What is Love?

Ooops! I was supposed to post this video by Jubilee Project yesterday given it was Valentine's Day. I guess I got too distracted from watching too many videos that fit into this theme of "romantic love". From music videos, wedding proposals, prom date proposals, wedding videos, short films, to even some scenes from tv shows and movies (wow! I need to get a life!). All of which are inspiring or even heartbreaking. To me, Valentine's Day is just another day. But, seeing other people in love makes me happy and gives me a sense of unrealistic hope. Valentine's Day or not, we all know that love really does make the world go round and can certainly make us do crazy things. However, never forget that the most important love is self-love. Love yourself first to make giving and receiving love that much easier. 

Generosity Day: What is Love? 

And, I thought this song "Valentine" by the beautiful Kina Grannis would also be relevant. I dedicate this song to everyone out there. 

Lots o' Love, Linda 

Bringing Sexy Back!

Looks like 2013 is definitely going to be Justin Timberlake's year! After what seems like half a decade of hiatus, you can tell he's been keeping himself busy. From taking on acting roles, to relaunching the new MySpace, to getting married to Jessica Biel, to releasing new singles (and an album on its way) and not to mention, becoming the creative director of Bud Light. Also, his performance at this year's Grammy Awards was nothing short of amazing! 

I've always been a big fan of Justin Timberlake. Luckily for me, being a late 80's baby and childhood spent in the 90's means that I got to witness JT go from being a member of boyband, *NSYNC, to where he is today. And that is, taking over the world by bringing sexy back one step at a time. 

*NSYNC - I Want You Back

Justin Timberlake: Mirrors

Produced by Timbaland, the new album 'The 20/20 Experience' is set to be released on March 19. I'm definitely looking forward to it!

Image via Billboard 

Lots o' Love, Linda 

Hello to the Year of the Snake!

Chuc Mung Nam Moi is Vietnamese for Happy New Year!

Budai - also known as Fat Buddha, Laughing Buddha, Future Buddha and the manifestation of Maitreya Buddha. Not to be confused with the historical Gautama Buddha. 

Avalokitesvara: known as Quan Am in Vietnamese

A dragon and two lions 

Fire crackers

Lunar New Year is the most important and exciting event for my family; family reunions, big feasts, temple visits and traditional offerings to our ancestors and the Gods.  

For those who don't know, other Asian ethnicities such as the Vietnamese (like myself) and Koreans also celebrate Lunar New Year on the same days as the Chinese. Hence, some may feel offended and excluded when this important day on the Lunar calendar is popularly marketed as "Chinese New Year". 

Happy Lunar New Year, everyone!! Good bye to the Year of the Dragon (it was my year!) and hello to the Year of the Water Snake! Lunar New Year celebrations may run up to 15 days, so expect to see and hear plenty of lion dances, fire-crackers and drum beating for the next couple of weeks. 

Lots o' Love, Linda 

Let's Go Crazy

When it comes to Coca-Cola, you either love it or hate it. You either love or hate the drinks; or you simply love or hate the brand itself. Personally, I'm a proud member of Team Coca Cola. And, most of their campaigns? Love them.  

Please put any cynical thoughts aside for once, and enjoy this Coca-Cola commercial that hopefully inspires us all to "Let's Go Crazy" and do good deeds. 

Lots o' Love, Linda

Post Brand Bowl

While I was not particularly following the event closely or interested in the grid iron game itself, I would still like to congratulate the Baltimore Ravens for their Super Bowl XLVII win! Being a marketing student, it's hard to let this pass without being interested in what the "Brand Bowl" had to offer and how the audience responded this year. 

Of course, much of the talk about the Super Bowl, especially on social media (specifically Twitter), was about Beyonce's half-time show performance. In case you haven't caught up, she did put on a marvelous show with a surprise appearance of the girls from Destiny's Child (Kelly and Michelle). They all looked stunning! Check it out! 

Another thing that made this year's Super Bowl memorable was the sudden power outage. I can imagine it being so exciting to be at the Super Bowl to witness the black out! Even though it was only half the lights, but still exciting and enough for people to mention it on social media.

On top of that, Oreo quickly responded (after approval) with the following tweet which then spread very quickly:

Image via Twitter (Oreo)

The process of what happened behind the scenes is briefly provided in this article.  

I have yet to watch all of the commercials, but here are a few that I enjoyed from what I've seen so far. The ones posted on my previous post are also in my list of favourites.  

Jeep: "Whole Again"

CBS: "Thank You"

Ram Trucks: "Farmer"

Doritos: "Goat 4 Sale"

From my observation of the Super Bowl ads, the majority of the brands have integrated hashtags with their commercials. I found this article "2013 Superbowl Ads Favour URLS, Hashtags - Not Facebook" by Jeremiah Owyang very informative about this year's Super Bowl ads integration with technology. It's useful data to think about for future marketing campaigns. 

Image via Web-Strategist 

Rise of the hashtags? Not only are hashtags useful on Twitter, but it's also useful for content discovery on other social media platforms such as Instagram, Tumblr and Pinterest. Perhaps, a weakness for Facebook? 

Lots o' Love, Linda 

Super Bowl 2013: Pre-Releases

Okay, so the big game is not far away. What do I mean by the big game? The big game in America; The Super Bowl XLVII! And we all know what that means; big game, big names, big show, big audience and big budget commercials. 

With an expected audience of 110 million people from all over the world, it's no wonder companies spend around $3.8 million USD for 30 seconds of air-time. And on top of that, the commercials may be the highlight by most of that audience (ahem, that could be myself). 

While the Baltimore Ravens vs San Francisco 49ers game is just around the corner, we all have the chance to view some of the Super Bowl teasers and full commercials online days or even weeks before the kick-off. 

Why are companies doing this? Won't this ruin the element of surprise and anticipation? Maybe, but according to Fortune, Suzie Reider of YouTube, says that Super Bowl ads that were pre-released ahead of the game averaged 9.1 million viewers in 2012. Whereas, an average of 1.3 million viewers were received for the ads that were released on the day of the game. 

With that in mind and the help of social media as a word-of-mouth platform, it would be a winner to release teasers and ads before game day. I also love that some of these commercials are embracing the "hashtags" so the audience may join in the online conversation. 

Here are some of this year's Super Bowl pre-releases: 

Milk Moustache: Got Milk?

Volkswagen: Get in. Get happy.

Samsung: El Plato Supreme #TheNextBigThing

Budweiser: The Clydesdales: "Brotherhood"

Better call Saul! (Only a Breaking Bad fan will understand this reference.) 

I also found this Super Bowl XLVII: Social Media Guidebook in infographic form and post of The Value of a Super Bowl Ad interesting. 

Lots o' Love, Linda

Disney's Paperman

Image via iwatchstuff

Image via formula mom

Directed by John Kahrs, Paperman, was screened before Disney's Wreck-It Ralph at the cinemas. It would've been a lovely experience if I watched this at the cinemas because this black and white short is simply amazing. I can't seem to find the words to describe this at this moment but Disney has done it again, putting nothing but warmth in my heart throughout the entire animation. I'll be honest to admit that I did feel a lot more emotion within me than I had anticipated as I watched this. 

Not to mention, it has also received an Oscar nomination for this year's animated short category. All the best of luck, Paperman! 

I've also found this great interview with one of the producers, Kristina Reed. Also, another interview with John Kahrs.

Since the animation on YouTube is unlisted, only those with the link can view it. So, click for the link and get those few minutes of happiness.  

Lots o' Love, Linda