2007 YouTube Video Awards

Avaaz promotional video entitled "Stop the Clash of Civilizations" has won the Best Political Video in the 2007 YouTube Awards. Other contenders in this category included a spoof of '1984' promoting Obama's website. The Avaaz video was posted in March and has so far enjoyed more than 2 million views.

The Human Tetris Project, (also featured on BLAB), won the YouTube Video Award in the Creative category. Laughing baby won the 'Adorable' category whilst Potter Puppet Pals in "The Mysterious Ticking Noise" won best Comedy video after having gained close to 39 million views in the past 12 months:

Creativity is just the beginning

IBM has recently launched this commercial. The statement IBM is trying to make sends out a tough message to the creative community, clearly distinguishing creativity from innovation. As Tom Peters puts it: "Creativity is the thinking, Innovation is the doing".

Around 2 weeks ago, I blogged about the first session of ArtistWantit, A student project which aims to empower artists to make a living out of their art. The first session tackled Business in Art. Allow me to play with words and turn the title round so as to read "Art in Business".

If the business community is in great need of innovation, and the artist is full of ideas (or rather 'ideating'), isn't the bridge clear?! Artists and Entrepreneurs should join forces on the doing and there you have it...innovation!

Females are outnumbering us online!

It is an accepted fact that our University produces more female graduates than male. It seems, the female majority is also being reflected online. According to eMarketer females make up 51.8% of the US population.

I was curious enough about this statistical snippet that I had to double check it with the local Facebook community. In fact, excluding users who failed to specify their gender details, 52% of users who joined the Malta network so far are female.

A week in print: Press Digest #2

Following the election period, brands got back to work and some which had been absent during election week, started shouting for attention once again. The following post reviews some of the brands featured in the local print and online press.

Dhalia shouted the most this Sunday:
The Great Dhalia Sale featured prominently in the press today. Apart from a full page ad on Classified and other prominent colour ads., Dhalia also distributed a promotional catalogue and launched a dedicated micro-site. BOV is also offering a home loan package for Dhalia’s Great Sale.

Out this week:

The Economic Update
This issue of the Malta Economic Update also included a Property Guide featuring brands such a Tigne Point, Remax, Middle Sea in its advert pages.

Pink
We believe this issue was honored with being the first local publication to feature a Tommy Hilfiger advert for the new store at Baystreet.

Flair
The 14th issue is as colourful as all the previous ones. We got to know about this online store (www.prestigeinteriors.com.mt) from a small coloumn ad. on this magazine:



Others:
Benetton Promotional Magazine, Alfa 147 Ducati Corse Flyer, The Dhalia Sale Catalogue

Coming Soon:
Home Interiors Supplement, 9th April (The Times)

Tommy Hilfiger: 1st ever print ad. in Malta

On Saturday, Pink Magazine featured what is probably the first ever print ad. of the Tommy Hilfiger brand in Malta. We initially thought this should go into the weekly press digest but then again it deserves a blab of its own! Below is the behind the scenes of the shoot.



source: tommy.com

Okaidi open Sliema outlet

This week, clothing brand Okaidi opened its Sliema retail store (behind Magic Kiosk). The opening was also complemented with front page ads on the daily and Sunday newspapers.

onmydesk.com

(personal blab):

Lately I've been wondering what I can do to make my desk (and work space) inspiring and motivational. I will be thinking hard about this over the weekend. In the meantime, you may get an idea of what can be found on the desks of other creatives, designers and artists. Feel free to send photos of your desks/work space.

Press Digest #1

Since BLAB is about media and marketing, one would expect BLAB's own press digest to focus on nothing but the brands that make up the local market! We hope you'll find this digest useful.

Brands that shouted the most this Sunday:
Celebrating its 80th Anniversary, Gasan's automotive brand occupied the front inside full page of today's Sunday Times. Other full-page ads. in this newspaper included Sound Machine and U-BET's Programme. Automotive Brands who opted for a full-page also include BMW, SEAT and Citroen. eWorld and KLIKK both occupied a full-page in The Malta Independent IT Supplement.

Front page ads. featured the Miss Selfridge Mid-Season Sale (Sunday Times), Fino's March Living Room Event (Malta Independent), Credit Europe Bank (MaltaToday and Il-Mument) and HSBC's Home loan ad. (Classified)

Atlas Insurance, Sanex Products, BOV Personal Banking and Home loan occupied the back-page of MaltaToday, Malta Independent, Sunday Times and Classified respectively.

HSBC's Yachting Financing & Leasing advert occupying an innovative 'L-Shape' space definately deserves a BLAB.

Most prominent online banners this Sunday included The Coca-Cola - Idea Casa DreamHome Competition (Maltastar & Di-ve), Credit Europe Bank & AirMalta (TimesofMalta.com), JMFS (Maltarightnow.com).

Brands that got a mention:


CCDK's new fashion collection featured in today's papers in relation to next Tuesday's open-day at TheFashionHouse in Fgura. The open day will also offer free hair, make-up and nail art.

In retail, Tommy Hilfiger announced its first store in Malta. The store will join the long list of international brands and Baystreet Shopping Complex in St. Julian's.

From the branding world, TurqouiseBranding and ANG won Benchmarks Best Telecommunications Brand Award for GO's re-branding exercise.

The Fiat500 is not the only automotive brand to get a mention in this Sunday's motoring sections, yet we particularly like the Fiat500 Optical Mouse, won by 10 lucky attendees at the Fiat500 launch.



Out Today
First Magazine (Malta Independent on Sunday)
FM Magazine (Times of Malta)
Solaris and Bernard's Real Estate Promotional Magazines

Coming Soon
Below are the publication dates of some local magazines:
Pink Magazine, 22nd March (Times of Malta)
Weddings Supplement, 30th March (Sunday Times)
Flair Magazine, 23rd March; and Manic Magazine, 6 April (Malta Independent on Sunday).

prettyuglyfurniture.com

International brand BoConcept has come up with a pretty good campaign. The campaign encourages prospective customers to take a photo of the most ugly piece of furniture they own, submit it and enter the draw to win new design furniture worth up to €5000 or a runners-up prize worth €1000.

To win, the participant's furniture item has to be voted by the public as the most ugly. Voters may also win prizes worth €200 to buy new design from BoConcept.

Schweppes Burst: We love it!

Product : Schweppes
Agency : George Patterson Y&R, Melbourne
Editor: Jack Hutchings @ The Butchery
Executive Creative Director: Paul Catmur
Creative Director: Ben Coulson
Music Supervision: Level Two Music
Track: To Build a Home, Cinematic Orchestra

Nomads Magazine

Today we got to see the new addition to the local print family: Nomads magazine, distributed free with The Times of Malta and published by BMA Ltd. More about BMA in BLAB's 'Agency Insider #1'

Tomorrow: Business in Art [1]

In my University days I had dreamt about a project which would empower artists to make a living out of their art. SIFE, which stands for 'Students in Free Enterprise' had adopted this project and following the good feedback it received from other SIFE members world-wide, decided to take it forward (even now that I am totally out of it). I am glad to blog about the first of a series of sessions related to Artist Want it. From the press release:

Artists Want It is an initiative that tries to bring closer the often conflicting worlds of art and business. Through a series of seminars we seek to instill in artists, hailing from all the creative fields, a sense of entrepreneurship. Your passion for art can be sustainably transformed into a real money making business, and as surreal and platonic as they may sound, we truly believe that all forms of arts offer such an opportunity.

The first of these seminars will be held this Thursday 13th March, starting at 7:00pm sharp at Q Bar (Valletta Waterfront) and to show you how nice we are, its even FREE!

Bookings are open as from today, so now all that's left for you to do is decide who of your friends you're going to take with you and give us a call on either 79065256 or 99274674 or if its easier for you just drop us an email on sifeumt@gmail.com Otherwise should you need more details you could visit our website www.artistswantit.com

New Carlsberg Bottle

Carlsberg has just launched a new bottle design which features prominently in many bus-stop adverts. My facebook profile has just learnt that TGIF is also holding a promotion during the Inter vs. Liverpool match, celebrating the new bottle design. From the event invite:

At T.G.I.Friday's, we will celebrate this NEW introduction before the match Inter vs Liverpool by offering a FREE bottle when purchased with a meat plate. This offer is available only on the 11th of March and during the football match which will be screened live on the big sreen and 6 TVs around the Bar Area.

Conditions Apply. Ask at the bar.

Photoshoot by Briangrech

Interesting photoshoot by briangrech in this Saturday's Bliss Magazine.

Agency Insider #2: ChooseMalta.com

Just at the beginning of March, allow me to post the second of the 'Agency Insider' series of posts. This time, BLAB got in touch with Jonathan Shaw, agency insider and founder of the ChooseMalta.com brand (which over the past years has triggered a number of other ChooseToTravel sites). Below is BLAB's email interview.


In brief, what did kick-start ChooseMalta.com and how did it develop to become a global initiative – ChooseToTravel.com?

I was working and living in New York when I realised that the way forward for any business is the internet and also that Malta lacked a real-time, Malta specific travel portal. I recall flying to LA for a meeting and spending 4 hours writing potential domain names. ChooseMalta.com was eventually available and I registered it. That same night, I woke up at around 3am and decided to register other available countries. We now have over 60 country domain name with the Choose branding.

Having no IT background, teaming up with one of my partners Chris Knights proved to be instrumental to our development plan.

How important is the users' experience on your online websites, and hence how important are analytics and statistics that measure that?

The user’s experience is crucial. I don’t come from an IT background so I always automatically think like a customer would do.

Chris Knights then has the difficult task of creating an output which is workable for a customer yet solid and functional from an IT point of view.

Analytics and stats are important yet they are only a tool in the whole business. How one can interpret these results to generate a competitive advantage for the business is another issue and it’s not always easy.

What is the feedback you get from hotels and other advertisers on ChooseMalta.com / ChooseToTravel?

We sell hotel accommodation online and real-time and different hotels have different performances. In just 3 years we have become Malta’s leading travel website and we are still experiencing huge growth.

We also just launched ChooseItaly.com, we have a Sales Representative in Milan and we are currently signing up hotels in Italy, it’s not easy but feedback is positive.

Any plans to grow further and who shall I speak to if I have a related innovative idea to put forward?

The plan is to launch all of our choose destinations and have substantial online traffic and bookings. The model has worked for some of other destinations and it’s now a matter of time & resources until we launch and manage all of our domain portfolio.

What in your opinion makes you different from other travel websites?

In my opinion we have 3 main criteria that make us different from the big travel sites: The Choose branding is rather catchy; We focus on one destination (per site) and provide concise travel info; Our system is easy and very transparent to use, no hidden fees, etc.

Nonetheless, the internet offers a huge platform to reach a huge market with no boundaries. Our aim is to have quality traffic and a consistent clientele that use our services for the various travel sites. We plan to focus on delivering a good product and service and we are confident that the numbers will add up in due course!