This is why I love BRAN, the tech podcast by Aussie journos Angus Kidman, Nathan Taylor and Roulla Yiaccoumi: a quote from the latest episode (90): "Every site Sensis has rolled out is … let's not mince words… TOTAL SHIT…"
I couldn't agree more. I was amazed at what abject shit the new version of Whereis is compared to Google Maps. Yellow Pages is equally useless… I hate the way when you're trying to find a plumber in your area, the first 50 results are always massive contractor companies with a 1800 number that cover the entire state. The sooner Google's business directories supplant telco directories, the better. Google gets search, and that's what directories are all about from the end user's perspective.
Speaking of search, Sensis' shit search engine… why do they even bother? Microsoft can't make the smallest dent in people's loyalty to Google, and that's with them having full control of Windows so they can sucker in people who use the default settings in Internet Explorer.
Why doesn't Sensis just shrivel up and die, in the face of the superior competition?
- NOT HAPPY JAN: printed telephone directories
- Bug in Firefox 3 for Mac with search/location bar field focus
- Is Google getting us addicted?
- Google Apps Toolbar
- Paper bills, online bills… bane of my life
#1 by robbo on June 19, 2008 - 7:33 pm
crikey dapper dan I thought you were a clean cut family man. yet here you are swearing your headoff on the internet. wow have you had an image makeover and now you are the tough guy of the web? what is going on at qrious.com.au in your learned opinion??
#2 by danwarne on June 21, 2008 - 9:33 pm
Well quite obviously it's a completely lame attempt at a viral advertising campaign by Telstra for its upcoming 2D barcodes in print advertising, so you can hold up your Telstra mobile phone (if you are curious), snap a photo and then get sent to a web page. I've gotta say not only is that 'viral' ad not remotely clever or interesting, but it's also incredibly obvious what it is. And please don't spam your master's ad campaigns at my blog again.
#3 by dean collins on July 3, 2008 - 1:50 am
QRious.com.aucognation.netcollins.net.prCognation.netHi DanWarne – yep it's interesting that Telstra have decided to 'get viral' all of a sudden for the launch of their qr code project.
Unfortunately someone should have briefed them that it helps not to be too 'obvious', the same "whats happening at qrious.com.au" comment is popping up everywhere.
Having said that it's been with great interest that as an expat I've been watching the launch of http://www.QRious.com.au by Telstra.
As a consultant who has briefed clients in the past about the QR space (check out http://www.cognation.net/profile) I assure you that QR codes have been used in Australia for a long time.
And yes Telstra's marketing rhetoric is way over the top BUT the deployment of QR readers directly onto handsets by a carrier has always been a barrier to utilization.
With Telstra getting into this in a big way my advice to clients is to leverage their marketing spend and take advantage of this.
For those of you that are interested in QR use overseas check out my blog http://www.collins.net.pr/blog and use the search term "QR" in the top left hand box and you'll find 10 or so articles about the history of QR and it's deployment globally in successful campaigns.
What’s surprised me on client calls over the last few days is the basic lack of understanding around what QR codes can actually be used for – I think it's one of those things that they have been around forever but marketers have never really looked that closely at them so I've posted a 60 second background overview at http://www.Cognation.net/QR
I'm sure Telstra will find a way to screw it up but QR codes are a good thing – hopefully people in Australia will take advantage of this and start implementign them for things other than marketing.
Cheers,
Dean
#4 by Stuart Fox on July 23, 2008 - 11:39 pm
Hey Dan, did you know that you can now search the Yellow Pages via Google?
http://feeds.lifehacker.com.au.....oogle.html
Cheers,
Stu.
#5 by danwarne on July 25, 2008 - 10:46 am
No I didn't! How about that… that's far more useful. I bet this is the good work of Ash Nallawalla who is doing SEO work for Sensis.