Poor old Microsoft. They’ve had to extend the life of XP by offering it as an option to customers buying new hardware for another six months at least. They realise that people aren’t going to buy a Vista machine unless XP—what’s wonderfully called “downgrade media”–comes with it: “As more customers make the move to Windows … Read more
This piece from Web in Travel (a few weeks old now, but just delivered) was interesting and scary: China has created two generations of one-child families, and, in the words of Harry Hui, chief marketing officer of PepsiCo International, China Beverages, “one of the loneliest generations in the world”. And a big one, to boot: … Read more
One way to try to get the journalist to read beyond the headline/subject is the EMBARGOED tag: Although it does sound somewhat pompous, and can backfire if it’s not a story worth breaking an embargo for. Likewise a subject line prefaced by BREAKING NEWS: As you can see, MySpace’s PR seems to think anything to … Read more
I love this: a mashup that generates great-looking ads from Flickr pictures and a computer. The conclusion: We realise how easily affected we are by words and pictures together, but how the mix often doesn’t mean very much, especially when they’re ads. By remixing corporate slogans, I intend to show how the language of advertising … Read more
It struck me, as I lay on a chaise longue at the Conrad Bali trying to filter out the drone of the jetskis, that hotels are selling a complicated product. My wife, for example, loves the clean, crisp white sheets and thick feather pillows of a king-size bed. Others go for the food, some for … Read more