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5 Tips for Integrating Technology and Branding
2009-06-03 13:10:00
This week?s Quirk newsletter topic is ?Branding in the Digital Age.? If you ask me, this sounds like one of those classic phraseologies that enthusiastic marketing geeks types scatter about wherever they go. In other words: codswallop. Despite how it may sound however, this term is not an entirely meaningless utterance ? it relates to creating, protecting and promoting your corporate identity; a vital component of any company?s reputation and a crucial factor in securing a competitive advantage.
More About: Technology , General , Tips

Trend of Note - Minimalism
2009-06-03 13:09:00
Perhaps it?s my obsession with the Senior Vice President of Industrial Design at Apple, Jonathan Ive. Or maybe the success of the Google search page. Or possibly my seething hatred for retina-burning animated banner adverts and MySpace profile pages. But I?m sure Web users, designers and developers alike have all agreed that less is certainly more. And so, Minimalism seems to be the new black (and white) in the Web design industry.
More About: Note , Trend

Branding in the Digital Age
2009-06-02 10:43:00
If this title makes you feel like you?ve just won a game of Jargon Bingo, you are not alone. Us Web types are quick to latch on to names for things ? Web 2.0 (and 3.0), LAS, ?The Online Conversation? ? and it?s easy to talk about a concept without really thinking about what it means. Most people, by now, understand that a brand is a sum of perceptions; what do you, your staff, your business partners and your customers think about you and what collective meaning is then ascribed. So, when you apply this to the digital or information age, what exactly are we talking about? I sought out the perspectives of people smarter than me ? Mr. Academic guy, Dave Duarte and Mr. Cutting Edge Branding Stuff guy, Matt Riley. Dave teaches at the UCT Graduate School of Business and founded Huddlemind ? a community of online learning. Matt is the guy behind Idea Bounty, our innovative crowdsourcing platform and is also a senior planner here at Quirk.
More About: Interviews , Digital , Digital Age

Richard Branson's Alternative Ending
2009-05-31 16:51:00
Not stopping at conquering air travel, Virgin take to the rails with Virgin Trains; a system of fast, overland trains connecting London to Glasgow. With th...
More About: Alternative , Viral Marketing , Ending , Richard

ZooZoo for Vodaphone
2009-05-30 15:31:00
This is one of the coolest viral campaigns I’ve seen in a long while. Meet ZooZoo, the viral character created by Vodafone, who features in every viral ad along with friends and even his girlfriend (ye...
More About: Viral Marketing , Vodaphone

Friday Fact Box - Search Trends and Statistics
2009-05-29 17:10:00
There was a time, not that long ago, when ‘sex’ was the most searched term on the Internet. This was back when Ravi had only just discovered Dolly Parton ...
More About: Trends , Search , Fact , Statistics , Friday

Quirk is a Google Analytics Authorised Consultancy!
2009-05-29 12:13:00
We are extremely proud to announce that Quirk eMarketing is now a Google Analytics Authorised Consultancy (GAAC). The first in Africa and one of just over 100 agencies world wide who can profess to be accredited. This means...
More About: Search Engine Marketing , Google Analytics

E-Tourism Africa - Rwanda Report Back
2009-05-28 11:25:00
Kigali, though just 40 minutes by plane, felt like a world away from Kampala. There was a sense of calm and orderliness in Kigali that came as a surprise and a slight shock to the system after the hustle and bustle of Kampala. Like its neighbour, Kigali is...
More About: Africa , Tourism , Report , Rwanda , Back

Subdomains vs. Subdirectories: Part 2
2009-05-27 16:45:00
Breathe a sigh of relief, the second part of Subdomains vs Subdirectories is here. No more waiting.  Subdirectories are the best choice when you want a page to target specific keywords that are related to...
More About: Search Engine Marketing , Part

Friday Fact Box - eMarketing on Wikipedia
2009-03-27 11:01:00
You may have heard of Wikirank. It tells you how popular a particular article on Wikipedia has been in the last 30 days. You can even compare up to 4 articles on a chart which can then be embedded on your site. ...
More About: Fact , Friday

Earth Hour - Do It
2009-03-26 10:13:00
Earth Hour , happening this Saturday the 28th, is a global movement encouraging people to switch off their lights for an hour (from 8:30 to 9:30pm) in order to “Vote Earth”. Quoted fr...
More About: Earth

Dr. Carla Enslin On eMarketing's Role in Brand Strategy
2009-03-25 10:03:00
Dr. Carla E...
More About: Interviews , Strategy , Brand , Role

Ada Lovelace Day - Celebrating the World's First Computer Programmer
2009-03-24 12:41:00
Ada Lovelace, a 19th century British writer who is considered one of the world's first computer programmers is today being honoured by bloggers all over the world. In the spirit of providing young women with role models, over 1500 bloggers are participating in the first annual Ada Lovelace Day and have pledged to write about a woman they admire working in technology. I am choosing to write about Sonia Brock.
More About: Computer , Programmer

Tips for Plotting a Winning eMarketing Strategy
2009-03-24 12:41:00
eMarketing strategy is the plan that you devise and implement to market your products or services in the online environment. Usually, it makes use of eMarketing tactics like Email Marketing or Search Engine Optimisation. Of course, there are good strategies and there are bad strategies. And, in an age where there are 1.3 billion people using the Internet, you need to be pretty sure that yours is a good one. So here are some tips to help you plan a winning strategy.
More About: Strategy , General , Tips , Winning

10 Design Blogs You Should Be Reading
2009-03-23 15:44:00
There are certain sites that you should be following if you are a designer - whether it be to follow up on current design trends, stay on top of all design related news or just to see what other designers are up to. Below I...
More About: Design , Reading , Blogs

Sheep, Lights and a Camera
2009-03-22 16:26:00
I came across this pearl from Samsung on Wednesday night at about 11pm and promptly sent Kat an email entitled: “I'm in love with this...
More About: Camera , Viral Marketing , Lights , Sheep

Protest It - Table Mountain to be Rebuilt?
2009-03-21 16:27:00
Ask anyone who lives in Cape Town how they feel about their mountain and you will find that most - ok all of them - will tell you to leave it alone. Table Mountain ,...
More About: Viral Marketing , Protest

Friday Fact Box - Mobile Use
2009-03-20 11:32:00
After Louw's post about Mobile sites that get it right, it occured to me that we should share some statistics on mobile use - i.e. po...
More About: Fact , Friday

5 Things You Should Know About SEO Copywriting
2009-03-19 15:21:00
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is probably one of the most talked about tactics in the online marketing sphere. Even so, many writers forget about optimising their online articles, press releases and site copy - even when the age old saying ?Content is King? is dished out so often. It?s due to a number of reasons, but the biggy?s probably the lack of knowledge about how much weight copy can carry for SEO. The whole concept of tailoring copy to search engines also goes against the grain for most writers.
More About: Copywriting , Search Engine Marketing , Things

Getting Mobile Right - Some Examples
2009-03-18 12:34:00
In my last post on tips for mobile marketers I left out one important point: know the needs of your audience. There is definitely a difference between the user that browses from a PC and the user that browses ...
More About: Mobile , Mobile Marketing , Examples

Coining a Phrase - a Marketing Tactic?
2009-03-17 13:39:00
Josie from Springleap gave me a call a while ago with a rather interesting idea. Springleap has a pretty specific plan – they are trying to get themselves onto ...
More About: Marketing , General

Moving to the Cloud
2009-03-16 14:52:00
For years we?ve relied on software installed on our computers to enable us to complete our daily tasks. From email clients and RSS feed readers to word processors, spreadsheet programs and calendars - there is a software application available for almost any need we have. Yet over the last few years we have seen more and more Web applications (Web apps) popping up like mushrooms out of the cloud.
More About: Moving , Cloud , The Cloud

Vanilla Ice Says Sorry
2009-03-15 09:02:00
The rise of social media has brought with it a morbid fascination with the cheesy celebrities of yesteryear. Whether it's the Hoff himself posing in a speedo while rescuing Hurrican Katrina victims, Mr. T throwing Snickers Bars at some unsuspecting fool, or the latest amazing Chuck Norris fact, inboxes, forums and blogs are full with celebrities of dubious class.
More About: Viral Marketing , Vanilla Ice , Vanilla

Viral for Ankle Insurance Co. (Nike)
2009-03-14 16:41:00
Not expecting something quite so memorable, I recently came across this viral video for a company which sells ankle insurance – or, rather Nike selling ankle support with a comedic twist. The host of the &lsqu...
More About: Insurance , Viral , Viral Marketing

Google "Interest Based" Advertising - Privacy vs. Cash
2009-03-13 16:52:00
It’s a pleasure to be writing my first post as a QuirkStar and even more of a pleasure to be writing about such a smoothie of Googl...
More About: Google , Advertising , Search Engine Marketing , Privacy , Interest

Friday Fact Box - Social Media's Effect on Human Interaction
2009-03-13 09:53:00
Have you ever added a client as a friend on Facebook? People are increasingly managing relationships via Social Media - personally and professionally - which has got to be affecting the way we interact in our daily lives. Herewith some stats and pretty graphs to explore this theoy:
More About: Human , Fact , Friday , Effect

Janine on Using eMarketing to Recruit Talent
2009-03-11 08:51:00
?I'm a people person, very personable. I absolutely insist on enjoying life. Not so task-oriented. Not a work horse. If you're looking for a Clydesdale I'm probably not your man. Like I don't live to work, it's more the other way around. I work to live. Incidentally, what's your policy on Columbus Day?? You, Me and Dupree (2006) ? Randy Dupree (Owen Wilson) Forgive me for quoting a not so great movie. I just thought it useful to suggest the feeling of frustration employers experience when spending time with applicants who just aren?t up to the job. Times are not exactly rosy at the moment, and given the rather scary retrenchments many companies are forced to undertake, there is a stronger focus than ever on recruiting and maintaining exceptional and useful staff.
More About: Interviews , Talent

GottaQuirk - Time for a Change
2009-02-11 13:53:00
You may notice that we have a new design. We're pretty excited about it, and Grant is too, he chats us through his design process - how he made the blog reflect the Quirk personality and what it took to get this awesome design done!
More About: Design , Change , Time

Adii on WooThemes
2009-02-11 11:13:00
Adii, also known as the WordPress Rockstar, is an online strategist, blogger and designer of awesome WordPress themes. He chatted with Kat about WooThemes - how this innovative business model came about and what they've done to make it work.
More About: Interviews

Janet's London iLife: TED - The Virtual Version
2009-02-10 12:03:00
The one foot of snow in London is not conducive to holding or attending events and that's a fact. Another fact is that I eventually gave up trying to get anywhere in London and decided that I'd attend TED virtually by following #TED and checking in with those I knew attending instead - by far the best choice.
More About: Virtual , Version