If you are having trouble to calculation and Math subject, this app could be your best app ever!

http://youtu.be/XlbVB50mIh4

A London app development company named Microblink developed this app for the long term plans to use the same technology to build app for online banking in the future which named PhotoPay and barcode scanner.

Only need to download the app form iTune and this app is also available on Window Phone now. Android version will be released next year.

Please leave your comments when you try out the app and hope you enjoy it!

Source: 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/amitchowdhry/2014/10/22/photomath-is-a-free-app-that-can-solve-equations-through-smartphone-cameras/

If you go to Federation Square sometime between 21st – 24th October, you should drop by Macca’s Lunch box to get yourself a free steak wrap!

You will easily be attracted by a big red pop-up shop decorated with lots of lettuce and long queues at Federation Square, that’s where is it!

And if you take a pic of your free wrap and post it on social media, make sure you use #maccslunchbox hashtag!

The Steak and BBQ Mc Wraps are 2 new products that Mc Donals came up recently in there “Real Choices” menu. The main idea is to promote the quality of the products through “ordinary to extraordinary” quality of Aussie steak. With the idea of the free steak wrap at cute Red Macca Lunch Boxes around Australia from Oct to Dec this year, some hashtag signs provided to customers, Mc Donalds is trying to bring this campaign to social media. In the next couple months we will be able to see if this campaign is successful or not. For now, just enjoy your free steak wrap first!

Please leave your comments below if you have tried this product. Do you think it is a good way to promote a new product by giving it for free?

https://mcdonalds.com.au/lunchbox 

http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2014/10/taste-test-we-feed-mcdonalds-steak-mcwrap-to-a-professional-food-critic/

I was attracted by an article in Harvard Business Review, “Xiaomi, not Apple, is changing the Smartphone Industry” by Juan Sampere. Have you ever heard about Xiaomi? Have you ever seen its product? Personally, I believed this is only a Chinese company trying to gain domestic market share by taking advantage of Chinese regulatory (prevent foreign online services). But my belief has changed after I read about this company and this is actually a very smart strategy of Lei Jun, FOunder and CEO of Xiaomi bring this company to the current position after a very short time. Chinese customers prefer to use domestically produced products with “not very expensive” prices. This is not the first time a local smart phone company launch, there are about 3-4 Chinese firms holding major Smartphone market share in China, such as Lenovo, Huawei, Meizu, etc., however, Xiaomi has caught the world attention by their successful business model like no other.

Xiaomi phone

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com.au/ceo-of-chinas-apple-xiaomi-lei-jun-2013-8 

Source: http://daxueconsulting.com/smartphone-market-in-china-2/ 

The graph above was made in 2012. 2 years later, now 2014, Xiaomi captures 5% market share, increase 1.8 % from last year. Xiaomi even beats Samsung in China market. Xiaomi sold is 15 million smartphones this year, while Samsung dropped to 13.2 million sales from 15 million sales in 2013. Other local companies such as Chinese Lenovo, Huawei also decreased in sales.

Recently, Xiaomi has risen to 5th place in its share of global shipments, according to Strategy Analytics’ Woody Oh, could be the biggest achievement of this 4yrs old company. Even Xiaomi is claimed to copy Apple ideas and designs, Xiaomi Founder and CEO, Lei Jun states that Apple and Xiaomi are two totally different companies and one day people will understand that when they know more about Xiaomi and the company doesn’t want to be compared with Apple or be called “China’s Apple”.

Xiaomi is reaching Asia and Europe market with the affordable price products, unlike Apple’s core is premium products. Xiaomi has a little reputation in Australia, Europe and North America. This is predicted as a serious threat to giants such as Apple, Samsung, Sony and Google. Even Samsung remains the global smartphone leader with a 25.2% share of the market in Q2 of this year, followed by Apple with 11.9%, China’s Huawei with 6.8% and Lenovo with 5.4%, according to Forbes, Xiaomi seems to be growing fast in the very near future with their effective business model.

Please leave your comment below to share your thought if you have a Xiaomi Smartphone or Are you excited to try this product? Do you think this company could win some market shares in Australia?

Additional readings and sources: 

http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/10/xiaomi-not-apple-is-changing-the-smartphone-industry/ 

http://www.businessinsider.com/xiaomi-is-the-apple-of-china-2014-10?IR=T

http://www.businessinsider.com.au/android-owns-chinas-smartphone-market-2013-6

http://daxueconsulting.com/smartphone-market-in-china-2/

http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2014/10/16/china/china-wants-bigger-piece-smartphone-business

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2464140/chinese-smartphone-vendors-meld-tech-savvy-with-low-prices-to-win-home-market.html

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/technology/xiaomi-beats-samsung-in-chinese-smartphone-market/story-e6frgakx-1227014903745?nk=5adfdaa5834815ce039a514e790ee7d1 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2014/07/31/chinas-xiaomi-becomes-worlds-5th-largest-smartphone-maker/

http://www.businessinsider.com.au/ceo-of-chinas-apple-xiaomi-lei-jun-2013-8

Imagine you are in a supermarket, buying grocery, food, shampoo, tissue, flowers,… Are you always being loyal with branded products or non-branded can be bought as well? Would you buy chocolate if it’s not branded “Cadbury” or “Kitkat”? Would you get a Coco Cola or a Pepsi? Which ice-cream should I go for?… Have you ever got confused of choosing product so you open… an app (such as Woolworths app) right at the moment you are at the supermarket to check star rating points or customer feedback about the products, nutrition or compare prices? If you are having problems with choosing a product…

The first hint is in the picture below. 10 companies with hundreds sub-brands control food and beverage markets that their products are worth to try!

However, choosing one product from ten “different but similar” ones is not an easy job, not only brands but quality, price, quantity are  put into consideration. Therefore, I add in here 5 useful apps that you should download to your phones and carry to the supermarket:

1/ Shop Ethical

This is an app for “green” product, friendly to the environment 

2/ ShopWell

Checking Nutrition of Food on the packages

3/ FoodSwitch

When you are on a diet and still want something like chocolate, download this app to switch to a better choice!

4/ Frugal

If you are considering to buy a big pack or small package of any product, this app would help you convert price and quantity to determine the best price for you.

5/ Sustainable Seafood Guide

If you love seafood, this app is for you! It helps you to make choices at restaurant or supermarket by telling you the nutritions of specific type of seafood, over 100 types with a ranking system.

Before this reading this blog post, have you ever heard of these apps or actually use them before? Did you find your favorite branded food product in this app when you searched for it? What would be your main consideration if there are two similar products from the same brand? Do you truly love the brand/product or you consume it just because everyone else does? Do you think these Big 10 should have their own app for customers to check on their products?

Please leave your comments below and sharing your thoughts.

Source: 

http://www.bodyandsoul.com.au/nutrition/nutrition+tips/five+apps+to+take+grocery+shopping,17139

http://www.businessinsider.com.au/10-companies-that-control-what-we-buy-2014-7?utm_content=buffer30561&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Follow my blog post about Apple and new product line coming call: iWatch, today I am blogging about Microsoft’ creative hand writing keyboard on smart watch!

Check this cool feature http://youtu.be/_Iu7bUKKrJE

We all know that a smart watch is a multifunctional product that support our technological devices such as smart phones, tablets, laptops and lots more. Since the revolution of “internet of things” in 2010, we are expecting this will drive trillions in economic value as it permeates consumer and business life by 2018. The Apple smart watch will work with home devices. Samsung already bought Smart-Home startup Smart Things for $US 200 million. Google is developing an app for all the everyday things in our life. All the giants in the technology field are already prepared for “internet of things” battle, to gain market shares and grow. Do you think this hand writing keyboard feature on Microsoft watch would be able to compete in the market? Are you expecting a better feature will be released in the future? Would owning a smart watch make you feel more powerful and controllable? However, there is no doubt that the competition between these companies in smart wear market will only bring us to a better world in the future with the sciences. We will be surprised.

Sources: 

http://www.businessinsider.com.au/the-internet-of-things-market-growth-2014-9

http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2014/10/microsoft-created-an-android-wear-handwriting-keyboard/

When I was browsing for a new topic, I happened to see this blog, Thea Bryllup’s Blog, a special Norway girl.

My attention was caught by a big “slogan” at the home page: “Stop Bryllupet”. What does it mean? So I did a bit of research and before we talk about any Digital Marketing, let me tell you a story.

Thea Bryllup, a beautiful 12 year old girl from Norway is blogging about the most important event in her life: getting married! There is no doubt that this would be the 1st teen bride in Norway, who is getting married in 1 month. “On Saturday, this little girl will walk down the aisle. At the altar, she will meet her 37-year-old husband-to-be. Your eyes aren’t betraying you – this bride doesn’t just look young for her age: Thea is Norway’s first ever child bride. And she’s just 12-years-old” – wrote graziadaily.co.uk

Since this blog is open to share her personal life moments and preparation for the wedding in this coming Saturday, her blog became one of the most read blogs in Norway and goes viral within a month. Thousand discussions, for and against this marriage has been mentioned in social media and spreading out. Some people even tried to stop the wedding. Some negative and emotional comments raised. And do you know this Saturday, October 11, her wedding day, is also the UN’s International Day of the Girl? Thea is just one of million girls who have been forced to arrange the marriages. 39,000 girls, one every two second, are robbed their childhood by arranged “I do” everyday. By sharing the Thea’s story on this blog, social media community is sharing the message to the world: Girls not Bride. Mabel van Oranje, Board Chair of “Girls Not Brides” campaign, spoke on Norwegian NGOs, “Our goal is to end child marriage in one generation. If we can keep this generation of girls out of marriage before age 18, we can be pretty sure that they will make sure that their daughters do not marry young either”.

Efficiency by using digital marketing campaign, United Nation can raise awareness for an international message like “Girls not Brides”, to encourage people to “digital attend” to stop the child marriage issue and raising their voices to help young girls around the world.

Please leave your comment below to share your thought about this campaign and actively involved in saving young girls from arranged marriages.

Sources: 

http://www.graziadaily.co.uk/conversation/opinion/the-truth-about-norways-first-child-bride

http://theasbryllup.blogg.no/

http://www.boredpanda.com/arranges-norways-first-child-wedding-to-prevent-others-from-happening/

The social media world has watched a big wave from the Umbrella Revolution from Hong Kong recently. The situation is getting more and more complicated. Thousands of protesters have been protesting on the street for a few days and the Chinese government has done all they can to prevent the protest goes further.

On 1st Oct, all the news wrote about a new virus attacked all iPhones and iPad users. South China Morning Post wrote: “Cybersecurity researchers have uncovered a computer virus that spies on Apple’s IOS operating system for the iPhone and the iPad, and they believe it was targeted pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.”

It is still unclear how hackers used the virus on iOS to get information for users, specially the protesters and who behind this event is still unknown, but the code used to control that server is written in Chinese.

Not very long time ago, Hong Kongers were waiting in line to get iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus in early September. However, with this security problem, Apple would face a strong drop out in sales and serious lost brand image and customers’ loyalty. There is no record about virus attacked on other mobile devices and tablets from different brands. How can Apple face this issue? This is not the first time Apple is in trouble with hackers and virus. Apple customers from different countries also concern about their personal information, especially when Google recently was also a victim of hackers (5 millions Gmail passwords leaked).

In addition, Google can be used in China. They even blocked Instagram so all digital social apps can’t access to Chinese people in this country. Some banks and businesses are temporary close in Hong Kong. The protest seems to grow bigger and bigger. Big brands from foreign countries, especially Western countries must face some issue locally and hopefully there will be a solution for all of us in the near future. Please leave your comments below and share your thoughts. How would these giant companies facing problem at Hong Kong and China at the moment? Closing business temporary, is that the way out?

Sources: 

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/996242-china-uncensored-hong-kongs-umbrella-revolution-may-be-just-the-beginning/ 

http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1605307/security-experts-say-advanced-virus-targeting-hong-kong-protestors 

http://www.vocativ.com/world/china/hong-kong-protesters-virus/

https://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/25184543/now-i-get-it-umbrella-revolution/

“HeForShe is a solidarity movement for gender equality that brings together one half of humanity in support of the other half of humanity, for the benefit of all.” – heforshe.org

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HeForShe (also He For She) is a campaign led by United Nations Women, in which men worldwide are encouraged to speak out against the inequalities faced by women and girls. This campaign was launched on September 20, 2014 at the headquarters of the United Nations in New York City, by Emma Watson, a UN Women Global Goodwill Ambassador,  and is co-led by Wolf Blitzer. The campaign is known as a “solidarity movement for gender equality that brings together one half of humanity in support of the other of humanity, for the entirety of humanity”. Let’s look at this campaign from a perspective of a Marketer and treat it as a Marketing campaign in this post.

This campaign is spreading globally through social media, Facebook, Twitter, website and news.

Since the rumor that Emma Watson could be the next victim of nude photos when the campaign first launched, people around the world and famous celebrities are supporting her with their strong emotions and angers.

However, how funny it is when the end the “nude photos” scandal turned out to be another marketing campaign belongs to a Marketing Agency. We can’t deny that this scandal contributed to widespread #heforshe campaign for a couple days and push it to a higher level of awareness with strong emotions among social media users. But then come to the question, “What should we do next?”. With a long term campaign like #heforshe, the organization is prepared to fight for it, get plans to raise awareness and be ready to face negative publicity. One scandal with Emma Watson is enough, not able to go with a long term marketing strategy.

Recently, the Channels Fashion Show happened during Paris Fashion week 3 days ago raised the wave of digital news and online world because of #heforshe.

On dazedigital.com, Zing Tsjeng wrote:

“The show invitation promised a ticket to Boulevard Chanel, with the Grand Palais transformed into a wide Parisian street like the ones that saw student rioters battling police in ’68. But the real meaning behind the reference only became clear when Cara Delevingne led the walk-out with a speakerphone, shouting “Come on!” like a call to battle. Fellow AW14 campaign star Binx Walton followed with the rest of the models, armed with placards unveiling Chanel’s political intentions behind SS15: “Make Fashion Not War”, “Ladies First”, “Feministe Mais Feminine” (“Feminist But Feminine”) and the slightly more arch “Be Your Own Stylist”. Roaming photographers leapt from the sidelines and onto the runway to snap Karl’s freedom fighters.”

We enjoyed a Channel Fashion show with all beautiful designs and gorgeous models who look so bright and shine to fight for female, catching attention in the most comfortable ways. This is very smart and surprising! Every one Tweet about it. Every news mentions about it. The campaign is well supported by one of the biggest, strongest brand and best well known around the world. What else can be better?

The guardian.com stated in their article on 1st Oct, “It would be naive to take this show too seriously. But a well-meaning joke is surely a far better thing than a nasty one.”

After this event, the question for UN is again “What to do next?”. I believe we are expecting some digital wave and trend called #heforshe will wipe out social network in a short period of time. What you think about these 2 current events that rising awareness about #heforshe through social media? Please leave your comments below to share your thoughts. And if you are a gentleman, please don’t forget to join #heforshe. Details on http://www.heforshe.org/

 Sources: 

http://www.heforshe.org/ 

http://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2014/sep/30/karl-lagerfeld-chanel-show-paris-fashion-week 

http://www.dazeddigital.com/fashion/article/22002/1/karl-lagerfeld-stages-a-feminist-revolution-at-chanel-ss15 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uulz1Yt0So

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8duIWGXhJPI

“We break all the rules. This is a fashion show created by you and for you!” – Selena Gomez 

Adidas NEO Label just hosted a different kind of fashion show in New York on Sept 3rd 2014. While most fashion brands carefully control their runway looks, Adidas NEO Label instead asks their fans and followers, young fashion bloggers around the world voting to create the show with outfits they liked best. Adidas’s NEO clothing line knows this and has taken things a step further, inviting its teen fans take this beauty ritual from their bedrooms to the stage through the world’s first tweet-powered digital fashion show. And Selena Gomez, the global  brand ambassador, opened and closed the show and went through the final looks, backstage to the team of teen fashion bloggers. The fashion show also marked the launch of the Adidas NEO Label Spring “Live Your Style” Campaign, fronted by Selena Gomez.

According to digiday.com, the actual content of the show was crowd-sourced to the core, chosen by fans who voted on every detail — from lighting, to music, to makeup, hair and outfits, and even set design. Fans of the edgy-yet-affordable fare used Twitter’s in-card voting mechanism to choose between several options, contributing to a total of 116,735 votes, out of which 8,940 votes were gathered on the day of the show itself, including for the first look on the runway and the first song to play. With the spreading on the Addidas Neo Twitter account and Facebook page (more than 321k followers), Addidas Neo Facebook account (more than 2.3M followers) and Selena Twitter account (more than 23.2M followers), this campaign went viral on social media. Thousand young teenagers and followers who love fashion and spread out this campaign by using hashtags and voting and encourage their friends to vote for the runway.

Claire Midwood, VP, Adidas NEO Label, said: “We’ve given teens unrivaled access to the inner workings of the NEO Label. It was their show, a celebration of the hearts and minds of NEOLovers all over the world.” While fans across the globe participated virtually, a team of young global fashion bloggers worked behind the scenes to bring the show to life. These #NEOrunway interns worked backstage with industry experts, managing styling, photography, videography and social media reporting on the show (digiday.com).

The campaign is reaching to young fans and customers, gone viral in a short period of time and bring the NEO runway show to a different more successful level where not only professional stylists and designers, but also young wonderful talented teams from around the world and teens fashion bloggers contribute to it.

Did you hear about this campaign and have you ever voted for this? Do you think Addidas should expand this fashion runway model in the future to attract customers and young talented people to work for the brand? Is there any disadvantages in this case? Please share your comments below to discuss further.

 Source: 

http://www.selenagomez.com/media/videos/18031/47691

https://twitter.com/adidasNEOLabel

https://twitter.com/selenagomez

http://digiday.com/brands/adidas-neo-hosts-worlds-first-tweet-powered-fashion-show-nyfw/

 

 J.Lo and Iggy unveiled a 30-second teaser earlier this month that just about guaranteed a steamy clip primed to Nicki give Minaj‘s “Anaconda” a run for its money. On September 18, Jennifer Lopez released her new video. Have you watched this?

Jennifer Lopez – Booty ft. Iggy Azalea

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxtIRArhVD4

It had more than 500,000 plays on YouTube just after midnight Friday morning. And after 2 days, more than 8 million views on Youtube.

JLo ran a campaign for her new video by efficiently using hashtag #jlobooty or #jlobootyonvevo on her Facebook page with 43,552,048 followers and her Twitter account with 29.2 million followers. The campaign has gone wild with all excitement and expectation from fans and publicity about this new product. 

I did a bit research on socialmention.com and here is the result:

93:0 sentiment. Can you believe that? 93 positive feedback, not even 1 negative feedback for this #jlobooty. Average 17 second, someone mentions this on social networks. JLo done a good job! Not only because she is a big brand, she uses her brand name and resources well, but has also maintained her relationship with followers and fans and social media to promote her new product. Has any big company can achieve this much positive feedback for their product before?

However, my research on socialmention.com did not tell me the whole story. Look around JLO Youtube Channel, fans’ Tweets and News the last 2 days, you will realize there is something not right with 93 positive feedbacks. More than 33% negative feedback on JLo Youtube Channel.The Mirror from UK even has an article about her new video “Pop star or porn star? Jennifer Lopez and Iggy Azalea’s raunchy Booty video comes under fire”

http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/pop-star-porn-star-jennifer-4287685#ixzz3DocIyNUB
Other News such as The Time also raises their disappointment about this “twerk trend” starting by Miley Cyrus now spread out to other famous female singers http://time.com/3403975/jennifer-lopez-iggy-azalea-booty-video/ and NY Daily News http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music/jennifer-lopez-iggy-azalea-shake-booty-video-article-1.1945307 engaged few comments from readers, but mostly are negative comments about this video. In addition, lots of tweets against JLo and this video.

Mirror UK said “Many social media users tweeted things which just aren’t printable about the women and sexual fantasies. However the general feeling seems to be one of unsettledness.”

If this negative percentage keep increasing, do you consider this as a “brand crisis”? Would you be happy if your new product launched get this much successful but also lost its brand image at the same time? Should JLo considers about all publicity’s feedbacks to producing her videos in the future? If you are a JLo fan, do you like or dislike this video? Please leave your comments below, tell me what you think.

P/S: Don’t rely too much on socialmention.com when you do your research, the information is changing all the time and differentiated with different keywords.