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So, there I was traveling through the Dallas Ft Worth Airport last week and bang, I saw my first Apple iPod vending machine. It grabbed a lot of attention from passersby - like me. So I reached for my trusty BB for a quick shot. The Blackberry quality of the image is a little rough, perhaps I should have popped for a new iPhone.
The contemporary art scene in Canada in the late 60s and early 70s was punctuated by spots of brilliance from art centers in Montreal, Kingston and Toronto. But very very few of the names of the day were women. Artists movements led by the likes of Jennifer Dickson and others created some of the most memorable pieces of art from this time. Many women in these groups were caught between an earlier era of how a woman should live her life (become a mother and stop working & their love of working). Sylvia Engel is such a woman. Having extraordinary talent, she opted for motherhood and shelved the art career. Now she is back at work. Today, women outnumber men at art schools, and "women artists" seems like a category that is ripe for retirement, if not plain embarrassing. However, it is worth remembering that 20 years ago only a handful of female practitioners were even significant dots on the Canadian art map. In that context, the accomplishments of the likes of Janet Cardiff, possibly the most visible Canadian in the international art world, are considerable. Female artists certainly cannot be said to speak with a single voice, but there is no question that they are being heard. Sylvia Engel is one of those unheard women whose work is truly extraordinary for the time, and who continues to produce a large number of pieces for her collection and an accelerating rate.
The contemporary art scene in Canada in the late 60s and early 70s was punctuated by spots of brilliance from art centers in Montreal, Kingston and Toronto. But very very few of the names of the day were women. Artists movements led by the likes of Jennifer Dickson and others created some of the most memorable pieces of art from this time. Many women in these groups were caught between an earlier era of how a woman should live her life (become a mother and stop working & their love of working). Sylvia Engel is such a woman. Having extraordinary talent, she opted for motherhood and shelved the art career. Now she is back at work. Today, women outnumber men at art schools, and "women artists" seems like a category that is ripe for retirement, if not plain embarrassing. However, it is worth remembering that 20 years ago only a handful of female practitioners were even significant dots on the Canadian art map. In that context, the accomplishments of the likes of Janet Cardiff, possibly the most visible Canadian in the international art world, are considerable. Female artists certainly cannot be said to speak with a single voice, but there is no question that they are being heard. Sylvia Engel is one of those unheard women whose work is truly extraordinary for the time, and who continues to produce a large number of pieces for her collection and an accelerating rate.
Here is some of her work.
Dutch-based "Sign of the times" has published their 15 coolest (things?) worldwide. Some of them are mechanical wonders, like the levitating functional light bulb, to the oddly named Space Disco, and also such bizarre selections as the Momento Mori by Barry Barton, an Australian who makes jewelry out of animals.
What are the criteria for this thought-provoking list? Who knows.
Stated intent:
Signs of the time’s Top 15 of Coolest Worldwide is made with the contributions of the best experts we know.
Some have worldwide fame. Like Joe Pine (“Experience Economy”). Like Mark Simpson (with worldwide books as “Male Impersonators” and “Sex Terror”). Like Marian Salzman (“The Future of Man”). Like Kjell Nordstrom (“Funky Business”.)
Others are simply the most interesting “young dogs”/”penetrative minds” we know. Like Kees Elands when it comes to worldwide creative culture. Like Andre do Val (Sao Paulo) and Enzo Dalverme (Milan), when it comes to fashion trends and photography. Like Kai van Hasselt when it comes to architecture and urban development. Like Josh Levine (LA) and Barrie Barton (Sydney) when it comes to cool connections between brands and trends. Like Matsume Kai when it comes to trends in China. (It is a shame that we cannot mention all contributors here -)
Every month they contribute to the next version of Signs of the time’s Top 15 of Coolest Worldwide. At Signs of the time, we interpret their contributions on what is the cool mentality behind it. Plus we make a short worldwide overview summery.
Leading overall themes in this first Top 15 Coolest Worldwide: 1. The rise of Sustainability and Social Responsibility version 2.0. 2. The growing intrigue by how the real world and the virtual one connect and interact. 3. Give us designs – virtual and real – that really add to our lives quality. 4. The continuous rise and new manifestations of Experience Economy. And 5: Yes, we are going global, therefore we love the regional, the intimately close by even more than before.
"Ok, ok," you say, "read all the great marketing innovations blogs." Maybe not this one. Sharp, broad and medative are three ways to describe it. Extraordinary and time well spent are two other words. So darn good was this blog which I came across lately that I haven't logged off. In fact, right in the midst of a large assignment for a StrawberryFrog client, I've been sneaking away for a good part of my last few evenings, reading through the rather wonderful series of articles on what is self described as - the 'Marketing & Strategy Innovation Blog.' Providing 'Customer Centric Thoughts from the World’s Sharpest Minds in Marketing, Strategy, Innovation and Design.'
You will find authors such as my friend Guy Kawasaki, David Jennings and Alain Thys - each of which provide original content about everything from the foremost trends to whitepapers on many other areas of current debate in the marketing world.
LOVE IT.
I read through everything from the rise of the Romanian market roller coaster, to Green Marketing as a Vehicle for Consumer Engagement by David Wigder. I particularly enjoyed the Top Ten Trends in Marketing Innovation which I had to dig deeper for, written by Stefan Kolle.
For ease here they are (nothing really new here, but a very good list as a quick guide to what's happened this year).
Authenticity
Authenticity, honesty, ‘realness’ should have been at the top of this list for the past 10 years – but it seems as if it is actually breaking through now. Too many great examples of how companies enhanced their image and standing with either the general public or a relevant group of advocates have emanated recently – Scobleizer has probably generated billions worth of goodwill for Microsoft, Direct2Dell executives ‘fessing up to making mistakes has taken the air out of the whole DellHell movement, and many a politician has recently saved himself by coming out straight away with the ‘oh man, I’m just human, please forgive me’ or ‘yup, I’m gay, so what’ approach.
Also the negative examples still abound, and this time around they are starting to hurt. We wont mention names *coughEdelmancough* *coughwalmartcough*
Net Promoter Scores
Sell your shares in market research agencies – their extensive research methods will go the way of the dinosaurs. Turns out, it all comes down to one question: "On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend brand/product X to someone else?" As the results of this research can be directly tied to revenue growth, instead of intangible (and not-boardroom safe) fuzzies like brand recognition, watch the corporate world being taken by storm by NPS, following the likes of GE and Philips.
And isn’t it great that the interruption during dinner time will only last 10 seconds instead of 10 minutes?
Buzztracking
What’s being said about me? Why is nobody talking about me? These are becoming core issues for every company. With the advent of ever better tracking tools for online conversations, it’s becoming indispensable to listen into those conversations, be it to monitor bad things happening out there so you can jump in and call corporate 911, or to find out that nobody really cares about you (which is actually even worse).
Time to go look at those Net Promoter Scores...
From segmentation to insights
‘Hey Cathy, I know you have a long distance relationship and are working only part-time to care for your newborn baby (which by the way has done it for your disposable income, for good), but I will still treat you the same as two years ago, when you were a job-starting, free-spending party animal. After all, you are still a 25-29 year old highly educated urban single female, aren’t you?’
‘Nuff said.
Green
It may be a cynical choice by many companies, but green awareness is the trend-du-jour. If even WalMart is starting to promote eco-friendliness, where will it stop? As there is a lot of revenue waiting in this market – be it from selling eco-friendly goods at marked-up margins, or actually providing eco-technology, this one won't go away.
Personally I don’t care if they move into this market for cynical reasons, it’s the end result that counts.
Grey
Marketers the world over are waking up to the fact that the older demographic is a major opportunity – and needs to be addressed in a different way then the 18-34 year olds. Mind you, different doesn’t mean being patronizing and playing on old age. We’re talking people who went to Woodstock and did all kinds of naughty things in their youth – don’t talk to them as if they are senile.
Maybe the fact that many advertising and marketing executives are Boomers themselves will help here :)
Co-creation
The lazy developers dream – let your customers come up with your products for you. The power of harnessing your customers’ insights is amazing. Once again you are connecting directly to the insights, wishes and beliefs of your customers, ensuring that you will hit a home-run with the rest of the world too.
And the funny thing is – they will do it for free, and even shout it out at the world for you, ‘hey, I helped develop the next Lego Robots, and man, they are cool’.
Experimentational budgets
Following the leaders like Unilever, P&G and Heineken, marketers realize that they will have to set a portion of their marketing budgets aside for well structured experiments. Developments in the digital domain are so fast and furious it’s not always possible to wait for full understanding. By experimenting in a controlled way companies can get insights at very attractive cost – and sometimes even strike gold.
You may not get 24 million viewing minutes for your Ronaldinho fake video on Youtube, but 10.000 views with your target of influencers might be worth just as much, especially if it only costs you 5.000 to do something for them.
The Return of the Soap
As the consumers aversion to traditional 30” spots is starting to hurt, TV channels and advertisers alike have to look for different models. Product placement and branded entertainment are starting to take up a serious position in their portfolios. A major advantage is that the convergence of TV and online is almost built into this model, as there are far less objections to the re-distribution of branded content throughout the internet then with traditional advertising-funded models.
Whether through podcasts, on-demand TV, the fact that the good guys always use Macs or by putting your music up on MySpace, you can be a star outside the networks, or together with them.
More CGA
Not only developers have their lazy-dream, marketers too: Consumer Generated Advertising. Let your customers not only be your Promoters, but actually make your advertising for you. As this advertising will always be based on what they REALLY love about you, it’s sure to strike home with other consumers.
Giving your advocates the tools to tell your story for you is one of the most effective and cost-efficient ways to enhance your position in the market. It’s also scary as hell, but don’t worry – the simple fact that you show the guts to even let your detractors pipe up like Chevy Tahoe did, will create a lot of goodwill.
Oh, and don’t be silly like FedEx or Apple and try to sue your evangelists.
Trend 11:
No more top ten lists :)
Last night I was out with some friends. "Gore's going to get the Nobel prize," Robert said. "That and the Academy Award. He's had a good year," I said. This morning my friends from Sweden wrote me to say it had been announced in Stockholm. And then this came through the email:
"Dear Scott , I am deeply honored to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. This award is even more meaningful because I have the honor of sharing it with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change--the world's pre-eminent scientific body devoted to improving our understanding of the climate crisis--a group whose members have worked tirelessly and selflessly for many years. We face a true planetary emergency. The climate crisis is not a political issue, it is a moral and spiritual challenge to all of humanity. It is also our greatest opportunity to lift global consciousness to a higher level. My wife, Tipper, and I will donate 100 percent of the proceeds of the award to the Alliance for Climate Protection
Somehow it's like advertising, isn't it? The better the story, the more likely the award. But who will take action? We need concrete action now. Or our legacy to our kids won't be much to shake a stick at.
Young people from across the USA and around the world are creating blogs in record numbers to take back control of our climate. All of this energy and intelligence and communication is happening virtually on the web, without the need to cut down a single tree. Churchill once supposedly said "If you're not a liberal when you're 20, you have no heart. If you're not a conservative when you're 40, you have no head." Proof of this can be found in the thousands of blogs by young writers passionate about making a difference when it comes to cooling the world. Blogs such as my fav 'It's getting hot in here', bloggernista, SolarGeneration, HipHopCaucus, and the long list at BestGreenBlogs is an excellent source for these pearls of youth wisdom. Brilliant thinking in many of them. How do we connect this passion and these incredibly innovative ideas with the people who are making the decisions and paying the bills? 
Today's consumer wants his/her brand brand his/her way AND the product to match his/her culture and oh so specific tastes and nuances. Where the celebs go, everyone is sure to follow. Take a look at what's hot in the car business. Becker Automotive Design offers you the most advanced family friendly vehicle options available in today's automotive industry. Including aviation style hide-away tables that allow for ease of (home)work and snacks; state-of-the-art adjustable reading lights for rear seated passengers; redesigns of seating which allow improved comfort and leg room; installation of child safety restraint seat belts in seats and seat positions not currently available from any vehicle manufacturer; and the installation of wonderfully designed audio/video systems that are guaranteed to entertain even the most impatient passengers during travel. And check out the published client list on their website: Tiger Woods, Eminem, Will Smith, Dr. Dre, Barbara Streisand, David Foster, Luther Vandross, Stevie Wonder, Damon Dash, Kareem Burke, Paul Rosenberg, Mark Curry, M.C. Hammer, Paul Reiser, Corbin Bernson, Jeffery Osborne, Neil Diamond, Bruce Springsteen, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Quincy Jones, Whoppi Goldberg, Vin Diesel, Ruth Pointer, Berry Gordy, Don Johnson, Dionne Warwick, Kelsey Grammer, Jada Pinkett, Patti La Belle, Mary Hart, Cher, Janet Jackson, Burt Bacharach, Sylvester Stallone, Elizabeth Taylor, Herbie Hancock, Mel Tormé, Wesley Snipes, Joan Collins, Cuba Gooding Jr., Ben Affleck, Adam Sandler, Edgar Bronfman Jr., Jimmy Iovine, Jerry Lewis, Gary Winneck, Michael Milken, Governor Lucky Igbinedion, Paul Allen, Johnny Depp, Mark Anthony, King Abdullah II of Jordan, Queen Latifa, Slash, Barry Manilow, Joel Silver, Jennifer Lopez, David Hockney and Jerry Seinfeld and many many more.
Rohit Bhargava the marketing blogger, introduces us to Firebrand - Where the best ads in the world will be featured. He has done an amazing job of reviewing Firebrand, that it behooves me to simply let you read his words.
Here is what he says: "The dirty little secret that most people who make their living marketing on the Internet will never tell you is that they love watching TV spots. Of course, it is frustrating how much clients spend on questionably effective television advertising ... and there are a lot of crappy TV ads being produced. But what if you could collect all the good ones in one place and let people watch them? My guess is it's not only the marketers that would watch. People love watching good entertaining advertising. There are entire television programs dedicated to them. In the case of Geico's Cavemen spots, some ads are even spawning entire TV sitcoms.
YouTube is full of ads that people have put online themselves (as well as those seeded by ad agencies) and collectively those have generated millions of views from people who watch them over and over and pass them along to their friends. Earlier this week, I got an invite from Chris Abraham to attend the press unveiling for a new service called Firebrand TV yesterday in NY. Unfortunately, I could not make the event ... but in reading about the site and what it hopes to offer I think it's worth every marketer's attention. The reason is because from the limited information out there through videos and demos, Firebrand is trying to become an advertising on demand entertainment platform. Their promotional video promises to serve up
Here are a few reasons why I love the idea of Firebrand and think it may become successful:
1. Aggregating all great commercials in one place is a long overdue idea.
2. Assuming it will allow embedding and sharing, this will be a great way to share ads virally (something people love to pass along to each other)
3. The international ad section will be huge, as lots of the best, funniest, and raunchiest ads never make it on air in the US
4. The site has a built in revenue model ... what advertiser wouldn't pay to get their ads seen by people who are actively looking to watch them?
5. Short TV ads and movie trailers are perfect for mobile consumption. The mobile access element of Firebrand has lots of potential.
These are just a few quick observations on what the site could do based on my very slim understanding of the site through their promotional materials. The site officially goes live on October 22nd, though Chris has promised I'll be on the private beta so I can share a more detailed review once I have a chance to play around with the site for real. In the meantime, definitely add it to your list of sites to watch."
