Friday 29th May:
Honesty is the best policy, so how can you keep it real?
People like knowing what they’re getting before they open their wallets. For those looking to get a new haircut, MopShots offers an online lookbook of real cuts on real people, with details on the salons that created them.
Snapshots can be submitted by anyone (including hairstylists showing off their handiwork), but not every photo is accepted. Before being featured on MopShots, the website’s ‘dictators’—a group of 25 fashion bloggers, stylists and tastemakers approve the photos. Engaging users as they contribute, and commenting on each cut, the dictators look for models with character rather than ones cut from a glamour magazine. MopShots is not sponsored by hairdressers or hair product companies.
Each hairstyle has its own page with up to four photos, listing the salon name and location. Styles are searchable by colour, type, style, length or salon. The site works both as inspiration for people looking for a new style, as well as those seeking a salon based on its real-world results.
Ref. http://springwise.com/fashion_beauty/mopshots/
Thursday 28th May:
Does your brand create any surplus? If so, how can you put it to creative use?
Take a leaf out of Veggie Trader’s book. In the US, frugal consumers who’ve been busying themselves growing their own produce can now make a bit of cash on the side.
Veggie Trader’s new website provides green-fingered individuals and locavores with an online network where they can buy, sell or trade their homegrown bounty. The site’s founders hope to encourage users to specialise in certain crops too through a concept they call ‘cooperative gardening’.
‘The idea is pretty straightforward,’ the website reads. ‘A group of neighbours agrees at the start of the growing season to a list of produce they want to grow. Each household then raises the types of produce it believes they’re best at growing. By concentrating exclusively on just a few crops, each household will (in theory) enjoy greater yields and better quality produce. The resulting harvest can then be swapped and distributed among the whole group, with everybody getting a little bit of everything.’
Originally launched so that at-home gardeners could sell off their excess produce, the website has now grown to be a fully-fledged trading system for people concerned with sustainability and local food.
Ref. https://www.lsnglobal.com/seed/view/573
Tagged with: Credit crunch; Sustainability, Food and drink, Social Network
Wednesday 27th May:
How can you tap into consumer outrage and see bigger sales?
Advertisers have always played with consumer emotions. Usually with campaigns to promote positive brand and product associations, e.g. detergents that fight grease while leaving hands soft, or SUVs that help us escape the 9–5 while still being kind to the trees. Nowadays, given the dire state of the economy, some brands are tapping into our outrage.
For example, Miller High Life in the US is using a blue-collar character who delights in removing their beer from hoity-toity bars, restaurants and stores that he believes are short-changing shoppers.
The New York Times has even reported on this latest advertising trend that attempts to translate consumers’ fear and frustration directly into sales. The ads hope to mark a return to honesty – a quality that has been sorely lacking in all aspects of our society, not just the advertising world, by expressing messages most people can relate to.
Ref. http://www.psfk.com/2009/05/advertisers-tap-into-consumer-outrage-see-bigger-sales.html
Ref. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/15/business/media/15adco.html?_r=2&ref=todayspaper&pagewanted=all
Tuesday 26th May:
How can you tap into the seasons?
Summer is fast approaching – time to explore the great outdoors, hang out at festivals and go camping. So try thinking like Shit Box who recognise the possibility of getting caught short as we explore nature’s bounty.
Flat-packed, the Shit Box opens out into a rigid but comfy loo into which you can drop your fudge, again and again, without making a mess or gassing everyone within a five-mile radius. That’s because it comes with 10 biodegradable poo bags. Brilliant.
Available in two sizes, the 14” original and a smaller ‘Little Jack’ version for nippers, it’s ideal for festival goers, campers, Portaloo-less builders, fisherman and kids caught short on long journeys. It even comes with a fetching shoulder bag. (Thanks to Jules for this big one.)
Ref. http://www.firebox.com/product/2351/Shit-Box
Friday 22nd May:
How can your brand make honesty more of an asset?
Honesty, as they say, is the best policy. Which why it’s refreshing to see Pizza Hut being frank about who they are and about what they do best. The tent card below says it all, and it ties in well with their current online ‘limp lunch’ promo too. In these days of political correctness, it’s nice to see a bit of good old-fashioned attitude and fun.
(Many thanks to big Nick)
Ref. http://www.pizzahut.co.uk/restaurants/restaurant.aspx
Thursday 21st May:
What can you do to spark a little location-based rivalry?
Think like Everton football club. They’ve come up with a great piece of marketing for their new club shop at the new £920 million ‘Liverpool One’ shopping centre. It’s name is ‘Everton Two’, making their address: Everton Two, Liverpool One. Very nifty. And this appears on all carrier bags too. Local bragging rights to the Toffees on this occasion.
(Cheers Mino.)
Wednesday 20th May:
How can you help people be eco-friendly and thrifty at the same time?
Follow M·A·C’s ‘Back to M·A·C’ scheme. As the cosmetics company says, “M·A·C cares about the environment and takes back its primary packaging to recycle for new packaging. Return six M·A·C primary containers to a counter or online, and you’ll receive a free M·A·C lipstick of your choice.” And whenever people take back their empties we wouldn’t be surprised if they end up buying another product too.
(Big thank you to Gemma for sharing her free lippy tips.)
Ref. http://www.maccosmetics.com/giving_back/btm_return_packaging.tmpl
Tuesday 19th May:
How can you, quite literally, bring your products down to earth?
New Balance is taking themed sneakers to new levels with their Coffee Bean 576s. These kicks feature a hemp upper, such as traditional coffee harvesters would use to carry and transport their beans. And the traditionally stitched ‘N’ on the side is hand-painted on. Other ‘earthy’ elements include cork panels and a woodgrain effect on the heel.
(Thanks to Steven S in Leeds for this.)
Ref. http://www.nicekicks.com/2008/03/new-balance-576-coffee-beans/
Monday 18th May:
How can you get audiences participating in places they usually don’t?
Think like Cadbury’s. They’re setting up video cameras in cinemas and filming the audience waving their arms in time with the music. This ‘motion’ is captured to ‘play’ the Cadbury brother and sister’s eyebrows, Guitar Hero-style. Brilliant.
(Thanks to Chris Teabag for sharing his time at the flicks.)
Ref. http://www.chunk.co.uk/?p=156
Friday 15th May:
When money is tight, how can you help people make small ‘stylish’ statements that provide bite-size pieces of luxury?
Think like chewing gum giant, Wrigley. Wrigley is targeting the premium category in the UK’s competitive gum market with its ‘sense-stimulating, edgy’ 5 gum, out in June. http://www.5gum.com/five/index_normal.do
What’s so premium about this new brand? The 5 range is available in cobalt – cooling peppermint, electro – tingling spearmint and pulse – crisp tropical flavours, complete with ‘embossed black gloss packaging and sharp eye catching bursts of colour’.
Apparently, this new range is Wrigley’s response to the increasing demand of stylish consumers for a wider range of available flavours, or ‘taste sensations’.
Ref. http://www.schmoozyfox.com/