The best time for an ad campaign

Ball! Let’s imaging the following, of course completely hypothetical scenario in the advertising department of a German bank:

It is early June. One employee says: “Ey, boss, the European football championships are beginning soon, many people want a new, large 16:9 TV, but not everybody can afford one right away – wouldn’t that be a good time to advertise our credit offers?”

The boss (looking up from the championship schedule he was studying intensely): “Hmmm… yes, might be good. Best would be a bulk mailing, nationwide. You take care of that, will you? I’m currently busy.”

“Yeah, sure, boss, I will! Oh, by the way, I’ll take 3 weeks holiday – championship, you understand? Is that okay?”

Boss (was already looking at the championship schedule again): “…huh? Yes, sure, alright.“

Fast-forward until early July, i.e. the present (and the reality), the Euro 2008 ended three days ago. What’s in the mailbox? A pull-out cardboard bulk mail saying “16:9 for our boys?” with two cheering German fans on the front, pull out left → “No”, right → “problem!” and a third fan. Back:

“Public viewing during the European championship now also at home – with your new wide flat TV and the […] credit. By the way: You receive up tp 18,750 PAYBACK points on top!”

(“Payback” is a data-collecting discount point system, and “public viewing” is actually the “officially made-up” term used in Germany for a public (outdoor) screening.)

Well, that’s perfect timing, isn’t it?
:loll:

Projekt 52 week 27: (old) masonry

The topic of week 27 in Sari’s photo Projekt 52:

(old) walls/masonry

Well then:

27: (old) masonry

Week 27: (old) walls/masonry

Part of an old warehouse – other parts of which were already shown in week 20 – right in the town’s center, with construction work next to it.

Update 4 Jul: They’re actually erecting a scaffolding around that building today…

And as I got to know in the mean time, it actually is protected as a historical building – a nearby hotel already parked their guests’ horse-drawn carriages there a long time ago.


Music Quiz 21

Welcome to the latest edition of my music quiz – this time again in this shape:

Which song text (4 lines) from which song by which artist are described here?

Musik-Quiz 21

:clap: Gelöst von David: “In The Air Tonight” von Phil Collins mit den Zeilen

Well, if you told me you were drowning
I would not lend a hand
I’ve seen your face before, my friend
But I don’t know if you know who I am

» Video bei YouTube

Das war’s, danke fürs Mitmachen, bis nächsten Dienstag!

Without costs more than without…

Mostly out of curiosity, I was just browsing through some notebook configurations at Dell (their German site, that is) and encountered these great options for a security solution which, however, somehow could be improved:

without or without

(1) First line: “without security/antivirus [included]”, without language mentioned, so probably English; second line: “without security/antivirus – German [plus 0.01€]” – So, missing security in German costs 1 cent, and those who don’t speak English have to pay! Or vice versa. Somewhat confusing. ;)

(2) But don’t give up hope, a few lines below you get the same, “without security/antivirus – German [plus 0.00€]”, for free! just 0.00€.
:loll:

Тунгуска

Tunguska event: trees Exactly 100 years ago, on 30 June 1908, there was a tiny explosion1 in the midst of Siberia in the Tunguska region2, felling a couple trees3. So what? Why blame UFOs or black holes for that – tststs… ;)

Okay, seriously: According to the mostly accepted opinion of scientists, it was an asteroid exploding 5–10 km4 above ground – which explains why there’s no big crater; results of a research group last year indicate that a lake a few miles away from the epicenter may be the result of the impact of a fragment.

» More in Wikipedia.


Photo: Wikimedia Commons

  1. with a power of 10–15 megatons TNT, equivalent to over 1000 Hiroshima atom bombs []
  2. accordingly, this post’s title is “Tunguska” in cyrillic letters []
  3. 60–80 millions on an area of 2000 km² []
  4. the exact numbers vary a little, depending on the source []