Good marketing is all about creativity & simplicity
Excellent marketing is all about stirring emotion
Drop dead brilliant marketing is all about timing it right.

Here is another product of excellent timing:

Nando’s have always had witty ads and tend be super quick with their campaigns. Their latest print ad screams advertising genius and again their marketing agency, whoever they are, need to patted on the back for the brilliance of the ad.

It is based on the fact that Paris Hilton was arrested in Port Elizabeth for possession of weed while she was in the city to watch the 2010 World Cup Quarter Final game.

I recommend that you click on the image to few in full screen and view the fine text at the bottom as well.

I have been in the mobile industry for a short while now & even though I do my best to stay on top of innovation in this sector, its tough because this world turns itself on its head every few weeks or so. Innovation is rife and users’ demands for more services, better hardware, applications and better operating systems have grown exponentially in the last 3 to 4 years.

With iPhone 4 rumoured to launch in SA in September 2010, Nokia N900 and the Nokia X-range doing well in Europe & the massive uptake of Android, its no surprise that South African users have become so demanding.

But on the flipside of all of this hardcore innovation, sometimes it is critical that we sit back and remind ourselves that the best ideas are often the simple ones. Flexicell capitalises on this and offers a super solution to an everyday problem.

Many mobile users in South Africa use prepaid airtime. Many reasons exist why it is so popular and a few of the most common ones are:

• Monthly income and expenses don’t allow affordability of predefined contracts
• Signup criteria requires minimum salary, proof of address, clear credit record, etc and is often a barrier to entry for many South Africans.
• Users prefer the flexibility afforded to them of not being tied into a 24 month contract.

Whatever the reasons are, Flexicell has come up with a brilliant solution to bridge the gap between users who would like a monthly commitment of airtime to be credited to the phones by setting up a monthly debit order based on users affordability. They sell themselves with a mission to “convert prepaid product users to month-to month contract.”.

The service allow for users to opt out with one calendar months notice with no penalties, unlike post-paid offerings from the voice networks like Vodacom, MTN, Cell C & Virgin Mobile.

I’m impressed. Well done for finding the simple solution to the complicated problem, Flexicell.

If you use Flexicell, I would love to hear about your experience.

This is a really good advert by VW for the launch of the VW Polo Vivo. I could be wrong, but I think that Ogilvy manages the VW account. Well done guys!

Last night, I posted an article about a looming Nokia Navigation Announcement which is expected later today at an exclusive event in Cape Town. I have done some snooping and have figured out what the announcement is and it’s really WOW!

I’m excited to show you pre-announcement screen shots of the latest version of Ovi Maps with 3D view, 3D Buildings and Routing and Navigation for both Car and Walk mode.

Here are a few screen shots that I just took using the service for the first time, with my first impressions:

Ovi Maps Homepage defaults to Cape Town. This must be done by using my IP as I have not set up any other profiling information regarding my location.

Ovi Maps requires a browser plug in to be installed.

Ovi Maps Map View Options, include the standard that we have to come love on Ovi Maps on Mobile, Map View, Satellite and Terrain.

Check after the break for more screen shots, including the 3D Landmarks of Cape Town.

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Nokia has recently announced that all Nokia Maps, now known as Ovi Maps will include free navigation to all capable handsets. This shook the navigation world and blew the Garmin model out of the water, forever changing mobile mapping technology. This move was no surprise to some as it became more and more evident that unless other mapping platforms followed suit, Google Maps were set to landslide the industry with yet another disruptive technology offered as a free service.

Anyway, I now enjoy Ovi Maps 3.0 on my Nokia N97 with free navigation.

I have however been invited to a very intriguing Nokia Navigation event. It started, when I accepted an invitation to attend and was swiftly followed with a small gift box arriving in the mail.

With no explanation, the tag on the gift box read, ” Thank you for accepting Nokia’s invitation. Here is a small taste of what you will experience. Looking forward to seeing you in Cape Town.”

Inside the box, I found

1. A Luggage Tag,
2. EverySun AquaSport Lip Balm,
3. Smarties Mini Eggs,
4. Pyatt’s Mini Cheddars
5. Maynards Mini Ice Cream Mallow Gums
6. and a pack of South African Playing Cards

I have no idea what Nokia and Ovi have up their sleeves with this gift pack and what it means, but if this teaser photo that has just been released by the NokiaOvi team which are busy setting up the event in Cape Town is anything to go by, I’d say that tomorrow’s announcement and demo is going to be REALLY cool.

It was a sad day for South Africa when FIFA slapped Kulula for the “You Know What” campaign. Details can be found on this TimesLive article.

Today, Kulula strikes back with another brilliant mockery ad that will once again give Kulula the edge in humorous advertising that we have come to love from them.

Click on it to make it full screen.

With the massive collapse of the motor industry last year, Lamborghini found itself in a spot of bother when demand for their cars dropped substantially throughout the year and the value of the US Dollar was slapped around with a trout. One can not ignore the value of the US market for the Italian luxury super car manufacturer and the hit to the US economy had the Italians eating crackers and cheese for dinner to save costs.

With last years turnover down to 281 million Euro from previous years 478.8 million Euro and reduction of manufactured cars by a whopping 37.7% which saw 1 515 units being built instead of the 2430 built the previous financial year, the Italian super car manufacturer definitely did feel the financial crunch.

Now if you know anything about the way these guys decide how to roll their cars out, you would know that when it comes to super cars, they always manufacture less cars than the general demand. This helps maintain its prestige, keeps pricing high & creates a shortage which drives demand even further. It’s a trick out of the late great Enzo Ferrari’s playbook and one worth keeping in mind if ever you get into any kind of business.

BUT, and this is a huge but… while Lambo turnover dropped, car sales plummetted and the Americans all moved out of their picket fenced houses into motor homes, the Italians have thrown more money at R&D and will increase their spend again this year from last years increase of about 33%.

Lamb will continue to kick out a new model a year and will remain committed to being a long-standing prestigious brand that represents brutal power. Expect the Lamborghini to roll out the Gallardo LP570-4 Superleggera, which will help them balance their Galardo and Murcielago ranges with a drop-top, coupe and high performance model in each stable.

It’s not new news that GM has been considering selling Hummer for a little while now. It seems that among the other brands that GM dragged with it through financial nightmares, GM has now decided to shelve the brutally yank car as it is financially unfeasible to maintain the brand.

GM did try to pawn it off to the Chinese recently, but the deal fell through when Beijing decided that it was too much of an environmental risk to allow the brand to be purchased by a Chinese company.

This follows the previously GM brands of Pontiac, Saturn and Oldsmobile and finds itself stacking up in the losers corner where car brands are sent to die!

So with cost-cutting still part of the strategies of many companies, especially the car manufacturing industry, Puma has taken it a step further and have commissioned that a Formula 1 car be built out of shoe boxes.

Here is the video:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pa8HFEeh2FA&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]