Monday, 29 March 2010
Are Celebrities worth their pay ?
Most people have opinions about whether a nurse deserves the same wage as a premiership footballer, but finding information on the topic can prove challenging.
The nature of capitalism is that we are complicit in the huge fees / salaries paid to celebrities.
How would our quality of life be changed if film stars and musicians didn't exist ?
These are some of the issues which need discussion here, and there is little factual information to support your views. One source does spring to mind however.
Are the richest people really celebs ? Take a look at the Sunday Times Rich list ( published annually ) and it will become apparent that industrialists / bankers and CEO's are the real Fat Cats....
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/specials/rich_list/article6169048.ece
Project Management e-books
PIE Charts on FAME
If your project involves comparing the top companies in a particular sector you might wish to show this using a PIE Chart.
Depicted here are UK airline companies for example ( by profit ).
Get in touch if you want me to show you how to use FAME in this way alan.bullimore@beds.ac.uk
I am doing sessions for accounting students on this database in April.
Thursday, 25 March 2010
Junk Mail RIP ?
Marketing and new social media
Do marketing methods alter radically if you are using Social Media ( Facebook, Twitter ) rather than more traditional marketing techniques ?
From a recent article on MediaTel Neil Perkin assesses some of the main of using Social Media for Marketing benefits. For more detail visit his blog
http://neilperkin.typepad.com/
I hope that I've not misrepresented him here.
1. Fans, even virtual ones, have made a commitment. You have found out who they are...
2. Engaged users ( fans/friends ) care more than searchers
3. Those who interact are advocates ( they tell their mates ? )
4. Search engine weight is improved by having lots of fans.
5. You've found loads of people..now you can target them
6. Interacting with your customers is easier.
7. Different marketing strategies can now be employed
( I got puzzled here about what these might be )
8. Advertising through social media sites will become ever-
more important.
9. Real time feedback ( see no.6 presumably )
10. Your audience awaits ( everyone is on Facebook already )
Perkin, N (2010) Social Media : maximise your business's potential accessed via MediaTel [online] http://library.beds.ac.uk/ on March 23rd 2010
Friday, 19 March 2010
Repositioning the Brand
- Publicity surrounding the McLibel 2
- Accusations by author Eric Schlosser in Fast Food Nation
Morgan Spurlock's film "Supersize Me"
and the insulting phrase " McJob" defined as unstimulating low paid work with few prospects.
To some extent the brand has repositioned itself in the recent past :
Introducing a staff website, with online training for it's 67,000 Brititish employees
A new BTEC qualifation in "work skills" for employees
Reducing fat content in fries, and converting chip fat to biofuel
Phasing out the bright livery in favour of more muted chocolate and green colours
Providing wi-fi access
Killer Facts
A record growth in sales in 2009 was announced in January ( 11% growth over 2008 )
More coffee sold ( in Britain ) than Starbucks and Costa put together
Edge, S ( 2010) Welcome to McWorld, Daily Express, Saturday 13th March p.36-37
Friday, 12 March 2010
Watch this space...
- e book reading technology is still at an early stage ( less than 1/5 of 1% own them )
- Book publishing is booming, and a considerable contribution to the UK GDP
- one of the most popular internet sites is actually a market for print books...amazon.com
Tuesday, 9 March 2010
Future of the Post Office
Against my expectations Mary Portas ( Daily Telegraph Magazine, Saturday 6th March ) was quite kind to the Post Office, and not too cutting in her comments.
www.telegraph.co.uk/maryportas
If you are doing a question on the future of the Royal Mail / Post Office you will also find some official reports in full-text on :