The GottaQuirk eMarketing blog The GottaQuirk blog is a great resource for information about internet marketing. It’s an up-to-date resource on the happenings in the fast-moving eMarketing industry. Statistics Unique Visitors: Total Unique Visitors: Outgoing: Total Outgoing: 0 0 8 7400

Articles from The GottaQuirk eMarketing blog

Finding Missing Children with YouTube 2007-08-13 04:25:50 YouTube and the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC) have announced a new channel dedicated to broadcasting videos of missing children, called Don’t You Forget About Me. The announcement was made on the 100th day since the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. According to the press release, photographs are currently the most useful tool in finding missing children. It’s only logical that as people are spending more time online, such important information is finding a way to adapt to the new medium. The ICMEC saw YouTube and its growing popularity as a natural means of broadcasting their message. Madeleine’s parents are very enthusiastic about the new venture. The videos are accessible to a much larger audience in a relatively short amount of time. Apart from videos about the missing children, the channel will also feature child safety information and messages of support from high profile people. I think that the channel is a great idea, a ... Children  Youtube

Carrying on a Classic 2007-08-12 04:37:23 If yesterday's K-Fee ad was a good viral, then today's K-Fee Lite clip is an outstanding one. What made the original so viral was the surprise twist at the end and how well the viewer's reaction tied in with the product's offering. Well, this Lite clip uses the same formula but takes it a step further. (Watch the original here in order to get the full effect.) Not only do I find the clip to be an excellent viral (anyone who sent or received the original is likely to send this one on) but I also think that it does a wonderful job of positioning K-Fee Lite next to its parent / sibling brand. Comment on "Carrying on a Classic" ...

K-Fee Classic 2007-08-11 03:03:09 There are a couple of staples that can really guarantee that a clip's going to go viral. Now although this particular clip isn't necessarily going to be as popular as a clip of Kate Beckinsale participating in a pillow fight, the fact that it has a surprise twist is more than enough to ensure its success. Yeah - guess most of the people are just as mature as me, sending this out to their less composed mates and firstly rejoicing and then gloating, "I got you!" Not that I didn't fall off my chair when I first saw this... Comment on "K-Fee Classic" ...

Education in eMarketing 2007-08-10 08:13:25 Quirk has always endeavoured to educate the public on eMarketing, what the future holds for marketing online and the various uses of the Internet. Now our focus is turned on the 3rd year and post-graduate marketing students at the University of Cape Town. Quirk was approached by course convenor Justin Beneke to take over the eMarketing lectures that form part of the Information Technology & Marketing course in order to generate more interest in eMarketing and to increase the practical applications of this course. With a dynamic team of QuirkStars lecturing I'm very optimistic and confident that we'll be able to make the course (and the discipline of eMarketing) more engaging to a group of students that will play a large part in South Africa's online future. The lectures begin next week and will cover the following aspects of eMarketing: PPC, Online Advertising, Affiliate Marketing, Conversion Optimisation, SEO, WebPR, ORM, Social Media and Viral and Email Marketing. I've ...

From the racehorse's mouth 2007-08-09 05:54:00 If you were to put a gun to my head and ask me who I'd most want to see start a blog I'd be forced to say an English Premier League football player. Now before I get started with what makes a football player an interesting candidate it bears mentioning that there are blogs (such as the NFL player Frank Gore's) and then there are blogs. Many celebrities have toyed with releasing their latest happenings and spewing packageable word-vomit (thanks Sarah) to satisfy the insatiable cravings that marketers have created for “more” of their brand. More noise, more sequels... more repackaging of the same drivel that we're given time and time again. The main appeal of a blog for me is that it takes content to another level - it speaks in a voice that's unique to its author that lets you feel that even if you don't come away with more knowledge or information, you will leave with a better understanding. At the end of the day a blog should be a relationship-building tool. Un ...

Social Media - The down low 2007-08-08 09:16:20 Newsletter Wednesdays always tend to arrive quicker than I realise they will - thanks to Sarah A. for putting it all together this week.   With today’s edition we released the first instalment of our five part "How To" series on Social Media: Social Media - The down low.  The series will focus on the evolution of the phenomena now known as Social Media as well as its various facets and what marketers need to keep in mind to succeed as far as this online tactic goes. Each part will be released with the newsletters over the next 9 weeks so be sure to keep an eye on your inbox to make sure you’re kept in the loop, if you’re not a subscriber (gasp) you can sign up here. The newsletter is also jam packed with interesting articles and blog posts on new developments in Social Media as well as some excellent viral clips. As always we’d love to hear your feedback… Comment on "Social Media - The down low" ...

GooPhone - A Pocket-Sized Billboard 2007-08-08 06:01:40 Having just read News24’s New phone ‘to rock your world, I was surprised to see that Google may be launching what has been dubbed the GooPhone. What’s more, the rumour is that the handset is going to be free. To be honest, I’m sitting on the fence with this one… According to the article, “Google is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to develop text, brand image and video ads for small-screen cellphones”. Basically, by making the GooPhone an advertising-friendly medium, Google will be able to recoup the costs of the phones and eventually, the cost of calls. That’s right, the calls will be free. From an eMarketing point of view I’m looking forward to seeing how Google manages to strike a balance between making the GooPhone an advertising tool and a user-friendly personal communication device. The success of the phone depends on it, yet they are going to have to bulk up on the advertising if they are looking to make a profit. ... Billboard

Creating Creativity 2007-08-07 03:36:06 I went to a business forum last week at the Innovation Hub where Lu-Marie Sobey from Synnovation talked on behalf of Blue Catalyst about creativity. More specifically the process of creativity and how we can unlock the ideas that are spooling around in our heads - I think Blue Catalyst really get it. They seem to really grasp that innovation starts off with an idea. That light bulb moment everyone gets, but its how we interpret, evolve and evaluate the idea that really makes the difference. I believe eMarketing is an “ideas” industry, but because we work with strategies that are extremely measurable, we do tend to take the tried & tested route. But this discussion really got me thinking that we must keep on evolving our current creative processes. One of the key points I picked up on was that most companies stop thinking at the “Operational Thinking” stage. This is the sort of thinking that deals with the operations inside a particular company. Now don&rsq ...

SearchStatus Video Tutorial 2007-08-06 04:06:45 Kudos go to Vittorio Bosio over at TechSavvyMarketer.com for putting together this great video tutorial for our Firefox extension, SearchStatus which was developed Craig Raw. Damn I wish we’d done this first! Vittorio will be putting together a host of video tutorials featuring various Firefox extensions so keep an eye out on his blog! Comment on "SearchStatus Video Tutorial" ...

Lonely lamp 2007-08-05 04:43:28 After watching me nearly brain myself on a 5 foot high roof a couple of days ago, Claire and Tim (whom I suspect was mildly disappointed at my lack of misfortune) noted that our surrounds were eerily reminiscent of the 7-and-a-half(th) floor in Being John Malkovich. Taking their cue I decided to put up another famous work by Spike Jonze  this week - his award winning Ikea lamp commercial: Comment on "Lonely lamp" ...

Camping can be fun 2007-08-04 02:45:31 What do you do when you’re stuck in a situation reminiscent of an urban legend and you have nothing to light your way? Never fear when Four Seasons Condoms are near. We should have had these puppies on hand during last year’s electric blackouts… now that would have been funny. Thanks for sending it on Craig. Comment on "Camping can be fun" ...

WebPR+ Session Two 2007-08-03 06:49:35 By now I’m sure you’ve listened to Session One of the WebPR+ conference which covered "New Media Habits and New Technology Affecting the Practice of PR". You can now listen to Rob’s two part session on “Online Reputation Management”. Listen to Part 1 Listen to Part 2 Thanks again to the crew over at Chilibean for putting these podcasts together for us. Next up on the schedule is Sally’s session on “PR and Marketing Opportunities in the Web 2.0 ‘Attention Economy’”. We’ll let you know as soon as it’s up. Comment on "WebPR+ Session Two" ...

Piracy: Bootleg Loopholes 2007-08-03 02:05:32 ‘Legitimate’ stores selling counterfeit CDs, games and DVDs have been popping up all over the place recently, and I’ve always wondered how they get away with selling copied discs. My flatmates recently bought Fight Night Round 3 from a shop called Cybermedia in Cape Town, for R100 - a fifth of the price of buying it in a mainstream CD store. Granted, the low DPI on the printing of the disc label and cover produce a slightly ‘spotty’ copy, but other than that the game is identical. We’re not talking street vendors with re-dubbed Afghan releases of Titanic. I’d heard about the shop before, and one or two others (The Source), but I thought it was meet-someone-on-the-street-corner-and-use-a-fake-name kind of deal. I didn’t know they had a physical shop, catalogue and website. How could this be possible? Will we ever know? Yes, we will know. Cybermedia have taken advantage of the infamous backup loophole. Basically they sell copies of th ...

Radical styles 2007-08-03 00:46:18 I liken Quirk's methods and tools to this 80’s phrase which I am bringing back - "Radical Styles"! My name is Claire and I am one of the newest QuirkStars, my role being Account Manager. Today I am celebrating my 1st month at Quirk, and my experience thus far has been a positive one. I have spent the past 3 years working for myself. My job description included; event design, artist representation and PR consulting. I predominantly worked within the Arts and Culture industry, although due to a keen interest in the invaluable work carried out by many a charitable organisation I actively sought contracts with organisations that promoted sustainable development / community upliftment and transparency within the finances. Prior to the self-employed period I worked in the world of sales for 5 years – including a 9 month stint of managing the sales team. It may seem that my experience is far from the world of online marketing, although there are many parallels. The ov ...

Seat to seat 2007-08-02 03:29:12 Last week I stumbled across this Influential Marketing Blog post providing an overview of how Virgin America is applying the “virgin way” to the airline industry. A 5 point summary ensued: Having a unique personality Enable traveller's gadgetized lifestyles Eliminate the hand signals and call button etiquette problem Discounts without the discount airports Connect with fellow passengers The last one on that list really sticks out. How many times have you been stuck on a ten hour flight next to a catatonic newt who refuses to make eye-contact with you? How often have you found yourself next to a walking shrimp who insists on describing in excruciating detail the unfortunate rash that's driving him to seek help from a top German geneticist? The problem with air travel is that due to you being stuck in such an uncomfortably close proximity to someone you want to have nothing more to do with them than is absolutely necessary. What results is polite ...