Smart Design Contest
Show your skills!
Smart gives you the chance to design your dream of a Smart and share it with thousands of other users.
Who could more democratically decide whether what you designed is good or sucks than the crowd. So start your Photoshop and get creative!
Here is the link: http://www.smart-design-contest.com/
Have fun!
Perhaps you did not know of „The Cult of Done Manifesto“?
Neither did we, but we found it, liked it and thus shared it with you.
Here it is:
„Dear Members of the Cult of Done,
I present to you a manifesto of done. This was written in collaboration with Kio Stark in 20 minutes because we only had 20 minutes to get it done.“
Visit: DONE MANIFEST for more information
Our comment on the recent article published on mashable.com
You cannot repeat it often enough!
Social Media does have great poential, no doubt.
It enables companies to reduce the ever growing distance between them and their consumers, between producer and buyer, takes them closer to their target groups and provides answers to the increasing desire for personalized products, or to sum it up: unpredictable consumer behavior.
But blindly investing into this miraculous segment may also cause harm. Not only in terms of an investment.
Social media is, as the name implies a social sometimes even personal phenomenon. No impressions are stronger than personal ones. But if whatever you do or say is not credible, the strength of the personal, social contact turns into the opposite of what had been desired: ignorance, distrust, and negative word of mouth. It is like selling insurance contracts to family members in order to fulfill goals set by an insurance company you work for. This will ruin social relationships forever. The same goes for companies who half-heartedly use Web 2.0 to boost profits .
Not every company fits into this personal sphere. And not everybody wants to be addressed this way. You cannot push a brand into the personal sphere of a consumer. Especially not if a company or brand does not possess the required desirability.
Consumers may be „victims“ or information overload, unlimited product varieties, etc but they still have control over their private sphere. This has to be respected at all time. They decide what brands they „pull“ into this sphere.
Usually it is brands they trust, have known for quite a time, that accompanied them during their life, brands they long have been admiring, or they use to transform features of the brand onto themselves.
Smart USA Website
Smart USA, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Penske Automotive Group, announced earlier this week that it is launching its first nation wide lease incentive in partnership with Daimler Financial Services.
“Our new lease program allows customers added flexibility with financing options and allows smart customers to enjoy leasing benefits such as low monthly payments, driving a new vehicle every two-to-three years and hassle-free vehicle turn-ins,” said Jill Lajdziak, President, smart USA. “We have continued confidence in the brand based on the volume of vehicles sold since the Smart ForTwo went on sale and two years of residual value data to offer a lease option.”
Well-qualified Smart ForTwo buyers may lease a Smart ForTwo pure coupe for $169 a month on a 36-month, 10,000 miles-per-year lease. Smart says that qualified customers must provide $999 down, $595 acquisition fee and first month’s payment at the time of lease.
The incentive will run through February 28, 2010.
Since its debut in the U.S., Smart has sold 40,000 ForTwo units through its 77 Smart centers located in 36 states.
via Smart USA launches its first U.S. nationwide lease incentive.
URL: http://www.egmcartech.com/2010/01/16/smart-usa-launches-its-first-u-s-nationwide-lease-incentive/
SOM: Interesting to see that Smart USA is run by Penske Automotive. I still consider it a strong signal that Americans buy a small vehicle such as the Smart. Although it had been considered already years ago, the U.S. market simply would not have been ready for such a car. And it certainly would have been a financial and probably even marketing and brand strategy disaster for Daimler. I do not have the figures of the US sales forecast at hand, but to me 40,000 sold units is not bad at all! Keep rollin‘, Smart!
The following graphic is based on data collected by the University of California, San Diego, in which they analyzed the timespan from 1980 through 2008 for the total number of bytes bitten processed by Americans. According to the study, the amount of date has increased by 6% per year and now amounts to an the huge number of 3.6 zettabytes. That is one billion trillion bytes and more than we can imagine. It includes all kind of information or data, no matter from what source.
In terms of the internet, this clearly mirrors the fact that websites contain more and more megabytes of content which if not accessed via DSL can take very long to load. As the speed of our internet connection and the number of ways to access the web (WiFi alarm clock, domestic laptop to check the news at breakfast, mobile device on the subway, desktop pc at work, mobile device during lunch break, laptop back home,..) increases, our brain has more and more data to process. Or maybe not. If you are smart, you filter information for what is really relevant at the moment. But still, this is more than information overloa, rather information collapse. And it raises the question how even with smart filtering, we are able to deal with these billion trillion bytes EVERY DAY!
SOURCE:
http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/maccabee-montandon/upswing/america-hungry-need-data
Posted using ShareThis
We have already shared this lovely presentation on our youtube channel last week (SOMMarketing) and here it is now on your website.
This video/presentation nicely sums up all the facts currently circulating about Social Media and the impact it has on how companies will do business in the near future. Social Media may not be the right tool for every company. But for those it does make sense, this presentation provides excellent arguments to convince marketing execs to go social. However, efficiency, costs and a stringent Social Media strategy which is carefully embedded into the company’s overall marketing strategy still are major „ToDos“ that need to be defined before investing into the colorful world of Web 2.0.
Enjoy!
And to the authors: Thank you for creating and sharing it!
Inspired by an article by Paul Marsden on socialcommercetoday, I thought about facebook going social commerce and about Paul’s statements in his article.
I suppose a universal payment system on facebook is a must not an option. Performance of facebook has in recent months been fairly poor from time to time, so an additonal source of income would certainly help cover the enormous maintenance costs and hopefully improve performance. Just as back in the days when fb was a really lean community. I keep wondering if maybe fb is not growing at too fast a pace.
But you are perfectly right that commerce will have to go where the potential buyers are – either in terms of ad placements or cleverly integrated into portals. And I am also dead sure that Amazon will move closer to facebook. At the end of the day people want convenience. Why leave your web 2.0 home facebook to go shopping at amazon.com or elsewhere with all the numerous different logins? Instead, you could stay among your peers and even virtually shop together. This is actually what many of us already do using online stores and discussing products via MSN and Skype.
If you ask me, that will be the next step. Commerce will be social just as in real life.
As to performance – yeah right, it might slow down again if you embedd Amazon et al.
No, no, neither they nor we! But a good german marketing blog should be mentioned:
Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Canada
Mercedes-Benz has decided to turn the Sprinter from a former Dodge and Freightliner back into what is really under the hood: a Mercedes. As of 2010, the Sprinter will run under the prestigious Mercedes-Benz brand as is the case in all of Europe.
The Sprinter which has become the symbol of the light commercial vehicle segment is ready to take on the Fords and Chevrolets of the Northamerican market. As most of the competitors have barely undergone major improvements in terms of design, variability and of course technology, the efficient Sprinter is a serious threat. According to a Daimler press release, the Sprinter will be offered with a „3.0 litre 6-cylinder diesel engine that offers best in class fuel efficiency while still meeting the latest strict emission regulations, including the particularly stringent EPA 10 guidelines.“ In times of growing awareness for the economy and the gas prices the Sprinter is more than just a bulky means of transportation.
There is no doubt about the qualities of this vehicle. But the really interesting thing is the branding facet. Industry experts even spoke of breaking a taboo when Daimler in 2009 announced the Sprinter to carry the famous star after years of Dodge and Freightliner badges in the northamerican markets. This is a novelty. Never before have commercial vehicles been allowed to use the star which other than in Europe has been reserved for Daimler’s luxury car segment. And this is exactly where the so-called taboo is rooted. The brand will now have to play two roles at a time: that of the hard worker, the van that gets things done and on the other side that of a luxury car: stylish, desirable, elegant, prestigious. But maybe this balancing act even makes good sense. You and your Sprinter work hard every day, so that in the end when the job is done and your business has proven successful you can reward yourself with an E-class or similar.
It remains to be seen how successful this brand strategy will be. In terms of quality, dependability and technology, the Sprinter has nothing to fear. As to its rivals – better be prepared, there is a new van in town!
Daimler press release
Image Source: Mercedes-Benz Canada
Disclosure: Mercedes-Benz is a client of the interactive agency I work for
…is a CSR one.
Thousands of Google clients have been wondering what the present will be when they received their Christmas Email from Google announcing a special present. Same here. I also wondered if it was another Google Adwords coupon. That would not have been very creative but still nice to have. No, the present was something else, something a giant like Google can easily afford and somehow has to do. The more you earn thanks to our highly developed infrastructure (yes, I mean the internet) the bigger your social debt towards society. And who else could profit more than those who have completely different and more fundamental problems than bad Wi-Fi network, a buggy website or thoso „oh so dangerous“ cookies. Those for whom every day is a fight for survival, for education and other things we take for granted.
Google, spending $20m was a nice move!
google christmas present
Source: Google
