Friday 31st July:
The ultimate digest
How come The Economist is so successful when so many other weekly news magazines aren’t? Michael Hirschorn of The Atlantic magazine identifies several possible reasons:
1. Quality and breadth – ‘The Economist is truly a remarkable invention. This weekly newspaper, as it calls itself, canvasses the globe with an assurance no-one else can match. Where else, really, can you actually keep up with Africa?’
2. Ability to distil the news and offer a point of view – ‘The Economist has reached its current level of influence and importance because it is, in every sense of the word, a true global digest for an age when the amount of undigested, undigestible information online continues to metastasise.’
3. Smart analysis and razor-sharp clarity instead of original reporting – ‘The Economist virtually never gets scoops, and the information it does provide is available elsewhere . . . if you care to spend 20 hours Googling’.
What’s interesting is that The Economist has managed to do all this without knowingly adapting to the realities of Web 2.0. In fact, even Hirschorn admits that The Economist ‘has never had much digital savvy’. The Economist, which almost demands to be seen first and foremost as a print publication, appears to stand alone online, unlinked to other news sources.
‘While other publications whore themselves to Google, The Huffington Post and the Drudge Report, almost no-one links to The Economist. It sits primly apart from the whole orgy of link love elsewhere on the Web’.
At the end of the day, The Economist feels like the only magazine you need to read’. Suggest we subscribe!
Ref. http://blog.futurelab.net/2009/07/innovation_and_the_future_of_m.html
Tagged with: Globalisation, Publishing
Thursday 30th July:
A ‘regular’ cookbook for digestive troubles
‘The Un-Constipated Gourmet: Secrets to a Moveable Feast — 125 Recipes for the Regularity Challenged’ cookbook by Danielle Svetcov promises to help people poo without lecturing on exercise, low-fat eating or odd food pairings. Instead, the book offers gourmet recipes (the author boldly compares her tome to The Joy of Cooking) that use ingredients proven to, er, get things moving.
Svetcov’s categories for effective regularity are fruit, legumes, chocolate and coffee. Recipes include bourbon truffles, gorgonzola-stuffed dried fig salad, chorizo and chickpea stew, and red wine compote with crème fraiche.
Wednesday 29th July:
‘Tis better to give than receive
VIA Group from Portland, Maine, have donated a new guerrilla ad campaign for the Salvation Army, with the help of more than 50 local businesses.
Known as the This Ad Cost Nothing campaign, the three-week initiative was designed primarily to raise awareness for the Salvation Army’s Northern New England division. Part of the campaign included broadcast time and print ad space donated by traditional media. The majority, however, employed less conventional tactics. Pizza boxes and coffee sleeves were transformed into ad space displaying the Salvation Army’s logo and URL, as were bathroom mirrors at local restaurants – with the help of a little grease paint.
VIA employees and willing friends parked their intentionally dusty cars in downtown Portland, with the logo and slogans written on their back windshields, while dozens of shops sported the logo on their own windows as well. Painted rocks, tarps and tennis court floors were also among the more than 5,000 ‘creative units’ included in the campaign.
Besides spreading the word about the Salvation Army, and no doubt updating its image, the campaign is also another nice example of Generation G(enerosity) at work.
Ref. http://springwise.com/non-profit_social_cause/salvationarmy/
Tagged with: Charity, Generation G, Guerilla Advertising
Tuesday 28th July:
Wear your tribe with pride
While consumers love to be unique, the paradox at play is that uniqueness needs to be accepted and admired by one’s peers or ‘tribe’. People are constantly going back-and-forth between individuality and the collective, wanting and needing both.
So how can you demo your tribe membership? Here’s an interesting keyboard design from designer Ignacio Pilotto, which features brands instead of letters. (Thanks to Darren for this geeky spot.)
Japanese casual fashion retailer, Uniqlo, has helped in other ways. They’ve offered special Google-branded goods to selected users in Japan who install a Uniqlo button for the Google Toolbar.
Ref. http://www.geeky-gadgets.com/the-brand-keyboard-15-07-2009/
http://trendwatching.com/trendreport/content/
Monday 27th July:
The new authenticity
45s are back. iTunes is going retro with the launch of the new ‘D45’ – a throwback to the old days of the two-song 45 rpm vinyl record. The D45 section on the iTunes Store features discounted prices on packs of two digital song downloads. Just like old 45s, the D45 selection includes a popular single accompanied by a B-side song. Prices range from $1.49 to $1.99. (A very big thanks to Ben and Tim.)
‘iTunes is bringing this concept to a new age with D45s – two great tracks at an equally great price,’ the iTunes Store reads.
Music company EMI announced that the release of D45s marks the 60th anniversary of the 45 single record. The digital bundles will be sold exclusively by iTunes through July 27. After that, they will be available for purchase from ‘all major digital service providers’.
‘More than 35 digital singles will launch the campaign,’ the EMI press release states, ‘including original 45 single A-sides and B-sides, and top hits by Coldplay, David Bowie, R.E.M., Poison, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Dean Martin, Duran Duran, Nat King Cole, Blondie, and Billy Idol among others.”
Ref. http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/07/14/itunes_goes_retro_with_digital_45s.html
Tagged with: Authenticity, Music, Retro, Technology
Friday 24th July:
The real thing can be a good thing
This promotional pack for Red Bull Cola presents a can of the drink alongside the 17 natural ingredients that go into it. In our increasingly virtualised-digitised world, this display is a great testament to the commanding presence of physical objects.
Ref. http://www.psfk.com/2009/07/pic-red-bull-ingredients-in-the-raw.html
http://www.influxinsights.com/blog/article/2337/the-power-of-the-physical-red-bull.html
Thursday 23rd July:
‘Be awesome’ more often
A person walks into PF Chang’s and tweets how much she loves the lettuce wraps. Since PF Chang’s is active on Twitter (http://twitter.com/pfchangs), they see the message and decide to ‘be awesome’ and send the Tweeter a free dessert and appetizer.
A simple thought – PF Chang’s reached out and delighted a customer in a way she wasn’t expecting. And this person wasn’t a celebrity or an ‘influencer’ in the foodie world in any way. And PF Chang’s had NO expectation of getting anything more out of it. They just decided to take the opportunity to thank the Tweeter and thereby humanise their brand.
So, this question to people in marketing: when was the last time you actually thanked a customer? When was the last time you tried to ‘be awesome’? Does your company even have the systems in place to let you do so? If not, maybe it’s time to start making a change.
Ref. http://www.hardknoxlife.com/2009/07/11/a-case-of-why-brands-need-to-be-awesome-more-often/
Tagged with: Food and drink, Restaurants, Retail, Social networking
Wednesday 22nd July:
‘Upcycling’ – a great idea still waiting to happen (again)
‘Upcycling’ is a 21st century term, coined by Cradle to Cradle authors William McDonough and Michael Braungart. But the idea of turning waste into useful products came to life brilliantly in 1963, with the Heineken WOBO (world bottle). Envisioned by beer brewer Alfred Heineken and designed by Dutch architect John Habraken, the ‘brick that holds beer’ was ahead of its ecodesign time, letting beer lovers and builders alike drink and design all in one sitting.
Mr. Heineken’s idea came after a visit to the Caribbean where he saw two problems: beaches littered with bottles and a lack of affordable building materials. The WOBO became his vision to solve both the recycling and housing challenges that he’d witnessed on the islands.
Crazily, a shed at the Heineken estate and a wall made of WOBOs at the Heineken Museum in Amsterdam are the only structures where the ‘beer brick’ was used. As to the remaining WOBOs, it’s not clear how many exist, or where, but the idea even some four decades later remains a lasting example in end-use innovation.
But why didn’t this project didn’t take off, and why aren’t other brewers, or Coca-Cola for that matter, thinking like this? Certainly there are shipping efficiencies to packaging square bottles, and there’s no cost to the company if people decide to build things out of them. Re-use is always better than recycling, and if properly done, this could result in a virtually waste-free product.
Ref. http://www.ethiopianreview.com/articles/13630
http://www.inhabitat.com/2007/10/11/heineken-wobo-the-brick-that-holds-beer/
Tuesday 21st July:
Colour crafting – too simple to ‘own’?
Bold, modern typography, like Chocolat Factory’s packaging, has a super-simple, stripped down approach. But is this its primary flaw? This popular look, if applied without enough of a differentiating element, can end up looking generic. Colour blocking is great for differentiating flavours, but something else has to be going on to create an ‘ownable’ design.
Below are some examples. Some seem to rely too heavily on colour and don’t make their packaging distinctive enough from other brands, while others are doing a better job. Can you tell the difference between the brands well enough? Are the differences memorable enough so you’ll know where to go back for your next chocolate fix?
Ref. http://www.thedieline.com/blog/2009/06/branding-with-color.html#more
Tagged with: Confectionary, Packaging
Monday 20th July:
Take the long view
People are buying Knob Creek bourbon quicker than they can make it. But rather than bottle their bourbon before it’s finished aging the ‘full 9 years’, Knob Creek are simply stopping production until it’s ready – and really ‘living’ their equity of ‘uncompromising quality’ into the bargain. What they’re doing is right for both their customers and right for the brand. An admirable example to set.
Ref. http://www.hardknoxlife.com/2009/07/01/brands-i-love-knob-creek-tells-the-world-thanks-for-nothing/
Tagged with: Food and drink