Blog Marco

I previously covered Mandy Moore when she was at an event with makeup. Now look at Mandy Moore with no makeup! These photos were taken this year at Sydney Airport on February 28. Obviously she had just woken up from her long haul flight from LAX. Ms Moore had some concerts and other engagements scheduled in Sydney and around Australia at that time. And some fans have taken some photos with her: see below...

I was browsing the web and I found a couple of jobs relating to Internet Marketing. Some of their employment responsibilities are quite interesting... Jobs listed below include: Social Network Administrator, Internet/Media Sales Guru, Social Network Content Writer, Account Manager-On-Line Merchants, Web Designer-Flash. These are the jobs of tomorrow. These jobs didn't exist a decade ago... and only started appearing when Flash was invested and affiliate and social marketing took off in recent times.

This photograhy position opening at Starshots Bankstown looks interesting. I wonder what their pay rates and commissions are? These guys charge anywhere between $200 to $400 per photo including the whole makeup and photoshoot session.

STARSHOTS Bankstown is an established business that has been operating successfully in Centro Bankstown for the past 10 years. We are part of a growing franchise that now has 17 studios throughout the country.

Our Bankstown studio requires an experienced portrait photographer to join our friendly team of photographers and makeup artists.

Photographer - Job Responsibilities:

• Using lighting, props and poses to take photos that will wow! our clients
• Being able to sell our product to prospective clients
• Answering phones and attending to enquiries
• Working with a team to help produce a great experience for our clients

Photographer - Essential Skills Required:

• Experienced in portrait studio photography (2+ years minimum)
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Submitted by Marco on Fri, 25/04/2008 - 12:52pm.

Big companies are so desperate to get customers nowadays. Instead of just relying on their advertising campaigns and good word of mouth for people to sign up to their service, they are now sending out door knockers to drum up some business. Australia only has some 21 million people so the only way to grow for these big companies is to grab customers from other competitors. And so doorknocking campaigns have come back. Not only do you have to watch out for the persistent visits from Jehovah's witnesses, but not its the doorknocker from some contracted marketing company representing one of the big companies. I'm talking about the likes of Optus, Telstra, AGL, Integral and Energy Australia.

Doorknocking campaigns are an old technology. Their conversion rate must be high enough to be able to afford to employ a physical sales workforce to come out and talk to potential leads (aka customers) and to convert them into a "sale" or signup.

Doorknocking campaigns are an invasive practise. They simply turn up at your doorstep at the most inconvenient times - the times when you are eating, doing household chores, preparing dinner or eating dinner. It is difficult to handle on the spot. You are there and the salesperson is giving you their spiel, and their offer - vouchers or discounts. It all sounds good - but what is the catch? There's always a catch. Remember to always ask what the fine print is. Like, is their a lock in period? Commitment period, etc... Another difficult thing is that you aren't really given a chance to compare the offers by other competitors on the spot. It's not like you can shop around and tell them to come back in a few days after you've done your due dilligence.

[Comedy] Remember: If You Are Rich, Anything is Possible

Junior Web Content Manager - Online Editor

Here's an interesting job I found... (well it interests me) But in my opinion, it doesn't pay very well. And someone who can deliver these responsibilities and skills are definitely worth more. Definietly worth more.

• Sydney West location
• Immediate start
• Passion for online communications essential
• Circa $40,000

Aptitude for online Communications? Interest in Online Stores?

My client, quickly emerging as one of Australia's premiere online retail and wholesale suppliers, currently seeks a highly switched on and enthusiastic Junior Web Content Manager / Online Copy Editor to join a dynamic, rapidly growing environment on a permanent basis. Essentially we are looking for a passionate individual with the right attitude.

The right candidate will be responsible for assisting Web Content Management in developing and implementing effective marketing communication plans, tracking and modifying website content, mastering the in-house CMS, proof reading and helping to develop online content among other things.

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Submitted by Marco on Fri, 25/04/2008 - 9:08am.

Bloody Australian TV. Bloody Australian Media. Australian TV is SO behind. Some channels try to keep up to date, but others still force feed old TV shows down our throats. And Australian Media are reporting OLD NEWS. Channel 9 has a hit show on it's hands: "Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares" - they've been rushing through the seasons by showing two episodes a week. They've been marketing the show heavily and creating controversy (#1 marketing tactic) about his bad language. They've featured him on 60 Minutes and A Current Affair. Newspapers and even the government are even in on the marketing scheme by continuing the marketing story about Gordon Ramsay's foul language. Yesterday I stumbled upon a news article from heraldsun.com.au about Gordon Ramsay and his lawsuit. The story was dated: April 23, 2008 12:00am. and the Article said:

Here's how you do viral marketing the wrong way. Name yourself "Trashman", upload YouTube videos of yourself complete with mask and boast how you have been deliberately infecting thousands of women with AIDS. Of course none of it has a grain of truth. You just want the attention. The shock value. The clips had been viewed hundreds of thousands of times before they were removed from YouTube and many media outlets fell for the ruse, including Fox News. YouTube users were quick to petition to have him kicked off the site. The president of People Living with HIV/AIDS Victoria, Brett Hayhoe, even weighed in to the issue, telling news.com.au that the man was "extremely disturbing" but seemed "genuine".

Actually is it the wrong way? He has had free worldwide press about his video. People now want to find those videos and check it out for themselves. If they want more information they end up browsing his websites.

Sydney is a great place to live in. And as the survey of 630 Sydneysiders have shown that it is a pleasant place to live in. Out of 8500 respondents to the survey taking place in Alexandria (Egypt), Beijing, Berlin, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, Lyon (France), Mexico City, New York, Paris, Shanghai, Sydney, Prague and Tokyo. But Sydney does have it's flaws. One major flaw is the public transport system. It's "okay" to go from anywhere in Sydney to the Sydney CBD. If you're travelling from the fringes of metropolitan Sydney it will take you anywhere from 1 hour to 2 hours to travel in. The problem is if you want to travel from north-west to south-west and other combinations as there are no direct routes. The only concession to this was the recent completion of the Sydney orbital road which connects a handful of motorways and freeways together in a circular route around Sydney. Other problems include the class divide: rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer... and minor racial tensions and divide.

Here's an interesting video of University Students by university students. It reveals what a typical college student life is about, what they do and issues that they are thinking about. Well done Kansas State University!

Bad luck for Enrique Iglesias... he tried to ask Anna Kournikova to marry him several times and got the no-no. So yet again the Iglesias-Kournikova wedding is not happening. Poor guy... I wonder why Anna keeps refusing him? BTW did you know Enrique Iglesias is half Filipino?! His mother is Isabel Preysler who is married to Julio Iglesia.

Spanish pop singer Enrique Iglesias says he has tried repeatedly to convince his girlfriend Anna Kournikova to marry him - with no luck.

Iglesias spoke to reporters at the weekend after arriving in the Dominican Republic for the first of nine concerts planned across Latin America.

Iglesias says he's been involved with the tennis star for at least three years and says she keeps ignoring his appeals to wed. In his words: "I always try, but she pays me no attention."

The Madrid-born artist is the son of crooner Julio Iglesias.

The Breakfast Club was an interesting film. I was watching some documentary which referenced this film so I gave it a watch. The Breakfast Club released back in 1985 and is written and directed by John Hughes (Also of Home Alone and Ferris Bueller's Day Off fame). The movie stars Emilio Estevez, Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson and Ally Sheedy.

I found the Breakfast Club to be a little slow in the beginning, but I guess that was needed since it sets the scene and builds the foundation for the action to occur towards the end of the film. Everyone knew someone like or can empathise with one of the stereotypical characters: the jock, the criminal, the princess and the psycho. It's important to remember back to one's high school experience to really understand the film. Everyone has a viewpoint, a different perspective. Everyone is crazy in their own way (As Andrew, played by Estevez says: "We're all pretty bizarre. Some of us are just better at hiding it, that's all."). No one can really know what goes on behind closed doors; although with a little thought, people's backgrounds are predictable: the geek would most likely have a family pressuring them for success and the criminal is most likely to come from an abusive background. I wonder what they did the next day... stay friends or go back to their old ways?