maktion

Google in a nutshell

noreply@blogger.com (Arif) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:35:00 +0000

Larry Page and Sergey Brin - the two names which we'll never forget as they are the ones who have organized the world's information and have made it universally accessible and useful. By now you must have already guessed, I'm talking about Google!

Our day doesn't pass without googling something and let's accept it, Google is an important part of our live today and makes us happy. Such fondness only develops when the product in question is interesting and in Google's case, it's not one product but a whole spectrum of products that Google offers which are amazing and interesting. Trust me, there are so many Google products that I like that it's hard for me to pick the top 3, although Gmail remains my all time favourite.

So, why are these products interesting? Well, the simple answer is Google understands their customers very well. They are a very interesting company and just like the way I posted Facebook's infographic last month, I came across an interesting Google infographic posted by Pingdom. It really amazes me to see how Google as a company has evolved in the last decade, how much market share they have and how much money they make! Plus, you'll get to know something they call as Noogler, so read on below to more interesting facts on Google.

Picture reference: Pingdom

What a simple bread-great ad!

noreply@blogger.com (Arif) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:13:00 +0000

The Economic Times advertisement has really taken the breakfast food theme seriously! Just like their previous egg theme ad, they came up with a new bread theme ad in today's Times of India, Mumbai edition. I must say this is as brilliant as the former and has seriously impressed me once again!

The brown bread crumb depicted CEOs conviction of the budget before the budget and the white bread depicted conviction after the budget! Putting a breakfast bread style graph on a black backdrop once again seems simple and great and I'm sure after seeing the egg theme, you'll also like this bread theme ad! Do post a comment below on what do you think of this bread-gr8 ad! :)

Pictrick 6 - What is this?

noreply@blogger.com (Arif) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 15:03:00 +0000

What is this?, i.e. what does this Pictrick! mean or represent? Submit your answer by posting a comment below or on maktion's Facebook page.
Click here to play more Pictrick! Be creative! Have fun!

What a simple egg-great ad!

noreply@blogger.com (Arif) — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 18:20:00 +0000

Egg - one food product which most of us like to eat. For me it tops my list of bachelor home recipes as it's easy to prepare and that too in various forms. But, imagine what happens when this liking for an egg is taken a little far.. any guesses?
Well, I came across The Economic Times advertisement in The Times of India, Mumbai edition where I saw this simple yet brilliant egg themed print ad!

The yolk depicted CEOs conviction of the budget before the budget and the white protein depicted conviction after the budget! Putting a egg omlette style graph on a black backdrop seems simply egg-great to me and I'm sure many of you would also feel the same. Post a comment on what do you think of this eggr8 ad! :)

Facebook in a nutshell

noreply@blogger.com (Arif) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 18:19:00 +0000

Mark Zuckerberg made Facemash in 2003 and later TheFacebook from his dorm room in Harvard University. Soon in 2004, Mark dropped The and launched Facebook which today is the most used social network followed by MySpace.

I came across an interesting infographic by Pingdom, where you can clearly see how Facebook has outgrown in the last couple of years. With >400 million and users, if Facebook was a nation, it would have been the third most populous after China and India! See below to know more interesting facts on Facebook.

Picture reference: Pingdom

How loud is Google Buzz?

noreply@blogger.com (Arif) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:48:00 +0000

We saw Google making it foray in the highly competitive social media space once again by launching Buzz on February 9, 2010 to give a tooth and nail fight to Facebook and Twitter.
This is not the first time Google has made its presence in social media. After Orkut, Google made an attempt last year too by launching Wave which didn't impress many due to it's slow response time, heavy technical overdose and contradictory to what Google does, it was very low in its user friendliness.

Buzz is the re-entry strategy for Google and this time they've worked hard on it to make it simple unlike its precursor Wave. Google defines Buzz on its blog as a new way to start conversations about the things you find interesting and share updates, photos, videos and more. It's integrated with Gmail so when you sign in, you automatically get directed to the Buzz tab just like Inbox, Sent, etc. You can post status just like Twitter and can express your liking and comment like Facebook. As one of my friend put it, Buzz is Google's Twitter! True, it is. It's being touted by some as the Facebook and Twitter killer. But after using Buzz, I don't see this happening at least in the short run.

I've been a big admirer of Google and its products but this time I somehow feel Buzz has not hit the right cord. It's just not 'the thing'! Let's see where Buzz falls short:

Integration with Gmail - Google talks about this as a plus point in terms of not requiring any additional set up. My personal opinion is that they should have kept it separate, just like it's bigger brother Orkut. Integrating within has made Gmail heavy and slow. Gmail is a very good email product by itself and its equity should not have been diluted by Buzz.
Contacts automatically get added - when you log in for the first time, you are automatically made to follow the people you email and chat with the most. It may very often happen, that you don't want to add someone like in Facebook, where you can keep your personal and professional contacts separate. But, here everyone's following you even before you sign up! I didn't like this feature as I believe you should have a clear control over choosing who can follow you and cannot.
Postings seen by all - Unlike Facebook, where your wall posts appear to your contacts, whatever you post on Buzz appears to all your contacts Buzz wall, whether you like it or not! There's just no privacy! Another facet to this is that if some of your friends have become heavy Buzz users, your Buzz wall will be flooded with their one-liners and this can get annoying, very annoying.
Kept it too simple - Google keeps things simple, fine. But this one's too simple. They could have jazzed up the interface at least somewhat like Orkut. We all are so used to Facebook that I found it like a blue-white-blue paper and you're writing with a pencil continuously. It can be boring at times in this world dominated by visual appeal.
No Apps at all - Buzz positions itself as an Application free tool, but then don't you miss the Apps on Facebook which at times kept you entertained, quizzed you, asked your favourtie colour, etc. It's a way of engagement and I think without Apps, Buzz can find it tough with its monotonous visual appearance.
Only Gmail contacts added - Buzz only allows you to add someone who has a Gmail account so if your friends are on Hotmail, Yahoo, etc they can't join the Buzz! This means losing 50% or more of your Facebook friends and even more of your Twitter followers if you decide to use only Buzz full time.

We all know that Google is know for 'listening to customers' and I'm sure the Googlers would be working on these shortcomings. How loud the Google Buzz will be, we can only wait and watch! Till then, I'm going to continue on Facebook and have recently developed a liking for Twitter too. Do post your Buzzing experience below.

Pictrick 5 - What is this?

noreply@blogger.com (Arif) — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:51:00 +0000

What is this?, i.e. what does this Pictrick! mean or represent? Submit your answer by posting a comment below or on maktion's Facebook page.
Click here to play more Pictrick! Be creative! Have fun!

Pictrick 4 - What is this?

noreply@blogger.com (Arif) — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:39:00 +0000

What is this?, i.e. what does this Pictrick! mean or represent? Submit your answer by posting a comment below or on maktion's Facebook page.
Click here to play more Pictrick! Be creative! Have fun!

The SRK buzz on social media

noreply@blogger.com (Arif) — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 14:50:00 +0000

In the last couple of days, the online social media has been buzzing with Shah Rukh Khan owing to the recent controversy between the superstar and a regional political outfit in Mumbai.
SRK as he's popularly known is a hot word on social media like Facebook where many of his fans have started either a group or a page to show their support for Shah Rukh amidst the current controversy. The same has been seen on the micro-blogging site Twitter where many people including well known celebrities are continuously tweeting about SRK.

Most of you would have seen some of your Facebook friends joining such groups and hence would already be knowing of such groups/ pages. In case you haven't seen any such group/ page, then here's some interesting statistics that I've got for you. I searched the following keywords on Facebook, and came up with the following results (as on February 6, 2010, 7pm IST):

Keyword: SRK

With SRK (Group, >3560 members)
We All Are With You. (Page, >1540 fans)
With SRK (Page, >1240 fans)
SRK vs Shiv Sena (Page, >40 fans)

Keyword: We+SRK

We are with SRK against Shiv sena (Group, >140 members)
We support SRK against shiv sena (Page, >680 fans)
WE WITH U SRK (Page, >20 fans)
SRK, WE THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, SOLEMNLY RESOLVE THAT, YOUR STATEMENT IS TRUE (Page, 3 fans)

Keyword: With+SRK

With SRK (Group, >170 members)
SRK.. we r with u (Group, >40 members)
Standup with ShahRukh Khan (Group, >30 members)
With SRK always (Page, 5 fans)

Keyword: Support+SRK

We support SRK against shiv sena (Group, >1740 members)
I SUPPORT SRK........AND NOT THE B_____ SHIV SENA...... (Group, >410 members)
I support SRK & the release of MNIK (A stand against Shiv Sena) (Group, >730 members)
Support SRK . My Name is .......... (Group, >35 members)
Not a SRK Fan still .will watch movie "My name is Khan" to support SRK.. (Group, >10 members)
SRK Rocks... Support for SRK (Group, >5 members)
Support SRK (Page, >60 fans)
I am an Indian and I support SRK (Page, >10 fans)

Keyword: We+Shahrukh

WE ARE WITH YOU SHAHRUKH (Group, >110 members)
We love Shahrukh (Group, > 350 members)
Shahrukh khan we support you (Group, > 170 members)
shahrukh we support u (Group, >100 members)
we hate shiv sena n we are wiD shaHrukh khan !!!!!!!!!! (Page, >170 fans)
We Support Shahrukh Khan against Shiv Sena (Page, >5 fans)

Now, if we add up all the number of members/ fans, we get a whopping 11373 people! It's very likely that a person may be present on multiple groups/ pages, hence let's assume such cases would account to 50%, i.e. 5687 people are buzzing SRK on the social media! To add to it, the average number of friends one has on his Facebook profile is 130, hence at any moment of time, these group/ pages are being exposed to 739310 people! The real success of social media lies in the ability to expose the content, view, thought, etc to as many people as possible and what we see here is a classic case where apart from the regular fan and movie pages, SRK is buzzing for the ongoing controversy and the support from all quarters is pouring in! No wonder, he's King Khan who now has a huge online fan support base too! Post a comment on what's your take on SRK buzzing aloud and how did you find this post.

Save our 1411 tigers

noreply@blogger.com (Arif) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:49:00 +0000

1411 - it's not a new SMS number but it's one number doing its rounds on all social media platforms and telling us that today just 1411 tigers are left! WWF and Aircel's Save Our Tigers campaign
brilliantly summarizes the apathy of our national animal by writing "Scared. Lost. Lonely. Is that a life for our tigers?" This definitely is not what we want our Shere Khan to feel when he roams in the jungle and it's time we all take a uniform stand towards protecting our beloved tigers. Take a look at the campaign advertisement below to know what I'm talking about here.

Some of you may be thinking why have I written this post here at maktion? Well, first of all I'm a WWF campaigner since 2003 and secondly I believe this campaign is gaining momentum by its sheer creativity. The ad brilliantly captures the apathy of the tiger cub in his own habitat and makes us wonder why this is happening to him, who is responsible and can it be stopped? Hats off to this brilliant ad by Aircel / WWF which has already generated a lot of buzz on social media circuits like Facebook and Twitter.

Although this is a campaign by a telecommunication company, it is genuine and non-commercial as WWF is a partner too. After all, how many companies have taken the cause to this extent? As a WWF campaigner, I know how important it is to create awareness and generate mass consensus based movements on environmental issues. After seeing the ad many of you must be wondering what can you do to contribute? Well, you can do many things but to start off you can visit Save Our Tigers by clicking here. Once you reach the page, do click 'Join the Roar' where > 40,000 visitors have pledged their support for tigers by tagging their names on the photo screen. Click here to see what more you can do. The website also provides some glaring facts like 86 tigers died in 2009 (really shocking!) and out of 37 tiger sanctuaries, 17 are on the verge of loosing all their tigers. You can also see their twitter page by by clicking here. So, folks do remember that every small action of your contributes, hence spread the word, post this link on your blog or on your Facebook profile, tweet this, etc.
Friends, Save our 1411 tigers! Grrrrhhhhhg!

Write in Hindi to win prizes

noreply@blogger.com (Arif) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:24:00 +0000

How many years has it been since you left school? And, how many years has it been since you last wrote in Hindi? Whatever the number of years, Hindi poems and stories in school always had something special associated with them.
I remember when our teacher used to read out the chapters to us, we found ourselves lost in the world of fantasies, although sometimes we enjoyed the poem induced sleep too!

I can recollect some of my Hindi chapter from my school days like the very well known मधुशाला (Madhushala), गोदान (Godan), आ रही रवि की सवारी (Aa rahi Ravi ki sawari) and not to forget डाकू उन्गलिमाल (Daku unglimaal) ..all these amazing stories and poems still excite many of us today! If you have a flare for reading and writing in Hindi, then this post is for you!

Google and LiveHindustan have announced है बातों में दम? (Hai Baaton Mein Dum?) contest wherein you just have to think and write in Hindi to participate. You can choose from any or all of the following five topics to write on:

Entertainment
Travel
Sports
Health
Social, Economic and Political Issues

Once you submit your entries, you'll be judged on three parameters - Originality of the content, Quality of prose and Interest generated. If selected, you will qualify for the higher rounds. Read more on the eligibility, rules and higher round phase by clicking here. If you really were a good Hindi content thinker and can write it down, then who knows you may end up winning prizes like a laptop or a Rs.5000 online bookstore voucher if you are a high school student! So cool, right? But after all this, you might have one basic question - how do you write in Hindi on the web? Well that's very easy! With Google's transliteration tool you can write Hindi as good as you wrote back in school. Click here to read intructions. Do write asap as the contest ends on February 15, 2010.

So, what are you waiting for? Be creative and write something great! I would say in Hindi - दौडाओ अपने दिमाग को और लिख डालो ऐसी कहानी जो दिल को नहीं, गूगल को छू जाए! ;) Good luck!

Pictrick 3 - What is this?

noreply@blogger.com (Arif) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 14:39:00 +0000

What is this?, i.e. what does this Pictrick! mean or represent? Submit your answer by posting a comment below or on maktion's Facebook page.

Click here to play more Pictrick! Be creative! Have fun!

Show your presentations on the web

noreply@blogger.com (Arif) — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 18:00:00 +0000

Many of us have given PowerPoint presentations either in college, office, etc. I'm sure you must have made a couple of special ppts which you would still like to show, right? Well, you can still present
and that too to a larger audience on the web through slideshare!

Slideshare was founded by Rashmi Sinha, an Indian-American and is the world's largest online community for sharing presentations. It offers you easy options to upload your presentations and show it to the world. Since many people visit this site and new presentations grab immediate attention, chances are that your presentations will find some admirers and if your content along with the flow is really good, you might end up with a big list of followers! Like Facebook and Twitter, if you want to expand your social media presence, then Slideshare is a must have on your list. Slideshare serves as an excellent platform to showcase your presentations to an audience who not only understand but also appreciate and cherish good presentations.

I have uploaded a new presentation today and within 5 minutes, some 9-10 visitors viewed it. Have a look below on what I've uploaded. You can also visit maktion's page on Slideshare by clicking here.

www.maktion.com

View more presentations from maktion .

After visiting the slideshare you may feel 'Wow, what great presentations are shown and how will I ever make anything close to them?' I would advice, don't worry, everyone makes a start somewhere and gradually you can make your own little niche. It's always worth giving a try. Do post below on what you think about Slideshare and its application. Till then, happy presenting! :)

Pictrick 2 - What is this?

noreply@blogger.com (Arif) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 14:54:00 +0000

What is this?, i.e. what does the Pictrick! mean or represent? Submit your answer by posting a comment below or on maktion's Facebook page.

Click here to play more Pictrick! Be creative! Have fun!

10 basic powerpoint tips

noreply@blogger.com (Arif) — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 21:46:00 +0000

Whether you are a student, teacher, scientist, or a professional, what comes to your mind first when you have to make and give a presentation? PowerPoint!
Yes, PowerPoint, the MS Office application tool which has changed the way we make and present information.

I've been using PowerPoint since the last 10 years. My father introduced me to the world of PowerPoint and I remember making my first presentation of two slides - one having my name and the other my age! Today, I'm more than 50 presentations old! :) With every presentation that I've made, I've learnt something new for my next. It's a great platform for unlimited creative experimentation. For me a PowerPoint presentation is what a movie is to Aamir Khan, i.e. every time looking to offer something new and fresh for engaging the audience, applying creativity for differentiation and impact, chasing excellence so that the presentation comes out with flying results!

From your experience many of you would agree that today it's not the content alone which is important, what also matters is the way we dress up our presentation and carry it to our audience. If you understand this basic underlying principle, you're half way through and you will be able to not only communicate effectively but also generate the necessary impact within the stipulated time.

In this first of a series, I am going to share with you 10 basic PowerPoint tips which will help you gear up the next time you make a presentation! These tips will help you in conveying your core message and creating impact on your target audience.

Tip 1 - Be clear of the objective
You should be very clear with the objective of your presentation right from the word go. Try to understand if you are looking forward to just share information, findings, etc (school/ college project presentations) or are also looking for a call to action from your highlighted points (business presentations). It's always better to ask your guide, boss, client, etc if you have some doubt rather than reworking the entire presentation later. Plus, you should also know who is your target audience and how much time do you have for presenting.

Tip 2 - Search, compile and arrange content
Once you know what you have to work on, start searching the content either from books, published papers, your Excel analysis worksheets, etc. You may even search on the internet in case you have nothing in hand. Create sub-folders on your computer and arrange the files in the best possible way so that once you actually start making the presentation, you won't loose on time. It will simply make your job easy.

Tip 3 - Decide which version to use - MS PowerPoint 2003 or 2007
Many of us overlook this basic point and later realize that the computer system on which you have to present doesn't have a supporting 2003 or 2007 version. One creates a lot of advanced animations on 2007 and realizes nothing is working on 2003! This creates last minute panic, changes in slide content, images, animation, etc. Besides, there are space issues too, a 2007 file converted to a 2003 version may take 10 times more space (my experience). So, either use the same laptop which essentially means the same version or check the venue beforehand and choose the version which will be made available to the participants. The safest bet is to use MS PowerPoint 2003. Let's see what happens when 2010 comes!

Tip 4 - Time to start, choose a theme
Once, you've done your groundwork, get ready to make your presentation. Open PowerPoint application and the first thing you should do is to give a name and save your presentation somewhere. This helps always! Once done, start off by choosing a theme under 'Design'. You have to be judgemental in your selection as you have to keep in mind your objective and the target audience. Select bright combinations if giving a presentation in schools, go for darker shades if in college. White based themes are the most preferred in offices as you come across people of all ages and some may tend to dislike dark shades. However, if you really are confident about your content and can pre-imagine how it would appear, choose any them and make the best out of it! You will gradually learn by experience.

Tip 5 - Freeze your slide master
I used to make my own design template from scratch and kept on copy-pasting the slide template to replicate the theme. At office, I picked up the concept of slide master where you can edit the theme once and for all and will get the same design theme every time you hit Ctrl+M. Work carefully on this as this is really useful in smoothening the work.

Tip 6 - Juxtapose your text, images and charts
Now what's juxtapose? Click here to know! Start from the first slide and think of an creative short and crisp title for your presentation which should be an apt reflector of what you are going to talk on. There is no fixed rule for title position placement, you can change depending on the way you want it to appear. Try two three options and freeze. Move on to your next slides and write the title and sub-titles (if required) along with the content text. Now, juxtapose your text, charts and images so that they all appear as part of a common theme. Take care that you do not overkill by using excessive images as it will distract your audience from the core message.

Tip 7 - Use complementing custom and slide animations
You must have seen flying texts or suddenly appearing images out of where, well these are nothing but animations. If you use it for text, image, chart, etc it's called custom animation while if you animate the entire slide itself, it's called slide animation. Use these under 'Animation'. Click the text box or image or chart and experiment which animation suits your theme the best. Again, do not overkill by using excessive animation as it will slow you down and you may might eventually exceed your timeline.

Tip 8 - Add hyperlinks to jump slides
Sometimes you may want to show an image or a chart but do not want it to appear in the regular flow. Not to worry, just add a hyperlink for jumping slides to the desired image, chart, etc on the last slide and give a hyperlink to come back to the slide where you left. This ensures that your presentation maintains a common flow and is of great use during the Q&A session where you don't have to flip through each and every slide. Just jump to the slide by clicking the preset hyperlink.

Tip 9 - Roll back, check slide by slide
Before you say - "It's done!", roll back your presentation and check slide by slide for correct content, colour combinations, meaningful titles, spelling mistakes (run a spell check), image placements, working animation (with/after previous or with mouse click), hyperlinks landing on the correct page. Wherever you find the slightest mistake, rectify that moment itself. Press F5 to see your presentation in motion and I would advice you to do this at least 5 times to ensure that your presentation is error free and is ready for being presented.

Tip 10 - Practice by giving mock presentations
Now that you have prepared a complete presentation deck, practice it out by giving mocks to first yourself, preferably in front of the mirror and then to your family, friends, teammates, etc who can give you genuine feedback. You need to watch out for - clarity in speech, choice of words in sync with the presentation flow, timing as per the allotted timeline and objective handling. You should also be prepared in case an unexpected situation arises, like the power goes off or the computer hangs, hence do not merely recite the presentation words, but get into the skin and be sure that you know the A to Z of it!

So, these are my 10 basic powerpoint tips for everyone who wants to go right in their presentations. I will write more on all these tips later. Go, make one today! In case you need more assistance, post a comment below or email me by clicking here.

Solving a problem the creative way

noreply@blogger.com (Arif) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 16:00:00 +0000

Today, one of my office colleagues forwarded an email to me which contained content on how students from different backgrounds react if they are asked to prove (2 / 10) = 2 ! Floored? Even I was.
This was an illogical problem but nevertheless my creative knack made me find an answer pertaining to the background I come from, i.e. Science. This was damn funny, here it goes..

First read the forwarded mail which came to me:

After reading this I wondered if this meant that one who's not an engineer is not smart! I read it once again and then my creative mind ticked! I noticed that although there were responses from an Art, Commerce and a Medical student, there was still something missing - the response of a Science student! This was it, I knew I got an opportunity to fill the shoes of the Science student in the content and drafted my answer with some scientific creativity as shown under:

I couldn't stop laughing at the final outcome and trust me I made it in a mere 10 minute post-lunch break! I showed it to a few colleagues passing by my desk and they too laughed out aloud! :) I sent this reply back to my colleague and there was laughter all around! Although we enjoyed a lot, I made it clear that by this I mean no offence to my Engineer friends!

So, what's the learning? I believe that one's smartness is a function of personal attributes and presence of mind and not of one's educational degree! Add some creativity, you not only find a solution but also spread some joy and happiness! Although this was just a case of a humorous email, what will you do if you come across an actual problem? Is such situations you should:

Be attentive to the details provided, probe if you need to know more.
Recollect if you have ever faced such a situation before and have successfully solved it. If yes, apply it.
If it's the first time you're facing a problem, start off by thinking of different approaches to solve the problem.
Nothing is right or wrong - if you think your approach has a way out, discuss the feasibility of its success with seniors/ colleagues and apply asap.
Be judgemental - you should be the first one expressing confidence in your approach.
Think how you can solve using your creative side of the brain - can you bring some change by thinking of the unthinkable? Can you motivate people by using creative techniques (it never costs more).

Post your comment below on what do you think about this incident and how will you solve a problem if it comes to you at your workplace.

PS - There is no certain rule of Darwin's 10:6 survival rate. If the engineer could drop the 'T' from two and ten then I find it fair for a Science student to apply survival rate of 10:6 when it could be anything from 1:15 to 15:1 amongst 16 bacteria! ;)

Introducing Pictrick! - Pictrick 1

noreply@blogger.com (Arif) — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 15:34:00 +0000

Starting today, maktion brings to you Pictrick! - the humorous picture trick series where you get to test your creative side. Just see the picture trick and answer 'What is this?', i.e. what it means or represents.

So, are you ready? Here's Pictrick 1...

Submit your answer by posting a comment below or on maktion's Facebook page. Once you're done, check if you've guessed right. The answers are right here somewhere - search them!
Click here to play more Pictrick! Be creative! Have fun!

HT's build your campaign contest

noreply@blogger.com (Arif) — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 18:19:00 +0000

If you are a Product/ Brand Manager, enjoy Marketing and consider yourself innovative, then take part in Hindustan Times (HT) - Build Your Campaign contest and win prizes to the tune of Rs. 2 crores!
All you need to do in is choose one amongst the 14 innovative ad options (pointer, island, double U, reverse L, straight L, half wrap, gate-fold, top T, invert T, pizza slice, pizza slice 2, belt, linked, center-spread) offered on HT's website, design your own print ad and submit. The proposition is simple - your ad has to be original and creative. You can even submit multiple entries. Click here to see some sample campaigns.

The contest will be judged by eminent personalities from the marketing, media and advertising fraternity and the winning brand will get ad space worth a whopping Rs. 2 crores in HT Mumbai and Delhi editions at a discount of 99%! That's a great market opportunity to showcase your brand to HT's large reader-base in the two metros. You should definitely give it a try, who knows you might actually end up winning the contest and your ads may come up on the front page. Not to forget the accolades, fame and recognition that will follow! If you're already screeching about the award, the click here to take part in the contest. The last date is January 30, 2010, so act fast. The winners will be announced in first half of February 2010. Post a comment below on which campaign option will you consider for your brand. All the best!

Afaqs colour the logo contest

noreply@blogger.com (Arif) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 15:56:00 +0000

It's time to pick up your paint brush and start colouring! Afaqs, the complete Indian advertising, media & marketing portal has decided to revamp it's high traffic portal - Freelance Exhange.
It is a platform for freelancers/ service providers and clients/ buyers of those service to meet and transact business. Understanding the broad spectrum of business taking place daily, Afaqs will re-brand Freelance Exchange as Plug into Projects. The i dea is to convey the ease with which the site works. Almost like plugging in and playing (their words).

As part of their promotion campaign, Plug Into Projects has announced a very interesting Colour the Logo Contest! In this contest, the wireframe of the logo is given and you simply have to fill in colours you think are the closest to the actual logo! Three winners (almost wrote 3 Idiots!) will be chosen and awarded a Kodak digital camera, Sony walkman and a Vox digital photo frame. To get a quick idea, see what others have already submitted as their entreis by clicking here. Although no closing date is indicated, I suggest you participate right away. Don't wait, just click here to take part in the contest! Once you have submitted your entry, post a comment below and tell me what screen name you've chosen and what colour combination have you submitted. I'll have a look at your coloured logo and will comment here at maktion. Good luck!

Create your own Avatar

noreply@blogger.com (Arif) — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 18:24:00 +0000

James Cameron's Avatar has changed the world post 18/12/09! It has won every heart and has created history by breaking all known and unknown box office records across the world!
The land of Pandora excited all age groups and everyone including me after coming out from the movie hall, secretly wished to have his or her own Avatar. I came across a great McDonald's Avatar campaign where you can actually create your own Avatar in just minutes. In other words - Avatarize Yourself! I've tried it and I must tell you, it looks really cool. You too create your own Avatar right here at maktion! The original campaign is in German, but I have made it simple for you by translating the instructions into English. So what are you waiting for? Check out the Avatarize Yourself window below and follow 7 simple steps to create your own Avatar!

Step 1: An Upload and Share option comes at the start. Meaning of the following German words:
German --> English:
Hochladen = Upload
Teilen = Share

Step 2: Now, upload your photo and if you're using it for the second time, you will have the option to retrieve used photos.
German --> English:
Ein Bild Hochladen = Upload a picture
Mein Foto hochladen = Upload your photo
Facebook Bilder = Facebook images
Meine Bilder = My images

Step 3: Agree to the Terms of Service and select your image from the pop-out browser. Wait for the image to completely upload.
German --> English:
Ich stimme den Nutzungsbedingungen zu = I agree to the Terms of Service
Nach Bildern suchen = Search for images
Bild hochladen 100% = Upload image 100%

Step 4: Once your photo is uploaded, you will have to correct it's position like the example given on left. Also, select your gender and then click Submit.
German --> English:
Korrigiere Dein Bild = Correct your image
Beispiel Foto = Example photo
Wahlen Dein Geschlecht = Your gender selections
Mannlich/Weiblich = Male/Female
Rotieren = Rotate
Bewegen = Move
Absenden = Submit
Model abrufen = Get model

Step 5: Once it freezes your photo, you are asked to position the points (eye, ear, nose, lips, chin) as shown in the example on the left and then click Submit.
German --> English:
Positionere die Punkte = Position, the points
Absenden = Submit
Model abrufen = Get model

Note - sometime, the following message may come:
Dein Foto ist abgelaufen. Bitte lada des Foto erneut hoch = Your photo has expired. Please upload the photo again.

Step 6: Now, it's time for the final touched to your Avatar! Choose an emotion (simle/angry) and change the background landscape if you want. You even have the option of changing the character (gender). Add a message (up to 300 characters) which will appaer near the neck region.
German --> English:
Emotionen = Emotions
Glucklich/Wutend = Smile/Angry
Landschaft = Landscape
Charakter = Character
Nachricht hinzufugen = Add message
Fuge eine Nachricht hinzu = Add a message (300 characters)
Bitte gib deine Nachricht im Feld unten ein = Please enter your message in the box
Fertig = Finish

Step 7: Preview your Avatar picture and select the medium by what way you want to send your picture - through email, social media, link.
German --> English:
Vorschau = Preview
Teilen = Parta (to send through email, social media, link).
Versende Deinen Avatar = Send you Avatar
E-mail = Email (write your email address and click Senden = Send)
Auswahlen = Selections (social media icons will appear)
Kopieren = Copy (a link)

That's it! Your Avatar is created! Check your mail or social media to see your very own Avatar! I really hope you enjoy it and will tell all your friends about it. Besides, click here to learn Na'vi language to impress your friends even more! If you have made your Avatar from maktion, then do post a comment below to let me know how much you liked it! I'm already at Pandrora, see you there! ;)

Shah Rukh Khan tweets on creativity

noreply@blogger.com (Arif) — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 12:54:00 +0000

India's most loved celebrity actor - Shah Rukh Khan joined Twitter on January 3, 2010 and posted his first tweet at 2:38am. Since then it''s not even been a week and he's got more than 50,000+ followers (including maktion)!
Everyone is following him, tweeting back to him, asking him and what not! There's huge craze amongst everyone to know what Shah Rukh is doing, where's he going, what's he reading, what next, etc?

I came across an interesting tweet on Shah Rukh's page where he wrote about remembering about someone having asked him:

What does he think is a better choice - money or creativity?

In the next three tweets, Shah Rukh replied:

The best thing is to be an effective human being. Sometimes that requires money & sometimes creativity.

I really liked his viewpoint as he clearly expressed the two requirements for being an effective human being. Folks, it's time we introspect and see how much money and creativity we have! Money can no doubt be earned but creativity has to be experienced. That's why you're here at maktion - to experience creativity! ;)

Write a post below about what's your take on Shah Rukh's tweet. And yes, maktion is on Twitter, so do follow by clicking here. Till then, Be good. Be creative!

CBSE opens up more courses

noreply@blogger.com (Arif) — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 18:36:00 +0000

India's biggest school educational body - CBSE, i.e. the Central Board of Secondary Education, New Delhi has decided to open up more courses for Class XI and Class XII students by 2011.
As part of their continuous educational reforms, CBSE will offer brand new courses in Media Studies which essentially means that now a Class X pass-out can choose from not 3 but 4 options, i.e. Science, Humanities, Commerce or Media Studies! He/she can opt for an elective or a full-fledged Media Studies course and can choose from 9 newly planned courses:

1. Introduction to Translation and Interpretation

2. Thinking Skills

3. Film, Television and Media studies

4. Development studies

5. Visual Art and Graphic Design

6. Gender Studies

7. Creative Writing

8. Critical Thinking

9. Art Appreciation

To read more on these 9 courses and the objective of introducing them, click here. CBSE will frame the course curriculum along with Subhash Ghai's Whistling Wood International - an institute for film, television, advertising and media arts. Maktion asked a final year student from Film and Television Institute of India, Pune how CBSE's new Media Studies course will benefit students, to which he replied:

I think it's a fantastic idea and a next step altogether in our education system. Cinema plays a very important part not only as a medium of entertainment but also as a medium of education giving lights to various sensitive topics prevailing in our society.

- Shikhar Misra, Editing, 2010, FTII, Pune.

I really think it's a great wind of change and will this will redefine the creativescape in the coming decade. I really wish I could have had this opportunity to study creativity early in life but my advice to all fellow school kids is that you should explore these options depending on your interest, passion and potential. Do post what do you think of this new reform right here at maktion.

Aamir is the Creative Khan of 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Arif) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 17:40:00 +0000

2009 is passe and we saw our favorite Khan-trio give a lot of entertainment. Whether it was TV or the big screen or even the cricket field, they made headlines everywhere and for all the reasons.
When all three are out there to outdo each other in terms of their performance, it's we the audience who benefits from their superior quality of work. Shah Rukh Khan started off the year with Luck by Chance and then Billu. Salman Khan took the baton ahead and gave back to back four movies with Wanted being his highlight. And just when everything was about to get over, Aamir Khan gave us all the best Christmas gift ever - 3 Idiots!

3 Idiots is a movie which has caused an entertainment tsunami all across India and abroad and is being touted as the highest grosser in Indian cinema. Till today, it has crossed Rs. 240 crores, i.e. USD 54 million making it an all time blockbuster! What really worked for the movie is a long list and is debated a lot all over the internet. Some say it's the movie script, some say it's the way one can relate to the education system, some say it gives hope, etc. 3 Idiots executed a strong marketing campaign across various mediums like television, social media, etc which no doubt helped substantially but I think it's Aamir Khan who had made this possible above all. No other actor could have given such an excellent performance for the character Rancho in the movie. Of course, Madhavan and Sharman complemented as great co-actors! Aamir is known as a perfectionist but with this movie, I see him as a very creative person too. Creativity can be applied anywhere and Aamir has applied it the best in 3 Idiots! Aamir drew a distinction between the term 'idiots' and 'stupid', saying 'idiots are very normal persons' who at some point prove themselves in an 'unconventional way'. These three idiots brought us smile, hope, fun, jokes, humor, and unearthed many more human emotions and not to forget have also given us all a memorable line to remember for the rest of our lives - Aall ijj well!

To sum up, Aamir is undoubtedly maktion's Creative Khan of 2009 (CK 2009) as he has made us all experience creative cinema! We hope to see more creative stuff from Aamir and also hope that with the current level of creative cinematic bar being raised, the other two Khans will come up with better entertainment! Do share your views by posting a comment below.

Google drops Newton's apple

noreply@blogger.com (Arif) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 18:08:00 +0000

Today when I opened my Chrome web browser and saw my homepage - Google, I saw a red object drop! I didn't realize at first what happened and then saw a red apple near the language options.
I hovered around Google's logo and got to know it's Sir Isaac Newton's birthday and then understood the doodle's concept. It was actually an animation of an apple falling from the tree stemming out from Google's logo at the top, creatively simulating how the apple would have fallen on Newton's head and bounced before it settled on the ground. See the red dotted lines in the image which shows the path of the apple in motion before it settles near 'Bengali' written below.

I must say this was a very creative animated Google doodle and if you're a day late then chances are that you might not get to see it again! In case you have missed it, click here to watch the animation. Post a comment below on what you think about Google's apple doodle.

Smile all the way!

noreply@blogger.com (Arif) — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 19:47:00 +0000

I'm still getting used to it but let's all accept 2009 is now over and it's not only a new year, it's a new decade we've all entered. This new period in our life brings with it new hope and new happiness.
On this very thought of mines I've put up a small new year greeting to spread the message that in 2010 ...smile all the way!

Let me know what do you think of this greeting by posting a comment below. And yes, keep following maktion as I have a lot of stuff to make you experience true creativity. Cya. (",)