Paging Eustace Tilley

Did you ever wonder who the dandy on the cover of the New Yorker is? You know, that well-dressed gentleman looking at a butterfly through his monocle? His story is quite interesting!

For the first cover of the New Yorker, Rea Irvin drew the character. Over time, he even got his own name: Eustace Tilley.Corey Ford wrote a series of humorous articles for the New Yorker that spoofed corporate promotional writing. His stories were used to fill up empty pages that were not bought by advertisers to promote their products. Ford’s stories were illustrated with drawings that often featuring Eustace Tilley. In one such illustration, Tilley supervises the felling of “specially grown trees to make paper for The New Yorker.”

Irvin got inspiration for his Eustace Tilley magazine cover from an unlikely source: an 1834 drawing of Count Alfred Guillaume Gabriel D’Orsay. The drawing “man of Fashion in Early Victorian Period” was featured in the costume section of the Encyclopædia Britannica.

Count D’Orsay (1801-1852) was a famous dandy and wit, known for his stunning good looks. He was admired for his charming manner and brilliant wit. At 6ft, he towered over his fellow men and posed a striking figure. He created his own flamboyant style that was imitated everywhere. His admirers includedLord Byron, Benjamin Disraeli, William Thackeray, Charles Dickens and even Thomas Carlyle.

D’Orsay was known as a “butterfly dandy”, which explains why Rea Irvin drew him looking at the butterfly on the cover.

As for Eustace Tilley, the New Yorker tried to update his image over the years. At times, Tilley morphed into a female Tilley, an African-American Tilley, and a punk Tilley. No matter what they do to him, Tilley is here to stay. Not bad for an octogenarian dandy!

Horror Flick’s Brilliant Marketing Stunt – Prankvertisement At Its Best

“Devil’s Due” is low-budget horror movie. It tells the story of a couple on honeymoon that lose track of one night. Once home, they find out that the wife is pregnant. The husband records the earlier-than-planned pregnancy on camera. He notices that the mother-to-be is changing dramatically – and not for the better. Over the months, it becomes clear that dark forces are at work. (Yes, I know, it sounds a lot like Rosemary’s Baby”)

Promoting a low-budget movie such as this one is an uphill battle. Marketing a blockbuster is a lot easier - advertisements, movie trailers, and guest appearances of the actors in talk shows are just a few examples of the PR tools that movie studios use. So what can small or indie movie makers do? Harness the power of Internet!

The makers of the flick engaged the services of Thinkmodo, a NY-based viral video marketing agency. They came up with a great PR stunt. They built a stroller that could be controlled remotely and put a screaming robot infant inside. They steered the stroller through the streets of NY. Pedestrians heard a child crying from the seemingly unattended stroller and went to check. Once they approached, the robot demon child popped up and started screaming at them.

The video quickly went viral on Internet and national as well as international TV stations showed the clip.
Reviews of the movie (premiered on January 17, 2014) were lukewarm. Rotten Tomatoes rated it “Derivative and mostly uninspired”. The LA Times wrote: "Devil's Due' an inept take on Rosemary's Baby".

The horror movie may not be remebered as a film classic, but it did write marketing history!

Hi-Call – A Great Way to Make Phone Calls in Winter

When people want to indicate that you should call them, they put their thumb against their ear and “talk” to their pink. You immediately get the message - you have to phone them.

Based on this global body language, Italian company hi-Fun has developed a winter glove that does just that.

At first glance, its hi-Call glove looks like any ordinary winter glove you can buy. However, it's a Bluetooth talking glove with built-in microphone and speaker connected to your smartphone. It allows you to make calls without the need to take your phone out of your pocket or bag.

Although it did not take over the world by storm during this winter, it is in sync with the new trend of wearable technology such as Google Glass and Sony’s SmartWig. Who knows? It might just be the must-have accessory people are looking for during winter....

Is Bitcoin a Bad Penny?

Bitcoin is currently riding the popularity wave, with Overstock and Zynga accepting the virtual currency as legal payment and PayPal announcing that it believes in thecryptocurrency.

Bitcoin was first described by Satoshi Nakamoto in the 2008 white paper “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System”. Nakamoto explained in the paper that the virtual currency functions without the rules and restrictions of central banks.

Anyone can mint Bitcoins providing they have an Internet connection. Once users have a certain amount of Bitcoins, they can use them to trade in real currency such as Euros or US dollars. A rising number of users is also buying items with Bitcoins in online shops – hence the interest of Overstock and PayPal in the currency.

Governments are not too happy with the new kid on the block. For one, it is unclear which laws apply. Another problem is to establish what Bitcoin exactly is, since they are created by computer algorithms and traded between online wallets using virtual keys. That would make Bitcoin a piece of software and not so much legal tender.

Banks are keeping an eye on their new competitor. Bank of America became the first major Wall Street bank to release research about Bitcoin stating that Bitcoin could become "a major player in both e-commerce and money transfer".

Chinese banks are forbidden to handle any Bitcoin transactions by the Chinese government. Other governments and central banks do not go that far (yet), but do issue warnings about the potential risks.

Opposition also came from an unexpected side – environmental activists. The mining of Bitcoins is seen as a “disaster” since the processing power of the computers needed to generate Bitcoins requires electricity. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gimein, the current daily power consumption necessary for creating Bitcoins could easily supply 31,000 US households with electricity.

Once Bitcoin becomes a mass currency, the impact on the environment would be comparable to that of mining silver and gold.

For now, Bitcoin still has a long way to go. The maximum amount of Bitcoins that can be created is 21 million. At this moment, half of that amount is in circulation.

Will Bitcoin make it? Time will tell.

Bitcoin is facing some issues. The mining of Bitcoins is being dominated by pools of people with dedicated hardware (chips). The digital currency is also facing fierce competition and was the victim of computer hacks.

(Image courtesy of www.wired.com)

Nissan’s Perfect Reaction to a Cheeky Advertisement for Selling an Old Nissan Maxima

Luke Aker wanted to sell his 1996 Nissan Maxima. The car was not only old, but also was quite battered. He put the cat on Graigslist which was not successful.

Being a filmmaker and owner of Ikonik Films, Aker came up with a great way to sell his car – making a cool ad!

His tongue-in-cheek advertisement is brilliant. It’s a witty parody of your average car commercial. The voiceover states that "It not only brings more admiring stares than any other car I have driven it also has seat belts! Amazing!" Furthermore, it’s pointed out that the car has amazing features such as "wheels" and "tires”.

The footage is gorgeous, lovingly showing the car's torn seats and weathered paint job.



Nissan became aware of the advertisement, the company reacted perfectly. Nissan USA tweeted:

”Hey @IkonikFilms: SOLD! Had us at "land-yacht" and this hilarious '96 Maxima ad: http://nssn.co/ut8g8m - We want to make you an offer. DM us!”

Luke Aker quickly responded. The following day, he sold his old Nissan Maxima to the automaker. Nissan went even further: it made a donation to the Wounded Warrior Project.

Needless to say, Aker was touched and tweeted:

“Just got off the phone. @NissanUSA Will be Purchasing the car AND Donating $1000.00 to Wounded Warrior #SoAmaze #wow “

What can we learn from this case?

1. Be creative in your marketing and sales
   (Aker was able to grab the attention of one of the world’s largest automakers with his sales ad!) 
2. Have a sense of humor
   (Creating spoofs or parodies is great for getting exposure in our social media age – especially if you can go viral via YouTube, Facebook, etc.) 
3. Leverage a PR opportunity when it comes your way
   (Nissan grabbed the opportunity for some amazing (and low-cost!) branding and PR) 
4. Use any PR or branding opportunity that comes your way to make a donation to a mainstream charity (The PR and branding you will get out of it will be priceless!)
5. Be gracious
   (Aker paid respect to Nissan for its classy reaction)

Can Crocs Survive? Or Will It Be A Footnote In Footwear History?

Remember Crocs? The colorful rubber clogs conquered the world way back in 2004. In 2006, the Colorado-based company went public (CROX.O). At the height of its popularity, even style icon Kate Middleton was spotted wearing (in her case red) crocs.

In 2010 Crocs, Inc appointed John McCarver as its CEO. He was the mastermind behind new product lines such rubber versions of sneakers, docksiders and ballet flats. The company reported sales of $ 1bn, making its shareholders happy.

But then disaster struck. Croc-haters started a social media campaign against the company, such as the I Hate Crocs blog. Crocs was also facing aggressive competition from cheap knock-offs, and the economic depression did not help as well. As a result, Croc’s sales, profits and share price started to tank.

In the beginning of 2013, Crocs put itself up for sale after blistering reports of financial analysts. The company hired investment bank Moelis and Company to explore various option.

There were hardly any M&A prospects, since Croc’s IP consists of “soft, comfortable, lightweight, non-marking and odor-resistant” technology, which other shoe makers do not want or need for their own footwear production.

In the end, Crocs was able to ink a deal with Blackstone Group LP (BX.N). Blackstone will invest $200 million in return for a 13 percent stake in the company. CEO McCarvel will retire in April 2014 as well as resigning as a board member.

Croc’s Chairman Thomas Smach stated that the company will appoint a new CEO who has to focus on generating sales and earnings, and not so much on product lines, opening new outlets, branding, and marketing in general. (From a marketing standpoint – that’s a kiss of death).

How I see it, Croc has run its course. The best option for the company will be to cater to its faithful customer base and move into niches (e.g., boating, gardening, beach wear).

The only way to revive the brand to its former glory is by:

• Appearing on a popular TV show (Ellen would work nicely)
• Staring a really cool PR campaign that will go viral
• Finding a style icon that will make Crocs cool (a real Carrie Bradshaw)

But that will be a tall order…

(Image courtesy of coolspotters.com)