We were treated to a real gully washer of a storm last night. The alpine hut weathered the storm perfectly and everyone was snug and warm in sleeping bags. The painful process was extracting ourselves and facing the cold. The temperature in the hut was about 36 degrees and damp. We would likely have been warmer if the temperature had dropped a few degrees below freezing to settle the moisture out of the air. The snow line dropped to within a few hundred feet of the hut, making everything above fresh and white.
The walk back to Raspberry Flat took about three hours, with far too many picture opportunity points along the way.
The wind was in my face and even with gloves on the cold felt like needles pricking into my fingers. The lack of hair on my head gave new meaning to the phrase “brain freeze”. However, since the idea is to sweat as little as possible once my body got up to hiking temperature having the ventilated top side was a benefit. (Come on tough guy manage a smile in the cold... will ya?)
Once back in town, I caught up on e-mail and didn’t realize how deep the cold had settled into my bones until returning to the backpackers. My body ached in the cold. No worries, a hot shower and some warm soup and I was ready for the evening activities.
After the sunset ...
... Cinema Paradiso was the main attraction for two British friends and me. This place was a blast. Instead of standard theatre seats there were couches and lounge chairs. On one side of the theatre a yellow convertible car sat if you wanted the “drive in” experience. Half way through the movie there was an intermission for hot baked chocolate chip cookies. Our feature presentation was the film Wah Wah about a boy’s upbringing in the very British society of Swaziland. I recommend it for those who enjoy a “well produced” independent film.
Kiwi Marketing
• Go Bold and Funny – The Mentos ad showing the visually chilling effects of refreshment on a shirtless guy is hysterical. Awesome humor with direct correlation to brand benefit. (Mpg must be on google somewhere.) Although, the all time winning beer slogan is “Monteith’s, helping ugly people have sex since 1868.” Haaa, can you believe the product benefit honesty. I can only imagine what the focus groups were like to develop that consumer insight.
Even meat pie delivery can show a sense of humor to catch attention.
When in doubt, go vintage with the graphics.
• Messing with Sasquach – I can’t remember the brand of beef jerky, but in this international version of the ad sasquach gets the better of one of the pranksters, when the prankster puts sasquach’s hand in a pot of warm water while he is sleeping. This time very funny, but still struggling with the creative product benefit link of being soaked by sasquach and obviously brand recall.
• Potato Chip Flavors – Winners, “Sweet Chili” or “Burger Flavor”. Loser, “Lamb & Mint Flavor”. Cudos for going bold.
• Event Marketing – Speight’s “Pride of the South” beer was holding their “Perfect Woman” regional qualifying contest when I was in Wanaka. Sorry, no bathing suite contest here. Points were scored across two days of events. The ones I can remember were: 30 second introduction/perfect woman rationale, guy bucking i.e. riding on rugby players backs for time, jet boat slalom course driving, and sheep tipping for sheering. This was quite an event with over a thousand people supporting some 30 contestants who brought their sheep dogs and livestock for props. I even saw one of the contestants rolling her own cigarettes before leaving town after the contest. (Not the winner but shown above with her calf.)
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