyGallons range on that day, he or she will receive a credit, in gallons, to his or her account.

More than 80 percent of the prepurchase money consumers spend through MyGallons is placed in an escrow account and invested in money markets and US government-backed notes; the remainder is used for financial transactions to accommodate gasoline price changes, MyGallons says. There are no time limits on using the prepurchased gas, so consumers can save it for as long as they want, provided they maintain their MyGallons membership.

After a pilot program beginning in April, MyGallons.com just recently underwent a public launch. Due to an unexpected, last-minute pull-out by US Bank, it is in the process of negotiating with other payment networks to allow the MyGallons Card to be accepted at most stations in the US that already accept credit cards.

Nevertheless, the service promises to be a taste of what’s to come.

www.mygallons.com

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Evernote - Its awesome

  06 August 2008.

Evernote is a software application that allows users to capture information of various types, including text notes, mobile phone snapshots, printed and handwritten text within images, web clips, and digital ink. All data added to Evernote are run through a series of recognizers that make any text within the various note formats searchable. The application uses a continuous “roll of paper” metaphor for its user interface. Additionally, users may create folders, categories and notebooks.

For capturing content beyond direct text and digital ink input, Evernote uses a system of Clippers (Web, Mail, and Universal Clippers) and supports drag-and-drop, cut, copy, and paste, and import/auto-import capabilities.

AI technologies are used in the Evernote application for recognition, indexing and search of text within images.

Its a very cool application which allows you to record and save anything that you think is cool or memorable so that you can go back to it at any time. Check it out at www.evernote.com

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Busy week and collaborations

Joshin Raghubar
07 July 2008.

We have been very busy in the past few weeks and it seems that the next few are shaping up in the same way. We spent some time collaborating with the capitalist punks from thunk recently which has been fun as well as seriously valuable. We are looking forward to more thunk/ iKineo mashups in the future.

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Hidden Treasure

Joshin Raghubar
06 March 2008.

The first person from iKineo to send Joshin an email with the subject “Hidden Treasure Found” wins a bottle of Moet and Chandon. This offer is only valid for 3 days from the date of this post.

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The heartbeat of iKineo

Joshin Raghubar
03 March 2008.

We recently installed a commissioned artwork at our offices. Our Heartbeat is a heartshaped collection of individual team member portraits. It is a dynamic work which will grow and change with the evolving iKineo team. The talented artist is our friend Tamsin Relly and the work is a reference to her body of well-known work titled Heartbeats.

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iKineo in Switzerland

Joshin Raghubar
02 March 2008.

We recently visited Lausanne to meet with the Kent team at BAT. We are working with them on a strategic engagement. We are also working closely with Intrigue. Kent’s experiential eventing partner in Switzerland.

We worked hard, but also managed to see the sights. It was a great trip to Switzerland, and I’m sure the ones to follow will be even better.

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Starbucks recycling coffee ground

  29 January 2008.

Coffee drinkers around the world are expected to consume almost 7 million tons of the stuff each year by 2010, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization. That means a hell of a lot of spent coffee grounds to dispose of. Rather than throw the nitrogen-rich material into landfills, the global chain Starbucks has found a greener solution by giving it away to consumers with gardens.

Eco approaches may be all the rage today, but Starbucks’s Grounds for Your Garden program actually began as a grassroots initiative back in 1995. Since then it has grown steadily, offering up free spent coffee grounds to North American customers year-round on a first come, first serve basis. Grounds are packaged in reused coffee bags and sealed with simple directions for using them in the garden or compost pile, where they can help improve soil quality.

“Coffee grounds are a valuable source of nutrition for the garden,” explains Ben Packard, director of environmental affairs for Starbucks. “Reusing coffee grounds in the garden is a great alternative to disposing this rich resource from our stores. It’s a win for gardeners and a win for Starbucks.”

Indeed, now that the spotlight is shining full-force on companies’ environmental practices, this kind of approach really is a win-win for everyone. It’s relatively low-cost and easy to implement, but it means less waste in the landfills, a benefit for consumers and their gardens, and a green image for Starbucks—definitely worth emulating!

To read more visit: www.starbucks.com/aboutus/compost

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Students get free photocopies

  29 January 2008.

An innovative Japanese company is offering university students free photocopies. This free service is made possible by printing ads on the back of the copy paper, which is slightly thicker than normal to prevent ads from shining through. For JPY 400,000 (R25 000), advertisers can have their message printed on 10,000 sheets of paper.

Tadacopy machines have been placed at a few dozen campuses, and are a big hit with students. The company was founded by students at the universities of Keio, Chuo and Hosei, who installed the first free copy machine in April of last year. Nice one for student entrepreneurs to set up in other countries! You’ll make some extra money, your fellow students will thank you, and local advertisers will be able to reach a targeted audience in a novel way. Like any good free love concept, it’s a win-win-win situation.

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Imagine Success

  29 January 2008.

The launch of the Gateway Imagine programme was a resounding success. During December and January we ran a massive acquisition campaign, recruiting consumers onto our database for further communication throughout the year. Gateway set us a target of 20 000 recruits during the 6 week campaign. In order to hit that target we had a team of promoters working in our Imagine promotional area for more or less 12 hours a day. Not only did we have a number of great prizes to give away, but we were also showcasing the use of biometrics – a first for any shopping centre in the country. The basic idea was that our promoters would interact with shoppers, and bring them back to the promotional area to be recruited. We then took down their basic information, and some contact details, so that we can get in touch with them in the future.

Next we used our biometric scanners to record their fingerprints, the idea being that rather than giving them a loyalty card, their fingerprint will be their access pass to the world of Imagine. So at the next event they attend, they won’t need a ticket, they simply arrive and place their finger on the scanner to gain entrance. Eventually customers will also be able to access special in-store offers and discounts by scanning their fingers when they pay for their purchases. By the end of the campaign we had roughly 20500 people on our database. Mission achieved. Now the rest of the programme begins. It promises to be a busy year, but all the latest news will feature on our iKineo blog.

To read more visit: www.imaginegateway.co.za

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Even the idols joined Gateway Imagine!

  06 December 2007.

Imagine. Gateway. Just more. Gateway’s Customer Relationship Programme went live on 4 December 2007. And so far we’ve been really happy with the numbers of people we’ve achieved during our acquisition drive. In a world first, Gateway has become one of the first shopping malls to use biometrics to sign-up people to a loyalty programme. Even the Idols finalists signed up today!

The aim of the programme is to acquire people to the Gateway programme and then interact and get to know more about them. By joining, they receive exclusive access to information, experiences, events and opportunities to connect with family and friends.

The project has also been quite challenging in terms of the integration of a Data Management Tool, bluetooth, biometrics, web and SMS to wapsites with synchronised data over all the channels.

The campaign ends the 15th of January and thereafter we will start the next phase of our campaign.

Vida e’Caffe has also partnered with us in a 2-for-1 coffee deal about which we are very excited.

Imagine. Gateway. Just more.

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Eye-Fi Makes Photography Easy

  15 November 2007.

The digital camera allows you to share memories with old friends and loved ones—or it would, if you ever bothered to upload those memories onto your computer!

Eye-Fi provides an alternative way to upload photos. It is a 2GB memory card that connects to your wireless network to so that you can automatically upload photos as you take them. The process is quite simple. Once you have purchased the card, you simply need to go on to the Eye-Fi website, configure your network info, and choose the social-networking/photo-hosting/blogging site you want your pictures moved to. As long as your camera’s turned on and in wi-fi range, any photos that you take will be automatically pushed to your desired destination.

At present, Eye-Fi can only auto-transfer to one target at a time, but it is quick and easy to change destinations, which ensures that your grandmother doesn’t receive photos of you trying on new speedos.

For more info visit http://www.eye.fi/

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The Wrangler Laundromat

  15 November 2007.

At recent music festivals in the Netherlands, jeans brand Wrangler offered festival goers a much needed service: laundry. And at 18 meters wide and 9 meters high, the Wrangler Laundromat was hard to miss.

People dropped off their mud-encrusted laundry and were sent a text message the moment it was ready. No spare change of clothes? Wrangler came up with a generous solution to that problem, too: they handed out black overalls to anyone who used the laundromat. Like most other pop-up ventures, Wrangler Laundromat is an exercise in experiential marketing, aimed at surprising and delighting consumers in a way that magazine ads or TV spots usually can’t.

After picking up their spotless garments, visitors are given a “Dear Mom, I’m clean” postcard to send home. All of which makes for a fun and memorable experience.

Visit http://www.wrangler.nl/ for more info.

View the Wrangler Laundromat advert on Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMjbZuxRVBA

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iKineo in Lagos, Nigeria

Joshin Raghubar
01 November 2007.

Joshin and Franco are presently in Lagos developing a relationship with Leo Direct (above, Dickson Eze, GM of Leo Direct), which is part of the Rosabel Leo Burnett group in Nigeria. The group is 30 years old and is one of the larget advertising and media groups in NIgeria. We are working to strengthen the Leo Direct offering with our CRM experience and expertise. The Leo Direct pedigree and deep local experience is valuable.

We have been working hard this week and have seen numerous exciting clients within Rosabel’s portfolio. The Rosabel team is fantastic and we are really enjoying the people.

The Lagos experience is unique, but the city buzzes with energy and the vibrancy of an economy on the rise. We are very excited by the new iKineo presence in this phenomenal market.

Watch this space for updates… (pics coming soon)

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African Leadership Initiative

Joshin Raghubar
23 October 2007.

As a new Fellow of the African Leadership Initiative, I recently attended the first seminar of the 4th ALI Class. It was a fantastic immersive experience – academically, professionally, and personally – with 20 other amazing Fellows.

We spent the few days at Didimala, a beautiful game lodge in the Limpopo Province in South Africa.

ALI is closely affiliated to the Aspen Institute and modelled after its Henry Crown Fellowship. ALI Fellows are part of the Aspen Global Leaders Network.

I look forward to the 3 upcoming seminars over the next 18 months, the individual project commitment, and the lifelong relationships.

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Collaboration with Whatiftheworld

Joshin Raghubar
02 October 2007.

We are co-sponsors and patrons of Number Two, the second in a series of projects and events for emerging designers, presented by Whatiftheworld, which was voted in the Top 50 Emerging Galleries worldwide.

Event details:

Friday 5 October, 19h00, 208 Albert Rd, Albert Hall, Wood Stock The Number Events are an initiative started by Whatiftheworld in February 07. For an entire week furniture and product design exhibitions were held,culminating in a group fashion show of emerging fashion designers (Union of the Dull). The event was a huge success with many of the designers receiving international orders for their work.

This time things have been taken up a notch. Designers from Johannesburg have joined, to create an event that is more representative of design talent from a larger part of the country.

Expect to see product design installations by emerging industrial designers:

Adriaan Hugo Lyall Sprong Liam Mooney Xandre Kriel

A key element of the evening, from 21h00, will be The Nothing, a group fashion show, that will feature emerging talents:

Abraham + Louisa, by Suzaan Heyns – Abraham Louisa is a ladieswear label that explores the relationship between masculinity and femininty. Strict and stern versus soft and pliable. Black meets white. Sheer versus covered up. It is both strong and soft, innocent and jaded.

Dandy Savant, by Cameron Foden & Kerry Chaloner – Dandy Savant Spring Summer 2008 “This is a Summer of Violence”. Dandy Savant is a design collaboration between Cameron Foden and Kerry Chaloner. The menswear brand was conceived in December 2005 and showed for the first time at Whatiftheworld: Union of the Dull Autumn Winter 2007/2008. This, their second collection, draws inspiration from conflict. “This is an amorphous conflict, not political or personal, not necessarily definable. We are exploring isolated or fractured identities and the dual natures of protection/exposure and strength/fragility in conflict situations. We became obsessed by this theme, and how it draws negative or destructive connotations, but is a natural state. Conflict can signify or catalyse change and growth.”

White Noise, by Petro Steyn – White Noise will showcase a special neoprene project for Number Two, The Nothing. Its called something like Zonkey, a zebra and a Donkey its not street wear, avant-garde or Haute Couture, its nothing you cN WEAR something quite weird. Its abstract in shape and form.

Pwhoa, by Richard de Jager – This summer season pwhoa continues its signature organic tech feel in a ladies wear collection thats totally devoid of colour. Using the most mundane cable and rib knits the silhouette explodes in shapes that grows all over the knits reminiscent of fungi, sea anenome ,and local flora.Get ready for a new nightmare in craft!

Emerging jewellery designer DONNE BULLIVANT, will also be showing a selection of her newest work. All these installations will be on show on the first floor of the Albert Hall building on Albert Rd, Salt River.

For more information visit: Whatiftheworld

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Announcing On-Product Magazines

  02 October 2007.

The media mix now has a new and viable form of print publishing – on-product magazines. The idea is simple: create a small magazine which fits onto a fast moving consumer product and distribute via grocery rather than traditional magazine channels.

The idea is now patented and has launched the first on-product magazine – a bottled water aimed at the female market with iLove magazine attached. Distribution will be focused through convenience stores, supermarkets and gas stations, significantly differentiating the products that carry them and offering advertisers a circulation far in excess of magazines sold through traditional magazine distribution channels. In three months, iLove magazine was the largest circulation magazine in Australia and the company has global aspirations, holding patents for on-product magazines attached to all common food packaging formats.

Print was the first mass medium, the first medium to take advertising, and still commands more than 50% of the world’s advertising expenditure despite the advances of radio, television, outdoor and more recently the internet. Newspapers and magazines have not had an easy time over recent years as the paid circulations of the leading publications have declined, partially due to the ability of the electronic news media to deliver more specialised, relevant and up-to-date news and partially due to the increased competition in the market. The availability of Desktop Publishing tools such as Adobe PageMaker, QuarkExpress and Adobe InDesign have democratised publishing, more than doubling the number of newsstand magazines in most countries and fragmenting the market.

Those magazines which still hold large circulations do so with cover-mounted tip ons, freebies, competitions and massive marketing budgets. While magazines target specific audiences far better than most media, these market forces have detracted from magazines’ ability to deliver large audiences.

This is where on-product magazines come in. They allow publishers to reach a much larger audience than conventional magazines without the huge marketing budgets.

As one would expect, on-product magazines have also had a terrific response from advertisers. Its the progressive, innovative marketers who have been the first to adopt the idea. But as the distribution channels improve, no doubt major marketers will want a piece of the action.

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Pintsized Interns at Tokyo Hotel

  01 October 2007.

For a few weeks in July and August, the Rihga Royal Hotel in Tokyo ran a program for guests aged 3–12, employing them for a day.

Children picked one of five different types of work: housekeeping, doorman, front desk, floor service and kitchen, with different tasks to tackle. At the end of the day, the young staffers were allowed to choose their preferred form of remuneration: a gift certificate for books, or a passport for free ice cream every year. Rihga Royal’s informal work experience program was open to children, who had to be accompanied by a parent/guardian staying at the hotel.

Parents had the option of hiring a professional photographer to snap shots of their industrious offspring greeting guests or making an omelette. With dual aims of keeping children entertained and encouraging them to consider a future career in hospitality, this seems like a fun program for hotels.

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In Flight Entertainment with Air France

  01 October 2007.

Giving customers the opportunity to learn a few words of Korean or Portuguese while en route to Seoul or São Paulo, Air France introduced in-flight language instruction on selected flights this month. An interactive audiovisual language program developed by Berlitz, the service works on regular in-flight entertainment screens. Passengers can learn and practice the basics of 23 different languages, in four main lesson categories: numbers, dates, words and dialogue.

JAL and Singapore Airlines also offer Berlitz Word Traveller as part of their in-flight entertainment package, and Virgin Atlantic has experimented with Japanese and Spanish lessons. It’s a great example of trendwatching.com’s status skills trend. As many consumers are demonstrating a value shift in status from passive consumption to mastering skills. Smart companies are offering their customers the opportunity to add to their skill set. Watch, and learn!

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Valugram: Truworths Fashion Workshops

  03 September 2007.

Truworths is providing great value to all of its consumers by instituting the Truworths Fashion Workshops.

These workshops are setup and facilitated by Truworths, but are initiated by the consumer. So basically anyone can request for a stylist to come and perform a workshop. During the workshops, experts share their insights on fashion, trends and the latest styles. Consumers can even provide a list of topics they would like to cover, and Truworths will ensure that any and all questions are answered. It provides an excellent way for consumers to find out more about the local and international fashion industry, as well as getting tips on what to wear, and how to wear it.

For more information you can visit the Truworths website (www.truworths.co.za).

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Our Creative Day

  17 August 2007.

Giles has already mentioned our creative day and I just wanted to share my version of it.

Not only was it a relaxing, inspiring day, but most importantly it brought us all together even more as a team. This was an investment into the most valuable aspect of the business, Our ridiculously good looking team!

Giles mentions the galleries in his blog, so read up on how we were inspired by a the VEO gallery and also an artist from the ‘What if the World’ gallery, I like to refer to him as ‘The Polish Hack, who needed to be breast fed and now is a walking threat to society.’ In my experience, if I sum them up in this way, then they are destined for success.

I myself created amazing works of art at the afternoon session with our resident ArtMaster – Tamsyn. She should be the one on exhibition. Tamsyn, I think iKineo will be investing in its own gallery space soon!!!!

Special mention goes out to Debbie, who without doubt has inherited her mother’s artistic flair. I’ll take that pear sketch for a 100.

Admire the pic above, just proving to all that we actually did get our hands dirty and also attained some self confidence in front of the camera.

Thanks to all below:

Tamsyn, you are an inspiration to all of us.

Justin for sharing your vision with us and being an amazing outlet for upcoming art www.whatiftheworld.com

Joshin, also known as the Boss around these parts for fronting the cash so we could have some fun.

Planning our next one, feel free to share your ideas… perhaps an exchange with some of our partners? lemme know franco@ikineo.com

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iKineo Creative Day

  16 August 2007.

iKineo has decided to resurrect one of our old practices, namely: iKineo Creative Day. The basic premise of the day is that the whole team spends a day out of the office engaging in activities that stimulate our creativity. There isn’t much of a restriction on what those activities can be. Suggestions have ranged from exchange programmes with creative partners, to a day spent with top designers.

Our re-launch of the creative day concept took place on Friday the 10th of August. We set out in the morning to visit VEO Art Gallery, which is located in De Waterkant, at number 28 Jarvis street. They are currently holding an exhibition by 5 of South Africa’s most talented contemporary artists: Jenny Merritt, Bastiaan van Stenis, Kerry Murray, Jennifer Gray & Anthony Mutheki . The exhibition was fantastic, and we chatted with the owners for a while, as they explained some of the more unusual art in the gallery.

Next we made our way into Woodstock, to the newly acquired venue of the ‘Whatiftheworld’ art gallery. Justin, the owner of the gallery, guided us through an exhibition of Andrzej Nowicki, a 22 year old artist born in Poland. As we wandered around, Justin explained a bit about the philosophy of Whatiftheworld. The gallery aims to identify up and coming artists, and provide them with a platform on which to exhibit their work, and launch their careers. It also provides an excellent opportunity for art collectors who can get fantastic art at a decent price.

Finally we decided the time had come for us to try our own hand at some art work. Tamsin Relly, a Cape Town based artist, took us into her studio in Gardens, where we learnt a bit about the practical side of art. From pencils, to charcoal, to painting with wine, the whole experience was greatly rewarding, and we all left feeling like we had a shot at an artistic career.

To view more photographs you can visit our Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2708755358

Contact details for all the venues we visited are as follows:

VEO Art Gallery www.veo.co.za

28 Jarvis Street, De Waterkant Tel: 021 421 3278

Whatiftheworld Art Gallery www.whatiftheworld.com 208 Albert Rd, Woodstock Tel: 021 448 1438

Tamsin Relly http://www.tamsinrelly.com/home/default.asp tamsinrelly@gmail.com

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Accelerate Cape Town

Joshin Raghubar
11 August 2007.

iKineo supports the Accelerate Cape Town initiative.

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Lucky Number 7

Joshin Raghubar
06 August 2007.

Uwe Gutschow from SaatchiAtPlay, in his presentation in the Nomadic marketing course at the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business , outlined 7 rules for success that most successful marketing campaigns are using: