Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
'disposable' phones?
Bic - the makers of disposable pens and razors - and Orange France have introduced a disposable mobile phone.
hat-tip to brand dna
When we say 'disposable' I'm supposing that means 'use it and chuck it away'.
Not strictly true here as the phones can be topped up after the initial 'free' 60mins have been used.
With these phones Bic have kinda got it right as a brand extension but they have got it way wrong if they are not 100% recyclable.
Or maybe we don't actually care as it seems that only 3% of mobile phones are recycled anyway.
thought for monday - here's to the ladies...
'It is my fact-based conviction that women's increasing power - with their leadership skills and purchasing power - is the strongest and most dynamic force at work in the [American] economy today....even bigger than the internet.'
Tom Peters, Re-imagine! Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age(2003)
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
have tivo and amazon unearthed the holy grail of interactive tv?
There's been umpteen retail models developed around interactive tv over the years, none of them have paid off to any great degree as far as I can remember.
And I should know, I've crashed and burned with quite a few.
TiVO may just have cracked it though with the just announced extension of their partnership with Amazon.
For a wee while, TiVo users have been able to download movies and tv shows via Amazon’s digital on demand video store. Now that experiment has been extend to include other products.
'Product purchase' as the new feature is known - available on Tuesdays initially - links to products guests are plugging on the likes of Oprah and David Letterman.
If the viewer chooses to buy something during a show, TiVo records the rest of the programme so the viewer can pick up where they left off (as you would expect) - but here's the nifty bit. TiVo users are also able to save their items in their Amazon account basket and finish up later.
Taking the web and TV and weaving together their strengths?
The real holy grail however will come when the product purchase feature rolls out during ads (assuming they are not being skipped) and where shows feature product placement.
NY Times article here. Thanks to my old chum Brian at TiVO NY who alerted us.
Monday, July 07, 2008
special k summer challenge
Amid the kerfuffle around the Heinz NY deli style mayo ad I must say this one for the Special K Summer challenge is potentially far more 'dangerous'.
- To recap, there has been an outcry from certain reactionary quarters over the Heinz ad which features a 'family' at breakfast. The place of 'mother' is taken by a big NY deli style chef character who prepares the family's sandwiches. The dad gives the 'mum' a kiss at the end of the ad. Heinz pulled the ad temporarily after complaints from conservatives that the ad promotes homosexuality -
No outcry, however, over this Kelloggs ad which features a woman hiding herself to avoid being photographed on holiday, as she is embarrassed to be pictured in a red swimsuit.
The problem with this scenario, as you will see, is - she is not fat. Not even chubby. In fact, by all accounts she's pretty fit.
According to eating disorders information site Disordered Eating the number of people receiving treatment for anorexia or bulimia in the UK is around 90,000, while many more people have eating disorders undiagnosed, in particular those with bulimia nervosa.
This kind of thing does not help.
Saturday, July 05, 2008
mediacamplondon
On the off chance you're winding down friday afternoon with a quick trawl through your feed reader and chance upon this post, a quick reminder that MediaCampLondon is on tomorrow (Saturday) at:
SAE Institute North Road, Islington, London, N7 9DP
2mins from Caledonian Road tube.
from 10am.
Registration is still open at the wiki
and at the time of writing there are still a couple of slots open for sessions.
Friday, July 04, 2008
catch the pidgeon
spotted in barber shop window off Wardour St.
04/07 UPDATE
My eagle eyed brother, Al, (see comments) has spotted this is in fact a take off of a piece by Weegie artist David Shrigley, heres his original below.
Among his other notable credits are; the title sequence for the feature film HALLAM FOE and album cover art for the likes of Malcolm Middleton. 
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
life instructions
this is great. don't remember where i found it, if anyone knows (and if are there others like it?) please let me know.
billy boy and predictably irrational
The latest developments in energy drinks move the focus from sports to other energy sapping activities.
Among the myriad of products in the sex-drive boosting drinks market are:
SexDrive (does what it says on the tin), Slumpbuster and...wait for it...Deep Throat.
The one that caught my eye (courtesy of trendhunter) is Billy Boy (see pic).
Each can comes wrapped with an individual condom attached.
The German firm that makes it are actually in the condom business so the drink is an added extra.
With that in mind I was interested to hear behavioural economist Dan Ariely talking about his new book 'Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions' on a recent episode of business book podcast Foreword Thinking. Among the questions asked in the book are; 'Do you know why we sometimes find ourselves excitedly buying things we don’t really need?'
Airley conducted various experiments in the research including some fairly unsavoury research around how sexually aroused male college students decision making processes were altered by their state of arousal.
Note: One handed computer keyboards were integral to the experiment.
According to review site bevnet Billy Boy doesn't actually taste that great but when theres a job to be done taste is the least of considerations...
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