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Like every other Apple product before it, the iPhone 4S has been highly anticipated. But this time, the buzz is about Siri, the phone’s “personal assistant”. Siri is a feature that allows you to ask it or tell it to do virtually anything, and will answer immediately. It understands most natural languages. While it is not new technology and is available in Google’s Android phones, Apple has completely mastered it.The amazing feature can do tasks as simple as playing the song you ask, setting an alarm for the time you specify, or making an internet search, to a task as advanced as making a reservation at a restaurant. Siri can obviously be perfected and will continue to evolve, but after buying the rights to the software Apple made it feel as if it’s the only product like this, and more importantly, the one you can’t live without.
For further reading: http://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthof/2011/10/17/apples-siri-the-culmination-of-steve-jobs-legacy/
1 Ekim 2012 Pazartesi
Glad's New Green Trash Bags
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Glad Products Company has a new green trash bag. Beginning Monday, October 24th, the tall kitchen drawstring trash bags with be made with less plastic. Not only will it cost the same as previous kinds, but also Glad will reduce their use of plastic by 6.5 million pounds a year. This equals 140 million bags, a huge amount that definitely requires a huge marketing campaign. Glad is spending between $30 and 40 million to create a buzz and demand for the eco-friendly trash bags. But Glad is being smart; instead of showing an obnoxious save the planet, overly exaggerated environmentally beneficial commercial, Glad is adopting a simple and clever plan. The ads, also to begin on Monday, use lines such as “strength with less plastic” and “stronger with less plastic waste”. The campaign will even boast the millions of pounds of plastic it will save by explaining it’s enough “to cover all of Manhattan” or “to fill over 200 garbage trucks”. Some ads will show the product’s environmental benefit with a small single green leaf, versus an entire forest. Even with a culture where consumers pay so much attention to social issues and greener products, Glad wants to advertise the whole products benefits, with its eco-friendly aspects an added perk. Glad’s new product sales will most likely soar above their original trash bags. The new trash bag will clearly succeed with prices the same as ones with no environmental benefit, especially considering eco-friendly products are usually more expensive.
For further reading: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/19/business/media/glad-cuts-the-hyperbole-for-its-new-green-trash-bag.html?_r=1&src=recg
For further reading: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/19/business/media/glad-cuts-the-hyperbole-for-its-new-green-trash-bag.html?_r=1&src=recg
State Farm's New Commercial
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Last month, State Farm Insurance Agency released a new commercial featuring the Green Bay Packers Quarterback, Aaron Rodgers. The ad promotes State Farm's "Discount Double Check" program, and displays the player's signature touchdown dance as the new "discount double check dance". Since the release of the commercial, State Farm's buzz score increased dramatically, specifically within football fans and Wisconsin residents. Add this commercial to their previously existing ads that pair a catchy slogan / jingle, "Like a Good Neighbor, State Farm is There", with a perfect balance of comedy and a relatable lifestyle, State Farm has a flawless advertising campaign.
Personally, I think State Farms ads are hilarious. Theirs are among the few ads that I actually like watching. The new Aaron Rodgers, "Discount Double Check" commercial fits right in with the rest. In this way, State Farm should be an inspiration for other companies marketing teams. Grab the consumers attention and get a jingle stuck in their head without being annoying? Sounds like a successful ad campaign.
The Aaron Rodgers Commercial:
For further reading: http://www.forbes.com/sites/brandindex/2011/11/16/aaron-rodgers-ad-lifts-up-state-farm-among-football-fans-wisconsinites/
Personally, I think State Farms ads are hilarious. Theirs are among the few ads that I actually like watching. The new Aaron Rodgers, "Discount Double Check" commercial fits right in with the rest. In this way, State Farm should be an inspiration for other companies marketing teams. Grab the consumers attention and get a jingle stuck in their head without being annoying? Sounds like a successful ad campaign.
The Aaron Rodgers Commercial:
For further reading: http://www.forbes.com/sites/brandindex/2011/11/16/aaron-rodgers-ad-lifts-up-state-farm-among-football-fans-wisconsinites/
Google's New Digital Music Store
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Watch out Apple. Google’s really coming after you now.
First, it was the Droid, Google’s smartphone that’s becoming stronger and tougher competition for the Apple iPhone. Now, it’s Google Music, Google’s new music download store, and the first real competition to Apple’s iTunes.
Wanting to expand its product line as the new face of social networking and digital technology, Google introduced its own music store, which will sell tracks and full albums. Google Music allows users to store its songs on “cloud accounts”, where friends can have one free listen to any friend’s bought track. Users will also be able to listen to their own music on any device or computer, something Apple iTunes charges $25 per year.
The only obstacle to this new product is that Google has been unable to form a partnership with the Warner Music Group, the third largest major label. However, Google Music is ready to sell $13 million songs, from three of the four major record labels.
This new business venture is one that, I think, will prove to be successful for Google. Apple iTunes, as dominant as it is, is expensive and sometimes difficult. If Google Music is marketed as the new place to buy music, with lower rates and simpler ways to move your own music, this could be hugely popular and profitable. Best case scenario, as it improves and grows, Google Music could have a strong hold in the music downloading industry, becoming strong competition for iTunes and propelling Google even further in the social networking and entertainment industry.
For further reading: http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/16/google-opens-a-digital-music-store/?src=me&ref=business
First, it was the Droid, Google’s smartphone that’s becoming stronger and tougher competition for the Apple iPhone. Now, it’s Google Music, Google’s new music download store, and the first real competition to Apple’s iTunes.
Wanting to expand its product line as the new face of social networking and digital technology, Google introduced its own music store, which will sell tracks and full albums. Google Music allows users to store its songs on “cloud accounts”, where friends can have one free listen to any friend’s bought track. Users will also be able to listen to their own music on any device or computer, something Apple iTunes charges $25 per year.
The only obstacle to this new product is that Google has been unable to form a partnership with the Warner Music Group, the third largest major label. However, Google Music is ready to sell $13 million songs, from three of the four major record labels.
This new business venture is one that, I think, will prove to be successful for Google. Apple iTunes, as dominant as it is, is expensive and sometimes difficult. If Google Music is marketed as the new place to buy music, with lower rates and simpler ways to move your own music, this could be hugely popular and profitable. Best case scenario, as it improves and grows, Google Music could have a strong hold in the music downloading industry, becoming strong competition for iTunes and propelling Google even further in the social networking and entertainment industry.
For further reading: http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/16/google-opens-a-digital-music-store/?src=me&ref=business
Smirnoff's New Flavors
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Smirnoff, the world’s largest vodka brand, just added two new flavors: Fluffed Marshmallow and Whipped Cream. To go with these new flavors, they are launching a new, edgy campaign estimated between $8 million to $11 million. The campaign features commercials, print ads and billboards and will be shown in places where most viewers are above the age of 21. With competitors like Three Olives and Pinnacle Vodka, who already have sweet vodka flavors like bubblegum, cake, cotton candy, and whipped cream, Smirnoff needed a fantastic campaign to convince consumers to buy theirs instead.
With the two new flavors and the new campaign Smirnoff is definitely making the right moves. The new ad campaign plays to the fun side of vodka and the new flavors play to the sweet side. Between the two, viewers will be too interested and curious to resist. Also, since no other vodka brand has a marshmallow flavor, Smirnoff now has an edge on its competitors. Even if the flavor sounds not so great, Smirnoff has one flavor the others don’t. And being a trusted name in the industry, Smirnoff is bound to increase sales.
For further reading: http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/17/how-do-you-drink-your-vodka-fluffed-no-chaser/?ref=business
With the two new flavors and the new campaign Smirnoff is definitely making the right moves. The new ad campaign plays to the fun side of vodka and the new flavors play to the sweet side. Between the two, viewers will be too interested and curious to resist. Also, since no other vodka brand has a marshmallow flavor, Smirnoff now has an edge on its competitors. Even if the flavor sounds not so great, Smirnoff has one flavor the others don’t. And being a trusted name in the industry, Smirnoff is bound to increase sales.
For further reading: http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/17/how-do-you-drink-your-vodka-fluffed-no-chaser/?ref=business
30 Eylül 2012 Pazar
Idaho joins ranks of the nanny states
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While Mayor Mike Bloomberg is busy trying to extend his nanny-state proclivities by banning sales in New York City of sugary drinks of 32 ounces or more, the entire state of Idaho is being protected from imagined offense by a Utah distiller.
Here's the story:
Because the majority of the populations of Utah and Idaho practice the Mormon religion that long ago allowed polygamy, the Idaho Liquor Control Division (ILCD) has decided that the Utah-manufactured Five Wives brand vodka has the potential to offend. Thus, the vodka has been banned from Idaho.
A letter signed by Howard Wasserstein, deputy director for procurement, distribution and retail for the ILCD, says, “We feel (the) Five Wives vodka concept is offensive to a broad segment of our population and will not be carried.”
Odgen's Own Distillery, maker of Five Wives, reportedly has been in touch with the attorney who won a 2011 suit that overturned a Michigan ruling that the Flying Dog Brewery's Raging Bitch Beer was offensive and could not be sold.
Curiously, a Utah-brewed beer named Polygamy Porter is available in Idaho.
To Dowd's Wine Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Brews Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Tasting Notes latest entry.
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While Mayor Mike Bloomberg is busy trying to extend his nanny-state proclivities by banning sales in New York City of sugary drinks of 32 ounces or more, the entire state of Idaho is being protected from imagined offense by a Utah distiller.Here's the story:
Because the majority of the populations of Utah and Idaho practice the Mormon religion that long ago allowed polygamy, the Idaho Liquor Control Division (ILCD) has decided that the Utah-manufactured Five Wives brand vodka has the potential to offend. Thus, the vodka has been banned from Idaho.
A letter signed by Howard Wasserstein, deputy director for procurement, distribution and retail for the ILCD, says, “We feel (the) Five Wives vodka concept is offensive to a broad segment of our population and will not be carried.”
Odgen's Own Distillery, maker of Five Wives, reportedly has been in touch with the attorney who won a 2011 suit that overturned a Michigan ruling that the Flying Dog Brewery's Raging Bitch Beer was offensive and could not be sold.
Curiously, a Utah-brewed beer named Polygamy Porter is available in Idaho.
To Dowd's Wine Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Brews Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Tasting Notes latest entry.
Back to Dowd's Guides home page.
Maker's Mark gets court seal of approval
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The first time I visited Maker’s Mark bourbon in Loretto, KY, I was invited to dip a just-filled bottle in the distillery’s iconic melted red wax.
In my enthusiasm, I plunged the neck of the bottle into the molten vat a bit too vigorously, and wound up with dripping wax coating the neck, half the bottle and my hand up to the wrist. My face was as red as the wax.
That embarrassing moment has always stayed with me, so when I saw a legal decree involving the wax seal, it naturally caught my attention.
From now on, if you see a whiskey with a dripping wax seal on its and it doesn't say Maker's Mark on the label, you may be seeing something illegal.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has held that the red, wax seal that covers the stopper on bottles of Maker’s Mark bourbon is a protected trademark that must be used exclusively by that brand.The ruling follows a lawsuit in which Maker’s Mark Distillery Inc. sought to prevent a similar seal from being used on bottles of Jose Cuervo tequila.
It's not the use of a wax seal, per se, that is the problem. Lots of distillers use wax seals -- Knob Creek, for one, and even Cuervo for years. Rather, it is the design of the seal that Maker's Mark worries about.
Until 2001, Cuervo bottles had been crowned with a straight-edge seal, then the design was changed to an uneven style that made the wax look as if it were dripping down the bottle neck, a la Maker's which was trademarked in 1985.
Judge John Heyburn II of the District Court for the Western District of Kentucky ruled in favor of Maker’s Mark on the dual points of infringement and trademark validity. This was upheld on appeal at the Sixth Circuit.
In their ruling, the three appeal judges noted: "The company has bottled bourbon for commercial sale under the Maker’s Mark name, and has used a red dripping-wax seal on its Maker’s Mark bourbon bottles, since 1958. Maker’s Mark -- and craft bourbon generally – garnered national attention when The Wall Street Journal published a front-page article about the bourbon, the red dripping-wax seal, and the family behind it ['Maker’s mark goes against the grain to make its mark,' by David P. Garino, 1980]."Furthermore, the appeal judges noted, a 2002 Business Week report declared the dripping-wax seal "one of the most recognizable branding symbols in the world." Six years later, the "CBS Sunday Morning" show referred to the factory process for applying the feature as the "famous dip in red sealing wax."
These findings, said the judges, "support the district court’s ultimate conclusion regarding the breadth of market recognition of Maker’s Mark’s trademarked, red dripping-wax seal."
Also, the judges wrote, "There is more than one way to seal a bottle with wax to make it look appealing.
To Dowd's Wine Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Brews Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Tasting Notes latest entry.
Back to Dowd's Guides home page.
The first time I visited Maker’s Mark bourbon in Loretto, KY, I was invited to dip a just-filled bottle in the distillery’s iconic melted red wax.In my enthusiasm, I plunged the neck of the bottle into the molten vat a bit too vigorously, and wound up with dripping wax coating the neck, half the bottle and my hand up to the wrist. My face was as red as the wax.
That embarrassing moment has always stayed with me, so when I saw a legal decree involving the wax seal, it naturally caught my attention.
From now on, if you see a whiskey with a dripping wax seal on its and it doesn't say Maker's Mark on the label, you may be seeing something illegal.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has held that the red, wax seal that covers the stopper on bottles of Maker’s Mark bourbon is a protected trademark that must be used exclusively by that brand.The ruling follows a lawsuit in which Maker’s Mark Distillery Inc. sought to prevent a similar seal from being used on bottles of Jose Cuervo tequila.
It's not the use of a wax seal, per se, that is the problem. Lots of distillers use wax seals -- Knob Creek, for one, and even Cuervo for years. Rather, it is the design of the seal that Maker's Mark worries about.
Until 2001, Cuervo bottles had been crowned with a straight-edge seal, then the design was changed to an uneven style that made the wax look as if it were dripping down the bottle neck, a la Maker's which was trademarked in 1985.
Judge John Heyburn II of the District Court for the Western District of Kentucky ruled in favor of Maker’s Mark on the dual points of infringement and trademark validity. This was upheld on appeal at the Sixth Circuit.
In their ruling, the three appeal judges noted: "The company has bottled bourbon for commercial sale under the Maker’s Mark name, and has used a red dripping-wax seal on its Maker’s Mark bourbon bottles, since 1958. Maker’s Mark -- and craft bourbon generally – garnered national attention when The Wall Street Journal published a front-page article about the bourbon, the red dripping-wax seal, and the family behind it ['Maker’s mark goes against the grain to make its mark,' by David P. Garino, 1980]."Furthermore, the appeal judges noted, a 2002 Business Week report declared the dripping-wax seal "one of the most recognizable branding symbols in the world." Six years later, the "CBS Sunday Morning" show referred to the factory process for applying the feature as the "famous dip in red sealing wax."
These findings, said the judges, "support the district court’s ultimate conclusion regarding the breadth of market recognition of Maker’s Mark’s trademarked, red dripping-wax seal."
Also, the judges wrote, "There is more than one way to seal a bottle with wax to make it look appealing.
To Dowd's Wine Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Brews Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Tasting Notes latest entry.
Back to Dowd's Guides home page.
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