Pixiv

Forget about twitter and facebook; you have to get an account on Pixiv! Pixiv is the biggest online gallery in the world. It all started in 2007 as an internet project of a Japanese man. Nowadays, more than 1.5 million people (!) are connected to this website.



On Pixiv, you can create an account and then you can post your artwork online. Other members can view your artwork and they can follow you as a ‘friend’. Pixiv is the first and biggest artist community in Japan. The concept was to create a place where people can enjoy artwork, members can watch an unlimited amount of Japanese artwork and manga. A purpose of the website is also to spot new talents. It’s no wonder this all started in Japan, because they are always ahead of the worldwide trends, especially when it comes to popular culture and the internet. At this moment, the website is only available in Japanese, but I can imagine it wouldn’t take long before we have an English or Dutch version of Pixiv.

Go to http://www.pixiv.net to see for yourself; unfortunately it’s impossible for me to read Japanese, but at the end, it’s all about the artwork.

Are you getting an account?

3D Mania

“A geometric model of the physical universe in which we live”, this is the definition of 3D. In our society, it’s a fast and upcoming new technology. Everywhere around us we see and hear about 3D; it seems to be that everything can be performed in 3D. I even read a blog about 3D Fairy tales in books and one about 3D Fashion shows!



Since you can watch 3D movies in cinema’s all over the world (I really loved Alice in Wonderland!), the television producers are also interested in this phenomena. What if we could watch 3D in our own home? We can already play 3D videogames, but wouldn’t it be nice to play these games and watch them on an actual 3D screen? Sony is busy to produce a television on which you can! They’re even making 3D games to give away; when you buy a 3D television, you will get free games with it.

Sony also is working together with FIFA, to record 25 matches of the world cup football in 3D for an even better experience. These matches will be shown live in big city’s all around the world. Panasonic on the other hand, is working together with Eurosport; they are planning record tennis matches on Roland Garros and play them in 3D.

As you can see, the options with 3D are endless. I think experiencing 3D is great! Do you think 3D contributes to having a better experience?

Digital Manipulation

I wanted to write about this topic, because last semester in the course Designing Business Communication, I wrote my paper and did a presentation about this topic. I think it’s a serious problem that models nowadays are being photoshopped (digitally manipulated) to look more thin and/or beautiful…

A lot of research has been done regarding the relationship of reading (fashion)magazines and having a negative self-image. But little research has been done about the photoshopping part in this. Because of the retouching of models and celebrities, girls and women get a negative image of themselves. They want to be just as good looking as the people they see in magazines; but this isn’t realistic, because these people don’t look as pretty in real life as in the magazines. It can lead (young) girls and women to having serious health problems; physically and mentally.

A great example of photo shopping was proposed by Dove in their ‘Campaign for real beauty’. Watch this clip to see for yourself:


This clip was made to make people aware of how it is done in the fashion industry: Photoshop can make everyone turn into a supermodel.

I think it’s very important that readers of fashion magazines will get a more realistic image about the models in advertisements. They need to be aware of the fact that the models they’re seeing in magazines are being manipulated by photoshop to look more beautiful. I think it’s important for readers of fashion magazines that they can relate to the models; nowadays, that’s almost impossible.

Let me know what you think about this!

Heineken

Saw this amazing clip on someone else's blog,
couldn't stop thinking about how I loved this idea, so decided to put it on my blog as well:



what do you think of this clip?

Louis Vuitton

Yves Carcelle, chairman and chief executive officer of Louis Vuitton, is very optimistic about their status in the online world. Social network sites are believed to be important in this: the luxurious brand Louis Vuitton has a Facebook page: "If you look at Facebook for instance, we are the luxury brand that has the biggest number of friends by far. Close to a million people in the world have declared themselves friends of Louis Vuitton."


The people at LV mostly use social network sites to make their luxury accessible for everybody in the world. They think it’s important to use this technology, because everyone does it and therefore it’s a good way to inform your (potential) clients and ‘friends’ about their brand. In November 2009, they also launched an official YouTube channel and they use Twitter.

Louis Vuitton also uses celebrity endorsers (see my blog below from February 28th). They’ve had stars like Madonna, Scarlett Johansson and Uma Thurman to promote for them in advertisement campaigns.


Also, on March 10th, Louis Vuitton had a live online broadcast of its Women Fall/Winter 2010-2011 collection. This show appeared live on your iPhone and on Facebook. LV is the first luxury goods brand to develop a fully integrated digital communications strategy (“The Art of Travel by Louis Vuitton”). LV is eager to create interaction with its online community; therefore, Facebook fans will also be able to comment on the event live and watch the show alongside their own friends online.

In my view, Louis Vuitton is a great company which wants to interact with their customers. A good way to do this nowadays, is online via Twitter and Facebook. I think more luxury brands should see LV as a role model in this. What do you think: is it a good thing for LV to promote its brand online?

© NU.nl/Styletoday
© fashionandrunway.com

McDonald’s Wi-Fi

Yesterday, I saw a commercial from McDonald’s. In this commercial, they said that you could use the Internet for free at every McDonald’s restaurant (this started March 1st). So when you go to McDonald’s, you can bring your laptop, PDA or mobile phone and surf on the web for free. McDonald’s already has more than 15.000 restaurants with Wi-Fi around the globe!


“We believe in bringing you innovative and convenient services that enhance your McDonald's restaurant visit, and Wi-Fi is a perfect example. As McDonald's continues to deliver fast and friendly food service at more than 30,000 convenient locations around the world, you can now enjoy the possibility of staying connected with friends, family and co-workers. Just find a Wi-Fi ready restaurant and you can check e-mail or chat with your friends while your kids are having fun in the Playplace.”

Because of this, McDonald’s is the largest provider of wireless internet in the Netherlands. This ‘Wi-Fi’-thing is part of the ‘Good Food Fast’ strategy. The focus of this strategy lies in the fact that McDonald’s wants to provide every guest with the best quality (food and comfort) and a large variety to choose from.

Are you lovin’ it?

TOUCHSCREEN MADNESS

This morning, I read an online news message: you can use the skin of your hands or arms to function as a touchscreen! American scientists proved this with a new experimental technique.

“If you find yourself getting annoyed at the tiny touchscreens on today's mobile devices, you might be interested in a "new" yet overlooked input surface: yourself. A new skin-based interface called Skinput allows users to use their own hands and arms as touchscreens by detecting the various ultralow-frequency sounds produced when tapping different parts of the skin.”



Scientists from Microsoft and the University of Carnegie Mellon had 20 persons test the device. The device is called ‘Skinput’ – combines the words ‘skin’ and ‘input’. Skinput exists of an arm band with a tiny projector which projects several buttons onto your skin. A chip within this arm band determines which button on which part of the skin is being touched by the user. So you can just tap your skin, to make a phone call or control audio devices. Skinput reacts to the sound that appears when you hit your skin with your finger. The device then uses a Bluetooth-signal to send the input from the touchscreen to your telephone, mp3-player or laptop.

Watch this clip to see for yourself:


© NU.nl/Dennis Rijnvis
© 2010 PhysOrg.com

Celebrity Endorsers

Every day we are surrounded by celebrity endorsers, who present products of specific brands in beautiful campaign-ads. These brands try to get more attention by presenting a celebrity who is using their product or brand. But does this really work? Is it really true, that when we see a celebrity promoting a specific product or brand that we then decide we want to have it, just because of this celebrity?

Watch this great example of a celebrity endorser; George Clooney in a commercial for Nespresso:


I think that celebrity endorsers are accountable for the increasing sales for brands. Because when we see a celebrity we know in an ad campaign, we are attracted to this advertisement. It seems that the celebrity strengthens the image of the product or brand. When people purchase this product, they do so in the conviction it will change their image in a positive sense. They also think that if they buy the product the celebrity is promoting for, they will be cool (just like the celebrity). It’s very important for a brand to find a person that fits the company very well. Because celebrities function as a role model, and they need to be believable (especially for their fans). This celebrity can make it more ‘real’ for buyers.

In my opinion, it is a good thing for companies to use a celebrity as an endorser for their brand. I think people will be attracted to the celebrity, and therefore also attracted to the product. What do you think: is it a good ‘move’ to use a celebrity to promote for you company?

Safer Internet Day

Twelve days ago, I was listening to the radio, and something caught my ear. Namely, there’s something like a ‘Safer Internet Day’. Every second Tuesday of February it is Safer Internet Day. The campaign of this year stressed the importance of that what you post online, is free to see for everybody all over the world. Anything anyone posts online remains online for a very long time and is accessible to everyone. This ‘Day’ was brought to life to tell about the serious consequences it could have.

This really got me thinking: did I ever post anything online, that I could regret later on? I can’t think of something immediately, but I think everybody has something about themselves online what they rather wouldn’t share with the whole world. And there is no way to erase it. When you’ve posted something online, it will be there ‘forever’. Everyone can ‘google’ you and everyone can look for pictures or quotes about you on the internet. When you think about this, it’s not really a nice thought. People can get a wrong idea about you; and that’s not what you want.

Even companies or organizations can search on the internet for information about you. Nowadays, it’s a very common thing for businesses to do, before they hire somebody. In the Netherlands, the network community Hyves is a very popular way to ‘check’ your soon-to-be employees. I overheard a story of someone who got fired, because he wrote something about his boss on his Hyves-page; not the smartest thing to do!
But I think the organizations looking for someone to work for them have to ask themselves a question: what is more important? The resume of the candidate, or the pictures on the internet? I think these organizations should think of it this way: everybody has a right to a personal life, which usually exist next to their job. That’s why, in my opinion, companies shouldn’t put too much weight on these pictures or quotes online. What do you think about this?

The moral of this story is: watch out with everything you post online, it’s accessible to everyone.

Social Network Marketing

Nowadays, almost everyone has a profile on a social network site (Hyves, Facebook, Hi5 etcetera). A lot of new social network sites are developing, and it seems that in the future these social network sites will continue to grow and expand even more. This development is noticed by the organizational life. They are searching for a way to promote their product(s) or brand(s) on these social network sites. This is a smart move, because there are so many people all over the world who are engaged in these social networks. The organizations will reach a lot of people, with low costs. It’s especially interesting for organizations to get involved in communities within these social network sites. Communities are networks that are established around a ‘hobby’ – organizations just have to find a community with a hobby that fits their product(s) or brand(s), and start advertising. The members of such a community have certain special features: they are interested in the brand, they are committed to the brand and are highly involved. In this way, an organization reaches a big online network with potential clients. Of course, the role of (online!) word-of-mouth principle has a central role in all of this.

An example of the online marketing in social networks is a recent one: it’s all about valentine’s day. This is a very commercial day, and organizations are focusing their (love)arrows on the innocent members of the social network sites. They advertise on these pages, and before a visitor knows it, he or she is subscribed to some kind of texting-subscription. Well, the advertising- and marketing world found a new way to exploit this ‘romantic’ day.

Trying new things

my first blog!
got the assignment today to make a blog, for the course Media Use in Organizations.