anti-ivy

The time is 7:00 Am! "Ivy", called out mum from the kitchen. Fast asleep, Ivy was in the midst of a sweet dream in which she saw her climbing over a tree to pluck a beautiful flower. The call from kitchen came as she reached it. She was still in her dream as she fell from the tree with a loud scream "aaaaaaaa"… Hearing the scream, her mum came running and saw Ivy on floor. What happened?!! Mum asked in surprise. "Why did u call me when I reached that flower on the tree"? Ivy asked angrily. This time mum was not surprised as it is usual in the morning.

Ivy works with a direct marketing company called Oracle Advertising. So she always thinks of achieving her targets. That is how she ended up in the dream of plucking flower from top of the tree.

"Travel", is one of the most common word used by most people in this world. So one must be knowing how important it is and how the term "travel" can influence a person's life.

The term "travel" originates from the Old French word travail'. The term also covers all the activities performed during a travel.

One can choose to travel for a number of reasons. There are people who travel for no reason. The most surprising aspect is even if one travels for no reasons this also comes under travel. Whatever maybe, the most appealing reason for a travel is "recreational". Everyone chooses it for enjoyment and fun, which is most crucial for a healthy lifestyle.

It is to protect this aspect that many travel and tour companies like Karma Kerala and many others popped up on the scene. These travel companies are ever ready to cater to a needy traveller to any desired location with all the necessities thrown in. A traveller never will have to worry about his/her travel needs with all these tour companies around.

With a multimillion pound advertising campaign, Toyota hopes that it can reassert its sports car heritage for the new GT86 model.

The marketing expert and sports enthusiasts like Chris Niarchos feels that the CGI animated ad “marks the beginning of a new era” for the Japanese car maker.

The Real Deal campaign, created by Saatchi & Saatchi London, features a CGI character bored with his artificial world discovering the Toyota GT86 and using it to escape into the real world. The ad will  show in cinemas ahead of the upcoming James Bond film ‘Skyfall’ and run in press ads until March next year. The car also has plans to roll out its global positioning ‘Always a better way’ to the UK in the coming months. The aim is to bring UK marketing in line with the strategy revealed a year ago.

Tesco (supermarket Group) has taken up a new initiative to donate 15p from every sale of its Halo branded feminine hygiene products to a women's health charity and claims the product range is a “feminine care range with a difference - the femcare range with a heart”.

The range of tampons, sanitary towels, and liners and the charity initiative, which are both non-Tesco branded, launched this month with the strapline: “Halo - Protects women every month, womankind every day. Halo will also launch a “playful” marketing campaign dubbed “Show us your knickers!” to raise awareness of the product range and charity initiative. And, it is found that women in the UK spend more than £20m on feminine care products each month. I got to know from a friend of mine who's with Appco Group Services, that 'Halo' is the latest in Tesco’s expanding portfolio of “venture brands”.   

It is going to be a year for both Prince William and Kate Middleton dolls after their wedding and Mattel is creating a limited edition of Royal Wedding Barbie gift set as a tribute to them.

"The launch of the $100 (£63.5) gift set will coincide with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s one-year wedding anniversary in April", a friend who works for Appco Group Canada , told me.

Heineken is to feature Daniel Craig as James Bond in the next phase of its ‘Open Your World’ campaign, following an extension of its long-standing sponsorship with the movie franchise that will see the launch of what the brand calls its “biggest activation of 007 ever.

The campaign, which will be shown in more than 170 countries worldwide in which Malaysia is one (where Appco Group Malaysia functions) will launch in September to support the release of Skyfall, the sixth consecutive movie that Heineken has sponsored.

Direct marketing is always about keeping customers happy. Keeping customers satisfied with good customer service always benefits a company in the long run. And that of course occupies the first place among the direct marketing tips that I am talking about here. Successful companies provide a proactive customer service and this proactive service leads to an increased business and loyalty. The next tip in line is to please customers by anticipating their preferences and liking. 

Many of the direct marketers are seen busily looking for other alternatives to reach out to customers as the most preferred medium direct mailing is facing price hikes from various postal outlets.

It has seen that some of the direct marketers to accelerate the use of alternatives such as email, internet and telephone which will lead to a “long-term decline in volumes of mail being dispatched. This move was triggered in response to postal services regulator Ofcom’s consultation on the regulation of Royal Mail. Direct marketing companies like Redwoods Advance have long been thinking of making the effective use of these alternatives to have the maximum reach that are cost effective as well.

With companies and marketing executives hunting for customers, the questions that hovers on the top of every mind in the field is - How to increase my sales? How to attract more customers? How to evolve as the leader in my segment? Here are a few ways on how you can achieve this...

The first thing that you will have to do is to surprise the prospects. Customers like surprises and are always pleased when they get more than what they expect. You can follow the likes of successful companies like Appco Group who target the right person and later surprise them with their innovative marketing campaigns. Getting attention amidst the clutter is what matters and those who do it right emerge the most successful. Being innovative and creative is the next must-do. Think different and be different. Stand out among the crowd by virtue of just what you are. Focusing on what your customers care about is the third and making your offers outstanding, the fourth. Knowing what exactly the customer  needs, wants and expects is what works. Offers are essential because customers don't want to make mistake. 

If years ago, we would turn to our family or friends circles for recommendations, advice, opinions or for other answers, it was then cut away for some period once "www.com" appeared to the scene. But today again we go back to the same circles with the help of this "www" thing. Social media is now the best source of recommendations for nearly everything.

Social media and search are converging because search engines are incorporating social signals. Google, Bing and Yahoo have incorporated Facebook likes and Twitter's tweets into their organic search results. Now, searchers see results in different formats based on activity within their social networks. That's the reason why most of the brands and businesses like Web Technologies Inc focus on these social searches.

Steve Jobs soul might be rejoicing from eternity that his 'app-iPad' could save a man enter another border without passport. It was all a matter of luck for the man who is a Canadian, who realised he forgot his passport as he approached the US border found a new way to gain entry - his iPad.

As I went through this news story, it interested me and I couldn't resist myself sharing it with my friend who's so keen on having a collection of funny and interesting news pieces. Besides he also works with Sirius Star Marketing.

Interactive marketing benefit is they can deal with their consumers live and more direct. Only thing is that it should be creative to grab the interest of consumers. Popcorn brand Orville Redenbacher's has come up with a Facebook game that features augmented reality.

The brand worked with its digital agency of record, Possible Worldwide, on the game. The “Pop Cam” game drops virtual popcorn kernels that consumers can catch in their mouths via their computer's webcam. Consumers earn points for each kernel they catch, and the game ends when consumers miss a certain amount of kernels. Consumers without a webcam are unable to play the game. My friend, who is working with Redwoods Advance, just told me to try this new game as it would interest me just as he did.

Pay-per-click advertising services are widely used by most marketers who wants you to click on before proceeding further. The aim of pay-per-click service is to put your company's message in front of your prospects right when they're most likely to buy.

When prospects enter a keyword that relates to a product or service into any of the popular search engines (e.g., Google, Yahoo, MSN), you know they're interested in your products or services; that's when you want to place your message in front of them. And, Internet Marketing services like Web Technologies Inc. can help you to get your business done.

A fashion app can help you while dressed in gray kitty-cat pajamas, an oversized shirt of questionable origin, and fuzzy red socks. The app is to help those who seriously struggle when it comes to selecting outfits.

When I talked about this app, my friend who is working with Web Listings Inc. was very excited. "I am gonna shine among my colleagues (who are girls) with this app", he said.

The small town of Ivy Bridge is known for many things. Sited at about 9 miles east of Plymouth, the town enjoys a beautiful natural setting. It is also situated in close proximity to Dartmoor, a National Park of Wales and England. The town of Ivy Bridge has centuries of history as a mill town and the mills here which were built using the River Erme's power date back to the 16th century. Another interesting fact is that Ivy Bridge is often referred to as a dormitory town though most of the people work in the town itself.  

I met a friend of mine who works at Blackcode Advertising last week and he happened to be from this small town. I had read about Ivy Bridge before but I was always curious about how the town got this peculiar name.

When businesses go controversial at communicating the right message or when they fail to impress some peer groups, direct marketing can be a great help. This is when direct marketing does the heavy job of taking up the responsibility to get the things right with every one and not let the wrong message reach to the ones which are ignorent about the issues happened.

When you get into the business remeber one thing, that your customers can spoil your business, if they get a wrong notion of your acts. It has happend to Avios, when they did an ad for the loyalty point scheme. What the ads are not pointing out is that this is a rebrand of AirMiles, the scheme owned by The Mileage Company. So, in such situations, the direct marketing companies like Enigma Marketing make use of their direct marketing tactics to get the things right.

Behavioural tactics like diet changes and control and exercise have proved to help obese adults to reduce weight. This is possible with or without medication.

Researchers came to this conclusion after conducting 58 clinical trials. Researchers found that behavioural programs helped obese people lose an average of 7 pounds more over 12 to 18 months, versus people who received no special therapy- most of whom lost little to no weight. The more intensive the programs did better result.

A new study has claimed that people working in posh, well kept and open office plan offices reported a drop in their productivity by over 15 percent.  Researchers found that open plan offices create distractions and unwanted activity in the brains of workers, which could hamper their productivity. Interestingly they also claimed that contrary to the common belief, a clean and sterile  can actually leave the employees with a smaller brain!  Such work spaces can  also lead to a 32 per cent drop in workers well being.

Stride Marketing Ltd has in place two programs that are designed by the company – the Business Development Program and the Sales Program. Recently, Stride Marketing Ltd reviewed both these programs to analyse the positives as well as the negatives. (This is something that companies like Stride Marketing, Appco Group etc always do, to keep things going smooth). Here are a few opinions from candidates about the program “After spending 3 years doing a degree in the Midlands, I moved back to the North East to find an opportunity in business. I spent a few years gaining experience in numerous roles, but they all lacked a challenge and there was little scope for progression. Since joining Stride Marketing, I have progressed onto Stage 4 of the Business Development Programme and attended a number of international training events including Barcelona and Dubai, as well as developing a lot of beneficial business attributes.”

Beware! if you live near a petrol station, you are likely to face more health problems because the fuel pollutants that can travel up to 100m, make fuel stations serious health hazards. Researchers say that the air near the petrol stations will be polluted with  airborne particles from evaporated fuel, which could have harmful effects on the health of the residents. Airborne organic compounds  such as benzene are carcinogenic and the air in the vicinity of petrol stations contain more than the average levels of these compounds.

The love for art can cost you dearly at times. Here is an art lover who spend a fortune in owning an invisible art piece that doesn't even exist, thereby  pushing the bounds of art appreciation to its breaking point. New media aficionado Aimee Davison spend a staggering $10,000 on a piece of non-existent artwork of artist duo Brainard and Delia Carey, along with actor James Franco from the Museum of Non-Visible Art (MONA).

A steaming cup of tea might  actually be more beneficial to your body than water.  In a research report  published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the authors say that tea not only replenish the water content in your body but also replaces fluids and antioxidants, which makes it more beneficial than water. "Now I have the reason why my boss Christos Niarchos drinks three many cups of tea a day. !

“Drinking tea is actually better for you than drinking water,” Dr. Carrie Ruxton, a nutritionist and the lead author of the study told the BBC. These antioxidants like flavanoids enable the repair of cells and help in preventing the risks of  heart attacks and some types of cancer. The scientists have found string evidence that drinking three to four cups of tea a day can cut the chances of having a heart attack. Studies show that one to six cups of tea a day  including black tea will ensure improved antioxidant intake. However , as tea can inhibit the iron absorption from food, anemic patients are advised to avoid tea near mealtime.

Find more health benefits of tea here in this article http://healthland.time.com/2011/01/14/study-tea-is-healthier-than-water/?iid=WBeditorspicks

Clover Advertising is one of the leading direct marketing companies that have a specialized marketing strategy that calls for targeted customers. The company takes a very specific approach with each of their clients when it approaches the market. In fact Clover already knows their client's preference and customers' behaviour, so that makes them enter the market easy. The best part of Clover Advertising is it does not follow the traditional methods where they target the entire audience, but keeps a measured and calculated approach.

Clover has a list of some of the best companies as clients for the marketing needs. So every project designed to direct marketing is done thoroughly. The idea to bring in innovative marketing strategy is based on the approach "How to go ahead of your competitor and place the product or service directly to the customer without having to invest time and money on other media. The company knows that innovative marketing brings in better results and efficiently create more opportunities.

Expensive jewels, luxury yachts and private jets are all passe, the latest trend in exotic gifts ad status symbols seem to be pedigree pigeons, which carry an eye watering price tag of over $200,000

An affluent Chinese buyer shelled out $200,000 for a racing pigeon, named Blue Prince, at a Belgium auction,setting a new world record. The bird belongs to the  elitist  class of Belgian racing pigeons and a colony of 218 such birds were sold in the same auction for a staggering  $1.8 million!

Pigeon racing has always been a royal sport in Western Europe dating back to the the ancient Roman regimes.  Birds are released hundreds of miles from their home and the  first birds back win the race. Pigeon racing is hugely popular  in China, where the races have high pay outs and carry attractive sponsorships. Else where in the world,  Mike Tyson, the  famous American boxer  has his own pigeon-racing show.

So in case you have enough dough to spare, an exotic  racing pigeon will be  a good gift choice to grab a few eyeballs!

New studies show that marine extinction is becoming the major cause that is affecting the world in recent times. The causes for the extinction are recorded as the high rate of fishing and climate change.  Deteriorating than expected, the world's seas will see a gradual decrease in the marine area within a few years. With the damage to the marine life, the ones to be effected by this cause would be the humans who will have to support themselves and also the eco systems such as coral reefs which will soon die out.

Though it is seen that human beings would be the first ones to be effected by this happening, they are the ones who are primarily the cause of the case. Other factors include the warming of the ocean, higher levels of acidity and lack of oxygen. Marine scientists are in terms of taking measures that will cut the carbon emissions, reduce the concept of river fishing, cut down the pollution rate and close down unsustainable fisheries.

 
These changes are also causing other problems like the slow decline of long- lived fishes and also changes in the development of harmful algaes. Noticing that the challenges for the oceans in the future are becoming huge, the world's leading experts needs to take immediate action.

Nasser S. Al Hajri Corporation (NSH Corporation), which has been partnering progress in the Middle East for over three decades, goes on with traits like vision, quality and efficiency. Companies like NSH Corporation and entrepreneurs like Christos Niarchos are always guided by visions like this. 

NSH was launched in 1978 and has been catering to key sectors of growth- including Refineries, Petrochemicals, Fertilizers, Cement, Power Desalination and Steel Industries. The company, which provides state-of-the-art construction service and blends technology with skilled manpower, works with a vision, a very futuristic kind of vision. As for quality, it has been setting benchmarks all the time. NSH Corporation been honoured as a Grade "A" general construction contractor by the Government of Saudi Arabia, has got the  ISO 9001:2000 QMS certification and goes by quality control standards that are in line with OSHAS 18001, the global occupational health and safety management benchmark. Efficiency is what has made the company play a key role in the economic growth of the GCC. 

“We are pioneers in the regional industrial construction business and many of our construction projects have set new benchmarks in terms of scale, sophistication, safety, quality & speed. We continue to play a key role in the economic growth of the GCC with our on-time project completion which has, time and again, generated additional value for our clients”, says a company source about what makes Nasser S. Al Hajri Corporation so different and relevant.

A student at the Royal College of Art in London, Hannes Harms, has come up with a design for an edible RFID (radio frequency identification)chip, part of a system he calls NutriSmart. The chip could send information about the food you eat to a personal computer or, conceivably, a mobile phone via a Bluetooth connection.

The idea is that it could send nutritional data and ingredients for people who have allergies, or calorie-counting for those on diets, or maybe even telling your fridge when the food has gone off. It could even be used to market organic food, with a chip holding data about the origin of that tuna steak you just bought.

The idea still raises a lot of questions. First is safety. People ingest electronic cameras often enough - the US Food and Drug Administration approved the first ones a decade ago. But those cameras are used to diagnose serious conditions, not eaten daily. Then there's privacy. Do you want the whole world to know about your food allergy or diabetes? Are you comfortable telling unknown parties your eating habits?

Last is cost. RFID chips can be made cheaply, but adding a dollar to the cost of a dollar food item is a leap many people might not want to make.

The obsession for the latest gadgets and devices is on an all time hingh among the youth. This shocking incident in China where a 17-year old student sold one of his kidneys to buy an iPad 2 and an iPhone is an eyeopener of this dangerous trend.

The boy, identified only as Xiao Zheng, which means 'Little Zheng', hailing from China's south-eastern Anhui province met a broker online who helped him  sell his kidney for 20,000 yuan (€2,059), according to the reports. In  April, Zheng went to Chenzhou in central Hunan province without the knowledge of his mother and had his right kidney removed in a hospital. Another broker who organises the sale of kidneys in the Beijing area told reporters that they would normally pay much more for a kidney and the boy was paid much below the prevailing market rates.

3D Organisation Ltd, which is one of Manchester's fastest growing sales and marketing companies, strives towards adding new dimensions to direct marketing.

The first office of 3D Organisation was opened in 2004. The growth then onwards was spectacular. The company now works through 15 affiliated marketing companies all across the UK. 2010 witnessed the company launching its business into Brazil and Sweden, representing an array of Blue Chip clients.

Have you ever fancied of playing Pong for your lunch?

In a clever marketing move as my friend from Appco Direct called it, "Pick n' Play", McDonald's in Sweden is using an interactive billboard on a Stockholm street that lets hungry users play the classic video game to earn themselves a free burger.

Users visit a website and the geolocation system on their iPhone confirms that they are near enough the billboard to play. Then they choose what item they wish to play for - a portion of fries, or a burger, for example - and then are put in the queue to play Pong against the computer, with their game relayed on the big screen.

The iPhone screen is used as the player's controller, with swipes of the finger used to manipulate the paddle. If they are able to last 30 seconds against the game's increasingly challenging AI opponent, then a digital voucher is sent to their phone which they can take to a nearby restaurant to redeem their treat of choice.

This is not the first time that McDonald's is using this kind of advertising trick upon customers, but this time the fast food giant has come up with an innovative way to use an interactive billboard. Last year, again in Stockholm, customers were encouraged to use their smartphone camera to "capture" items displayed on a constantly changing billboard which they could then redeem in a nearby McDonald's.