Thinking outside of the Boxer: First look at Yamaha's XT1200Z Super Tenere

by Devon Brozek (RSS feed) on Feb 26th, 2010 at 4:31PM

Yamaha Super Tenere – Click above for high-res photo gallery

We first spotted Yamaha's Super Tenere Concept in October of 2009 at the Tokyo Motor Show. Back then, it was shrouded in fabric and far too polished to be anywhere close to our garage. Fast forward – it's a new year and the Tuning Fork Company has revealed that this concept has bridged the gap to reality. A good move, considering the continued growth of the adventure and dual sport motorcycle markets. But is the Super Tenere really all that super?

One look at the styling cues of Japan's plus-size model, which tips the scales at 575 pounds wet, and we know what lies in her cross-hairs. For anyone who needs a hint, it starts with a B and ends with an MW. That may not be a bad thing, though. BMW's GS lineup has been parked squarely on prime real estate in the big-boned adventure market for some time now.

The production Super T looks to have made good use of the 6.07 gallon fuel tank covers that should double as wind deflectors. A no-frills upper fairing holds a factory guarded headlight and what could be an adjustable windscreen. What may be most interesting feature is the use of an upright 1199cc parallel twin producing 108 pulsing ponies and 84 pound-feet of torque. Yamaha is using a version of their "Pulsing Power" concept as well as traction control borrowed from the development team in charge of the YZF-R1. To reach terra firma, power will be dolled out through six gears and sent down a shaft drive system.

Upon closer inspection, we noticed center-reinforced tubeless spoke wheels as well as a fully adjustable set of suspenders front and rear. A two-piece seat, which should make loading cargo convenient, will require 33 to 34 inches of clearance depending on adjustment. The guessing game will have to suffice regarding pricing at the moment, however even with the optional ABS system and some other goodies, we expect a lower price category than anything sporting a Roundel. We'll do our best to find out if a boat full of XT1200Z Super Teneres are up for the adventure of the U.S. market.

Geneva Leakage: Ferrari 599 Hybrid caught on stage

by Damon Lavrinc (RSS feed) on Feb 26th, 2010 at 5:21PM

Ferrari 599 Hybrid – Click above for image gallery

With just a few days separating us from the Geneva Motor Show, the list of surprises continues to dwindle. The latest victim is the much-anticipated Ferrari 599 Hybrid which the automaker has confirmed will appear in Switzerland next week.

The shots appear to have been taken from the show stand, so there's no hard information to go off of yet. What we do know is that Ferrari will employ a version of its Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) that originally debuted during the 2009 Formula 1 season on the 599. The system captures energy normally lost to the flywheel under braking, sending a boost of energy to the wheels when the driver hits a steering wheel-mounted button. Judging by the size of the battery pack, it's doubtful that the 599 will be able to operate on electric power alone. We'll find out soon enough, but until then, check out Ferrari's green beastie in the gallery below. Top tip John.

Video: Valentino Balboni drives his self-titled Lamborghini

by Damon Lavrinc (RSS feed) on Feb 26th, 2010 at 7:22PM

Click above to view the video after the jump

We've seen Valentino Balboni drive the tires off his namesake and even managed to spend a few hours with the man while stuck in LA's notoriously hellish traffic. Now, Danish magazine Bil Magasinet gets some quality time with the famed test driver as he flogs his Lamborghini LP550-2 across the frozen countryside.

Balboni's warm, Italian charm stands in stark contrast to the surrounding snow as he offers up several choice quotes about Lamborghinis past and present, his time with the automaker and the development of the LP550-2, among others. Speaking about the lack of all-wheel drive, Balboni says simply, "You need to control the car, the car doesn't control you." And with that he pulls off yet another perfect powerslide and goes about his day. It's like you're sitting in the passenger seat yourself. Hit the jump to see what we mean.

Me : Muhammad Usman Zia

I am student at IBA one of the best business schools in pakistan. the things that motivate in life is success. success nis path to happiness and men persuit for happiness never ends . his wishes are never completed. when one wish is fullfilled he has another one that he wants to be fullfilled. this persuit of fullfilling my wishes for life drive me everyday and this is wat makes me moving. my interest is towards feild of marketing and specially branding. why branding gud question. branding is everything in todays world. everything has to be named so that it could be identified and same is the job of branding. i like things to cleraly identifiable.

Sex! Why Getting Your Attention Is Never Enough

The Lots of companies use interesting and attention-getting ads with the brand name or major takeaway buried somewhere in the ad - completely divorced from the attention getting element. So what happens? Consumers remember this great ad, but for the life of them have no idea what it was for or who it was by. This is a huge waste of resources.
If we are dealing with a familiar product and we have a familiar message, maybe consumers can attend briefly to our message and brand name while they are doing something else. They can divide their attention because the ad and message are familiar and well-known. This is what reminder advertising is all about.
But if we have a new brand, a new message, or something complicated to say, consumers won't possibly be able to attend to this message while simultaneously undertaking the complexities of a stressful, multitasking, interruption filled environment.
Does this mean we can't develop new or complicated messages? No, it just means that we have to be all the more careful about making consumers attend to the right things and make sure our message is interesting enough to have them put aside something else and think about us alone.
What Attracts and Sustains Attention?
Psychologists and marketing academics have learned important lessons about what attracts and sustains attention. We list some of them here. Think about them as a checklist for developing your ad, email promotion, or website. They will help you make your marketing effort interesting and attractive for the right reasons.
On a very broad level, things attract attention if they are personally relevant, pleasant, surprising, or easy to process. There are a lot of ways in which we can achieve these things, as we explain below.
Is It Personally Relevant?
Consumers pay attention to things that that have implications or consequences for their lives, especially if they appeal to their needs, values, or goals. Mothers, for instance, pay attention to ads that feature kids because kids are relevant to their needs, values, and goals. We also pay attention to people who look, act, or seem like ourselves, perhaps because we think they have similar needs, values and goals, similar problems and perhaps, because they know something we don't.
Are you attuned to who your typical target consumer is? Are you using people like them in your ad? On your web-page?
Another way to capture consumers' attention is to ask rhetorical questions—those asked merely for effect. Questions like, "How would you like to win a million dollars?", and "Aren't you glad you use Dial? Don't you wish everyone did?" make the consumer think, "Yeah, I do"! It gets consumers to shift their attention to your brand or service and what it can do for them.
Is It Pleasant?
We attend to things that are inherently pleasant. No doubt this has evolutionary significance. We want to approach things that make us feel good and avoid those that don't. So, for the marketer appealing to the more primitive desires in consumers, here's what can be done:
First, use attractive visuals. Advertisements containing attractive models have a higher probability of being noticed because the models arouse positive feelings or a basic sexual attraction. Do you pay attention to ads with Cindy Crawford, Christie Brinkley and Mel Gibson? Of course you do. You also pay attention to beautiful sunsets, cute babies, enticing food, and beautifully decorated rooms. They are all pleasant to look at.
Music is another way of making something pleasant. Familiar songs have considerable attention-getting power, which is why some companies have used popular and familiar music and famous artists like Reba McEntire, Aretha Franklin, and the Beatles in commercials. Optimally, the chosen music fits with the message you are trying to send.
Humor can also be an effective attention-getting device. This is perhaps one reason why Clio award winning ads become winners. They have attracted the attention of the people who vote for them.
The problem with humor is that not everyone agrees on what is funny. And a good joke loses its punch after it's repeated a few times. Companies misstep with humor when the joke is completely unrelated to the point of the ad. The result? People remember the humor, not the brand name or message.
Is It Surprising?
Consumers also attend to things that are surprising. Again, evolution explains this phenomenon. We are automatically conditioned to things that are surprising because we have to quickly judge how to respond to them (should we fight, run away, or approach this surprising thing?). Two things make a stimulus surprising: novelty and unexpectedness.
We attend to novel things -- those that are new and unique -- because they are different and require analysis. Of course, being new, unique, and different is hard work and requires creativity. Talking Internet ads, shockwave technology, pop-up ads and the like were all, at one time, novel ways of attracting attention. Unfortunately, once something new comes along, its very success makes others want to copy it, which makes it old, not new.
While we have been talking about advertising and web pages, remember that products, packages and brand names that are novel will also grab attention. The perfume labeled "Dirt" is, you must admit, different. "Catalyst for Men," packaged in test tubes and laboratory flasks, will certainly stand out from other fragrances at Macy's.
Something important to remember about novelty: things that are new are not always preferred. We often dislike food, for instance, that tastes different from what we usually eat. The same goes for new clothing styles and new and unusual music.
A second feature affecting surprise is unexpectedness. Unexpected stimuli are not necessarily new, but their placement is different from what we are used to. 3-M created attention with surprising ads that featured chickens with fluorescent, stick-on notes with words like "Rush" and "Copy" stuck to their bodies. One company showed a picture of a man and woman gazing intently at their wallpaper while their baby swung from the ceiling fan. Unexpectedness is a much easier thing to achieve than novelty.
Although unexpected stimuli attract attention, using things that are too unusual can sometimes be confusing. Thus, we might pay attention to them, but then decide they are so weird we don't want to focus on them any more. This potential problem is illustrated inthe Reebok U.B.U. campaign that used bizarre images like a three-legged man and a ballerina vacuuming the lawn. Though effective in getting the attention, the visuals were confusing and rendered the ad unsuccessful.

By Debbie Maclnnis. Available on marketingprofs.com



http://www.marketingscoop.com/sex-why-getting-your-attention.htm

Brand New Thinking: Put It in Cultural

Brand New Thinking: Put It in Cultural Context

by: Ted Mininni
Published on June 3, 2008
As marketing managers seek to keep their brands fresh and relevant, many are tempted to jump on the latest trends and fads. You know: online and major media advertising with new imagery... new slogans and taglines... new product packaging—all playing to the latest pop-cult phenomena, hot colors, and new vibes.
But is that really the solution? The short answer is "no."
If anything, jumping on the latest trends will have the opposite effect. Brands cannot and should not be all things to all people. Nor should they be diluted by constantly going after whatever is trendy at the expense of consistently reinforcing their core values and assets.
If brands are less relevant than they should be, then their core values, and the way they are aligned and projected—or not—should be examined and addressed.
Consumers respond to values they identify with more than they do passing trends. Especially if those values are culturally ingrained and have deep personal meaning for them as human beings.
Brands should have the ring of authenticity and conviction. They should possess and express the following:
· A reason for being
· A definitive point of view
· A system of beliefs
· Clearly defined values and assets
The unearthing of a brand's core values and truths must then be consistently acted upon in everything that companies communicate and in every decision that is made. There has to be complete alignment at every touch point so that the brand is consistently and faithfully portrayed to employees, business partners, stakeholders, and customers.
Cultural anthropology can play an important role in developing consumer connections by taking marketing to a more meaningful, more human level. Tying core brand essences to deeply held cultural meaning gives consumers "reason to believe" in them. By being firmly grounded in cultural values that really matter to the customer, brands can transcend competitors to become not only category leaders, but icons.
These kinds of brands become a way for consumers to affirm who they are and what their lifestyles are—and allow them to project their identity to the world.
In their book Symbolic Brands and Authenticity of Identity Performance, British marketing professors Richard Elliott and Andrea Davies* state: "In a consumer culture people no longer consume for merely functional satisfaction, but consumption becomes meaning-based, and brands are often used as symbolic resources for the construction and maintenance of identity."
It is still true that consumers choose products based on price, quality, and cachet. Yet to a considerable degree brands with deeply significant cultural meaning override these aspects of marketing. For example, Apple, the brand, has an iconic presence among consumer-product brands and a cult-like following. So do brands like Harley Davidson, Coca Cola, Nike, Starbucks, The NFL, NASCAR and Whole Foods.
None of these brands appeals to everyone, but among the consumers they do appeal to they enjoy a devoted, and even fanatical, following. We can also point out that whether consumers are devotees of these brands or not, very few consumers the world over do not recognize their brand marks or fail to understand the essence of these brands' core values.
The evangelism inspired by these brands has everything to do with their meaning and an integrated lifestyle fit among their devotees. When these brands are marketed, and their products and services packaged, their core values are leveraged in a consistent, targeted manner that does not respond to every trend or fad. Otherwise, a dilution would occur with the very audience for whom they are viable and relevant.
Brand Evolution
Since consumer culture continues to change and evolve, brands must change with it, but without losing their essences in the process. Companies no longer operate autonomously behind impenetrable walls. So why do some continue to market in that manner?
Brand marketers have to realize that they no longer have absolute control over their brands through carefully crafted external images. Consumers have wrested a sizeable share of control away from them.
Everything about companies and their brands is transparent now. Consumers play an active role in the shaping of brands, thanks to...
· The Internet
· Social media
· YouTube
· A significant increase in WOM (word-of-mouth).
The culture of those consumers, who are active participants in the Apple brand, for example, or the Harley Davidson or NFL brands, and the way they attribute specific meanings to those brands, help determine their evolution. These brands, over time, have increasingly come out of the hands of the marketers and become shaped by their adherents.
Smart marketers actively engage their customer bases, seeking their input on company-sponsored blogs, even asking for submissions of ideas. They plug into the free-flowing conversations among consumers to learn more from their adherents. They pay attention to what WOM is conveying about their brands.
Brand marketers are increasingly hiring cultural anthropologists to conduct additional research. By asking consumers—or, better yet, watching how consumers use the products to gauge—what they like, what they don't like, what they would like to see integrated into product designs as well as what they say, anthropologists gain great insights into the current culture around the brand.
These insights should be valued, and they should enable marketers to see the souls of their brands mirrored in their customers' comments.
Anthropologists delve into...
· The deeper meanings that consumers ascribe to brands
· The changing way they are integrated into consumers' lifestyles
· Consumers' emotional attachments to specific brand assets and drivers
· The evolution of consumer base culture
Thus, as the culture of customer bases subtly changes, brands can evolve with those changes in a subtle, rather than overriding manner. Jumping on superficial, passing trends would only muddy the brand to its adherents and cause disconnects. By making changes that are responsive to the ways customers' view of the brand and how they want to use it, however, the brand remains viable, relevant, and meaningful to its adherents.
The idea of letting consumers internalize the brands they identify with in a deeply, more personal way, and dictating gradual changes is orchestrating brand new thinking. Result: the consumer is more in tune with culturally significant brands more than ever.
And when it comes to brands, ongoing cultural relevance trumps the latest fads and trends hands down.
http://www.marketingprofs.com/8/brand-new-thinking-cultural-context-mininni.asp

How To Use Internet Marketing To Work From Home

In this article we are going to talk about how to use internet marketing to work from home. Let me just say that these are a few ideas as they pertain to internet marketing. The internet offers such a wide variety of ways to work at home that you are really only limited by what your mind can dream up.Internet marketing is defined as the use of the internet to advertise and sell merchandise or services. This involves the use of websites and e-mail to inform customers about a product, solicit their questions, and accept their orders directly through the electronic medium.What that means to you is you can work at home and make money if you have an internet connection. Everyday people who have never ordered a product online buy something. More and more people who never have even used a computer log online and start surfing.To sell something on the internet you need a website or a blog. Let's look at how you could use your own money making website to work at home.- First of all design your website with your visitors in mind. It should load fast and keep your graphics to a minimum. People use the internet to get information and you can better give them that with words than pictures.- Know your audience. Many websites start out targeting one thing and end up with no theme. If you decide to target dog lovers do not have automobile products on your site. Staying focused seems like common sense, but you would be surprised how many websites get off track.- Get good products to sell. If you do not have any join some affiliate programs and sell other people's stuff. This is great because they will collect the money and ship out the products. You just market and make sales. What a great way to work from home.- Keep you website fresh. Adding new content brings visitors and search engines back. Adding new products gives you a chance to re-sell existing customers. A website that is sitting languishing in an outdated mode on cyberspace is not making anyone any money.
- Hire a professional if you do not think you can do it yourself. They will be able to include all of the legal stuff like privacy statements and guarantees. They will also be able to set your site up so it is easy to get around in. This is know as the navigation of your website.- Learn how to get traffic to your website. If you build it they will come does not apply to internet marketing. The single biggest reason people fail online is they do not have enough buying customers. This all starts with getting people in the front door so to speak.You can work from home and increase your chances of making a good living if you master some of the techniques of internet marketing. Having a quality website to sell for you 24 hours a day means you can make money from home even when you are not working and that is a great thing. Jeff Casmer is an internet marketing consultant with career sales over $25,000,000. His "Top Ranked" Earn Money at Home Directory gives you all the information you need to start and prosper with your own Internet Home Based Business.






http://www.1000freearticles.com/internet-marketing/how-to-use-internet-marketing-to-work-from-home.html

A Guide to using T Shirts for marketing

A Guide to using T Shirts for marketing
By: rosskernick
Promotional T-shirts have been a part of business promotion and marketing of brands for a long time. Promotional T-shirts can be given to clients, to prospective customers, and also to your employees to give them the added feeling of belonging to a brand. You do not need be a world famous brand to benefit from promotional T-shirts. Even new busineses have used T-shirts to create brand awareness.giving Promotional T-shirts to your employees is a great way for brand awareness. You can design T-shirts with your company brand and marketing message for your employees and if you are hosting a seminar, exibition or promotional event, make it mandatory for your employees to wear promotional T-shirts. It is a very inexpensive way to make your staff stand out from the crowd and you present an orderly unity among your employees, the same way in which a uniform serves. Occasionlly businessesthink that it is too expensive to purchase a t-shirt online but they are often incorrect. Buying T-shirts online is a quick and easy process and the choice of online shops is very much better than you expect it to be with some allowing you to undertake the entire design process and payment online.Corporate branding on T Shirts can significantly increase the brand awareness of a business in a very short period of time and aside from the obvious marketing advantages branded T Shirts and other clothing can enhance the perception of customers to your business. Considering the relatively low cost of purchase and printing T shirts against the length of time a good quality T Shirt can last makes branded T shirts one of the most cost effective methods of promotion for many businesses.It is widely believed that DTG tshirt printing is more environmentally than screen printing. DTG uses water-based inks to print directly onto clothing, this means that there are no excess inks used in the actual printing and the only waste that occurs is from the occasional cleaning of the print heads – it should also be noted that head cleaning does not involve any external materials only ink. Then as long as waste ink is disposed of correctly, printing tshirts using the DTG method should have almost no environmenal impact. Screen printing however has excess inks from parts of the stencil not printed to the t-shirt and when screens are cleaned these excess inks are more often than not washed down the drain.
Rokko Rondacrade is marketing manager for Tom Dooleys Online T Shirt designers and printers. Tom Dooleys provide online T-Shirt Printing throughout the UK. Visit the T-shirt Builder website at www.tshirtbuilder.co.uk
Article Source: http://www.marketingarticlelibrary.com