Media II, Inc. - Profile

Timely Tidbits from Media II Advertising, Public Relations, Sales Promotion

In This Issue:

Been a Little Busy…
Writing Tips
A 3D Interface to the Planet
Create a Free Virtual Catalog
History of @
Quote of the Month

Been a Little Busy…

As you may have noticed, we haven’t published our Public Bath newsletter for a while. We’ve been very busy with a number of projects and campaigns for our clients – and they always come first. Some of what we’ve been up to include:

Complete redesign of a tool catalog for a major manufacturer to make their products easier to find, select and use. Just off the press, it includes several indices, easy to follow and comprehend formatting, product usage tips, cross-selling of complementary products and much more. We’ve received many good compliments from them, their sales channels and partners.
Developing vehicle wrap graphics for a provider of industrial and commercial products and services. Now everyone who sees these rolling billboards knows what the company does and the features and benefits they offer.
Implementing the roll out of an exciting new factory automation to enterprise connectivity appliance to help companies better respond to customer needs, meet new regulations and improve asset utilization while lowering manufacturing costs. This campaign includes:
- National and international advertising
- A comprehensive public relations campaign that included a press tour, feature articles, white papers, news releases and editor interviews
- National and regional tradeshows
- Print on-demand capabilities literature and data sheets
- Web site development

To date, this campaign is resulting in hundreds of unique web site visitors every month, several product of the year nominations and most of all, sales.

Helping to introduce a new dietary supplement to international markets including package design, web site and sales literature.
Developing 25 pieces of sales literature to support the introduction of a new line of electrical products to North American markets. Our knowledge of the products and the markets for them resulted in very minor changes to our original copy and design concepts to keep costs low and speed delivery. We also reformatted their catalog to make product selection easier.
Revamping several web sites to improve our clients’ image, ease navigation and by adding valuable customer-oriented content.
Reintroducing a line of large industrial products used in oil and gas production and processing, pulp and paper, utilities and chemical processing to showcase their benefits to industry users.
And of course, there are the many other ads, brochures, mailers, posters, tradeshow graphics and presentations that we have developed for other clients along the way as well.

Writing Tips

Follow these tips, and you'll be writing gooder in no time!

Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
Avoid clichés like the plague—they're old hat.
Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
Do not use a foreign word when there is an adequate English quid pro quo.
Don't be redundant; don't use more words than necessary; it's highly superfluous.
It behooves you to avoid archaic expressions.
Avoid archaeic spellings too.
One word sentences? Eliminate. Always!
Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
Take the bull by the hand and avoid mixed metaphors—even if a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.
Who needs rhetorical questions?
Do not use hyperbole; not one in a million can do it effectively.
Never use a big word where a diminutive alternative would suffice.
Use youre spell chekker to avoid mispelling and to catch typograhpical errers.
Don't repeat yourself, or say again what you have said before.
Don't never use no double negatives.
Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.
Don't overuse exclamation marks!!!
Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.
And always be sure to finish what

A 3D Interface to the Planet

Google Earth lets you use your desktop to explore, search and discover exotic locales like Maui and Paris, as well as points of interest such as local restaurants, hospitals, schools, and more. Want to know more about a specific location? Dive right in

Google Earth combines satellite imagery, maps and the power of Google Search to put the world's geographic information at your fingertips.

Fly from space to your neighborhood. Type in an address and zoom right in.
Search for schools, parks, restaurants, and hotels. Get driving directions.
Tilt and rotate the view to see 3D terrain and buildings.
Save and share your searches and favorites. Even add your own annotations.

Google Earth puts a planet's worth of imagery and other geographic information right on your desktop and the basic version is free. Go to Google to download.

Create a Free Virtual Catalog

Virtual Catalogue lets you upload an Acrobat pdf file and create a page flipping virtual catalog in minutes. It provides real page motion by just dragging or clicking on the corner of the page. For a test, go to:

http://www.virtualcatalogue.co.uk/index.aspx

Or, if you would like to make a virtual catalog and add streaming video and audio, try iPagez. Follow this link to see a sample:

http://ipagez.com/view/link.php?book_name=Boards%20PPH06

History of the @ Symbol

The following was posted on the Hewlett Packard web site:

Let’s go back to the 6th or 7th century. Latin scribes tried to save a little effort by shortening the Latin word ad (at, to, or toward) by stretching the upstroke of “d” and curving it over the “a”.

Italian researchers unearthed 14th-century documents, where the @ sign represented a measure of quantity. The symbol also appeared in a 15th-century Latin-Spanish dictionary, defined as a gauge of weight, and soon after—according to ancient letters—was referenced as an amphora, a standard-sized clay vessel used to carry wine and grain.

Over the next few hundred years our plucky @ sign was used in trade to mean “at the price of” before resting on the first Underwood typewriter keyboard in 1885, then later rubbing symbolic shoulders with QWERTY on modern keyboards in the 1940s.

And then…

Then, one day in late 1971, computer engineer Ray Tomlinson grappled with how to properly address what would be history’s very first e-mail. After 30 seconds of intense thought, he decided to separate the name of his intended recipient and their location by using the “@” symbol. He needed something that wouldn’t appear in anyone’s name, and settled on the ubiquitous symbol, with the added bonus of the character representing the word “at,” as in, hey_you@wherever_you_happen_to_work.com.

And while in the English language, we know it as the “at symbol,” it goes by many other unusual pseudonyms throughout the world.

In South Africa, it means “monkey’s tail”
In Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia it’s the “Crazy”
In the Czech Republic, it’s “pickled herring”
The Danish refer to it as “alpha-sign,” “elephant’s trunk,” or “pig’s tail.”
The French often refer to it as “little snail.”
In Greece, it’s “little duck.”
In Hungary, it’s called “maggot”
In Mandarin Chinese, it’s the “mouse sign.”
The Poles say “little cat” or “pig’s ear.”
Russians often refer to it as “little dog.”
There’s no official word for it in Thailand, but “wiggling worm-like character.”
The Turks lovingly describe it as “ear.”

Now, do you feel real geeky?

Quote of the Month

"Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there."

-John Wooden

The Public Bath?

In ancient times, public baths were places that men of learning and curiosity gathered to exchange ideas. Today those places no longer exist (unless you count hot tubs), so we've tried to adapt the bath's open freewheeling tone into a newsletter. We hope you'll read our Public Bath in just that spirit.

The Public Bath is not "first-thing-on-Monday" reading. Rather, it is more like "fifteen-minutes-till lunch on Friday" or, "on hold" reading. Some material is amusing, some sociological, some newsy and we hope -- all thought-provoking.

We also want to answer your questions and hear your reactions. Have a topic you would like us to explore? Let us know that too. After all, public baths are places for both listening and talking.

About Media II, Inc. – Media II is a full-service marketing communications firm that specializes in serving business-to-business marketers in a wide variety of industries. We offer marketing communications planning, print and email advertising, public relations, sales literature development, graphic design, direct mail, web site development, webcasting, database publishing, and search engine placement services. Like to know more? Visit our web site www.mediaii.com

Media II, Inc. / 34900 Chardon Road / Willoughby Hills, OH 44094 / 440-975-8201 / www.mediaii.com

If you have a topic you would like to see us address or if you would prefer not to receive this newsletter, please let us know. Email roy@mediaii.com