Brandslut Has Moved

Please visit Brandslut's new burrow by clicking here.

Shhh...

BRANDSLUT IS DOSSING.

Brandslut, dossing like a lizard.

Brandslut is moving to a new domain which means that www.brandslut.blogspot.com will have a new home from November 5th. Remember, remember, the 5th of November! She's making some tweaks, checking them twice, thinking of posts both naughty and nice. Yes, a new Brandslut is coming to town!

Sweet dreams, 

brandslut xoxo

The Greens

Lying in bed last night perusing the Taste Magazine, chocolate Steri Stumpie in hand, I stumbled upon a little blurb about Woolies opening its first eco-friendly store within the Palmyra Shopping Centre in Claremont, Cape Town. I can't find more detail online, but the article detailed how the retailer has used green building practices, energy recycling techniques, grey-water systems and the use of natural air and light to conserve energy. The new eco-friendly store opens on October 28th. I agree that Woolies has some work to do on improving the carbon footprint of its packaging, but I think this is a pioneering move in terms of retail and I hope Pick n' Pay, SPAR and Checkers follow suit. Now if only I could convince the gyms in South Africa to power their facilities with the energy generated from bicycles and treadmills.

I've got my new eco-friendly reusable ceramic mug from vida e caffe. Do you?

brandslut xoxo

Woolworths Living Wall

Click here to plant a free virtual seedling in aid of World Food Day on October 16th and uniting against hunger. For every virtual seedling planted,  Woolworths will plant a real plant at a school in South Africa with a permaculture food garden. Do it NOW, you've got no excuse!

brandslut xoxo

A Snip Off The Old C*ck

I'm just going to cut to the chase. Headache. Hangover. Groan. The Social Strategist and Journoslut are to blame. B*tches. Okay so check out this tear-off phone number ad created by a very crafty Turkish circumsiser, courtesy of Adme Ru. I wonder if Ismat saw an uplift in pene from this campaign? I hope so.

Cutting edge advertising.

brandslut xoxo

Lovebirds

On Monday night I met The Noo for a long-overdue goss' and save-the-world session - my favourite! A bottle of wine down the tapeworm kicked in, prompting a strategic nag phone call to The Investment Banker who volunteered to make us home-made tagliatelle (!) using his brand new pasta machine (the manual kind) from my vice, yuppiechef. If Telkom want to get Heita! right, I suggest they press a call to Paul Galatis on (021) 702 4969. Because THAT. My friend. Is what you call customer service. Anyhoo, the pasta was easy and uitstekend and The Rain Man now knows exactly what to stuff my stocking with this year.

Yuppiechef also happens to be the recipient of the very first Loerie (‘recognising, rewarding and fostering creative excellence’) awarded to an online store, and it's a gold one nogal! I think it's incredibly well-deserved and here's how the lil' nuggets behind the yuppiechef brand did it, article and images courtesy of their in-house online magazine, spatula:

"Our Lovebirds campaign (read the original story here) showed how a simple idea, quickly acted upon can pack an enormous punch thanks to the advent of social media and traditional media channels working hand in hand. One ransom note, a single blog post and a URL registration fee of R70 hi-jacked a social media campaign planned months in advance by two of SA’s leading agencies. In 14 days the ransom generated more than R3,5 million in media coverage while raising more than R100,000 for the charity Soil for Life and the blog post received more visits than the nationally advertised Woolies competition website.

What made it fly? People were captured by the idea of a small, nimble online company taking advantage of a morsel of opportunity, while fleecing Woolies for a good cause as they took their first bungling steps into the world of social media. Cheeky, we know, but we got away with it.

Many manufactured viral campaigns are driven by rewarding people for spreading the word in re-tweet-and-win or share-to-win fashions. It is interesting to note that in this case the motivation for people to spread the word was to help a charity, support the underdogs and play a part in what the Mail & Guardian called a ‘David & Goliath story‘. “The power of a great social idea has been proven through this campaign,” says Dani Vos, from Hello World Agency, “and we look forward to embracing this kind of smart thinking every day with brands like Yuppiechef.”

For some, the big question was whether we saw a spike in sales. The short answer is no, however, the obvious and immediate benefits were great awareness, positive word of mouth and the strong sense of community created among our fans who played an integral role in the campaign.

Being an online store, our world is the internet. We live, breath and communicate with our fans each day through social media. Everyone out there is taking their best guess at what social media means for their business, as are we. Over time we are seeing the growing impact that social media is having on our business, but truth be told, there are no formulas we can follow or ‘experts’ to consult with. It’s a new frontier that we are exploring daily and we’re enjoying the ride.''

Big-up Team Yuppie! Now please make sure I win your Ina Paarman competition ;)

brandslut xoxo

Burritovertising

I'm busy writing a food trend report (yes, I get paid to research cupcakes and things) and I've just stumbled upon a clever little ambient campaign for McDonald's Canada, courtesy of agency Cossette. I think this is a clever way to turn a seemingly tired medium into a tactical communication device. I just love the thought of men in suits commuting with McDonald's breakfast burritos rolled neatly beneath their armpits.

And in my information search I found Burrito Cat, courtesy of icanhascheezburger, a must see for all you pussy lovers out there.

brandslut xoxo

Because Everyone Loves a Good Sausage

The Luxury Meerkat is going to die when she sees this – she’s obsessed with sausies and I don’t blame her, they’re flippen nunu!  If I had a sausie I’d call her Stretch. I’m not ready for pooches yet so I’ll settle for them in all forms faux, like this awesome sausie chair set. Such an easy and clever upholstery  idea, borrowed from this hysterical blog!

Hot! Dogs.



Fail.

brandslut xoxo

Smart Cards

I see what they did there.

A killer business card gets me all excited and I still feel as though companies haven't grasped the strength of these subtle little marketing tools. My Day Job BC is so siff and corporate that I shudder when I have to hand it over to someone. Shouldn't an employee be proud of the business card they possess? These Bad Boys from Franco Caligiuri Financial & Investment Representative designed by Canadian agency Rethink illustrate how a financial advisor works and they get the point across immediately. Heart!

brandslut xoxo

Pinhole Magic

Anthony Browell pinhole 'Primitive Beauty'

After a gorgeous gravadlax and cappuccino breakie at Olympia Cafe in Kalk Bay, the Salty C Dog and I ventured upstairs to the Kalk Bay Modern - contemporary art, framing and gallery. Their art, from jewellery to ceramics and textiles, is beauteous. Let's just say there was plenty of restraining that had to be done with constant reminders of airplane luggage limitations. Which has just reminded me of something else that irritates the poop out of me - airplane weight restrictions. 

I don't mean to sound fattist, but why are  luggage weight allowances not calculated according to total weight, including body mass? Given that I weigh half of a 100kg person, surely I should be entitled to an extra 50kg's of luggage? Or the fat person should be fined for the extra [insert weight here] of mass they're adding to the total weight of the plane. Grr. Did I mention how awesome it was being charged R3500 for being 10kgs overweight from London recently? 

Awesome vibe.

Anyhoo, due to my cheeky inquisitive nature the lovely lady at the Kalk Bay Modern gave me a sneak peak into the photograph selection for the upcoming Point of Focus pinhole photography exhibition which opens on October 15th and ends on the 31st. There's something magical about making a camera from household materials and I'm now on a mission to attempt to replicate some of the insanely beautiful photographs I was shown this morning. If you're interested in making one, here's how. If you manage to get it right, hook me up with your work and we'll host a virtual pinhole exhibition. Fun!  

Kalk Bay Modern

136 Main Road, Kalk Bay

021 788 6571

www.kalkbaymodern.com

I might just have to arrange some incredibly important meetings in Cape Town at the end of the month.

brandslut xoxo