Shocking Truth About Poland

Nation branding is a term aims to measure the global perception and reputation of countries. If Poland were a brand, in foreigners’ eyes would be a very cheap and poorly made product, probably in shades of grey. That’s my assumption. Let’s face reality. Generally, British people don’t like Poles. And you know what, I’m not going to stand up for the typical Polish people living in the UK. (Yes, I’m Polish.)

I meet a lot of Poles on the underground or on the street, every day. The majority of them look like typical bullies, with tattoos, big muscles and bottles of beers in their plastic bags. Poland gets a bad press because of the holistic image of these kind of people. Obviously, there are exceptions but most of them are not really well-educated. They came here just to earn money working as electricians, builders, plumbers, roadmen and many others. Whether you believe me or not, an average Polish guy looks and behaves totally different.

What makes me furious is the constant image of Poland being poor communist country. If you don’t know, it’s been 25 years since communism collapsed. In that time, Poland has transformed itself unrecognisably. There are a lot of stereotypes about Poland which are either extremely exaggerated or sound for me like a joke.(“Polish people are riding horses instead of driving cars” – that’s my favourite one.)

I don’t want to write another article about typical stereotypes concentrating Poles. There are plenty of them. And the only one way to convince you that the truth is different from what you see on the streets in the UK, is to visit one of the major cities in Poland. Warsaw is the one that I strongly recommend.

Warsaw by night

I’m writing occasionally about successful people who you might don’t know or you recognise them but you are now aware they are Polish. I used to call them “Poland’s ambassadors” since they break all the stereotypical image about Poles. It’s time to introduce you the next one: Radzimir Dębski, known as Jimek, a Polish composer and producer.

Radzimir Dębski aka Jimek, 27, a Polish composer and producer, Photo: Michal Zagorny

 

In 2012,  he won Beyoncé’s  “End Of Time” Remix worldwide competition. If you are a Beyonce’s fan you must have heard this song.  Jimek was the lucky winner selected among over 3,000 mixes by panel of judges, including Beyoncé, Isabella Summers and Oscar-winning composer Giorgio Moroder. Radzimir took home $8,000 USD and his remix appeared on the Beyoncé’s EP, 4: The Remix, released by Columbia Recordson on April 23, 2012.

Radzimir Dębski is 27 year-old. His parents are both well-known Polish musicians: Anna Jurksztynowicz is a singer and Krzesimir Dębski is a composer with impressive experience. Radzimir completed his Master’s degree at the Chopin Music Academy  in Warsaw and studied film scoring and orchestration at the University of California, Los Angeles. He composes and produces music for film, television programmes and theater in the US and Poland. Presently, he is working on a debut solo album.

 

JIMEK’s symphonic piece entitled CRUX that was premiered at the Szczecin Philharmonic, Poland.

 

If you haven’t heard Beyoncé’s “End Of Time JIMEX Remix, here is the video:

Events that broke the Internet in 2014

December is kind of festive month due to the Christmas atmosphere. On the other hand it’s nostalgic  too. We summarise how our life has changed, what happened in the world and what we are going to do  next year. Entertainment industry has been always surprising. Each year brings new events, new brake ups, new love affairs, new movies and also these sad events when your idols passed away.

Here is the first part of my subjective list of the top events that have broken the Internet this year.

1. Ellen DeGeneres returned to host the Oscars

Undoubtedly, the ranking should start with the 86th annual Academy Awards. There is always a lot of fuss around the event. You should’ve lived in a space or any outer place to be not aware that the Oscars  gala was coming.  This year I was lucky enough to be in New York so I didn’t have to wait till 3:00a.m. to watch the live transmission.

This year, my favourite television icon, Ellen DeGeneres was the most shining star on the red carpet who actually outshined all the super stars because of her amazing host performance. I felt that she was not hosting the most important event of the year in the movie industry: she behaved as she was in her apartment, telling a story to her friends in such a comeplling and relaxed way. To highlight her approach, she ordered a pizza from Big Mama’s & Papa’s Pizzeria in Hollywood. Pizza chain got lots of free publicity – advertising on show starts at $1.8m.

Suddenly, all the celebrities looked like ordinary, hungry people.

Source: mirror.co.uk

2. Ellen’s Oscar selfie broke Twitter record

This was the most famous ‘selfie’ in the entire world. Within just a few hours it had been retweeted by more than 2.5 million people! It caused that the social media platform crashed, leaving thousands of Twitter users locked out.

Source: telegraph.co.uk

3. Leonardo DiCaprio still waiting for the Oscar

The star of The Wolf of Wall Street and one of my favourites actors has lost at the Oscars four times. It’s really hard for me to understand why sweet Leo has never won an Oscar but Cuba Gooding, Jr has.

The Internet had a lot of emotions and creativeness about Leonardo not winning an Oscar:

4. EXPECTING AGAIN!

Prince George is not going to be an only child for long. Prince William and the duchess of Cambridge, the former Kate Middleton, are expecting their second child. The Internet will explode next Spring…

Source: theguardian.com

5. ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

In order to raise awareness and money for ALS research, people dumped buckets of ice over their heads and then nominated friends, mainly on Facebook. The viral trend raised over $100 million and garnered a huge amount of awareness for the terrible disease. A lot of celebrites and politicians were involved in the campaign.

Source: youtube.com

6.Angelina Jolie & Brad Pitt’s Wedding

The most famous couple in the entertainment industry finally got marriage. While Kim Kardashian and Kanye West have started to talk in the media about their wedding, ever since they became a couple, Angelina and Brad surprised the world. They invited for their secret wedding only 22 people, including their brood of six children.

Source: huffingtonpost.com

7.The most viewed in the world 

People love them or hate them. I have to admit that I’m not a fan of this couple. Apparently, a lot people really are. Kim Kardashian and Kanye West Instagram picture taken by Liverpool photographer Conor McDonnell has just became the most viewed in the world in 2014.

 

Source: liverpoolecho.co.uk

8. Robin Williams’ apparent suicide

The unexpected death happens very often in entertainment industry. Robin Williams, a great comedian and actor, died committed suicide by  hanging which shook the world as fans. The Oscar-winner actor  struggled with depression and addiction to alcohol and drugs. Shortly before his death, he was diagnosed early stage of Parkinson’s disease. He died at age of 63.

Source: time.com

8. Philip Seymour Hoffman

Another great actor and the Oscar winner has passed away unexpectaly at age of 46 . He was found dead in his  apartment after overdosing on heroin.

Source: broadway.com

 

9.Death of Joan Rivers

The beloved comedienne passed away at the age of 81.

Source: nbcnews.com

 

McFashion

“Luxury” is the word that most fashion brands would strive for but only a few in fact truly reach their aim. It indicates exclusivity and uniqueness and justifies sky-high prices as well as a creative and emotional intangible worth.  As the fashion market is always changing, the competition is always evolving, so luxury brands must keep moving too.

Fast fashion meets luxury labels. The term high street luxury might be regarded as an oxymoron creating a concept of ‘affordable luxury’. Luxury is believed to lost its lustre and appears to be having a bit of an identity crisis.

Gabrielle Chanel once said that fashion does not exist unless it goes into the street.  This factor deally matches  to the rising offer and status of fast fashion phenomena which is regarded as  the most noticeable variation being made on the luxury fashion market. This specific type of fashion business is characterised by a quick turnaround of fashion products, which reflects fast-changing fashion design and styles.

H&M, Zara, Topshop and Mango are the pioneers of fast fashion retailers, redefining their branding and marketing strategies to reflect a “luxurious” appeal to the consumer. Fashion has begun to resemble fast food: fast, disposable, inexpensive, broadly available and homogenous which relies on “speed chic”. In general terms, we become consumers of McFashion.  Forever21 is to H&M what McDonald’s is to Burger King – they may not transmit the exact same items but they convey the same message: consistency.

Buyers can now also borrow luxury goods from several companies like bagborroworsteal.com and milaandeddie.com. These possibilities create new attitudes to luxury and pose more challenges to managing luxury brands. Alexander McQueen, an extraordinary British fashion designer,  summarized the contemporary view of the fashion world in these words : “It’s a new era in fashion – there are no rules. It’s all about the individual and personal style, wearing high-end, low-end, classic labels, and up-and-coming designers all together ”.

To stand out from the uniformity of fashion and do something different for the clients, high street brands partner with luxury brands creating limited collection at significantly lower prices. The evolution of lifestyle marketing to identify and satisfy consumers’ ‘related product needs’ has been a major driver behind brand extension. Luxury brands extend their product range by second lines that aim to be more accessible to middle-class consumers.The difference between luxury and non-luxury fashion brands is becoming progressively blurred.

Dedicated followers of fashion … shoppers queue at Regent Street H&M to buy Versace designer collection in 2011. Source: thesun.co.uk

By downward strategies, luxury brands are going against all their principles and values in the hope of increasing their brand’s recognition among  the general public.  However, when a luxury brand, only available to a select few, attaches its name to a lower quality product for the mass market, is it not defeating the purpose of luxury brands existence?

 

Inspirational trip to The Daily Telegraph

There comes a time in everyone’s life when you have to ask yourself: What do you want your life to be in five or ten years? I believe that young people need something to look forward to and someone to chase. I consider inspirations as a positive driver that makes our life move in a positive way. This is why I have always been inspired by creative people and creative places. A trip to The Daily Telegraph belongs to one those places.

A couple of key facts at the beginning. The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning UK newspaper with a great reputation not only in the country but also internationally. The newspaper was launched almost 160 years ago! According to one of the senior editor with 50 years of experience working there and who run the tour, the special spirit of The Telegraph remains the same despite the era of media digitalisation. Some traditions of journalism still exist and will never change.

Interestingly, The Telegraph was the first newspaper in Europe that launched a website with daily news. They are broadening their horizons by developing new media and advertising platforms, some of them are incredibly spectacular.

When I entered the amazing building at 111 Buckingham Palace Road I felt the atmosphere a giant news business world. Initially, I had this vision in my mind: journalists running with the copies of their articles, panicking the entire time about deadlines, answering tones of calls and email at the same time. I thought that my university group and me would be a part of a scene from a movie like The Wolf of Wall Street , like this:  

Honestly, there’s none of that.

Despite a lot of people working there, everyone seems to be calm and the office is almost whisper quiet. Of course, there is row after row of computers, a circular bit where the senior editors work but everything looks very well organised. I had the possibility to know how an average day at the office looks like. One of the most impressive part of the tour was an interactive room where you can see how the newspaper works on a worldwide scale with all the numbers that you can think of and interactive map.

A round of applause to Paul, our tutor who organised this fantastic trip!

You have no idea where your favourite cosmetics come from

For any entrepreneur, opening  a business in a major city is an achievement. Opening a store in New York is like a blessing. Finally, having a store at Time Square sounds like winning the lottery. (Without mentioning rental costs and taxes, obviously). Here we have two examples: Inglot and Max Factor.  Have you ever thought where the companies originally come from? The answer might surprise you. 

Inglot at Times Square, New York

If you are a man, you might have never heard of Inglot. It’s a colour cosmetics company with a global reach. It began its international expansion in 2006, launching the first store in Montral, Canada. Then the success naturally followed. At the moment, the company  has nearly 500 retail outlets in more than 50 countries on six continents, including prestigious locations like The Dubai Mall, Macy’s in USA, Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Dundas Square in Toronto, Edgars in South Africa, Westfield London, and many others.Moreover, it has a dominant position in the domestic markets of cosmetics in Malaysia, Azerbaijan and Ireland. Inglot cosmetics use a lot of first-cover celebrities like Britney Spears, Avril Lavigne, Sofia Vergara or Kim Kardashian.

Now you know why the company is pretty successful, don’t you? You might think it’s probably British, German, French or American invention. Maybe Italian? None of them. 95% of Inglot cosmetics is being produced in a small town, Przemyśl, in Poland. The company was founded in 1983 by Wojciech Inglot who  was one of the most outstanding entrepreneurs businessman and chemist. He died unexpectedly at the age of 57 last year but his cosmetic empire is still growing.

Wojciech Inglot, a Polish chemist and businessmen, founder of Inglot cosmetics. He died in 2013, at the age of 57.

Mr. Inlot’s final life achievement was developing an innovative formula of healthier alternative for polish nail  that became a hit among Muslim women. According to the Quran, women are not allowed to wear polish nail during prayer. This is a part of wudu ritual that requires washing with water any time before the prayers. Inglot’s O2M halal nail polish is tolerable for women since it has been tested and certified  as being “breathable”. It means that it enables oxygen and liquid pass through the nail.

Currently, the brand international presence  is supported by a Polish supermodel, Anja Rubik, who is widely recognised in the fashion industry. She has launched her debut perfume line, called “Original”. The fragrance has just started its promotional campaign across the major cities in the world.

Max Factor is another cosmetic comapny that has its roots in… Poland. Maksymilian Faktorowicz, a Polish cosmetician and businessman, was the founder of  this cosmetics giant brand. After immigrating to Los Angeles, U.S,  in 1904, he changed his name into Max Factor and soon after he launched his own cosmetic company: Max Factor. Now the company is owned by  Procter & Gamble.

Max Factor, born Maksymilian Faktorowicz, z Polish businessman and founder of cosmetics giant Max Factor company Source: time2save.pl

Why PR Strategy Matters More Than Just Ideas

In today’s media-saturated world there is a pressing need for new thinking about the business public image. Consequently, marketers increasingly are turning to PR specialists due to their strategic role in  business world. With the continued and ever-changing communications tactics, it is essential that your company’s PR strategy is built effectively and, simultaneously, maintains the company’s DNA.

The old model of communications where content was significantly more possible to control and manage the perception is gone. There is no denying that social media  networks changed the communications landscape irremediably. We moved from the era of value chains to a new era of value networks. Interestingly, one in eight people  on Earth have Facebook, and if it was a country, it would be the third largest after China and India.

In this context, while the flow of news shifted from bicycle race to F1 Racing  and the message has never been easier to deliver, trust has never been more difficult to accomplish. To put it more specifically, good reputation built over many years can be falling to pieces with a single Tweet.

Public relations have this importance to maintain, growth or rebuild that reputation. While advertising is more about creating the ideas and journalism that is generally very short-term business, public relations have the advantage to be more strategic and dynamic weapon to proactively shape public perception in the long-term. It has a measurable effect on the achievement of strategic goals.

PR has a massive democratic potential as a strategic communication function. The field of public relations is going to gain in importance in the upcoming years. There are few factors that may influence significantly communication function and might be important for your business effectiveness. Social media has become mainstream for PR practitioners and they will be still the key platform of communication. Moreover, due to the communication-intensive environment, the industry will need deal with content overload as piece of content doesn’t carry the same weight that is did before and doesn’t have the same impact. Other factors are: brands will get increasingly visual, real-time marketing will take off, as the social media matures, consumer and marketer behaviour will change. Clients and agencies will re-evaluate how they measure social media success and communication strategies will be less structured around the campaign.

PR practitioners are not just campaigners. They are strategic advisors. What makes PR so effective ?  In one word: authenticity. PR is not just about ideas. It’s about making those ideas reliable.

I recommend this TED talk that can help you to shape your social strategy:

Is wearing the same thing every day a sign of genius?

Have you ever thought about how much time you spend on choosing what to wear in the morning? Perhaps, it  made you late to work or university more times than you can count.

Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg have something in common. And this time  it has nothing to do with technology.

If you do a google image search you see Mark Zuckerberg wearing either a simple grey T-shirt or black hoodie. Can you recall Steve Jobs wearing a Hawaiian shirt? No, because he didn’t wear them at all. At least, publicly. All of us remember him as the guy with the jeans, black turtleneck and New Balance sneakers. Unlike most corporate executives, who wear suits and ties, Jobs was committed to his chosen uniform, like this:

Of course, he could afford to wear the most expensive clothes, even made of gold. Was it boredom? Maybe laziness and a lack of fashion sense could be one reason.

Someone at a public Facebook Q&A, asked Mark Zuckerberg the important question of why he wears the same grey t-shirt every day.

His answer:

“I really want to clear my life to make it so that I have to make as few decisions as possible about anything except how to best serve this community.”

No-one choose him for his fashion sense

Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg  weren’t the only men who thought that deciding what to wear every day is too much work. There are other successful people who also decided to wear the same thing every day.

Let’s have a look at Albert Einstein. Einstein had a closet full of different versions of grey suit, white shirts, black ties, and shoes. He was renowned from his crazy hair as well.

It has been reported that he did it because he didn’t want to waste brainpower on choosing an outfit each morning. Now—decades later—Barack Obama does the same.

Michael Lewis wrote in a recent Vanity Fair article:

You also need to remove from your life the day-to-day problems that absorb most people for meaningful parts of their day. “You’ll see I wear only gray or blue suits,” [Obama] said. “I’m trying to pare down decisions. I don’t want to make decisions about what I’m eating or wearing. Because I have too many other decisions to make.”

The next one worth to mention is Karl Lagerfeld. The head designer and creative director for Chanel has never been spotted without his black suit and a white collar.

Maybe it’s a PR weapon. According to William Arruda, a personal branding guru and author of Ditch. Dare. Do!, this practice can be part of personal branding. “They wear what they wear because that’s what they feel comfortable wearing,” he says. “When you wear something that just feels right, you are confident. And it is also great to have a trademark look. It makes you memorable and distinctive.” Dan Schwabel, founder of Millennial Branding and author of “Me 2.0.” says: ““Famous business people and politicians are known to be consistent with their wardrobe because it’s their brand identity”. However, it could also be a sign of genius.

According to psychologist Oliver Burkeman who has studied the habits of genius  sticking to a very simple routine can help a mind focus on the more important issues.Basically it’s about out-sourcing the boring everyday decisions to your routine, so that all your cognitive energy can be spent on the important bits of the day.

Theoretically, wearing the same clothes every day, having the same thing for breakfast and leaving the house at exactly the same time every day could unleash huge cognitive powers.

Though it hasn’t worked for me so far.

Anja Rubik: from top model to role model

Challenge you assumptions. When you think about a model, what do you mean? She either eats cotton balls dipped in juice or simply nothing. Probably a dumb blonde girl? She is vain or this kind of a valley girl who should, rather, keep her mouth closed.

If you think so, you overestimate your abilities.

I’m really proud of all these successful Polish people who play the role of so-called “country ambassadors”. Let me introduce you the first one – Anja Rubik.

She breaks all the stereotypical images about models and Polish people who decide to settle down somewhere in the world and climb the career ladder there.

Source: afterparty.pl

Over the past decade, she has racked up countless covers, ad campaigns, and catwalk exclusives. As of May 2010, Anja is ranked 3rd on the Top 50 Models Women list and 18th on the Top 25 Money Girls list, which ranks the highest earning high fashion models in the industry, by models.com. As of September 2012, she is ranked as an industry icon.

She is one of those high-achieving models who are successfully becoming businesswomen. Two years ago she launched and became Editor in Chief of her own magazine, 25. She described it as a fashion magazine, “but with an erotic twist”. In addition to collaborating with big designers names  such as Giuseppe Zanotti for whom she designed a capsule footwear line, she is actively engaged in charity organisations.

She became a strong PR weapon that a lot of top designers and fashion brands can only dream of. Nevertheless, she took time out of her busy schedule to support Polish artists, designers and fashion companies.

It’s time to show you couple of Anja’s latest collaborations from her homeland that you might have never heard of.
Most recently, she launched exclusive line collection campaign for Mohito. The general idea was to take the best pieces of her wardrobe and present them on the catwalk. That’s why the collection ideally portrays Anja’s style which might be a unique selling point of this line.

Anja Rubik for Mohito, the collection will be available since 14th of November.
Photos: Paola Kudacki

Anja as a host and judge of Polish version of Project Runway produced by TVN.

Source: elle.pl

Anja has made several guest appearances throughout Top Model show, produced by TVN as well. The show was based on Tyra Banks’ America’s Next Top Model.

Source: kobieta.onet.pl

Anja Rubik became an ambassador of Apart, Poland’s  largest producer and chain of jewellery showrooms.

Anja Rubik for Apart Source: fashion.apart.pl

There were quite a lot of controversy surrounding Anja’s musical debut. She has collaborated with writer and producer Mister D to produce a track in Polish called Chleb. Mister D is the stage name of acclaimed Polish literary wunderkind Dorota Masłowska. The video had nothing to do with glamour and luxury and rapidly went viral. “I’ve been a fan of hers since her first book was published, which was a huge hit in Poland. Now, all of her writing is very controversial, and it’s kind of addressed to people who know the situation in Poland — the social situation, what’s happening in Poland when it comes to interactions between people, how we approach different things” – Anja said.

A shot from the ‘Chleb’ music video. Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1-z48cJDbc

Give Anja  a round of applause! 

Devil wears …Dior ?

I supposed to hate Jennifer Lawrence. She has everything:  people love her, she is beautiful, rich, famous and finally, she won an Oscars at age of 22. But the worst thing is the fact that… she is of my age. While I’m seating in a library, writing super boring assignments, fighting with deadlines, she is on the red carpet somewhere in Hollywood, earning millions of dollars. But you know what, even though I envy her, I truly like her.

Let’s face the obvious facts out of the way: She is young and adorably inexperienced at being a huge movie star. People like her for being natural, kind of “next-door” girl who do not need to be perfect.

Luxury brand want to work with her because she is a role model for the young generation which is becoming one a key target for high-end fashion companies. In October 2012, Lawrence was announced as the new  face of Dior. Nevertheless, the beginning of Jannifer’s collaboration with this massive brand wasn’t really good. What happened to her last year is worth to mention.

Christian Dior’s dresses seemed to be a bit unlucky for her. She decided to wear a gorgeous dark blue Christian Dior dress at the 19th Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles in 2013. Upon receiving her award for best performance by a female actor in Silver Linings Playbook, Jennifer shocked the crowd by showing a little more leg than expected when she stood up. And it was not a case.

Source: theguardian.com

However, what happened when she was collecting her Best Actress Oscar was more spectacular. Jennifer Lawrence fell elegantly in Dior Couture. “What do you mean what happened? Look at my dress. I tried to walk up stairs in this dress that’s what happened,” she explained during the press conference. Well, nothing more to add.

Source: usmagazine.com

This fall inspired a Tumblr user to create a mock Christian Dior ad featuring a photograph of Jennifer Lawrence falling.All an all, Jennifer accidents generated a constant media coverage for Christian Dior that time.

Moreover, since October 2012 she is a new face of Dior, replacing fellow actress Mila Kunis who has been fired from Dior due to her…weight. The marketing department at Christian Dior was “furious” with Mila Kunis for putting on weight and continually appearing out in very sloppy, un-chic outfits. For Jennifer, this is the first collaboration with a luxury brand. “It’s such a dream to represent an iconic brand that is synonymous with high fashion,” she told WWD of the partnership. The Oscar-winner actress appeared in her first campaign for the French fashion house’s Miss Dior handbag line this March. Interstingly, she  has confessed for something that probably no-one in Hollywood would do. She said : “I love Photoshop more than anything in the world (…) Of course it’s Photoshop – people don’t actually look like that”. 

Source: dior.com