It is Friday, October 26 here in Sydney, Australia, and unfortunately for me, today marks the end of six weeks spent interning here at Marketing Eye.  Looking back, I could not be more grateful for the opportunities that this company has offered me and the lessons that I have learned about marketing, social media, and the working world in general.  I am sad to be leaving and know that come this time next week, I will be disappointed that this fantastic experience has come to an end.

The holidays can be a stressful time of the year for many in regards to figuring out what to buy as presents for coworkers.  It is often up for debate as to what is considered an appropriate gift, and the goal of this blog is to provide you with a couple gift ideas that are always guaranteed to bring a smile to your coworkers faces regardless of who they are.  The key to a corporate gift is finding something that is not inappropriately expensive, while at the same time not being so inexpensive that people will look upon you as being cheap. You also want your gift to be of value to whoever you are giving it to, so each gift should be able to appeal to a wide variety of people.  A good gift is something that your coworker will actually use and hopefully will bring light to their life during the holidays. Here are 6 gifts that will surely fit all the characteristics of a good gift.

As a marketer, while it is important to take risks, you still need to be extremely careful when releasing an advertisement, as it is going to be seen by many people and result in how the public looks at your company.  It is vital that you examine your advertisement and think of every possible way it may be perceived so you do not inadvertently harm your company with an offensive ad rather than benefit it through a creative, well thought out commercial.  Unfortunately, many companies have released advertisements to the public that were not examined in such a way and resulted in uproar and offense to many people, or simply did far more harm to the company than good. Here are some of the greatest marketing failures in history.

One of the characteristics of a truly great advertisement is its ability to stay on the mind of the consumer even after the advertisement has ended.  In other words, how memorable it is. Everyone is exposed to hundreds of advertisements every single day, so the key to success is figuring out how to make your advertisement one of the few that stands out.  If you can create a commercial that your targeted consumer continues to think about even after being exposed to it, then that advertisement is far more likely to succeed in conveying your message. These are some of my most memorable advertisements that have withstood the test of time and have stuck with me.

There was a time in my life where I was a part of the unfortunate group of people who neglected to make their beds every morning.  I would wake up, still half asleep with bags under my eyes, and would stay in bed as long as possible before having to leave, hitting snooze on my alarm over and over again and leaving me with no time for bed making.  Trudging out of my bedroom in a similar fashion to a walking corpse, I would proceed through my day completely unmotivated, not ready to face any challenge that presented itself to me. This lifestyle took a 180 degree turn when one morning I decided to make my bed.  

As a business owner, you will be supervising a diverse group of employees that may all come from a large number of different backgrounds and religions.  Consequently, you should be familiar with all the different religions of your employees as well as the different holidays and events that each religion celebrates.  By familiarizing yourself, you will not be taken by surprise when an employee requests for a day off for religious purposes as well as be respectful to any employee when one of these events happens.  Here are some of the main celebratory events for the four most popular religions that you will likely face as a business owner.

Seeing as most businesses do not have any 18 year olds working for them and advising them on their marketing strategies, it is often difficult for older employees to nail down the best way to market to this particular group of consumers.  Many companies have a bad tendency to overlook teenagers when figuring out a marketing strategy, despite them being a group with a tendency to spend more of their money on material objects, meaning that this neglecting can actually be losing your business money.  As an 18 year old boy, I am drawn more to the products that have clearly been directly marketed towards me and those similar to me.