Cell Phone Wallet

Nokia in Europe have launched a new phone that uses ‘Near Field Communication’-which is a short-range, high frequency wireless communication technology that enables the exchange of data between devices over about a 10 centimeter distance - to enable functions like mobile payment. With the right retail systems the phone can be used as a credit card or even a pass to use on the train or bus.

The phone can also share content like images and videos by touching it with another 6212 and the features section on the Nokia suggests that the ‘touch’ will give access to other location based services when available/developed.

Some More Artvertising

1800 Tequila has developed an advertising campaign where nine artists from around the world were commissioned to design collectible limited edition bottles of the tequila; the bottle designs are also being displayed on billboards across several US cities.

Another element of this latest promotion has also been put together where people will be able to submit their own bottle artwork and design their own sneakers.

Check out their site with the full gallery of the artworks by clicking here.

Get Designer Jewelery For Free!

Here something for the ladies, and for once, it's available for South Africans too!

LA-based SilverJewelryClub give away many of their jewelry pieces to spread the word about the quality and craftsmanship of their designs. Customers just have to pay for shipping.

The club's homepage displays four pieces at a time and visitors have 15 minutes to order each piece, after which a new product takes its place. In their own words: "Giving away our jewelry for free is our way of introducing our products. We know the competition is fierce, and we want you to experience our jewelry so that you will remember our brand." SilverJewelryClub currently ships to 54 countries.

Truely Timeless Timpieces

Some say that time is the ultimate luxury, so it's rather ironic that at the watch and jewelery industry's largest annual trade fair in Baselworld this year, Swiss watchmaker Romain Jerome's "Day&Night" watch -- which does not tell the time, only whether it is night or day -- sold out within 48 hours of its launch as watch fanatics snapped up the $300,000 timepiece.

The "Day&Night" watch uses the complicated Tourbillon movement -- invented to overcome earth's gravity which used to affect the accuracy of watches -- which lures watch connoisseurs as well as fashion aficionados.

The Geneva-based company, founded in 2004, also has an order backlog of up to two-and-a-half years for its "Titanic DNA" watch, which is made from steel and coal from the Titanic and can cost as much as $500,000.

McDonald's Unsnobby Coffee

McDonald's in the US have brought out an edgy campaign today in their battle against the more premium coffee chains.

The campaign's microsite, called Unsnobby Coffee, is one initiative to stage interventions on expensive competitors. The site is light-hearted and interactive in its functionality, and claims that one shouldn't need a "second language" to enjoy good coffee. There's also an online game and downloadable coffee coupons... all aimed at helping us kick the snobby coffee habit, and boost their own sales.

The Sneaker Vending Machine

Onitsuka Tiger, the Japanese sports brand, launched a sneaker vending machine on Carnaby Street in Londonrecently. Vending machines were custom-built, and can hold up to 24 pairs of shoes at a time, in 6 sizes.

Sneaker vending isn't entirely new—it's been done in Japan, of course, and Reebok sold shoes from a vendomat back in 2004. Reebok's machine, however, was a bit of a let-down: the sneakers were packed into a seemingly standard, drab box.

Following its London debut, the machine will travel across the UK to bring convenience-buying to the rest of Britain's sneakerheads.

The Hermes Birkin Code - Cracked

The elusive Birkin bag made by Hermes is so sought after as a status symbol by women worldwide that the French fashion house has a two year waiting list for potential owners.The elusiveness of the Birkin has ensured it has remained one of the world's most coveted bags since Hermes named it after British actress Jane Birkin in 1984, with prices starting at about $9,000 and rising to about $34,000 for a crocodile skin bag.

Birkins are regularly spotted on the wrists of glamorous celebrities, such as Victoria Beckham, Katie Holmes and Eva Longoria.

As one would expect in situations where there's a large demand and short supply, someone will devise a way to meet, and profit, from this demand.

Michael Tonello, a beautician turned fashion buyer, says he devised a system to bypass the much-talked about list and spent five years traveling between different Hermes stores to snap up Birkin bags to meet -- and profit from -- this pent-up demand.

"I would go into a store with a list in my Hermes Ulysse notebook and pile up scarves, shawls, bracelets, worth about $2,000. This made me seem a regular Hermes client," Tonello told Reuters in a telephone interview.

"Once I had that pile ready to buy at the last moment I'd ask for a Birkin and they would usually produce one of the back room. In 2005 I bought 130 Birkins in a three-month period -- and you tell me there is a waiting list?"

Creativity Stifled

The Creatives at Ogilvy over in the US had a pretty interesting idea for an ad for the convenience store chain called "am pm". They filled up the sides of bus shelter with real snacks, with the idea of slowly taking the snacks away over a four-week period, to reveal the tagline, “Too much good stuff.”

In two days, hungry passers-by had already shortened the campaign by breaking open the plastic casing and removing all of the snacks.. apart from the Doritos.

New Sony "Foam City" Commercial

What a lot of people thought would be the new Bravia ad didn't turn out to be one for the Bravia at all. "Foam City" landed up being an ad for Sony's digital camera range and as usual for Sony ads, features a very fitting soundtrack. Have a look for yourselves below.

"Let's Date Because We Love The Same Brands"

In this day and age, with so little time and so much to distract us, it seems like meeting new people is getting harder. Enter Brand-Mates, a new way of meeting that special someone by your mutual brand association.

Brand-Mates is a new kind of dating site. A site where "likes attract" is celebrated and, materialistic as it may sound, the love for similar brands is the engine the site uses to match people with compatible others. According to the site, "by selecting and sharing with others the brands that are near and dear to your heart you’ll be surprised at how much that will reveal about your new friend, next date, long-term relationship or potential soul mate".

Join The World's Biggest Mexican Wave

An interesting site was created by Albion Brand Communications in London. Called “The World’s Biggest Mexican Wave”, the site serves as a promotion for a new online/communications partnership between British Telecom and FON, who are currently in the process of building the world’s largest Wi-Fi community.

The online initiative invites users to film themselves doing a single wave using a webcam, digital camera or even a mobile phone. This can then be uploaded to the website after a simple registration process which lets you ‘join the wave’. As well as being automatically added to the main effort, you are also given the chance to start your own or view existing waves.

Below is one of the waves featuring the Arsenal First Team!

Guinness' Passport To Greatness

Guinness seems to be going through a phase of experimentation with mobile phones as a marketing medium. We had previously pointed out their mobile phone “Pub-Finder” application in celebration of St Patrick’s Day earlier this year, and it seems that a mobile element has also been incorporated by Guinness for their sponsorship of the Hong Kong Sevens Rugby Tournament.

The Passport to Greatness is another mobile phone application to help the estimated 20,000 overseas visitors to navigate the city and cope with the language barrier. The passport contains useful information about the tournament to be accessed via mobile. Fans can use their mobiles to discover match schedules, team selections, stadium information and a city guide to Hong Kong, as well as reviews of matches and maps, with locations of Guinness-serving establishments highlighted.

The application’s top feature, however, is the ability to broadcast key phrases in Cantonese through mobile handsets’ loudspeakers, to help visitors make themselves understood. The pre-progamed phrases include asking for numerous addresses around the city, including key stadium locations, directions to ATMs, and, of course, another round of Guinness please.

Register Your Own Domino's Pizza

Domino's Pizza's new BFD builder (short for Big Fantastic Deal) lets consumers create the pizza of their dreams - specifying the type of crust, the amount of sauce and cheese, and unlimited toppings - for a flat rate of USD 10.99.

Consumers can name and register the pizzas they design in Domino's BFD database, where they can be viewed and ordered by other consumers. Nearly 12,000 pizzas have been registered so far. The site even tracks how many people have ordered each registered pizza so far, and consumers can view the database with the most popular pizzas first, as well as by newest, oldest or alphabetically.

Chanel Merges Art, Architecture & Design

Chanel exploits the growing trend of architecture and art as luxury brand communication as its UFO pavilion began its two year global tour in Hong Kong earlier this year.

Chanel Mobile Art is a groundbreaking travelling art exhibition, all housed in a mobile, 2,300-square-foot UFO-shaped structure. It weighs 180 tons and was shipped to Asia in 700 pieces, each no bigger than an inch or so thick and about seven feet wide, then assembled in Hong Kong over the course of a month. Organisers predict that it will take two weeks to disassemble and about three weeks to ship to the next stop in Tokyo. From there it will continue on a six-city tour that runs until early 2010, traveling to New York, London, Moscow, and, finally, Paris.

New Old Starbucks Logo

We had previously posted on Howard Schultz - Starbucks’ CEO’s efforts at turning the brand around. He has already ordered the chain to close for around two hours during trading hours in order to focus on staff training, much to the delight of Dunkin Donuts.

Now Starbucks is attempting to re-establish their core values of the company in the minds of the consumers by invoking a feeling of nostalgia. They have brought back the original brown Starbucks logo in place of the iconic green one.

Starbucks plans to use the logo on all its cups for about eight weeks. It will remain in ads and as the logo for Pike Place bags of coffee. The new blend, which will be available in every store in the US, has been crafted for a smoother, cleaner finish than many of the rotating blends Starbucks has traditionally carried week to week.

How The iPhone Is Shaping Up So Far

Rubicon Consulting has released a survey of iPhone users in the US, detailing the impact the device has had on their usage and the market in general. Included in the survey are some unexpected patterns that could change your perceptions of this revolutionary mobile device.

Here’s some good news for the iPhone:

• Users report high satisfaction with the device
• iPhone users report increased mobile web browsing
• One quarter report it displacing notebook computer usage

Some unexpected news:

• Email is the #1 function… for reading emails, not writing them.
• One third of iPhone users carry a second phone? Why? According to the study, for making voice calls and composing emails.
• It increases phone bills. The survey cites an average increase of 24% annually.

Flickr Shares Personalised Videos

Yahoo has announced that Flickr is going to start hosting video content.


The photo sharing site already has over 25 million members who have collectively uploaded over 2 billion photos and now they want your moving-photos.

According to Yahoo, the survey results amongst Flickr members showed that most videos captured today are essentially "long photos"- short clips that are captured on digital still cameras or mobile phones rather than long format video taken by traditional video camera.

While YouTube and other video-sharing sites are immensely popular, most of the content are re-broadcast clips from TV shows or popular adverts. The video equivalent for the personal, authentic moments that are the hallmark of photos found on Flickr is actually pretty tough to find.

Check it out for yourselves by clicking here.

3-Stripe Sun Tan

adidas have brought out a new sun screen called Adi-block.

By opting for three spraying nozzles instead of the conventional single nozzle, the product has successfully incorporated the trademark three stripes of adidas into the delivery mechanism itself.

As you can see by the images, the design creatively extends the Adidas symbol from the sunblock package onto the body of the customer. I presume that potential users are not too worried about uneven tans?

It's the first thing we look at in the morning and the last at night... and pretty much all the time between that.

| View | Upload your own

Tighter economic conditions mean luxury can become luxury again.

At a time when many people are bemoaning the death of affordable luxury, one has to wonder whether there isn’t a group of people who are secretly happy about it. And no, I don’t mean anti-consumerist killjoys and blue-nose I-told-you-sos. I mean the CEOs and major shareholders of the world’s biggest luxury companies. The reason? That the credit crunch will stop the dilution of their brands and allow them to focus again on selling only to the truly rich.

These companies have spent much of the past decade assiduously expanding their brands and retail outlets across the U.S., Europe and new markets in China, Russia, India and other rapidly developing regions. And don't get me wrong, they like making money, lots and lots of money, from these markets but they are also continually mindful of the fact that their products could become over-exposed.

Look at what happened to Burberry a few years ago; every teenager and spiv on the planet was wearing their trademark plaid, usually in the form of a low-cost baseball hat or scarf, and, more to the point, not the more high-priced designerwear. That became a turn-off for the big spenders who Burberry really wants to attract. Why shell out thousands of dollars for a dress or suit, the Platinum card users thought, when everyone else is wearing something with the same plaid on it. (Visit the Burberry site today and you won't see a whole lot of plaid, fyi.)

Over the past month or so many luxury brands have been predicting flat if not reduced growth for 2008 as the world seems to slide inexorably into a recession. Many companies, such as Gucci, Polo Ralph Lauren, Hermès, Prada and LVMH announced record earnings for 2007, largely on the back of shoppers armed with foreign currencies, temporarily flush homeowners or secretaries maxing out their third credit card. Walking down the streets of Manhattan these days it seems as though practically every woman is carrying a Prada or Louis Vuitton bag (the real thing, not a knock-off). If I were an executive at either one of those companies, I would see that as a bad thing.

The problem is that luxury companies have to walk a fine line between record sales and ubiquity. Those profits often come at the risk of alienating their top customers. These are people who can afford anything and don't want to look like the hoi polloi. If everyone starts carrying a Vuitton bag, their reasoning goes, time to start carrying something else.

Now, as we reported today, LVMH reported profits of $2.96 billion in 2007, up 8%, on sales of $24.1 billion, also up 8%. PPR also already announced a 16% rise in annual sales, helped by an 8.4% gain at Gucci, in advance of its earnings report scheduled for Feb. 27.

The concern, for the short-term at least, is that most analysts estimate that 2008, even with shoppers in developing nations spending like sailors on leave, is unlikely to be as good as last year. And while many industry watchers believe the recession will be short and that the markets in China and India will only continue to grow, the next eleven months will see fewer and fewer consumers buying luxury goods they could never really afford in the first place.

While that will have an undoubted impact on their bottom line, they upside is that this pause in the recent spending frenzy may give many luxury houses a chance to re-establish their connections with their top tier customers. With the shops less crowded and the exclusivity of their brands more secure, companies like LVMH, Tiffany and Prada will be in a better position when the credit markets loosen up again, economic fears subside and the aspirational consumers return to their stores.

Ask not what you can do for your consumers but rather what your consumers can do for you !

Brand Obama - harnessing the power of loyal consumers?

The latest salvo in the Presidential hopeful's Web campaign is a site designed to process a million dollars in 60 seconds !

As the Democratic Presidential hopefuls approach Pennsylvania's Apr. 22 vote, Senator Barack Obama's (D-Ill.) campaign, trailing in statewide polls, is set to get a shot in the arm. Later this week, a small band of independent Obama supporters plans to launch another new fund-raising Web site, AnObamaMinute.com, with the goal of raising $1 million dollars in one minute.

Last week the Obama camp announced it had raised $40 million in March alone, nearly twice the amount raised by Senator Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) during the same period. In all, he has raised some $234 million. Through February, Clinton's campaign had raised $156 million.

AnObamaMinute.com calls for pledgers (who can pre-register) to register a donation within 60 seconds, at 1pm on Apr. 21. Could the site be interpreted as just another stunt in an environment where $1 million isn't what it used to be? "There is certainly an element of theater," admits one member of Obama's national finance committee who's familiar with the project (the campaign is participating to make sure all contributions meet federal giving requirements). But, it is also another ambitious fund-raising effort in a political season marked by campaigns that have aggressively pushed the boundaries of raising money, both off and online.

What brand would you most like to sit next to at a dinner party ?

I came across this very interesting question and a whole bunch more like it in the latest brand junkie survey on the real influence of brands. A fascinating perspective on different brands and the place they have in our minds and hearts and worlds.

Other questions like "what brand would you like to argue with ?" and "what brand it truly going green" make for very interesting reading, insight and maybe even a healthy little bit of debate. take a look

Interfacing with the interface ?

The long awaited Microsoft Surface table is about to get its first rollout on 17 April, 2008 at 12 select AT&T stores in four cities.

have a look at the video, it highlights the exciting use of this crazy technology for AT&T customers. It ushers a new era of customer service and creative ways for you to explore the features of phone models, compare phones, compare plans, buy content and accessories; all in an interactive cool way without having someone shove a product you do not need down your throat.

Phones are without doubt the tip of the iceberg for this technology, the massive opportunities that innovation open up for us and our brands is mind boggling. makes you think, doesn't it ?

Time is getting thinner

I’m sitting at my desk, it’s any and every day of my life and as I lift my head and my gaze away from my computer I am bombarded with thoughts and observations that beg deeper investigation, analysis and hopefully understanding. My earphones are in my ears while my ipod charges off of my computer (can you believe my computer doesn’t recognize the word ipod, must be the only thing in the civilized world that doesn’t). My phone is within reach, locked but loaded. Dave Matthews and his band are keeping me entertained by singing their little hearts out through my ice white earphones. Subconsciously, a piece of my mind wonders off to be with the music while the other little pieces scatter over the multitude of things going on within the tiny little microcosm that is my desk, my office world.

One such thing is the unsolicited branded SMS I just got from FTV telling my I should join them, AMG, MUMM and Hugo Boss to celebrate their birthday. Delete. (How the hell did they even find my number? And more importantly how do I get them to lose it!) Funnily enough me reading the SMS was interrupted by a phone call from a delightful old lady from PAM GOLDING asking if I was interested in a house I saw on Sunday. No. (I told them in no uncertain terms on Sunday that I had no interest, I can’t for the life of me think what they think has happened that would have made me change my mind?) So in two minutes, as many brands have interrupted my already busy three minutes. I am changing songs to Alanis Morissette “uninvited” which seems a little more appropriate for right now. The words play; “And you, you’re not alone, you’re uninvited… like any uncharted territory I must be greatly intriguing… but this is not allowed, your uninvited… unfortunately”. But enough of that, that’s another whole topic by itself and I refuse to let it monster my initial topic.

The thought that got the mental ball rolling came while I was downloading audio books from my computer onto my new nano (the only reason I need to classify it as “new” is because the very clever people at apple MADE me buy it, even though I already have one but unfortunately my “old one” wasn’t compatible with the NIKE plus running kit, which I obviously needed, not wanted, needed! I’m a sucker I know, the product of my own creation. So downloading audio books didn’t seem too absurd until I gave it a little more time in my head. First of all they are all books which I downloaded off of a site which takes $7 off my credit card every month and gives my a book in return. Ok that’s not too weird, although 5 years ago I might have had another opinion. Secondly they are all business books, which isn’t that strange either but what it has done is instantaneously transformed the leisurely art of reading into something clinical and overtly functional. Which is ok with me, we all have to stretch our minds in different directions every now and then, especially as the world of business is a virtual tsunami of information that we somehow have to keep up with. Fair enough. What did make me stop and think was the fact that my ipod gave me the option of listening to the books “faster” apparently it doesn’t effect the narration but allows you to listen to the contents quicker if you want to.

So basically I didn’t have time to go into a bookshop and browse manually for what might have interested me. Nor do I have time to take time to sit and “read” the book. Instead I am going to listen to the book at 6am (the only time I have in my day to get to gym) while I am running | cycling | lifting weights, at a “faster” audio rate as I only have an hour at gym each day and I need to get through 4 books. All of this before I have even had my cereal and glass of orange juice and started my day.

The most incredible part of all of this was that until I sat back, looked out of the window, took a deep breath and thought about it, it all seemed perfectly normal. And maybe it is, but normal and scary are no longer mutually exclusive. In fact in today’s society they are more closely related then ever before.

Fortunately that’s not all that what was going on in my little space and mind (I would have hated to have been wasting time, whatever next!). My shiny little computer was concurrently busy with a whole world of stuff, stuff that I was engrossed in just before I gazed briefly out of the window to ponder a while. There are two clever little buttons on the sides of my mouse that allow me to see everything I have open on the screen at once so that I can hop between tasks to avoid getting stale or bored. It just so happens that I had open on my desktop, simultaneously; 1 advertising web site, 2 marketing | trend blogs, my mail box, itunes, a PowerPoint presentation, a book review, a company profile, a magazine site, A business week article, face book, and a meeting notification telling me I have 14 minutes until my next engagement (as well as a magazine sitting open next to me on my desk which prompted me to go to a website to try and win a Breitling – who wouldn’t?). That’s 12 things, all of which attracted a little of my attention, concentration and interest.

Ok ok so what’s the point, is this all pointing in a direction or is it mere observation? Someone very clever once told me that observation leads to insight, and insight leads to understanding and knowledge, so there must be something in all of this stuff. As the song switches it all becomes a little crisper and fractionally clearer. It’s the DOORS “Riders on the storm” and the first couples of lines strike a chord; “into this house were born… into this world we’re thrown… riders on the storm”. Life has not only become faster and more tumultuous, it has become tighter too. Innovation and progress constantly and persistently steam ahead, dragging us along while we fumble around try and take it all in, just when we think we are on top of it, it pulls ahead.
Subconsciously we are keeping up but I found that it’s only when we take a step back from our lives can we see the rate of change, and how we live a new life every day. Consumption has been compacted (cnsmptn) in every sense of the word and on every human level.

Thus our challenge as brand people is multiplying by the minute. Not only do we need to try and keep our heads ahead of the curve; old news is useless to everyone. We have to get our heads around the barrage of competitor products, messages and media all vying relentlessly for a rare and treasured spot on our consumers’ precious radar as well. And as if that’s not enough, we are all dead in the water if we fail to value the significance of the rapidly fragmenting consumer mind, how it divvies up its precious attention, digests that which resonates and spits out everything else.

As our time with our multifaceted and almighty consumer gets shorter, so it needs to get sweeter. It’s a given that the tables have turned, our moment and environment needs to be chosen with the precision of a surgeon, and on their terms (Nobody likes the guy who rocks up uninvited) Are we up for the challenge | s, are we being clever enough to take that cmpcted moment and stretch it into a memory?

Where to after a drumming gorrilla ?

Who would have thought a musical monkey could have boosted chocolate sales by 6 % ? thats exactly what the last Cadbury's ad managed to do - good on them. I would love to know their formula and their campaign thought process when it came to the "what next" discussion. Well here is the follow on, and after watching it with a group of people from the office, the most apt summation came from our receptionist who said, what was all that for ?

lets see what it does to sales, maybe sense has become overrated and a little smile from cute racing trucks is all it takes.