I haven’t seen great ads in a while. You know, the smart, funny and compelling type of ads that make you smile and secretly crave for the product they promote. And then a friend pointed me to a BMW poster ad. It had that very same effect on me! So I am sharing it with you It might work on me because I am sort of in their target, but still, great one!

Click on image for the original.

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The Businessmagnet.co.uk solution

In troubled economic times when companies assassinate their marketing and advertising budgets, you’d expect companies in this industry to talk about how there’s no business and loss is lurking along their way. Yet in this very time and day, Businssmagnet.co.uk, online business directory from the UK, reported steady growth, a solid influx of new customers and a great, strengthened relationship with companies already working with them. I wanted to know more about their approach to business, as it is driving them up, right through the rough economic clutter. Lee Cheesman (see photo), Businessmagnet.co.uk Director was kind enough to answer a few questions.

While advertising budgets are being grossly cut down, Businessmagnet keeps growing. What’s your secret recipe?

Whilst we have seen a different trend throughout the advertising industry, we have been surprised by the number of businesses that have taken a proactive approach with the current economic situation, many businesses actually increasing their advertising spend, especially within the online sector. We too have taken a proactive approach to ensuring that our Directory is as streamlined and effective as ever. We have increased our web prominence and introduced a better system to keep our contact frequent with our customers. Continue reading

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Sometimes work is purely fun and I feel bad getting paid for it. Like being there when this fun ad was created for one of the Mirror Communications clients, CoSoSys, vendor of leading endpoint security and data loss prevention solutions.

The ad is meant to emphasize how a company can simply not worry about thieves coming in and trying to steal their sensitive data. More on data loss and theft, how to prevent it and how serious it can be here.

Hope you enjoy the ad! Oh, and I challenge you to find me in the ad

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What I think you shouldn’t have missed last week…

New week, new reading list ready for you! Hope everyone’s having a happy Monday and enjoys my recommendations for today.

Is your social media campaign already in place? Are you going to start one in the near future? You should, and fast, as a new survey quoted by Alan Weinkrantz PR Weblog shows consumers want to interact with companies on social media.

You have your brand name and logo ready, now you need a battle cry! Your PR Guy gives a few tips to come up with an exciting slogan.

Are economic downturns a good moment to start cutting PR and Marketing budgets? Todd Defren of PR Squared is showing you why you should think twice.

The best part in working closely with a research company, such as Forrester, Radicati or Gartner is the analyst briefings such a collaboration entails. Jeremiah Owyang, Senior Analyst at Forrester, shared a few tips for a successful briefing.

Stories sell. So the best way to increase your sales is to learn to write such stories. To help you out, Brian Clark of Coppyblogger put up a great how-to.

Laura Spencer of Business and Blogging posed an interesting question: should your business blog be designed by a professional? She argued both possible answers, go on and share your personal opinion.

Ads are not the only way to make money with your blog. Tibi Puiu explained why ad-free blogs rock and which are the alternatives.

If you’re thinking to start a group blog project, this insightful post from Chris Brogan is exactly what you need. Go ahead and add your own thoughts to the list.

That’s it for this week, see you all next Monday! And of course, if you think I’ve forgotten anything, please add your suggestions in the comment box!

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Guest post by Iuliana Butuc-Cerchez

Let’s say you are the founder and the general manager of an Internet company. One of the best in your country. Let’s say that a worldwide financial crisis makes you afraid of the future.

Let’s say that you have a dating portal in your management, besides other websites (a job portal and so on). Let’s say that, in the country where the biggest chunk of your market is, one TV show proposes you, the general manager, to participate and to make fun of yourself right there on the screen, in the front of several million TV viewers. The “prize”, if you happen to be the winner of the TV contest, is to get married to a so-called TV star. Not a nice or hot looking one, believe me!

Would you accept the proposal? Would you choose to be the subject of mockery in blog posts and press articles and, also, to “risk” getting married to a woman of doubtful reputation just to advertise your dating portal? Really, how low can you go with your personal brand to get some awareness on the TV for one of your company’s products?

Iuliana Butuc-Cerchez has been the Corporate Affairs Manager of the Gecad Group for over 4 years. She’s an exceptional PR professional and a true mentor for me. Before starting her PR career, she used to be this hard-core IT journalist at one of the best business and financial newspapers in Romania. She’s also a blogger, but as her blog is in Romanian, only part of my readers will be able to enjoy her articles.

Popularity: 6% [?]