Can You Guess The Famous Fonts?

On of the reasons I started blogging was because some of the feedback I wrote for the Marketing Today podcast gave me some great ideas for posts. My second ever post, and a post that was shortlisted for the 2008 Moggies, was all about how recognisable famous logos are once they are dumbed down to their basic shapes and colours. The post provided a spreadsheet that presented a whole lot of dumbed down logos and readers had to try and figure them out (as per the example on the right).

If you haven’t seen it then check out the original dumbed down logos here >>

I have wanted to write a second version of the spreadsheet ever since but it is hard work finding the right types of logos and since I have been looking it is amazing how many logos are just text and colour – but still instantly recognisable.

So I decided, that instead of logos, it would be easier to create a spreadsheet of famous fonts from brands, movies, TV shows etc. Click on the famous font below to download the spreadsheet and see how good you are at recognising the famous fonts.

Make sure you use the poll on the left of the screen and let me know how many you got correct. If you are struggling with any then let me know and I’ll give you some clues …

Big thanks to Jules Mann at http://www.soulmann.com for showing me a trick for hosting files and hosting the original dumbed down logos file.

Marketing Shots – Man U, AFL, Detroit Lions and Fitness First Update

This not one of my traditional posts where I try and encourage comments and discussion but I have a few little “Marketing Shots” that I wanted to share with you …

EPL Ambush Marketing Opportunity

I was watching the Man U vs Arsenal game at Old Trafford on the weekend. Have you seen the plush seats that the subs, coaching staff et al get to sit on? They are basically leather car racing seats. Nice big red ones with Man U logo and the Audi logo on it. Sneaky thing is that they also make the visiting team sit on the Man U/Audi branded red seats as well. Bet Wenger, Benetiz and co hate that!

So why don’t the opposition take their own club branded covers to slip over the top. Bet that would piss off Man U! They’d probably get in trouble but geez it would be funny and the visiting club’s sponsor would get heaps of publicity (and probably a round of applause from everyone that hates Man U).

Noel Gallagher would probably be impressed by this tactic. Gallagher said, after the Arabs bought Man City, that “Every time a Manchester United supporter fills up their car with petrol, they put a little more into Manchester City's transfer budget”.

The AFL Thinks I Shouldn’t Miss a Game of NRL

I was looking up the broadcast guide the other day for the AFL and a banner ad for Foxtel IQ was running at the top of the page. Here are two screen shots of the dynamic banner ad. Anything strike you as odd?

I would have at least thought the AFL would think its own product was more unmissable than a rival codes.

Over Paid Graphic Designers

Saw this snippet in the SMH the other week … talk about crazy!

Fitness First Case Study Update

Thanks to Hayley_Gleeson, poptrashmusic (do you have a link?), James Duthie, Hayley_Gleeson (again :), Matt Moore, Zac Martin (barely) and Rowan Wilde who all provided great comments, and very lengthy ones at that on my post about Fitness First and Can You Force Word of Mouth. It looks like it is a great way to get you all involved rather than the deliver a “sermon from the mount” which might not leave much room for you guys to add yours smarts to.

No word from Fitness First yet so they either don’t monitor this space or don’t care. Anyway, I am going to make sure they have seen all your comments as they are very insightful and they might just learn a thing or two.

The only thing I want to add is that they should put the power of recommendation more in the member’s hand. They present themselves as a polished brand, and even go to great lengths and cost to create a flashy magazine, but they don’t even email me with updates, newsletters, offers etc.

It doesn’t take much to promote the refer a friend scheme (with all your comments taken on board) through email and provide me with the ability to send it on to people who I think might be interested who could then contact Fitness First if they wanted. It would certainly get the relationship off on the right foot.

Plus, with the technology available today (e.g. www.emma.com which I use at work) they could track which members were forwarding on their emails and to who.

Thanks also to Mumbrella who provide some link love for the Fitness First post.

Wanna Know Some More About Oyster?

A few months ago I got one of those emails that went around where you were suppose to blog 7 things that you guys didn’t know about me. Obviously I didn’t write it. Dunno why. Just didn’t seem like me.

Zac Martin often bangs on about uni and how it is out of touch and recently Simon Oboler has started blogging again and his first post back was along the same lines. Don’t get me wrong, nothing wrong with that, after all, they are the uni’s customers and their views are those of a customer. I’ll stop short of saying “the customer is always right”.

You are probably wondering where I am going with these opening two paragraphs … stay with me.

Last week I graduated from a Master of Marketing. After the ceremony, while my wife, Mum and Dad were taking more photos than were necessary, a couple of marketing officers from the uni approached me and asked if I would be willing to have a photo and a follow up testimonial for marketing purposes. I obliged. They had me at “marketing”.

So I thought that I would share the testimonial I provided as you guys will learn a bit more about me and maybe those who are still studying will take something from someone who is on the other side of the fence e.g. graduated and working in marketing.

Plus I have been sick the last few days and need a nice easy topic that won’t make my brain work too hard.

I have edited out some of the questions that weren’t really relevant e.g. Where did you live while studying?

What course did you study? Master of Marketing.

Please outline the factors you considered when choosing to study CSU. My old boss Lou Mayo recommended it because CSU has a great reputation for Distance Education.

What career, personal development and life skills did you learn while at CSU? In terms of personal development, I really enhanced my critical thinking, which was further enhanced because I work in marketing and therefore had relevant work experience to relate my studies to. In terms of personal, I am not sure I learnt anything new but it certainly reinforced my time management skills and I enjoyed achieving my goals and doing well.

Do you feel like your course has prepared you for the workforce? I already worked in marketing but it absolutely made me better at my job. I often found myself writing as many work related "notes to self", about an idea that my study had generated, as I did notes for assignments and revision.

What’s your most memorable CSU experience? I'll brag about this one but it would have to be getting 100% for an assignment (but I will be honest, I think the lecturer felt sorry for me because I put in so much work into it and didn't have the heart to take marks off - because it definitely wasn't perfect!). Graduation with Distinction was also a highlight after I only just passed my very first unit and was wondering what I had gotten myself in for!

What was the best thing about graduation? The sense of achievement. I'll be honest. I wasn't going to go to graduation because I thought "yeah, whatever, it's just a ceremony" but my parents and wife made a big deal about it so I kept quiet and we all went to graduation. Having said that, I couldn't have been more wrong. I am so glad I went as it was a great opportunity to reflect on where I had come from and the University really did a great job of reinforcing that I (and all the graduates) had really achieved something special. My advice is not to miss graduation for anything!

If you could describe CSU in 3 words they would be? A great opportunity.

How did you fit study into your life? Definitely hard. I got married in the middle of my studies so that was a nice distraction but a distraction nonetheless. I didn't really give up too much and maintained sporting activities and socialising. In reality, I just stopped doing those things that were "nothing activities" e.g. watching t.v. (you don't realise how boring and mind numbing it is until you stop watching it!). An understanding and supportive wife and employer helped immensely.

Where did you study? E.g. at home, local library, a study centre. Home and at work. I would often get up early and study for an hour or two before anyone turned up to work ... very peaceful. In saying that, for anyone else it is about finding your groove. If you are a morning person then work with that. If you are a night owl then work with that.

What are the advantages of studying by distance education? The flexibility of being able to do the work when I wanted. It meant I could maintain other activities (sport etc) and that it didn't really impact my employment e.g. can't make a lecture because I have a work deadline or meeting.

What are the disadvantages? Having direct contact with lecturers. However, this often taught me to be more self-sufficient rather than relying on their help all the time.

Was it easy to make friends and will you keep in touch with them? Why or why not? It was difficult being mature age and distance education. The tools were definitely there (forums etc) and I wish I had of made more of an effort to connect with people in my area who were also studying. I am not sure it would have helped all that much with my study but I am sure I would have met some great people.

What would you say to someone considering study at CSU? Do it. Especially if you are mature age. It has opened up so many doors for me and really ignited my passion for marketing.

Can You Force Word-of-Mouth?

This week I want to take a little bit of a different approach with a marketing issue. Instead of telling you about an issue then offering my two, or maybe 10, cents worth, I want it to take a bit of a group case study shape. Hopefully it is a post that all you “lurkers” who read the blog but don’t comment will feel you can contribute as well.

The other week I walked into my Fitness First gym (what? you couldn’t tell I work out?) and could see it coming a mile off. Fitness First’s sales approach is known around the place as being pretty strict and I have heard of sales staff not being allowed to go home until they had made their quota of sales bookings (I am not even sure this is true but that is what someone told me) as well as them making it as difficult as possible for people to cease being a member. For the record, I am very happy as a Fitness First member.

What confronted me as I made my way to the change room was 3 of the sales staff and a small display. You know the feeling you get when you are at the shops and that annoying credit card bloke tries to catch your eye? Same feeling here. I just prayed they wouldn’t say something to me. But resistance is futile … you know you can be 10 meters away and they will call out to you.

As I tried to get past they asked me if I had any friends who would be interested in joining the gym. I kind of feel sorry for the situation the company puts them in (with unimaginative ways of finding leads) and so I didn’t want to just say “No” and keep walking. So I offered something like “I don’t have any friends who would be interested thanks”. But that didn’t appease them.

“What about work colleagues?” they pressed. “Just give us their names and numbers and we will get in touch with them and if they join you will get $5 a month of you membership”. I mumbled something dismissive and kept walking.

Ok, so now comes the hard bit. I really want to tell you exactly what I think of this approach, its chances of success and what I would do if I was in their situation and was looking to generate new leads. But instead I want all you smart readers to tell me what you think and contribute to a group case study.

Do you think Fitness First’s approach to generating word-of-mouth is a good one?

Would you offer up the names and numbers of your friends and work colleagues for a cheaper gym membership (or discount of any product for that matter)?

How would you change or improve this approach?

I will follow your comments and contribute my thinking as well. Who knows, we may come up with a win-win where Fitness First get some new ideas for generating leads, or harnessing word-of-mouth, and gym members won’t feel uncomfortable when all they want to do is get in, get change and get started on their workout.

Over to you … I am looking forward to hearing what you think.