My Dolce & Vita

WestEast consulting

2006-12-27T15:50:00.000+03:00

During Human Resource Management module, we happened to teamwork to present a rapport and a lecture. The group I belonged to chose to deal with the issue of recruiting in both Germany and Japan. However, not only we had to produce an overview of the topic, but also we were supposed to build a brand that represents our group and our purpose. Hearing of image, I obviously offered to design our logo, and here it is.

The colors are to suggest the rising sun, the ideogram in the middle (with the orange, the t of West and the e of East) means West in Japanese language, and the typo is similar to typography on maps.

Is Madonna a trendsetter or a trendspreader?

2006-09-13T15:23:00.000+04:00

Yesterday Madonna was performing in Moscow, at stadium Luzhniki and whatever media are broadcasting I didn’t witness any fervent orthodox demonstration, it might due to the huge number of soldiers and policemen devoted to the security.
The music and the show were great, even though the Kabbalah inspiration is far more visible than her previous tour, damaging the show. I expected great motion design on the background screens but they displayed a lot of too-explicit anti-war clichés (Bush’s diatribes, poor Africans…) while the warwear defile was, according to me, more pertinent and much more performance-focused.
Well in fact in this post I’d like to deal with two weak signals, not so weak actually, which can help in fashion prospective. The secret is Madonna doesn’t do the fashion but follows it, much earlier than mainstream I must admit, but anyway the both trends I am to develop could be witnessed before.
Confessions Tour starts with a horse-playing theme. However the polo was yet the new golf: Citizen K and Diesel both sponsor the Open de France de Polo and Ralph Lauren has turned hype since they had made the logo bigger, so equitation uniform should hit the street soon.
Second trend is about wearing only the sleeves of a t-shirt and having the body of t-shirt behind the neck. Madonna didn’t dress this way, only some dancers of her crew. Nevertheless now that perfect abdominals only request reading a book, more and more men wanting ROI from sport club membership show off their body. Now you know how to do it trendily.

JCDecaux goes to CIS

2006-09-08T11:57:00.000+04:00

The French outdoor advertising company is to enter Ukrainian, Russian and Uzbek market. Another French outdoor advertising company, whose aim seems to be resizing every Russian building up with bling-bling billboards and making them visible from Moon, is Defi.

Sachet Marketing

2006-09-07T15:49:00.000+04:00

I’m still bewildered to see that most Russians can’t help walking by without a second-hand plastic bag to carry umbrella, books and other stuffs that don't get into a regular bag. Speaking of plastic bags and seeing that trendwatching has recently popped up a new briefing, let me introduce the concept of Sachet Marketing, which fits Russia (actually the BRIC and emerging countries). Sachet Marketing is about designing products for less wealthy consumers that match their needs without damaging overall quality. From Renault’s Logan to 3G-free stylish Nokia.

Fashion never ends

2006-09-06T17:18:00.000+04:00

Today the fashion fair Collection Premiere Moscow is to open, providing the very occasion to get a look on street fashion in Russia. Some tells the Russian extravaganza is to be out, other shows it is still alive. The fact is that you feel free to dress anyhow. But please avoid the so-obvious-there-are-machine-used jeans, there are enough around.

23+

2006-09-05T16:14:00.000+04:00

You don’t understand you’ve got in unless you’re actually in. You don’t believe it could happen before it indeed did. Now that I’m 23, it was hight time to enter the grown-up age group, keeping in mind that every steps request to complete a trial to let you in. Since our societies have not built-in adulthood trial, I had to coin it by myself. So I did Saturday. Although it could turn as cosmetics, I didn’t care. I was too focused on listening to secrets. Even though these secrets are to be uncovered soon.
I want to tell you that you mean but don’t remember where my phone is and why I’m surrounded with water and I try to guess what’s next and I guess well and I fall asleep again and again.

is blog-supported advertising the new 30’ TV commercial?

2006-08-29T18:00:00.000+04:00

Blog is emblematic of the web 2.0 vogue. It engages the surfer furthermore by providing accurate information, allowing self-expression and feed back, and sharing experience. As the web 2.0 killer application, marketers have shown a strong interest in blogging. Nevertheless, are the blogs the ultimate place to advertise? What are the horizons, both prospects and restrictions, of such a medium?

Web 2.0 appeals to marketers – that is why they have coin the label marketing 2.0 – for they use blogs more and more. Nevertheless, a blog is not enough for an overall campaign and should be use purposefully otherwise it could be counter-productive. Marketers have indeed to namely follow web 2.0 rules to reach to the blog audience.
This analysis, after listing a typology of kind of marketing blogs one can witness among the blogosphere, focuses on the way how a blog can contribute to advertising. Then it provides relevant key elements to make a blog-supported ad campaign a real success.

(Rescue me) The old ladies want to date me!

2006-08-28T15:51:00.000+04:00

Saturday night I was riding in metro to downtown with a party-night-rules can of energy drink while one of the two old ladies seated in front of me asked me whether it were some drugs inside and the other lady said it couldn’t be so since such a can is legally sold. So I opened the can and offered a sip and they liked the sugar-saturated taste, what amazed me a lot. Then we kept talking all journey long and at the end they asked me my phone number, then I thought why not and I released it and they told they sms me back so I’ll get their number too. But for now I haven’t received any sms from them. Or I mistaken and gave a fake number, or old ladies turned more cynical than younger.
By the way, Geometria.ru is a photosite where you can witness me

Marketing 2.0

2006-08-23T16:09:00.000+04:00

Marketing 2.0 is a Web 2.0-based marketing. It includes different pictures, listed here; nevertheless its main aim is to use the Internet to engage furthermore the consumer so he takes part in the marketing process, namely both advertising and product designing

- WOM (Word of Mouth) Marketing: counting on individuals to spread the message both online and offline: McDonald's
- Viral marketing: counting on internet users to spread the message online: Smirnoff
- Buzz Marketing: counting on individuals and the press to spread the word: Guitar Hero
- Guerrilla Marketing 1: Advertising in an unexpected place / way: Adidas
- Guerrilla Marketing 2: Using the competitors’ communication or random event to communicate over: Mazda vs. Pontiac
- Street marketing 2.0: Guerilla Marketing 1 and 2 in real life: wild advertising, Ikea Everyday Fabulous, Prison Break
- Customer-made: creating with close cooperation with consumers: Anticipator

Крыша

2006-08-22T16:35:00.000+04:00

Krysha – Roof in Russian – is a rooftop club in very Downtown, near Biblioteka imini Lenina station. Entrance: free after an easy-going-through face control. Audience: the Gorbachev-is-history generation, from sk8ters to fashion-addicts to gays-friendly. Music: electro chill-out not-so-down-tempo enough to let you dance. Ambiance: white wood furniture, hammocks and the sky above could make you think you’re in a southern must-see spot, but the surrounding Russian-style roofs and a big wall of the Lenin Library keep you in Moscow.

Russian bloggers meeting

2006-08-18T16:56:00.000+04:00

Yesterday evening, work requested to attend to the first meeting of Russian bloggers, namely to take some photos. So i shot people showing off the name of the site they webmaster (i'm sort of glad of this idea). Honestly, it was nice to see people's face hidden behind the blogs or web 2.0 services i've now got used to surf, though i barely understand. Among them, there are websites that deserve a careful look at - kind of bird view of web 2.0 in Russia:
- Blogus.ru, a rating service of popular blogs
- Mazoo.net, a network of influential blogs
- BlogJet.com, an alternative of Windows Live Writer
- Gurmaniya, an online resource of recipes (kind of Russian c'est moi qui l'ai fait)
In fact one can feel the up-and-coming of web 2.0 in Russia to a more mainstream level. In order to track it, we've created a Russian-language collaborative blog, inspired with CEO Bloggers' Club, about blogging and web 2.0 phenomenom. Therefore, to be continued...

Team Building

2006-08-16T12:11:00.000+04:00

On past Saturday it was team building day with all the staff of PPE. I woke up early – even earlier than on workday – to reach to the bus that picked us up and brought us to a large field located in the Tver region where team building happened. Team building was operated by Team Systems and they did good work to team-build about 200 coworkers.

Among the ideas to manage such a figure of people, one should keeps in mind:
- To create team of people that don’t know each other: distribute people according to their birth month
- Tell a story to keep everyone’s attention. Our story was about building the PPE city. We should have bought items to create city components, therefore we should have found gold before. Gold happened to be in a treasure we had to look for. And to find the treasure we had to collect clues before. The whole quest took almost the whole daytime.
- To get clues, we were by team of 12-15 people managed by a Team System’s organizer, having to perform tests that request team spirit and engagement to get completed.
- A unique master of ceremony, e.g. interlocutor, all day long, from the welcome to the after-party; and many organizers to fix up don’t-miss-to-occur troubles
- No borrowing lecture about corporate values [the main goal of such a team building], but game-like introduction: only the keys labeled with corporate values (leadership = yes, extended bank holydays = no) will open the gold case

Price of TV advertisment will grow up

2006-08-10T11:59:00.001+04:00

Since the law is to limit advertising time on TV to 12 minutes per hour, the price will rise up from 18 to 35% in 2007 vs. 2006, depending on the channel; and up to 110% for primetime. Full article here

Daily routine

2006-08-09T16:02:00.000+04:00

I’ve now entered a daily routine so it seems that the same day is played again and again.

6:30 am alarm of phone wakes me up
6:35 am alarm of wristwatch gets me out of bed, go to the kitchen, end juice pack, go to bathroom
7:05 am out of bathroom to let my flatmate take her shower, dress up, finish other stuffs
7:35 am go out to reach to the metro
8:50 am out of metro
9:00 am at work, start with reading mails, the rss and the news
10:00 am coffee break with Nastya and Lena
1:00 pm lunch break
6:15 pm end of work, go out, buy dried pineapple and commute back
7:30 pm go to sport
9:00 pm out of sport, go to supermarket, buy some food and a juice pack
9:45 pm reach to home
10:00 pm watch desperate housewives 2nd season (broadcasted from Monday to Tuesday)
11:00 pm cleaning process, bathroom and other stuffs
12:00 pm reach to bed

3 steps closer

2006-08-07T13:07:00.000+04:00

dark, The music no good without you baby aired. Dance with some dyke then let her down. More absinthe. Surrounded by party. They are here. Wanna scream look at me I’m better-looking but don’t. Network failure. Go upstairs then back. Wait for the metro to reopen then change my mind. This is Saturday in a club. What in the hell I’m supposed to do here? Then do.

red, hand raspberries, end sushis, love turns into more love because of understanding. It was before the chocolate. Have been let down, look for an exit, wait for an answer. Is it my fault? What else can I do? Your demand doesn’t appeal to me so I follow mine. Nothing against you, I wished you understood.

white, lights candles on. Listen to the patriarch. Hair-covered women praying. Look up then down. Look at the painted wall then icons. So it’s orthodox and new. Feel the religious excitement inside but pretend I don’t. Move around. Do you believe in?

Trust or distrust

2006-08-04T11:15:00.000+04:00

Though this article doesn’t say a word about trust in advertising, one can read the average trust from people according to profession. Namely, only 1 Russian out of 10 trusts policymakers.

Ad market turnover

2006-08-03T10:03:00.000+04:00

Russian ad market could reach over $6bn in 2006. During the 1st half year, Internet advertising turnover is $45 million, 80% higher vs. second semester 2005. Full article here

3 experiences of local shopping

2006-08-01T16:34:00.000+04:00

During lunch break, I’ve get used to skip business lunch and I buy some food at the nearest produkty because it’s faster, cheaper, and I avoid the high-calories creamy not-so-meat-like kotlet and choose a fruit, definitely healthier. Today my bill was 18 rubles, and I’d only 2 banknotes, one of 10, other of 50 so I handed the 50. The salesman hasn’t the change so he took the 10 and trustfully charged me 8.

When I leave work, I pass by a market to reach to the metro station. I can’t help buying some slices of dried pineapple of a dried-fruit store. Salespersons are nice and we’ve talked a while (a little insofar as I could barely understand). And it came this time when I don’t need anymore to say I want pineapple. It’s good to be loyal.

Yesterday, at least, I bought an umbrella since postponing again such a purchase was dumb. I found one in the same marketplace than where is pineapple. I don’t really know how long it will last but never mind, it was raining. While going for leaving, a woman that was waiting inside for the rain to stop told me “Ты француз?”. I said an incredulously yes so she explained that her son-in-law was French so she was used to hear French accent and could recognize it. She asked me what I was doing here and provided me with advice about how to hold my bag in the metro (on chest) and how to recognize pickpockets by the way they are sit (arms crossed, hands hidden). Then she apologized for sounding so maternal but she was really nice and her pieces of advice really useful that we kept talking for a while.

See you soon Laure

2006-07-28T16:25:00.000+04:00

Today is the last day of Laure’s internship so she leaves Moscow tomorrow. Sure she’ll be back soon since she has got the job [Congratulations again]. But anyway we can't help feeling sad. I’m going to miss you.

A sight towards mid-September

2006-07-27T14:27:00.000+04:00

Oh I’ve just received a mail from MIEX administration and I got a strange feeling because all the students’ mails appear in the cc field so I could see my next classmates, who I’m to spend 1+ year of studying with, who I’ll have project works with and who I’ll party with. Some of these mails are clearly owned by Russian students so I’m hesitating to send them a hello I’m in Moscow.
Second thing: lessons take place not at ICN, but at the Hôtel des Missions Royales, which happens to be at, like, more than a half-hour away from ICN. Not that I really care, but this piece of news just ruins my dream for a remake of the book I currently read

Squirrel's things

2006-07-27T09:30:00.000+04:00

At least, Denis decided to release his thoughts not only by commenting on my blog, but now with his new up-and-coming Squirrel’s things
Wish you a lot of pleasure in blogging

End of billboards?

2006-07-24T11:06:00.000+04:00

Billboards could be forbidden in Russia according to an amendment to the upcoming Act on Advertising

Is money can be a gift?

2006-07-21T16:42:00.000+04:00

Flatmate’s birth date is on Sunday so we’ll have a BBQ in our seaside-resort-like area. I need to find her a gift but I have no idea even though I’ve got her wishlist. She will happen to receive money from her closest friends and no one but me seems to see the oddity of such a present, to think such a deal has to keep private, or to consider what it means in a supposed equal-to-equal friendship. That’s why I want to quest the most superficial (may be not too) but enough meaningful gift. Sounds like the Holy Grail is easier to localize…
By the way, what are your plans for tomorrow? See you at the concert?

Kellogg's is going to Russia

2006-07-20T17:36:00.000+04:00

JWT Russia will advertise upcoming-on-Russian-market Kellogg’s. Will they launch my favorite breakfast here? In fact the question matters as far as the niche of healthy food is almost none-existent. Very hard to find a 0% yoghurt (no Danone’s kind of Taillefine here), though there are some vitamin-added or glucose-free cakes, sportmen's proteins, and of course diet beverages.

World-more-expensive cell phone is... Russian

2006-07-18T11:33:00.000+04:00

Ok this cell phone looks ugly, however Euroset sales Swarovski-incrusted Nokia I've sort of found in love with
W3sh Shiny Shiny Luxist