It’s funny how some slogans become a part of your life. I remember sometimes being determined to do something and say “just do it”, having some trouble and say “keep walking” or being totally starving and say  “Did somebody say McDonald’s?”. Usually when I do that, I mentally can see the logos (nike, johny walker and McDonald’s) and I know that that slogan just accomplished its function. The function of positioning the brand in an easy, positive way on the mind of their customers. That is why today I’m going to write the 25 slogans that I think, have been the most succesful and sticky.

1. Nike- Just do it
2. McDonalds- I’m loving it
3. McDonalds- Did somebody say McDonald’s?
4. Johnny Walker- Keep walking
5. Coca-Cola- Open hapinness
6. M&M’s – Melts in your mouth not in your hands
7. Apple- think different
8. California Milk Processor Board- Got Milk?
9. Taco Bell- Think outside the bun
10. Taco Bell- Yo quiero Taco Bell
11. Energizer- It keeps going, and going, and going



12. Kellog’s Frosted Flakes – they’re gr-r-r-eat!
13. L’oreal- Because I’m worth it
14. Budweiser- The king of beers
15. Adidas – Impossible is nothing
16. Toyota – Moving forward
17. Volvo – Volvo for Life
18. Burger King – Have it your way
19. CNN – The Worldwide Leader in News
20. Little Ceasars – Pizza Pizza
21. LG- Life is good
22. SONY- Make. Beleive
23. Panasonic- Ideas for life
24. Pringles- Once u pop u can’t stop
25. Cover Girl – Easy, breeze, beautiful, cover girl

Have you find yourself saying a slogan in any kind of situation? Do you remember any other succesful slogan not listed here?

Leave your comments and have an amazing day!

As a personal tribute for the end of my favorite series, I decided to write a small post explaining why I think LOST is the best series of all times and it will be hardly beaten by other.

Here my 3 reasons:

1. Extraordinary plot and characters: The plot was so good that at the moment you saw it you couldn’t stop watching and you carved for more. I mean, a group of people lost on an island where amazing things happened (healings, whispers, polar bears) is definitely attractive. But the best of all was, that unlike other series, we got to know the characters through an unconventional way, which let us understand why they reacted the way they reacted on different situations, (The flashbacks were great!), and it made us fall in love with them, little by little,  even though we knew their nastiest secrets and their human flaws, (even though they con, murder, lie or torture).

2. Is a series that makes you THINK!: LOST is not the typical series where everything is showed to the viewer. Nooo, LOST is a series that when you were pretty sure that something was black it turned out to be white, it was a series that was full of details so you had to pay attention, it was full of riddles that you wanted to decipher, it had misteries that once the episode was over, kept you thinking about what they meant or how was that even possible.

3. The virtual community: LOST managed to develop what no other series has done, a HUGE virtual community, where from all around the globe we gathered together on blogs or on different social networks, to share our thoughts, our theories and wait together for the next episode or sometimes, the next season. We even got to have our ownLOST wiki, with maps of the island and the meaning of LOST terms.

LOST was the only series in which fans didn’t wait until the local channels transmitted the episodes, but they downloaded the episode a day after its transmition on USA, to see it as soon as possible. Great games were also launched in between each season, so we could stay busy while waiting, and look for clues of what was going to happen next season.

Finally all I can say is that I will really miss LOST and everything that it meant.

Can you think of other reasons? Leave your comments.

But something that came to my mind, was my only coffee I got on Starbucks.

I was a regular tourist, visiting all these famous places, sitting on the top of those funny red buses, and walking like crazy all day long. Every day we (my husband and I) took the bus from New Jersey to New York, and once we landed on the Port Authority and exited the door in front of the New York Times, we started to walk all we could, until we couldn’t feel our feet anymore (though I’m still not sure if it was the walking or the cold).

The second night after walking through Rockefeller Center, Fifth avenue and watch all the Christmas decorations, we (my husband and I) found a Starbucks!!! We were thrilled, something that may be so common for New Yorkers, for foreign people like us, is a novelty. I mean, how many times you watch Starbucks in the movies?, hearing all those varieties and combinations they have, as Tom Hanks said on “You’ve got mail”, it gives the people the power of decision.

Anyway, we went in and felt that delicious coffee smell (which for a coffe lover like me is like heaven and even more delicious after walking all day and being in a such irreverent weather).

It was pretty much empty, may be just one person at the line, and it was our turn. When we got there we were staring at the menu, so many choices, so many options, so many unknown words (we are spanish speakers).

As the guy was completely ready to take our order, we obviously weren’t, I wanted to know what was “Starbucks” specialty, you know, the house recommendation, the reason why all the people drink coffee in Starbucks, the reason why it is always in all Hollywood movies, the reason why I was ready and excited to finally drink a coffee there!

But instead of hearing those suggestions, I heard a nasty “What you want?” and in the second I saw him with dubitative eyes he sees me back with lightnings in his eyes like telling me your wasting my time! (I looked back and yes it was still empty), the menu was still in chinese for me, but I  felt so bad and pressured that I went for the familiar -

Sharon: “a capuccino please”,

Starbucks guy: small, medium, grande?

Sharon: (like I knew what size is which? umm, what word is the fastest) mmm… small.

Starbucks guy: decaf, regular?

Sharon: Just a normal coffee, not decaf

Starbucks guy: what else?

Sharon: (oh no!! my husbands turn)- y tú que querés?- meaning what do you want sweety?

Husband: Mmmm … maybe one of those with milk but cold…

I’m going to leave the conversation here, just to say that by this moment the “Starbucks guy was literary dying of impatience”

So…at the end I drank my capuccino and my husband his cold coffee with milk, while being in complete stress and saying “We won’t ever buy a coffee in Starbucks again”.

Not just because the capuccino was completely plain (I’m Guatemalan, I have the best coffee in my coffemaker every morning), not just because I’m a marketer and my husband a publicist and we are hard to please, but because the customer service sucked!! so much that it is in the top place of bad customer service we experienced on New York. It was an awful experience which obviously we avoided the next 18 days of our trip.

But I’m not writing just to criticize their bad service, I’m writing to open Starbucks eyes (if they ever get to read this), I’m writing for them to see the following facts:

• Customer Service is important
• Customer Service is not just efficiency on delivering orders
• I made a tiny poll where 4 of 5 people I asked, would buy a coffee on Starbucks while traveling to United States

Now consider:

• How many tourists go to New York per year?
• How many of these tourists visit a Starbucks?
• How many of these tourists end up feeling as badly as I did?
• Why to struggle and spend so much money on advertising and bring new customers if when you have them you treat them so poorly?

My advice to you is to find a strategy directed for tourists so you can deliver not just the best coffee you have, but the best experience you can, so they can go back to their countries and tell others “if you go to the States you have to go to Starbucks”. (Which I totally did with Charmin! Go Charmin Restrooms!!). Keep in mind that we are tourists, we are not in a rush, we are not running late to work, we are enjoying a trip, we are digesting a culture, we are trying to have a great time.

However, in this opportunity I will write about the way you can develop reading habits in children from 2 to 4 years.

The first way in which the literacy should be motivated is with songs, chants, conversations and parents reading. When the kids listen their parents read, and feel their body close to them, they start accepting being close to “the reading environment”. Definitely oral reading is the main way in which they will acquire the knowledge of how their world works. However is necessary to complement this narrative process with books containing images, for these images are the ones that will give them confidence on what they are listening to, by relating those “known” images to the words. According to experts, it is also important to give them affective responses, like smiles or hugs, for these will encourage their desire to learn. So if you are a loving mother don’t be afraid to kiss them and hug them all you want. You’re helping them in different levels but in this case, to enjoy reading time.

The first contact kids have with literature is through illustration books, so it is even better when these illustrations come as pieces they have to fit in the book, because in this way they are also developing their motor skills.   At other hand, the songs and chants will also create a need to know their world better, this awakes their curiosity and will give them the wish to read more and more, forever.

If you’re wondering what kind of book is the most recommendable to begin with the process, you must look for one who helps your children to relate the language with his environment. This is for example, if you live in the city, you can look for a book that talks about the city, the buildings, the cars, etc, but if you live in the country, you may want to start with a book that talks about animals, flowers, or trees. The book must be literary as well as informative.

Finally, if you want to make the reading a long term habit, every night create a bedtime story, and sometimes let your child share some of his ideas to be part of the story too. If you can, try to do different voices for each character, use elements from your environment in a different, fantastic and creative way, do movements and be a little dramatic (which let’s face it, women can do from time to time) and if the story allows you, do animal noises.

I can tell you by experience (because my grandpa told me amazing stories and I currently love to read), that this will help your children to always want to read and somehow remember that magical world that you can only find in a book.

I’m not a mom yet, so I can’t give you my children testimony, but I have worked as a teacher and I have studied this kind of facts that will help a kid to improve their reading skills, so I really hope these advices help you, if you’re not doing them yet.

Some of you may be thinking that is kind of late for your kids to apply these methods, but I hope in next posts to talk about other methods for older kids and teenagers.

Greetings!

Well, in first place you have to know that every man is completely different. So you need to know his taste, his preferences, his dreams, etc. The second thing we need to know is the budget we have for the gift.

So I’m going to name 7 ideas of an anniversary gift trying to cover preferences as well as wallets. I hope this ideas help you as a base and let your imagination fly until you find the perfect gift.

1. An unexpected trip: for example today I would’ve loved to give him an envelope with 2 tickets for South Africa and 2 tickets for the World Cup final (which by te way, will probably be between Brazil and Germany). What is that place or event he always talk about? That would be a terrific anniversary gift.

2. A giant LCD TV!: if you can not take him to the stadium, bring the stadium home! Maybe you can give him that huge tv he’s been always asking for, and if he already has it you can give him some gadgets to combine with it, may be a home theater or a leather chair where he can comfortably scream in front of his TV.

3. Software: Yeap, software, something like the last version of starcraft, call of duty (if he likes to play), but what about the CS5 if he’s a designer?, even if you can’t think of a software, but you know he plays online, you can look for a gamecard like the ones from Zynga where you can give him, godfather points or farmville cash so he can buy the weapons he wants on Mafia Wars or decorate his farm on FarmVille!

4. A romantic dinner in a restaurant: This may be on an exclusive restaurant with an exquisit food an chef or you can take him to an all you can eat buffet, whatever he enjoys the most.

5. A romantic dinner in home: if you don’t want to take him out to a restaurant, you can show him your culinary abilities by doing his favorite dishes or creating a new one, all this accompanied by champagne, his favorite wine, tequila or beer, whatever he likes the most.

6. An original song recorded on garage band: you can write him a song, record it on garage band (or other software) and upload the mp3 to his itunes. If you don’t dare to sing, you can also write him a poem and whisper it to his ear. But if you feel that’s too corny for him, then you can make him a painting, pottery, etc, something that shows him how big is your love for him.

7. Coupons to enjoy together: you can also give him coupons reedemable for funny things to do together, it can be from going to the movies together, to make a sexy dance for him.

And you, what other ideas you have? What other things have you done?

Good Luck and leave your comments!!!!

Some people compare the way he writes to “Dan Brown’s”, and even though it feels like that, in his defense I can say that he might write some way like him, but at least he does it sucessfully. Not like other copycats I have on my mind and that get the reader lost between so many changes of characters, places and times. (I have q writer on my mind, but I will talk about that one some other time).

One of the things I liked the most from this book is that the author finds justice (righteousness) from places and people that are not so obvious, so much that in a way it made me get rid of some prejudices I had.

It is basically a religious thriller in which a  “New York Times” reporter (seriously NYtimes reporter again in a book? makes me wonder if other reporters are as good as them), finds different stories which turn to be bound and are the beginning of the end of the world. The story is developed on several historic, mystic settings of judaism.

The truth is that if you like to read, and want to find your next book, this is a book that promises to keep your attention until you finish it. I loved it… let me know if you like it too…

In this opportunity I want to talk about something I think is really important to understand. First in a corporate level and then in a personal level.

The corporate image defines a company to itself and to the outter world, it helps the company to have credibility and to show professionalism, it gives the company its identity. (When talking about corporate image, I mean the logo, the brand, the institutional colors, the slogan, etc)

It is the corporate identity the one that makes a company special and unique, because it expresses the way in which the company makes businesses, its values and the organizational culture. The corporate image is reflected in everything, from the quality of the products and services, to the marketing strategies, and to the work environment.

It lets the company build the customers recognition and loyalty, to communicate their values and to do businesses in a memorable manner. It also gives the employees a belonging feeling.

Due to the importance of a consistent corporate image, it is important that the policies and procedures linked to it are set up and reinforced. There has to be a commitment to keep the brand identity while the company grows. With that purpose is recommended to develop a manual or corporate identity guide, that let the company keep the identity well defined at all times so it doesn’t get lost in a number of possibilities, designs or colors.

At a personal level, I can say pretty much the same thing. Your identity and your image as a woman defines who you are and reflects that to the world. So much that you can go back and read everything again, but this time not thinking about a company but about yourself and you’ll see what I’m trying to tell you.

In the same way a company expresses its formality by keeping a consistent way of design, you as a woman with the way you dress, the way you use makeup, the way you walk or talk, defines who you are as a person, and in this way the exterior will take you as someone professional or will think before making businesses with you.

This also applies to the behavior you must keep, because it is part of your image too. I totally understand….us women are emotional entities and sometimes it requires a lot of energy to control our changes (sometimes hormonal, which we don’t even cause), but with the objective of keeping that “Corporate Image” we must make an effort to not do anything which we have to regret of later.

Your image and your identity are important, and though you probably don’t have a detailed manual with the things you have to follow, you can go ahead and evaluate yourself and see if you’re projecting what you want to project, decide if there’s something you may change and start doing those changes as soon as you can. If you’re determined to do this, you will see a change on you interpersonal relationships, the same way that a company would see a change on their sales and would have more loyal customers.

Until next time!

To be honest, since the minute I saw the poster I couldn’t help comparing it with Gladiator and I didn’t like what I saw, that is… the exact same thing. Eventhough I’m a movie lover (addict or whatever you want to call it), I will probably watch the movie when it gets available on DVD and I can rent it, but to see it in the theater I think is a waist of money and time.

There are two things that bother me the most. First that is not the story we all know, but something completely different (if you want to do that, you can do it without using an old brand) and second that this “Robin Hood” is a little oldy to be the “before” story. It means that when he finally got married to Maryanne, Robin was about 55 years old! lol.

I’ve been reading some reviews on flixter and some are favorable, some are not. Mostly, they say that it is an entertaining movie if you’re looking to see a movie with a lot of swords and arrows, but it is a completely forgetable movie. They also say you may throw all you knew about Robin Hood, cause this is another different story. Anyway, 77% of flixter users liked the movie, but only 47% of critics on RottenTomato.com liked it.

If any of you watches it, let me know what you thought

Adios!

Yummy!! Just to think about it makes me hungry!

If you still don’t know what dehydrated onion is, let me explain you very quickly. Dehydrated onion is obviously a normal onion being dehydrated so it lasts more. It is usually sold in granules or slices and sometimes it might be fried. It has such a delicious flavor that if you’re an onion fan you may even take some bites of it without anything else.

This time, I want to talk about the greatest benefit of the dehydrated onion. The Time Saving!!!

For example, instead of go and look for the onion, wash the onion, peel the onion, look for a knife and finally start chopping the onion, you just open the bottle and without a single tear, you have your onion ready to use. The best of it, is that it lasts several months so you don’t have to suffer anymore wondering if you have onion available or not inside your fridge.

Finally I’m leaving you 2 tips on how to use it, and I know that with time you might become a dehydrated onion fan like me.

1. If you’re the kind of woman who plans what you will cook next day, and if you want to do something easy yet delicious, you can rehydrate the onion on milk, and then add it to chi

cken or stake. (Rehydration process takes up to 3 hours, so you can leave it in the milk since the day before so it’s ready when you start cooking). The flavor is incredibly great!

2. You can also use it as a substitute of the fried onion, so you have to remember: as it is already fried and it doesn’t have water (is dehydrated), if you add it to the pan with very hot oil, it may get burn very quic

kly, so keep in mind that once you put it there it will only take seconds for it to be ready so have the other ingredients ready to be added.

I hope you enjoy this ingredient and take advantage of the advices. If you have any doubt or comment you may leave it here.

Greetings!

I mean, I want to dedicate everything I write to those women who work, sweat, live, enjoy, love and sometimes suffer, to those women who are mothers, daughters, wives, friends, colegues, bosses, fashionists, students, professionals, or anything else, to those women who do everything and with their own life make this world a better place.

I will be writing for those women and I hope that everything I write can help you in some way, can make you laugh or at least can touch a little bit of your heart.

See you around!