Pweab-A-Pweab

01022010

February 1st, 2010

CUPERTINO, CA—Claiming that he completely forgot about the much-hyped electronic device until the last minute, a frantic Steve Jobs reportedly stayed up all night Tuesday in a desperate effort to design Apple's new tablet computer. "Come on, Steve, just think—think, dammit—you're running out of time," the exhausted CEO said as he glued nine separate iPhones to the back of a plastic cafeteria tray. "Okay, yeah, this will work. This will definitely work. Just need to write 'tablet' on this little strip of masking tape here and I'm golden. Oh, come on, you piece of shit! Just stick already!" Middle-of-the-night sources reported that Jobs then began work on double-spacing his Keynote presentation and increasing the font size to make it appear longer

From The Onion

From Mike Arauz (@mikearauz)

A few weeks ago I wrote about Yahoo! matching Microsoft’s new $100 million search campaign.  Some early results are coming in that is not very favorable for the big Yahoo-uuuu!.  According to the BrandIndex by YouGov, an index that tracks consumer brand perception on a daily basis, Yahoo!’s buzz score has fallen from 35.4 to 25.5 in the last three weeks since the campaign started.  This marks the biggest drop in brand perception all year.  The results are an index that ranges from -100 to 100 and shows the amount of negative to favorable comments given for the brand.  Yahoo! responded by stating that their ad campaign is a marathon and not a sprint.  They are hoping for this to be a long term boost.  Hopefully, these early reviews are not an indication of things to come.  

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Read More at Online Media Daily

Talk about a brand presence.  The furthest you can get from a McDonalds in the Continental United States is 145 miles (107 miles if you're flying).  Great infographic from "Where The Buffalo Roamed"

Another great infograph from Information is Beatiful, about the gender gap in social networking. 

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Great infograph from davaidavai

According to Brandweek a recent study published by the Social Science Research Network showed that most Americans (about 66%) do not want advertisers to tailor ads to their interests. But this percentage is even greater when the participants of the study learn ways most advertisers are gathering data in order to tailor these ads.  When these participants are informed of the data gathering techniques between 73% and 86% are opposed.  These results are also true for young adults (more than 55% opposed), who advertisers thought was a demographic that cared little about privacy.  Ways to alleviate opposition to these techniques is to create openness and share the ways data is being collected and used.    

This is especially timely given the recent valuation of Twitter, who has yet to find a profitable business model for their multi million member base, and Facebook who has yet to master the placement of valuable ads on their site.  With more and more data available internet users must be aware that these techniques are available, and to build trust these marketers must be willing to share their techniques.  The recent push from privacy groups to congress will only fuel the fire. 

Mercedes Benz has introduced a new driving academy teaching children to learn the basics of the road.  The age groups start with children 10-14 which is develped to build beginner driving techniques, and moves on to more challenging skills aimed at children 14-17 designed to prepare them to pass the driving test.  The academy is filled with driving circuits, which are run through with the help of a trained Mercedes "Professional Coaches"

This is a great way to build brand awareness at an early age.  Mercedes cleverly disguises it's plan to influence the mind's of the youth to purchase a Mercedes by stating its goal is "to build up your skills and confidence as a driver".    It's reminiscent of software companies strategy to give heavily discounted packages to students to build familiarity and confidence with the brand before they make the transition into the workplace.  It was extremely successful for them, and in time we will see how well these Merecedes initiation tests will result.  

"Being a good driver is more than just passing the driving test. Our goal is for you to develop skills that go beyond controlling the car and mastering traffic situations. Discover the difference – book now!"  Thanks for your concern Mercedes!

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Full article at Mercedes Benz Driving Academy 

Story courtesy of Springwise