Saturday 26 October 2013

Quotes of Entrepreneur

Looking for some inspiration in starting your own business? Look no further! Here's what some of the world's most famous entrepreneurs have to say about entrepreneurship:






Thursday 24 October 2013

Entrepreneur Startup Advice

Starting a business can be exhausting, exciting and exhilarating--all at the same time. This is precisely why it's refreshing to hear words of encouragement from those who have done it before--and succeeded. We spoke with entrepreneurs we admire to cull the single best bit of startup advice they could muster--and the experiences that led to it. They're simple mottoes, to be sure, but their impact can be tremendous.

"Don't think, do."

So said a stranger to Jeff Curran, founder and CEO of Curran Catalog, a high-end home furnishings company in Seattle, more than 20 years ago.
Action hero:Curran Catalog's Jeff Curran.
Action hero: Curran Catalog's Jeff Curran.
Photo© Lindsay Buzzo
The two men were sitting next to each other on a cross-country flight, and Curran, then 25, had just broken into the catalog business. They got to talking, and Curran spilled his idea for a startup while his neighbor interjected with devil's-advocate questions. When the plane landed and the two rose to claim their bags from the overhead bins, the stranger finally opened up his can of insight. Those three words inspired Curran to pour $15,000 of his own cash into launching his company, which has grown into a profitable B2B and B2C brand.
"After that plane flight, I'm sitting in the bathroom at my parents' house and I pick up [a financial] magazine, and this guy was on the cover," remembers Curran, now 47. Turns out the man was mutual-fund maven Mario Gabelli.
Curran still lives by Gabelli's advice. Earlier this year, after learning about profit margins in the high-end car-accessories business, Curran Catalog launched a new product line: designer flooring for collector and European automobiles. "There is such a thing as overthinking a big decision," Curran says. "Sometimes you just have to get it done."

"Let your customers lead the way."

Anupy Singla never intended to build her business around this philosophy, but the more she looks back on the history of Indian as Apple Pie, her Chicago-based Indian food-products business, the more she credits customers with driving her strategy.
Seasoned pro: Anupy Singla of Indian as Apple Pie.
Seasoned pro: Anupy Singla of Indian as Apple Pie.
Photo© Brave New Pictures
Exhibit A: When Facebook followers complained they were having trouble finding certain Indian spices, Singla equipped her company to buy those spices from manufacturers and offer them for sale. Exhibit B: After friends and neighbors asked her to show them around Chicago's Little India, Singla began hosting intimate tours of the shops on Devon Avenue for $50 per person. Even her Spice Tiffin, a modernized version of a traditional Indian storage container for spices, went to market at the behest of customers.
"The point of view for this company is to make Indian food easy and accessible," says Singla, who was born in Chandigarh, India, and immigrated to the U.S. with her parents when she was a child. "If customers are saying they want certain things, it's up to me to give them what they want."
Singla's ultimate goal is to sell her products in retail stores across the country. Until then, however, she plans to leverage her responsive customer base to test-market products and see what sticks. "If something isn't right," she says, "they'll let me know."
Corey T. Nyman of Labor Wines
Corey T. Nyman of Labor Wines

"It's all about passion."

On some level, especially on the ledger sheets, Corey T. Nyman's fledgling wine label, Labor Wines, is about dollars and cents. But the Las Vegas resident prefers to focus on a more powerful force driving his business: his love for the work.
For Nyman, Labor Wines is the culmination of 20 years in his family's hospitality and food-and-beverage consulting business, and of more than a decade fantasizing about making and selling his own Oregon wine.
"I experienced Oregon wine country on numerous visits in 2002, and the place touched me in a way nothing else ever has," he says. "Since then all I've wanted was to give something back."

" I'm starting an Oregon winery living in Las Vegas. If that doesn't scream passion, I'm not sure what does."
--Corey T. Nyman
To bring his dream to life, Nyman turned the traditional winemaking model on its head. Instead of investing in land--a move that would have required a huge capital investment--he and a business partner work with growers to buy grapes from specific sections of specific vineyards, then pay those same growers to make wine. Production is small, but thanks to Nyman's connections with restaurateurs and distributors nationwide, Labor wine is available in more than 35 states.
"I'm starting an Oregon winery living in Las Vegas," Nyman says. "If that doesn't scream passion, I'm not sure what does."

"No simply isn't a choice."

Above all else, this was the mantra that got Leo Rocco through his toughest times on the way to founding GoPago, a San Francisco-based mobile payment company that last year received millions of dollars in funding from JPMorgan Chase. Before the big deal, Rocco had dumped $500,000 of his own money into the company, maxed out his credit cards, endured three years without a paycheck, fielded numerous eviction notices and pivoted his business three times.
Leo Rocco of GoPago
Leo Rocco of GoPago
"I was on fumes," admits Rocco, who spent years working for IBM's Rational Software group before striking out on his own. "It takes an amazing amount of resolve and mental strength to continue doing what you're doing and fight the self-doubt that inevitably creeps in, but when you truly believe in the business you're creating, there's just no other way to do it."
Rocco boasts that his penchant for perseverance likely came from his parents, Italian immigrants who came to the U.S. with nothing and built a successful tailoring business in Buffalo, N.Y.
"They taught me that if you get knocked down, you get back up; if someone stops you from driving forward, you find another way to get to where you want to go," he says. "When failure isn't an option, you promise yourself you won't fail. It's not crazy. It's hard work."

"Seek fleeting competitive advantages."

Mike Masnick, founder and CEO of Floor 64, an insight and consulting company based in Sunnyvale, Calif., admits this advice might be a bit "wonky" for certain circles. But for Masnick, whose company has nearly a dozen revenue streams, it speaks volumes.
Mike Masnick, founder and CEO of Floor 64
Mike Masnick, founder and CEO of Floor 64
Floor 64 manages two insight platforms: Techdirt, a technology and business analysis blog, and the Insight Community, a marketplace for connecting companies with a diverse community of expertise. Add to the mix competitive market analysis for businesses in a variety of industries and an effort toward improving government policy on privacy and intellectual property, and the firm dabbles in a bit of everything.
"There's no reason why any particular business can't have half a dozen business models all working together simultaneously," he says. "Think of it like an investment portfolio: You wouldn't put all of your money into a single stock, so why on earth would you do that with your own company?"
The crux of Masnick's advice: No matter what, keep innovating. Generally speaking, this requires a fundamental understanding of what benefits your market is seeking, and a commanding grasp of technology and technological change.
"By innovating and providing increasing benefits to your customers," he says, "you no longer have to worry about competitors 'catching up,' since you're always leading."

"Business relationships need work, too."

As founders and CEOs of San Francisco-based Little Passports, an educational monthly subscription company for kids, Amy Norman and Stella Ma remind themselves of this often.
Amy Norman and Stella Ma, founders and CEOs of Little Passports
Amy Norman and Stella Ma, founders and CEOs of Little Passports
Photo courtesy of dandelionmoms.com
The two met in 2004 while working high-powered jobs at eBay and became best friends. When they left to launch Little Passports in 2009, they recognized that they were in for a new challenge--one that could potentially shake the friendship to its core. Since then, however, they have managed to succeed through a commitment to candor.
"We have found it important to be honest with each other and communicate," Ma says.
Adds Norman: "Before we started the company, we talked about how we'd handle certain disagreements; this way, when we have them, we get our perspectives out in the open, talk them through and move on."
Trust also helps, which is why Norman and Ma opted to share the CEO title. Each woman has the power to act on behalf of Little Passports individually; if one needs to tend to her family during an important business meeting, the other can represent the company solo. They like to think of themselves as interchangeable. "Without trust," Norman says, "that would never fly."

"Be open to anything."

Without this line of thinking, it's hard to imagine where Wicked+ would be today. For years, it was a typical marketing and branding agency, operating out of a 500-square-foot storefront on the main drag in Hermosa Beach, Calif.
Up for anything: brothers Brian (left) and Colin Cooley of Wicked+.
Up for anything: brothers Brian (left) and Colin Cooley of Wicked+.
Photo© Marc Royce
Passersby, thinking the space was a shop, often would come in to inquire about buying things they saw through the window. Gradually it occurred to founding brothers Brian and Colin Cooley that they should expand their operations to include retail.
Today the agency's modest store carries a handful of products from local businesses, including commuter bicycles, safety razors, Chemex coffeemakers and T-shirts. At any given moment, the brothers might go from writing a video script to selling a bag of coffee.
"I never imagined we'd evolve Wicked+ into a retail brand," Brian says. "But we saw the opportunity and made it happen."
He describes the strategy as a "small bet," noting that he and Colin could have invested big in tricking out a retail operation but instead opted to test the waters gradually. Now that the duo has seen that the shop can be successful, they're contemplating a bigger wager: expanding to a larger space. "We want to grow," he says, "but we want to do it organically."


Read more: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/226379#ixzz2jn8eSipO

Tuesday 22 October 2013

Types of Entrepreneurs

There are probably as many different types of entrepreneurs as there are people, since one of the great joys of being an entrepreneur is the freedom to invent and re-invent yourself and your business to meet your requirements and the needs of the market in which you operate. That’s why agility, flexibility and future focus are clear advantages to successful entrepreneurs and most would resist being placed in any kind of box, and often defy description in the breadth and diversity of their activities.
That said, there are a number of general categories by which entrepreneurs can be loosely described, as shown here.

Social Entrepreneurs 

A rapidly growing and vibrant sector, social entrepreneurs play an important role in providing products and services with the overall intention of creating social good, operating from a triple bottom line perspective of people, planet, profit.  Profit is often reinvested into the enterprise rather than being distributed to shareholders. There are different models of operation and varied legal structures to create such companies, and they are distinct from charities in being self-sustaining through income. Social enterprises have been a long-standing feature of the UK economy and contribute substantially to revenues.
Many people seeking to find meaning in their work are turning to social enterprise as a means of combining their desire to help others and make a difference with their ambitions to succeed in a worthwhile business. This means the demographic spread of social entrepreneurs is right across the spectrum from young to old and from every type of background and education.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron recently said: “Social enterprises have the human touch, the local knowledge and the personal commitment to get to grips with so many of our social and environmental problems…Social enterprises are businesses, just a different sort than most people are used to, but they create jobs and support growth. The facts speak for themselves… We want to make the UK the best place in the world to do social enterprise” (Recorded Address at Voice 11 Social Enterprise Conference, O2, March 2011) 
Organizations such as Divine ChocolateBelu and the Big Issuein the UK are social enterprises, and one of the most famous global ventures is theGrameen Bank which was started in Bangladesh by Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus.
“Social entrepreneurs are people who recognize social problems, decide to roll up their sleeves and get into action using entrepreneurial principles to organize, create, and manage a venture to implement social change that is sustainable, good for the planet and for the highest good of humanity.”
Christophe Poizat, Founder & President of International Network of Social-Eco Entrepreneurs (INSE). For more information, visit:http://inse.biz

Serial Entrepreneurs

Serial entrepreneurs set up businesses, and bring them to a stage of development where they can move on either by selling according to a pre-determined exit strategy, or place the enterprise in the hands of a successor or group of successors whilst retaining some degree of investment and/or strategic input,  whilst they start their next venture, with a view to repeating the process again.

Lifestyle Entrepreneurs

Lifestyle entrepreneurs choose businesses that reflect their passions and they are more focused on doing something they love than on the pure profit motive for starting a business. This includes making deliberate choices to fit a business around a way of living, for example preserving time with children and family, for a hobby or interest, a sport, or some other element of  their life which they wish to retain a place of importance.

Solopreneurs

The ‘one man band’ – An individual who operates alone in an enterprise and manages all aspects of the business themselves. Increasingly possible and prevalent with the advent of the internet, email, VOIP, etc and the consequent ability to perform multiple tasks, coupled with the ease of outsourcing to other freelancers through the ready supply available through websites.

Monday 21 October 2013

Get Your Money for Your Business

A business loan will help you to start or expand your business, but if you don't have credit, it can be hard to get a good loan. You may not be able to get as much money as you wanted, and you may have to pay higher interest rates as a result. Still, if you have a good business plan, you may be able to find a lender that is willing to take a chance on your business.

Step 1
Develop a relationship with a local bank. Large national banks typically have more restrictions than smaller banks that take a more personal approach. Open a business banking account with a local bank and use your account responsibility. This helps you to build your reputation with the bank.
Step 2
Talk to your bank about a loan. You want a loan that is backed by the Small Business Administration--most banks provide these loans. These are less risky for the bank because the government will help out if you default on the loan. Show the bank representative how you can repay the loan through current cash flow for your business or through the business experience that you have.
Step 3
Offer collateral to secure the loan. Without credit, a bank will be wary of lending you money because they cannot be sure that you will repay the loan. If you offer some type of collateral, such as the equipment you will buy with the loan, you become a more attractive borrower.
Step 4
Build credit with a business credit card. If you are turned down by the bank due to lack of credit, you may still qualify for a business credit card. The credit limit on this will probably be less than you were looking for, but it will help you to build your credit as a business, making you eligible for loans in the future.

Saturday 19 October 2013

The '8 Great' Challenges Every Business Faces

There are 8 great challenges that every business man will face in their business.
1. Integrity. Business has never faced the type of moral challenges that it faces in today’s global economy.  Everyone is struggling to be more successful, to make the next quarterly earnings estimate, to keep their job, to earn a big bonus, or to compete effectively.  The temptation to cut corners, omit information, and do whatever it takes to get ahead occur every day. Many business employees and executives succumb.  Sadly, the theme becomes highly infectious and soon people actually start to feel like lying a little, or stealing a little, or deceiving others, is just “a part of business”.  These practices erode the trust that needs to exist between employers and employees, between business partners, between executives and shareholders.  Without trust, the business will not be able to compete effectively and it will eventually fail.
2Cash, Borrowing, and Resource Management.  Cash is King!  We’ve all heard this maxim and it is more true today than ever before.  A healthy profit may look nice on your financial statements, but if capital expenditures or receivable collections are draining your cash, you won’t be able to stay in business for long.  Too often executives and small business owners fail to focus enough on cash flow generation.  In order to head off this problem, businesses must either be adequately capitalized and must shore up cash reserves to meet all obligations as they are needed and to handle downturns and emergencies that may arise. Cash management becomes even more important during recessionary times when cash is flowing more slowly into the business and creditors are less lenient in extending time to pay.  For small businesses, handling business accounting and taxes may be within the capabilities of the business owners, but professional help is usually a good idea. The complexity of a business’ books go up with each client and employee, so getting assistance with managing cash and the bookkeeping can allow you to excel when others are calling it quits. Cash flow challenges are exacerbated by the lending climate, particularly for small businesses. Bankers are unlikely to be more liberal in their lending policies any time soon.
3. Increased selection and competition. It’s never been easier to start a business. Gone are the days when it took weeks, months, and a myriad of forms to get your business started. Now if you can buy a domain name and register your business online, you’re in business. However, staying in business is a much more complicated matter.  While business expertise was once an expensive and time consuming endeavor, you can now find experts online for many questions that you might encounter.  There is help to starting an online store, for example, for getting business cards and marketing materials – all at a very reasonable cost.  The ease of starting a business creates a much broader level of competition.  You might find different business competing for each product you sell and new business that focus on a single item and spend all their time and focus on being the very best at just one thing.  This increase in overall selection and more focused completion will make it more difficult for businesses of all sizes to retain customers who can change their suppliers with the click of a mouse.  It’s a battle of perception, focus, and marketing. Business owners who master these elements and provide a great customer experience will win the sale.
4. Marketing and Customer Loyalty. Along the same lines as increased selection and competition is the challenge to market to potential customers effectively and retain your existing customers. Smartphones, social media, texting, email, twitter and other communication channels are making it easy for businesses and individuals to get their messages out.  Figuring out the right marketing channels is key for businesses to be successful in the future.  Where are your customers and how do you best reach them and what is the right messaging?  Once you get a new customer, how do you keep these customers when they are constantly barraged by competitors of all types, sizes, and locations, trying to convince them that they can do it better or provide it cheaper?  Identifying what your customers want and doing a better job of giving it to them will make all the difference in your company’s future.  The conservative spending climate is also causing a shrinking customer base. Consumers are still quite conservative with their pocketbooks, and as a result, organic growth from current and new customers is not growing as quickly as businesses would like. Business owners and executives are spending more time figuring out how to go above and beyond to keep existing customers, while at the same time figuring out how to cost-effectively reach new customers — without competing solely on price, which always ends up to be a race to the bottom.
5. Uncertainty. All of us, and especially business leaders find great discomfort in uncertainty. Because of global debt and economic struggles, uncertainty is more pronounced today than in the past. The sad news is that uncertainty leads to a short-term focus. Due to uncertainty, companies tend to shy away from long-term planning in favor of shorter-term goals. While this might feel right, a failure to strategically plan five to ten years into the future can end up destroying value. Businesses must learn to balance the need for a more reactive, short-term focus with the need for informed, long-term strategies. Uncertainty tends to put many into a general malaise – unable to get anything done. The ever-running news cycle leaves everyone feeling a bit on edge. This causes business owners and executives to hunker down and customers to stop spending. You need to shut out the world ending news and get back to work.”
6. RegulationA changing regulatory environment is always of concern in certain industries, but uncertain energy, environmental and financial policy is wreaking havoc for nearly all companies today. Whether a demand from customers or shareholders to become more “green,” or the threat of increased costs due to new carbon taxes, environmental considerations are among the biggest challenges businesses face today. And we don’t need to give too much press to the current issue of financial reform and regulation, although we do have some opinions about how to prepare for that if you’re a bank or a brokerage house. The problems to be solved are to understand the meaning of regulation in your industry, its implications for your business, and to develop the skills necessary to deal with it.  Two key areas of regulatory challenges are taxes and health care.  Lawmakers are still haggling over what’s called the fiscal cliff, the combination of billions of dollars in tax increases and budget cuts. Even if Congress reaches an agreement, businesses won’t have the certainty they need to make intelligent decisions.  When Congress does reach an agreement, it most likely won’t be comprehensive enough that it won’t need to be revisited again next year. Health care has been another challenge for businesses. The new Affordable Health Care Act (Obamacare) is so complex that state and local governments won’t know what to do  and businesses will have to devote significant time and resources to understanding the law — or for a small business, hiring some professional to help them do it. They’ll have to get their arms around the law, look at their options, learn more about the exchanges and determine how to make it all work.   Many businesses don’t yet know whether their states will be creating exchanges, or whether they’ll have to go into the national system — and they don’t know what that will mean for their costs.  For some businesses, that information will help them decide whether they will buy insurance, or whether they’ll decide it’s cheaper to not provide coverage and just pay the government a $2,000-per-employee fine. For those who have close to 50 workers, they may decide to not hire more workers in order to remain outside the law’s jurisdiction.
7. Problem Solving and Risk Management. A major challenge for all companies is identifying, assessing, and mitigating risks, including human and financial capital, in addition to the macro economy.  The lack of a sophisticated problem-solving competency among today’s business leaders is limiting their ability to adequately deal with risks facing their businesses. This is why corporate managers tend to jump from one fire to another, depending on which one their executives are trying to put out, and in many cases the fast-changing business environment is what ignites these fires. So what is the problem to be solved? We believe, to do well into the future, companies must resolve that problem solving is the key to business, then develop a robust problem-solving capability at all levels.   As companies proceed to identify risks, they will then have the problem solving skills to know how to best mitigate them.
8. Finding the right staff. Without exception, every business executive I speak to says that one of their biggest challenges is staff – finding the right staff, retaining them, and ensuring they buy into the vision of the business. I’ll freely admit that I have no magic answers here. In fact, if someone could develop a formula for recruiting and engaging the right team members, they would make millions.  A small business is almost like a family, and, like many families, they can work well, or they can be dysfunctional. In big companies, the human resource challenge is politics and fit in the workplace, but when it comes to small business, its personalities and skill.  When you work in a small environment, each team member’s personality can have a huge impact on the harmony and productivity of the business. The key is to learn how to deal with different personalities, figure out what drives each individual team member and tailor your management accordingly.  Despite high unemployment, many companies struggle to find the right talent with the right skills for their business.   Many new manufacturing jobs require high-tech skills. They include positions at factories where computers are used to create products like airplane parts and machinery. And some require several years of training.  Because of changing technology, businesses are struggling to find qualified workers with IT skills, problem solving abilities, and deductive reasoning skills.

9 ways to prepare before starting your own business

If you are unemployed, underemployed or unhappily employed, the idea of taking control and becoming your own boss might be sounding pretty sexy right about now. With the unemployment rate exceeding 9 percent, it has become clear that jobs aren't quite as dependable as perhaps we previously thought. However, the success rates for new business are quite scary too, with the majority of all new businesses failing in just a few years' time. While there is never going to be a "sure thing", if you are thinking of leaving your job to hang out your own shingle, there are significant benefits to preparing before you take the leap.
Here are nine ways to make sure that you are prepared before you start your own business, based on concepts from my New York Times bestselling book, The Entrepreneur Equation, so that you can give yourself the best chances to succeed.


1. Define and Evaluate Your Goals
You can't figure out a path to get somewhere if you don't know where it is you want to get to. Plus, once you have that goal, you need to know if your path is the most direct route to achieving what you want. Ask yourself tough questions about why you really want to start a business. Are you looking to get rich quick? Do you want to showcase your talent, new product idea, or service? Are you tired of your boss taking credit for what you do? These kinds of goals might lead you down the wrong path. On the other hand, if you love the idea of running an entity, if you like creating systems and procedures, adore servicing customers, and if you thrive on wearing many different hats and balancing responsibilities, then entrepreneurship could be the perfect path for you.


2. Show Me the Money
The cost of starting a business in many industries has come down substantially. However, that is only part of the story. Businesses often take a few years to gain a solid foundation, so you need to have enough money to start the business, plus operate it while it stabilizes and have enough money to live on in the meantime. If you don't have the money yourself, identify whether you have credible access to capital; the downturn has made it more difficult to secure financing and you don't want to be three months into a business and have to decide whether to keep the business open or pay your rent or mortgage- that's a losing proposition.


3. Gain Relevant Experience
Being able to manage employees and vendors is the type of entrepreneurial skill you'll need to acquire before starting your own business. You'll also need to know your industry inside and out, including aspects you may not be familiar with or may not even like, including marketing, accounting, and more. Don't have the experience you need? Spend time working in a similar company, shadow a business owner in your industry, or take a job on nights and weekends in a comparable business. Test the waters first with a trial run before you start your own company.


4. Build Your Network Before You Need It
Business sometimes comes down to not what you know, but whom you know. If you don't know many people or if you just haven't warmed up your contacts in a while, now is the time to focus on building a solid network. Strong connections can provide valuable business advice and provide introductions to get you more favorable financing, prices, terms, and conditions from business suppliers and professional services. Moreover, connections are your best source of marketing and customer referrals, which is critical for a new business.


5. Do a Thorough Personality Assessment
Do you prefer the "status quo" and like to avoid the unexpected? Can you handle a life of highs and lows - including financial highs and lows? Could your savings and bank account handle financial lows as well? If you are a person who likes stability and control, or if you prefer when things go as planned, the roller-coaster ride of a new business may not be right for you. Be honest about your personality fit before you take the leap.


6. Give Your Lawyer a Ring
If you are going to go into a business that competes (directly or even indirectly) with your current employer or if you plan to call on prior customers or contacts, you may find yourself in a legal bind, depending on the paperwork you have signed with you current (or previous) employer. Check with your lawyer to make sure you are in the clear or to find out what you need to do to avoid any sticky legal situations.


7. Checkout the Competition
Before you leap into entrepreneurship, take a hard look at the marketplace and your competition. Is your market saturated with successful businesses? Is your industry littered with so many bad businesses that it's developed a bad reputation? Both good and bad competitors will influence just how successful your business will be. You will need to market and brand your business to shine above the good competitors and to make up for the bad ones.


8. Test Your Idea's Scalability
The most successful businesses rely on automation and delegation. Will other employees be able to do your work? If not, can you teach others what to do in an easy-to-follow format? If your business relies on your skills - and your skills alone - you might have a successful job, but it may not be that business you are looking for.


9. Sell First!
Too many entrepreneurs spend time and money building out retail stores, manufacturing products or developing service offerings without truly assessing the viability of the market. See if you can garner interest (in the form of purchase orders, deposits, etc.) before you invest too much capital. If you have a lot of interest in your offering, there will be less risk in pursuing it full time. If you don't get any bites, you may want to re-jigger your offering, pricing or business model before investing your full time and effort.
Putting in the time and effort up front to stack the odds in your favor will help you avoid being one of the statistics.


Sunday 13 October 2013

Inspiration_Advertising



Advertising is the communication relayed from companies to persuade an audience to purchase their products. This communication is usually through various forms of paid media -- TV and radio commercials, print ads, billboards and more recently, product placement. Ads are placed where advertisers believe they will reach the largest, most relevant audience. Commercial businesses use advertising to drive the consumption of their product, while non-profit organizations may place ads to raise awareness or encourage a change in behavior or perception.


Here are some advertising samples that will surely amuse and enlighten you. Check them out :D


Panasonic nose trimmer: Badly


“Billboards built around actual electric wires and poles to amusingly yet convincingly dramatize the need for the Panasonic nose hair trimmer’s safety cutting system.”


Caribou Coffee: Ovens out of transit shelters




“Colle+McVoy helped Caribou Coffee launch its new hot breakfast sandwiches in a very warm way that benefits Minnesotans during wintertime. The agency created ovens out of transit shelters, including real heat, to showcase the hot and delectable new menu items.”


SunSmart Cancer Council Western Australia: Cut Out


“Cutting your sun exposure is easier than cutting out a skin cancer.
Free 30+ sunscreen”



The Economist: Light Bulb





Maxam: Civilization, Egypt



"Don't let germs settle down."





"You're not a sketch. Say no to anorexia."


















SO... WHAT DO YOU THINK?