Cotton Ball Clay

Every week Dhwani has to work on a creative project, write a report and talk about what she did। The class is given an ingredient to work with. This week's ingredient: cotton balls.

We looked into doing the usual things with cotton ball rabbits, chicks, painting project etc. And then we came across this really cool project. Make clay with cotton balls. What I loved about this one - the kids could participate in this totally. And it was soooo much fun. Great way to spend a hot Saturday afternoon. I loved it.

The girls and I tore the cotton balls to pieces, stuck it in each others hair and generally made a mess before putting them into the bowl. We had a contest on who could punch the cotton balls the hardest while mixing it with water (of course I won hands down). We all wanted to roll the clay into the cloth so instead of using one piece of cloth, we used 3 (more laundry). Not to mention we used up 3 saucepans to make the clay. This project was supposed to take 15 minutes. It took us 1 1/2 hrs. 90 minutes of unadulterated 'mom and girls' FUN!


Somehow I don't remember my 2nd grade homework being so creative and so enjoyable.

Competitive advertising.

Experience with clients consistently confirms that competitor names make great keywords. People searching with the name of the company are usually very close to making a purchase decision. Across categories we have seen these keywords to have excellent conversion rates. Though they start with high CPL's, over time the CPL values are also very good. One should not use competitor name keywords in the ad for 2 reasons:

1. That would = branding effect for your competitors
2. Search Engines do not allow trademarked words or use of competitive advertising in ads.

EXAMPLE

We have a client who has path-breaking technology in an established industry. The biggest player in this industry with a huge market share is “B”. I saw an ad by another competitor advertising on the keyword B using the ad message 'Less expensive than B' .

When I called Google on this, they said B was not a trademarked term and as such could be used in the ads. Further, they said competitive statements like 'less expensive' may be used so long as proof for the same is depicted on the landing page. This is very interesting news. So potentially, we may now advertise on competitor keywords and use their names in ads if the product/service is demonstrably and legitimately better than them.

So that’s what we plan to do…

Some caveats:
1. If you are a market leader, don't do this. You might be acknowledging the existence of a competitor your TG is unaware of.
2. This is only possible if your competitor has not trademarked his name.
3. It can be used very well if your competitor has a generic name like 'American Homes' or 'The California company' or something like that.
4. As a courtesy, if the competitor complains, pull the ad. It is a very small world. Relationships are important.
5. Don't use the competitors name on the headline. That is still prime real estate that should be used for your own branding.

Please add to this post and comment. Let me know your thoughts.

Dhwani's musical - Lion and the Mouse

Yesterday was the 2nd grade musical at school. The theme was Aesop's fables. Dhwani was acting in Lion and the mouse as .....the LION. I was super excited that she got the part. Predictably, she was'nt quite as excited. She thought it was a BOY's part.

I remember back in my school days I took part in every annual day celebration. Some times I acted in multiple events - a dance, a drama, a chorus etc. 99% of the time I had a male part. And usually the villains role. I absolutely loved these parts. They were far more fun than the 'little miss goody 2 shoes' parts the heroines would get.

Dhwani felt a lot better about her role once I told her about the parts I took on. See how much fun she had!