My friend Chris keeps asking if I really believe this, so I thought I’d put it out there in the most formal way possible:
GIFs are the comic sans of the internet
Marketing in India Today
Whenever a friend or family goes abroad and asks if I’d like anything, I always cheekily ask for a magazine or newspaper. This is partly because I like reading about news from a fresh perspective and partly because I like to know what the ads are like.
I was recently given a copy of India Today, a weekly topical news magazine. The Indian perspective on the world is nothing new to me, but the advertising has moved on somewhat since I last really looked at it.
The immediately noticeable innovation is that the front cover is less wide than the rest of the magazine. This allows a thin strip from the advert on the first page to be present on the cover. It’s a clever way of giving advertisers greater exposure without compromising the cover.
As you move through the magazine, there’s a definite sense that the ads are there to drive sales and only drive sales. There’s little or no advertising that focuses on brand positioning. There’s certainly nothing that tries to make you feel warm and fuzzy or capture the feeling of a particular moment.
This Volkswagen advert (below), for example, tells you the product’s stylish, throws some features at you and then tell you to text a number to arrange a test drive.
The call to send a text message recurs throughout the ads in the magazine. From test drives to paint colour charts, all can be arranged by sending a text. There’s also a whole host of QR codes.
Essentially, where marketing teams in the UK put social media information to build engagement. Marketers in India put direct links to sell. Both sets of marketers are taking advantage of new technology, but the Indians are bypassing the sophistry of relationships in favour of building revenue.
Lomo-instant!
My adventures in the world of Lomography continue. I’ve recently procured an instant back for my Diana F+. It provides all the retro, light leaking fun of a Lomography but also provides instant gratification in the form of a credit card sized photo. There’s a certain element of magic in watching an image slowly appear on what looks like a plain white piece of paper.
You can have all the usual fun with coloured filters and double-exposures, etc., so definitely worth playing with.
Star jumps in the kitchen
One week in and I’ve hit my daily Nike Fuel target for seven consecutive days. Tomorrow, my daily goal rises to 2,500. Some days have been pretty easy – walking the long way from the station, a game of squash – others have seen me doing star jumps in the kitchen at 10pm in a desperate bid to hit the daily target.
The star jumps have got me thinking about the nature of commitment. In particular, about how it fades over time.
Thinking back to GCSE physics, I think there’s a useful analogy with the half-life of radioactive materials. Right now, one week in, my commitment levels are high, how long will it take for me to become half as committed as I am now? How long before I decide that I’m willing to miss a daily target rather than jump around late at night? More importantly, how do I prevent the rot from setting in?
Well, #ASE_Fit_Club is itself a way of staying committed. Collaborating with others who have similar goals and sharing experiences helps maintain focus. I’m also posting updates on Faceook and Twitter as well as blogging about it – by regularly, publicly re-committing to my goals, I hope to extend the half-life.
It seems slightly negative to talk about fading commitment this early on, but it’s important to recognise that it happens and to generate ideas to maintain commitment.
How do you maintain commitment to a goal? What techniques do you use?
This blogpost was originally posted here on #ASE_Fit_club.
The first rule of fit club
It’s always easier to achieve your fitness goals if you’re part of a group who’s committed to achieving theirs. I’ve been lucky enough to find such a group: #ASE_Fit_Club.
Now, I’m not an ASE consultant, so am a bit of a gatecrasher. However, they’ve been kind enough to include me and I’m definitely going to push myself harder as a result. My goal is to get back into the team.
You can follow my progress on my fit club page and track the group’s progress and find out what we’ve learned about collaboration, data and a whole host of other things on the fit club blog.