Fuencarral Suicide

This is a kiosk on the streets of Madrid, on Fuencarral near Metro Tribunal. Pretty amazing and disturbing at the same time!

Flavors of Madrid

I lived in Madrid for a year, and I have to say, it is one of my favorite cities in Europe. People are always out, they know how to have a good "fiesta" The food is incredible and there is always something to do in the city. There were several places I liked going to have a meal:

Bar Biblos (Calle Corredera Baja de San Pablo, 4) - serves Lebanese food as well as Spanish tapas. Cheap tasty beer and generous bar tender. Affordable but not amazing food

Lateral (many branches but my favorite, Calle Velázquez 57) - serves Spanish food with a modern twist. Definitely must have the morcilla, solomillo con mostaza, and the patatas picante! Not too pricy but not cheap, amazing food and atmosphere

Casa Valiño (Trujillos, 9, Madrid) - serves Spanish food, has a tasty menu del dia for only 10 Euros inside and 11 Euros on the terace. Their Paella is incredible and they also serve the best Tinto de Verano in Madrid! Affordable, with amazing food.

Mercado de San Miguel (near Plaza Mayor) - a really cool marketplace that has been recently renovated. It has many small stores ranging from a jamon stand, to a cheese stand. The oysters there are very tasty and so is the seafood section! Pricy but incredible food.

If you're ever in Madrid, these are the places I suggest you go to eat at, of course there are many other options. Buen Provecho :)

*Picture one - Bar Biblos, text reads: "If you drink to forget, pay before you start"
*Picture two -Some tapas from Lateral
*Picture three - Casa Valiño
*Picture three - Fresh fish at the Mercado de San Miguel

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Nokia Guerrilla Marketing in Madrid

Nokia launched an Urban beach in Madrid's Plaza Luna! The beach is attracting a huge number of visitors. It has a capacity of 400 people, with a srufing machine, a small pool, a stage for live concerts and most importantly, a lot of sand!

They even got a lot of media coverage. This is exactly what guerrilla marketing is about, creating a spectacle at an affordable price, to increase awareness of your brand, product etc. through the media's coverage!

Enjoy the pictures, and if you are in Madrid, hit the urban beach!

Louis Vuitton in Shanghai

Hello all,

It has been a while since I wrote, been really busy and tied up with the Masters. I am happy to say that I am now a Google employee and will start work very soon in the EU HQ in Dublin, Ireland. I will be working with the Adwords team for the MENA region, exciting stuff!!!

As promised earlier, marketing in China. This one really caught my eye, as it did for everyone else that saw it! A fellow blogger even wrote about it:

http://eleenang.blogspot.com/2009/04/over-rated-hype-on-louis-vuitton-bags.html

What are the implications of such a marketing strategy:

1. Free media coverage: performing this kind of advertising is affordable, and gives LV huge media coverage for literally peanuts.
2. Brand Awareness: Even though they are well known, a little more brand awareness is not harmful
3. Competitve edge: what were other luxury brands doing? not much, they had their respective stores, but this one really stood out!
4. simply remarkable: Just staring at the huge bag was a stunning sight!

Enjoy!

Introduction

Hello all. Quick introduction to myself and the purpose of this blog.

My name is Omar Abou Sallman, a 23 year old from Lebanon. I am currently completing my Masters Degree in Marketing and Management at Instituto de Empresa (IE) in Madrid, Spain. I just got back from an incredible trip to China, Shanghai and Beijing. When I was there, I was bombarded with marketing, China truly is a marketers dream, a Harvard Business Case, a marketers playground!

Since the internet is the future medium for marketing (Digital Marketing) in most developed nations, it is only relevant for me to have a blog, to communicate my ideas and to also learn from you guys. So, the purpose of this blog revolves mainly around marketing, from all over the world. I will occasionally post some things that don't have to do with marketing.

Stay tuned.....