A lot has happened this past week that could possibly be construed as newsworthy, so here are a couple of things that caught my attention as it was streaming past my consciousness:
- The Twittersphere ™ has been abuzz with the MacWorld Expo and Steve Jobs’ keynote clogging up the data pipes
- Africa continues to dominate the news headlines with unfortunate socio-political outcomes: Kenya’s disputed elections and the subsequent ethnic violence despite Kofi Anna’s intervention; the continuing saga in Zimbabwe: humanitarian disaster, monopoly money, runaway inflation, refugees streaming to SA
- South Africa’s own very embarrassing situation with the national power grid unable to keep the country and it’s industries running smoothly, today four gold mines shut down and loss of that production output pulled down the market; an economist interviewed for SABC3’s midday news/business program says this roughly translates into more than a billion South African rand loss to country GDP for the day and every day that the power shuts off…

Loic Le Meur, founder of Seesmic.com and Robert Scoble is at Davos in Switzerland at the World Economic Forum debating global issues and getting major scoops on their video streaming websites with notable luminaries concerned about the state of the planet and it’s people.

Techbiz was that WordPress’ parent company, Automattiq, got some nice funding from amongst others, The New York Times which is a good indication of the support there is for this popular blogging platform with the many piowerful capabilities to launch an online media empire. All New York Times blogs and all the GigaOm network blogs, amongst many other promoinent web companies, use WordPress as their web dev platform. Hogsback Media Networks itself runs on WordPress and is one of the value added services we offer clients who register and host their preferred domains with us. With 5GB of storage space and 65GB monthly data transfer quota, we specialize in offering companies and professionals the professional and robust online publishing capabilities that WordPress allows.

Problogger and doshdosh was two very serendipitious stumbles on the Twitter public timeline and I am so chuffed having found them. They both excel at showing others the nuts and bolts practical aspects of blogging, marketing your writing efforts at your blog, and how to optimally use these new information and communications technology tools to create a virtual global working village where the tech savvy early adopters share links to useful resources and little bits of glimpses into their lifestreams with whoever out there in the world care to tune in; you only need my URL baby

It also saddened me tremendously to learn of Heath Ledger’s untimely death. May his spirit rest in peace, a peace he unfortunately could not find on this planet.

As to the rest, there continues to be maiming and death and hunger and disease and poverty and natural and man made disasters and accidents; that seems to be the nature of this twirling little speck of dust on which we have chosen to become manifest at this time…

I want to end with an interesting post I stubmledUpon, the blog is Dutch and is concerned with marketing and the author looks at the cultural implications of iconic marketing gimmicks and how it must adapt to the environment in which it hopes to have a successful business presence.

I roughly translated from the original Dutch, those of you who are Dutch or Afrikaans can head over to molblog.nl and read the original post.
UPDATE: I received an e-mail from the original poster with his permission for me to translate his post, and he included a translation for me as well. How very polite, indeed, so Thank you Jos Birken from marketingscience.com

Here is my translation:

The Year of the Rat is approaching. In contrast to our own Zodiacal constellations with it’s Capricorn, Libra and all the rest, the Chinese zodiac consists entirely of animals. The Rat is the first sign in the cycle, with attributes like leadership, charisma and intelligence.
Chinese born in the Year of The Rat proudly proclaims: “”I am a Rat!” As a marketer in a Chinese environment, at the moment it is not good to ignore the Rat.

For Westerners, things are a little different. Around these parts, rats are, to put it mildly, not seen in a very charming or positive light… Unless you’re in the pest extermination business, mentioning rats as part of your marketing material is generally not a good practice!

But what is a globalized marketing professional to do in these modern times, where every day the communications barriers between cultures are eroded more and more…?

Frasers Centrepoint Malls, owner of a chain of shopping malls in Singapore (“Where Eat Meets West”), has the solution. They rename the Rat to Mouse and close a sponsorship contract with Disney. Two flies with one shot! And no, the fly is not part of the Chinese zodiac.

“What better way to usher in the Year of the Mouse than with the most celebrated mouse of all?” proclaims Frasers in page sized adverts. The biologists among us may cringe, but the marketers of Frasers are unfazed. Rat, Mouse, what’s the difference, right? 2008 becomes the year of Mickey Mouse.

Overall, marketers are increasingly confronted with this kind of cultural clash in communications. In China the Year of the Pig has just concluded, but advertising may have been subdued due to fear of offending Muslim sensibilities.

Trivial detail: in Centrepoint Mall, Fraser’s crown jewel, the festivities are ushered in with a traditional Lion Dance. The Mice won’t be too pleased about that!

And here is the mail from Jos himself for comparison

Hallo Mario,

Geen probleem hoor. Zo lang er sprake is van bronvermelding en het stukje in een niet al te dubieuze publicatie terechtkomt, heb je mijn toestemming. Ik ben altijd iets geruster als ik zelf even met de herverspreider kan communiceren, vandaar mijn verzoek om een email.

Sterker nog, het is een rustige zaterdagochtend en in ben in een goede stemming, dus hier is een vertaling. Service van de zaak. Alleen de oorspronkelijke links moet je zelf even incopieren

Globalisation ain’t always easy: the Year of the Rat

The Year of the Rat is almost upon us. Unlike the Western Zodiac, with constellations like Libra and Sagittarius, the Chinese version is an animal-only affair. The Rat is the first in the cycle, with attributes like leadership, charisma and intelligence. Chinese that were born in Rat Years will tell you proudly: “I am a Rat!” If you’re a marketer in a Chinese environment there’s no way to ignore the Rat these months.

For Westerners things are slightly different. In our parts the rat doesn’t enjoy, how shall I say this, a particularly unblemished reputation. You are well advised to leave the rat completely unmentioned in any of your marketing materials. Unless you’re in pest control, of course.

But what does a globalised marketer do in these modern times, where cross-cultural communication borders become increasingly fuzzy?

Frasers Centrepoint malls, one of the larger shopping mall operators in Singapore (“Where East Meets West”), have found a solution. We pretend the rat’s a mouse and make sure we have a sponsorship contract with Disney. Kills two birds with one stone! (Please note that no flying birds are members of the Chinese Zodiac.)

“What better way to usher in theYear of the Mouse than with the most celebrated mouse of all?” extols Frasers in full page newspaper ads. Biologists among us are now wincing, but Frasers’s marketers are undeterred. Rat, mouse, who cares? 2008’s going to be the Year of Mickey Mouse.

There’s a bit of a trend here. Marketers all over the world increasingly find themselves facing cultural communication conundrums. Exactly a year ago China banned porky imagery in ads celebrating the Year of the Pig, fearing muslim protests.

Small detail: in Centrepoint Mall, Frasers’s jewel in the crown, celebrations will start with a traditional Lion Dance. Not sure the mice will approvee.

(c) 2008 Jos. Birken

PS stuur je nog even een link tegen de tijd dat-ie er staat?

Publishing has become a truly democratic pursuit. Anyone with basic computer proficiency and an internet connection are now a potential ‘publisher’. From the moment someone decides they have a message/product/mission/vision/brand to share with the world, we at Hogsback Media Networks are there to help you get the word out.

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tech.myownmagazine.com, business.myownmagazine.com, johndoe.myownmagazine.com]
[ e-mail: johndoe@myownmagazine.com etc]

We install and configure the Wordpress blogging platform on the client’s chosen domain. Themes of the client’s choice, chosen with their company’s brand, image, purpose of their site in mind are also installed. We have a portfolio of value-added services to create a powerful publishing and marketing platform. From RSS feeds ( building, maintaining and updating Feedburner accounts (RSS feeds by e-mail subscriptions) and mailing lists, social book-marking and social networking widgets
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We set up and configure and customize each Wordpress blogging platform on our servers according to the client’s needs and vision as set out at the initial consultation. When we are finished, the client need only log in to the Meta section on his Wordpress blog and start posting his stories and pictures and videos. Those who choose, take charge of their own marketing/networking/PR campaign.

Those who decide to make use of our value-added services, will receive a custom-made solution based around their brand/product/mission/vision etc after a consultation to determine their needs. We then set out building profiles for individual clients on all the major social networking/bookmarking sites. We start building up a portfolio (blogroll) of established blogs and websites centered around related products/industries/networks in the client’s field.
Also posting comments and track backs on related blogs within related industries and building visibility in the blogosphere for the client’s brand/product/mission/vision/message. The “personal” custom-made solution eliminates “spamming” since posting and track backs are done only on related blogs in the industry with which a rapport over time have been built up. This all takes time, personal attention and a level of skill and understanding for the client’s needs and which blogs/social networking/boookmarking sites are targeted as candidates for inclusion in the portfolio of related blogs in the same industry or market segment.

We cross-link and cross-feed and cross-post all these different profiles into one another as well as those of advertising partners and blogging partners/friends (by providing them the piece of code for their widgets). In this way, we do search engine optimization as well as brand-building and exposure, viral marketing at it’s optimal without being intrusive or unwanted. Since it is targeted to a network who actually opted in because of shared industry/expertise/market segment gains from cross-feeding, cross-posting and cross-updating. With the client’s different profiles aggregating on a central profile (e.g Facebook), and linking back to the parent domain, this setup benefits all willing participants in these consumer-generated ecosystems.

In a new media world, where “eyeballs” has become the gold standard in an attention-span based [online advertising-model] economy, we are well placed to fill the gap between technical programming skills and media/marketing/PR related professionals’ needs. The rapid pace at which technology advances place powerful tools in our hands to enable anyone with a message/mission/vision/product to start sharing it with the world without having to jump through all the technical hoops to get it up and running in the first place.

Clients can just start blogging, we take care of the plumbing and heavy lifting in the background. Coupled with their own unique domain of choice, as well as a full portfolio of value-added services [custom-designed marketing, PR, design, social network building services] we are a powerful and essential “gap-filler” tech services company that can launch any entity, product, mission, vision or message of a client online.