VIRAL JUICE

Meme Dubai & Perpetual Childish Instincts: PERCHIS

2010-09-07T23:46:00.001+04:00

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Meme Dubai & Perpetual Childish Instincts: PERCHIS

Clever by Design

2007-12-28T16:58:00.000+04:00

How designers add value to anything.

Designers today are expected to play a vital role in the business strategy of all major brands. There has never been a greater need for creativity in every business and every service; a very exciting time for designers who have never been more important in creating the fabric for tomorrow’s brands.

Can designers really add value to businesses, that have depended on a certain skill types, specifically the suits for a very long time: Can companies really depend on designers for some serious thinking, the core of any business or brand, “the strategy”? Can they depend on the lateral thinking, colourful, creative types to provide an invaluable dimension to their business? Or are "creativity" and "innovation" industry jargons that complicate things further?

In truth businesses today are trying to simplify the technology and information overload. Simplification today means clarity; clarity and focus lead to success. It’s no wonder that “Simplicity” in itself has become a rare and most sought after commodity in any business. Designers are the masters of “information deconstruction” they tend to extract the most important information first and put it to action. They think in a non linear pattern and are used to working backwards. At times, can even jump in, in the middle of a project and are able to connect the dots that are needed to solve the problem.

One of the greatest examples of a brand that benefited from involving designers at every stage is Starbucks. We all know that Starbucks positioned itself on the idea of providing a community space to its consumers, a value proposition that was unrivaled at the time; an idea that revolutionised branding and environments. What we also know is that if there is any brand that most effectively utilised designers from conception to delivery, is Starbucks. Overtime it has developed a strategy based on a consistent set of brand values, and uses design as a way of aiding the delivery of a consistent service experience to its customers.

Tim Brown, the head of Ideo says, you need to learn to think like a designer if you want to do a better job of developing, communicating, and pursuing a strategy, in an article in Fast Company Magazine. “People need to have a visceral understanding -- an image in their minds -- of why you've chosen a certain strategy and what you're attempting to create with it. Design is ideally suited to this endeavor. Because it's pictorial, design describes the world in a way that's not open to many interpretations. Designers, by making a film, scenario, or prototype, can help people emotionally experience the thing that the strategy seeks to describe”, adds Tim Brown.

I can support this with evidence. When I was in the midst of my MA in Design Studies at Central Saint Martins, we were given a task of identifying a gap in the market, a trend that can be named and a service or a brand developed on that premise. We were a group of seven creatives including designers, strategists, and business managers. The group was predominantly female and we identified a trend in over 30 working single women who prefer to remain unattached. We developed a service idea based on this insight and instead of making long boring PowerPoint slides to show our findings, we made a short comical clip to share the insight. What could be more convincing than humour and wit based on an experience that the target market could relate to? A story line was developed in an urban setting and the characters were lipstick, mobile phone and a sandal (the inseparables of an urban diva). The perspective service was named “GUYSHA” from geisha. Soon after which “The Memoirs of Geisha” film came out and our insight never seemed more relevant. It was a simple way of showing something that could have otherwise fallen prey to long boring research and strategy presentation. This way, everyone got it and our insight was an instant hit with the crowd.

Click on the play button to view the short clip.

My next blog will be an extension to this post, a collection of thoughts on designers who have continually demonstrated their value in society by their simple and clever thinking approach.

Posted by Nadia Aamer
Printpixels
MA Design Studies
Central Saint Martins

Simple yet effective

2007-12-07T16:13:00.000+04:00

Stop Boring Us

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Eleven lessons on strategy and innovation from big business

2007-12-05T10:30:00.000+04:00

Ever wonder how big brands like Sony, Starbucks, Microsoft and Virgin Atlantic rise above global challenges to build business and increase market share?

The Design Council researchers visited the design departments of these global companies to learn how they use design to improve their brand strength and boost their competitiveness. We talked to CEOs and Heads of Design for an exclusive insight in to the processes used by each company when developing new products and services and bringing them to market.

Common themes emerged when studying each company's development process, highlighted by real-life examples of the role of design in creating successful products and services. Each company also revealed how and why design is built in to every aspect of their product development – from the systems and processes used to their analysis of customer needs.

Find out more and read the full case studies from each of the eleven companies on our website:

UAE consider this for a change “There is No Box.”

2007-09-27T20:55:00.001+04:00

CREATIVITY & MIDDLE EAST ADVERTISING

When the advertising gurus proclaim that the “advertising in the region is at par with the international advertising standards”, I say “take a walk down the streets of New York, London and Tokyo and then compare to Dubai”. With a very few exceptions, the streets of Dubai do not reflect the sort of advertising that you experience in other metropolis. It doesn’t just exist in their books, but is seen on the streets and ideas reflected in all forms of media from contextual to experiential advertising.

The overall creativity of any region is not determined by the most creative ad but in my opinion the general level of creativity including the worst ad that you have ever come across (and I have seen some of the worst advertising in this region for example a horse almost as large as the building staring at it Eg1.Taken in Ajman. 05. 06). The standard of advertising should be determined from the bottom to the mid level, because the amount of great creative advertising is far and few anywhere in the world.

The big players pay little or no heed to anything other than “above” and “below the line”, words which are considered almost extinct in contemporary advertising. There is still, not a single agency that produces media neutral ideas because below the line activities (as they like to call it) are given a back seat in the structure of the agency, better known as the side kicks of the larger agencies. They are also the half hearted attempt of such companies to call themselves a “full service agency”. An example is the latest Campaign Middle East Awards for direct mail and interactive communication, while there was no winner for the interactive award; all three awards for the direct mail went to a single agency not to mention that the same agency also won Gold at this year’s Cannes Lions. It is not surprising that this “below the line” arm of a bigger agency is doing well (perhaps because it takes creativity to other mediums?). The direct mail for the adobe by the same agency is far the most effective piece of advertising seen in the region and all the awards going to a single agency made me Wunder, “how many agencies in the region can come up with an idea like that when they still don’t consider it as mainstream advertising?”

It might be about time for the big wigs of the region to start thinking laterally and re-think the traditional agency structure and how it approaches the problem. Or else the trend conscious market of the region would soon be shifting projects and full-scale brand building assignments to smaller, nimbler, and less-30 second centric agencies and the bigger agencies would be left hanging on to their box trying to think out of it.

Very soon the marketers and brand managers will begin to realise the advantages of hiring smaller unconventional agencies where the organizational structure is almost flat and the turn around time much faster. As media becomes more and more fragmented larger companies in the west are already turning towards the hip and trendy agencies like Mother, Strawberry Frog, and Amalgamted.

Mother, a London based advertising agency has enjoyed a roaring success with clients like Orange and Coca Cola who were looking for unconventional direct approach to advertising. The success of the agency lies, not only in its people, but the way the agency deals with its clients. The agency has done away with a department known as the “client servicing”. So when you ring up the agency as a client, you talk directly to the creative department. The client doesn't just have one relationship with one person called an account man or whatever - they have a relationship with everybody and everyone works from the same open-plan office which was a former fire station in east London.

In the near future, the rise of the next generation agencies, with names like “tonic” and “face to face” in the region may pose a stiff competition while the number of Hot Shops and Specialist Boutiques who really understand the value of planning and research is still negligible. The result might still be “advertising placement” ideas rather than holistic and integrated campaigns that deliver an experience. To be fair there are a lot of clients who still want placement ideas rather than explore newer and unfamiliar territories of contemporary marketing; the clients who get sold to a 30 second centric media plan.

In all fairness this market has still to evolve and reach that saturated point for clients to demand more from their respective agencies. But then why are agencies the last ones to adapt to the demands and lifestyles of the market when there is an opportunity for agencies to reinvent their thinking and not just think out of the box but consider this for a change, that there is no box.

Contributor: Nadia Aamer
MA Design Studies
Central Saint Martins
University of the Arts London

Changing the face of online community

2007-07-05T15:43:00.000+04:00

A new application is being developed that will integrate an instant messenger application with the Facebook. The application will display all of your friends and allow video chat, video messaging, and more. Airwaves is a combination of Adobe’s AIR (previously Apollo) and the Yahoo! Messenger Vista client. Facebook has already got a lot of people hooked on to it because of the way it works including notifications, persolised status, writing on the wall, mini feed about your friends and privacy options that did not exist in it's predecessors. What was missing was perhaps an instant messenger that would have the advantages of an online community and allow its users to communicate with all your friends at the same time, a desktop application which automatically updates itself and sends new notifications so that you don't have to constantly refresh your browser. Me thinks this might be the new msn.

Is the D school the new B school?

2007-06-04T13:44:00.000+04:00

Ideapreneurs, Idea Merchants: When the business lingo becomes infected with words like these, there is more pressure on the managers to be innovative. Innovation and traditional MBAs don’t mesh well together. The right brained logical thinkers may know a lot about economics and accounting but a little less about creativity and innovation. What happens next? We see a new generation of MBAs in leading universities, trying to learn some from the design methodologies. While the designers strive to learn be more like the suits.

Here is a little something from Michael McDonough an accomplished New York based Architect and a teacher.

Top Ten things they never taught me in design school

1. Talent is one-third of the success equation.
2. 95 percent of any creative profession is shit work.
3. If everything is equally important, then nothing is very important
4. Don’t over-think a problem.
5. Start with what you know; then remove the unknowns.
6. Don’t forget your goal.
7. When you throw your weight around, you usually fall off balance.
8. The road to hell is paved with good intentions; or, no good deed goes unpunished.
9. It all comes down to output.
10. The rest of the world counts.

Click here to read in detail

Change This

2007-05-16T09:33:00.000+04:00

A very valuable find. Changethis.com is creating a new kind of media. A form of media that uses existing tools (like PDFs, blogs and the web) to challenge the way ideas are created and spread. "We're on a mission to spread important ideas and change minds" say the creators of the website. With interesting reads from famous authors like Seth Godin and Tom Peters, this is definately my morning fill.

Camera with a phone

2007-04-12T11:26:00.000+04:00

Click here to view the full image.
Walking outside my office in Dubai Media City I was touched by the scene that literally lay in front of me, two human beings humbled by the gigantic structures in the vicinity. I pulled out my Nokia n93i which is actually a "camera with a phone" and not the other way around.
Think of it this way, combine two or more things that are important to you and come up with a new gadget. For me a camera is essentially more important than a phone. I need a phone so this is a perfect solution for me. Not a camera that i have to carry around but something that i can simply pull out of my purse and snap, snap, a picture with attention to detail, an amazing 3.2 mp resolution.
And I'm loving it.

Nadia Aamer

Dubai

Feeding on the Dead is the New Contagion in Media

2007-03-23T15:18:00.000+04:00

Millions of people log on to their personal machines to watch Saddam Hussian’s execution posted by a government official present at the scene.
The row between Shilpa Shetty and Jade in Celebrity Big Brother reported all over the world as news whiles the number of people watching the entertainment channel soar. Getting people hooked and quiet a few people making quick bucks by what is known as the most crucial part of striking a viral “timing”. This is defiantly a distorted uncontrollable and in my opinion unethical form of viral marketing where TV becomes sensationally real and reality becomes sensational TV
You know that when news channels begin reporting on Television as if it were reality and the news becomes a real life drama. How far are we willing to go? Seems to me that there is a price for human life and integrity and unfortunately may not even be able to rest in peace. The latest cash on death seems to be on Bob Woolmer.

“Ideapreneurs” of this century

2007-02-18T11:44:00.000+04:00

With each new invention, it becomes more evident than ever that the opportunity to re invent and integrate in the coming years is huge and it’s up to each individual to make use of it.
In this century, everyone will and can be an innovator, people are the users and they will have the final word on the product at the end of the day. As it is, there is an obvious shift of power from the corporations to the end users. People now search for the reviews from other people online on the product before buying. This shift of power has been possible by the greatest invention of this century and yes you guessed it, the internet. It is the people’s economy and somewhere in the present and the future, this shift of power will reflect a thinning line between the marketer and the consumer. Clever marketers are already realizing it and finding ways to win minds more than the hearts of the consumers, for a longer lasting brand loyalty. The strategy being “Please a customer and he will please you”. To truly be a part of this people’s economy, whether you work for a company or yourself, you must be genuinely interested in people and their lifestyles. And if you don’t have the time or the energy or resources to do that you can buy this information off the “trend spotters” or the “trend forecasters” or the “trend Surfers”. Watching trends (if you didn't already know this) has become a successful business where some insightful human beings watch other (busy to take notice of their own lives) human beings and add context to it and perhaps call it a fancy name like "DINX (double income no kids)" and then sell it to the corporate world which then uses this information as a guide for developing a new product or simply improving their existing ones. Needless to say, that this information could also be used by individuals wanting to set up new business. Reinier Evers (36), a citizen of The Netherlands, is an accomplished trend watcher, entrepreneur, and presenter who has made a fortune out of selling trends through his website trendspoting.com and while you are at it, take a look at this very inspiring sample report in power point for the trends of 2007.
In retrospect, I can’t imagine how much our lives have changed in the past decade. In 1995 I still hadn’t used a personal computer. I had seen the bulky pieces of faded white plastics, the 486 and the apples in our computer studio but never thought much of it. To be honest the advent of internet changed everything for everyone in the world (well, mostly everyone) and the industry because before that only “geeks” in our college used the machine to write software. In 1995, I was buying a phone card to make personal calls, “Tele card” that was then Pakistan’s premium phone card and the “it” thing in Kinnaird College for Women in Lahore. And the girls queued in front of the phone booth to make their 5 minute calls. It seemed like such a novelty for young girls to be able to make calls from a place other than your home without supervision. The people who invested in telephony at that time made billions, but those who brought about the “mobile communication boom” in the highly populated 3rd world countries, yielded unimaginable profits. In 1995 we had a single vehicle that was shared by the family of five. Now each one of has a car. While the commodities have become more affordable, they have also added other costs to our living like traffic and pollution changing people’s preference once again in favour of the environment friendly hybrid cars with no carbon emissions.
So in this constantly changing world the only thing that remains constant is the change itself. Those who are able to spot future trends and change not just with time but before time will be the “ideapreneurs” of this century.

Posted by Nadia Aamer
© Viral Juice 2007

Dubai

How "Googlable" are you, the "You" brand

2006-05-05T01:04:00.000+04:00

There was a time when google was used to search for definitions on catch phrases and industry jargons but in the age of personal branding it seems only necessary that the minute you type your name and press enter, the screen should splash several links summarising what a killer professional you are.
Making yourself Googlable: You must have your own website and if you don’t have that you can create a blog without the hard work and expert skills of creating and hosting a website. If that isn’t enough try to get other people to talk about you and in return offer to talk about them on your website.
Just creating a blog is not enough; you need traffic on your website/blog to kill other links with similar content. One thing is for sure that the content needs to be exciting or something that can benefit the visitor in some way. Generally speaking websites that are cynical of authorities, companies and status quo get more traffic than those with positive, boring perspective. In short if you are going to talk about how good everything is and what a good day you had at work, you can be rest assured that you will not be seeing a lot of visitors except perhaps your family members.
to be continued....

WARNING! This Idea Contains a Mind Virus

2006-04-06T13:17:00.000+04:00

The mail that was sent directly to a selective audience in the form a postcard read "This Idea contains a mind virus. DO NOT read any further unless you are willing to be infected. The infection may affect the way you think in a subtle way or might alter the way you view things inside out".
One purpose was to make the people curious enough to find out what is it that may affect the way they think- In viral marketing word known as the "hook". The "hook" in this case being the proposition that this might alter your thinking.
The second objective was to make a connection with the subject of exhibition "Inside Out". The exhibition itself challanged routine, norms and questioned the status quo of present and predict the future of design. With the likes of product and image designers, musicians, and brand strategist the exhibition proved to be an eye candy for the visitors. “Mind the Gap” along with 33 other eclectic minds, enticed the audience to apply their imagination.

Wrap it! (warp marketing)

2006-01-14T21:38:00.000+04:00

Take a benefit of your product or service, wrap it or stick it on some other object that best conveys the value of your brand.
Wait a minute! Am I selling my idea or someone else’s product like this one wrapped on TicTac. I am selling my idea on top of a product. I think I am giving meaning to what it does for me for example if you share a TicTac with someone you sharemindthegap.com, a bit twisted but it works. That is what you call clever combos or juxtaposition (to be a part of more sophisticated art) when you combine two to create meaning within the audience's mind.

(On the right are pictures from my exhibition at OXO Tower London, where I put a Sampling Box of TicTacs wrapped in my message).

So, folks get out there and “find an item that makes your point”, great tool for personal promotion. Let’s see how creative you can get with this, try sensual marketing, how about sending a scent, or a sound etc.

Posted by Nadia Aamer

Screening of “Mind the Gap” at "Inside Out" Discussions in applied imagination

2005-12-17T18:01:00.000+04:00

At : OXO Tower Bargehouse Street, London SE1 9PH,
17-18 December 2005 Bargehouse,
Open 10am-7pm daily (10am - 5:30 Sunday 18 December)

URL: http://sharemindthegap.com, http://getmindthegap.com

Description: 33 experts have convened in London from all corners of the world representing the eclectic minds of young individuals from the Far Eastern Regions, South Asia, North America, South America and the European Union under a single interdisciplinary postgraduate course, MA Design Studies at Central Saint Martins. Nadia Aamer's Vlogumentary "Mind the Gap" is a “personal take” on the social, cultural and political issues that we face in a multicultural city like London today; a narrative of a person who believes that human interactions are much more complex than what we see on television while criticising the mainstream media for creating misunderstandings between the east and west, Muslims and non Muslims. This is an individual's effort to bridge the gap that builds in the minds of the people through repeated exposure to negative imagery.

Summary: "London after 7/7", the town, the people and places. Watch this Vlogumentary at http://www.getmindthegap.com, or download it as video clips. And If you like what you see sharemindthegap with your friends and colleagues.

Get Mind the gap will screened live from the website on the 2nd Floor left wing at the Society and Culture section.

Mind the Gap: the viral story

2005-11-01T07:36:00.000+04:00

“An interesting story, an experience; a situation and time where that story and experience can fill a gap in your life”. Taking those last few words from a very wise man I began to ponder over how to create my own virus, only creating that interesting story which fills a gap, wasn’t as simple. For days I wrecked my brain thinking what is that I have to say as a person that could be viral, a meme, and an idea that is interesting enough to become contagious.

In an attempt to find that story, I randomly purchased books like
“How to Get Ideas” by Jack Foster,
“Hey You pitch to win in an ideas economy” by Will Murray,
“A technique for producing Ideas” by James Web Young
“Viral Marketing in a Week” By Richard Perry and Andrew Whitaker, and
“Guerrilla Creativity, Make your messages irresistible with the power of meme” by Jay Conrad Levinson from amazon.com. And yes, even the people who call themselves creative don’t just pull out ideas from their sleeves. Ideas need to be researched pondered analysed and then left to simmer.

Although I have to admit that while I was reading about getting ideas, the idea never came. It came much later, it came when I realized that my sense of humour was rather dry and ironic, which might as well be because after all, I was in Britain. So instead of trying to make something look funny or hilarious I searched for an idea through my self, my passion, which is undoubtedly my interest in people. I am a curious human being and I love reading people’s minds and searching for hidden truths. An investigation that involved people around me about a gut feeling that I had but wanted to explore it further and demonstrate it through my work, seemed like just what the doctor had ordered at that time.

I decided that I wanted to work on the interactions and feelings after the 7/7 in London and being a Pakistani, I wanted to investigate the rumours and images that people might associate with an identity: A study into the metaphorical London Underground; stories, ideas and thoughts which might never surface unless we push and probe. It would be a journey into the minds of the people who face thousands of messages everyday from a wide variety of sources. I wanted to find out how immune are we to the messages that are sent out to us with hidden agendas. Whether we possess the ability to filter out what is relevant to us and make our own assumptions at the end of the day? Do we see people as persons first and then their background? In short do we know when to mind the gap?

My idea to distribute and publish my work was simple, I would get rid of all the gate keepers and publish it on the world wide web in the simplest of its forms and free. In this era of “Free Information” this would be another experiment that would come under the label of “Free Video Blogs”, and my ticket to spreading the idea, “Get it” “Share it” and Talk about it. Making it free to “download” these days doesn’t dilute the importance or the relevance of the message, in fact it endorses the message, as more and more people find out about it the stronger the idea will become eventually.

Posted by Nadia Aamer

The Bird with the Flu

2005-10-31T01:21:00.000+04:00

It was the 7th of July when the first news about the London Bombings was telecasted, I had just left London a few days earlier for Dubai and one of the underground stations affected was the underground that is closest to where I live in London at Russell Square. It was sad and shocking. What can make anyone capable of taking innocent lives? Some twisted dogma.

Once you have lost someone in your life, every time you hear about someone else’s loss the pain and anguish returns and the tears start rolling again. I was glued to the Television in Dubai and so were many other people around the world, listening and watching to every news telecast from every available news station, the story was being followed "as and when it happens". Then two weeks later on the 21st of July, there was a shooting by the police at the Stockwell Underground Station. They had caught the suspect and was he was killed on the spot. The man who was shot was reported as being Asian and "Pakistani" by an eye witness, present at the time of shooting. I feared for the worst and assuming that ultimately there would be some link drawn to Pakistan, and being a Pakistani myself who had to go back to London, I started imagining all sorts of things, things that would probably never happen, my husband was worried that I might have to be careful now and not reveal my identity to strangers. My parents were fearful as well.

I imagined that the fear would be on both sides, in and outside the circle of trust, did I belong in that circle anymore or would I be punished for my identity? With all the anxiety and stress before landing at Gatwick Airport in London, I was the bird with the flu.

And then something else happened, it was discovered that the man who was shot was not a Pakistani, but a Brazilian, and was not in fact a terrorist but an innocent man leaving home for work. What could lead to such a big mistake like that? Only a greater power which clouded the judgment of the policeman at that moment and the same cloud was apparently guiding the eye of the witness.

And that got me thinking, how much of our mind is infected with viruses, viruses transmitted through the most lethal and powerful carrier, the media. Whether it is companies trying to sell their products or a political ideology of Bush Blair or Osama, they all need followers and all of them share a common goal; they want to infect people with their ideologies to support their insatiable need for power and greed.

An educated and enlightened society can recognise the difference between truths and the half truths.

Or can we?

This is my journey to explore the realities of the London Underground and whether we the Londoners are conscious enough to know when to "Mind the Gap" .

Posted by Nadia Aamer

Idea Merchants of the Desert

2005-09-15T15:15:00.000+04:00

Next in a series of interviews I first met up with Ed Jones, Executive Creative Director of Saatchi & Saatchi Dubai, Middle East, (who has spent considerable amount of time working in London and now the Middle East). “Dubai has invented itself largely; it enjoys doing things in grandiosity, splendor, having the tallest building, the whackiest hotel and the weirdest offshore islands” he says. The underlying vision is to encourage people (significantly expats) to spend money within the country and at the same time bring in money from the outside, to encourage investment in Dubai. So whether it is shopping in the splendid malls, surfing on the dunes or just owning property in Dubai, Dubai has turned itself into a City Center where money is spent and things are bought. This in turn creates a very high demand for companies to turn to advertising and sell their ideas.

Although, the UAE market is still untouched and pure in terms of ad pollution compared to the western metropolis like London and New York for example, but that is where the opportunity to do things differently, lies. With the consumers becoming conscious and sophisticated in their choices and with more exposure to digital technology, the need to find new ways to reach people and creative advertising is becoming evident in UAE. “As the market becomes less easily persuaded by the obvious and familiar methods then you have to be more innovative” says Ed Jones.

“People read or watch what interests them and sometimes it’s an ad” continued Ed Jones, and that’s how the viral advertising for instance works “that it’s not dumped on people involuntarily”, but it will only work if people enjoy the experience because then they will pass it on to friends, “Maybe it is a laugh, although, quite often the laugh will convey a commercial punch line” but that is good because humour is engaging. The BMW Campaign, Burger King’s Subservient Chicken and the Honda Grrrr ad are great examples of virals that people are choosing to watch. So according to Ed Jones, virals essentially have to be witty, simple, attractive and entertaining to watch.

Douglas Palau, is the Vice President of Network Marketing at Impact BBDO, and also the Managing Director of Impact Proximity, Dubai BBDO Worldwide Network, (coming from an advertising background in London as well) sees “a competitive edge coming, with a high adoption of technology”. UAE ranks amongst the top ten countries in the world with the highest penetration of internet and mobile phones. “UAE and Saudi Arabia in particular, have embraced the digital technology because it offers an otherwise conservative and segregated culture, a freedom to interact on a one to one level ”, says Douglas Palau insightfully.

So, in a way, the coming of internet to this part of the world is the coming of age, liberation, connectivity with speed for the Emaratis; breaking the barriers of cultural conformity (monitored by the government); and also because the cities are new and still developing, it easier to integrate the technology into the infrastructure.

Although, viral marketing, through the internet and MMS, is still an unexplored territory in the region and hasn’t yet saturated the market, which is why I think, done cleverly, viral marketing can be the new pink for the advertising world in the UAE.

Talking about the 360 degree branding at Proximity, Douglas Palau says that “Creating Interactive Brand Experience can offer their clients a medium to connect to the consumer on a personal level, it offers
a) Measurably
b) Cost effectiveness and
c) Speed

All of which are fantastic adjectives to describe marketing", he says . "We offer our clients a brand building tool to reach their consumers in a way that is relevant, engaging and what they want to hear or see" as opposed interruption marketing.

As responsible, ethical and self regulatory marketers “our role is to make sure that we have permission to pass on those messages in the first place”. Virals are not forced, they won’t work if it’s not voluntary “and at the end of the day, consumers have the power; now more than ever, we have to make sure that it works for them” he says, "because if it doesn’t they will use the same technology against the corporations, which is what the corporate blogs are doing these days. Companies that are in public relations know how to use that power". In a way it’s good to have that because it balances out the corporate-consumer ecosystem.

Towards the end of our conversation I threw in the inevitable generic question that I just had to ask. I asked him, what he thought would be a successful formula for spreading the idea virus? To which smiled and replied “There is no simple answer for that, the best way to build a successful Viral Marketing Model is to study past success and failures and learning through trial and error”, the more you do it the better you will be.

With over seventeen years of advertising experience in the Gulf Region Kamal Dimachkie, the Managing Director of LEO Burnett Group, UAE; also realises the potential of a booming economy in UAE and especially in Dubai, which is what brings people to this land (apart from the fact that it is completely Tax free). Analysing the cultural dynamics for of UAE, he points out that “People here mainly interact through work because there isn’t a pure UAE dynamics that has been long established through a culture that is unique to that place, like other countries of the world. So, while you don’t have that - the culture revolves around work and public forms of entertainment. And Like any other community, word of mouth is the first indicator of a successful contagion. People very often underestimate the power of the word of mouth”.

“Despite the growth of mass markets, it is giving rise to the concept of congregation which means that bigger groups form around singular communities, and within these passion groups, once a brand has hit a focal point and gets them talking about it, is when a brand has managed to create a buzz”. “And to do that”, he continues “you need to be relevant, innovative in the way you talk to people, because on an average, a person living in UAE is exposed to less than 4700 messages a day.

Hence, the importance for any new message to compete
a) has to have something interesting to say,
b) to be able to say it in a manner that attracts people and get them to stick and listen and
c) to reach at a place and time where they are willing to listen”.

And my last question to a man who seemed so obviously passionate about brand psychology was, “How do you create a buzz?” His answer was simple and intuitive “An interesting story, an experience that people can relate to, a situation and time where that story and experience can fill a gap in your life”.

Posted by Nadia Aamer

Buzz and the City

2005-08-30T02:27:00.000+04:00

And so began my journey, trying to find out more about the Virals and their nature. I was in the city of Dubai which is where I am, when not in London. Dubai has created a viral of its own, everyone’s heard about the seven star hotel which resembles the sail of a boat and everyone knows that they are crazy enough to create their own “man made islands” known as the Palms which together form the shape of a palm. So what? Don’t have an island? Let’s make you one. So that’s the buzz about Dubai, it is the city of dreams, where apparently nothing is impossible; and all you need to have is some wild imagination.

Surrounded by the un impossible land where winning the race is all about being huge and large (pun intended), and where everyone seems to come up with a bigger and better idea than the other, I wanted to know what’s new and unusual. How does the clever advertising man create a positive word of mouth to sell these ideas to people? In other words how do the idea merchants of Dubai do it?

Posted by Nadia Aamer

Question: Is Blogging Viral?

2005-08-17T21:37:00.000+04:00

Answer: Blogging is definitely contagious, because Blogs are the ultimate online platforms where informal journalism has taken new shapes and definitions. It is making the information age ever more exciting and may I also add that it has never been easier to publish your thoughts and share them with like minded people around the world.

What is the one thing that everyone longs for, whether they are the CEOs or the salesmen? It’s the feeling of being important and having “your say”. Everyone has a “point of view” these days, and believe it or not, most of us think that we are living in undeserved obscurity and that nobody recognises our achievements or true worth. When something like Blogs comes along wielding tools of publicity, it offers fulfillment of a deep seated yearning. In addition, there are more people than you think with philanthropic desire to tell the world a few truths it should know. Blogs make it possible for anyone from professional geeks to regular people to share ideas and today everyone has something to say.

Blogs my darlings are here to stay!

Blogs work in two ways, they can be used to market ourselves through our ideas and created intelligently, they can help introduce and sell a new product/service in an informal way. It’s word of mouth in its true sense.

The newest trend in blogging is"Videoblogging" a.k.a "Vlog" where people like you and me can edit post and publish their videos on the web. For the first time in human history every individual has the power of self-expression to reach global audiences. Does that fascinate you? Do you know how to get started? The buzz words are coming on fast: aggregation, enclosures, "Really Simple Syndication (RSS)".

Visit http://videoblogging.info/ for more information on Vlogging
Listen to the [clip] about audio logging
http://blogumentary.org/ an open source documentary on Blogs.
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2005/09/whos_there_the_.html Blogging defined by the author of “Permission Marketing” and “Unleashing the Idea Virus”.

Blogs, Vlogs, Alogs, and Dogs- A penny for your thoughts...

Posted by Nadia Aamer

MEMES: a contagious theory

2005-07-20T04:01:00.000+04:00

It wasn't long ago when I heard the word "meme" for the first time. Turns out that memes are to a viral, what germs are to an infection. I don't want to sound morbid but memes are what is referred to in scientific terms as the "virus of the mind".

The term itself was coined for the first time by Richard Dawkins in 1976 in his book"The Selfish Gene". He defines memetics the study of memes as a contagious information pattern that replicates by parasitically infecting human minds and altering their behaviour causing to propagate the pattern. These could be individual slogans, catch phrases, melodies, icons, inventions fashion trends and even religion.

This made me wonder if there is a scientific reason that could explain why and how our ideas spread and is there a formula for the chemical properties that could make our ideas more viral or spreadable.

Posted by Nadia Aamer

The D Day: Discovering Blog

2005-06-18T03:50:00.000+04:00

Today I decided to pen my thoughts on contagious communication or rather push my thoughts on the keyboard; and what better way to share my ideas with the rest of the world than through my very own blog.

Blogs are central to spreading the word, it is informal journalism, not to mention a great marketing tool, and it is so easy to use that I just couldn’t help myself but not to use it.

I will take this diary as an ongoing dialogue between my project and myself and I have a feeling that this will probably turn from contagious to a "Neverending Diary".

Posted by Nadia Aamer