Brands and blogging, a couple of my case studies.

Lindt the chocolate people have opened a new store. No doubt they have an entire marketing strategy to promote this store and support their business, but part of this strategy is including blogging.

Lots of people (marketing or otherwise) are asking why Lindt or other brands would be heading into the blogging arena. So here is a little reason why and how it can work. I haven't spoken to them this is just what I have seen and noticed. And no, this is not sponsored, more like a case study kind of thing, you know?

It starts with an event, held at the new Lindt store, the blogger who attended wrote about what she saw, later she had a giveaway of some Lindt products. Singular Insane has a number of followers on facebook, twitter and her blog, all heard about the Lindt store opening and many entered to win the giveaway.

Guess who won the Lindt?

Yes, my hips.

The Lindt delivery arrives, it is the most exciting thing to happen to me this week.

I tweet my happiness, I add some images to Instagram and they are retweeted on Twitter where I also posted it. I get more comments on my image of chocolate on Instagram than any other of the over 100 images I have posted.

I then tweet that Lindt should send Tiff and Ivy some chocolate in the hospital where Ivy is very sick. Lindt are ahead of me, this has already been done, I am told this by @Frogpondsrock who has another 1549 twitter followers that now learn that Lindt are sending out more baskets of goodies.

So in just a couple of weeks, at minimal cost, Lindt chocolate get their name out and about, shared online, and discussed, for just the cost of the product and a person behind the scenes keeping an eye on the twitter brigade. A decent advert in the Metro papers is at least $10,000, sure it gets greater coverage but it doesn't allow for conversation and engagement with the direct consumer.

Well done to the luckiest Marketing people in the world at Lindt, clearly all that chocolate they must get to eat allows for clear thinking!


My other case study is this.

My Mum has decided that retirement is just not for her, instead she decided to open a clothing store in the local town, I helped her set up her facebook page and she said she had a few items that she hadn't sold even a single item of. We put them on facebook, and trying to do the ethical and correct thing we linked to the brand whose clothes they were.

The items got sold and headed off from regional Victoria to all over Australia. My Mum doesn't even have a mobile phone, she still hand writes out and then faxes or 'photo stats' the orders. So sending out a facebook message to all of her 30 followers was a big deal.

The clothing company sent her a nasty letter, they requested she never link to them again and told her she is also unable to use images of the clothes again in her marketing, especially on facebook.

She was a little stressed about the letter and the following discussions with them. Thus, she cancelled her order for all their summer stock and wont be stocking them anymore. Sure, she is just one client, but  another little Aussie kids clothing brand just got a few thousand dollars in orders instead, and they are more than happy for people to share them on facebook, display their images (they even give you a CD with the images to use) and are supportive of small businesses marketing their products.

Have you seen or taken part in any decent or not so decent social media marketing activities?

Where did those skills go?

This too, is a bad design.

I have put up my hand to do some additional work for work. It requires design skills that I used to have many years ago and that I have allowed to lapse, slowly and quietly.

Marketing departments across organisations vary so much.

When I worked for a Not For Profit we tried to do as much as possible in house. It was magnificent for my skills, I learnt all sorts of programs and skills and found ways to make things happen when the actual budget for the project was officially $0.00.

Over the last few years I have worked in teams where we had either the luxury of in-house design teams or the budget to pay decent ones externally.

I didn't realise my Indesign skills had got so shabby. I hate relying on other areas to get things done for me. I really don't like looking at my work and thinking how poorly it looks compared to what I would like it to look like.

But at least now I have another little project for myself.

Have you lost (misplaced!) any of your work skills? Did you manage to find them again?

The little Hueys hit the sticks

For some years when I was growing up I lived on a farm.

Not the same one we go to visit when we see my parents now, but some things it seems might always be the same for country kids.

If cropping is your thing, then each year there tends to be a few pictures of the kids in the crop. Whether that is to display a great yield or a drought affected disaster.

And when you have to wait around in empty paddocks the world really is your stage.

The back of a ute was always a concert stage for me, and it seems given the first opportunity, it is for the Little Hueys too.

Mid Dancemove

And country kids know that city visitors will always want to have a ride on whatever they can get their hands on.

The Little Hueys did not fail this test.

Four wheel driving through the wild flowers and wattle

Girl from Snowy River in the Making


They got riding motorbikes and horses the first chance they got.

I don't miss living in the country, but I do love that the girls get to share the good bits about the farm when they can.

Have you heard of Heartfelt?

Today I have a guest post from Martine. When she is not busy raising her five boys, working and  blogging, Martine volunteers for an amazing charity. This charity doesn't even want you to donate, they just want you to know they exist, to share what they do and ensure all families have precious photos to keep.

Here Martine will tell you all about them.

Baby Ava

The loss of a child is certainly one of life’s greatest tragedies. 

When we lost our daughter she was 4 and a half months old. 

For 3 of those months she was a seemingly healthy, adored and treasured addition to our household of 3 boys. People often say that with subsequent children there are always less photos than with the first. As I was a photographer this never seemed to be true for me. During Ava’s short life I had taken many hundreds of photos. It is these photos that I often turn to in my times of immense grief, but also in those times when I just want to remember. They are also the images that will help her brothers keep her memory alive. 

Unfortunately though for many who lose a child suddenly or for other reasons and circumstance, they are in no position to have their precious moments captured in photos. Whilst there is nothing that can take away the pain of losing a child, I know that this pain would be compounded had I not had these beautiful images. 

Not long after our daughter died, I read about a charity that takes photos of premature, stillborn and seriously ill babies and children. Straight away I knew this was something I wanted to be involved with and set about applying to be a photographer. At the time it was known as ACOCP (Australian Charity of Child Photographers) but has since been renamed Heartfelt. Heartfelt is a not for profit organization whereby all photographers work for no fee to capture precious memories for families and present them with prints and CDs of their images. This can often mean photographers go out at very short notice to homes and hospitals and under very difficult circumstances to ensure that photos can be captured with the utmost sensitivity and respect. 

For myself there are still some sessions that I am not ready to face but thankfully there are some amazing photographers that make themselves available at all times of day and night. Whilst Heartfelt is now beginning to foster great relations with hospital staff all over Australia, it is still important to spread the word of the amazing work that is done so that no other family should be without beautiful photos of their precious children. For more information on this wonderful organization please www.heartfelt.org.au

So if you could,  please share this post with your networks, your stalkers, your friends and your foes. As knowledge of what they do helps Heartfelt get out to more families who unfortunately may need them. 

I don't think I want a cleaner

I really really do want a cleaner. But then, I don't think I want one.

Then, domestic goddess failure that I am perhaps a cleaning lady is a requirement here.

For a short period of time we had a cleaner. Entering the house after she had whooshed through with her mop and sponge brought me a sense of peace and happiness that only a clean house that I didn't clean can bring.

Then we moved and we never organised another one.

First up was the cost. A cleaner really is a luxury item. But in my head we would always get another one. But I just can't justify it with small kids.

I need to clean my floors everyday. On slack days I may only do the kitchen and dining but they still need a sweep. With a two year old (and a husband with bad aim) there is no way our toilets could make it a full week without being cleaned, the toothpaste in the sink would be pretty revolting if left a week too. So with a Sadie the Cleaning lady I would be cleaning all week except the one day the she came along. And then, I wouldn't want anyone to eat or use the kitchen for the rest of the day.

I would like someone to dust every now and then, but I can manage not to see it for a good month or so.

The oven would love some attention, but most cleaners charge extra for that.

The windows needed cleaning, but then I just bought some special textas for windows and the girls have now decorated them all and they are just a mess of texta swirls and dirt. I call it 'VMA' or Very Modern Art.

Lastly is that problem of cleaning for the cleaner, generally at the last minute on your way out the door, adding extra stress to the morning.

So, cleaners - are they worth it or not. Is that ten minutes of total cleanliness worth the money you fork out? Or is it better to give yourself $75 and go get your nails done instead?

My latest colour

  

It's time to get your sun smarts on

At creche, the Little Hueys are not allowed outside now without a full sunsmart hat and sunblock cream on. They are not allowed to wear dresses with little straps. They have sun shades in their playgrounds and when they haven't lost them, they have sunglasses too.

This is not a big deal for them, it is the only way they know.

We all do lots to protect our kids from skin cancer, much more than what was done in the past. We are smarter, we know more about skin cancer and how it is a nasty demon who can start picking its victims very early and wait around to get them when they are not looking.

I have always bought Cancer Council suncream, it's good stuff, and the profits go to funding more research for curing the gift the devil gave us, Cancer, in all it's forms.

Cancer scares me, I hate that it pops up and gets the young, the fit, the great among us.

If shopping and getting what I need can also contribute to finding a cure, I will continue to purchase the Cancer Council suncream and probably some of the other products.

It's time to get your sun smarts on. For yourself and for the greater need of Cancer research.

Immy was so impressed, she wore these in the bath.

This post was inspired by the Cancer council  who sent the little Hueys some new googles and some suncream. But they didn't have to, I would be buying their products anyway and I still suggest everyone else does too.

A weekend wrap up

I have had a tidy up, a little side bar fix up.

Just in case you were not sure how to follow this blog, the icons over there on the left are for Facebook, twitter, RSS and to email me. If you are reading this in your email (Hello Chris!) you will need to click on the heading which will take you to the real blog page.

I don't have the time to fix this blog myself, so I use Katrina from Media Mad, she is the goods, I tell you. She emails late on a Saturday night and then she spends Father's Day cleaning up my blog for me and making it work better.

Speaking of Father's Day.

Mr H had a great day.

Well he should have, he took off for six hours and went and played golf at a swanky golf club.

Pretty sure he also bought himself a kite.

He said it was a new gift for the girls.

I am not so sure.

The kite is not to be touched when he isn't here and he hid it behind the couch...yep, like a 3 year old.

I decided to serve up a lovely Sunday night soup tonight, Roasted Pumpkin with Ginger. It is in the new weight watchers cook book. I didn't realise that when the recipe says it serves four, that means four people who are really concerned about portion control, we shared a few sips of soup each before I had to duck out for a quick run to the stupidmarket for a hot chook. 

Is there anything a BBQ chook can't fix?

Some Big and Fruity Trees.

When you plant something do you ever think about how long it may last?

One of the joys of visiting my parents, who have a unique home built during the Victorian Gold rush era, are the trees and plants that surround the block.

Lemons

Trees that were planted to supplement the weekly food of families over 100 years ago, plants that have lived through droughts, neglect and flood.

Orange tree so big, the verandah was built around it.

I don't know who planted them, but I bet they never expected them to become so big, to still provide, to be the source of marmalade and jams and juice that they are, to be the shade for family picnics or where people chat while harvesting bags of fruit.

Cumquat Corner: this tree is always full, all year round.

Got me thinking to just how many people these trees have fed over the last century.

Time to get planting.