When brands speak emoji

by Éléonore Toubin

Having studied literature, I always felt strongly about language: I fancy beautiful long old-fashioned words or any words that is slightly out of our usual day to day vocabulary. As a matter of fact “pulchritudinous” and “tintinnabulation” are two of my favourite words. As a firm advocate of perfect spelling and grammar, I am allergic to misspelling. Therefore, you shouldn’t be too surprised to learn that text language is one of my biggest pet peeves. To my great dismay, it…

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Of the importance of words

by Éléonore Toubin

In 44BC Roman philosopher and political theorist Cicero wrote this verse: “Cedant arma togae, concedat laurea linguae” in an essay titled De Officiis (which can be translated as On Duties or On Obligations). The first words of this verse, Cedant arma togae, basically mean “Let arms yield to the toga”. They can be understood literally as “let military power give way to civil power” but also hold a deeper meaning “words are more powerful than weapons”. As a brilliant orator,…

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Easter eggs are the best marketing tool

by Éléonore Toubin

Do you know what an Easter egg is? Are you sure? If your answer is: egg-shaped chocolates that are sold and eaten around Easter time; then you are ri…hum…wrong! Actually, the term Easter eggs also refers to messages/animations… hidden in computer programs, websites or video games. These hidden bonuses are called Easter eggs in parallel with the custom of hiding and then hunting Easter eggs (the chocolate kind) that sometimes contain little surprises. Indeed Easter eggs are a bonus, an…

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Life in a playful world : advergames, gamification & serious games

by Éléonore Toubin

When I was a child I liked going to McDonald’s because of the little promotional toys given away in ‘Happy Meals’. I didn’t even like the food that much but I would often beg my parents to take me to McDonald’s anyway. The fact that the toys changed so often and were always goodies from the last hot anime series or Disney movie only increased their appeal to the child I was (By the way, do you know that McDonalds…

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