Survey Part 2

As promised, here is the second part of the survey.

Click here to take survey

Again, thank you to everyone who completes the surveys. You help and cooperation had been greatly appreciated.

Survey

It's been a while since I last blogged. That's because I've been very busy at school. One of the projects I've been working on is a research report about downloading software and digital media from the Internet. I made a quantitative survey that anyone can answer. It would be a great help of I got some responses back. The survey is below:

Click here to take survey

This is the first part of the survey. I had to break it up into two parts because I was only allowed a maximum of 10 questions per survey from the website that I used. The second part will be up soon as well.

Thank you to everyone who participates!

Book Review: ZAG

Book: ZAG
Author: Marty Neumeier

ZAG is the follow-up book to The Brand Gap (see my review of The Brand Gap here). Unlike the previous book, where Neumeier focuses on 5 disciplines of branding (differentiate, collaborate, innovate, validate, and cultivate), ZAG only focuses on the first discipline: differentiate.

ZAG uses the same types of layouts, illustrations and charts as the Brand Gap, so it makes for an easy transition from one book to the next. It is also quite short, a little shorter than the Brand Gap. That's a good thing. Neumeier was able to condense everything about differentiation into only 150 pages. That's pretty amazing. The wording is very clear and concise, making ZAG an easy to read book.

The illustrations and charts that the author has included are fun to look at and relate directly to what is written on the page. If you don't look at these illustrations or charts, you are missing a very important part of the book.

Instead of 5 parts to this book, like the Brand Gap, there are only 3: Finding your ZAG, Designing your ZAG, and Renewing your ZAG. Neumeier describes everything, from how to name your company or service, to the latest trends that you could jump on in order to drive your zag. According to Neumeier, a trend is something powerful, and it could make your brand even better and more powerful if you can ride more than one trend at a time.

The best part of this book for me, was when Neumeier was describing what a house of brands is, and the difference between that and a branded house. It directly relates to something that I'm working on right now, and actually made it quite clear. That section alone opened my eyes and is helping me quite a bit and giving me a different angle from which to view my problem.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book. It was a terrific follow-up to the Brand Gap, and I would recommend it to anyone that needs to either find a branding strategy, or look for a new approach to their brand. What a great read. 

Book Review: Perfect Pitch

Title: Perfect Pitch
Author: Jon Steel

It's that time again- time for another book review! This time, I am reviewing Perfect Pitch by Jon Steel. This is a book all about presentations. There are tips on how to present, tips on how not to present, and case studies from the worst presentations (the prosecution of O.J. Simpson), to the best presentations (the pitch by London for the 2012 games).

This book was such a joy to read. Steel's writing style sucks you in, and you end up not wanting to put the book down. His own personal examples from his experience were really interesting, and the advice he gives can be applied to other professions as well, not just advertising.

Some of the advice though, from some of the pitches where he went all out, would be hard to follow, especially for a student with almost no budget. But, that is where you get creative. It can also be hard for a student because he describes pitches that can last for a few hours, while in my experience, pitching for school projects has only lasted for about 15 minutes. Steel does say though, that timing is very important, and sometimes a short pitch can be better.

He had so many great nuggets of advice in his book, from PowerPoint to what order to present the information. The best tips though, were what not to do during a presentation (which I have probably been guilty of in the past). Some of these were surprising, too. I won't spoil them for you, you'll have to find out on your own.

The best presentation advice I can give, is for you to read this book.

I hope that you enjoyed the review. I will probably have another book review up tomorrow as well. That would be on the book Zag, by the same author as the Brand Gap, which I reviewed last week.

Don't forget to follow me on Twitter @GalacticGirlx2. That's all for now!

Weekly Wrap Up

I'm back again after a short hiatus. I know that I promised a book review for yesterday, and I apologize that I didn't deliver (I was feeling a little under the weather). There will FOR SURE be a book review up later today- just let me get some homework done first. In the mean time, here are some articles on what's happened in the ad world this week:

Top Management Shake-Up at Havas Digital

Ogilvy PR Faces Turbulent Times with Unilever Brands

Should Agencies Be Worried About Heineken's New Deal with Google?

I hope you enjoy these articles, they are an interesting read. Don't forget to follow me on Twitter @GalacticGirlx2 for even more.

That's all for now!