MARKETING IN A TOPSY-TURVY WORLD: SEND UP A LARGER ROOM

What's in a name?

2012-02-07T16:30:00.000+11:00

Brands have been having a bit of fun with names lately. (Mumbrella)

The New Digital Divide: between brands and consumers

2012-01-30T17:08:00.000+11:00

This is a useful infographic by we are social Australia, based on global research from the CMO Council, illustrating just how far apart marketers and consumers are when it comes to expectations of a branded social experience.

In particular, marketers are failing to connect fans with each other. They're not enabling customers to troubleshoot each others' problems. They're missing a trick when it comes to crowdsourcing innovation. And, they're not adequately rewarding loyal fans, providing little incentive for ongoing interaction and support. Reward doesn't have to be financial, it can be as simple as making the online experience more playful, like a game, and more connected.

A breakthrough in plant-human communication

2012-01-25T16:17:00.000+11:00

The Botanicalls Project has developed a way for plants to Tweet their owners when they need feeding. Via psfk

Colour coded image search

2012-01-25T10:18:00.000+11:00

This is my favourite image search, much better than the usual Google results. The images are more interesting and you can search by colour as well as keyword.

http://labs.ideeinc.com/

2012-01-25T09:38:00.000+11:00

Source: bnob.blogspot.com via marla on Pinterest

Fantastic pictures which inevitably stimulate debate. Personally I love the dramatic look à la Sin City. The Dark Side.

2012-01-24T10:32:00.000+11:00

Kraft in Greece uses packaging to send personalised messages - without changing the packaging. Through a mobile app, Kraft’s Lacta brand lets people use augmented reality to write a message on a chocolate bar. The recipient is notified via Facebook and uses their camera phone to reveal the message on any Lacta bar. (Via Springwise).

It's a smart initiative, driving consumption without adding packaging cost.

And the customisation craze is still going strong. A recent survey by IBM, "The Smarter Consumers Survey" indicated that people are still looking for a more personalised shopping experience. Moreover, they're willing to share their personal data with trusted brands to improve their experience.
75% said they’re willing to provide their media usage to retailers.
73% would provide demographic data.
61% would be willing to share their name and address.
59% would share lifestyle data.
56% would give their location in return for a more relevant shopping experience.

Compare Travel Insurance - the unfeasibly happy midget

2012-01-23T12:08:00.000+11:00

It feels like one of those ads they make up as a game on the Gruen transfer, but this had me crying with laughter when I saw it at the cinema the other day. They must have had fun with this and it shows.

Oh, the Places You'll Go!

2012-01-23T09:50:00.001+11:00

This is a nice piece of collaborative storytelling from people at the Burning Man festival. Based on Dr. Seuss' "Oh the Places You'll Go!" it recounts the highs and lows of life, the thrill of exploration and the inevitable slumps. Beware the sinister Waiting Place, a prison of our own creation, where people are perennially waiting for something to happen while life passes them by!

Icons Transformed by Colour

2012-01-16T18:34:00.001+11:00

This is uncanny. Check out the set, which includes iconic images of Einstein, Che Guevara and Hitchcock, among others, at Ufunk.

Facebook Timeline: Anti-Drugs campaign

2012-01-09T09:59:00.000+11:00

A campaign from Israel's Anti-Drug Authority uses the new Facebook Timeline feature to tell the "Sliding Doors" style story of a guy who, in one version of his life, becomes a drug user and in a parallel life lives drug free. It's a familiar storytelling device to highlight contrasts, but the use of Facebook Timeline is novel and the side-by-side profile pics are powerful. People live their lives on Facebook, so seeing a life unravel in this space is all the more hard hitting.

Google's Zeitgeist 2011: Year In Review

2012-01-09T08:43:00.000+11:00

And to compare, here's Twitter's version of 2011:

The New Liposuction

2012-01-04T11:35:00.003+11:00

2011-12-19T08:53:00.000+11:00

Coke has been giving families what they really want for Christmas. Over 11 million Filipinos have left their homes to find better opportunities abroad and many have not seen their families for years. This film shows the raw human emotion of families reunited. It's disarmingly heartwarming and topping the viral charts for most shared.

2011-12-13T08:37:00.000+11:00

These were created by artist Neil Wax as a comment on consumer culture and the value judgements people place on feeling "good" vs. feeling "bad". I love the way feelings are expressed through cleaning products. Cleaning is much more value-laden than you might think. It was once a major source of pride to have a pristine home. Now there's greater pressure to have a full life, not just a well-kept house. People who are meticulous tend to hide it, so they're not labelled obsessive, or worse, considered to have no life.

Walk of Shame - Harvey Nichols

2011-12-09T11:32:00.000+11:00

An alternative Christmas spot. I particularly like the "pie at bus stop" scene. Check out #walkofshame.

Luck is an attitude

2011-12-09T11:21:00.000+11:00

I couldn't agree more. Make your own luck. Create your destiny. If something doesn't sit right, change it.

Looking for a new messiah

2011-11-29T18:06:00.000+11:00

Since the death of Steve Jobs, the technology sector has a new swagger. Samsung has the audacity to take on the iPhone. Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, was recently featured in a Wired article entitled "Jeff Bezos owns the web in more ways than you think." Worth a read.

Adidas Face of the Marathon

2011-09-30T10:57:00.000+10:00

This is an inspired use of technology to convey a personal experience. Adidas have captured what it's like to run a marathon through the facial expressions of runners. Head mounted cameras filmed the experiences of 15 participants throughout the duration of the Berlin Marathon. See the profile of the runners here.

Carlsberg Biker Cinema

2011-09-28T09:12:00.001+10:00

From Carlsberg in Belgium, a nice study of preconceptions. Would you stay or would you go?

Algorithmic Search Engine for Video

2011-08-01T10:49:00.000+10:00

We've all come to rely on tagging to order our online worlds. It's how we label and find things. But effective and reliable video tagging has so far relied on people painstakingly going through the film and labeling the content manually.

Now Julian Palacz has created an algorithmic search engine for video. It's a great breakthrough in that it's able to search the spoken word directly. His project The Algorithmic Search for Love is currently being exhibited at Sao Paulo's FILE festival. It demonstrates how the search engine works by finding all the scenes with the words "I love you" from Palacz film collection.

Wagon Wheels and Artline on Facebook

2011-06-02T18:21:00.008+10:00

A bit of self-promotion for George Patts Y&R, but what the hell it's my blog. Our Facebook pages for Wagon Wheels and The Mighty Artline just exceeded 20,000 fans - credit to all, especially Michaela.

If you harbour a fondness for old skool, random but right, circular confectionery, or share a predilection for perfect pens, join the throng!

Intel's Museum of Me

2011-06-02T16:28:00.003+10:00

It's done the rounds already, but if you haven't seen it, check out Intel's Museum of Me. It's just an aggregator of your Facebook information, but with lush production values and a touch of narcissism.

The Information Blanket

2011-06-02T16:25:00.001+10:00

What a great contextual media idea. As they say, "every baby needs a blanket; every parent needs education and training about how to raise a newborn." You can donate a blanket to a family in Uganda for US$25 at the information blanket website.

Fiat Street Evo App.

2011-05-09T09:33:00.001+10:00

This campaign is inspired. Fiat appropriated everyday street signs, so people could use their mobiles to scan, for example, a stop sign and information about the car's breaking system would appear on screen.

So the entire city became a hidden catalogue, just through the use of a simple app. called Street Evo. They took it further, and turned the campaign into a game, with hidden prizes behind certain signs.

Fiat effectively turned familiar objects into QR codes, that is, patterns that phones can scan to extract information. QR codes are increasingly included as response mechanisms in print or outdoor campaigns. But they often fall flat because a lot of people still don't have a clue what they are, or or how to use them.

By turning everyday road signs into codes, Fiat took away the barriers and the uncertainty around QR codes and generated massive participation in their campaign - in a week over a million signs were spotted.

Cadbury's Charity Shop

2011-05-09T09:11:00.000+10:00

A Glass and A Half Full of Joy continues with "Charity Shop". Kind of twee but maybe in a good way, as it raised a smile. Sadly, I remember when the original song came out.