Online Insights on FIVEaa Sunday February 5 2012
This month on Online Insights we explore mind control tricks from the underbelly of marketing, tease out some of Adelaide’s interesting bloggers, get a grip on British English and poke some fun at the lack lustre food photos shared in Social Media.
5 Creepy Forms of Mind Control You’re Exposed to Daily
Cars have facial expressions
As many of you know, I am a marketer. And there are many different understandings of marketing.
Some people think of marketing as those hyped-up people in car parks trying to hustle sales of ‘car wash in a can’ or similar. Others think marketing is having a job in a large firm where all you do is design posters and arrange launch events.
But I work in that part of marketing called strategy development. This is where I believe the hard yards of marketing are exercised. Thought goes into the product or service being marketed, the ‘market’ or ‘markets’ being marketed, and all that will be involved in bringing the two together. Sometimes this results in tweaking, redesigning or cancelling a product or service. At other times it results in shifting the focus of the story and message surrounding the product or service so that it can resonate with a different audience.
However, I digress. Tonight’s link is to a comedic article about some of the ‘tricks’ researched by marketing boffins for extracting an extra degree of influence from customers.
Online Insights on FIVEaa Sunday December 4 2011
With xmas about 20 sleeps away a couple of sites this month will focus on that event on how to navigate work parties and how single people can treat themselves to festive feasts, we’ll discover some quick house cleaning tips (always useful this time of year) and we finish with some thrilling rides.
Andersons Law Blog Christmas wisdom
Between now and Christmas Day, many people will be letting their hair down at various work functions – those held at their place of work, their partner’s, their clients, customers or suppliers.
And as much as it is a time for fun and letting hair down, there is always a risk of letting too much down, so to speak.
The first website tonight is actually from the blog run by Andersons Solicitors here in Adelaide and it is called - The work Christmas party, fun or frightening?
This is one of the simplest and most helpful pieces I have seen on the risks of office or workplace parties.
This quote sums it all up: More than ever, it is important to remember that work functions are just that, work functions and as work functions the employer is responsible for what happens to employees (and other attendees) at work.
Online Insights on FIVEaa Sunday July 03 2011
This month we prepare for an indoors winter with tips for making better home movies, things to do with your store of pumpkins, ways to find public toilets when the cold conditions prompt an unplanned call of nature, and one of the most obvious cases of political messaging captured on film. Meanwhile, on the Web 2.0 front, it has been a busy time with Google rolling out their newest attack on the Social Networking market with Google+ and Facebook poised to strike back this coming week with an announcement of integrated video chat within Facebook using the Skype service. But for now, on with the sites.
How to make a movie at home
Unlock your inner Kubrick (Blue Seduction Movie Set by Redvette via Flickr)
With winter upon us it is likely that you will be needing to entertain families at home and inside. With a video camera, a computer and some creativity, you could work as a team and create a celluloid masterpiece.
Here are some wise tips that will lead you through the process.
- Think about the genre or style of movie you wish to make first
- Go and rent some movies in that genre/style
- Decide on a narrative movie (story-telling), documentary style, or a compilation (editing together bits of footage you already have) Continue reading
Online Insights on FIVEaa Sunday June 05 2011
This month on Online Insights we help out a neighbour or hire them, we try to help save a parent support service, cook a delicious breakfast treat and investigate smoking that is not smoking.
Parent Helpline
Top picture, great slogan at the Save Parent Helpline rally, bottom picture, my little girl doing her bit
When governments carve up the pie for spending OUR money, they face innumerable demands from many sectors. For example, having cut leave loading for public servants in this year’s budget, the government has now backtracked due to pressure (they will find it hard to reform this area because public servants are so used to dwelling in an alternate universe of cushy conditions and clock watching that any reforms will be met with intense bursts of pain).
But one decision that at best makes no sense and at worst suggest hyper hypocrasy, is the axing of funding for the Parent Helpline’s overnight operation.
If you have never raised children, you will not understand this issue because until you are alone, in the small hours of the night, solely responsible for the welfare of a child who is screaming or feverish or acutely distressed in some other way, you will not feel how existentially disturbing the experience can be. It is in these moments, when all other services other than emergency services are closed and friends and family sound asleep, that the Parent Helpline has been a godsend.
Anxious parents can ask “silly” questions and get guidance and reassurance from a calm voice on the other end of the line.
Our governments (state and federal) have wanted more people to become parents and yet just throwing a few bucks in baby bonuses around is disingenuous. I know there are other invaluable services offered to parents so I don’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater, so to speak. However, I believe that cutting the small blip in the budget that was the Parent Helpline 24 hour service was a heartless move. If we really want to support the nurturing of new generations then we must provide support at those critical, harrowing moments when fallible humans can snap in despair and take action with long lasting consequences.
Many generations before us existed without such help but in different times there were differing social structures in place to provide similar support. Today is a different reality. Continue reading
Online Insights on FIVEaa Sunday January 24 2010
In this fortnight’s Online Insights we discover food the old fashioned way, consider the look and feel of our homes, explore the world and our city with new service and capture timeless wisdom for the next generation.
79 Degrees
If you are a foodie, you will probably love this new site created by two, Adelaide-based food fanatics who are on a mission to rescue us from eating bland, worthless food!
But unlike the plethora of cooking and food sites out there, 79 degrees is “less about food and more about food as a culture, the centerpiece of society, the centre of the home.”
As the guys say on the website, “We will talk about good food from first principles. We are not chefs, we are not cooks, we do this out of love for good food and what it does to our lives and our families. We will take the mystery out of good food; promoting the fun and stimulating aspects of cooking – not just eating!”
Who are these guys? They’re Nathan and George. During the day, they both work for the Property Council but by night and by weekend, they can be found in their kitchens, making food, trying new things, and sharing it with their families. Oh, yes, food used to be like that!!!
My latest snaps on Instagram
Listen to Steve
- stevedavis: Unwelcome surprise in tub of #GoulburnValley #peaches - my 3yo luckily spat it out before choking to death http://t.co/eTjSIqoJ May 19, 2012
- stevedavis: Plus ridiculous junk between the infomercials MT @thisisgrace: knew there's a reason I don't watch #themorningshow: ridiculous infomercials May 19, 2012
- stevedavis: The #socadl Daily is out! http://t.co/vLwzsWJH ▸ Top stories today via @scottmccarten @hayleybw @hellobenteoh May 18, 2012