Management advice from the king

King Louis XIV of France usually is more known by his vanity and extravaganza than by his management skills.

However, the “Sun King” had one of the longest reigns in Europe, 72 years, and he left written is successful management principles in a letter to his nephew when he became king of Spain.

“Never favor who flatters you, and keep close to you, those who dare to displease you for your own good.

Never put pleasure before business.

Organize your life so you have time to relax and have fun.

Give your full attention to governance.

Gather as much information as you can before you take a decision.

Make every effort to know important people so you can ask them for help if you need it.

Be courteous to everyone, not offend anyone.”

Guerilla Marketing tactics can be cool and effective

Guerilla tactics are made since Humankind started thinking.

The first written text about Guerilla tactics appears on “Art of War” book, which the author is the famous Chinese thinker and General Sun Tzu from the century VI B.C.

Guerilla Marketing is a modern concept that derives from the military and it is usually applicable when the market environment is very hostile and competitive, and also, when unconventional and low-cost resources are applied to reach the objectives previously determined.

There are only 3 basic requirements for Guerilla Marketing tactics, which are Energy, Creativity and Time, instead of spending a lot of money.

There Guerilla Marketing campaigns with different purposes or objectives. Some campaigns can target only brand awareness increase and other campaigns can be more focused on the objective of increasing sales as well.

Example of a Guerilla Marketing campaign focused only on brand awareness increase of Havas Worldwide Australia.


And check out other example of a Guerilla Marketing campaign more focused on sales:

Myths about Portuguese Exports

Almost everyone, Portuguese people included, think that Portuguese top exports are wine, cork, shoes and clothing.

Although those goods are in fact very important in Portuguese economy, those are not even in the top 5 of Portuguese exports.

So, what are the major Portuguese exports?

1st – Machines and devices (15,1%)
2nd – Vehicles and other transportation goods (11,7%)
3rd – Mineral fuels (8,5%)
4th – Metal (8,2%)
5th – Plastic and rubber (6,8%)
6th – Chemicals (5,7%)
7th – Clothing (5,4%)
8th – Agricultural products (5,4%)
9th – Food (5,2%)
10th – Paper (4,9%)
11th – Other minerals (4,9%)
12th - Textile materials (3,7%)
13th – Shoes (3,6%)
14th – Wood and cork (3,2%)
15th – Optical and precision products (1,2%)

Info: aicep (2012)

Horse sold for 5 million euros

Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum, one of the top riders in the world never sold a top horse before.

However a 5 million euros offer was too much to decline.

Bella Donna is a 10 years old mare that is now reaching the top.

The new owner is the Ukrainian millionaire Oleksandr Onishchenko.

More info in this link.

20 million tons of gold in the ocean

There is a lot of gold in the ocean and it is possible to extract gold from seawater.

However, currently there isn’t a cost-effective way to mine or extract gold from the ocean and make a profit from it.

Why?
Because as you know, the oceans are huge, and the actual concentration of gold in seawater is only about 0.0000000006%. To put it another way, there is between 0.1 and 2.0 mg per ton, depending on location, which means that with current technology is more expensive to extract than the value of the gold extracted itself.

More info in this link.

Flying Nannies – Airlines new trend?

"Etihad Airways", the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, has recently launched an in-flight child care assistance program, with nannies that are specially trained to entertain children on long flights

This type of service has already been launched 18 months ago by an American Company called “Nanny in the Clouds”, which offer an in-flight childcare with experienced babysitters for a fee.

This approach is totally different from "Scoot Airlines" from Singapore, which recently introduced a Child-Free Flying Zone on the airplane, which can be booked for an extra fee on the ticket.

More info about this service of Etihad Airways in this link

Nestlé + Google New Ad

Is this war?
Following the new version of Android OS 4.4 being called KitKat, the branding war of OS (Operating Systems) is on.

Check this new ad from KitKat: