Here for your viewing pleasure are 19 of the best and brightest in blog design from across the web. read more

Technorati Tags: design, creative, internet

Fancy dinner anyone?

Here is a few preview of fascinating anatomy tattoo design. Personally I do not agree in having one, but still I value & prise such great artwork and salute to those who love the art of tattoos.

“Let Sparta feel my wrath!”

More designs on Street Anatomy Blog. There is even one portraying a bleeding heart. Would you want a new tattoo now?

Technorati Tags: tattoo, design, art, anatomy

 

1. The client doesn’t understand the publicity process. PR folks need to better educate people about how publicity works. The first thing many clients ask is, “Can you get me on Oprah or the front page of the Wall Street Journal?” The answer might be “yes,” but the process to get to the “yes” may take months or years, and may first include a series of smaller placements.

2. The scope of work is not detailed and agreed upon by both parties. Here’s a typical example: a client signs an agreement to spend $3,000 per month. Client expects to get three publicity placements per month. PR person expects to work 20 hours, regardless of the outcome. The inevitable disconnect leads to customer frustration and the feeling of being “burned.”
3. The client has not been properly trained on how to communicate with the media. Proper training for interviews is crucial; otherwise, key messages can be misconstrued, and even negative stories can result. Clients seldom blame themselves when this happens.
4. The client and the PR person or firm are not a good match. Example: Client hears about a local PR person, meets and likes the PR person, and figures it’s a good match. Or the client chooses the lowest price PR option. And the PR person, instead of referring the client to another practitioner who is a better fit, decides to take on the client—and the money.
5. The client has not gotten results quickly enough and ends the relationship too soon. Client should plan on conducting a campaign for a minimum of six months. And even that is aggressive. A year should really be the bare minimum to commit to PR The media works on its own timetable, which is usually much longer than the client’s.
6. PR people don’t explain the kind of publicity placements a client will most likely receive. Every client wants a big profile of the company on the cover of a major magazine or newspaper, but most stories are about a “trend,” several companies, or some recent news with quotes from experts. Profiles are few and far between. Yet, instead of explaining this, PR people often tell potential clients what they want to hear, in order to get the business.
7. Clients don’t realize that what happens after you get the publicity coverage is sometimes more important than the actual placement. My smartest client didn’t care if he got a quote or a profile—he just wanted to be included in major media. When it was time to get an agent and publisher for his book, he handed them a list of all his media placements, and this clinched the deal. The agent and publisher figured that if all of the major media was willing to include him as a source, then he must have something important to say.
8. Clients refuse to be flexible on their story angles. One of my clients once said to me, “We only want profiles.” When the media wasn’t interested, they refused to consider other story angles that the media was interested in. Now I make sure clients are willing to have us pitch three to four angles.
9. Clients get upset when the media coverage is not 100% accurate or not the kind of coverage that they wanted. One of my former clients said, “That TV segment on me was only a minute long.” When I explained that length of time was impressive in TV Land, she refused to understand.
10. Clients won’t change their schedules for the media. Clients need to drop everything if the media calls. This may be inconvenient, but the media waits for no one. If you want to be a “media darling,” then you need to make yourself available at any time. Those who do will reap the best benefits and placements.

read more on link

Technorati Tags: marketing, PR, business

 

Have you ever noticed how a phone conversation can change simply by your posture or environment? I caught myself walking around the office while I was on the phone yesterday and thought about why and more striking, when I do this.

Three examples:

• When I’m on business development calls, brainstorming or pitching ideas, I’m standing or walking around. It opens my mind for creativity, helps me listen and react on the fly.

• When presenting, speaking, or hosting a demonstration over the phone I find myself sitting forward with my elbows on my knees. It makes me focus and stay on task.

• When I’m taking personal calls my feet are on the desk, I’m leaned back in my chair and often watching the sky that I can see outside my window.

How do you think this type of positioning changes my tone? Is my tone over the phone more creative and welcoming of ideas when I stand, more commanding and serious when I sit and lean forward or more relaxed and comfortable when I lean back? You know this makes an impact on the other end of the line and can lead the conversation in one way or another.

What are some of your “on the phone” characteristics? Say a big client just rings in and catches you off guard, what does your body do to prepare you for what they might say?

Technorati Tags: marketing, business

It was about last week when I got a call from Dino, the proprietor of Imperial International Hotel, requesting me to have a ‘free trial’ stay in one of the rooms.

How lucky was I?!?

The main entrance. (The signage looks so plain.) -picture courtesy of Julian

 

I arrived late, around 8pm at Imperial International Hotel situated in Warisan Square in the heart of Kota Kinabalu, a modern city - looking astonishingly amazed at the hotel’s contemporary designs but somehow couldnt help noticing the carpets resembling “Kuih Lapis” as quoted by Nancy.

The big boss and I having our little discussion. -picture courtesy of Nancy.

 

 

One important thing you should do before sleeping at night…..

*Test your beds!

 

I find the place rather impressive for a 4-star hotel. Unfortunately, only one floor was in commission at that time while the other floors were still under construction which would be up pretty much soon.

I manage to get the same deluxe room as Julian which was pretty cool but i didn’t get a good view, just a small view of Api-api centre. (how sad!)

But still, I had a 32″ LCD tv (currently with 4 local channels; Astro coming soon!)

The hotel features:

• 208 rooms in total, and currently only 50 are open to guests, while the rest are still under construction
• Eateries: 2 bars; Sun and Moon Bar, and a restaurant called ‘The Roof Restaurant’ (it is on top of the roof of course!)
• State-Of-The-Art Audio & Video Equipments
• They have an Atrium on the 8th floor, 2 Meeting Rooms & a Business Centre
• 24 hours Room Service
• Broadband Internet Access
• Located 15 minutes from Kota Kinabalu International Airport
• Conveniently close to restaurants, popular entertainment venues and local attractions

Imperial International Hotel is currently open to walk in guests.

Current promotion rate till further notice is at RM130 only!

This would be a fantastic chance for you to enjoy a wonderful stay in Imperial International Hotel.

Do drop in any replies if you’ve manage to try it out!
Contact Info:

Imperial International Hotel
D-G-28, Block D, Warisan Square
Jalan Tun Fuad Stephens
88000 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.

Tel: +60 88 522888
Fax: +60 88 522999

Do you really think Yahoo and Wikipedia really the Hydrogen and Helium of the World Wide Web? And is Fark the rutherfordium?

They sure are, according to this Periodic Table of the Internet.

It’s a nice idea and I can sort of see the logic behind it. Even Google didnt quite make it as good as i thought. Guess where do we stand?

What did they have in mind?

As boasted by Lord Sebastian Coe unveils the logo for the 2012 Olympics in London claiming:

“It reaches out to young people in new and creative ways and uses the language that they understand and all the technology that is familiar to us.”

The brand logo, designed by Wolff Ollins, has been targeted at the young people the organisers hope to get involved.

“We have produced a brand which is appropriate for London, but it has an international character as well. This is different absolutely.”

For the first time, the logo will be used for the Olympics and Paralympics. I read that the brand itself is worth £400,000! London want to use the graffiti-style design, which took a year to complete, to engage with children already connected to the new media world

Honestly for me, its very unprofessional and would be one of the worst logo i have ever seen.

What are your thoughts on it? A good or bad design?

Technorati Tags: design, logo, logotypes, marketing

”IdeaFixa is an international digital magazine for photography, design, illustration and visual arts. Its objective is inspiration, vision and promotion of the participant artists. It is released bimonthly and every edition has a designated subject.”

Born in Brazil, IdeaFixa chooses contemporary artistic works from various artists which in every edition has a designated subject; made to feature photography, design, art and illustration.

They are highly visual stimulating; vibrant, tasteful and… mmm.. need I say more?

For those who are interested in designs, I would highly recommend this site!

Visit the site: www.ideafixa.com

Technorati Tags: design, internet

It’s 2.36am and I’m currently in the process of finalizing my flash
interactive portfolio which I will be uploading it to the net soon.
It contains my previous client works, also my drawings & designs
reflecting myself - for your viewing pleasure!

What do you think of this design page?

Any thoughts, positive or negative are very welcome.

Technorati Tags: design, internet, personal

I recently applied to Standard Charted Bank for a credit card. A limit of Rm3000, heck, I guess thats quite easy spend and I could pay the bank on a minimal monthly basis. The idea was to pay little, to buy time for other bills to be paid. Smart! But i found an article which made me think twice on using it…

This chart, via OnMyOwnTwoFeet, shows the incredible costs if you incur $5,000 in credit card debt and only make the monthly minimum payments.

By the time the debt is paid off, you’ll have effectively paid double the original debt.

This is why it’s:

• Really good to pay your credit off in full every month and
• if you can’t do that, pay as much as possible, and definitely more than the minimum monthly payment. These payments are purposely set low to keep you in debt as long as the credit card company can. It’s called the profit motive, and it’s not just for corporations, you should apply it to your personal finances as well.

Technorati Tags: self help, , business