Budding Writers, Welcome to Authonomy

If you’re a writer, then one of the biggest things for you must be to get published and to be read! Possibly to be critiqued… and if all else goes well, to be discovered and be famous!

Well, Harper Collins have launched Authonomy.com, a website that claims to want to flush out the brightest, freshest and newest writing talent around. Just register on the website and you have the chance to upload your novel or the excrept from your novel on the site! It can be read and reviewed and critiqued by others like you… and if its really good, then Harper Collins Editors might come in for you!

Brilliant?!

Inputting Technology in the Marketing Communication Mix

With an increased media clutter, it is vital for Marketers to use whatever means necessary to reach the consumers’ minds and ears! The Internet and Technology are going to be a huge part of that! Log on to CIO Pakistan, where I write about Technology in the Marketing Mix.

Dove vs. the Bloggers!

In a recent presentation on Digital Marketing at the recently concluded Marketing 2.0 in Karachi, Microsoft’s Chris Schaumann spoke about the power of integrating Web2.0 in Marketing strategies.

One of the key points that he made was that as a company, be genuine and honest. When you give out a message, it should not be hypocritical to the other communications that you put out (possibly for other brands of your company). A cool example is the Dove Evolution campaign, part of the Campaign for Real Beauty.

Watch the Dove Evolution Ad here. Anyone who’s studied Marketing and Advertising would know this Ad. Its a truly brilliant concept, and arguably one of the best campaigns in modern times. The message it gives out is very apt as well.

But, some bloggers may have thouht that Unilever was being ‘Holier than Thou’, and they made THIS. The video is called the Evolution of a Slob, and is a good viewing in Internet warfar.

Dove came up with a new Ad in their Real Beauty campaign, called Onslaught. You can watch it HERE. Again a brilliantly done Ad showing the onslaught of Media Noise and propoganda on made up beauty, the key message being, “Talk to your daughter before the cosmetics companies do.”

Unfortunately, Unilever was saying this, and some bloggers did not quite like that. Watch THIS an apt spoof of Onslaught, showing the Media Bombardment that Unilever’s AXE campaigns throw out and how they show females as sex objects. Very different from Unilever’s Real Beauty campaign.

Finally, HERE’S Greenpeace’s take on Dove and Unilever, through a film on Palm Oil. Enjoy.

The bottom line is always be genuine when talking to consumers, and try to ensure that the message is not simply ‘feel good’, but ‘heart felt’.