Interactive Web Success

As the snows recede across Eastern Europe and the warmth of the Mediterranean pushes northwards into Hungary, Budapest celebrates in style with its annual Spring Music Festival. Now moving into its twenty-sixth year, the festival is a collage of music, art, dance and opera that captivates audiences from around the world.

In 2006, the Budapest Spring Festival opens on March 17th, the theme being the 250th anniversary of the birth of Mozart, and the 125th anniversary of the birth of Hungary’s own Béla Bartk. Both composers will be celebrated flamboyantly through exhibitions of their work, recitals and concerts. Some of Mozart’s most impressive operas are also to be performed, including the ‘Marriage of Figaro’.

Folk Music to Rock n’Roll

The Classics, although taking centre stage at the Budapest Spring Festival, by no means have the Festival all to themselves. There are jazz nights, folk nights and even exhibitions dedicated to the rise and rise of rock n’ roll. With so much to see and listen to the Budapest Spring Music Festival really is a festival for people of all ages and music tastes.

Getting to the Budapest Spring Festival

Budapest is the capital of Hungary, and as such is easily accessible from most of the world’s main airports. Budapest airport is also on the budget airline network in Europe. Cheap flights direct to Budapest are therefore available from many locations, including the UK.

It is important to note that Budapest airport is 16kms outside the capital itself. Booking transport in advance is therefore essential for a hassle-free transfer to the city. Car hire can be booked in advance for pick up at the airport - see http://www.your-carhire.com

Seb Jay is a freelance writer specializing in the origination of web content for http://www.your-carhire.com

Almost anyone who has been to Ireland on vacation will tell
you that vacationing in the “Emerald Isle” is an unforgettable
experience. There is something about the friendliness of the
people, the haunting beauty of the land, and the incredible
history that makes you want to return again and again.
I found myself in that situation in the summer of 2000, as
finally, after several years of failed attempts to return to
Ireland (I had gone there in 1994), five of us decided to go
for a 10-day trip. We decided to go in May, 2001, which gave
us more than enough time to plan a route.

One day, while looking at a map, I noticed a small town
called Dunmore East on a strip of land jutting into the ocean
south of Waterford. I was intrigued by this place and
envisioned a weathered old hamlet that was
quintessentially Irish. This, I hoped, would be one town in
which we would definitely stay.

We almost never made it to Dunmore East, thanks to a
bizarre series of events. On the way out of Dublin (where we
had stayed the first night), one of our cars suffered a
blowout, and soon our two cars were hopelessly separated.
We returned to the B&B in Dublin, hoping our two friends
would get in touch. The next morning we heard from them,
and were once again on our way, but we had lost a day. We
quickly passed through the Wicklow Mountains and, after
what seemed like an eternity, we pulled into Waterford and
continued along the winding road toward Dunmore East.
After ten miles of driving through rolling farmland and
windswept ridges, we finally saw houses and lights in the
distance. We pulled into Dunmore East just as the sun was
setting behind us. Coming down the hill into town, we saw
the ocean in front of us. This was indeed a spectacular
location.

Our B&B was on the main street overlooking the harbor. It
was foggy, and we could just make out the green cliffs that
formed the harbor. Down the hill from the B&B was an inn
and a pub on the water. Winding lanes, a church and old
cemetery, a park, and thatched-roof houses all added a
unique charm to the village.

Seaside villages can often have an eerie, surreal
atmosphere to them at dusk, and Dunmore East was no
exception. The combination of waning light and
ever-increasing fog caused the town to take on a haunting
look. Across the street from the B&B, there was a small park
with a memorial overlooking the cliffs and the harbor. A
single streetlight just added to the incredible scene. I must
have taken a half roll of film at that spot, trying to get the
perfect picture of a truly unique place.

While in the pub at the mouth of the harbor, we met friendly
locals and European tourists. Like the owners of the B&B,
they were surprised that Americans would know about
Dunmore East. They said that the town tends to cater to
Europeans, and that people from the U.S. are rarely found
here. Ironically, one of the owners of the B&B was a New
Jersey native who fell in love with the village.

Dunmore East is the type of place where you park your car
upon arriving, and do not use it until you leave. It is a very
walkable town, with everything being within a 1-square-mile
radius. I spent the afternoon of our second day there doing
just that, and discovered places in town that people in cars
would clearly miss. For instance, there was a sprawling
park with benches, paths down to the rocky coast, and
grassy areas for lying in the sun. There was also a winding
road that ended up at a small beach called (I believe),
“Ladies View.” It was a pristine place with views of the
harbor, driftwood along the beach, and salt spray in the air.
I continued my walk along a coastal road, and soon found
myself walking into a business district. I had accidentally
discovered “downtown” Dunmore East! Apparently, we were
staying in the harbor part of town, which we had mistaken
for the village itself. The center of town was very charming,
with several old shops, a few pubs, and some more
winding lanes.

On our second and final night in Dunmore East, we ended
up eating at one of the pubs in the center of town. After
dinner, we walked back to the B&B through the mist and fog,
wishing that we could stay a few more nights. But alas, we
had to move on, and though we found some terrific places
in the next several days, nothing beat this little seaside
village south of Waterford.

Marc is a writer who has helped create two major Web sites:
Boston’s Hidden
Restaurants, a restaurant guide that
features top little-known dining spots in Boston and New
England, and Travel Guide of
America,
a US travel guide that focuses on interesting cities, towns,
and villages that are vacation destinations. This entry is
from a series of travel
essays from Marc’s personal Web site.

Copyright 2006 Red Ladder, Inc.

I often have the opportunity to talk with many women about pricing and valuing - both themselves and their businesses - when delivering two of my popular seminars: profitable pricing and negotiation. The ability to value yourself, coupled with strong negotiation skills, are critical in terms of determining your own worth and value, and the value which others place upon you.

Society typically determines value through monetary measures - what you make in terms of salary if you work within the corporate realm, or revenue generated by your business if you are an entrepreneur. In one of my newsletters, I asked subscribers to respond to the question of whether or not there were disparities in the value that society places on work performed by women. Over 65% of subscribers agreed that there were indeed disparities. Not surprising when you look at the differential in earnings between men and women. Yet, I also find that women help to perpetrate some of the devaluation that occurs. Does this make me mad? You bet. So, how do we perpetrate the cycle? Let me give you some examples.

Think back to the last time you changed jobs, asked for a promotion or submitted a bid on job that you wanted and perhaps, desperately needed. When it came time to ask for the salary you wanted or the fee you deserved, what did you do?

Many women I talk to tell me that they are guilty of what I term the “psychological” one-down. Instead of asking for what they wanted, they had a conversation with themselves telling themselves why they wouldn’t get what they wanted. The outcome: they wound up asking for less than what they wanted or deserved, and in many cases, less than what they would have been able to receive. This sends a subtle message that we don’t value ourselves and therefore, society doesn’t need to either.

So what can we do to stop this cycle of devaluing women’s work and worth in society?

1. Take inventory of yourself and determine your unique value proposition.

2. Determine the skill sets that you need and make time to practice those skills regularly.

3. Help other women by placing a high value on the contributions that they make.

4. Eliminate the negative self-talk and work on improving your own positive self-esteem.

5. Treat yourself with the same respect and value you give to colleagues.

And finally, remember believe in your value and others will too!

Regina Barr is a management consultant and speaker who helps companies develop strategies to attract, develop and retain women leaders. Sign up for her FREE Ezine, Developing People…Inspiring Success at www.RedLadder.com .

Deep down inside each of us has an entrepreneurial spirit. The term entrepreneurship doesn’t apply strictly to our careers and the way we go about making money; it applies to every part of our life.

“What?” you ask. Did someone change the definition of entrepreneurship and forget to tell you? Not really. Strictly speaking, entrepreneurship still refers to starting up and operating your own business, a professional endeavor that requires independence, creativity, individuality, and risk. But you can apply to your personal life the same skills that make you a successful entrepreneur.

In the traditional business sense, an entrepreneur is a person who doesn’t want to be locked into a job. He or she is someone who has many skills. An entrepreneur is not a nine-to-five person who collects a paycheck every week or two. Entrepreneurs have a true pioneer spirit. They don’t just have a dream; they follow through to make it happen. Successful entrepreneurs have their head in the clouds and their feet on the ground.

For example, being an entrepreneur is similar to sitting in a kayak with the waves breaking over your head. The force of the water is much greater than the force of you trying to paddle. But if you make the right moves by focusing your concentration and being diligent and careful, you can get where you want to go.

As an entrepreneur myself, I’ve learned that you have to paddle as fast as the current. If you don’t, the current will push you sideways and take you off course. Then you are vulnerable to the waves that will flip you over.

Successful entrepreneurs feel that a life without risk is a life without living. Who wants to live a life without risks? You never achieve any success or happiness in life without taking risks. But you can greatly minimize the severity of the risks by simply planning.

The two main reasons why businesses fail are; (1) inadequate cash flow and (2) lack of planning. It’s very basic, it boils down to is asking yourself two basic questions, “Where am I going and how will I get there?” For example, if you take an automobile trip, you need gas and a map. The same thing applies to business. There must be sufficient planning and conceptualizing in order to move forward. If you don’t know where you are going, you aren’t going to get there.

Another key to successful entrepreneurship is doing something you love. The people who are successful in business and in their personal lives, are doing something they really love to do. There are many people who start businesses that they aren’t really interested in. And therefore, they don’t put their whole heart and soul into it and they fail.

One quality that serves us well in both our personal and professional lives is perseverance. It is quality that you must have to achieve success and happiness. For example, it took Thomas Edison roughly 20,000 failures before he got the light bulb to work. And horse jockey, Eddie Arcaro had to ride in 301 races before he finally won a race.

You must have sufficient knowledge and experience in the area you decide to pursue as well. For example, if you want to start a photography store, you need to have good knowledge and experience in the field of photography. Many people for example, have started restaurants just because they have some good recipes. But because they didn’t have any business experience in the restaurant industry they failed.

A common pitfall in both personal and professional life is that people create rules for themselves and then don’t know when it’s appropriate to break them. Don’t lock yourself into just one game plan. Flexibility is one the most important requirements for success.

You must be flexible because sometimes you have to follow your heart and know when to change course and investigate something new. Changing careers is difficult, you wonder if you’re throwing away something for which you have studied long and hard. It’s not smart to change if you don’t have a good reason. Change for the sake of change, or to escape something, is rarely a good idea. You should make a change only if it will improve your life and make you happier.

People who lived in the Industrial Age are usually not very open to change. People who have lived most of their lives in the Industrial Age still believe that to be successful you have to follow the same formula; get a college education and then you can get a good, secure job for life. They believe that it doesn’t matter whether or not you like your job, it’s a regular paycheck, and that’s your security.

Another reason people are reluctant to make a change is because they fear the disapproval of others. People who make major changes, especially career changes, are sometimes looked at by their colleagues, friends, and family with raised eyebrows. Professionals especially are looked at with disbelief. The people around them wonder what possessed them to want to make a change. After all, they reason, you’ve gone through all this training; why would you want to give it all up?

This type of reasoning is very detrimental to success, because it assumes the individual doesn’t grow. You don’t have to decide what you are going to do in the eighth grade and stick with it the rest of your life. You can switch jobs. You can and should make career changes.

Having the entrepreneurial spirit means wanting to run a business the way you run your life. And wanting to run your life the way you run your business. To run a successful business you want to increase the number of clients you have. To have a successful personal life you want to increase the number of friends you have. You need to have a business plan to guide your business success. You need to have goals and objectives to guide and measure your personal success.

The parallels are endless between a business and your personal life. For every example of the entrepreneurial spirit in business there is a parallel in life. Having the entrepreneurial spirit means your personal and professional life cannot be separated. Being an entrepreneur is a way of life. All you need to do is get yourself into an entrepreneurial mind-set, and you’ll have the power to make things happen.

Copyright© 2005 by Joe Love and JLM & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.

Joe Love draws on his 25 years of experience helping both individuals and companies build their businesses, increase profits, and achieve total success. He is the founder and CEO of JLM & Associates, a consulting and training organization, specializing in personal and business development. Through his seminars and lectures, Joe Love addresses thousands of men and women each year, including the executives and staffs of many of America’s largest corporations, on the subjects of leadership, self-esteem, goals, achievement, and success psychology.

Reach Joe at: joe@jlmandassociates.com

Read more articles and newsletters at: http://www.jlmandassociates.com

As happens so often when one is surfing the web, I came across Young Parents Magazine whilst the subject was about as far from my mind as it could be. On another day I might simply have hit the back button but something about the clean-cut and pleasant home page drew me in and I could see no harm in taking a little look.

Subtitled ‘Your Parenting and Family Resource on the net!’, the home page offers an opportunity to sign up for a weekly newsletter, with tips; articles, fun stuff and money saving coupons, right at the start - a very good idea, given that anyone actually looking for the site may well be interrupted by the needs of the youngest member of the family at any moment and this way can act quickly to avoid losing touch with a useful resource.

The rest of the home page - http://www.youngparentsmagazine.com/ - is taken up with a practical and charmingly candid article by Jennifer Tarzian, the lady who owns and operates the website - herself a ’stay-at-home mom’.

Being a dinosaur and, as yet, uneducated in the world of RSS feeds, I can’t tell you what the RSS links at the top of the page lead to, but I found some familiar-looking text links a little way down the left-hand side of the page and was taken in for a moment by one that said ‘News’, as it too required RSS-readiness, something that anyone young enough to become a parent probably already takes for granted! My next click took me to the Articles page and I was soon totally absorbed.

Although I am well beyond the age when I might have been able to make practical use of some of the information and advice contained there, I found it fascinating and have no doubt that it was worth reading so that, if nothing else, I can suggest to younger family members and acquaintances that this might be a good place to find a wealth of useful, relevant and interesting reading material.

Most of the articles were not restricted to an audience of young moms at all, and I spent a most enjoyable evening browsing my way down the extensive list of ever-more interesting titles!

It was only as I sighed with regret at discovering that I had now seen all the articles, that I noticed, sandwiched between ‘News’ and ‘Articles’, an item I had missed entirely - a four-letter word such as one never would have seen on a website like this one a few years ago. Goodness knows how I could have failed to spot it at the start and what a joy to discover that I still had the entire Young Parents Magazine ‘Blog’ to look forward to. Whoopee!

Online since 1998 as a webmaster,working mainly with small businesses and freelance tradesmen, Linnet Woods is editor of MarineZine, a free online nautical magazine, is active on several work-related forums and has more than a dozen sites at http://www.linnetwoods.com

I was brand new to this nice product marketing thing less than 2 years ago and I have to say that if you feel lost and overwhelmed I know exactly how you feel. (By the way “niche product” and “niche program” are one and the same - both things you are aiming to sell to your niche market) I made many mistakes and lived to tell the tale - and boy did it pay off!

I was the number one computer phobic, clueless dumbo when I first came across this way of doing business. All I knew was this seemed like a way to ditch my 9 to 5 job (that I’d been stuck in for 26 years!). So I took a deep breath and dived in.

If you are like me you will read everything you can find and soon learn that opinions are like rear ends - everyone’s got one. But I realized after a while that I kept coming back to some very basic ways go about marketing niche products - and it is these that are the key to your success.

1. Find a niche market

2. Find a niche program or product.

3. Sell the product to the market.

The first and maybe not so obvious is find your niche market. Notice I said first find your market - not your product. I remember frantically looking for great products I thought would set the world on fire. Guess what? No one else thought the same. Result - no sales. Eventually the penny dropped and I started finding the market first and then finding a product to match.

How do you find a hungry niche market? Find what they are typing into search engines. How? Well there are many great products to help. The one I use the most (Good Keywords) also happens to be free! Just go to Google and type in “Good Keywords Softnik Technologies” and you will find where to download it free.

A great place to find your niche products once you have established your hot market is Clickbank.com - If you are not a member then join now, and you will have access to over 10,000 digital products that cover every niche there is. And it is digital products that are easiest to start selling if you are new. Clickbank deal with all the order processing and delivery so you just have to concentrate on sendng your customers.

The established way to go on and sell your products is through pay per click advertising or having a website. Both these work but can be difficult to learn in the your early stages - and why make it difficult for yourself?

There is a 100% effective niche marketing strategy, almost “undercover” way to get to the top of the search engine rankings using articles about your niche products. It is a system put together by Nathan Stark and it enabled him to bring in over $3 million in sales in one year. This is something I was totally skeptical about - until I tried it! I have to admit you need to put in a bit of effort, but it soon became apparent that this new technique rewards you thousands of times over in the form of sales. For only 60 - 90 days work an ongoing stream of customers is created for life! Wow - was I taken aback!

I hope you pursue your niche product marketing business because I have to say, hand on heart, it is the best thing I ever did - but remember it’s not something for nothing. Do the basics right and you will be richly rewarded.

Gaz Hutchinson Internet Marketer

For details on Nathan Stark’s Niche Product Marketing System visit http://www.realmoneysite.com

I am an Internet Marketer living in England. For more details on my favourite program visit www.realmoneysite.com

You probably wonder why when you go home to your mailbox everyday and open it up there’s dozens and dozens of postcards and other direct mail pieces sitting waiting for you everyday. If you’re like me you’re probably tired of having to weed all that junk mail out and drop it straight into the recycling bin before you even get inside the door of your house. Well the cold hard fact is that companies spend a lot of money on direct mail because it works. Direct mail is still a great way to get to specific prospects with a specific offer and this is no less true in the B to B space than it is in the B to C space.

Companies that put together compelling offers, purchase the proper lists and have a strong letter or piece of ad copy can still generate very respectable response rates from direct mail campaigns. Many companies use that as a tool in order to generate first level leads into their system that they can then nurture along through email campaigns or telemarketing; they can be qualified through telemarketing.

Other companies use direct mail in order to approach companies that they want to market to and warm them up to sales calls. You can target personalized letters to the executives that you want to reach inside your target prospect company and then following up with a direct sales phone call with the goal of selling an appointment and getting in front of a customer.

So direct mail still has it’s place in the overall marketing mix and a lot of people have become disappointed or desensitized to the power of direct mail but when it’s done right a combination of a great list, a great offer and great content direct mail can drive new leads into your companies door that will help you to accelerate sales.

About Cube Management
Cube Management provides sales acceleration services to emerging growth and mid-market companies in the technology, manufacturing, healthcare and business service sectors. The experts at Cube Management work across the entire spectrum of marketing, sales and business development to provide customized solutions that drive revenue and profit growth. Cube Management combines Strategy, Process & People to produce winning results.

Are you thinking about purchasing a display, but not sure about the investment? Renting may be the best option. Good justifications can be made for both renting and purchasing a trade show exhibit. This sometimes stressful decision depends on the nature of your trade show program, marketing goals, and budget.

Renting can be a wise decision when your company has decided to start exhibiting at trade shows, your company is new and wants to make an initial big splash with a smaller budget, or your trade show schedule has overlapping shows and you need a second display. When first developing a trade show program to drive, supplement, or diversify your marketing mix, it can be difficult to determine the best exhibit for your needs. Making a large financial commitment on an exhibit under these circumstances can be a daunting task. Analyzing your company’s needs and choosing the right booth is integral to a successful trade show. It can be a good idea to rent rather than purchase a display even after you have done your research and decided on the best exhibit to fit your needs. This offers you an opportunity to “test drive” your exhibit. This renting strategy can also be used anytime you need to purchase a new exhibit, even if you have a trade show program already established.

Trade shows are huge undertakings, and when launching a start-up company with new products, trade shows are almost always in the marketing mix. Yet an exhibit, as integral as it is to a trade show, is one of the last things a marketing manager is thinking about when trying to launch a new company’s concept, service, or product at an industry trade show. All the tasks that go into a show exhibit - transportation, drayage, installation and dismantling - can be major headaches when you have leads and clients to cater to, not to mention promotional materials and product samples. Renting often relieves this burden since most display rental companies handle the installation and dismantling, shipping and drayage of the rental display, which frees up your time to handle more important things.

Renting a booth may be a great idea when purchasing an exhibit is not an option. This greatly reduces the initial expenditure and allows you to maintain the visual presence necessary to generate leads at a show.

If you only attend one show per year, it may be more beneficial to rent a display and purchase graphics, however if your organization has a more rigorous convention schedule, it will be more economical to purchase an exhibit. Typically, after about four shows the rental booth costs would have covered the purchase of a new exhibit.

The best of both rental and purchase worlds is when the rental display company offers a rebate plan similar to OneSource Exhibits’ Rental Rebate Program, which allows 100 percent of the rental fee to be applied toward the purchase price of a similar display if purchased within 90 days of the rental. This gives your company the flexibility to determine which type of display will work best for your trade show program prior to buying the exhibit. Call a OneSource Exhibits Consultant today at 800-767-8225 to learn more about our wide variety of rental displays.

Gabriel McIntosh

© Copyright 2005 OneSource Exhibits
http://www.onesourceexhibits.com

The first time i went for my network marketing business training, i watched as different business builders came on the stage to tell their business success stories. What i noticed was that, leaving those that operate their business part-time out, many of them have been in the business the same number of years but achieve different business results.

First off, i’ll like to make something clear to whoever is reading this. Success ladder does not get crowded at the top. The successful people at the top will not impact your own business in any way.

In MLM the harder you work, the more successful you will become. It doesn’t matter how you define harwork. If hardwork means sitting at your computer table generating hot leads or standing by the corner of the street distributing flyers, as long you are getting the message out there about your business and your company products.

Whichever way you choose to run your business you will always face rejections and other types of hardships. One thing is true in this business, the more rejection you face, the more successful you will become. So i don’t know any reason why you won’t want more rejections everyday.

If you think little, act little, do little training, go for little training, take little rejections, it means you will achieve little results. The top earners in our business have been through hardship before they finally get the results they desire. Are you preapared to go through the same.

Network marketing business is a number game. Talk to 100 people a day, get 1. Talk to another 100, get another one. That means if you talk to 10 people a day, it will take you 10 days before you can get 1. The higher the number of people you talk to, the more successful your business becomes. That is the universal law of average.

In mail order business, the author still gets very rich with a 2-5% success rate. Even though 95 out of 100 said no to the mail, the author still gets rich. Rejections does not matter. It only means someone somewhere is waiting for you. Don’t take it personally, it might not be the right time in the life of the prospect.

Get your message out there, speak to more people, and you can then guarantee yourself a long-term financial security.

Free Network Marketing Tips Online
Author of Beginner’s Guide To Network Marketing
You may subscribe to my newsletter here to receive tips to boost your home based business.

With more and more companies wanting to integrate their products into the lives of
celebrities, now seems like a good time to take a closer look at Celebrity Product
Placement, describe three common approaches, and outline what steps can be taken
to guarantee results.

The term “Celebrity Product Placement” is used to describe several related
techniques, but its definition applies to each: free products are distributed to
celebrities in expectation of a promotional benefit. Unlike the more overt, paid-for
endorsement, it offers a distinct advantage. It can appear like a product choice
made on individual preference.

Most marketers are unaware of their options in this category (one form features
contracts with celebrities, guaranteeing performance and allowing marketers to
actively leverage celebrity patrons in the media) and therefore many overlook a very
powerful influencer-marketing technique.

In this article, I will describe each of the three main approaches and discuss their
relative merits by listing their pros and cons. I also hope to quash any
misconception that Celebrity Product Placement has to be a gamble, and show you
how best to secure a return on investment (R.O.I.).

But first, a little history…

Celebrity Product Placement (sometimes called “Celebrity Seeding”) has been with us
since the dawn of marketing. Centuries before Arnold Schwarzenegger stepped into
his first Hummer, an 18th century potter named Josiah Wedgwood began supplying
his wares to England’s Queen Charlotte. Being given the title “Potter to Her Majesty”
led to a huge amount of publicity for Wedgwood which he took advantage of using
the term “Queen’s Ware” wherever he could.

It wasn’t until the 20th century that marketers keyed-in on America’s “royalty”:
Hollywood. But more often than not they met with disappointing results. Some
companies responded only to occasional requests for products (”gifting”), while
others made half-hearted attempts to distribute them without first devising a means
to guarantee results (”seeding”). In the end, most companies seeded product “to the
wind” and failed to grow anything of value.

Those efforts that did succeed, however, were so successful that independent
specialists emerged to help companies achieve better results. But the services they
offer vary and so do the results.

What’s It All About?

Marketers have long known the power of celebrity to influence consumer-
purchasing decisions. The term “borrowed equity” has been used to describe how a
celebrity endorsement can bestow upon a product special attributes and cache it
might not otherwise have.

The same concept applies to Celebrity Product Placement. But unlike celebrity
endorsements, where a highly compensated personality appears in commercial
advertising, Celebrity Product Placement offers marketers a more subtle and highly
effective means of reaching the public - via the media they consume by choice.

Indeed, Celebrity Product Placement is as much about placing products with
celebrities as it is about getting stories about those relationships into the press.
Regardless of the approach, Celebrity Product Placement strategies have a common
aim: to tie celebrities (thought-leaders, influencers) with consumer products in the
public consciousness.

Three different techniques offer three different levels of control over that placement:
gifting-the-talent (this usually involves supplying products for gift bags at live
events); product seeding (products are distributed more widely in hopes of securing
a promotional benefit and kicking off a trend); and, barter relationships (individual
celebrities agree to participate in custom programs in exchange for valuable
products).

Let’s take a look at each one in greater detail.

GIFTING-THE-TALENT

“Everybody” knows that celebrities own all the coolest stuff, and well before
everybody else. Celebrities travel the world and every minute detail of their daily
lives pervades the media. As style-leaders, they are perhaps our most powerful
influencers. It’s no wonder then that companies are lining up to give them the latest
gifts and gadgets for free.

One method to do this is called “Gifting-The-Talent.” This generally involves
supplying free product for insertion into “goody bags” which are handed out as
‘thank you’ gifts to celebrity presenters and award nominees at the now-countless
awards shows and charity benefits that dot the entertainment landscape.

At last year’s Academy Awards, for example, one of two Best Actress gift-bags
featured Gucci sunglasses, a Sprint PCS phone, Christian Tse 18-carat gold Iris
earrings, and more. The Best Actor bag featured Gucci eyewear, a Maurice Lacroix
Swiss watch and assorted other goodies. According to news reports, the retail value
of one such group of bags at the Oscars exceeded $110,000 each!

But how effective is this practice? If the goal of Celebrity Product Placement is to get
press coverage, can we measure the value of gift-bag placements? What types of
products are suitable and which are not? And what level of control does this strategy
offer marketers both in terms of demographics and reach?

There is no denying the value of being associated with these glitzy events, and by
extension, the celebrities who populate them. On the plus side, they offer a rare
opportunity to get close to the biggest stars in the world. On the minus side, the
marketer has no control in matching up celebrities who hold sway over their
particular demographic. They have to play the cards they are dealt.

Gifting-the-talent at award shows virtually guarantees mentions in the celebrity
press at the time of the event; but without permission to associate the celebrity’s
name and likeness with the product, marketers don’t have the leeway to truly
leverage those relationships in their own press activities.

Gifting-the-talent in this way has other limitations: first-movers snap-up desirable
categories and, of course, not all products are deemed appropriate. You won’t find
an energy drink in these bags.

PRODUCT SEEDING

Product Seeding offers marketers more control over whom to place products with
but, conversely, less control over how (or if) those products get used. And, while
virtually any product - from bottled water to consumer electronics - can be seeded
with celebrities, marketers are playing the odds here. But the payoff can be huge if
the seeding is supported by a creative strategy.

Product Seeding is the oldest form of Celebrity Product Placement. Products are
distributed more widely. They can be aimed at celebrities who are most compelling
to your demographic. And they can be delivered directly to the celebrity without the
filters imposed by events. Of course, working with a specialist who can get your
product directly to celebrities becomes paramount here. Film and television product
placement agencies are NOT set up for this practice.

Taken by itself, Product Seeding is a gamble. If you send enough freebies to
Hollywood but you don’t have a creative strategy, a celebrity might be photographed
using your product or evangelizing it on a talk show. But if one looks at Product
Seeding as one tactic in a larger Celebrity Product Placement effort, it can pay big
dividends - particularly in identifying celebrities who have a true affinity for your
product.

Energy Brands, makers of the Glaceau Vitamin Water line, discovered this in 2004.
As a result of its long-time strategy to “home deliver” the vitamin-enhanced drink
to celebrities (including Sean “Puffy” Combs and Tom Cruise), the company gained a
fan in 50 Cent. Having mentioned his preference for the product in a series of
interviews, the Hip Hop star - who is well known for his fitness-centered lifestyle -
became an obvious choice for brand spokesperson.

Speaking to Ad Age magazine, Energy Brands’ VP of marketing, Rohan Oza, said
“We’ve seen that when 50 Cent incorporates [Vitamin Water] into his daily routine …
the brand gets on the airwaves and we create a lot of trial.” Making vitamin water a
visible part of the rapper’s healthy lifestyle worked so well the company launched a
new “Formula 50″ variety named for the artist.

Such “organic” relationships can grow from Product Seeding. Not only can marketers
benefit from press mentions, but the process can be used to uncover promotional
opportunities and, in some cases, identify the most ideal product endorsers.

Product Seeding remains a gamble but, if executed properly, one well worth taking.
Relatively speaking, it is a very low-cost marketing program. And the return on
investment - though difficult to forecast compared to barter relationships discussed
below - can be big. But what if your goal is limited to getting press mentions? Can a
publicist hedge his or her bets in this category?

One of the great things about Product Seeding is how creative you can get. For
Trident White chewing gum, the company commissioned a Harris poll asking the
public to vote on the best “celebrity smiles.” My company, which specializes in
celebrity product placement, delivered gift baskets of the product to the Top 6
winners, allowing Trident to plug the celebrities in their press materials.

On another occasion, Electrolux - maker of a new high-end, super-quiet vacuum
cleaner - wanted to align their product with celebrities. We identified 6 celebrity
moms who had recently given birth and - touting the fact that these vacuums would
not wake a sleeping baby - made gifts of the product to each. Here again, the
company was able to use celebrities to draw press coverage for its product. And
they were able to reference these celebrities because they were stating facts (a gift
was made to…).

But what if you want tighter integration with celebrities? Suppose you need to
forecast a return on investment in order to get approval for a Celebrity Product
Placement campaign? And what if you want celebrities to provide feedback about
your product and authorize use of their names and likenesses as part of your press
campaign?

BARTER RELATIONSHIPS

Barter is, perhaps, the only way to guarantee performance on the part of the
celebrity. Unlike other forms of gifting, this is a quid pro quo relationship whereby
the celebrity agrees in advance to participate in the marketer’s promotional activities
- in exchange for valuable product.

Celebrity Product Placement campaigns of this type work best for big-ticket items
such as consumer electronics and (the loan of) cars. But with creative approaches,
special product questionnaires and generous “Right of Publicity” agreements,
marketers can use the celebrity’s name, likeness and opinion as part of their public
relations campaigns.

Celebrity Product Placement - via barter agreements - is also among the most
affordable ways to use celebrities. For the price of a few products, and sometimes a
token honorarium, companies can integrate testimonials into their PR materials and
create customized celebrity content for their websites.

They can involve numerous stars in a press campaign for less than the cost of a
single paid celebrity spokesperson. It is one of the most under-exploited tactics
available to marketers today.

A Case Study: Sony Electronics

The Sony CD Mavica - at the time, the only digital camera offering a built-in CD-
Rom - had failed to penetrate the increasingly crowded market for digital imaging
products. This was troubling for Sony because the CD Mavica offered clear
advantages over its competitors; namely, freedom from wires. But that message had
failed to reach the public.

Sony wanted to involve celebrities with their products and for that involvement to
influence the public in a meaningful way. They wanted a high-profile event -
preferably benefiting charity - upon which to launch a yearlong press campaign in
time for the Christmas shopping season. The focus: to promote the simplicity of
CD-based photography.

The budget was limited. But, having learned that the latest Sony products could be
made available to gift the talent, The Hollywood-Madison Group proposed a
Celebrity Product Placement campaign. Each celebrity would be asked to take a
picture of what “Freedom” means to them, and those photos would be auctioned off
for charity.

Such an artistic challenge, coupled with the prospect of receiving free Sony product,
not only served to induce celebrities to participate, but offered us an extraordinary
opportunity: to frame these pictures and mount an exhibition which raised money
for charity. Indeed, the charity component attracted higher-caliber celebrities and
provided the “hook” to draw media attention.

We successfully placed the Sony CD Mavica digital camera with fifteen top stars
including Eric McCormack, Alyssa Milano and Dennis Hopper. The photographs were
then offered for sale on eBay as part of Wired magazine’s annual charity auction,
and put on display at a star-studded event in Los Angeles.

Fifteen top celebrities demonstrated the practical use of Sony’s product and
authorized the use of their names, likenesses and opinions about the product for
press and marketing purposes (for one year). Sony received free advertising for its
product in print and online for three months (worth an estimated $100,000), as well
as 3.6 million webpage impressions (auction as a whole) and national press
coverage including Entertainment Tonight.

You can read more about this project on our website>celebrity_projects>influencer
campaigns.

Conclusion

Celebrity Product Placement offers marketers an exciting way to influence
consumer-purchasing decisions. Properly executed, it can be a low-cost, high-
return proposition. As such, it should be part of every consumer-marketing
program.

Three different approaches offer three different results: gifting-the-talent (narrow
focus); product seeding (broad focus) and, barter relationships (one-on-one focus).
But, as we have seen, a tightly integrated celebrity product placement campaign,
combining elements of each, can improve results and deliver an impressive return
on investment.

Jonathan Holiff is president and CEO of The Hollywood-Madison Group - the leading
recruiter of celebrities for endorsements, appearances and press campaigns. Visit
the website at http://www.Hollywood-Madison.com