theboxAuthor / Lee Beijer

Explore our historical blog articles for nuggets of wisdom (and random musings) from our crew.

The Devil is in the Details

by

Picture this scenario, an architect is tasked with drafting plans for a dozen completely identical buildings in a dozen locations across the globe using the local building contractors. This would be an enormous challenge, the plans would have to be very specific, down to the smallest detail as to ensure that variances in their interpretation are kept to a minimum, but the plans would also need to make allowances for the fact that each team of contractors and sub-contractors work a little differently. The architect would need to consider, among other things, the variations in local language, skill-sets, practiced building methods, and materials available. It’s possible that the architect would need to down-spec the plans to the lowest common denominator, either that, or ensure that specialist sub-contractors who are capable of accomplishing the more ambitious tasks are made available to every site.

Read More

Just a click away

by

It amuses me when I hear people say “oh, the Internet is really slow today”, just because the page they want doesn’t pop up the instant they click on the link. I can still recall browsing the web on an Amiga computer through a 9600bps dial-up modem. To put things into perspective, downloading your average 3 minute YouTube video (10MB) on that type of connection would take 2hrs 25 1/2 minutes at 100% efficiency, which is impossible. So realistically you could expect it to take anywhere from 3 1/2 – 5 hrs, and that’s only if your connection didn’t drop out. I think I found a lot of patience during those years.
But things have changed and technology has moved on, most of us are permanently connected to broadband connections at home, at work and on the go. That’s progress for you and is a true testament of how hungry people are for instantaneous information and communication. The communications sector has experienced huge growth year on year, but how long can this growth be sustained and how will this affect the way businesses interact with their customers?

Read More

Your domain and you

by

As one of my colleagues has discussed previously the web is a complex beast and understanding the in’s and out’s of the web is best left to the ‘I.T. Gurus’, but it doesn’t hurt to understand the basics. On your journey towards growing your business in cyberspace one of the first hurdles you will face will be one of choosing your domain name; that is, a unique internet address or name which points to your website. Firstly, there can be a bit of red tape surrounding domain registrations in Australia with the rules being governed by the Australian Domain Name Administrator (auDA), and this can turn a lot of people off. In this blog I will briefly summarise some of the most frequently asked questions we are asked by clients about choosing a domain name and how to use it.

Read More

Personal computers 2.0

by

Just as Microsoft revolutionised the way we deal with email communication by giving us the free web-based email service Hotmail, the search engine giant Google is set to revolutionise the way we use our desktop machines in everyday situations with GDrive. So what effect will this change have on the communications industry and the way we market online? After years of speculation about its development, recent press release suggest that Google are gearing up to release a new service that may change the way we work with computers. Called GDrive, the service proposes to give any recent web enabled device (mobile phone, PDA, game console, etc) the power to perform the tasks of a PC by essentially, outsourcing any of the processing to giant supercomputers licensed under Google.

Read More

Brand farming

by

In terms of planning an advertising campaign, buying media is an art as much as it is a science – there are many variable which come in to play that determined the success, or potential for success of a campaign. The potency of any advertising campaign can be determined, if all other things being equal, by the reach and frequency of the execution. Most media campaigns start with a finite budget, where the reach and frequency of the media buy have to be weighed against each other to provide the optimal balance between the average number of people exposed at least once to the advertisement over a specific period of time and; the number of times the average person is exposed to the advertisement over a specific period of time. While a perfect balance is near impossible to achieve, the one Golden Rule to remember here is: reach without frequency = a waste of money. But there are always exceptions that break the rules!

Read More

Love thy brand

by

As marketers, we feel very strongly about the concept of brand management. Almost on a daily basis I see brands treated with little to no respect by the very people who, funnily enough, have the most to loose by having a brand go in a wayword direction – I’m speaking of the owners of the brands themselves.

Read More

Tech is in

by

I’ve always though of myself as being a tech savvy kinda guy, keeping myself abreast with the latest technological developments. Lately, and I don’t know if it’s part and parcel of getting older, but it seems that the world is finally catching up with me; innovations which I thought were only for the Gen X’ers, Y’s and technophiles are being used by everyone.

Read More