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

Oreo Cream Separator

2013-03-01T09:13:00.002+11:00

Loving the Oreo Cream Separator. Another great character from Wieden & Kennedy.

Ray Ban Instagram Product Demo

2013-03-01T09:10:00.001+11:00

A creative use of Instagram to demonstrate how life looks through Ray Ban's Abermatic sunglasses.

Donate your desktop

2012-10-19T13:39:00.002+11:00

Donate Your Desktop by NZ entrepreneur Nelson Rayner is both an inspired media idea and a fresh take on charitable giving. By donating your desktop via the app, you can effectively donate to charity for free. It works by refreshing your wallpaper daily with advertiser content. Each advertiser makes a donation to your chosen charity. A simple and effective way to harness "slacktivism" with real results.

Ballantine's tshirtOS

2012-08-31T09:57:00.000+10:00

This is one of the most exciting things I've seen lately in wearable tech. Ballantine's programmable t-shirt is internet enabled, so it can display tweets, share playlists, take photos and post them to Instagram. And the initiative is brand building to boot - the potential for self-expression is consistent with the brand's proposition "Leave an impression."

The following video is a kind of Weird Science/Dude Where's My Car adaptation which shows the real potential of the T-shirt - and all the trouble it can get you into

I want one. With enough support, the good folks at Ballantine will put it into production for real. Sign up on their Facebook page.

BPAY Bingo

2012-07-09T09:32:00.000+10:00

A good use of gamification to take the drudge out of paying bills and make BPAY the payment method of choice. BPAY Bingo created by BMF.

McDonald's Hamburger Timetable

2012-06-20T09:58:00.002+10:00

How to get people to save

2012-04-17T12:47:00.000+10:00

I'm always interested in finding new ways to make people do things that don't seem immediately relevant to them, yet may be in their best interests. Saving for the future is a good example.

Last year, BBDO Colenso, NZ, created the ingenious Impulse Saver iPhone app for Westpac. It's a great piece of "choice architecture" which bypasses people's rational decision making in favour of their natural impulses and sense of play. Just as you'd impulse spend, now, at the tap of button, you can save a small amount whenever it takes your fancy. And it probably makes you feel better afterwards than the spending spree.

A very different approach to encourage saving helps young people connect to their future selves, chipping away at their sense of immortality and tapping into a vein of responsibility. A new study from NYU Stern (via PSFK) suggests that young people are encouraged to save by seeing realistic virtual images of themselves at retirement age. In a controlled experiment, those who saw images of themselves when older claimed they'd save a third more than those who did not see images of their future selves. Increasing Saving Behavior Through Age-Progressed Renderings of the Future Self was published in the Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 48.

Gayby Baby crowdfunded documentary

2012-03-08T15:12:00.000+11:00

Filmmakers, photographers and performers can now get fledgling projects off the ground with a good idea and a dose of social media. Pozible makes creative projects possible through crowdfunding.

A recent success story is Gayby Baby, a new documentary by Maya Newell about the experiences of kids growing up in same-sex families. It's told from the perspective of the kids themselves. As family units evolve and transform, theirs is an important new voice that I'm looking forward to hearing.
See Gayby Baby on Facebook or follow them on Twitter @gaybybaby

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.