Author Archives: brandmenu

About brandmenu

Brand Menu is a integrated communications, marketing and branding company located in Mbombela, Mpumalanga.

Mpumalanga Leadership Foundation Launch

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Its no joke, you know, planning events. In college they give you the theory to plan events but obviously that is lacking!

i realised this when planning the MLF launch. Thank God i had a supportive leader and a capable team who absolutely went above and beyond. Even though i would have liked changes, we made miracles happen in regards with budget constraints.

But this is not the reason i feel the need to sit down and communicate my thoughts. I want to speak about the amount of support that comes flooding in when you have a legitimate cause. I have never been on the receiving end of community care networks, so this was a first for me.

I never in all of my short life expected the launch to be received so well! i mean we sent out email invites, which isn’t always received well. You know SPAM and all. So when the seats filled up and became full I stood there in awe.
Where did all these supportive people come from?
Why would they be interested in giving time, effort and money to other people?

Well i came to the obvious conclusion that there are a lot of good people out there,even tough they are busy and have full lives of their own, they made time to come to a thursday evening launch about a plan for the future, because in essence the MLF is a plan for the future.

So as i realised that there, in fact, IS hope for humanity, i couldn’t help but wonder….

AM I PART OF THE SOLUTION OR AM I CONTRIBUTING TO THE PROBLEM?

You talking to me?

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this morning i read a compelling article in the Elle (best magazine of all time) about the communication or lack thereof to the empowered south african women.

this got me thinking, as a empowered woman and as a Public Relation Practitioner ! To who are they talking, because after much thought, its not me! i also found that i am part of the problem, we put people in a statistical box and we market to the statistic, we don’t even consider individuals because its easier to market to a box that it is to an individual!

i am not the bimbo looking for her food under her enormous breasts, i am not the already skinny girl who’s life is enhanced by eating cardboard tasting cereal, i am not the house wife with the very expensive cleaning outfit that never cleans because a superhero comes and wipe away all the dirt.

i am an individual with individual needs and so is every other woman that ever lived or ever will live.

this is why advertising campaigns like dove’s- real women, works.
they use beautiful real women in their ads and the fact that their sales went up by 700% in United Kingdom alone is the bright shiny proof in the misunderstood pudding.

As brands realise that women have money to be spent and the power to do so, the communication market will change.
As more women move into bigger decision making roles the marketing messages will change – Who better than a woman to understand women…

Golf day-not-so blues!

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In studying PR we always heard we will plan events and i decided very early i would not be partaking in this awful activity, so when my Lady Boss told me that we (I) are doing a golf day for a local school, i was super duper exited (lie).

But as i started on the project i realised that this pre- conceived idea had no ground to stand on anymore, that i was actually enjoying(mildly) the golf day, and when it all was finished and klaar, with all the prizes given away, i was proud to feel apart of the team that put it together.

So with this lights shining out of the heaven, while angels sing, i learned: dont knock it till you tried it!

its the end of the world- (pause) NOT!

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well, that was an epic FAIL!

3 days after, we still here!

anyway on a not-pshycotic note…

Since i have finished my studies last year, and done my internship, i have been a Public Relations Practitioner at Brand Menu (marketing and advertising company) for just about 6 months and i decided to vent my opinions on a this minute space on the enormous internet.

In one of our first meeting i was asked to define Public Relations, and as a PR graduate i should have answered:

Public Relations

Definition: Using the news or business press to carry positive stories about your company or your products; cultivating a good relationship with local press representatives…  http://www.entrepreneur.com/encyclopedia/term/82434.html

but i didn’t, i said:

its better than advertising (true) because its not paid for(true), which in tern makes it better (obviously)because its seen as an article not an advertisement… to which my new boss lady replied: if that is true, i dont have a job…(very awkward pause)

after i died, i sucked it up and tried to show them what PR and how it works well with advertising and marketing… as i was doing practically, what i learned through lots of theory, i realised that i didn’t know squat!  and that i should deflate my big head!

what i have learned: don’t speak about stuff you don’t know nothing about…

Good Wednesday Morning y’all

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As the world spins out of control there are some factors we can hold on to, some you learnt from your mother, some you learnt at school, some you learnt while doing things you aren’t supposed to do… and some you get on the internet, while procrastinating! 

1.You can’t change other people, and it’s rude to try.

2. It is a hundred times more difficult to burn calories than to refrain from consuming them in the first place.

3. If you’re talking to someone you don’t know well, you may be talking to someone who knows way more about whatever you’re talking about than you do.

4. The cheapest and most expensive models are usually both bad deals.

5. Everyone likes somebody who gets to the point quickly.

6. Bad moods will come and go your whole life, and trying to force them away makes them run deeper and last longer.

7. Children are remarkably honest creatures until we teach them not to be.

8. If everyone in the TV show you’re watching is good-looking, it’s not worth watching.

9. Yelling always makes things worse.

10. Whenever you’re worried about what others will think of you, you’re really just worried about what you’ll think of you.

11. Every problem you have is your responsibility, regardless of who caused it.

12. You never have to deal with more than one moment at a time.

13. If you never doubt your beliefs, then you’re wrong a lot.

14. Managing one’s wants is the most powerful skill a person can learn.

15. Nobody has it all figured out.

16. Cynicism is far too easy to be useful.

17. Every passing face on the street represents a story every bit as compelling and complicated as yours.

18. Whenever you hate something, it hates you back: people, situations and inanimate objects alike.

19. Ralph Waldo Emerson’s works alone can teach you everything you need to know about living with grace and happiness.

20. People embellish everything, as a rule.

21. Anger reveals weakness of character, violence even more so.

22. Humans cannot destroy the planet, but we can destroy its capacity to keep us alive.  And we are.

23. When people are uncomfortable with the present moment, they fidget with their hands or their minds.  Watch and see.

24. Those who complain the most, accomplish the least.

25. Putting something off makes it instantly harder and scarier.

26. Credit card debt devours souls.

27. Nobody knows more than a minuscule fraction of what’s going on in the world. It’s just way too big for any one person to know it well.

28. Most of what we see is only what we think about what we see.

29. A person who is unafraid to present a candid version of herself to the world is as rare as diamonds.

30. The most common addiction in the world is the draw of comfort. It wrecks dreams and breaks people.

31. If what you’re doing feels perfectly safe, there is probably a better course of action.

32. The greatest innovation in the history of humankind is language.

33. Blame is the favorite pastime of those who dislike responsibility.

34. Everyone you meet is better than you at something.

35. Proof is nothing but a collection of opinions that match your own.

36. Knowledge is belief, nothing more.

37. Indulging your desires is not self-love.

38. What makes human beings different from animals is that animals can be themselves with ease.

39. Self-examination is the only path out of misery.

40. Whoever you are, you will die. To know and understand that means you are alive.

41. Revenge is for the petty and irresponsible.

42. Getting truly organized can vastly improve anyone’s life.

43. Almost every cliché contains a truth so profound that people have been compelled to repeat it until it makes you roll your eyes. But the wisdom is still in there.

44. People cause suffering when they are suffering themselves. Alleviating their suffering will help them not hurt others.

45. High quality is worth any quantity, in possessions, friends and experiences.

46. The world would be a better place if everyone read National Geographic.

47. If you aren’t happy single, you won’t be happy in a relationship.

48. Even if it costs no money, nothing is free if it takes time.

49. Emotions exist to make us strongly biased towards or against something. This hinders as often as it helps.

50. Addiction is a much greater problem in society than it’s made out to be. It’s present in every person in various forms, but usually we call it something else.

51. “Gut feeling” is not just a euphemism. Tension in the abdomen speaks volumes about how you truly feel about something, beyond all arguments and rationales.

52. Posture and dress change profoundly how you feel about yourself and how others feel about you, like it or not.

53. Everyone thinks they’re an above average driver.

54. The urge to punish others has much more to do with venting frustration than correcting behavior.

55. By default, people think far too much.

56. If anything is worth splurging on, it’s a high-quality mattress. You’ll spend a third of your life using it.

57. There is nothing worse than having no friends.

58. To write a person off as worthless is an act of great violence.

59. Try as we might to be otherwise, we are all hypocrites.

60. Justice is a human invention which is in reality rarely achievable, but many will not hesitate to destroy lives demanding it.

61. Kids will usually understand exactly what you mean if you keep it to one or two short sentences.

62. Stuff that’s on sale usually has an annoying downside.

63. Casual swearing makes people sound dumb.

64. Words are immensely powerful. One cruel remark can wound someone for life.

65. It’s easy to make someone’s day just by being uncommonly pleasant to them.

66. Most of what children learn from their parents isn’t taught on purpose.

67. The secret ingredient is usually butter, in obscene amounts.

68. It is worth re-trying foods that you didn’t like at first.

69. Problems, when they arise, are rarely as painful as the experience of fearing them.

70. Nothing — ever — happens exactly like you pictured it.

71. North Americans are generally terrible at accepting compliments and offers of help.

72. There are not enough women in positions of power. The world has suffered from this deficit for a long time.

73. When you break promises to yourself, you feel terrible. When you make a habit of it, you begin to hate yourself.

74. A good nine out of ten bad things I’ve worried about never happened. A good nine out of ten bad things that did happen never occurred to me to worry about.

75. You can’t hide a bad mood from people who know you well, but you can always be polite.

76. Sometimes you have to remove certain people from your life, even if they’re family.

77. Anyone can be calmed in an instant by looking at the ocean or the stars.

78. There is no point finishing a book you aren’t enjoying. Life is too short for that. Swallow your pride and put it down for good, unfinished.

79. There is no correlation between the price of a brand of batteries and how long they last.

80. Breaking new ground only takes a small amount more effort than you’re used to giving.

81. Life is a solo trip, but you’ll have lots of visitors. Some of them are long-term, most aren’t.

82. One of the best things you can do for your kids is take them on road trips. I’m not a parent, but I was a kid once.

83. The fewer possessions you have, the more they do for you.

84. Einstein was wiser than he was intelligent, and he was a genius.

85. When you’re sick of your own life, that’s a good time to pick up a book.

86. Wishing things were different is a great way to torture yourself.

87. The ability to be happy is nothing other than the ability to come to terms with how things change.

88. Killing time is an atrocity. It’s priceless, and it never grows back.