Yes, lots of Coca-Cola going on in movies and series, as well as drinks, fashion brands and anything you’d ever think of. I am sure you all remember the Bridget Jones cheering on a huge screen. Or the Apple computers in Zoolander. But does product placement still work for popular movies and TV series?

I have to say I’ve started to overlook a lot of it. From clothes, to what they’re drinking or some of the gadgets they’re using. Then again, it also depends on how much the brand is shown off! If someone types behind a laptop for over 3 minutes, I might notice the brand. Or if you keep showing the computer game box each time you show the kid’s room, I might see it’s Heroes V Especially if I was a fan of Heroes III and IV

But other than that, do you buy something just because it’s shown on a TV screen but not during advertisement breaks? Is it a more effective advertising method? I mean, really, would you switch to the Head & Shoulders shampoo just because it was used to kill aliens in a rather silly movie?

I for one think it happens as it happens to all advertising: we learn to ignore it and it’s just wasted money. Are there any successful campaigns? Do you know of any and have you ever bought something just because you saw it in a movie?

Popularity: 1% [?]

The new year came with some changes on the Words of a Broken Mirror blog. I was feeling quite inspired so I finally caught up with some tweaking and tuning that I kept postponing for a few months.

So WoBM now has a completely rewritten About page, a new Work with me page, a Guest posting page and a reshaped policy page, containing any potential bias disclosures and a few friendly but firm comment guidelines. I have also updated the list of guest posts authored by yours truly on other blogs.

Another thing that has changed almost entirely is my blogroll which now contains a more relevant list of business resources for WoBM readers.

Please check all these new shiny pages out and let me know what you think!

Popularity: 1% [?]

Among 2010 predictions, plans and strategies, I ran across a very interesting and explicit definition of what marketing is, what it does and what a marketing team is expected to do. It belongs to Linda Smith, one of the authors of Women on Business. I just loved her idea of explaining what her plans and predictions are all about. It helps put things into perspective, reconnect with your thoughts and values and only then act.

Her take on marketing will shortly follow. After reading it, please make sure you read her post to find out what she thinks 2010 will bring in this line of business.

Marketing is telling everyone, everywhere:

• what your business is, where it is, how to find it
• what your product/service is, what it can do for the consumer, why they need it, why they want it
• how your business differs from others that are similar – what your uniqueness’s are, what makes your business so very special
• why the consumer should/ought to exchange their precious dollars and cents for your product/service

Marketing is telling everyone, everywhere in every way that people can and do receive information:

• newspapers, magazines and direct mailers – the hard copy kind, the newsprint ink that smears on your fingers and the flyers, brochures and sales letters that come in the snail mail; AND the online versions: newspapers online, magazines online and email ads that come both solicited and unsolicited
• television ads, radio ads – both via traditional tv and radio vehicles and online versions
• internet banner ads, classified ad sites, display ad boxes on social media sites
• social media relationship building
• weblogs and forums and other self-publishing arenas where messages about anything and everything under the sun, moon and stars can be shared

A business’ marketing department is usually tasked with:

• designing the message
• crafting the message delivery system
• delivering the message
• measuring the results of both the message and the delivery system

Popularity: 1% [?]

2009 has been a year full of changes, adjustments to new circumstances, learning new tricks, returning to the basics and learning something new almost every day. It’s been a wonderful and hard year at the same time, and frankly I have no idea when it has actually reached its finish line. It seems that only yesterday I was taking Robert Hurzek’s challenge to share what I had learned from 2008…

Now that we’re in mid-December, I am once again responding to Robert’s challenge to go through this years’ posts and pick what I believe to be the highlights of each month of this challenging yet always surprising year.
January – Investing in relationships always has excellent ROI

This very post has been a tribute to all the wonderful relationships I have built through my blog. The friends I’ve made, the new things I’ve learned, the support I’ve always counted on, it’s all worth sharing and cherishing.

February – 5 Ways to Make Sure You Never Get to the Second Meeting

In a year with a down-turning economy, everyone kept chasing new business. And some chose worse methods than others, making sure their efforts were in vain. Here was one of the worst examples of a business meeting from 2009. Read, learn and never act like this! Continue reading

Popularity: 1% [?]

I have a confession to make… I am extremely harsh when it comes to customer support. I’ve spent quite a while being a tech support engineer, I know how much it matters in building a great relationship with customers. So when I make my decisions about certain products or services, the quality of tech support backing them up is extremely important.  Why? It is simple. Anything can crash. No one should look for guarantees they will have no problems, they should make sure they will have help solving them when they appear. And based on my fare share of customer support talks, chats, email exchanges, I thought I’d make a top of the best ways to drive customers away.

1. Don’t pick up when they call

Definitely, this is the fastest and never dethroned method to make sure your customers will switch you for any of your competitors quicker then lightning. Continue reading

Popularity: 1% [?]