There's some re-branding going on...

The excellent re-branding of the BAY brand preceded the revamping of Bay's (slowish) colourful website. As is with any other website, one has to see if the site is going to be updated regularly and if radio listeners are going to follow. The new bay.com.mt also includes Abel&Elinor's new blog. There's a lot going on in their radio show and it is worth extending its lifetime by posting snippets of it online. Sadly enough, following the first post last Thursday, nothing else has been added to the blog.

The slogan for the BAY brand remains the same one, yet the trade mark features a new, fresh font which in my opinion will soon be the 'new helvetica' of mainstream design.

The Times Newspapers

Even the popular Sunday Times and The Times (daily) have lately been given a new look. The Times ran a double page spread outlining the changes on Saturday. I will below relate to you some of its contents:

Front Page: More are dedicated to news and a smaller 'navigation' area. The crest which features in both logos has been redesigned and will feature in all media.

Page 3: This will now become a content page. A 'Quick Find' section will also be added to page 3 (on Sunday) and page 2 (any other day).

Consistent Sections: All sections, including the very useful Classified Supplement, now feature consistent headers

The people have (already) voted!

In the latest MediaWarehouse survey, 89.7 Bay was chosen by the respondents as 'the most listened to radio station'. The above advert (which also featured in the print media on sunday) says it all! In the meantime may I take this opportunity to also point out that SALT is band of the month on BAY.COM.MT

30 is 3,000

Lately, it's all about numbers. There was the Fiat 500 (of which I'll be posting my first snap shot very soon), the 'win 50,000' Coca-Cola campaign, Farson's 'win 2008' campaign and now Bay's '30 is 3000'.

'30 is 3000' is the first Bay Radio competition for 2008. The competition is sponsored by IdeaCasa which is also involved in the Coca-Cola campaign. In both competitions IdeaCasa is promoting its 3,000 sqr. metres showroom.

2007 Highlights

Below I would like to draw up my list of 2007 highlights of the local interactive and marketing worlds:

#1: Virtual Competitions
In 2007, XFM gave us The Virtual Model and Virtual Rock Star Competitions. The online audience had to vote for their favorite model or band. The winning model got a front page on Pink Magazine whilst the winning rock star got to record her own song, a photoshoot in London (and much more exposure locally). Bands/Artists had to post their home-made video. Some of user-generated content did get some good viewing (ex. Slur - 1,939 views; Drive - 1,249 views; Elisa - 2,141 views)

#2: You - syndrome
On a similar note, Vodafone (Malta) has come up with 'The Face of Vodafone' campaign. In this same year, UK's teen magazine Shout launched a campaign to search for a teen fashion model. The campaign was managed by Miller, the local distributors of Shout magazine.

#3: PM discusses budget online
This was the year in which the Prime Minister (of Malta) discussed politics through an online forum. The budget2008 website has been given a lot of attention in all media. Politics apart, I believe this was a highlight (especially because we did it before The Queen posted her first video on YouTube!). This gets me to the second highlight:

#4: Facebook Malta
The local acknowledgment of online channels also results in a number of important people having their own facebook profile. Apart from the music artists such as Ira, Wintermoods and Salt (my band), a number of MPs also have their own facebook profile. 13,753 have joined the Malta network and that still excludes me and a couple of other lazy people who still plan to join later.

#5: Lamp-post advertising!
In the past 3 years, FacesDisplays introduced bus-shelter advertising in Malta. In 2007, our lamp-posts are also holding promotional banners, similar to the Chogm ones. Brands who have started using the service include Rocs & Inglott, KFC, Burger King & SG Solutions (Apple)

#6: Juice, You and ME
The list of free magazines continued to grow. In March Juice Magazine hit households. The magazine's 160,000 copies are printed in Milan by In-Print. Maltapost also continued to invest in its Direct Marketing services through Mailbox magazine published by 26thFrame. Design magazine ME got its online space at medesignmag.com. Health & Beauty magazine, You, also launched in 2007. The magazine is distributed with The Sunday Times.

#7: 2 Covers, 1 magazine
Tune-in also came up with a first for the local publishing industry. To promote 89.7 Bay's Abel and Elinor, Tune-in published 2 versions of the magazine on the same Sunday. Readers could choose between getting Abel or Elinor on the front page. My household got Elinor!

#8: Shu!
Exit launched Shu! store. The store design was in the creative hands of Chris Briffa Architects. In 2006, Exit and Chris Briffa have also worked together on the 2-22 wine bar, also situated in Valletta.

#9: New / Revamped websites in 2007
I surely did not come across all the local websites which were launched or revamped in 2007, but here are some I know of, and have also blabbed about: GO.com.mt, Timesofmalta.com, Di-ve.com, klikk.com.mt & Kiwilicious.com

#10: I started blogging
And finally, in 2007 we also launched our mini-project which is still at its early stages...and started blabbing on this blog.