Selection for the curious: not the headline news in brand

Brand

Vitaminwater emphasize the "energy-boosting" properties of their drink with bus shelter ads in the States.

Kellogg and Augme Technologies have announced that they will be working on optimising interactive packaging technology with the aim of acquiring data about Kellogg’s customer base over the next year.

Sainsbury’s juices get portion control windows to help customers manage dietary intake.

Innovation

This time, innovation in service! Heartbreak Hotel - Dutch hotel's weekend divorce service. via @iconoculture

Where do good ideas come from? Great summary of current opinions by practitioners and insight into how its done by the Made by Many team. @madebymany

Design

Inspiring and cultivating creativity. Hint: 9 of the top 10 motivators are intrinsic, not intrinsic! via @the99percent

Great site around the new John Hegarty book. Home truths, funny truths and the occasional fish slap:

http://www.hegartyonadvertising.com. Includes the great quote:

Creativity isn't an occupation, its a preoccupation.

Genius

Good starter article on the learning secrets of Polyglots, Polymaths and Savants.

Dzongkha anyone?

Fashion: nature vs nurture?

A recent article in Grazia caught my eye and made me wonder, how often do customers beat the trend makers?

Kind of like asking the nature versus nurture question, but for fashion.

The article showed examples of girls using Celine zip-up cases for keys and coins or Marc by Marc Jacobs iPad cases as very stylish clutches.

The Tipping Point highlights specific individuals starting trends. Yet on the other hand we have game-changing innovations such as the iPhone, which admittedly build upon existing behavioural changes but itself creates new ones. Walmart started a new trend in retailing not from looking at customers, but initially looking at operations, as this interesting article by Scott Davis of Prophet describes.

Modern marketing, branding and design is all about being customer-led, suggesting that all trends come from customers.

I wonder, is it possible to create a genuinely new trend, that is not at all hinted at by other events? A world-changing new spark, the trend equivalent of 'the big bang'?

You? What do you think?

Meanwhile....sharing some of my favourite trend-spotting gurus: trendwatching; PSFK; LSN; Iconoculture; Scienceofthetime; Trend Hunter.

Prolonging the love

Following on from my post about celebrating the depression I was inspired by reading a trend-spotting, or rather trend-capturing article on Care and Repair by Jane Fulton-Suri of IDEO.

It demonstrates examples of a return to traditional notions of quality, care of items and repair, rather than ongoing consumption. Great examples include lastyearsmodel.com and Model Shoe Renew in Berkeley, California.

From a customer perspective, how could you help them get satisfaction in this new way of thinking?

- Could you offer a service to re-model and re-style people's favourite garments, giving budding fashion designers an outlet and experience and customers a chance to participate in the design process?

- Why not offer car maintenance workshops, like home depot DIY classes - but for care maintenance. Everything from tuning to the sperfect polish. Could you make it a social occassion, have a girls only session or simply create a small chance for people to have fun while helping them care for their cars? Imagine how much more into their car (and potentially your brand) they will feel once they are more comfortable under the hood?
- Could you start an organisation that provided a warm, cosy and fun place for people to learn old-fashioned 'Home Economics'? Imagine a lively space that engages older people sharing their old-time skills and younger people coming in with their shared energy and walking away with their newly made scarves, darned clothers or steaming loaves of bread.

From a brand perspective, would your brand be the one that they would re-sole year after year?

Image credit: Sewingsewingmachines.net