Thursday, July 23, 2009
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Cricket - Defend the Wicket! Icon and Description
 Cricket - Defend the Wicket! 10 wickets, 10 overs, hit as many runs as you can! |
| Play this free game now!! |
Cricket - Defend the Wicket! Icon and Description
Cricket - Defend the Wicket! 10 wickets, 10 overs, hit as many runs as you can! |
| Play this free game now!! |
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Managing Brand Meanings - An Anthropological Perspective
The idea that a group of people is more likely to socialize is based on the idea that they use the same brand of product that has always been around. Whether they are a group of Porsche owners meeting every Sunday morning or Mary Kay parties every Thursday night, here I call them customer communities. Today it exists in a virtually connected world and this is where "branding" intersects with "social networks".
These community members place special emphasis on certain types of consumption as part of a celebration, ritual, or tradition. These brands have certain communal elements. Schouten and McAlexander's ethnographic study of new bikers uncovered a subculture of consumption involving Harley motorcycle riders. Their work shows how Harley riders derive an important part of their understanding of the brand from the connection they share with one another. Yet, this understanding goes much further, to an actual way of life, or what they properly call subculture.
These kinds of subcultures have a lot of similarities with brand communities (shared ethos, status hierarchies etc.), but important differences as well. The same can be applied to Apple users, BMW lovers or simple those who are carrying a "I'm not a plastic bag" bag. Brands such as Starbucks, Harley Davidson, Apple, Prada, Mario (Nintendo), Rolex and Oprah are so powerful in comparison to a religious icon, around which an entire ideology of consumption is developed and articulated around. Professor Holt's (Harvard) work applies a structuralist analysis that describes a brand with a socially fixed meaning. Consumers see brand communities having an active interpretive function, with brand meanings being socially negotiated, rather than delivered unaltered and to from context to context, consumer to consumer. This is very interesting when you start thinking about what's going on in Facebook or MySpace.
These community members place special emphasis on certain types of consumption as part of a celebration, ritual, or tradition. These brands have certain communal elements. Schouten and McAlexander's ethnographic study of new bikers uncovered a subculture of consumption involving Harley motorcycle riders. Their work shows how Harley riders derive an important part of their understanding of the brand from the connection they share with one another. Yet, this understanding goes much further, to an actual way of life, or what they properly call subculture.
These kinds of subcultures have a lot of similarities with brand communities (shared ethos, status hierarchies etc.), but important differences as well. The same can be applied to Apple users, BMW lovers or simple those who are carrying a "I'm not a plastic bag" bag. Brands such as Starbucks, Harley Davidson, Apple, Prada, Mario (Nintendo), Rolex and Oprah are so powerful in comparison to a religious icon, around which an entire ideology of consumption is developed and articulated around. Professor Holt's (Harvard) work applies a structuralist analysis that describes a brand with a socially fixed meaning. Consumers see brand communities having an active interpretive function, with brand meanings being socially negotiated, rather than delivered unaltered and to from context to context, consumer to consumer. This is very interesting when you start thinking about what's going on in Facebook or MySpace.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
e-Rally in support of Pakistan Team in Twenty20 World Cup Final
Sunday evening the Pakistan Cricket team will face off Sri Lanka at Lords Cricket Stadium for the Twenty20 World Cup Final. Naturally our prayers are with the team, many supporters will actually be at the venue to support the team, while many will rally in front of their TV sets amongst friends and family, rooting for each four and each six that our team may hit against Sri Lanka or for that matter we shall celebrate each Sri Lankan wicket that does find its way into the dressing room.
In an effort to support the Pakistan Cricket team we Pakistanis have decided to initiate an e-rally in an attempt to make a global impact. Our effort is to concentrate around the trending topics of twitter.com. Trending Topics are a mere 10 most talked about items being discussed live on twitter.com at the very moment, if enough people mention a certain keyword enough many times it starts to feature on the home page of twitter.com
In an effort to support the Pakistan Cricket team we Pakistanis have decided to initiate an e-rally in an attempt to make a global impact. Our effort is to concentrate around the trending topics of twitter.com. Trending Topics are a mere 10 most talked about items being discussed live on twitter.com at the very moment, if enough people mention a certain keyword enough many times it starts to feature on the home page of twitter.com
The last time we here in Pakistan managed to ‘trend’ was during the Long March with the keyword ‘#LongMarch’ I like many digital activists in Pakistan believe that this attempt serves many purposes, firstly the world notices that Pakistan is playing a crunch time cricket match, secondly it will serve to uplift the moral of Pakistan which has for sometime been ruthlessly battered amidst bomb blasts and terror strikes thirdly it is important to bring the patriotic spirit back into Pakistanis.
This campaign is NOT about one person, or one team but a true nationwide rallying support. We are aware there is a technological gap that needs to be fulfilled, as not many people are aware of what twitter.com might actually be, this mere inconvenience can easily be overcome.
This campaign is NOT about one person, or one team but a true nationwide rallying support. We are aware there is a technological gap that needs to be fulfilled, as not many people are aware of what twitter.com might actually be, this mere inconvenience can easily be overcome.
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