The personal musings of Casper Moller

Table Tennis - My First Gold Challenge Sport

noreply@blogger.com (Casper Moller) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 11:24:00 +0000

Last night I took part in my first table tennis session at a North London sports centre, along with a number of the people associated with the Gold Challenge, known as "The Torchbearers". I didn't know quite what to expect, but knew that this was going to be first of two sessions required to attain the minimum standard required by the challenge rules to get my first certificate - and the next session is already scheduled in for next Tuesday evening.

I have to admit that I've had several opportunities to join the Torchbearers in the past, but there have always been scheduling conflicts so I was never able to join them until now - and 'what a great way to start' I thought to myself as I have always loved playing table tennis and played it loads growing up. You might think that the only reason I have selected this sport as one of the 10 I'll be doing as part of my personal challenge is that I already know how to play it. The truth is not quite as black and white as that. Being insanely busy trying to get a new company off the ground, the thought of taking on at least 30 hours of training in 10 different sports (not to mention at least the same amount of travelling time on top of that) before the end of 2012 is actually very difficult to find the time for. It is going to be hard work and that's why I thought I'd do a combination of sports I love, sports I've always wanted to try out and I also want to do at least one Paralympic sport. So as you can see, table tennis is a good way for me to get off to a very positive start with my Gold Challenge experience and I was really looking forward to it all day, although with a bit of apprehension as my old knee injury has started to flare up again over the last week or so. The key questions for me prior to arriving were: 1) Are there going to be other players at my level so we can play some games? and 2) Where the H... is my racket?

When I arrived I could see that I needn't have worried. There were about 12 people there tonight and many of them had already played table tennis previously and knew the rules - and were quite decent players to boot. However, there were other people there who had not played before and did not know even the basic rules. Unfortunately, our slightly overworked coach didn't take this into account and for the first few exercises we were just paired up randomly and asked to hit the most basic shots. As the evening progressed we got to play a couple of short games against different opponents and when it was time for the final exercise, I suddenly found myself the odd man out - until a regular playing member there asked me to come and join him on a table. This was when it got a lot of fun! I haven't had rallies like that for 25 years and can't wait for next week's session after that. I was drenched in sweat, but very proud that I was still able to hit some fantastic shots. Oh, and next week it means get my first Gold Challenge certificate!

If this has inspired you to either assist me in my fundraising efforts on behalf of Action for Children or to take on your own Gold Challenge, then why not go ahead and sign up now? You choose the number of sports you want to try out (you can change this later on), the charity you want to help raise funds for and set a target. Gold Challenge then help you set up a personal page, find a venue near you where you can try out a chosen sport, and they can even help you set up your own fundraising page.

Doing the Gold Challenge!

noreply@blogger.com (Casper Moller) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 11:04:00 +0000

What a busy year it's been so far. I've just noticed this is my first update in almost 10 months, a fact that can only be down to the hectic schedule that I've given myself after I started a new company earlier this year - more to follow on that one shortly.

Today I thought I'd share with you that I've signed up for the Gold Challenge, a sports charity event, where I aim to try out 10 different Olympic and Paralympic sports before the end of 2012. At the same time I will be raising money for Action for Children, a charity focused on giving vulnerable, disadvantaged and neglected children in the UK the opportunities to realise their full potential. The fundraising target is £500 and I hope you'll want to follow my progress through the various sports. I still haven't decided which 10 I'll do, but it will be a mixture of sports I've tried before and something completely new - with at least one Paralympic sport thrown into the mix. The only thing that is certain is that tonight and next Tuesday I'll be participating in table tennis training sessions (one of the sports I already know) to get my first Gold Challenge certificate - and score some good bonus points in the challenge!

Please help out by donating to Action for Children. It's a good cause and together we can make a difference!

You can follow my progress in the Gold Challenge here.
You can sponsor my challenge and donate to Action for Children through Virgin Money Giving.

If you would like to try out new sports, get fit and raise money for your chosen charity (currently about 100 are signed up), you can check out Gold Challenge yourself - and get involved as an individual, a team or perhaps be part of a corporate programme.

Hot or Not?

noreply@blogger.com (Casper Moller) — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 03:06:00 +0000

Last night I was fortunate enough to be invited along to a sake tasting at the London restaurant Kyashii. I've always enjoyed a cup of sake whenever I've had a meal at a Japanese restaurant, but cannot profess to be an expert on it. I've always felt a cold sweat start to develop on the back of my neck when presented with the sake list and trying to make a choice for a group of diners - and the inevitable question is: "Would you like it hot or cold?". Last night I learnt quite a few things about sake and am now more confident the next time I'm faced with this selection dilemma.

The evening was hosted by sommelier Asami Tasaka from World Sake Imports and after an informative presentation about the brewing process, we got to try 4 different sakes. Even though Japan, rumour has it, produces between 150,000 and 200,000 different types of sake at more than 1,300 breweries there are in essence 4 different types:

Junmai - made from a lightly polished rice and the only sake ever to be considered for being drunk warm! The taste varies from dry and sharp to warm and rounded and the more robust versions are best suited to heartier dishes such as the Japanese hot pots and for stronger flavoured sushi.
Ginjo - a more highly polished rice, which gives off more floral and fruity notes to the sake. In order to obtain a ginjo rating the rice must have been polished down to a minimum of 60% of its original size, but will often be as low as 50%. As the flavours are more subtle and nuanced, the ginjo types of sake are best suited to sweeter and subtler flavours (think Hokkaido scallops; ama ebi - sweet prawns, and other delicate things such as foie gras).
Daiginjo - a masterclass in subtlety and finesse. A highly polished rice (more than 50% of the original size is lost) leads to more complex and elegant flavours and the Japanese often prefer to drink these on their own rather than have them diluted by the flavours of food.
Specialty - these can be flavoured sakes or something like nama, an unpasteurised and unfiltered sake that is only available at certain times of the year.

We tried one of each of the different types of sake, but please note that due to the variety of sakes there is not a one size fits all rule in terms of flavours etc. This is why the Japanese also look at qualities such as the acidity, the type of yeast used and something called the "sake meter", which explains whether something is dry or sweet. The greater the minus rating, sweeter it is and the greater the plus rating the drier it is.

The first sake we tried was called Hoyo "Genji" (£25, 500ml) and was a junmai from Miyagi prefecture. It was quite subtle and not something that I would recommend with a hot pot like sukiyaki as the flavours would be completely overpowered. However, I can definitely see where it would go well with a range of sushi and sashimi such as salmon and tuna. This was the only sake we were served that should be served warm.

The second sake was the Dewazakura "Oka" (£18, 300ml) from Yamagata. This was a much more open, but at the same time more complex tasting sake. It was incredibly floral (to the point where I observed it felt like licking rose petals) and I just wish we'd had some delicate seafood nibbles to go with it.

The third sake was, in my humble opinion, the absolute star of the show. The Tedorigawa "Iki na Onna" or Lady Luck (£50, 720ml) was both clean and balanced, while also showing a richness and a great finish that would make it one of the best sakes I've ever had. My only gripe being that it was not cold enough.

To finish, we tried a nama sake, which I have to say is an acquired taste. It looks like pre-mixed pastis and tastes of fermented cheese. Personally, I'll be steering well clear of the Kamoizumi "Nigori Ginjo" (£28, 500ml) in the future.

After the tasting we were taken upstairs to try a sake cocktail and then we got a special offer of 40% off the food menu. We went for a mixture of steamed edamame, chicken kara-age, chicken yakitori, pork gyoza and seared fillet of beef. The food was good, but the service was lacking a bit and they didn't have my first choice starter (which it took them about 5 minutes to find out); they mixed up the yakitori order, and we were left waiting for 35 minutes for the main course after we had cleared all of the other plates.

All in all it was a great evening, but primarily because of the educational aspect. I would not choose to return to eat there at their normal prices, unless I was invited along for an event by a group of friends. At least I can now email our guest lecturer for the evening and get her recommendations for the best Japanese restaurants in town and I shall do so later on today.

Hectic Start to 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Casper Moller) — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 02:20:00 +0000

Dear reader, I hope that you've had a good start to the New Year. Now that we're almost one month into it already, I thought it might be useful to do a quick status on what's been going on over the last few months. This post is just a quick intro, and I will start delving into more detail in subsequent posts.

In October, Artica, an online gallery that I'm involved with launched a book, "A Hedonist's Guide to Art" in conjunction with Hg2 (publishers of the Hedonist Guides) at an ultra successful event at Mark Hix's restaurant in Selfridges in the West End of London. On next Wednesday (February 2nd) we're having the launch of our first hotel exhibition partnership at The Zetter. We'll be exhibiting new works by Lyndon Hayes. Find out more about him and have a look at some of his works at Artica.

If you'd like to find out more and to sign up, I'd recommend you check out our Facebook page for Artica. We've also created a Twitter feed for Artica.

Following on from that I've been involved in the launch of the Gold Challenge. The Gold Challenge is part of the mass participation legacy programme for the London 2012 Olympics and the idea is very simple: you choose to take on a challenge to try out 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 or 30 Olympic and Paralympic sports before the end of 2012 in order to raise money for your chosen charity (at present there are more than 100 charities to choose from). You decide how many sports you'd like to take on and set your own fundraising target and then away you go. Through the web site and upcoming social media initiatives you'll easily be able to find the sports that suit you best as well get help, inspiration and on-going motivation as you go for the gold! Find out more at the Gold Challenge web site, and don't forget to "Like" the Facebook page and follow the Twitter profile.

Just at the beginning of 2011 it was time for a bit of rest and relaxation and I headed off to the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico for a combination of total relaxation and a bit of culture. I managed to do some great day trips to both the Chichen Itza and to Tulum. It was an absolutely fantastic trip to a part of the world that I've been fascinated by since I was a teenager so I'm just very happy I finally got to experience it. Other than the cultural elements, the margaritas were good and the massages at the hotel spectacular. I managed to take more than 200 photos, but have not yet managed to organise them and upload them to Twitter. If you are friends with me on Facebook you'll be able to see a selection of about 50 unedited shots.

As always, I'm tempted to say, 2011 will be a year full of travel for business and leisure. So far I've got bookings confirmed to Hong Kong, Bangkok, Jersey, Copenhagen, Berlin, Las Vegas, New York, Boston, and Marseille/Nice (3 trips). A few weeks ago I tallied up my travel over the last 3 years and realised I'd gone round the world (25k miles/40k kms) 8(!) times. As I head into the second half of the year I hope to be able to curtail the travelling a bit as it just seems I'm losing too many working days on transportation and I'd be better served by being stuck behind my desk in London. At the same time, I'm busy working on bringing in new clients and doing a feasibility study to set up a new company as well. I've got a feeling that this is going to be a great year and I hope you experience one too!

That's all for now, folks! I hope to be able to find the time to update my blog a lot more frequently even when I'm away and with my new iPad it actually looks like it could be possible.

Quality? Who Cares?

noreply@blogger.com (Casper Moller) — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 23:13:00 +0000

Well, it does become an issue when people have no clue how to fill out a form online because nobody has bothered to check the copy on the form... Tonight I was about to book a car rental through the British Airways/Avis web site and I got the form below. I'm somehow guessing that it won't be very useful inputting my Executive Club member number 8 times!!!

My Crystal Ball Still Seems to be Working...

noreply@blogger.com (Casper Moller) — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 21:43:00 +0000

I'm not the type of person to say "I told you so!" and this blog post is merely an update on some of the earlier predictions I've made about both Google and Apple.

1) Back in early January 2010, I wrote a blog post about why Google were bound to fail with their marketing of the Nexus One Android-based phone. Today the Wall Street Journal carried a blog post about the end of the line for the Nexus One, barely 6 months after its launch. No matter what kind of spin, Google (Ticker: GOOG) try to put on it, it was an absolute disaster! Stop the excuses and just realise that this is not your market...

2) Just a couple of weeks later, I wrote a long analysis of the idea of the Apple iPad (or iSlate as it was also known back then) and argued that the iPad was not really moving the game on for Apple. There is no doubt that it has been a tremendous success for Apple in terms of sales, but it still hasn't been a game changer in the way the iPod was when it came to bringing portable music to the masses. I still believe that Apple missed a trick by using the iPhone OS rather than the Mac OS as it hampers the ability of the device to replace your current laptop/netbook etc. I argued that the real game changer would be to introduce a television based on the intuitive operating system of the iPods and iPhones (known as the iOS), which have gained such widespread use that the OS has become ubiquitous. Over recent months it's been interesting to see that both analysts and even the New York Times agree with the viewpoint that this is indeed going to be the next big news out of Apple. The likelihood is high that Apple would use screens from Samsung, but integrate the iOS software to create a seamless experience allowing customers to benefit from the plethora of content already available in iTunes. The biggest questions for me are whether or not they will include an EPG, Freeview/Freesat and an HDD to allow for storage of e.g. downloads directly from iTunes and of off-air content.

This would represent a significant challenge to the likes of Sony and Panasonic, who, even though, they have started to enable their TV sets to receive content through either Ethernet or WiFi, do not have the intuitive GUIs that Apple has. Furthermore, they are much more reliant on 3rd party content through providers of streaming and download rentals/purchases and free video content, whereas Apple already has its own distribution deals to ensure one uniform platform through iTunes. It's also clear that in terms of marketing they do not have the same "sex appeal" or ability to communicate to their consumers about what the consumers need - they are still very technically led. You might still remember the "Bouncing Balls" ad that Sony created almost half a decade ago and this is a prime example of the focus that "traditional" consumer electronics companies use - and we've just seen another example on TV in the UK about the depth of colour. Even though I've seen it a million times, I still can't remember who it's for... Just goes to show how effective that advertising campaign was. I guess there's no domo arigato to the "scientist" in that advert...

It just reminds me of why WAP failed: all of the initial ads were focused on the technical aspects (Nokia were BIG SINNERS when it came to this), rather than trying to put it in terms consumers could understand such as: "Would you like to be able to check the weather forecast/latest stock quotes/football scores on your phone?" Most consumers would have answered in the affirmative to that type of question and instead they were inundated with huge amounts of technobabble - and then the mobile phone manufacturers were left scratching their heads as to why the uptake was so low on these premium models. Apple came along and made very clear and coherent advertising about what you could actually do on your iPhone and, before that, Research in Motion had clearly demonstrated the benefits of the Blackberry. As always, there's one case that proves to be the exception to the rule: Microsoft! Their advertising, especially in print, has always been (pardon my French) p*ss poor. The only reason that they were allowed to get away with it was the fact they had the market for PC operating systems almost entirely to themselves. This is not the case for consumer electronics! And as we move towards a world where more and more of our appliances will be networked and able to draw all of the content available on the Web onto any device, the marketing challenge becomes communication about making it easier for the consumer, rather than the focus on the technical capabilities of the device. In many respects history of product failures is littered with this lesson, but most companies have failed to heed it. I'd just like to mention two:

Sony's Betamax format was technically vastly superior to VHS, but still inferior to Philips' V2000. However, the marketing for the latter 2 both focused on the technical aspects whereas the consortium behind VHS ran around manically ensuring distribution deals for the content people wanted to watch and that's why they won.
Bang & Olufsen has been in a tremendous amount of financial difficulty over the last decade, simply because they have been unable to understand the underlying market trends. We all want the multi-room connectivity offered by B&O, but we're not willing to pay 5 times as much for a plasma screen that is only half as good as any given Panasonic Viera screen - and with less integration with online services.

The above are some of the reasons why I firmly believe that the Apple TV will be a run-away success in an age where we want to be able to store and access all of our personal visual content on our devices, as well as have access to all of the latest entertainment on-demand.

It's also interesting to note Samsung are hedging their bets in this matter as they already have WiFi and Ethernet enabled television sets with access to a number of 3rd party services such as Blockbuster and LoveFilm in the UK, as well as their own service: SamsungMovies for downloads to mobiles and PCs. At the same time they are selling screens to Apple for use in the iPhones and iPods and it would not be a surprise if they were also going to be supplying the hardware for the Apple TVs. This strategy of supplying both the B2B and B2C markets is likely to mean a long-term upturn in the share value of Samsung, whereas the manufacturers who buy in plasmas and LCDs from suppliers and fit their own casings and software around them are likely to struggle for mass-market acceptance.

As I said at the beginning of this blog post, I'm not going to say "I told you so", but I will say it will be interesting to watch what happens over the next few months.

New updates coming soon!

noreply@blogger.com (Casper Moller) — Wed, 12 May 2010 01:39:00 +0000

The last few months have been more than a little bit crazy with several intense work projects, 3 trips to the US in 5 weeks (and an extra 5 days stuck in Boston due to the volcanic ash cloud). At the same time, I've also encountered some great companies and one, which I am about to embark on a personal vendetta against. Stay tuned for all of this over the next few days as I start to share everything from restaurant tips, to great companies to work for and why you should never even consider buying anything from Dell.

Amsterdam - Or... My Friends Call Me "Crazy"

noreply@blogger.com (Casper Moller) — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 23:42:00 +0000

As an independent consultant, I'm not the one to go for lavish travel expenditure on the company... as I'm actually the one who's footing the bill personally. I have several friends who work for big corporations and will pretty much throw their toys out of the pram if, for whatever reason, the travel policies are suddenly changed and they are no longer allowed the perks of lie-flat beds in Club World or even, God forbid, British Airways First (BTW. Note to marketing team - you haven't done SEO for either "BA First" or "British Airways First").

When you're the done whose credit card gets punked every month you tend to be a bit more careful with how you spend your Pounds/Yen/Dollars/Euros. Unfortunately, due to the way that British Airways have structured their Executive Club loyalty programme, this makes it very difficult to achieve any kind of status with the airline (or most other airlines for that matter) as the importance of price becomes much more prevalent when booking flights. If your dates are fixed, you might as well go for the £132 R/T ticket from LHR to Copenhagen, rather than the flexible business class fare of almost £700. OK, you get a lot less miles but c'est la vie... However, it's also the cost of the ticket/class of flight that pretty much determines your eligibility for/chances of ever attaining status with the airlines. Therefore, in recent years, I've found it very difficult to even attain Silver status with British Airways as it would require me to fly 15 one-way European business class sectors or to take at least 4 round trip flights to either Asia or North America every year. If I could justify it for business I would as I've reached an age where it takes me a lot longer to combat the jetlag than it did when I was happy bumming it around the world as a student. Even so, spending almost 13 and a half hours in World Traveller Plus coming back from Hong Kong earlier this month almost knocked me out for 2 days cold. Yes, I admit it: I'm becoming a creature of comfort, but there was still no way I was going to pay almost £3k for my trip from London to Bangkok, on to Hong Kong and then back home. Instead I managed to do the entire trip for £1300 (including a surreal experience of gaining 40 status points for flying Royal Jordanian Business Class from Bangkok to Hong Kong, but that is another story entirely.)

OK, so I was knocked out cold for a couple of days after I got back, but it was at the weekend and I still have the satisfaction of knowing that I saved £1700 - and that's only on one trip! To people who don't pay for it themselves this no doubt seems like a drop in the ocean, but imagine if, for example, Ernst & Young or Accenture suddenly made all of their senior staff fly monkey class and forced them to pay for any upgrades themselves... A lot of people would be changing careers very quickly and suddenly the economy sections of the 747s would be filled with people whining about the lack of laptop power and there wouldn't be a backpacker in sight as they'd no longer be able to afford any travel other than the 10:23 train from Waterloo to Brighton.

Having said all of that, I was fortunate enough to experience the benefit of having status with British Airways a few years ago. Getting Silver means you can check in at the Club Europe/World counter and avoid the masses, you get to access the lounges no matter what class you fly in, you get a mileage bonus, and you even get an extra luggage allowance - useful when you're trying to stuff your bags full of tat all over the world only to discover you could have found it cheaper online at home... As you can probably imagine, my status didn't last very long. As soon as I had all of the benefits I was only booking the cheapest flights imaginable and that year I only had one trip outside of Europe so as soon as the next membership year started, I was bumped back down to the masses.

Now this is where the story takes a twist... Knowing that I'm spending my own money and having spent enough time perusing the forums at Flyertalk (and doing enough of my own nerdy calculations) to know how best to maximise the value of all of my collected miles (to exchange for flights, upgrades etc) and to collect as many points as possible (for status) I've found myself in a rich vein of form over the last 12 months. I've never had to throw away as many tickets as I've done over this period of time (due to deaths, the sudden unavailability of people I was supposed to have met and other unforeseen circumstances), but at the same time I've been busy travelling all over the place and therefore realised that I would, once again, achieve the "holy grail" of BA Executive Club Silver before the end of my membership year on April 8th. This time, though, I'm determined to keep it - I could easily save £250 per year on just munching at the lounge, rather than paying exorbitant prices at the food outlets at the airport, and that's not even taking into account the free massages by Elemis... However, as you've read above (if you've managed to stay interested enough to reach this point), earning points is not exactly easy and therefore you have to cherish the ones you get. British Airways have got what I would call a "quirk" in their system, which means that once you achieve your 600 points in a membership year they get reset and you start afresh trying to accumulate 600 points to renew your Silver status. Unfortunately the system is very tough on you. If you've got 595 points and earn an additional 330 points by flying First to Sydney, BA will reset you to Silver but not subtract the 600 points and let you keep 325 for the next membership year. Oh no, you lose all of those points for the flight that tips you over the top - making it incredibly difficult for those of us who pay our own way on flights to ever achieve and maintain any kind of status with the airline.

Because of this I found myself in a bit of a conundrum recently. During the annual sale, I booked a World Traveller Plus ticket to Washington D.C. for Easter and I knew it would tip me over the 600 points I needed for attaining Silver status, but also realised that I would be losing 65 points, as I would have earned a grand total of 590 points prior to the Easter break. From my own research and WAY TOO MUCH time spent on Flyertalk, I also realised that getting another 65 points would prove to be expensive. Buying a Business Class ticket to Nice, e.g., would have set me back at least another £300 pounds - unless another unannounced sale appeared... I decided to be proactive instead, knowing that I only needed another 10 miles to BOTH attain Silver and keep all of my 75 points from my trip heading out to Washington. British Airways, finally, decided to change their ways about a year ago, when they started awarding points even on the cheaper tickets - at 5 points a pop for domestic and European short-haul sectors. You can even attain Silver by flying 50 sectors - even with the 5 points it would have required 30 return flights to Manchester or Copenhagen to achieve the required levels to gain Silver... But, as you can probably imagine, that wasn't my immediate concern. I just needed 10 more points and, after having scoured availability calendars and prices, I finally booked and went on my first "mileage run": a trip which has no other purpose than to earn the points necessary to boost my total and, in this case, tip me over the threshold.

Therefore, I'm pleased to say that I just had a pleasant day in Amsterdam. The weather was lousy, the queues at both the Rijksmuseum and the Anne Frank House way too long, and I spent way too much time just reading a book at various cafes around town, but at least I could return home tonight knowing that not only have I achieved Silver status with British Airways, I've also safeguarded my 75 points for my flight to Washington, D.C. on Thursday. With all of my other trips that have already been booked this year, it will only require a few more to ensure that I keep my status. Now the task becomes to figure how I can achieve Gold :-)

I should probably watch "Up in the Air" soon as it sounds like my life is turning into something just as peculiar...

Hope you all have a very Happy Easter indeed, and any tips on what to see and do in Washington, D.C. would be greatly appreciated.

Two Mad Months...

noreply@blogger.com (Casper Moller) — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 19:47:00 +0000

Over the last two months I've been busy travelling the world and managed to take in Provence, Copenhagen, Bangkok, Hong Kong and New York - and within the next few weeks I'll be heading off to both Washington D.C. and Boston. I've won a new contract for a global consumer electronics company and am busy doing consultancy for a leading retailer in the Nordics, as well as helping four start-ups so busy times indeed. However, I have also managed to find some time to do a bit of business networking and, perhaps, most importantly eat at some outstanding restaurants on my travels.

Even though I know that most of my readers want to read about marketing, I also know that several of you look forward to receiving new restaurant recommendations so here are a few ones:

BANGKOK:
China House
China House at the Mandarin Oriental hotel (just known as The Oriental in Bangkok) was one of the best Chinese meals I've ever had. The decor is just dripping with passion, clearly taking its inspiration from the art deco style you would have experienced in Shanghai in the 1930s. Consultant chef Jereme Leung (founder of the original Whampoa Club in Shanghai) has created a menu, which just oozes sex on a plate. The seafood in particular was mind bogglingly good, but you won't go wrong with any of the house specials. The only gripe I'd have is that the wine list, like in most of Asia, is insanely priced. Go for a Tsingtao beer instead.

NEW YORK CITY:
Megu
I went to the original Megu on Thomas Street in Tribeca and was blown away by the spectacle. The decor is fabulous, the food is very good (although pricey) and the cocktails at the upstairs bar are spot on. All of the dishes were presented beautifully on a plate and then arranged/mixed in front of us - including a great Kobe sirloin presented on a large hot stone sat on a bed of pebbles in a wooden box and then flambeed at the table. My only gripe would be that it was very quiet rather than a fun party atmosphere, but this also means that it is more suited to a romantic dinner than a party night out with friends - unlike the next place on the list.

Buddakan
Buddakan reminded me of the original atmosphere at Buddha Bar in Paris before it became tourist hell, but with a key difference: the food is actually very nice. The bill came to less than half the price of Megu (at around $215 for two including tip) and there was a great party atmosphere and lots of beautiful young things to look at.

David Burke @ Bloomingdale's
On my way to a relaxed networking meeting I decided to stop in here for a quick bite. I'd walked past it on my last trip to NYC back in August 2009 and it looked like it would be a great place for a quick bite with a twist on some American classics like the burger.

Instead I ended up having dumplings as a starter and was completely sold on the special main course of the day: butter poached lobsted on truffled mash with wilted spinach. It looked stunning (look at picture below - sorry I had to start digging in before I had the presence of mind to whip out the camera) and the taste just blew me away. I hadn't enquired about the price and I found myself thinking that even if they wanted to charge $50 or $60 I wouldn't complain as it was just outstanding. Imagine my delight when I got the bill and saw that it was charged at $24.95(!)

Next time I'm in New York I definitely have to try out David Burke Townhouse and can't wait to see what they come up with there (got a bit of a preview as I was leafing through his magazine and cookbooks while enjoying my lunch.)

I also went to a couple of my usual haunts: Union Square Cafe and Carnegie's Deli and both were as good as ever. I also discovered Bloom's Deli on Lexington at 40th, which serves up a great Reuben sandwich. Finally, I managed to have a very nice meal at Nello on Madison at 61st on the UES. Great food, but seriously overpriced. $75 for a decently sized veal chop is just daylight robbery.

In Hong Kong, one of the great food cities of the world, I was a bit unlucky as I got a double whammy of food poisoning on my first full day there so never got to have any food that was too exciting. However, I would never hesitate to recommend Cafe Causette at the old Mandarin Oriental hotel in Central if you just want a simple and good meal from a broad ranging international menu. By the time my stomach was finally OK, I had a lovely black cod in miso broth on buckwheat soba noodles, which was just what the doctor ordered.

Does anybody have any good recommendations for Washington D.C.? I'd love to hear them as the only place I've decided I have to try out is Founding Farmers.

Apple iSlate? What's the Fuss?!? Apple TV would be news!

noreply@blogger.com (Casper Moller) — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 18:31:00 +0000

All of the world's financial analysts and journalists seem to be wetting themselves with excitement at the rumoured release of a new iSlate (or iPad, depending on who you choose to listen to) "tablet PC" from Apple on next Wednesday, the 27th of January (two days after they report quarterly earnings, which should see them come out well ahead of consensus estimates). According to one survey, even consumers are getting (somewhat) interested in it, equal to that of when Apple started selling PCs based on an Intel core architecture.

The Wall Street Journal is also reporting how Apple is trying to find new ways of generating income from traditional media by bringing it to a portable device (for more on that one click here), but to me this is all thinking inside of the box for a number of reasons:

Steve Jobs has an uncanny knack for surprising the world with new inventions, which are so well integrated in their entire user experience from device through to software and underlying content deals that it can take the world by storm - and, no disrespect meant to the analysts and journalists, the people who are so busy talking up what could be just have no imagination whatsoever...
When the iPod was released (many moons ago now, it was launched on October 23, 2001 if you can believe it), Apple in one fell swoop were able to succeed in a market where countless others had failed. Sure, MP3 players already existed but they were hampered by a lack of downloadable paid for content as the only online (legal) music services thended to have crap music by hitherto unknown bands. The key to the success of the iPod was two-fold: a. The UI on both the device and in iTunes was so simple you no longer needed to have a degree in astrophysics to operate the device and the computer software, and b. They had the distribution deals in place to secure the content that people actually wanted to listen to - and were willing to pay money for.
Apple bought lala.com in December 2009 to allow them access to a cloud based streaming platform (for more on the deal, click here) and rumours abound that they've been testing a video streaming service as well.
Apple already have a hardware box for in-home content streaming, the Apple TV, which is also integrated with iTunes and the deals, which have been made in recent years mean that TV shows and movies are now available for download (both rental and purchase).
Apple have a strong working relationship with Samsung, who supply everything from screens for computers and mobile devices to the ARM processors which power the iPods and the iPhones.
A large amount of users have become accustomed to using Apple's User Interfaces (UIs) over the last few years.
Competition is intense in the PC market, which Apple knows better than most with their ill-fated decision 30 years ago not to license their UI to other manufactures and allowing Windows to prevail as the de facto operating system on both business and personal PCs.

Based on the above indicators, and Apple's ability in the last decade to find new and profitable marketplaces with limited competition, I really wouldn't be surprised if the announcement on Wednesday was not that of a tablet PC, but of a... Television!

Not just any ordinary television, but one where you would have either a touch screen remote control similar to the iPhone/iPod Touch (or you can use the one you've already got) and/or an on-screen menu similar to the one already known from the aforementioned devices. Furthermore, due to the technologies already mentioned it would allow delivery of premium content via networked streaming as either rentals or purchases, and would also allow the users to access external storage devices (or even an-built one, which would function as both a HDD for TV and as a media library for all downloaded/copied content).

"Why on earth would Apple want to start selling televisions?" you might ask. Here are some compelling reasons, if you haven't already managed to deduce them from the comments above:

Apple has a strong and loyal brand following, which also allows it to achieve premium pricing, As an article on Clickz.com put it: "Simply put, Apple understands people. It knows that people make emotional decisions, then use intellect to justify those decisions. Dancing shadow people with iPods aren't an intellectual argument for buying an iPod, they're raw emotional appeal." LandorAssociates placed it as the top Breakaway Brand in 2009, in a survey where they culled the data from Young & Rubicam Brands' Brand Asset Valuator.
Apple already has the online and physical distribution network in place to allow it to make a massive splash - and with a lot higher visibility than "traditional" TV brands, generally sold through 3rd party retailers. But that it only one part of it - it also has the knowledge of how to position and market it as a lifestyle choice!
Perhaps most importantly, Apple has access to the content that people are willing to pay for! By network-enabling the TVs and allowing them to access NAS devices, computers and linked HDDs and to access the content whether it's local - or downloaded - means that they will achieve something that none of the traditional consumer electronics brands have managed to do, and with an interface that people will actually be able to figure out!
Apple is not afraid of "breaking the rules" as it has shown time and time again.
Apple would break away from heavy competition and into an industry, which has been stuck in a rut for years, with little brand loyalty and consumer apathy meaning price is often the only deciding factor for the purchase decision. Apple's strong brand loyalty and great designs would mean that an Apple TV would suddenly be seen as a cheaper option (with a much better design and User Interface) than say B&O, who seem to have lost touch with the marketplace completely in recent years, and whose designs are stuck in a time-warp until they get rid of David Lewis as their primary designer. Apple's TV could even retail at a premium compared with traditional consumer electronics powerhouses Sony and Pioneer, who might not have the requisite skills to compete on brand against Apple, whether or not their products (as "pure" TVs) are superior.

Even if Apple decide to release the iSlate to please analysts and add another $1 to EPS, it probably wouldn't become a huge mainstream consumer success, as the price would likely be too high and the question would always be: what is its primary use? Is it a direct competitor to the Amazon Kindle and Sony eBook readers? Is it a bigger version of the iPod Touch, which also doubles as an eBook reader? Is it a "design" version of a Netbook (at, presumably, a much higher price)? Is it all of the above, but with no real USP?

Furthermore, Apple have already paved the way for a foray into a much wider mainstream consumer arena than they have previously managed to. In this respect, perhaps the most interesting analyst's opinion was written in 2006, when Apple launched the Apple TV device, by Bear Stearns' Andy Neff, who wrote the following:

"Ultimately, Apple's goal is to create a product that customers would want (as opposed to creating new technology merely for the sake of technology), while focusing on areas where it can differentiate," he wrote. "Apple noted that it has a number of products currently in development that are likely to be introduced over several years."

Although Apple would not disclose additional specifications of iTV, Neff said the company highlighted that the device fits within its vision of simplifying consumers' use of content.

"Though details remain sketchy, Apple emphasized [the] focus of iTV [is] to improve user experience by leveraging its software expertise and implied that there may be features beyond the mere streaming of video content," the analyst wrote.

Apple has already acknowledged that the device will also be capable of streaming photos, music and podcasts. But during the meeting it also hinted at additional features such as an "internal

hard disk drive

for storage" and "advanced user interface software."

At least, I don't think Apple are dumb enough to believe the hype being spouted by some devoted followers, and will know that a lot of work needs to be done going forward whether they venture into the cross-category "be all and end all" portable device or the "old medium" of television.

In other words, even if Apple don't decide to start moving into the home entertainment market right now, the likelihood that they will at a later stage is looking greater by the day. It will be interesting to see what happens over the next 18 months.

As a note to potential investors, it should also be mentioned that no matter what product is showcased on Wednesday, a lot of the stock's expected upward movement in the next few months can be explained by Apple finally showing their hand, and their true financial strength, in the changing of their accounting methods, which will show the revenues for the iPhones instantly - rather than spreading it over 24 months as per the length of the mobile/cellular carrier contract, thereby giving a more realistic view of the company's revenues. For more on that story, head on over to CNet.

(DISCLOSURE: The author owns a limited amount of stock in Apple - 95 shares. This opinion is based on a mixture of analysis, common sense and relationships in companies which may or may not be directly related to Apple. It should not be viewed as a financial analyst's opinion to form the basis for any investment decision - it is purely the view of a marketer working in the field of media.)

Has N.Y. Times (finally) Cracked the Code?

noreply@blogger.com (Casper Moller) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 19:09:00 +0000

In a long anticipated announcement, N.Y. Times are (once again) trying to crack the online paid for content model - the good news for readers is that it won't happen until 2011 (some analysts had suspected it would be later on this Spring).

The idea is that you can still read a number of articles for free every month, but that anything above and beyond that you'll have to pay for. Will it work? I guess the jury is still out on that one, but it will be interesting to see what happens.

Unbreakable? Dangerous Claim to Make...

noreply@blogger.com (Casper Moller) — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 06:35:00 +0000

This is good for a smile to start the week on. BBC reporter Dan Simmons was at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas where he was challenged to break the new and "unbreakable" Sonim (no, it's not a spelling error) ultra rugged phone. You can guess where this one is going... Hope you all have a good week ahead!

Bringing CSR Into Car Advertising

noreply@blogger.com (Casper Moller) — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 22:18:00 +0000

I must admit that it's been a very long time since a TV ad really blew me away the first time I saw it. As with all good advertising it must have that certain je ne sais quoi, and this advert definitely has IT. Not exactly a bad thing considering that it's a French company who are the brand behind the advert: Renault.

In the automotive world it's common to release teaser pictures and even allow opportunities for "spy shots" to ensure that the car mad public are kept tantalised by the prospect of the new, hopefully, mouth watering vehicle that is being added to the range. However, this is the first time I've seen an advert for a car which isn't being released until more than a year down the line.

At the same time, it's a thought provoking advert that shows that Renault are thinking about a "greener future", thereby showing their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), and really works because of the combination of the message and the outrageous designs of the cars. These cars truly bring car design into the 21st century and for the first time, we're starting to see the "future" of car design as was predicted in the early 1980s. Hats off to Renault for not only having the balls to bring these cars to the market, but also in starting to market them broadly already now. For the first time ever, I have to admit that I'm tempted to buy a new French car (so far my interest stretches to the classic Citroen SM and DS) and the "feelgood" factor just makes the compulsion stronger. Now, if only Toyota had thought about a double-whammy like this in producing and marketing the Prius...

Will Google Nexus One Even Make a Dent in Smartphone Market?

noreply@blogger.com (Casper Moller) — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 14:30:00 +0000

It's here! Google have unveiled their Nexus One smartphone, which they hope will be able to gain market share from the likes of Apple's iPhone and RIM's Blackberry.

There is already a lot of speculation about their chances and I thought I would just give my quick thoughts on why I think it will FAIL.

1. Lack of traditional retail channels
Google doesn't have the widespread distribution of the iPhone and Blackberries and will struggle to make any impact on the US market unless they can add to the Best Buy distribution deal and the rumoured carrier contract with T-Mobile. In international markets this will be an even bigger problem.

2. Lack of unique content
These days a phone is more than just, well, a phone. Part of the reason for the popularity of the iPhone is the tremendous amount of applications available - and, not least, iTunes, which allows users to download music, TV shows and movies. Google doesn't have any of these things (for now) and even if applications are ported/developed at a much faster clip than currently, they'll struggle. Having the obvious YouTube integration isn't enough to make any executives at Apple have sleepless nights for the foreseeable future.

3. Interface
Apple have 30 years of experience in GUIs and Google have just over 1 - and it shows. Whereas Android might be great for a few tech boffins, most consumers are amazed by how easy it is to use any Apple product and this is going to be a key issue: if consumers have the opportunity to play around with both handsets I'd be surprised to see any significant percentage of them choosing the Nexus One. One could argue that they are trying to aim more for the Blackberries of this world, but if that's the case they've shot themselves in the foot by making it a touchscreen phone rather than including a hardware QWERTY keyboard. Nokia have tried to release several generations of their business smart phones with better sound quality, better navigation (at least several years ago) and with the added benefit of having instant recognition for users who upgraded from one of their "traditional" handsets. However, they completely failed to recognise that the one thing that makes the Blackberry immensely powerful in the hands of a user is the quality of its keyboard allowing you to type out email messages much faster than on any other device.

4. Design
If you're looking at big corporate deals this doesn't matter in the least: it will be the purchase price and running costs, which will determine who you go with. Not so in terms of the consumers. Here I also believe that most people will opt for the iPhone as it's sexy and cool, whereas the Nexus One is, erm, geeky? No offence, but you can probably imagine an engineer in Mumbai or Chennai walk around with a Nexus One, but a young adult in New York, London or Tokyo? I don't think so.

5. Focus (or lack of it)
Microsoft haven't exactly had an easy time after it went into hardware production with e.g. the XBox and I think that Google might have the same problems. Google's strategy has always been to try and own as much of the users' share of mind as possible and this has been the catalyst for the development of online apps and its purchases of companies in the past. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that and the value of the data they have about their users is immense and can be used in so many ways. However, by trying to also control the devices which the users access the content and applications on is, probably, going a step too far and I have to question whether this will add any short or long-term value to the company. I doubt it.

It's going to be interesting to see what happens, but I just feel Google are getting a bit too big and are starting to lack focus in what they are doing - and the Nexus One is yet another example of this. It almost brings to mind the infamous "peanut butter manifesto" leaked from Yahoo! a few years ago. Google should stick to what makes it a great company and focus their resources on ensuring continued dominance in the online field rather than try to become all things to everybody.

UPDATE (Jan 8th, 2010): I must say that the checkout process for purchasing a phone is incredibly user-friendly and something that a lot of companies (not just mobile/cell phone resellers) can learn from. This is a great way of ensuring that even people who find the Internet confusing can actually buy something online and not feel overwhelmed by the experience of doing so.

Discovery Channel Completely Undermine Their Authority

noreply@blogger.com (Casper Moller) — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 08:17:00 +0000

Yesterday I was unfortunate enough to watch Discovery Channel's show "Blitzkrieg" where the claim was made that Adolf Hitler came to power in 1932. As any (slightly) historically interested person focused on this period would be able to tell you, Adolf Hitler wasn't made Reich Chancellor until January 30th, 1933. By making such a simple factual mistake, I believe that Discovery Channel have seriously undermined their reputation for delivering objective and informative programming to the public and if that is to be the quality of future programming you might as well watch Big Brother in order to understand history in the future.

I am still awaiting a response to the email I have sent to Discovery about this error.

COMMENDATION: ComparetheMarket.com

noreply@blogger.com (Casper Moller) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 01:39:00 +0000

I couldn't help but be pleased by the new "Compare the Meerkat/Compare the Market" adverts on TV. Far too often we see companies change their entire marketing universe as a new Marketing Director, eager to put his stamp on proceedings, appoints a new agency/changes the communication just so he can say, two years down the line, "I did that" when he goes for his next job interview. Unfortunately, this often means that all of the expensive and extensive groundwork has often been wasted. Therefore, it is great to see that Compare the Market are sticking with the overall creative idea of Aleksandr Orlov (Twitter profile) and his band of meerkats. If you haven't visited comparethemeerkat.com, I'd highly recommend it. It is a great example of an integrated campaign and one where you really get the benefit of a teasing call to action on TV executed in a digital channel. What is great about it is also that it keeps on getting updated to reflect their communications in other channels. Several other current advertisers could really learn from this approach for a number of reasons:

Research shows that cross channel campaigns have a higher degree of effectiveness, but marketers feel that they are being held back by current technology. My personal opinion on this is that the marketers are not able to define their targets clearly enough as there are already very good technology solutions to measure cross media/channel impact.
Creating a brand universe/recognisable situations (whether through imagery, audio etc.) is more likely to increase brand recognition, i.e. keeping on "hammering home the message" is more likely to lead to a sale. In e.g. cosmetics, research shows that brand recognition is the most important purchase factor with 73% of survey respondents rating brand recognition as the most important factor in the purchase decision.
Understanding the traditional metrics in terms of advertising also means that we will gain a better understanding of how to use integrated media. As you can see from the figure below, the overall effectiveness of TV advertising decreases after 3 exposures and confidential (as well as country specific data) from media agencies confirm that the internet is a very cost-effective way of increasing the effectiveness of advertising campaigns.

If you want to understand why the idea of keeping an idea alive in branding terms is so incredibly important, just think about Christmas and how you associate Santa Claus with a onlder fat man with a full white beard. This is also an image which is inexorably linked with Coca-Cola - and with good reason... Read the story of Coke's Father Christmas campaigns here.

However, buyer beware, if you don't know how to do integrated campaigns... JUST DON'T! Currently we're seeing the Visit California TV ads in the UK again, but when they first aired the website didn't even resolve without the use of "www." and there were loads of 404 errors as they obviously hadn't even bothered to check that the links were working. In that respect, using digital actually damaged the very positive image they presented in their TV adverts. Another example, which was recently brought to mind, is Virgin Atlantic's 25th anniversary TV ad, which has recently started airing again on British TV. I commented on this almost 10 months ago and bemoaned the fact that there was absolutely no link with anything they did online when they launched their anniversary sale. These days there is absolutely nothing to even recreate a visual link between the TV adverts and the web site when you visit Virgin Atlantic. Unfortunately, as a marketer, I've got to question the sanity of this - considering the relatively low implementation costs of doing so.

Most of all, though, this just continues to illustrate the difference in marketing thinking between
an innovative (Compare the Market) and a staid company (Virgin Atlantic) when it comes to understanding the demands of their customers - and how they respond to mass communications in the 21st century. Whereas Virgin, unconvincingly, try to communicate that they're still at the forefront of the customer service game by relying on retro advertising to try and recreate 1984; Compare the Market keep on tantalising their prospective customers by using different channels to guide them to different digital experiences (Twitter, Facebook, fake web sites etc.), which all serve to enhance the customer experience and hammer home the brand name. Well done, Aleksandr and your little army of meerkats! I salute you, and bestow upon you my first marketing commendation of 2010.

As for Virgin (or, to be specific, your ad agency (no point in naming the shamed...)), it's back to the drawing board and, I'd recommend, trying to get back in touch with your customers and understanding their needs - not just onboard, but in every single touch-point with your customers.

Visit Marketing magazine's web site in order to see the effectiveness of the Compare the Meerkat campaign so far.

Pearl Jam - New Music Marketing Or Past It?

noreply@blogger.com (Casper Moller) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 01:23:00 +0000

Doing my best to follow up on my previous promise of ensuring that I update my blog a lot more regularly in 2010 than I did during 2009, I picked up the story earlier today that Pearl Jam have moved on from using MySpace to using Twitter in trying to broaden their fan base. TechCrunch have the full story here. Is this just a cynical marketing ploy by cynical marketing executives wondering how to squeeze any value out of a band who clearly seem past it, or is it a viable way forward in terms of marketing for bands?

The next question that springs to mind is whether or not Pearl Jam's key target audience are Twitter users, and if they are... how do they use it? Will they even see it or should this type of marketing be left to agencies promoting bands targeting a much younger audience? I'll now try retweeting it and see if people actually click on the link. Would love to hear your feedback on this one.

If you feel like getting a copy of the song for yourself, just tweet the info at http://twitter.com/PearlJam

Happy New Year!

noreply@blogger.com (Casper Moller) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 01:16:00 +0000

Dear readers, I'm sorry that 2009 turned out to be so scatty in terms of updates. I don't personally believe in the idea of resolutions for the turn of the year, but I am hoping to be able to provide you all with at least 3 - 4 useful updates every week as I now feel I have more time/am making a conscious effort to do so. Also, I'd encourage you all to follow my "micro blog" posts on Twitter if you'd like to find out more about my daily thoughts on everything from marketing through to food, philosophy and life.

P.S. Judge me at the end of the year - and if I don't reach somewhere between 156 - 208 blog posts in 2010, you can personally come by and flog me with the 2010 Xmas mistletoe. Ask for my address around December 15th...

Online eTail is/Seems to be Stuck in the Last Century

noreply@blogger.com (Casper Moller) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 00:54:00 +0000

Supposedly 2009 is the year that online retailing is really meant to come of age as sales continue to grow at the expense of physical retail locations. However, nobody seems to have told the retailers to actually shape up for this... Today (and over the last couple of weeks) I've tried doing my Xmas shopping online and in the end have decided to pretty much go back to the old fashioned way of shopping as, for various reasons (mostly bad system design or complete lack of maintenance/support), I've been unable to buy from Muji, Links of London, LastMinute.com and Molton Brown. Since I'm so seriously hacked off with my experiences with these retailers I refuse to boost their Google page ranks by actually linking to them.

Below is the catalogue of frustration:

Muji (for whatever reason) failed to show the secure confirmation page for Visa to allow me to confirm my identity.
Links of London kept on giving me different excuses (everything from system problems to my transaction being declined and an aborted session).
LastMinute.com sold me a couple of, what I thought would be, straight forward spa vouchers... except for the fact that they've since just dumped me in the lap of the provider who 1) Sent me the wrong vouchers; 2) Took 2 emails (6 days apart) to even respond to my complaint; 3) Sent out a correct voucher, but NOT the two that I had ordered and paid for, and; 4) Have still to respond to my last email about this issue. If I had known that the Purity Spa at Hilton Park Lane was such an administrative shambles, I'd probably have taken my business elsewhere to begin with...
Molton Brown sent me an email on November 9 saying they had dispatched my products... all fine and dandy, except for the fact that more than 2 weeks later I've not received them. Postal strike or not - that's just not good enough!

At least I had one positive shopping experience today when I received a confirmation of shipping from Amazon.co.uk for a printer I had ordered barely two hours previously. I must mention that Amazon have made several major screw-ups in the past, but at least they've made provisions for the misguided souls at Royal Mail and have found ways of guaranteeing delivery. I just wish that had been the case 7 years ago when I decided to do all of my Xmas shopping with them and the products arrived 2nd week of January despite me having ordered them at the beginning of November...

KEY LESSON: Even if we have moved into a digital age, there are still way too many amateurs when it comes to eCommerce and their projected customer service images don't fit in any way with the reality when it comes to dealing with them virtually. Even simple things like ensuring that URLs resolve without having to type in "www." seems to be an issue for at least one of the aforementioned sites and considering that a solution became commonplace at the turn of the century this shows us one of two things:
Either the marketing/customer service/sales people still don't "get" the Internet (or downplay its value - very dangerous in the times of social media where bad word of mouth can spread like wildfire), or;
The techies/agencies responsible for building the sites are either technically incompetent/lazy - and, even more worryingly, nobody on the client side has either the skills or the inclination to bother doing any kind of quality control

What baffles me as a marketer is the way these brands either don't seem to care about their customers or their brand and cannot seem to fathom the rule of lowest common denominator. If this is the experience I've had with Brand X online why should I trust in that brand to deliver a better experience in any other channel?

I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving - and Black Friday. Personally, even as an Internet veteran and digital marketer for a decade and a half, I'd urge you to consider doing your shopping in person this year.

OLED Really is the Display Tech of the Future

noreply@blogger.com (Casper Moller) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 23:53:00 +0000

Just came across this beautiful little article (and article) from Wired Magazine, showcasing the sturdiness of the new Samsung flexible OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) displays. If we can get to the point of having ultra-thin and flexible displays it will open up untold opportunities for how our media are able to disseminate their content and marketers and broadcasters alike will be salivating at the prospect.

How many times have you broken the screen on your TV? Your mobile phone? Your laptop? For me the number is one of each of the latter two - thankfully no TVs :-). Imagine the idea of a thin, lightweight and flexible screen that is also unbreakable. You would pretty much be able to fold up a 20 inch TV and stuff it in your bag when you go on holiday - just hang it on the wall once you get there. It's going to be interesting to see how quickly they can bring down the price of the technology in order to allow developers of new applications to get their hands on it and bring a whole variety of uses of it to the market.

Check out the full article and video over at Wired, and see how it performs compared with a conventional LCD when you take a hammer to it.

"If I had a hammer, I'd hammer in the morning. I'd hammer in the evening, I'd hammer all day..."

UPDATE: VisitDenmark MD Steps Down

noreply@blogger.com (Casper Moller) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 12:44:00 +0000

Further to my previous post on the absolute cock up of the VisitDenmark marketing campaign, I was very happy to just read that Dorte Kiilerich, the MD responsible for the fiasco, has taken the consequence of her actions and resigned. I now hope that they can put this debacle behind them and move on with new forces at the helm, who can start to rebuild Denmark's reputation abroad using common sense while not eschewing the use of technology and innovative campaign tactics.

For more on this story (in Danish) click here.

Danish Marketing Reputation Going Downhill?

noreply@blogger.com (Casper Moller) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 12:15:00 +0000

After I wrote a post in August last year about how Carlsberg made a rather large snafu in relation to their sponsorship of Liverpool FC, we've now had the insanely warped campaign from VisitDenmark trying to increase tourism. The YouTube video of a single mother, "Karen", who was looking for the father of "her" young child was supposed to show Denmark as a liberal and free thinking country. Instead, it managed to alienate a lot of families and people from societies a lot less liberal than Denmark - and excited a lot of young men who suddenly seem to think that Danish girls are easy (at least if you believe some of the comments posted on YouTube).

Dorte Kiilerich, Managing Director of VisitDenmark, stated ”Karen's story shows that Denmark is a broad-minded country where you can do what you want. The film is a good exponent for Danish, independent and dignified women, who dare to make their own choices.” At least that was the official line until the backlash started and the Chairman of the Board had to pull his support for it...

”I don’t understand the advertising agency that has produced this story. What do they think people will think,” says Roskilde University Sociologist and Women’s Affairs Researcher Karen Sjørup. ”They’re obviously trying to sell a type of promiscuous Danish woman and exploit the idea that you can lure quick, blonde Danish women home – without a condom,” Sjørup says, adding however that foreigners who come to Denmark with that idea will be very disappointed.

According to Politiken, a leading Danish newspaper, Peter Helstrup, at Grey, the advertising agency behind the video said it was a major success.

”It is the most successful viral advert ever. We have got through the media noise and it cost the same as a 30-second spot shown a couple of times on TV2,” says Peter Helstrup from Grey’s.

In less than a week, the video notched up 1.9 million Google searches, 773,000 YouTube viewings and is linked to 83,000 websites.

A day after the initial press release containing Ms. Kiilerich's quote above, VisitDenmark were forced to pull the plug and saying "I'm deeply sorry that this film has upset many people. This was not our aim at all. Our aim was to create a positive awareness of Denmark and stimulate discussions about Denmark. To avoid further upsetting people, we have now removed the film from YouTube."

She didn't exactly get any support from her Chairman who stated "VisitDenmark's mandate is to market Denmark abroad and, naturally, has to find new and different ways of doing so. When it happens it's important that your communication is very clear or you risk the opposite happening. And we must conclude that this has happened in this case. Therefore, I am happy to have seen that the film has now been removed."
[NOTE: no, doesn't make any sense to me either. Foot in mouth syndrome?]

Showing Denmark to be a country full of drunk and loose women of dubious morals - and using tax payer money to do so - is NOT the way to market Denmark abroad and as a Danish marketer I'm feeling downright embarrased on behalf of both VisitDenmark and the team at Grey who came up with this piece of junk. After the Danish politicians also started ripping into Ms. Kiilerich, I hope that necessary steps will be taken to remove her from the post as I cannot see how she can continue fronting an organisation responsible for the positive branding of Denmark. Furthermore, it should also be considered whether the organisation's mandate should be reviewed in relation to how tax payer money is spent.

Personally, I just don't hope this will have an adverse effect on the job prospects of the many talented Danish marketers plying their trade abroad.

Sorry about another extensive delay...

noreply@blogger.com (Casper Moller) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 23:46:00 +0000

I've been away travelling for most of August and September so far and when I've finally been around I haven't been able to decide whether to laugh or cry at the mediocrity of the marketing I've seen recently. I know that many of you were expecting me to comment on the debacle, which was the so called "viral" video of the single Danish mother seeking the "father" of her young son on video, but I've decided to hold my breath until the initial outbursts/condemnation/sleazy comments died down before doing so. However, I will now address this in a blog later on today and will also publish a post about a campaign on the London Underground (or The Tube as we locals know it) from Hotels.com, which, at best, is bordering on being a complete breach of all rules regarding ethics in marketing, and why HSBC really have managed to get my goat recently (and why I'm terminating my banking relationship with them after 11 years). Hope you'll stay tuned. In the meantime, you can always follow my latest quick thoughts on Twitter.

BBC Realise Power of Brand "You"

noreply@blogger.com (Casper Moller) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 14:47:00 +0000

According to a piece on the Digital Spy web site, auntie Beeb have hired a brand consultant to help turn their TV stars into global brands. This is a very smart move in terms of increasing the potential revenue streams for their commercial arm - only makes you wonder why they didn't do it sooner. This will probably mean a lot more people following in the footsteps of monsieurs Clarkson, Hammond and May in establishing their names far beyond the borders of Blighty.

Read the full story here.

Is This the Future of TV?

noreply@blogger.com (Casper Moller) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 14:43:00 +0000

I remember growing up in Denmark in the 1980s where everybody was talking about 3D television. My friends and I all rushed out to buy 3D viewing glasses only to be bitterly disappointed by the movies shown on TV, which just seemed blurred and in green and red. Now Channel 4 in the UK are trying to get us in the mood again with a 3D programming week. I wonder if we'll be just as disappointed as last time around or whether this could actually work by now. Thoughts on a beer mat please.