Google is looking to start a venture capital arm according to the Wall Street Journal. Google is known for business innovation, but this new venture concept will formally make Google the largest tech venture firm. Google has gone way beyond the search. They are currently investing in energy. They created ANDROID, the open source co-op for [...]
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Filed under: Luis Carranza, Technology, VCU Brandcenter
Chrysler is looking to make some major changes. The Wall Street Journal reports that Chrysler is currently scrambling to cut costs by forming alliances with companies across the globe. In India, they are in talks with Tata to build Jeeps. The struggling car maker is also in talks with Fiat about a possible factory lease [...]
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Filed under: Branding, Business, Luis Carranza, VCU Brandcenter
Former Google employees created a new search engine that they claim is the largest search engine in the world. It searches three times more pages than Google and doesn’t use the Google Page rank algorithm. Cuil, pronounce “cool” is an old Irish word for knowledge. Cuil does not track user information like Google does and [...]
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Filed under: Luis Carranza, Marketing Resources, Technology, VCU Brandcenter
Choosing a name is difficult to do. You could set your baby up difficult life if you are not careful. The same is true for brands. The Nintendo Wii is an example of an odd name that some how works. Wii, Phonetically, it sounds like “we” and the console was meant to played by the [...]
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Filed under: Branding, Luis Carranza, Miscellaneous, Naming, VCU Brandcenter
The Grand Old Party has created a parody of Facebook called BarackBook to make certain points against Senator Obama. The Obama campaign has taken advantage of digital media like no other political campaing in history. They have used the internet to their advantage and done it rather well, especially in raising funds. But, digital technolgy [...]
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Filed under: Advertising, Campaign Critiques, Luis Carranza, Political Marketing, VCU Brandcenter
As a digital strategist, I’m not a huge fan of many of the flash intro pages that are out there. You know, the kind where the music just starts to play automatically. These intros usually lead to a logo or an “enter” sign. What do they mean, by ENTER? I thought I was already in. [...]
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Filed under: Advertising, Branding, Luis Carranza, Technology, VCU Brandcenter
Global citizenship is not a novel concept. Every time there is a war, we hear a call for unity. Musicians come together to make tribute songs and donate the proceeds to charity. We are the world, indeed. Today I received an e-mail about a design competition. Adbusters is asking designers to create a world flag, [...]
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Filed under: Design, Luis Carranza, Marketing Trends, VCU Brandcenter
Honda is planning to air a live ad that features 19 sky divers in mid air. The divers will spell out Honda using only their bodies. The ad is set to air at 8:10 PM in the UK according to Brand Republic. Five teaser ads asking people to visit www.difficultisworthdoing.com were created to build up [...]
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Filed under: Advertising, Branding, Campaign Critiques, Luis Carranza, VCU Brandcenter
I’ve taken close to 1,500 photos this year and dozens of videos. Most of the photos aren’t that great, but the volume ensures that the occasional moment is captured. I was going through some of my pictures and I found a few of John Partilla, President, Time Warner Global Media Group and Senior Vice President, [...]
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Filed under: Education, Luis Carranza, Marketing Trends, VCU Brandcenter
About a month ago, Greenpeace protesters dressed in orang-utan costumes got the attention of Unilever execs. Greenpeace claimed that the harvesting of palm oil in Indonesia was destroying the habitat of orang-utans. The producers of palm oil often clear forests to meet the demands of Unilever, who is the biggest purchaser of palm oil. A [...]
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Filed under: Branding, Luis Carranza, VCU Brandcenter
Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton represent a changing of the guard in presidential politics. Yet, the concept of a black American and a woman running for the highest office in the nation is still novel to some. Look around. This is a historic moment. Regardless of who wins the primaries, politics will be a little [...]
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Filed under: Luis Carranza, Personal Opinions, Political Marketing, VCU Brandcenter
Xoddo claims to be the first “the first online ‘design it, build it, buy it’ stuffed toy in history. I don’t really like these weird little toys. You can customize the toy however you want, as long as it’s bright stupid looking. I’m not a kid and maybe I’m biased against bad design, but there [...]
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Filed under: Branding, Luis Carranza, Political Marketing, Strategy, Technology, VCU Brandcenter
I did a bit of research this semester on the whole concept of digital for my master’s thesis and I’d like to share some insights with you. I am prepared to be 100% wrong here, but I’d like to give my honest opinion. There are countless experts and bloggers with opinions on the digital future [...]
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Filed under: Luis Carranza, Outlandish Statements, Personal Opinions, Technology, VCU Brandcenter
More than 50 Greenpeace activists staged protests at two Unilever sites in the UK yesterday. Some were dressed as Orang-utans holding a sign that read “Dove Destroyed My Rain Forrest.” The palm oil in many Dove skin care products is linked to deforestation and the destruction of Orang-utan habitats in Indonesia. Greenpeace blames the suppliers [...]
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Filed under: Branding, Luis Carranza, VCU Brandcenter
New social sites come and go like fads in the early 90’s. It can be confusing to keep up. Some people jump right into a new site, eager to be one of the first members. Private invite-only launches create a nice buzz in beta. Many people however, wait until a site has passed the test [...]
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Filed under: Book Review, Luis Carranza, Miscellaneous, Social Media Marketing, VCU Brandcenter
There has been a lot of talk recently about the Geoweb. In this world, geo-tagging cameras equipped with GPS know exactly where the picture was taken. Microsoft’s Photosynth wowed us with its ability to combine images of geo-tagged photos. All this technology is great, but what about more practical uses for global imaging [...]
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Filed under: Emerging Tech, Luis Carranza, Social Media Marketing, Technology, VCU Brandcenter
Rudolf Dassler originally named his company Ruda, combining the first two letters of his first and last name. His brother Adolf Dassler or Adi as he was known, combined the first three letters of his first and last name when he launched his company. The two worked together before deciding to go their separate ways [...]
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Filed under: Branding, Luis Carranza, Strategy, VCU Brandcenter
Google is getting fewer clicks in the US according Internet measuring company ComScore. These results can be misleading because clicks are not an accurate measure of success. Measuring clicks is like measuring the total number of items sold without considering the price. One person could sell 100 items at $2 dollars per piece while another [...]
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Filed under: Luis Carranza, Technology, VCU Brandcenter
CarMax redefined the entire used car category by focusing on the buyer experience, but the buyer experience has come a long way since they started in 1993. More and more people are searching online for their next car. I’ve bought cars on Ebay and Craigslist, but there are many other places to purchase a vehicle [...]
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Filed under: Luis Carranza, Marketing Trends, Miscellaneous, Strategy, Technology, VCU Brandcenter
I was at the 7-11 yesterday looking for some refreshment and came across Tiger! Gatorade worked out a 5 year 100 million dollar deal with the golf superstar who rejected a Vitamin Water offer of a mere $75M. The sports drink features an image of Tiger Woods in a triumphant pose. I bought the drink [...]
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Filed under: Branding, Luis Carranza, Outlandish Statements, Personal Opinions, VCU Brandcenter
