THE OYSTER PROJECT'S XMAS HITS 08

Last post before Christmas so I thought a cool way to round of the year would be to ask those that have supported the Oyster Project in one way or another ro nominate a song for The Oyster Project's Xmas Hits 08 playlist.

I wrote to them all and asked them to nominate a song and a reason why. I have also posted their blog address (just in case you haven't seen their blog yet) as well as a link to the song on YouTube (make sure you check out Kate's!). I wanted to create a playlist on iTunes but not all the songs are listed (Jules, Josh, Stan couldn't find yours on iTunes ... oh well ... too cool for iTunes!). I was gonna post everyone's pic but I think this post is long enough - plus some of you are offensively ugly ;)

I really hope I haven't left anyone out and if I have then it wasn't deliberate and it would be cool if you could email me your contribution and I will add it.

And what an eclectic bunch of songs I got! Thanks everyone. Hope you all have a great Christmas and looking forward to 2009 (I don't really know why yet but something tells me it is gonna be a lot of fun).

While this isn't much of a "conversation starter" post, feel free to comment on everyone's songs (You can hang shit on Zac for actually being a Rick Astley fan ... Wags reckons Zac Rick Rolls himself all the time and Zac reckons Wags actually bought Rick's cassingle:)

I have checked and checked the links etc but if some finds one that doesn't work then please let me know asap.

Without further ado ...

1. ZAC MARTIN: Pigs Don't Fly @ www.pigsdontfly.com

Never Gonna Give You Up - Rick Astley
See it on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu_moia-oVI

One of, if not, the greatest virals of all time. A completely grass roots movement with a piece of content that no one could have predicted would ever be this big. Marketers could learn a lot about the lack of control and authentic nature required in viral marketing from this video. In my opinion, it also produced the best piece of UGC from the 2008 Presidential Election campaign - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TiQCJXpbKg. So why select it for this playlist? I could never pass on a chance to Rick Roll someone. ;]

2. PETER WAGSTAFF (Wags): Marketing Today @ http://mkf1120.blogspot.com/

More (from the "Hands Full of Ink" album) - The Tellers
See it on YouTube: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=6u77jp-EhT8
You'll recognise this one from the recent ANZ TVC. I laugh every time I see that ad, as they stupidly chose the song because they have "tellers" at the bank, without stopping to think about the lyrics. Imagine any business saying to their customers "Oh, hey no, you don't need me, no", or even worse: "More, give me more, and give me more. You know I'd die for you, little whore". What on earth were they thinking? Predicting the world economic crisis, maybe? Well, I guess "I'm a f**ker" choosing to bank with them!

3. TONY THOMAS: Tony @ The Population @ http://fromthepopulation.blogspot.com/

Loungin’ (from the album Jazzmatazz) - Guru

See it on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTG1CFOIPO4

It’s my all time favorite track but it reminds me how white my skin is and how monotone my voice is!!

4. JULIAN COLE: AdSpace Pioneers @ http://www.adspace-pioneers.blogspot.com
Lollipop (Remix of Lil Wayne song) - M-Phazes
See it on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksujv5A0yy0

I really like M-Phazes, he is an Australian producer who has got a unique sound, His C.D was also the first C.D that I have bought directly from a Musician's Myspace page.

5. NATHAN BUSH: Another Advertising Wanker @ anotheradvertisingwanker.blogspot.com

1922 - Charlie Parr

See it on YouTube: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=SNcOyMLJ1xI
This song was brought to my attention by the foldy Vodafone ad (http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=3gP9xB3PZ5A). Awesome song which uses the very underrated and unappreciated steel guitar.There is a little irony that the song is about a broke drunk ("I passed out on a bar-room floor, when I woke up my head was sore. My pockets are empty but I want some more") and that Parr's MySpace motto is "If it's electric, it's gonna let ya down." It wouldn't have been an easy song to get past the client but works brilliantly. Great campaign and an awesome song for the next roadtrip out of the city.

6. JOSH STRAWCZYNSKI: Current Issues In Marketing Strategy @ http://ciims.net
Rock & Roll Nerd - Tim Minchin

See it on YouTube: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=4QQkMVddwx0

This reminds me of every person I've ever met. In their mind they are both the rock star and the nerd, a song about life you might say. If you haven't heard it, it will make you laugh, if you have heard it, you'll love the actual rock/jazz element. I know it's not pop, but try something different, you might just like it!

7. STAN LEE JOHNSON: Brand DNA @ http://branddna.blogspot.com/

I Shall Be Released - Wilco & Fleet Foxes

See it on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmZfV6tqbTU
This song is one of many from the Bob Dylan songbook that has gone on to become a modern day standard. I have several versions of it in my collection. This one by Wilco and Fleet Foxes is a coming together of two great American bands for a good cause. The song was only available as a limited edition download from the Wilco website for people who had pledged to vote in the then upcoming US election. You can read a bit more about it here:

8. KATE KENDALL: The Zeitgeists @ http://thezeitgeists.blogspot.com
Business Time - Flight of the Conchords
See it on YouTube: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=AqZcYPEszN8

I remember coming across this video whilst trawling the blogosphere late one night in early '08. I love a good piss-take so found watching it hilarious and obviously the song is very catchy so I was humming it for days. As I don't have pay-TV and actually don't watch much TV full stop, looking back at this song encapsulates everything about why I love all things online. Sometimes I don't have to go looking for things to entertain me, they find to me... :-)

9. MORGAN COUDRAY: Canadian University Marketing @ http://canadianuniversitymarketing.blogspot.com/

This Christmas - Donny Hathaway

See it on YouTube: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=IBB6YHLX-f8

Here is my pick for a xmas song ... its not good. Its great!

10. DANIEL OYSTON: The Oyster Project @ look in the address bar!

Let Your Love Flow - Bellamy Brothers

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwJEY0iZCY0&feature=related

This song was used as a soundtrack for Barclay Card and I first saw the ad on a blog (but can't find it again!). I could not get the song out of my head all day so I decided to download it on iTunes. I had never heard of The Bellamy Brothers before and I couldn't name any other of their songs. I know this song is old school and daggy but I don't care cause when I hear it I just instantly feel in a better mood. My advice is to wind down the windows and pump it up! LET YOUR LOVE FLOW!

SOMEBODY HELP ME!

Four things to get through this week ... Twitter, Next Week's Post, Zac Martin and Customer Service.

1 - An update on my Twitter idea I sent to Hawthorn Football club. I sent the email but then had to send another a week later asking if they had got my email. It didn't fly and basically got a response along the lines of thanks but no thanks. They were very nice and polite about it. They did point out that Hawka is on FaceBook (I can't find him yet), are the only club to have built a multimedia studio and that they are putting thought into using Twitter.

2 - I have written to all those that have commented on my posts, or shown support and asked them to nominate a song for me to publish next week as "The Oyster Project's Christmas Hits!" (or something like that. If you want to be a contributor then let me know using doyston @ bigpond.net.au. It will involve more in terms of each song but limited space here to explain. I have had a few responses so far and it has been really cool to read the different types of songs an explanations about why the people chose the song. I am really looking forward to writing that blog next week.

3 - Thanks Zac at www.pigsdontfly.com for your kind donation to Canteen in support of my efforts on the Urban Polaris. It was very much appreciated. I owe you a beer.

4 - I was listening to episode 118 of Jaffe Juice and Joseph Jaffe he was discussing Net Promoter. Taken from their website, Net Promoter® is both a loyalty metric and a discipline for using customer feedback to fuel profitable growth in your business.The Net Promoter Score, or NPS®, is a straightforward metric that holds companies and employees accountable for how they treat customers.

It got me to thinking how we treat customers at my place of employment ...

Then, with customer service top of mind I came across a pretty bizarre customer feedback situation on the weekend. I was in Myer (for those that aren't Australian, Myer is a large department store). We had to use the lift and so followed the walk way around the back of the shoe section into a little lift waiting area, out of sight, around the back. As I was waiting for the lift I noticed, stuffed in the corner, a "We welcome your feedback" stall with pad and pencils. "but we only welcome it if you can find this hiiden stand" I thought. Are they serious with putting a customer feedback stall/kiosk completely out of sight?

Then today I had to try and obtain a replacement dividend statement for some tax reasons. I called Woodside Petroleum who sent me to Compushare. I rang Compushare and was asked if I had my SRN number. I didn't know what it was let alone have it. "We'll we can't access your account information without it" I was told. "Really?" I thought. I can ring my bank and organise most aspects of my finance, I can ring the tax office and get my Tax File Number, I can even ring the doctor and get test results but you can't let me see a replacement dividend statement?

"We can send you one but we will charge $34. But if you have your SRN you can see it for free" I was told. What? Serious? You can see it and print it but if you ask the company, who you invest in, to print it and post it then you have to pay $34! Is it just me or does this sound ridiculous?

The other day I wanted a superannuation statement from the Commonwealth Bank and was told that they couldn't fax it to me. "Why not?" I asked. "We just can't" I was told. I replied with "Yes you can. It is simple, print it and then instead of stuffing it in an envelope you put it on the fax machine". I was told I wasn't being helpful!

But I must say, more and more these days I get on the phone to organise or request something like this and before I even dial I just know it isn't going to be easy. Does anyone else get this feeling? Why is it so hard to get good customer service?

But back to how we treat customers at my place of employment ...

My boss has this aspirational metaphor. He says our customers should feel like they are dropping their BMW off for a service. That is, there is plenty of parking, they are warmly greeted, they are treated well, they are known by name, their booking slot is organised and all the physical environment clues are in place. Then they get a nice call advising of the completion of the service, get a courtesy bus to pick them up and then later on they get good follow up to make sure everything was ok.

This, my boss says, is in comparison to the dodgy mechanic. You know, you pull up, no one greets you, the place is filthy and you have to wait 10 minutes before anyone comes to the counter. While you are waiting you don't feel like sitting down cause the couch is filthy and you can see through to the mechanics shop where there are posters of naked women (ok, maybe I wouldn't mind that last part). Some untidy bloke in overalls comes out and is very impolite when he takes your keys and says it will be ready at 5 o'clock (like all the cars are going to be ready right at 5!). You pick up your car and never get any follow up. Very unpleasant indeed.

Do you know any good examples of customer service that is continually repeated? Or are you like me and just know that whenever you ring to get help that they will always make it as hard as possible?

WAGS' AWARD

I only blog on Monday's ... that's kind a my rule. But when I read Zac Martin's post yesterday @ http://www.pigsdontfly.com/ ... and then I saw Wags' award announcement on the news tonight well, I just had to make sure everyone knows about Wags' award. Check it out here WAGS AWARD

Well done Wags, you deserve it.

Oyster

PS - Wags is massive in Asia - those youths love him!

RAISING MORE THAN A SWEAT

On the weekend I participated in the Urban Polaris. which is a 7 hour Mountain Biking Orienteering type event. It was a long hard slog, on a hot, windy Canberra day and we covered 100kms. I was a broken man by the end!

While it isn't run as a vehicle for people to raise money for charities it is however run in aid of the Mental Health Foundation ACT.

But I figured that I might be able to leverage my participation to help raise some money for Canteen. I am not entirely sure where I saw this but I found a link to a site called Every Day Hero which people can use to promote their own fundraising efforts.

Essentially the site allows you to choose a charity to raise money for (they have all of Australia's registered charities listed) and allows you to set up a blog, post photos and take donations with messages of support (while showing your progress towards your set target).

So I set up a page (check it out here), emailed my friends and family and thought that would be pretty much it apart from reminding people to donate. How wrong I was.

Next thing I know I get an email from Canteen thanking me for my efforts in raising money and that they would send me a fundraising pack. They also wanted to know what size shirt my team mate and I were so that they could send us some Canteen branded shirts to wear on our ride.

I thought they would send us some pretty basic cotton, ill-fitting t-shirts to wear and to be honest I thought we probably wouldn't end up wearing them. How wrong I was again (that's twice now for those scoring at home).

I got the shirts in the post pronto and I opened the mail to be shocked that they were actually really good quality Industrie brand shirts that were made out of great material for riding in. Only problem was that they were lime green! I wasn't too keen on that and thought they would look a bit stupid ... yes you guessed it ... I was wrong again! (three strikes and your out!).

We looked great in the shirts and looked like much more of a team than the other riders. We got lots of great comments from people and it was easy to spot each other if we got separated.

Here's a photo of my recovering after the finish ...


Absolutely brilliant move to connect with fundraisers through the Every Day Hero web site and offer then some support in their efforts. It made my team mate and I feel so much more a part of Canteen and that our efforts were appreciated (not that we ever doubted they were).

We initially set a target of $1000 and when we hit that target we got a nice email from Canteen congratulating us on reaching our target. We were pretty chuffed but we pressed on and increased our target to $2000.

We ended up raising $1605 in online donations and another $250 in promised or cash donations.

So if you know anyone that wants to rise money for a charity then make sure you tell them about the Every Day Hero website as it is a great use of the net, blogs and connecting people for great causes.

Off to have another spa to sooth my aching legs.

Oyster

oh, I almost forgot ... an update on last weeks post. I didn't hear anything from Hawthorn so I emailed them on Thursday asking if they got my email. I just got a response today that said "Thank-you for you e-mail Daniel. I have forwarded your e-mail to our communications department."

I haven't give up ...

TWEET ME HAWKA

This is an email that I have sent to my beloved Hawthorn Football Club. I will be adjusting it and also sending it to the Parramatta Eels, ACT Brumbies and Super Leeds United.

If you have a favourite brand or team then feel free to use my letter as a template.

Dear Hawthorn Football Club

Congratulations on the cool podcast that you guys are producing. Unfortunately I found it a little bit late in the season and only got the last few episodes. Can’t wait til it fires up again.

Since the GF, I have been active on the social media front and have started my own blog on marketing http://theoysterproject.blogspot.com/ and set-up a Twitter account @danieloyston. I have also got an iPod Touch and have been busy downloading all sorts of cool applications.

Hopefully you understand what I am talking about when I say “Twitter” and “iPod Applications”. If not, you need to get onto Wikipedia ASAP and check them out.

Everyone is on the go so much more these days and we are not always in front of our computers to check out your newsletters or visit the HFC website. Most of us have devices that help us access all sorts of information wherever we are.

I seriously think you guys should get on and set up a Twitter account as well as create an application for iPhones and iPods. In fact, it would be perfect if the Twitter updates came from Hawka!

I checked Twitter and no one has Hawka as their account. So some smart ar#e doesn’t try and register it I took the liberty of registering it to save it for you guys. Check it out at http://twitter.com/hawka.

I spent some time setting up the page with a cool background and uploading a profile pic for Hawka.

Just let me know that you are going to start Hawka Tweeting (wow, the synergy is beautiful) and I will gladly hand over all the account details and artwork. Don’t stress, this isn’t some sort of money making scam where I will ask you to pay for the account – I will just hand it over for nothing – I am just keeping it safe so some stinky Collingwood supporter doesn’t steel it.

Twitter would be especially useful to update the fans with how memberships are progressing and to encourage those that have not signed up yet. You could also use it to send messages about general stuff at the club and keep us in the loop.

You can also use Twitter to follow other Twitter users and monitor what they are saying about the Club and our march to back 2 back premiership.

An iPhone application would help us all get the latest news and results wherever we are and it would feel so much more personal than downloading generic updates from Telstra! Jump on iTunes and you will see that all of the big American sporting teams have their own applications.

The Mighty Fighting Hawks are leading the way both on and off the field. Let us be the first club to get a Twitter account and our own iPhone/iPod application.

Kind Regards

Daniel Oyston

doyston@bigpond.net.au

Grand final Seat: Section Q12, Row U, Seat 6

PS: I have almost worn out my DVD of the Grand Final :)

So how do you think it will go down? Do you think we will see a Hawthorn Twitter account and/or iTunes application? Do you think my email was good or do you think there is something I missed that I immediately email then with?

THE SPRINGBOK IS DEAD

Last week South Africa Rugby announced that they would cut the use of the Springbok logo from the National Rugby team – full story here.

The issue is divided along racial lines as most blacks saw the use of the Springbok on the uniform as a symbol of a time when they were not allowed to wear the jersey.

The Nov 8-9 issue of the Sydney Morning Herald carried quiet a lengthy piece on the matter and even submitted question to South African Rugby. The response, from Andy Marinos, acting head of SA Rugby, was that the union supported the use of the Springbok emblem and in fact stood to lose a significant amount of marketing money it they were forced to remove it.

Marinos also said “Commercially, it would have a significant impact, and given the fact that the springbok has been placed as one of the super brands in SA’s basket and has a worldwide appeal …”

Now that day has come and the Springboks will now use the Protea logo - something that all other national teams have done since the first democratic election in 1994.

The use of the Springbok has not been completely removed but it must not compromise the use of the Protea. The design and positioning is still to be finalised.

But the bigger question is - what will they be called?

No doubt there will be a lingering resistance for some time from those that opposed the change. I personally do not support the change because I think that it serves as an important reminder of how far South Africa, and Rugby, has come since those dark times. Erasing those things that remind us of it takes us down the path of not remembering them – forgetting them doesn’t mean it never happened.

At the end of the day a brand is what people perceive it to be in their mind. Those that fought so hard to make the change should have instead spent their time changing people’s perception of the Springbok brand. They should have spent their time changing the Springbok brand into a positive thing that all South Africans can aspire to.

Additionally, I also think it unfair that SA Rugby is now going to lose significant brand equity despite them using a logo that was never illegal!

Regardless, it has now been changed. Maybe South African Rugby can employ some of the tools and techniques brands in other industries have used to successfully change brand names.

South Africa are a proud and passionate country of Rugby supporters with a long history.

Other brands boast the same types of proud and passionate followers … which brand or brands do you think would elicit the most resistance if the government legislated against the use of their current brand name? What about the brand you work for?

Rihanna, Pasta & Popcorn

I love the Gruen Transfer (but can anyone explain why they, and others such as Hollowmen, have a subscription on iTune but no episodes - or at best only one episode?)

A few months ago they were dissecting the blend of Rihanna’s “Umbrella” music video and its cross promotion with the Maybeleine brand. A (very) quick Google search brought up nothing, and my memory is a little faded but, they were discussing how the singer and Maybeleine had joined forces to help promote each other.

Rihanna did a re-make of her music video clip to be an ad for Maybeleine and Maybeleine offered Rihanna CDs through their retail counters.

Essentially, they are blending their marketing mixes (4Ps) to undertake co-operative “Promotion” as well as increasing their “Places” from where customers can access their offerings.

While I agree that the match between Rihanna and Maybeleine is an excellent one (because there would be demographics of their target markets that are the same or similar) the discussion reminded me of another cross promotion I had seen recently.

On my way home, I had to swing past a local supermarket to pick up some cake mixture (I lost a bet in the office and the loser had to bake a cake for everyone … but that’s a story for another day and I lost the bet … I’d much prefer to share a story where I won a bet:).

While waiting in line at the checkout, there was a promotional basket full of Continental instant pasta meals. What caught my eye was the little sticker that carried the Video Ezy logo. It said “Free Video Hire” (when you buy the packet of pasta).

It immediately struck me as a very strange relationship. In fact, I think it is a down right terrible match. Pasta and Videos? Come on! So I thought to myself “righto hot shot, if you were coming up with the ideas at Continental, what would you dream up?”.

Pasta and wine (maybe not a whole free bottle but maybe a good discount?). At least with the bottleshop next to the exit I might be inclined to take advantage of that offer as I leave. And because the bottleshop is owned by the supermarket then they are more likely to promote the pasta in prominent spots!

Happy that I had fixed Continental’s woes, and with the 30 seconds I had left in the queue, I thought I had better not leave Video Ezy high and dry so I thought of a good product match for free videos. Pretty simple really … Popcorn!

As I got called to the register I wondered whether I shouldn’t call my wife, cancel the burritos and tell her I was coming home with some pasta, a bottle of red, a movie and some popcorn!

The question for you is - what complimentary products or brands could your company work with? A little co-operation could open up scales of economy and help you utilise distribution channels that previously been hard to obtain.

What other matches for products can you think of for products that compliment each other? Funny ones welcome - beer and panadol?

The Oyster Project R.I.P.

This is an extract from Marketing Magazine’s September 2008 issue, where they feature the Jack Daniel’s story:

“In his book Zag, Marty Neumeier challenges brands to write their own obituary, an exercise designed to draw out the key aspects of the brand and its relationships to its consumers.”

Note: If you want to know what Gus Griffin, Jack Daniel’s global managing director, said about his brand then grab a copy of the mag.

I want you to take part in this exercise as I think you will find it valuable. It will only take a minute.

Ok, now, imagine your blog (or podcast) just died at everyone is at the funeral … what would you hope one your followers would stand up and say at the eulogy?

Open Word and write it down.

Seriously, do it. Come back to me when you are ready ….

Don’t read on because you might be tempted to write something along the lines of what I did and I really want to hear your thoughts.

Here’s is what I came up with.

It’s only been days but I deeply miss The Oyster Project already. He always provided me with thought provoking posts on Marketing and I always felt compelled to join in the conversation. There was always loads of others that joined in the conversation as well. That’s what he did - he got people talking about marketing.

He didn’t try and make himself sound important or just recycle stories that other bloggers had already written about. Instead, he has a genuine passion for marketing and wanted to share it with others.

The Oyster Project was different from other blogs and that’s why I loved him. He always tried to look for something a little bit off centre and I looked forward to his blogs. I never hesitated telling other people to visit him because I knew they would fall in love with him as well.

I didn’t always get his jokes but I think that he was handsome, funny, really smart and great at sports.

Ok, maybe not that last bit.

Now what you need to do is print of your blog’s eulogy and stick it up next to your computer. It should serve as an aspirational goal for whenever you are writing. You can take this exercise and do it for anything – a brand, product, business.


Please don't be shy. Share your eulogy in the comments section. I would really love to see where you would like your blog, podcast, brand or business to go.

Deeeer, It's Red Bull You Idiot!

I am a regular listener of Peter Wagstaff’s Marketing Today Podcast (if you don’t listen to it then get on board at http://mkf1120.blogspot.com/). It’s a great podcast and will really get you thinking about current marketing topics – plus if you listen to it in the car then you can avoid the commercial radio station drive time dribble!

Over the last few months I started writing some feedback to the podcast and really enjoyed having it discussed on air … from there I started this blog (thanks to all the encouragement from the blogosphere following my first post last week)
One week on the podcast, Wags and Col were discussing the Olympics and I wrote some feedback which went like this …

“Here is a very cool piece of ambush marketing that I am sure you guys will like. The International Olympic Committee does not allow sponsorship on athletes uniforms (like most sports teams have). In fact, even the manufacturers logos have to be smaller than 3.1 squares inches. I searched and searched but couldn’t find a picture or a reference.I think it was the 2004 Olympics, and a track cyclist lined up with his normal slick suit on. There were some very unusual markings on his uniform in red and yellow and I remember thinking to myself “That’s not even his country's colours”.Then he sat up on his bike and the colours were organised as two red triangles meeting with a backdrop of a yellow circle. Instantly recognisable as the Red Bull Logo! I thought it was pure genius to capitalise on the equity of the logo and be able to reduce it to its basic shapes and colours yet still have it instantly recognisable to an audience.”

I suggested to Wags and Col that it would be a very cool exercise to get some famous logos and “dumb them down” and see if consumers could still pick the brand just from just the shape and colours. We’ll Wags and Col agreed - so I set about doing it.
I have tested it on a few people and all enjoyed it and it was funny listening to them and/or watching them when they had an answer on the tip of their tongue but couldn’t get it out.

Click the link below to download the dumbed down logos and see how many you can recognise. A big thanks to Jules @ Soul Mann for hosting the spreadsheet (as Blog Spot doesn’t allow uploading of word or excel files?!?!)

Download the spreadsheet here >>

Please make sure you register how many you correctly answered using the pole on the right hand side of this page.

If you have any logos that you reckon would be good for a Version 2 then let me know and I will “dumb it down” (Hint: it has to be a logo without much reliance on words/letters/fonts. For example, the Goodyear logo wouldn’t work).

Finally, one more thing, Current Issues in Marketing has an interesting post on the Red Bull Air Race.

Have You Seen Any Bananas?

Heard of the banana diet? It is the latest diet craze and in Japan it is huge.

It started in March and the basic concept is that weight loss can be achieved if you only eat room temperature bananas and water for breakfast. The other basic diet rules are then that you can then eat whatever you want during the day but you can’t eat anything after sunset.

It has grown in popularity because it has been heavily featured on tv in Japan, has been endorsed by Japanese models, has been covered by one women’s health magazine, Fytte, three months in a row. There has even been 3 books written about it.

The result: Japanese consumers can’t buy a banana for quids (or Yen).

On the net, the overwhelming majority of stories about the diet make mention of the shortage of bananas in stores.

Telegraph.co.uk reported that as a result of the diet, sales of bananas at Life Corp, a major supermarket chain, increased 70% in one week while a department store in central Osaka also reported sales up 50% from last year and regularly selling out by early afternoon.

The question is: Is this just another crazy diet fad or the marketing genius of banana suppliers?

That’s right, I have a sneaking suspicion that this is the work of the banana suppliers to deliberately create a increase in demand for bananas … and we all know what happens when demand is higher than supply – that’s right, the price goes up.

Why do I think that it is the work of clever marketers?

Well, Japan has a history of latching onto crazy diets so it is the perfect market for such a plan. Time.com provides a quick history of fad diets sin Japan. “During the 1970s, there were similar runs on black tea fungus, oolong tea and konnyaku; during the 1980s it was baby formula, banana and boiled egg; then, in the '90s, came apple, nata de coco, cocoa and chili pepper; and during this decade black vinegar, carrot juice, soy milk, beer yeast and toasted soybean flour (kinako). Last year's fermented soybean (natto) diet emptied supermarket shelves”.

A spokesman for Dole Japan Company, the largest banana importer in the country, told Japanese media "It's the first time bananas have been quite so scarce". The result has seen Dole increase banana imports to Japan by more than 25%.

An it is not easy for bananas harvesters to meet the sudden spike as it takes 10-15 months to harvest them.

At the end of the day, banana prices have risen 20% and I bet Dole Japan Company are kicking back eating sushi and sipping saki as they toast their marketing success.

What do you think? Are Dole Japan Company just the lucky company benefiting from the crazy diet fad or do you think that they have played a hand in the whole thing?