I am a fan of ‘chance pe dance’ and have always written how companies like Google have taken this entire phenomena to next level with doodling.
Excerpts from an earlier post
Does all this ‘Doodling’ matter?
You don’t have a human touch, unless you actually make an attempt to relate to your user’s emotions.
As a consumer/user of your service, people do tend to relate to ‘service which they like and trust. Liking and Trust from how closely they related to your service/what do they ‘think’ of your service – all in their subconscious mind.
Ask your friend, what do they think of Google? Chances are that they’ll say it’s an innovative company – while most of Google’s recent ‘innovation’ haven’t done well so far.
Infact, have you ever wondered why a simple tweak/feature release from Google gets far more buzz than other companies?
What stops Yahoo/Microsoft/AOL to not tweak their logos and celebrate ‘history? Maybe it’s not in their DNA (even small change in Google is noticed, thanks to their minimalistic principle), but what’s really important for companies is to see how can they relate more to users?
Coming back to the article, we all know that Valentine’s day is a few days from now and we received probably the most interesting PR (at least in the recent times) – and suprisingly this comes from Microsoft’s MSN.
The PR gels Valentine’s day with Hotmail and while it sounds like a desperate attempt, it’s quite a fun read (seriously, give it a dekho!:) )! I am sure that we can have something very similar for Diwali, Holi as well (you just have to tweak a few words).
Lesson for startups – make some noise. Chance pe Dance, anyone?
Copy/Pasted PR [Thanks MSN for sending this!]
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A recent Hotmail survey conducted on MSN India revealed that almost 54 per cent Indians rely on emails to keep their romance alive in the new era of “Up in the air” lifestyles. If aeroplanes were invented to take travel to the next level, e-mails were invented to make these distances shrink virtually as per a Microsoft Hotmail survey conducted on MSN. In fact, close to 50% of the respondents said that they exchange saucy emails to keep their relationship steamy whereas 20 per cent frequently exchange romantic or flirtatious emails. What’s more, Indian lovers don’t limit their imagination to words alone – 33 per cent of the respondents indicated that they exchange romantic or saucy images with one another to fuel their passions.
Most surprisingly, 30 percent of the respondents in India revealed they have told someone they love them for the first time through an email and 57 percent have have even proposed using the virtual route! The research conducted on MSN, polled more than 9,000 people in several Asian and European countries.
“It’s interesting to note that whereas email was regarded as a somewhat impersonal means of communication, compared to the phone or the hand-written letter, a great number of people are actually using email to share their profound and intimate feelings,” noted Rathin Lahiri, Director, Online Business, Consumer & Online, Microsoft India. “With the new Hotmail, sending files of almost any size isn’t an issue, so incorporating personal photos and videos can add a special touch to the romantic emails you send on Valentine’s Day, or whenever you want to express your feelings in a special way.”
So what are you waiting for, try some cool features of new hotmail for that extra romance while cupid strikes you this Valentine’s Day
Windows Live Hotmail has recently enhanced its service to make it easier to stay in touch and share with those who matter most. Here are some tips and tricks on how to make the most of Windows Live Hotmail:
· Keep it personal: This Valentine’s Day, don’t get caught using your work email address to send romantic messages. Use your Hotmail to keep the passion alive!
· Add a special sizzle to your valentine emails: With the new Hotmail, you can send files of almost any size, so spice up your emails with personal photos and videos and music files to make that someone feel really special.
· Treasure special memories: Every Hotmail user gets a free extra online storage box, called SkyDrive. SkyDrive allows you to store up to 25 GB worth of files that can be shared with other people or can be kept entirely secret. Set up a “Love Drive”, and fill it up with photos, videos, mp3s, love notes and messages from the past.
· Design your own Valentine’s card: You can now get special versions of Word and PowerPoint for FREE through Hotmail (called Office Web Apps), even if you don’t have the full Office version installed on your PC. Let your creative juices flow and create a really special, tailor made greeting for your loved one this Valentine’s day.
· Keep your finger on the pulse: We’ve all been there – waiting for that email from that special someone to come in. The 1-Click Filter feature in Hotmail immediately classifies emails that are unread, from contacts, from social networks, from news services etc. This way you can cut the clutter and get to the “HOT” mail you’ve been waiting for.
· Shout out your love in many ways: Send Valentine’s Day Messages via instant messenger (IM) and SMS to your Messenger friends and loved ones. With the new Hotmail, you can see who’s online, and with just once click chat with them using Messenger. You can also send an SMS message to his or her phone if he or she is offline — all without leaving your inbox.
· Search through your saved emails in a heartbeat: Finding that specific love email your partner sent when you were first dating has never been easier. When you type a single letter in the search box, the advanced-made-easy search in Hotmail suggests a variety of helpful searches — from basic to complex — that Hotmail will then conduct automatically.
· Dig up sweet old memories: While reading an e-mail from someone, it is quick and easy to check other e-mails received in the past from the same sender. It’s as simple and intuitive as hovering over their name and selecting “Find e-mail.”
· Keep all your conversations from a special someone in one place: We know how having a conversation with someone — or several people — on e-mail over an extended period can leave pieces of that conversation haphazardly spread throughout the inbox in individual snippets. The new Hotmail brings all of those snippets together so you can view the entire conversation in one place. Give it a try this Valentine’s Day.
· Don’t let your guard down: Keep spammers at bay this Valentine’s day and avoid having your email account compromised. Dial up your security settings by using the SmartScreen filter, which helps distinguish between legitimate e-mail messages and spam
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Woof! You managed to read the entire story? Planning to move to Hotmail, this Valentine’s day?
