Fatal attraction

Your great body and this sexy look in your eyes are just a pulse, an impulse that lasts a minute.

fatally attracted by minds

But what is really sexy is your mind. 

For your bright mind and contagious sense of humor I would follow you in the desert. It makes me think of you, every minute of my day.

Bright mind is a fatal attraction.

Priorities - the new roads where you will take me

As for the wallet - it's just your wallet. I have mine. This is the new order in the world, at least in my world.

Dancing 40 days

It has been 40 days of marching on Sofia streets. Every evening at 7 p.m. we are busy - all the meetings and parties for me and my friends, for my family and over 30 000 other people is booked by the protests.
Our new government took us from our homes and offices and other plans with their insolent appointments of government officials - media moguls, prosecuted for corruption ex officials, oligarchy robots.
You know what are the good news?
When I watched the appointment of a shady media mogul for a chief of the government security agency got really angry and decided to go to the Parliament for my own protest. When I went there I met 40 000 other people. Like me.



This was a great feeling - when I realized that this is not my protest!
And it's time to be heard!
Dance with me for this government's resignation!
We have a small tutorial for you with one word to know in Bulgarian - OS-TAV-KA!

ОСТАВКА

Unnoticed help addiction

Have you noticed how used we get to household gadgets? Some quite usual machinery becomes unnoticed in everyday routine…
My dishwasher broke yesterday. So we had to eat last night in funny dishes and today it took me more than 30 mins to take them all out and wash them by hand. Besides, I had the problem with the free space where to dry them… My kitchen is not made for hand washing the dishes.
And what if the washing machine brakes down? It will take an hour to handwash them, then half dry them… Again, besides the time I will have the problems with other resource – where to put the clothes, how to dose the softener, etc. And do the nails after that.
And if the kettle brakes down? Using funny vessels to warm the water…
People get used to the facilitations provided by smaller and bigger domestic appliances and appreciate their help only when they brake down.
Like in the office – if the receptionist gets sick suddenly the whole office notices what she does.
Or, when the news section of your website does not work you have the most important news to post…

We, the Killers

All our actions carry consequences, even if it is the effect of the butterfly.
Some our actions, though, reward or harm directly.
One of them is throwing our garbage everywhere.
To the spot:


Think before you through!

Why new logo of Bulgaria as a tourist destination is just another propaganda flop?

This is a not from the kitchen, but just from its doorsteps. The Topic - yesterday the new logo for Bulgaria as a tourist destination was officially presented and it should represent the country in the next 10-15 years in its official tourism strategy.

When MEET (Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism) announced the public bid for "Development of a Brand Bulgaria strategy, development of product and regional brands and the introduction of integrated brand management" I was working at Publicis and dealing with public tenders. The company decided to participate in this contract and I personally prepared the proposal for the public bid. When we won the project Publicis and I parted and I did not work on this project, for which yesterday I thanked a lot to my former employer.

Here are the activities included in MEET’s  requirements for the project:

Phase 1 - Develop a brand strategy for the destination Bulgaria, consulting, analyzes and further studies

- Analysis of the results of market research conducted under Project 1 "Marketing research and evaluation of  the effectiveness of national marketing"Contract № BG161PO001/3.3-01/2008/001-1 OP "Regional Development" and further studies

- Legal analysis and creation of the concept of ownership of the products of the project as part of a more general system for integrated management of national, regional and product brands

- Developing a strategy for brand destination Bulgaria

- Consulting and promoting brand strategy "Bulgaria" in the tourism business, its associations and other interested

Phase 2: Develop creative proposals for a national brand and sub-brands, as well as a regional brand

- Presentation of the logo, slogan and character set of the destination brand of Bulgaria

- Development of product brands as sub-brands brand destination Bulgaria

- Developing a branding strategy of tourism development and production of at least one pilot regional tourism brand

Phase 3: Testing the proposed brand to internal and external markets

- Testing the national, regional product and brands at international and domestic markets

This is public information as well as the fact that the execution time of all this is 7 months. Given that the activities require the completion of part of the job before starting another (writing a strategy after analyzing the results of the survey, also while running a public consultations almost nothing can be done), the time was very "scarce". The price offered by us, was 1.4 million BGN, modest budget accounting the ones offered by other participants - over 2.5 million BGN (this information is also public).

An excerpt of the Consortium for Brand Bulgaria's proposal might explain the silence on the part of the Contractor on these details, instead of left to speculating in the press about finance, timing and resources:

"For the successful implementation of the project activities we plan to keep the following principles in their work:

· ... The Contractor will refrain from any public statements concerning the project or services without the advance written consent of the Contracting Authority, and ill refrain from engaging in any activity that runs counter to its obligations to the Employer under the contract. "

So, why do I think the logo is just another bullshit?

 - Because Ivo Marinov is an incompetent Minister and he presented the whole project as a book in pictures. His presentation yesterday claimed that the new logo would increase the flow of tourists ... Total nonsense, logos do not increase tourist flows, Mr. Marinov! Does not anyone read your official statements?

- Also according to Minister Ivo Marinov, the new logo would lead to twice as many tourists, but only 25% above revenues in the tourism industry. I.e. this logo will attract more poor tourists for an even cheaper tourism product? Pity then, for the efforts and money. Bulgaria is already known mainly as a cheap tourist destination and the idea of ​​the whole project was to demonstrate sustainable content of the destination on which to build its image for the next 10-15 years, not to score cheap points!

- The logo has it ALL, everyone can see this, it is like a bad fast food product - poached eggs, but with a plastic slice of Turkish tomatoes and blanched Romanian potatoes:

* The SAME rose is used by the Bulgarian Socialist Party (already discussed many times as plagiarism) and has some

*? mountains (Maybe this dark blue stain at the top) and

*? Sea (light blue stain below), for example, and it is marked with a parasol from the cheapish ones, not  a shell or a dolphin, but then you promote concrete jungles by the sea, right? What a change!

In this logo - Is there something authentic? Nope. Something specific? Neither. And something that challenges you to find it in Bulgaria? (The slogan is "Discover and share"). Well, it showed nothing particularly intriguing.

This usage of “all that comes around” in advertising circles is called "creative impotence" and lack of strategic thinking. It is further complemented by the font used, which is one of the most impersonal among the impersonal fonts. And Bulgaria is at least rich of specific fonts!

- Explanation of the choice of the logo was based on testing different creative proposals to potential audiences, based on likes. This is incredible! Testing such a logo should not be based on likes but on whether it best represents certain characteristics that we want to communicate. In this case we can only guess what was supposed to present the logo, but it is rather unlikely that it represented a wealth of content beyond the obvious. As I read the comments yesterday: "For me, this cartoon stirs strong associations of stylized eroticism Bulgarian beach style - boobs, female bottoms, peaches and roses under an umbrella ..." Just a cheap bottle of alcohol is missing from the picture. Is that what we like to say and it will be left with no comments?

"The definition of a country brand is as follows:

Brand of a country is the unique discernable sense based on overall emotional and irrational perception of the main assets of the destination: location, attractions, infrastructure, landscape, products, people, culture, history and politics.

Branding countries is a complex activity that aims to create that feeling, to strengthen or modify it if it is negative. "

Admiration for the fellow (former) colleagues who worked on the project. It was clear that whatever is done will be spitted on. I think they’ve worked hard but did not fulfill the task (perhaps a mountain of objective reasons for this, as always). Anyway, this project will stand great in your portfolio! Relax, at some point people will get used to it, and when it comes the time for a new logo, everyone will say, just as now: "The old one was better".

Let us celebrate the new tourism brand Bulgaria! 
In the meanwhile I will continue to discover and share what it actually stands for – the authentic side and not your side! This logo is a total nonsense – Bulgaria tourism could very well do without it. Its value is 0, not 1.4 million BGN. Millions remain only as money spent for an empty and cheap shell. Hopefully the strategy (that will clearly remain a big mystery), is worth at least more than 0. For example, the value of 1 BGN, just as Chinese merchandise.

Smile and have the greatest holidays :)

Just smile, keep on smiling :)




Smile will make you feel certain about the great way your life is going. You might have not felt this way till now but you will, with a smile.

Just love the smiling feeling of yourself, the sweet smell of cookies and the bitter smell of ginger - this is how your coziness smells like.











Words by John Turner and Geoffrey Parsons and music by Charlie Chaplin 
Smile though your heart is aching 
Smile even though it's breaking 
When there are clouds in the sky, you'll get by 
If you smile through your fear and sorrow 
Smile and maybe tomorrow 
You'll see the sun come shining through for you 

Light up your face with gladness 
Hide every trace of sadness 
Although a tear may be ever so near 
That's the time you must keep on trying 
Smile, what's the use of crying? 
You'll find that life is still worthwhile 
If you just smile 

That's the time you must keep on trying 
Smile, what's the use of crying? 
You'll find that life is still worthwhile 
If you just smile

Bright up the day of someone else - just smile :) whatever!

Christmas Self Made

Loving or hating Christmas, everyone loves gifts. What to give for a present is one of the most often questions we ask in December.

While making my list this year, I have two main points:

       -          this is the last Christmas when my daughter still believes in Santa;

       -          everybody else from the list officially does not want a present (great help!).

This year I wanted to give only hand made gifts, from artisan shops or made by myself. Looking for ideas, I asked some friends what were the best gifts that they received at any point.

Have fun with the answers, also you can try to guess which of them came from women and which – from men. 

1: I think my best gift was a bike when I was little.

2: Presence. Someone who was not able to buy me a gift was able to come from afar to spend the holiday with me.

3: Handcuffs.

4: No special things to remeber. But my colleagues gave me once a drill, saying that this is the most deserved gift for the "Master". Perhaps they had it as a sample, but it was cool how they presented it.

5: My period every month?

6: The moment when my life fu*ked up. Now it looks like the best gift.

7: I have only received trivial presents. If it is considered a gift - we moved into the new house right on my birthday - that's it.

8: Photo session - best experience and best memories.

9: My colleagues gave me a training to an international level in the field where I work - a wonderful gift.

10: Box of notes, which read why I mean so much to someone.

11: Surprising trip – I didn’t know where we were going, for how long, what were we doing.

To one of these people I gave a paragliding jump, a week in Paris, etc. But he chose something else as his best present and this definitely made me decide on the hand-made stuff. It will involve me, as a gift-giver, much more, and occasionally will be much better remembered.

Since its still before Christmas, I will only give some examples of the gifts I am buying and making:

-          self made limoncello in a self-decorated bottle;

-          hand-made flower brooch from a Charity bazaar;

-          his favorite shirt (too worn out for wearing out) made into a book cover;

-          made by order personalized calendar;

-          The hardest was the gift to Nia – she wanted a “Winx doll and stuff”, so she will get her own Winx costume and a hand made Winx doll with the same costume.

-          And else, but still a secret.

 

:) This is a lot of work but some good dwarfs from hand made and artisan shops will help me.

Have a great Christmas with lots of nice gifts to remember!