NuvoleFashion.com: Who needs online anyways?!

I've recently come across a very good insight about online vs. offline customer traffic. In history many were the big revolutions that changed the way we do things. On of them, online, has certainly changed the way customers consume brands and products.

Some would have thought that online is for techies and the mainstream consumer will not be interested in this geeky stuff. Others have proved that the mainstream consumer is really online by Google stating that if Internet users were to make up one continent, they would make up the 5th largest one. But a new breed of thought has recently featured in a number of blogs and related articles. The next best thing is the total convergence of online and offline. Consumers need both! It's quite obvious and common sense...but in a tiny market such as our local market, the use of an online space may be underestimated, especially in the fashion industry.


Nuvole has recently launched its online website. The website, designed by Lab1977, exposes Nuvole's fashion collection whilst providing basic info. such as store location, contact details, etc. Strategically enough the website does not include an online store. And yes, I do find this strategic.

The traditional approach would be: Nuvole customer wants to buy some new clothes, drives to Birkirkara (or any other Nuvole Store location), passes by 4 other shop windows, possibly refrains from entering the alternative fashion stores, enters the Nuvole store and does the purchase if he/she finds some interesting clothes.

The new purchasing method should be: Nuvole customer is notified that new collection is in store, logs onto online website at the click of a button, reviews collection, likes the products, drives straight to a Nuvole store and does the purchase!

So should Nuvole refrain from developing an online store? Not necessarily, but the point is that Online complements Offline (seamlessly)...and local brands like Nuvole seem to be getting to that.

'Made by LAB1977': Creative to say the least!

It's August and the business world will soon be on shutdown, yet Lab1977 keep opening new online venues which are pleasing to the eye. The latest has been a brand new website for SMS Travel. Following the busy pre-summer months during which everyone was planning his/her vacation, SMS must have dedicated some time to refurbish their online space.

The website is animation based which for a corporate brand such as SMS may initially look strange. One would expect an informative, cluttered website full of the latest offers and all, yet the new SMS Travel website is an online journey, "inspired by travelers and their belongings" as Lab1977 put it.


I am no fan of heavy animated website and must admit that I tend to question their flexibility when it comes to website maintenance,updating and direct links. Yet brands such as XFM (Malta) and SMS Travel seem to be managing well with them (both sites were designed by the crew at Lab1977).


A humble constructive suggestion from our side would be to eliminate the flight rates in pdf and provide these within the animation, or at least in PDF. In my case the PDF document took sometime to load and had I not been interested, I could have moved away. A simple but useful add-on are the Social Networking functions at the bottom of the site. An further improvement to that would be being able to post direct links to specific web-pages on my social profile / or simply send the link via email.

Finally we cannot not comment about the Apple products which feature frequently in the animations (iPhone in this case) Why is it that we all want those cool gadgets around, even on our virtual desks?!

Read more: Related news from Lab1977, SMS Travel website

e-top-up from Vodafone

Vodafone has over the past week launched a new top-up voucher card which comes along with lower calling rates. The nice thing about the '30 Bonus Card' is that it has been launched specifically for online customers.

Admittedly I am a loyal Vodafone fan but the online initiative makes sense even when one considers the latest Eurobarometer survey in which 44% of Maltese customers said they used the internet to make a purchase in the past year.

More about Vodafone's Bonus Card: click here

Food and... Cars

Thought this might interest some people.

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

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

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.

New McCafe at MIA (Snapshots below)

Related post: click here

As posh as McCafe!

Over a year ago I happened to visit the brand new McCafé in Gozo which replaced the original McDonalds outlet at Arkadia. The McCafé concept in Gozo remained entrenched in my mind due to the fabulous Strawberry Frappé which is far from what you expect from a fast food outlet.

Today I decided to go to the new McCafé at MIA. Is this a fast food outlet or a posh café?! At McCafé customers don't make use of cheap disposable cups, people sit on comfy sofas and not on 'playmobil' like chairs and tables. The atmosphere emits relaxation and no one seems to be in a hurry, gobbling burgers, stuffing fries and leaving a mess behind. The highlight of the outlet though is a mini gym, promoting healthy living and fitness.

Is this the McDonalds brand I know?! I have posted some photos of other McCafé stores abroad. The MIA outlet has pretty much the same look and feel. Later on this week I will transfer some of the photos of the actual MIA outlet.

Btw...don’t think of getting a Big Mac at the new McCafé (even though the outlet also includes a refurbished McDonalds section and the McDonalds drive through)

The Light Shop (Malta) gets new site

You may have heard the ads on the radio...click here to visit the new lightshopmalta.com.

Two suggestions if I may:

(1) Include proper images and not simply an online version of an originally print catalogue.

(2)Each product or product category should allow users to refer the product to friends and family (tell a friend, recommend to a friend, etc.)

User-Generated PRODUCTS

The web is a mega-useful tool 'cause user is king (or in this case queen). If 2007 was the year of user-generated content then the next should be the year of user-generated products such as these funky bags designed by local artist and friend Denise Scicluna. The products are designed in Malta, produced in Australia and shipped to anywhere in the world through Denise's etsy store.

So if in 2008 I get to hear artists grumbling about not being given the space they deserve...I will have to make them read the above case study! Just do it!

traditional media going online all the time

XFMmalta.com will soon be getting a new look and feel. We promise to review it as soon as it happens. In the mean time, timesofmalta.com has just launched a music section were local music is reviewed. The section also includes 30 second demos of each song!

The new Fiat 500

Above is my first snap shot of the new Fiat 500 at the B'Kara showroom. The obvious question would be ...how much does it cost? The local Fiat website still does not feature the new model which is a pity, especially considering the hype of its launch during the past week.

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.

The Times Picture Annual

If a picture is worth a 1000 words...than how much is a publication full of the best press pictures of the year worth?! I was lucky enough to get The Times Picture Annual 2006 as a late Christmas gift at the beginning of this year. The good news is that the 2007 edition has also been published and the two editions can be bought as one package. The following links may come useful...



..to get your hands on the real thing (buy online)
..to get a quick preview

Next Wednesday: Fiat 500 Malta Launch

I've never been a football fan myself but really wouldn't mind being at the Juventus-Valletta match next Wednesday...just for the sake of the new fiat500.

Also, for those of you who enjoy browsing check out the Fiat500 official website which has been online for quite a while and embraces web 2.0 very well. You may also watch some good Fiat promos.

Farsons Promotion 2008

It seems there's more to drink in 2008. Just 3 days from the beginning of this brand new year and the two major players in the soft drinks market have already launched their campaigns.

Farsons' campaign is straightforward: Customers simply have to send any 4 labels of Kinnie, 7Up, Pepsi or Miranda 1.5ltr / 2.0ltr bottles. Farsons will be giving away 2008 Euros every week until the end of February (8 draws in all)

First Coca-Cola Campaigns for 2008

Kicking off a brand new year, which will also bring on the market the new packaging for products like Coca-Cola, General Soft drinks has just launched 2 new campaigns. The campaigns follow the usual 'drink, peel & win' idea:

Campaign #1:
Customers may win up to 50,000 Euros worth of furniture from IdeaCasa by drinking Coca-Cola 1500ml bottles.

Campaign #2:
Customers may win 3 different cars: Citroen C3 Pluriel, Volkswagen Passat and Suzuki Vitara. The 3 cars may be won when drinking the 500ml Diet Coke, Coca-Cola and Sprite respectively. It is interesting to note that the three 500ml products are being associated with three different cars. Seems General Softdrinks are targeting the different customer segments with these 3 promotions.

Both campaigns will be running between January and March'08. Click here for more info.