Make Cupcakes, Not War!

Image via Ahoodie

Image via Business Week 

A few months ago (late May to be exact), I was fortunate to see Johnny Earle present at Vivid Sydney Ideas , Co-Create the Experience. I've been following Johnny since 2010 via Twitter, so I was super excited to see and meet the mastermind of the Johnny Cupcakes brand, all the way from Boston. 

He was named as Business Week's number one Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2008 at the age of 26. 

He spoke of how he turned a simple idea into the successful business it is today. He spoke how he thinks his concept is strange, but strange is good. Strange is important. 

And, I can tell you, his entrepreneurial mindset was really inspiring to say the least. And, I certainly learned a lot about marketing during his key note presentation. 

I came to learn about Johnny Cupcakes in 2010 from Twitter and followed him since then. Of course, at first, I thought it was just a cupcake brand, but it wasn't. It's actually a t-shirt brand, with physical stores decked out to look like bakeries. 

A lot of his brand awareness came as a result of word-of-mouth. Johnny spoke about how he did not advertise his brand, but the beauty of word-of-mouth of his brand, to his surprise, spread not only domestically but internationally. And this was because of the following; 

• Packaging 
• Experience 
• Keep people talking 
• Travel
• Network 
• Build a community 
• Re-invest into the brand 
• Keep positive 
• Thrills and surprise 

Further important notes I took from this session are: 

• Approach people you know AND don't know
• Leave social circle and meet new people 
• Don't worry about getting broke 
• Everyone should have a business card 
• Do more of what makes you happy! 

Johnny Cupcakes Pop-Up Store in Sydney 

The little gift he hid under our seats as a 'surprise' strategy. 

Meet & Greet! I was tired by this time while carrying heavy textbooks, but I was real happy to meet him!

This moment will go down to one of my highlights of the year.

To learn more about Johnny Cupcakes, watch this video;

Lots o' Love, Linda 

Secret Message for the Kids

Image via Fespa

What's a kid to do when they are abused by an adult? They are vulnerable and wouldn't know what to do, who to tell or where to go. 

A clever designed campaign by ad agency, Grey (Spain), for ANAR Foundation  (Ayuda A Ninos Y Adolescentes En Riesgo or Help For Children And Adolescents At Risk) was launched in Spain with the aim to increase child abuse awareness and encourage child abuse victims to reach out for help by making a phone call in discreet.

The outdoor poster ads have two seperate messages for two target groups; one aimed at adults and the other aimed at children. Each target message were designed to be visible only for the intended target group, made possible by knowing the average height and using a lenticular lens. 

Image via International Business Times

The message made visible to the adult is a general child abuse awareness message. It also displays an image of a clean face of a boy from the adult's point of view. 

Whereas, the other message aimed at children displays the same image of the child but clearly appears to have wounds and bruises as a result of violence. The important message of making a phone call along with a number are also displayed and visible only from their point of view. 

Image via Resource Mag Online - Message visible for adults 

Image via Resource Mag Online - Hidden message visible for children 

How this works is explained in the video below: 

Lots o' Love, Linda 

Here's to the Mums!

In celebration of Mother's Day 2013, Google launched a campaign to honour the mothers of the world called Here's to the Moms. There is also an additional digital page to allow users more ways to celebrate and thank their mothers by using Google products (keep in mind, I'm Australian, hence I use "mums" instead of "moms"). 

They are able to create a Mother's Day card using Google Doodle; share videos from YouTube; search Google Maps for florists near by for flower deliveries; use Google Plus to create circles and hangouts; and Google Offers for last minute gift shopping just to name a few. 

Image via Google - Mother's Day 2013 Doodle 

If you were on the Google homepage on Mother's Day, you would probably have enjoyed the fun Google Doodle of creating a Mother's Day card. To have a play with it if you haven't already or to read more of behind the scenes of the project, click here. 

Here's another touching video that I've found by Family Share.  

To the mothers of the world, never forget how special and important you are. Your hard work never goes unappreciated. The world wouldn't be where it is today without you all.  

And of course, to my very own mother, thank you so much for everything you have done and continue to do. I'm a pretty hard and stubborn kid. You have spoiled me with too much in this world and I can't imagine how it feels to raise someone like myself. Thank you so much for being brave, hardworking and never giving up on me. 

And not to mention, you are hilarious! The weird habits you have make the funny and awesome person that you are. Everyday is another episode of what I like to call it, "Keeping Up With the TRANdashians" and I can't imagine it otherwise. Thank you. I really mean it. 

I LOVE YOU!  

Lots o' Love, Linda 

Monsters University Grumblr

I've mentioned in a previous post about how genius the Pixar team is at experience marketing by creating a university website to anticipate the upcoming Monsters University film, and it never stopped from there. 

The marketing geniuses behind Pixar places more social media to clever use by creating a 'student-run' Tumblr blog called, The Grumblr. It's an easy blogging tool that allows for quick posts of photos, memes, GIFS, videos and reblogging posts that tickle your fancy. And, it's a great way to connect with Monsters Inc fans in the Tumblr community and for them to have a taste of the life of MU students. 

To make it even look more realistic, some images have been posted as 'instagram' style photos.
Here are some instagram pics posted on The Grumblr, cause any active Tumblr user knows that instagram pics are commonly posted.  

Image via Monsters University Grumblr

Image via Monsters University Grumblr

Image via Monsters University Grumblr 

Image via Monsters University Grumblr  

I'll be making more posts about Monsters University marketing communications in the future, so be forewarned.

Lots o' Love, Linda 

More Beautiful Than You Think

Being a woman, I know how hard it can be sometimes. I am also very aware of how critical we can be to our own selves. Afterall, we all seem to be our own worst critic and enemy. And most of all, those criticisms all stem from how we perceive ourselves...on the outside. 

There's always some kind of flaw that we pay the most attention to or are most self-conscious about. Ask any girl and she will tell you what they dislike about their image. Even the most gorgeous looking people will pick out some kind of flaw in themselves. I guess it's also hard cause people are always talking about people's looks. We start making comparisons and feel insecure about ourselves because we don't feel that we weigh up to society's standards. This is not to bash on girls but every now and then, I do hear and read harsh comments from other girls saying stuff like "she's not that pretty", "she's ugly", "she's disgustingly skinny", "her teeth are ugly", or "she's got no ass". 

Dove is a brand that is always on the mission to inspire women to embrace their own beauty. Agency, Ogilvy & Mather (Brazil) were the geniuses behind Dove's 'Real Beauty Sketches' campaign that went viral after its release more than 2 weeks ago. It's a clever social experiment that challenges how women currently think about themselves and to remind us that we are indeed beautiful the way we are. 

Check it out and you'll see why. 

 Both images via Ad Week. Sketches by Gil Zamora 

There are a few parody versions using men created that are also online. They're pretty funny! 

Here's one created by New Feelings Time.

For more sketches and videos from this campaign, click here. 


Lots o' Love, Linda