Global marketers such as Nike are describing the 2010 FIFA World Cup as a larger event than even the 2008 Beijing Olympics. That scale, combined with the intensity of interest in the sport, the national pride of fans and the fact that it’s the first major global sporting event ever held on the African continent…figures to sell a lot of sneakers.
FIFA sponsors…a group to which Nike doesn’t belong, by the way…spend up to $40 million for the privilege.
“It’s the No. 1 event in all of sports,” Trevor Edwards, Nike’s VP-brand and category management, recently told the company’s investors, adding that the World Cup will be viewed by “half the world’s population.”
All I can say about this three-minute epic by Nike…is holy shit!
At TimeZoneOne we often talk about flying kiwis. Kiwis can’t actually fly, in fact, as birds go the kiwi probably isn’t the most impressive, they’re kind of odd really – they sound like this…
…they’re nocturnal, they have little stubby wings, stubby legs, a round body, a long awkward beak and they lay eggs that are 20% of their own body mass, which is like giving birth to a 4-year-old. But maybe it’s that kind of can-do attitude that has seen it become a national symbol.
The story goes that once upon a time the kiwi was an impressive, colorful bird, with large impressive wings who soared above the forests. One day the god of the forest gathered the birds together and told them that the bugs on the forest floor were killing the tree roots and that if someone didn’t go live down there and sort it out the forest would die and they would have no home – however, whoever went to live on the forest floor would need to adapt to that environment and they’d have to leave behind their beautiful feathers and they would never fly again. As you can imagine, there weren’t a lot of wings being raised or feathered heads nodding, but the kiwi volunteered and was transformed into the odd little creature he is today. The other birds got to keep their pretty feathers, but they all owe a debt to the humble kiwi who scurries around in the dark cleaning up the forest floor. Kiwi’s are modest creatures, we don’t need to show off with bright plumage, we just like to get the job done and focus on the bigger picture.
Here’s a wee game I whipped up that doesn’t illustrate any of the points of that story, but it does have flying kiwis (the bird) dodging flying kiwis (the fruit) for people who are into that sort of thing. I didn’t bother to set up a high score thing, but feel free to leave your score in the comments so that everyone can know how awesome you are, try to be honest or, if you’re going to lie, be epic and say you got over a trillion points.
(if your reading this through an RSS feed clickhere to join the fun)
David ‘kiwi as*’ McLeod
*As (particle – intensifier)
1. too, indeed, really, so, very, quite - an intensive particle following immediately after the word it relates to. It may be used after all types of bases, but particularly with negatives, adjectives and verbs as described below. Sweet as = That is quite satisfactory! Na, sweet as, I’m full as = No, indeed, I have eaten too much! 2. very, extremely, so, most - when preceded by an adjective preceded by hard out it expresses the superlative. This place is hard out beautiful as. = This place is extremely beautiful. 3. best , accomplished - when following wicked or mean. MJ was wicked as at basketball = Michael Jordon was the best basketball player. MJ was a mean as singer = Michael Jackson was a very accomplished singer
Origin:
bef. 1000; ME as, als, alse, also, OE alswā, ealswā all so, quite so, quite as, as; c. MD alse (D als), OHG alsō (MHG álsō, álse, als, G also so, als as, as if, because) circa 1960; Nu Zild BRO sweet as, bro.
Here’s a little graphic design put to good use at Achievement First Endeavor Middle School in Brooklyn. My school also had writing on the walls but none of it was as inspirational as this, although I’d have to say some of it was certainly more educational. You can see more pictures and find out more about it here if you want.
If you drool over a well executed pie graph, your heart races a little when you see a spectacular bar graph or your idea of a good-night-in is to pour over a centerfold of infographics then this is the website for you www.informationisbeautiful.net.
There is a difference between investing and speculating, but the difference is not always obvious and investors can get into trouble by speculating when they think they’re investing.
In 1934, legendary investor Benjamin Graham explained the difference between the two concepts as: “An investment operation is one which, upon thorough analysis, promises safety of principal and an adequate return. Operations not meeting these requirements are speculative”.
The critical part of this definition is the phrase “upon thorough analysis”. There is a big difference between buying a stock after thoroughly researching it and buying a stock because you’ve heard it’s good buying.
Analysing an investment can be time-consuming and challenging, and I can understand the appeal of following somebody else’s advice or copying an idea rather than doing your own analysis. However, if you don’t know and understand why you have made an investment, how will you know when it is time to sell or to buy more?
A few weeks ago, a friend asked me to have a look at his portfolio. As we considered each of his shareholdings, I asked him to explain why he had bought them. He was able to tell me what price he had paid for each, but he couldn’t tell me what he liked about each company. Knowing his average cost price did not help him in his investment decision making.
A good investor needs to understand why they have bought shares in a company, what they expect of that company, and what needs to happen to continue holding it. Researching an investment can tilt the odds in your favour making it more of an investment and less of a gamble.
Imagine being offered shares in a company at 40 cents each, the lowest level for 18 months. If you knew that the share price used to be 80 cents, you could be tempted to buy. But then what? Would you sell if the price lifted to 50 cents? Would you buy more if the share price fell to 30 cents? Without additional information, it is impossible to decide an investment strategy. Instead, you have to follow your hunch as to which way the share price will go next.
Now imagine that you received some information about the company. You learned that the company was profitable for many years, but had surprised the market by making a loss last year, resulting in the share price fall. This little bit of information is still not enough to make an investment decision, but it puts you in a better position than when you just knew the share price history.
Just one more piece of information could make all the difference. Imagine you then asked the company why it made a loss, and the company said a major client was late in paying for their order, but had now done so and profitability was back on track. When you bought more shares at 40 cents you would be doing so as an investor rather than a speculator.
A supplier to the fashion house Chanel has taken them to court for copying crochet pattern she designed. The woman claimed it was design by her tailors, and not those of Chanel, which is of course disputed by Chanel. The case has taken four and a half years to get to court, and is seen as a test case by industry insiders. It looks like another case of big companies with lots of money bullying little ones. Here’s hoping it’s a win for the little guy.
After yesterday’s twitter rant, I discovered this. The Wi-Fi Body Scale from Withings. The first bathroom scale with the ability to send your your weight directly to your Web page, iPhone and Twitter account. Further confirming my fears about a future with the twitter generation in charge.
I have a facebook page, I get my RSS on with a few blogs, but I’m not really an active social networker, I have never tweeted, I’m a little bit old school, I leave that for the birds.
I don’t believe that Tweeting and following twitters has any substance, it’s hardly revolutionary in my view, it’s called conversation, we’ve been doing it for a long time now. Of course, everyone’s interested in the marketing potential, Twitter is apparently worth a billion dollars despite not having turned over a single cent. I’ve always thought that my generation are a bit self obsessed and see Twitter as a way to talk about themselves even when there’s nobody else around, so it doesn’t surprise me that the most Tweeted topic is Twitter itself, iPhone is high on the list too. I imagine there are a lot of tweets along the lines of “just using twitter on my iPhone lol”.
Below is a list of brands mentioned over a 24 hour period on Twitter, it’s kind of a boring list, mostly computer/internet related stuff – mostly, it seems, people are getting on there computers and mobile devices to talk about their computers and mobile devices. I don’t really know what to make of it, there’s no mention of whether or not the Tweeters (Twits?) are saying nice things about these brands or not.
…or otherwise known as Parkour (PK), is a physical discipline of French origin in which participants attempt to get from Point A to Point B using the human body and objects in the environment around you.
It didn’t take long for PK to become a global craze and move from the urban setting of 13 boulevard du Temple, Paris to mainstream America…
At TimeZoneOne we often talk about flying kiwis. 
