MOVEMBER CHANGING THE FACE OF MEN'S HEALTH.

What is Movember All About.

The Movember Foundation was co-founded by Luke Slattery, Travis Garone, Adam Garone and Justin Coghlan in 2004. The Foundation is a not for profit organisation dedicated to having an everlasting impact on the face of men’s health. Movember started in Australia and has since grown to a global movement, running official campaigns in Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, United States of America, New Zealand, Spain, the Netherlands, South Africa and Finland. The idea of Movember came from a conversation between Luke Slattery and Travis Garone the year before the Foundation was established. Luke and Travis were watching the world go by and critiquing the comeback of fashion trends from the past when the question was raised, why no return of the moustache? Both felt that the Mo could do with a revival. So, with the seed of an idea, Luke and Travis talked a couple of mates into growing a moustache for one month and with that, Movember was born. In 2003, just 30 Mo Bros took part. The rules were simple; start on Movember 1st clean shaven and spend the remainder of the month growing a Mo. No money was raised; the idea was simply to see who could grow the better moustache. It wasn’t until 2004, having been overwhelmed by the conversations prompted by the previous year’s growth, that the founders decided to develop the idea into a cause that gave birth to the Movember Foundation. Having recognized that men, unlike women, were lacking a way to engage in their own health issues, they saw an opportunity to attach a purpose to growing a Mo, and began to look for a cause for which they could raise a bit of money and awareness in 2004. Together, they came across the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia(PCFA) representing a health issue about which very little was known at the time. In 2004, 450 Mo Bros took part and got their mates, friends and families to sponsor the growth of their Mo’s and, to everyone’s surprise, they raised $55,000. It was the largest single donation the PCFA had ever received Today, Movember takes place around the world. Motivated and inspired by what was happening in Australia, a further nine countries- New Zealand, USA, Canada, UK, Finland, the Netherlands, Spain, South Africa and Ireland - now embrace the Mo in an official capacity each November. In addition, Movember is aware of Mo Bros & Sistas supporting the cause right across the globe, from Russia to Dubai, Hong Kong to Denmark and everywhere in between. Movember will continue to work to change established habits and attitudes and make men aware of the health risks they face, thereby increasing early detection, diagnosis and effective treatment. More importantly however, Movember’s success will remain with its ability to stay true to its origins, mates and moustaches, which is how it all began.

Creative Concepts Advertising Dubai - Staff Supporting to raise funds and awareness for men’s health.

A few things to ponder…

Why doesn’t Tarzan have a beard?

Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are flat?

Why do banks charge a fee on ‘insufficient funds’ when they know there is not enough?

Why do Kamikaze pilots wear helmets?

Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet?

Whose idea was it to put an ‘S’ in the word ‘lisp’?

What is the speed of darkness?

Why is it that people say they ‘slept like a baby’ when babies wake up every two hours?

If the temperature is zero outside today and it’s going to be twice as cold tomorrow, how cold will it be?

Do married people live longer than single ones or does it only seem longer?

How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage?

Why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in binoculars to look at things on the ground?

Did you ever stop and wonder……

Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, ‘I think I’ll squeeze these pink dangly things here, and drink whatever comes out?’

Who was the first person to say, ‘See that chicken there… I’m gonna eat the next thing that comes outta it’s bum.’

Why do toasters always have a setting so high that could burn the toast to a horrible crisp, which no decent human being would eat?

Why is there a light in the fridge and not in the freezer?

Why do people point to their wrist when asking for the time, but don’t point to their bum when they ask where the bathroom is?

Why does your Obstetrician, Gynaecologist leave the room when you get undressed if they are going to look up there anyway?

Why does Goofy stand erect while Pluto remains on all fours? They’re both dogs!

If quizzes are quizzical, what are tests?

If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, then what is baby oil made from?

If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?

Why do the Alphabet song and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star have the same tune?

Stop singing and read on…….

Do illiterate people get the full effect of Alphabet Soup?

Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog’s face, he gets mad at you, but when you take him on a car ride, he sticks his head out the window?

Does pushing the elevator button more than once make it arrive faster?

“Thank-You” makes you a better client servicing person.

Came across this article written by Laura Spencer, from North Central Texas- Two Special Words that Will Make Your Clients See You Differently. Even though these might seems like a little word to you, but saying these 2 words does mean a lot to your client at all times.

It shows them that you CARE, APPRECIATE and SINCERE.

It makes them feel that they are IMPORTANT, VALUED and ACKNOWLEDGED.

Five Times to Thank a Client or Prospective Client

Here are five occasions when you should consider thanking a client or prospective client:

1. When they’ve met with you personally. Say something like, “Thank-you for taking the time to meet with me yesterday.”
2. When they’ve interviewed you by phone. Say something like, “Thank-you for considering me for this project.”
3. When they’ve gone out of their way to provide with support for a project. Say something like, “Thank-you for the help and support that you provided on XYZ project.”
4. When you enjoyed the work that you did. Say something like, “Thank-you for giving me the opportunity to work on XYZ project. I really enjoyed it.”
5. When you enjoyed dealing with the client as an individual. Say something like, “Thank-you for working with me on XYZ project. I think that we make a good team.”

BUT, watch out for the “Thanks-You” hurdles:

1. The insincere thank-you. Don’t tell the client that you enjoyed working with them or on their project if you both know it’s not true. Most clients can sense when you’re being insincere.
2. The inappropriate thank-you. Don’t thank your client for the support they gave you if they didn't give you any help, and so on.
3. The overblown thank-you. A thank-you need not be excessive to be effective. Don’t make your client uncomfortable by fawning on him or her or offering inappropriate gifts.

So, now it’s your turn! Thank You :)

STEVE JOBS DIDN’T MAKE ANYTHING - He made it all happen.

I found this interesting article about Steve Jobs. The headline said, “STEVE JOBS DIDNT MAKE ANYTHING” and I wanted to keep on reading it. But then the article ended saying “HE MADE IT HAPPEN” which is what he DID and this is what all leaders do. Enjoy and hope this will give you some inspiration to reach for the stars!

Ashik Jabir-Senior Account Manager

Posted on 16 November 2011 by Dave Trott

Steve Jobs didn’t actually make anything himself.

He wasn’t a designer, an animator, a writer, or an engineer.

But without him none of those guys would have made anything.

Because he made their ideas happen.

Sure, truly creative people come up with wild, exciting ideas.

But unless someone makes it happen, it stays an idea.

And eventually, just like smoke, it dissipates.

Steve Jobs encouraged them to have wild ideas.

The wilder the better.

Then Steve Jobs made those wild ideas happen.

Take the music industry.

MP3 players existed before the iPod.

What was different was Jobs’ clarity of vision.

All the existing MP3 players were really complicated to use.

They were full of buttons and instructions.

More like tiny computers.

Really fiddly and awkward.

Steve Jobs’ vision was to say “The complexity doesn’t belong in the MP3 player. It belongs in the desktop computer.”

And, in that flash of vision, he repositioned the entire market.

All the music downloading would be done on the iMac.

Then the music would be organized, into playlists.

Then they’d be downloaded to the iPod.

So the iPod was as simple as possible, purely for playing.

With just one dial to scroll through the music.

It immediately made everything else obsolete.

In fact the entire system made everything else obsolete.

It was a closed loop.

Because iPods had to be downloaded from iMacs.

So iPods sold iMacs.

Which, in a flash, gave Jobs’ another vision.

He realized he could pull marketing money away from the iMac, a sector where everyone else was competing.

And put it into selling iPods.

He pulled $75 million out of iMac advertising and put it into iPod advertising.

Like he says, the sector didn’t justify a hundredth of that.

But it allowed him to blow all the other MP3s of the water.

Because he was the only manufacturer with a closed-loop system,

He was actually selling iMacs more efficiently by selling iPods.

And he totally dominated the music sector.

Which, in turn, made him able to grow iTunes into a phenomenon.

Because, with that spend, the only music advertising any of the rock celebrities saw was for iPod.

It was bigger than MTV had been.

So no one wanted to be left out.

Because their music was currently being downloaded for free by systems like Napster.

It was costing them a fortune.

If they could get on board the iPod, they’d make money and they’d look cool.

They’d be seen as part of the new wave of music.

People like U2, Bob Dylan, and Mick Jagger began calling Steve Jobs and offering to appear in the advertising for free.

Just to be associated with the iPod.

They wanted the image to rub off on them.

And that’s what Steve Jobs did for the people who make things.

The musicians got to make money from their music.

The designers got to see their innovative designs produced.

The engineers got to see their pipe-dream systems actually built.

All because a bloke who couldn’t play, or design, or build, did something much more important.

He made it all happen.

How to stay on top of Google's search rankings.

In May 2009, a year after being in business, OneNewsPage.com founder Marc Pinter Krainer woke up to see internet traffic on his site turning to almost zilch - that too overnight. Krainer, who had raised money a few months back from investors, was not only red-faced but perplexed too about the reason for this drop. Only later did Krainer discover that the dip was because of Google Penalty, whereby your site will show up lower on Google Search.

"It may have been an accidental deletion, or deliberate. Maybe because it was a competition to Google's own news website," Krainer told ET during an India visit. The reason for the penalty, he says is still unknown. But it hurt him very badly because like thousands of websites, being crawled by a Google Search crawler is a must for OneNewsPage.com to generate traffic.

Websites face Google Penalty - also called the Sandbox Effect - where they may be subject to filtering to prevent them having their full impact. It occurs when a website doesn't conform to its standards in terms of quality, content or is found using subversive optimisation techniques.

"If a site isn't appearing in Google search results or it's performing more poorly than it once did, one can check out our help centre article to try to identify and fix potential causes of the problem," said a Google spokeswoman.

Subversive optimisation is another reason for such filtering. Historical use of links as a "vote" for ranking web documents can be subject to manipulation. Google has filed patents that seek to qualify or minimise the impact of such manipulation, which Google terms as "link spam". Link spam is driven by search engine optimisers who manipulate Google's page ranking by creating lots of inbound links to a new site from other web sites that they own.

THE PENALTIES

The penalties can be both manual - actually demoting a site -- or algorithmic, where changes in the search algorithm causes a website to move down. For one, a '-30 penalty', which Google applies when a website fails to use effective search optimisation techniques, lowers the site's position on Google.com down by 30 places. A '--60 penalty' will lower your site down by 60 places on search. A '--950 penalty' will make your site slide on Google.com by 95 pages - you are almost not there.

A similar penalty was faced by Adam Raff, CEO and founder of Foundem.com, a UK price comparison site. Like Krainer's, Raff's website also faced a Google Penalty but for three years. Unlike Krainer, Raff went to court following which,the European Union has started investigating Google's Penalty system last year when Foundem, and Microsoft reportedly said that Google was demoting their sites manually since they competed with the search major.

How Brands Stand Test Of Time

Here’s a nice piece of article on how good brands don’t need much of advertising and invariably stand strong to the ‘test of time’. It’s an enjoyably read.

So we as people of the ad world need to bring out the good in a product and move away from trying to hide the negatives. There is always something good…just believe in the product.



http://blog.campaignasia.com/roger-pe/how-brands-stand-tests-of-time/

By Roger Pe

Top tips on how to be a morning person

A pan-European survey of 11,000 people, commissioned by Philips Wake-up Light, has revealed that British people are among the grumpiest in Europe when it comes to waking up in the morning.

The research showed that 90% of us admit that we don't feel refreshed, alert (93%) or ready for the day (68%) first thing in the morning. Furthermore more than 70% of us admit to being negatively affected by darker mornings.
One of the UK's leading sleep experts, Dr Neil Stanley, shares his advice on how you can help yourself become a morning person.
Here are his top five tips for being a 'morning person':
1. Don't rely on coffee to wake you up. The caffeine content of coffee can vary greatly depending on where it's bought or how it's made. In the past, tests have shown that the average cup of coffee does not contain enough milligrams of caffeine to have any pick-me-up effect, so you may actually be getting no benefit at all from the coffee you convince yourself you need to help you start the day.
2. Don't press the snooze button, instead set the alarm for the time you have to wake up and then get up at THAT time. The extra sleep is far more beneficial for your body than the time spent 'snoozing'.
3. Try and have a regular time that you get out of bed, and stick to that time even on the weekends. The body starts preparing itself to wake up one hour before you actually do, so the routine helps the body know when to start to prepare.
4. Alarm clocks can often startle you out of sleep, which is not perhaps the best start to the day. Dawn simulators offer a solution that allows you to wake-up more naturally.
5. Finally, the best way to feel awake and refreshed in the morning is to make sure you get a decent amount of sleep the night before.

Written by; Zoe Zahra, deputy editor, MSN Life & Style

"Mindware celebrates its 20th anniversary"

Value-added distributor Mindware celebrates its 20th anniversary,one of the longest established distributors in the region.









Event Managed by - Creative Concepts Advertising.

How to integrate Blogger into Facebook

I thought this would be an interesting entry for our blog.

So this entry is my monthly entry + also a test to see if we properly implemented Blogger into our Facebook feed.

For those who want to do this for their own blog/facebook, access your 'notes' application >> notes settings >> import blog. Easy as that!!

If you have any issues doing it yourself, get in touch with Creative Concepts Advertising and we can help you get it all up and running!

Cheers!!

Email and Lead Generation

Access to emails has never been easier, from your blackberry to your iphone, from your laptop to your tablet. No matter where you are it is always possible to access your emails. That is the reason why numerous companies opt for Email Campaigns as one of their marketing tactics.

Here are a couple of reasons why an Email Campaign is an effective way to communicate your products:

Affordable: compared to print advertising, brochures, commercials, etc the cost of an email campaign is relatively cheaper. One just need an artwork of the email, software and target audience and it is good to go.

Audience: As long as you have a good database you will get good results. Always remember that marketing always involves networking. With every business card acquired, it is a probable client/prospect. Always keep tabs of the contacts that you have they might not be interested today but might find your service useful in the future. You basically have a mine field in every event/conference that you attend to so be sure to always acquire contact details and inform them that you will be in touch.

Instant: Compared to newsletters being delivered at their doorstep email campaigns give instant delivery once it is sent should be able to receive it. This will also help them to give a prompt response if they are interested or not.

Here are just the basic ways on how to touch base with your target audience stay tuned on how you can take this email campaign to another level.

Gitex 2011 CREATIVE CONCEPTS ADVERTISING LLC

GITEX one of the largest and most important ICT events around the globe, GITEX delivers a leading platform for ICT professionals from around the world to meet and review a phenomenal showcase of leading technology brands, experience a host of interactive features and engage with industry leaders.

Technology buyers visit GITEX TECHNOLOGY WEEK to source the right products and solutions to deliver continual innovation and transformation for their businesses. At the forefront of the region’s ICT development, GITEX is a pivotal event for over 3,500 international and regional exhibitors each year. Your market is covered as the exhibition attracts senior executives and more than 136,000 ICT professionals from over 135 countries covering a targeted framework of vertical sectors each year.


GITEX SHOPPERS 2011

This year's Gitex Shopper is back with a bang, sporting deals by electronics retailers and gadget manufacturers alike.

This year technology fans could choose a range of bundled deals, gadgets at slashed prices and brand new technology making its first debut at Gitex this year.

How Brands Co-Create Value with Customers

In today’s participatory culture, customers want meaningful relationships with the brands they care about. Innovative companies are rising to the challenge, realizing that customer collaboration is vital to keeping a competitive edge.

A wide spectrum of companies are co-creating value with customers and other stakeholders, including Dell, Hallmark, Intuit, ModCloth, Nike and Starbucks. These trendsetters are inviting customers to brainstorm product ideas, develop new products, improve business processes and answer other customers’ product questions. The benefits are numerous, with companies gaining user insights and customers enjoying higher product satisfaction.

To reap the rewards, companies must face a number of challenges. Management, for example, can be slow to accept user-generated content. And when they do take the leap, they often limit their collaborative initiatives to customers, when involving other stakeholders could create more value for all. Companies also tend to restrict their co-creation activities to discrete moments in the product life cycle. But the greatest benefits can be realized when collaboration centers on building value that enhances a product’s daily use.

Flash Mob – An Unusual Way of Communicating

I had a mate from our office joined by my former CEO of Bates141 in Sri Lanka (who was in Dubai to collect his award for winning the Young Asia Leadership Award at a very colorful ceremony at the Meriden in Dubai). While we were sitting down to sip some colored water at Barasti, we were talking about some new forms of communication. I had to step down to the gents and when I arrived a few minutes later I found these two gentlemen on a roll, talking about “Flash Mobs”. Hold on! I am in advertising for awhile! I did not know about this?? So I decided to listen and learn what it was as it seemed extremely interesting.

So what is flash mobs? A flash mob is a group of people who gather at a predetermined time and place to perform an unusual act and disappear. For example you could have 50 people from all walks of life come near Carrefour at MOE. None of them know each other yet they have been individually informed by viral media to start yelling at the top of their voice for 10 seconds at a given time and vanish immediately after as if nothing has happened. Why do they do this? Because they can! :)

Such an act can be used to promote brands and products as well. Imagine if 500 people took out a can of coke each from their bags and drank it at the same time in front of Ski Dubai at 6.30pm today! That would be cool! And more importantly they all vanish in 20 seconds back to their shopping in the different parts of the mall.

One of the early examples of a well known flash mob was the April 2006 in London. At various London underground stations, people. It was reported that more than 4,000 people participated at London Victoria Station. This had an impact on the regular service of the system enough for the city's police to begin crowd control and slowly clear people.

Its nice to hear that people power is still the best power to communicate. Even if I had to learn this while the power of water was slowly taking over.

You are what you share, post and tweet!

Facebook, Twitter and now Google+, with these social networks coming up and with its upgrades and competitions to sign up more members the questions remains on how secure is your identity.

From LAN connections to Wi-Fi, from Desktops to Laptops, from laptops to tablets and so forth, there is now unlimited means on how you can access these social networking sites. With these new technologies anyone who is somehow linked to you can always see what you are up to depending on the information that you publish on your page.

It takes about a minute of your time to blurt out what is in your mind; it takes second for the entire world to see what it is that you are thinking about. Joining the army, starting a cult, eating pasta, cooking your favorite dish, hating someone, whatever it is that you do or thinking of doing, always remember that it reflects an image of who you are. Want proof? Here is how would you classify a person by just having an ice cream. There are those who are Direct to the point and would probably post “Craving for some ice cream”, these are people who knows what they want doesn’t matter what ice cream they just want an ice cream. On the other hand there are those who are the picky people who might post something like “craving for some chocolate ice cream with chocolate syrup and nuts topped with whip cream” and would probably followed by :( face at the end, but need I say more about these people. Then there are those who are the undecided type, Chocolate or Vanilla? Strawberry or Rocky Road? or should get a doughnut instead? And they will have a monologue in their mind thinking about what doughnut to get, then will get frustrated and get back to getting ice cream in which they will ask themselves the same questions.

So the next time you blurt something out always remember that the whole world can see what you post. You only have one identity and you might as well protect it.

AMD Launches 'Llano' Vision Technology

Advanced Micro Devices launches its “Llano” platform, the Fusion processors for mainstream desktop and notebook PCs In the Middle East (UAE)

Creative Concepts managed the Llano Launch event for AMD on 20th September 2011.

• The event comprised of product presentations and individual track sessions.
• Event targeting AMD’s Consumer, Commercial and Component partners in the Middle East.
• Demo’s unit on display to experience the Vision Technology.
  

• Ending the event with stunning ‘Extreme Gravity’ performance.

Pushing Photography to the Edge

A stunning image captured by world-class photographer, Guy Farrow, featuring post production by Leeds-based Turn Key’s Creative Director, Richard Colvill has scooped a prestigious Association of Photographers (AOP) Sun Award.

The photograph features Yorkshire-born professional triathlete, Dion Harrison and is part of a series commissioned for his new website; which has also been designed and built by integrated communications agency, Turn Key. Not only did the shoot require highly skilled photography, but also involved hours of careful post-production work.

With over 16 years design industry experience, Richard Colvill specialises in digital retouching and Turn Key clients include prestigious brands such as Porsche and Sony. Richard and Guy have been collaborating on projects for more than eight years; and this is the third time their combined work has been featured in the awards.

The image shows Dion, jumping through glass and was created to demonstrate his incredible strength and fitness. Richard commented, “The concept was derived to establish Dion as one of the best in his field and was used in the website collateral as a campaign to create serious sponsorship opportunities. We had a lot of fun with the photo shoot, breaking creative boundaries, as well as a large amount of glass! It was definitely a challenge, but the dramatic end result makes it worthwhile and I’m delighted to see the image showcased in the awards.”

The AOP Sun Awards showcase and reward the North’s best professional photography, and all winners see their work displayed in a prestigious exhibition which travels around the UK. Birstall-based Guy Farrow is a leader in UK photography and has now been featured in these awards for over 20.

PMS in guys?!

The “got milk?” people have created a website to promote the fact that research has shown that drinking milk can help counter the effects of PMS in women.

This site aims to provide guys with indicators to and weapons against the mood swings of their softer halves.

I think it’s hilarious.

http://everythingidoiswrong.org

What can Brands expect from Google+ - Karan Patel

Social networking took a turn on June 28th 2011, when google announced their new networking site Google+ on Beta, little over a month Google+ has already touch 30 million mark and its a long way of catching Facebook's 750 million mark. As a late starter Google+ had the advantage of watching and learning from other social networking sites and come up with a solution that integrates the best of the 2 networking sites. The important USP of Google+ is the +1 button that has been integrated with Google+ to replicate the like feature on Facebook this has already started playing in search results on Google search.

Based on their experience with other social network, Brands wants to leverage Google+ early as this could be the next game changer in this space. Google announced that Google+ Business will be launched by end of 2011 and has requested companies not to set up business page till then.Only Ford motors company has been allowed to mantain a test page.

Brand Activation

Google has just launched a platform that allows anyone to put up a competition and allows anyone to try and win a prize.

http://prizes.org/home

So, next time you get asked for an engaging activation, why not give this a whirl?

47 Amazing CSS3 Animation Demos

Here is a compilation of 47 jaw-dropping CSS3 animation demos. They demonstrate the possibilities of the CSS3 transform and transition property. Some are very useful and can be used as Javascript alternatives. Most of them are simply to look cool. In order to view these effects, you need a webkit browser such as Safari and Chrome (sorry to the Internet Explorer users). Enjoy!

http://webdesignerwall.com/trends/47-amazing-css3-animation-demos

PS

If you are one of the few still using dinosaur browsers (Internet Explorer), then its time to switch over to Chrome, FireFox or Safari . . . or even the uber cool Flock.

Cheers!