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Showing posts from May, 2009

Sainsbury's vs. Marks & Spencer - the battle for nostalgia

It appears that the latest marketing trend is to look back nostalgically at the 'good old days'. For example, Sainsbury's latest TV ad is all about heritage and history. The theme is "Trying something new for 140 years" and takes the viewer on a visual journey across the company's main milestones in these years. Marks & Spencer, a competitor, have a very similar campaign out there also, celebrating 125 years. In this TV ad they have Twiggy going back in time on a visual journey across the company's milestones in these years... sound familiar? I wonder what the marketing teams in both companies think about these very, very similar campaigns!! I also note that both commercials include the mention of avocados and the claim of having 'introduced' them to the UK... The ads are so similar that I wonder what happened there - coincidence or something more sinister? Which one do you like best?

Travels around the World (Showcase) - Japan

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I’ve already taken you around World Showcase twice: Italy and France . In my long-awaited continuation of this series, we will go a little further away into the amazing country that is Japan. As a pavilion, Japan has quite a few things going for it. First of all, it looks absolutely stunning, especially at dusk. It has a wide open courtyard and is surrounded by a pagoda and a large building housing the shops and restaurants that make up most of the pavilion. The open courtyard gives the pavilion a very airy feel, but it also has some secrets. At the far end of the courtyard is a replica of a castle or fortress and inside there is a gallery. Currently I seem to remember there is an exhibit on tin toys (a must, and almost always quiet!) but it has housed other exhibits in the past. Another quiet spot is the garden in front of the Yakitori House (incidentally, probably my favorite fast food restaurant in all of WDW). This garden is a lovely Japanese garden, full of gorgeous plan

All about (my) running skirts

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As I've said before , I have now discovered running skirts and this is probably the best thing to have happened to my running. Not only are they very practical, they make me look cute (at least I think so), come in great colors and are something a little bit different and more modest than running shorts. I love wearing them so much that sometimes I go out on runs even when I don't feel like it, just so that I can wear one of my lovely skirts! So I am a total convert and would urge anyone who hasn't tried them to do so. I actually only have five running skirts (well, six really but more on that later) and I love them all for different reasons. Lots of people have been asking me about my running skirts lately so here is the quick guide to all my skirts and the different reasons I love them. One of the first skirts I bought was this navy/aqua from runningskirts.com : Runningskirts.com have athletic skirts and running skirts - the difference being that athletic skirts have com

Who does she look like - 2.0

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I've done this before but it's time to play the game again: who does Jessica look like? Because I'm biased and I think she looks like her brother, here is my evidence. This is what Jessica looks like right now, at 3 months: And this is what Samuel used to look like at the same age: Very similar, don't you think? The same chin, same mouth, same nose and very similar eyes but Jessica does have bigger cheeks and her eyes look a bit more scrunched up. Also Samuel had bright blue eyes by this age whereas Jessica's are already turning sort of hazel (but they look brown on this shot). And of course Samuel was growing new, blonde hair by 3 months while Jessica still has her mop of brown curls. Unfortunately there isn't a photo of me at that age (not that I know of anyway) but trust me on this one - Jessica looks like her brother! Or what do you think?

Swine flu - perspectives

I've been meaning to write about this for a little while, then I would change my mind because I am not an expert in this so have nothing really to add. But the topic occupied my thoughts so much to the point that I can't think of anything else to write about so in an act of desperation... here I go. I guess my only qualifier is that I'm from Mexico and have come back from there relatively recently (but long ago enough that I'm not really at any risk). I still have lots of friends and family back there and I get lots of information from them on what things are really like at ground level. So when I see the news here in the UK, I have those filters in my mind. At first I even thought the whole thing was relatively funny - the media taking a small story and blowing it up, causing other people/countries to panic. Why was the story picked up in the first place? I thought that it was perhaps a diversion from the economic situation, or maybe some political move from the Mexica