Still Free

As the world of marketing evolves online, new, intriguing ways to market a brand must be invented to help separate the best.

In response to lukejohnnewman's  post regarding a clever marketing campaign adopted by The Chaser, where they rented space on a billboard in the middle of Iraq for a small sum of $150. An innovative approach which surely turned enough heads.

This got me thinking of other internet phenomena, that have turned heads, to promote or market a brand.

In 2006, Marc Ecko, a well known artist and fashion designer, decided to commit a heinous crime all for a bit of publicity for his website stillfree.com.

 

Now most of you may already have seen this and know that its not entirely real.

But just have a look at how much of a scene it made...

Although the cost of this marketing ploy, has greatly dwarfed that of The Chaser's. The main lesson to take from these campaigns, is that you should strive to be innovative, invest in creativity, do something different, be controversial without
defaming anything and allow the imagination of the reader/viewer, to explore. This, will give your brand a big edge on the competition.

Can  you think of any others? let me know.

Searching for answers...

Blogging allows us to communicate our thoughts about anything we feel necessary to communicate.

Although some blogs may not aim to attract too many different opinions, the main focus is to facilitate communication between the reader and the owner of the site. Once the reader has made a connection with the blog the interest to read further posts would increase. This connection tends to develop into a communal forum where blog owners read and comment on each other’s blogs while linking to those of their choosing through discussion.

But what to blog about is the question? And what makes people ‘+1’ or ‘like’ the comments you publish? What makes your piece stand out from the endless lists of blogs that plague the internet? Hopefully this will help me and any other strugglers who may be finding it hard to get the ball rolling….

The best advice given on most ‘how to blog’ sites, exclaimed that it is essential to find your own voice, your own perspective and never try to mimic the words of others. This blog promises to do just that.

As a first time blogger, it was hard to come to an agreement with myself about what my first blog should contain (hence the delay).

After intense thought I asked myself this…

Do I jump straight into a topic which I’m most passionate about and provide a very biased one sided view of my account on the subject? Do I take an idea from someone else, partially plagiarise, flip it around to make it look like my own piece of prose, hoping to look original and gain some attention with some pretty pictures or videos? Do I leave it open, keep it balanced, and general hoping not to piss any one off? Or do I attempt to grab the attention of potential followers by appealing to a broad scope of interests that are common among most?

Tough decisions when your name is being attached to the blog for everyone to judge, critique, chew up and spit out straight back at you.

After some serious deliberation my blogging destiny finally emerged from the clouds and shone light onto my blank screen.

And it came to one idea.

Feed me…..

Feed me some food, some food for thought.

I was once told that many companies develop products and then attempt to match them to the needs and wants of the consumers. I pledge to stand against this, and do exactly exactly the opposite.

I commend you to post anything you like in the comments below that you would like to appear in the next post. And I do mean anything, from content, to style, video or script you name it. For this blog shall be a blog of the people, it shall not conform to a single theme or to the ideas of a lone individual. It will take the shape and form of the class of MKF3881. It will represent you. 

But most of all it will be….. (insert comments below)