dimanche 17 avril 2011

"Qué haría yo para encontrar trabajo?" - Conference April, 12th (University Complutense Madrid)

What was the best idea you heard on the lecture?


Brand yourself!

Personal branding is how we market ourselves to others. I really liked the idea about the fact we have to perceive ourselves as a brand that we create, build and maintain. Indeed we always have to sell ourselves in various situations: from selling a project at work/university to convince friends to watch a movie. Our personal brand is everything: From the clothing we wear, to how we behave and interact with other people, to our body language, everything is tied to our overall brand. It’s also about our reputation, the size and strength of your network, and what unique value you can contribute to a company or your clients.
Joaquin Lorente, and then José Maria Casero insisted on this last point. During a job interview (or in our job seeking) we never have to say that “we want to work for the company because it will allow us to learn a lot or because it will please us”.
We have to bring a profit, an added value to the company. Such a product, we have to sell our advantages and our contributions, we have to sell ourselves like the promise of a brand!
Another idea which seduced me a lot during this conference is that we have to have and demonstrate a passion for a particular domain to find a work. Indeed, I completely support the assumption according to which we reach nothing without passion.

Name the idea you disagreed with the most
What is your position on the debate about English Fluency?

(I will answer both question 2 and 3 as they are related.)

The idea I disagreed with the most was Conche Wert’s opinion about the English fluency which according to her is not necessary to work in an advertising agency in Spain.  
A student asked if it was necessary to be bilingual to work in the advertising agency. The opinion of Conche Wert on this subject is that it is not necessary to be bilingual in English to work in an advertising agency in SPAIN while the opinion of Joaquin Wert is that it is on the contrary indispensable to be bilingual to work in an advertising agency. This opposition of ideas was doubtless the funniest part of this conference!
I naturally support the opinion of J. Lorente. Indeed, the advertising’s world abounds in English words and every advertising agency has to have an international vocation because it is brought to work on international projects where it is indispensable to speak the business language: English.
I didn’t appreciate the answer of Conche Wert of which fields of vision limits itself to the Spanish market. She doesn’t worry about possible contracts which a Spanish advertising agency can pick up abroad or simply the fact that the main advertising agencies in the world are not Spanish but employ Spanish, which even hired in the local subsidiary of a multinational advertising agency, will be forced to speak in English with their colleagues.
I think that Conche Wert has a minimalist thought of the world of the work and the world of the advertising. Especially I don’t think that the objective of a conference about "How to find a work" is to inculcate minimalist thoughts to the students...
Another thing which made me laugh is that she finally concluded that it was obvious that every student by going out of the university has to be bilingual, but not specifically to work in advertising. I think that her thought is contradictory

What are you good at? Where do you see yourself?

I am good at creating new ideas, conceiving new products and sell them!
In the daily life, I always share my ideas (even the silliest) with my “circle”.
In a company, I see myself good in product manager's position.

Explain the idea that surprised you the most

The idea according to which nobody consults CVs anymore, "nobody buys on catalog anymore" and that the time of the on-line applications is over surprised  me a lot me.
It is true that nowadays, we mostly find jobs thanks to our personal and professional network... However I do not agree with the idea that the CV is an out-of-date tool, without any more interest.
Indeed, the CV remains what we give to a professional during a meeting (at a conference for example) and it is also often the first impression that a company has of a candidate, what leads to the interview. Indeed, we can find other tools to become known by the employer but I think that as future young graduates we don’t have to exclude the CV of our job search.

vendredi 8 avril 2011

BAD PROMOTIONS: RYANAIR OFFERS « Fly from 5€ or 7€ to London, Paris or Ibiza” are too often about misleading advertising!



Are you familiar with this kind of promotions? 
Ryanair is a specialist on the subject!


Indeed Ryanair’s objective has been to establish itself as Europe’s leading low-fares scheduled passenger airline through continued improvements and expanding offerings of its low-fares service… Therefore the airline company is capable of proposing flights at very low prices.

Regrettably these tempting offers are very often misleading and become consequently bad promotions!

Indeed, this type of promotions with loss-leader prices do not include charges, taxes and others fees of reservation.

I am going to tell you about a recent personal experience, facing these Ryanair’s offers: Last week, I tried to find a cheap flight ticket to go to the beach in Spain... Bingo! Surfing on Ryanair.com, I fall on a tempting offer: 7€ the one-way ticket for Palma de Mallorca in June... Consequently, the return journey had to cost me 14€, no? It is moreover what was stipulated to me during the first stages of my reservation…

But little by little, as I advanced in the stages of my reservation, expenses and additional taxes were added (of an average cost from 7€ to 10€). The final blow was 11€ of additional costs for Visa Credit Card payment’s fees.

In consequent, in the end a return ticket announced in 14€ at first sight, cost me in reality 48€ (that is 34€ more than the initial price of the promotion).

So I think that the Ryanair’s offers are bad promotions. Indeed these offers should be promoted with a “all the included taxes price”! Certainly it is still a relatively low price compared with the competitors of the airline company, but it remains relatively high compared with the initially announced prices! And it has a concrete repercussion on the budget of a student as me…

According to me these promotions are not good, as far as the customer has the impression to has been fooled...

Then, let us distrust and let us look twice before getting enthousiastic about Ryanair’s promotional advertising!

EL PAIS - AIRIS NOTEBOOK: A Good Promotion Strategy !

A laptop for 69 euro, it is possible thanks to "El Pais"!

In January, 2011, the Spanish daily newspaper El Pais launched a game for these readers, which according to me is a successful promotional strategy!

From January 10th till March 11th, 2011, the readers (or not readers) had to complete a board of 45 compartments by means of labels got back in the newspaper to benefit from an exceptional promotional offer: a laptop NETBOOK AIRIS for only 69 euro (if the board  was entirely filled).


Regrettably, I was not able to live this experience personally (I arrived in Spain two weeks after the launch of the game…But I followed and I helped in the everyday life my roommate – who had broken his  computer) to collect the daily labels and so to obtain the full board! Twice or three times a week he texted me to get the newspaper of the day (or try to get back the label in one of the numbers at our disposal in the university…).

On March 20th, 2011, I accompanied him in the newsstand to get back its quite new, quite beautiful NOTEBOOK AIRIS and really paid to 69 euros!

I think it is an excellent promotional strategy, which is very useful for the target audience, but which at the same time does not pollute the persons who are not interested (indeed it was only a small insert in the newspaper): what is very rare in a promotional strategy!

The other good point is that this was a 100% winning game, a 100% winning promotional offer! If you chose to play the game, you were safe to gain !

It is a real economy for the person who, like my roommate, had planned to buy a laptop of this type from 300 euros. We counted together the final price of this laptop: It cost him only 123 euro (1,20€ daily newspaper’s price x 45 days of game+ 69€ of contribution)

In brief, the game " EL PAIS - NOTEBOOK AIRIS " is a successful promotional strategy !

dimanche 3 avril 2011

Spot “Capacitados” by Shackleton, for Once Foundation and FSC Inserta




The Shackleton Advertising Agency depicts itself as “Communicators who devise ideas that engage, mobilize and sometimes transcend boundaries of advertising to become news. They invent new ways to express things, to intensify their impact, to influence what people think, say or do regarding a brand, an idea or a social cause”.

The campaign « Capacitados » realized for Once Foundation and FSC Inserta illustrates perfectly the « transcendent » style of the agency !

This campaign is the story of three business people who went to work for a day, each with a disability. They were filmed by three camera crews, and a documentary was produced. It was an exercise targeted at raising awareness among business people and company managers in order to promote the integration of people with disabilities into the working environment. The three business people were: Ferrán Adria (Chef and proprietor of the El Bulli Restaurant), Maria Garaña (President of Microsoft Iberia) and Marcos de Quinto (President of Coca Cola Iberia).The documentary was launched on Internet and was advertised on TV, outdoor, radio and a mailing was sent to opinion leaders.

Once again the agency exceeds the limits and the borders of the traditional advertising world to create a new way of thinking and surprised the public!

Ipod - A product that successfully introcuded Apple's campaign




Apple Inc., a master of marketing has used a global advertising campaign with dark silhouetted characters dancing against bright-color backgrounds to sell the iPod successfully worldwide. 
The silhouettes are dancing, holding iPods, listening to music with Apple's supplied earphones and backed by an up-beat music – “Technologic” by Daft Punk. 
This was a distinctive and very stylish campaign (including TV commercial, prints ads, posters in public places) that successfully promoted the iPod portable digital media player. Indeed, introduced in 2001, iPod dominates the digital music player sales in the US since 2004. 

The words MP3 Player and iPod are almost synonymous in today’s society. The iPod has revolutionized the MP3 Player market since its initial release and has continued to do so in following releases. How did iPod capture this market? Probably thanks to its stylish look, its features and above all thanks to the way it’s advertised. 

samedi 19 mars 2011

Transvia.com - Spain through its gastronomy (Holland)


In this commercial, Transvia.com - a dutch based low-cost airlines highlights the Spanish culinary culture and especially the Spanish paella, which made ​​the reputation of Spain !
*Traduction: Sorry dat we zo goedkoop zijn = Sorry we are so cheap

Bueno! Viva Paella – An exaggered vision of Spain (Japan)


“Viva Paella, el telepaella de Japon" is a japanase Paellas home delivery company.
In this ad, there are all symbols of Spain: the flag, the bullfighter, flamenco dancers, the sun, sea, music and good mood ! This is an EXAGGERED REPRESENTATION of Spain !

Don Carlos – Olive Oil, the petroleum of Spain (Ireland)


Spain is the largest producer of olive oil in the world.
In this ad, Don Carlos - an Irish olive oil company plunges us into the heart of Andalucia, the cradle of the olive oil to describe the fine quality and authenticity of the Spanish olive oil, which makes the reputation of the country. 
This is a perfect example of "Marketing of the provenance”: Excellent because it comes from Spain.

« I need Spain » - Spain’s Tourism Campaign (World)



Launched in 2010 by the secretariat of the Spanish tourism, the aim of the “I NEED SPAIN campaign is to focus on the Spanish lifestyle, personality and way of life
This commercial is targeting a young audience (students, young adults). 
It describes the pleasure and fun to spend some vacations (or longer stay) in Spain. 
Sport, Culture, Party and Easy contact are the four pillars of this campaign aimed at young people.

dimanche 13 mars 2011

"Superior Shoes for the Superior Sex" - Sprox Commercial (Belgium)




"Superior Shoes for the Superior Sex “.


With this aggressive slogan, Sprox – the Belgian shoe company claims in this commercial the superiority of the female sex. The video (and also the billboards of the campaign) portray men in degrading situations. Indeed, we can see a woman standing and dominating with the sole of her shoes a slept man, in a position of inferiority. This is an anti-male campaign.

"Cow Boy" Orangina Commercial - 2nd Part of "Naturally juicy" Campaign



This advertising hints at an erotic role play, where the woman (the mare) plays the role of a cowboy and the man is the bottle of Orangina... So excited that he ejaculates.

"Naturally juicy" Orangina Commercial - Objectified Women (France)




Bouncing furry breasts, pole-dancers, sexy music "I like it like that", ass-slapping, zebras ride massive bottles that shoot juice all over a bikini-clad bunny, and an octopus's breasts turn into juicy oranges. All the animals are wearing bikinis, by the way. The female animals are definitely oversexualized.