Qantas Hash Tag Flop

If you aren't into Twitter, you probably haven't heard so i'll quickly sum it up for you. The Qantas PR team launched a 'competition' yesterday where they asked people to tell them about their dream luxury inflight experience and use the #QantasLuxury hash tag. While Qantas encouraged people to be creative I don't think they could have predicted just how creative some people were.
The whole thing has totally backfired on them and created an online rant of sarcastic complaints from well, everybody. For a good read, suss the hash tag on twitter. But in the mean time, check out this video, pretty funny!

Bland Day Out?

This morning I awoke and starting my usual routine of checking Twitter and Facebook. I noticed Big Day Out was trending and thought the 2nd announcement must have been released. It was. But that's not why it was trending. The promoters of Big Day Out released a statement this morning announcing some changes to the Adelaide, Perth and Auckland shows. Firstly, the amount of stages is being reduced from 7 to just 4, secondly they have dropped headliners Kanye West, The Living End and Mariachi El Bronx and lastly, more than half of the 2nd announcement will also not be appearing in our state.
I couldn't help but wonder after studying all day yesterday the importance of consumers relationships with brands, will this news damage the Big Day Out brand? Big Day Out plays a big role in many young (and some old) Australians lives. To many of us it's an annual summer ritual to wear close to no clothes and run around all day in the sun just to soak in the amazing atmosphere that is an Australian music festival. I feel we've been cheated in Adelaide, why do we miss out? Surely the promoters must know the role Big Day Out plays in our lives (maybe a little dramatic there, but you get the point).
Adding insult to injury, Big Day Out are offering everyone who had a ticket $20 off merchandise. Is that all loosing almost half the acts (not to mention, the biggest act) is worth? I'm sorry Big Day Out, but our relationship has been damaged and I'm not too sure if trying to buy me is going to get you out of this one.

Redheads

I'm not ashamed to admit that I kinda have a thing for rangas, gingers, redheads, whatever you prefer. I don't know what it is. But lately I have been noticing a lot of redheads in adds. For instance, that little annoying one talking about the car. Then when I started to think about it and pay attention, you can't go through an add break without seeing a redhead. Why?
Firstly, redheads, representing under 2% of the population, stand out. They are uncommon, just rare enough to be interesting and catch our attention but just normal enough to still be liked. We're more likely to pay attention to someone who stands out rather than someone that just looks like everyone else.
Secondly, they are recognisable. Well, I believe a redhead is more likely to be recognised again rather than a brunette or blonde because they're different and being different is an important brand attribute.
Finally, when you only have 30 seconds to portray your message in an add you need to make every second count. The consumer needs to be able to easily portray the story you're trying to tell without confusion and redheads easily do this. For example, you can show a younger red head and then an older one and the audience can easily tell that it's suppose to be the same person over a period of time.