2.) Engage category experts to vet content, and propose terms/phrases unique to that category. If we want to write for the experts, we need to sound like experts.

3.) Recognise country-specific differences within languages
- Hong Kong Traditional Chinese vs. Taiwan Traditional Chinese. Enough said.
- English language messages also need to be localized for countries such as Canada, the UK and Australia. That includes differences in phrasing, such as “ring me” instead of “call me” or “petrol” instead of “gas,” as well as differences in spelling.

4.) Respect Cultural Differences
- US and UK markets tend to use a more aggressive, sales-oriented approach but the style will not play well in other parts of Europe and even in Asia
- No showing of skin pictorially in conservative countries like Middle East; Patriotism and flag imagery may work well in US but not so much in Canada.

5.) A picture says a thousand words
- British customers could tell their advertising photos were of US employees, due to slight differences in clothing, such as the way a tie was knotted
- Caucasian models might not always resonate well with Asian countries, especially Japan/China

https://www.mastercardmoments.com/edm/2010/02/monthly/chs/edm_spring.html

Credit goes to Marketing Sherpa for some of these great points

Good way to collect content, and a small reward to get content contributors to “park” their existing content in another space other than the established gathering holes like Flickr.

If the model can be refined further (like a quota for example) to target at a broader mass who will probably upload 2-3 pictures instead of the discount hunters who upload millions to cumulatively earn a decent paycheck, it may be worthwhile to see how other brands can also leverage on similar models to encourage some much needed UGC.

http://www.zuji.com.sg/site/travel_deals/photoshare/photoshare-facebook.htm

2.) Create a Twitter-Friendly Description
Steve Jobs creates a single sentence description for every product. These headlines help the audience categorize the new product and are always concise enough to fi t in a 140-character Twitter post.

3.) Introduce the Antagonist
In every classic story, the hero fights the villain. The same holds true for a Steve Jobs presentation. In 1984, the villain was IBM, known as “Big Blue” at the time. Before Jobs introduced the famous 1984 television ad to a group of Apple salespeople, he created a dramatic story around it. “IBM wants it all,” he said. Apple would be the only company to stand in its way. It was very dramatic and the crowd went crazy. Branding expert Martin Lindstrom says that great brands and religions have something in common: the idea of vanquishing a shared enemy. Create a villain that allows the audience to rally around the hero—you and your product.

4.) Focus on Benefits
Your listeners are asking themselves one question: Why should I care? Steve Jobs sells the benefifi t behind every new product or feature—and he’s very clear about it. Why buy an iPhone 3G? Because “it’s twice as fast at half the price.” What’s so great about Time Capsule? “All your irreplaceable photos, videos and documents are automatically protected and easy to retrieve if they’re ever lost.”

5.) Stick to the Rule of Three
Nearly every Steve Jobs presentation is divided into three parts. When Jobs returned from a health-related absence on September 9, 2009, he told the audience he would be talking about three products: iPhones, iTunes and iPods. Along the way he provides verbal guideposts such as “iPhones. The fi rst thing I wanted to talk about today. Now, let’s move on to the second, iTunes.” The number “three” is a powerful concept in writing. Playwrights know that three is more dramatic than two; comedians know that three is funnier than four, and Steve Jobs knows that three is more memorable than six or eight.

Kudos to Carmine Gallo for the great slides!

Well, despite the criticism, Skittles is one of the most popular brands in social media. Its Facebook page, which was prominently featured on the old site, boasts 3.6 million fans. And it didnt really incentivise with promotions or free products so to speak, alot of the updates are really just tongue-in-cheek messages which garnered thousands of “likes” from fans every single time. I wonder if all these buzz did actually increase sales, or brand affinity and how much. That will be interesting to measure and for us digital marketers to know.

http://skittles.com

Read: http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2010/01/avatars_at_work.html

Check it out:  http://corby.samsungmobile.com/

For those of you who missed out on the OG version of the Lucy Exposed figure, Made By Monsters announces its special Japanese version of Ron English’s “Lucy Exposed.” This new version is set to drop on January 20th, 2010, standing 8″ tall and limited to only 100 units worldwide. Retail is set around $110 USD