There was a disastrous earthquake on August 17, 1999 around Kocaeli, which is the neighboring city to Istanbul, Turkey. Approximately, 30 thousand people died, tens of thousands of people became homeless. After the earthquake, DASK (Turkish Catastrophe Insurance Pool) was established, which is an organization in Turkey that works with the World Bank to make sure that all citizens are insured against potential catastrophes that might happen in Turkey.

Compulsory Earthquake Insurance is a new insurance system which is created to ensure the compensation of the material damages on dwellings caused by Earthquakes. Following a comprehensive research, this system is created with the cooperation of the World Bank, Turkish Government and the insurance sector and its fundamental purposes.

However, 10 years have passed since that earthquake and still a significant majority of people have not insured their homes. Therefore, DASK has commissioned a media campaign to change perception of the people and raise consciousness about what would happen after the earthquake. This media campaign was built on the strategy that people believed that if an earthquake happens, they would die. Yet, the research shows the opposite: if an earthquake happens, 99% of the people would live and 57% of the houses would die.

This means that “the earthquake will pass and life will continue”, but how will it continue? So, they prepared the media campaign, which you can watch below, to show people how would life be after the earthquake.

The result, as they state, was outstanding. The insurance rates skyrocketed, since people’s perception about the earthquake changed from a catastrophe that would kill to a catastrophe that would make you homeless.

This campaign is a very good example to show the importance about strategic approach to a perceptual category in the target audience’s mind and how would relevant communication may change that perception.

take me to your world:

]]>There was a disastrous earthquake on August 17, 1999 around Kocaeli, which is the neighboring city to Istanbul, Turkey. Approximately, 30 thousand people died, tens of thousands of people became homeless. After the earthquake, DASK (Turkish Catastrophe Insurance Pool) was established, which is an organization in Turkey that works with the World Bank to make sure that [...]http://blackyogurt.org/2010/08/18/dask-what-life-would-be-like-after-the-earthquake/feed/0http://blackyogurt.org/2010/08/18/dask-what-life-would-be-like-after-the-earthquake/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=dask-what-life-would-be-like-after-the-earthquakehttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BlackYogurt/~3/vrVN4OCPHaU/PinPointPoliTicklesReminderAcademy Awardactivismactivism marketingactivist advertisingactivist designactivist marketingclean water actenvironmentenvironment friendlyenvironmental activismenvironmental consciousnessenvironmental hazardsenvironmental protectionenvironmentalismGreat Pacific Garbage PatchHeal the Bayjeremy ironsmarketing activismmigration of a plastic bagmocumentaryngoplastic baglifeproofWed, 18 Aug 2010 01:06:58 PDThttp://blackyogurt.org/?p=3857

Heal the Bay is an NGO, which is dedicated to improve the condition of Santa Monica Bay that was treated like a dumpster of the region.

They did it for those who simply wanted to swim, fish or surf safely in clean water. And they did it for the marine life that was suffering from some of the highest levels of contamination found anywhere along our nation’s coastline.

Since 1985, they have won very significant victories in legal terms that helped better the condition of the bay, including the Clean Water Act.

They have broadcasted a mocumentary very recently, which is narrated by Academy Award Winning actor Jeremy Irons, that

tracks the “migration” of a plastic bag from a grocery store parking lot to the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” in the Pacific Ocean.

It is extremely influential to learn the hardships that a plastic bag experiences on the grand path until the final destination. Poor, poor bag.

Entering a door does not necessarily mean that you are inside.

I have learned this notion the hard way myself, too. So, the metaphor actually caught me. Therefore, “help us welcome the homeless back in.” Here is more information about the film from The Inspiration Room:

Steam Media’s Jonathan Pearson has just completed his latest spec spot for the homeless charity, CRISIS. Written and art directed by Hugo Bierschenk/Dean Woodhouse of BBH the spot realises their vision of the plight of the homeless. The advert, shot with a Canon 5D over two nights in Finsbury Park, focuses on a homeless guy (played by Brendan MacKey, of `Touching the Void’ fame) who’s very much out there on his own. With society not allowing him in, his world is turned literally inside out, upside down. The commercial signs off with the title, “Help us welcome the homeless back in”.

In April, I have issued here a bike sharing system that was being developed. It was a very good idea, but now there emerged an idea that is even better: SoBi, The Social Bicycle System.

SoBi is different than the others because it integrates technology and bike sharing. After you register to the SoBi network you can see,where the available bikes are, from your iPhone or Android. Then you go to the bike and unlock the badge with your phone, which sends the signal to the system that you have the bike and the GPS device on the bike shows where you go and how long you use the bike. When you are done with the bike, you lock it with your phone and the system shows that bike as available to the other users on the system.

Here is the explanation at their website:

SoBi will be the first public bike share system with the authorization, tracking, and security systems attached to the bicycle itself. SoBi uses GPS, mobile communications, and a secure lock that can attach to almost any bicycle and lock to any regular bike rack. The system does not require separate infrastructure and can be deployed at approximately one-third the cost of existing systems. Administrators will be given powerful tools to manage demand and map patterns of use. Users will enjoy door-to-door transportation and an interactive cycling experience that can track miles traveled, calories burned, CO2 emissions offset, and connections to other Social Cyclists.

They are attending the Pepsi Refresh Project contest and they can win 50K with your votes. The system will be tested in NYC in autumn and then may be developed for other cities and countries around the world. This looks like it would be a great opportunity to bring something that combines web 2.0 and the real life experience.

I have already written about the culture of sharing and that web 2.0 will bring about the idea of share 2.0. Share 2.0 is the idea that you provide a product or service, that you wouldn’t have to serve each person another set, but something that can be shared by the maximum number of people.

SoBi fully corresponds to my idea of share 2.0. And I hope it wins 50K to improve their system. It’s unfortunate for us that we will never be able to experience this in Istanbul… The bikes would get lost in a few hours–never to be seen ever again.

You may or may not know that there is an ongoing project to build the third bridge on the Bosphorus in Istanbul, which will be positioned on the North end of the peninsula. This bridge will serve only for the transit heavy vehicles and thus, the inner city traffic would be relieved from that  burden.

This project has not started yet, but it was presented to the officials and they are going to decide about it soon. The third bridge project raised quite a number of questions on all levels of the social, political, economic, technical and environmental platforms, since it is suggested to build on the only forestry area of the city. Therefore, many people–who will benefit from the bridge economically–are supporting the project and many others–who will be negatively effected environmentally–are against it.

In this respect, Imre Balanlı has produced a documentary emphasizing on that subject: Ekümenopolis.

Ecumenopolis is a term that was coined by the Greek city planner, Constantinos Doxiadis,

to represent the idea that in the future urban areas and megalopolises would eventually fuse and there would be a single continuous worldwide city as a progression from the current urbanization and population growth trends.

Architect and urbanologist Prof. Dr. Ahmet Vefik Alp mentioned the term in an interview to describe the situation, if the third bridge was built as presented. There are ongoing alternative project preparation by a group of independent architects, city planners, social engineers, urbanologists and NGOs in order to come up with a better plan, which would both be beneficial for and to the city economically, socially and environmentally at the same time.

Here is the trailer of the documentary, see the forthcoming future of Istanbul if we do not avoid it.

Last year, I have introduced here an extraordinary and outstanding brewery from Scotland that made unique beers and aged them in a ship aboard. Now, they have taken their marketing strategy one step further.

Yesterday, Brew Dog declared that their new beer has brought the history to an end: they made a 55% alcoholic beer, which is inserted into taxidermied rodents. One bottle of this beer costs approximately $750. Therefore, they claim that they have the strongest and most expensive beer in the world.

It looks like their unprecedented marketing strategy will generate much attention not only from beer lovers, design freaks, marketing gurus and ad people, but also from animal rights activists, anti-alcohol institutions, human rights defenders and others. Therefore, I can say that this is a very effective marketing strategy because it generates not only brand visibility and awareness, but also creates a buzz that will not end quickly. And apparently, the idea of a beer that was aged on a ship aboard did not work.

It is a combination of a video game and your “to do list”. The idea is to turn your daily tasks that you are failing to do in time–probably because you are wasting much of it looking at these monitors. Once you accomplish a task (in other words, a quest) you get points and compete with other people who are using the same app.

This is an interesting development in the web 2.0 phenomenon, which is invading all aspects of our life more and more each and every day, that is turning our daily life and our real life actions into virtual acts and events. We are actually copying the whole life and trying to fit it into this little screens.

So, if you are a person who cannot do things in real life because you are virtually existing in the internet, try this application… it may help you–to earn some points.

Osman is a young character. He was born recently and is still in post-production waiting for his days to come. But he already began gaining friends in Facebook. He already has more than 730 friends. The teaser of his upcoming film has been released the other week.

We are waiting eagerly to see what will come out. The movie is directed by Turgut Akaçık, who has recently won two awards at Annecy with Pinky, Don’t Go. Therefore, I think that it will be a great feature animated film–I believe–mocking Turkish cinema.

Let’s wait and see altogether. If you haven’t seen or heard about Pinky, Don’t Go, here is the teaser: