Sometimes to create the future you need to take a mental leap and work backwards. This highly edited and slick production from Microsoft gives us some hope that the software giant is well-suited to lead us to a grander place.
IstartedSomething
I just read an incredibly interesting and robust discussion on Freakonomics about the future of a uniquely American infrastructure, our suburbs.
Quite a few hot topics have made the out-dated infrastructure quite the conversation piece ranging from rising oil costs, to increased sourcing materials, to population shifts with over half of societies now living in urban areas. Lets not forget immigration nor the housing market either.
Freakonomics then asked a group of very smart folks "What will U.S. suburbs look like in 40 years?"
Granted these are projections and the answers ranged from apocalyptic to utopian:
James Kunstler - “The suburbs have three destinies, none of them exclusive: as materials salvage, as slums, and as ruins.” Our structure requires an infinite supply of cheap energy to function and is now in the middle of a global energy crisis. We have "poured a half-century of our national wealth into a living arrangement with no future". Our focus is too auto-laden, and we must realize that alternative fuels will ween us off the interstates and automobiles that dominate our culture.
Thomas E. Antus - “To pay for the expanded services taxes will also increase exponentially to the point where individual pay checks are made payable to the government and deposited directly in the general treasury.” Interesting notion on expansive role of government in basic utilities. I dont quite see things becoming so china-like but, he also touches on the notion of large mega-regions and NYC stretching from Philly and all of New Jersey. Richard Florida has touched on this in his new book.
Jan Brueckner - “If [gentrification] continues in a significant way, large numbers of suburban households looking for urban stimulation may end up switching places with minority central-city dwellers, stirring the ethnic pot in both places.” Not so sure about this one but, race is a big factor here. "Suburbanization has shown a white bias, with most minority households yet to acquire their nice house in the suburbs. Some of this difference may reflect a history of housing-market discrimination, but lower suburbanization by minorities is mainly a result of lower incomes. As the black and Hispanic middle classes continue to grow and get richer, they are likely to follow the same suburbanization path as white households before them, restrained somewhat by higher gas prices." Suburbs might continue to diversify as ethnic groups' clout continues to grow.
Gary J. Gates - “The Will and Grace version of gay America — urban, wealthy, and white — is starting to look a bit dated.” Very true. They look like each and everyone one of us and do they necessarily want to do the crowded city bit? They probably enjoy fences and yards like the rest of us. Alternative orientations are going to be more visible, more suburban, less likely to be white.
John Archer - “Suburbia will be flexible, it will be smarter, and it will be hybrid.” I found this one of the most optimistic, and true. The suburb is becoming a "hybrid place that melds desirable traits of city living (activity, diversity) while still maintaining allegiance to primary suburban ideals of selfhood and domesticity (and, one might add, consumption)". I see this most attainable given the investments already within the current infrastructure.
Alan Berube -“in 40 years perhaps we’ll get beyond our fixation with “the suburbs” (love them or hate them) and develop a richer vocabulary for what lies beyond the city limits.” I love this, maybe because much of strategic work is really context. And it pisses me off when we drive through connecticut and each town bleeds into the next. Cant we agree its really one big sprawling town? He too sees new hybrid forms in transportation structure, demographic influx, and governance.
Lawrence C. Levy - “It depends — on how smart and bold we are willing to be.” Oh smart, but he is author on here, maybe he gets the reservation. "A cycle of survival and renewal that will save the suburb from itself. If the federal government reduces incentives for sprawl (by shifting funds from highway building, for instance, to mass transit or to sewer construction necessary for “densifying” suburbs), the so-called “smart growth” movement will hasten and spread deeper into suburbia." Levy really hits the nail on the head, in that the largest challenge is our want and ability to be agents of change.
Our infrastructure encourages excess and sprawl, and until our collective consciousness is more omnipresent than its current reactionary state, we will continue to deal with the side-effects such as congestion and pollution. The conversation is exciting in that we seem to already be aware of the challenges and working towards solutions. Worth a read or two.
Suburban Story
Im coming to the slow realization that my occupation allows for little time to blog...or anything else for that matter. So i will have to cede any thoughts of my own for some from other sources. A few things of interest on the intranets for your inspiration.
Magnetic Pushpin Cushin - Seems to turn magnets and pushpins on a sphere. Fix them to any surface and leave messages to your hearts content.
The future of web tech? - Seems Google may almost be dead in its tracks if new semantic web searches come to fruition. Semantics embed information in practically everything to make greater associations simpler and faster. Think Mash-ups without having to create some weird program...
Best of Lifehacker - Organize your life to actually be productive for once.
PSFK Conference - Will be in attendance with a co-worker. Anyone fancy a hello? Lineup looks good as always.
Krups Heineken Review - This is the future ladies and gents! Personalized brews and drinks in your own home. Probably will be one size fits all machine for coffee to soda to Gatorade. Dear Heineken, please send me one!
Facebook matches blood donors - Finally something worthy for social networking.
Apple's Design Process - Some insight into the process Apple's creators go through for new product concepts. HA! I know a company that does twice as many...
Japanese Schoolgirl Watch - Weird but futuristically advanced. The chart topping voice is synthesized yet grabs the kids like idol. Who knew Britney would be replaced by a robot?
Lenticular Clouds - Via Designverb - Cant forget mother nature can we? I sure do miss her in this jungle. These are just awesome.
Many of you may not have heard of a cough syrup called Buckley's. The brand is well known for being quite effective, yet tasting terrible. Absolutely no innovation has been done since its creation and the Canadian product is pushing into the U.S. with an interesting, yet honestly brilliant campaign. While on espn, i saw a redirect to the myspace page where they are promoting consumers to contribute exactly how awful it tastes with their best after-consumption shots. There is also a battle of "Buckley" faces between towns in Illinois and Washington.
Brilliant not for getting consumers involved nor creating contests between towns nor letting people be 'friends' with Buckleys. Brilliant for acknowledging that the product, tastes like crap and using the natural human behaviorial response as the platform. If more brands would acknowledge where they sit in consumer's minds and hearts, the world would be a better place. Awfully good ad eh?
Ewww
A new study has come out showing the power of branding works. The bad news is children prefer everything in a McDonalds Wrapper. The JAMAstudy wanted to describe how food marketing that targets children is grossly widespread (hmm thats not leading) and seeks to highlight the more than 10 billion dollars spent per year to market to children. What i found extraordinary was that "by the time they are two years old children may already have beliefs about certain brands, and by the age of 6 they can recognize brands and say which products they belong to."
A few of the eye-popping results:
* On average, the children preferred the taste of the food and drink in the McDonald's packaging over the identical products in unmarked packaging.
* The result for hamburgers was 48.3 per cent vs. 36.7 per cent.
* For chicken nuggets the result was 59 per cent vs. 18 per cent.
* For baby carrots the result was 54.1 per cent vs. 23 per cent.
* For french fries the result was 76.7 per cent vs. 13.3 per cent.
* For milk or apple juice the result was 61.3 per cent vs. 21 per cent.
* Futher analysis showed that 4 out of 5 times, children preferred the taste of food and drink that they thought was from McDonald's.
* Preschool children who had more TV sets in their homes, and children who ate McDonald's foods more frequently were also more likely to prefer McDonald's branded food and drink to the identical unbranded items.
It's nothing new that children are sponges to our everyday behaviors. What is interesting is the wide-margin between desirable and non. Organizers plan to contrast different brands and packaging with variable levels of recognition and natural exposure. I wish i had a chance to ask a few more questions:
*Imagery
Types of colors/logos/characters that appeal to tots. What is the range and relation?
*Occasion
When are these children connecting with the products and where? Is it beyond the TV? Could it?
*Food Type
How much does natural play in here? These foods are just Big Macs, but products outside the current offerings. How far can this stretch?
*Behavior vs Awareness
This is the biggie for me. So these children prefer it, but do they act on it (or mom)?
*Brand Depth
While i would deep dive on all the above areas, looking at the role of other brands would be particularly interesting.
How far does the power of branding reach? How much do lesser brands play a role and whats the relation to advertising (probably immense, but its that million dollar question)
*Influences
What kinds of things populate their life and to what extent?
Not one mention of Ronald either. Poor Chap. McDonalds should wake up from their cheesburger coma and realize they have a nice insight here. Definitely something to incorporate into an established brand that is apparently shaping values in products they could be offering.
McFat
Innovation is coming front and center as noted in today's Wall Street Journal.
MDC Partners is expected to announce today that it has acquired a majority stake in Redscout, a consulting firm that works with clients such as Nike, Johnson & Johnson and PepsiCo Inc. New York-based Redscout offers services such as trend watching, brand consulting and package design. It also develops new products -- something Madison Avenue has in vain tried to add to their arsenal. Jonah Disend, Founder and Chief Executive, talks about some of the problems today's advertisers are facing , the currency of ideas, and a few of the more intriguing trends influencing today's marketers.
The Wall Street Journal: Many ad agencies have flirted with trying to get into product or services development as a way to gain new revenue streams. But it's never really caught on. Why do you think they haven't been able to make that part of their business model?
Jonah Disend: "The discipline of making ads is often about being as different as possible from the competitors. This is not necessarily the goal with product development, and certainly not the starting point. So often with advertising you think, 'How do I add brand value through communications so that I make them want my brand versus your brand?' We think, 'How do I add value to the thing itself in order to drive desire?' Also, there is a totally different mindset when it comes to innovation versus marketing. Almost every time I interview someone from advertising and I ask them to come up with an innovation solution for a category, they immediately go to marketing and promotions solutions. They may get to targeting and distribution, but they rarely get to the foundational elements of the thing itself. These foundational elements include: the Achilles' heel of a competitor that can be exploited in our new product; recognizing categories which are desperate for a new approach, such as JetBlue to the airline industry; identifying a new behavior that is begging for a new service offering; or spotting technologies or capabilities in a client's stable which are being underleveraged. These are all critical to innovation."
Innovation is an emerging and greatly misunderstood field. Check out the article for more fascinating insights from one of the brightest and best-kept secrets in the world of brands.
Redscout Innovation in WSJ
Redscout
Redscout initiated the second in a series of innovation roundtables last week. The featured speaker was Rob Walker, contributing writer to the NYTimes, author, and idea provocateur for Murketing. He also has one of the best Flickr groups on the net with his street savvy eyes. Rob is often at the forefront of consumer theses and the subsequent branding implications, and each week seemingly stumbles upon another rich area for fodder. Rob was kind enough to share his opinion as a journalist, on consumers, marketing, and brands. The night was also an excellent networking opportunity for individuals from various backgrounds. Rob had quite a few interesting points such as:
-Red Bull starting as the epitome of anti-mass only to become a mass brand
-Apple's lack of transparency and openness, which can actually boiled down to "Cool Stuff for Sale"
-The power of youth today to have adopted marketing on granular levels to the extent they not only create brands for themselves, but communicate through brands
-The similarity between the ambiguity of Livestrong and the iPod. Both brands mean so many things to multiple crowds
-Reminded me that the true phenomena of Obey is that it was pre-internet, not just its expanse
-The power of brands ultimately lie in the value consumers place, not necessarily what the brand brings or percieves
-Real gurus invent their own words
-Mass culture might be gone with the invention of the net and democratized information
Rob gave a very thought-provoking style and let us know he has a new book dropping soon. Much of this will be explored in a further deep dive here on the Lifefilter. Stay tuned! Redscout will presenting another salon later on in the summer at a "secret location"
Murky Marketing
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This image just reminds me of ancient kings and royalty. Plus i have seen it cropping up in various places the last few weeks. Doing a bit of naturals/Skin work, i am amazed at the amount of technology/science that goes into this stuff, but i guess when it comes down to it, Gold & diamonds will persevere forever. Restore your skin with the ultimate skin rejuvenating treatment, 24 Karat Gold. UMO, a Japanese beauty company, has introduced the gold facial as a new way of skin treatment by using a sheet of pure gold. The company claims that gold can lift and firm skin, reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, lighten and brighten skin. The treatment costs 30,000 yen ($250). Is this a sign of the new VIP experiences to come?
A bit ridiculous if you ask me, especially since you have to wash off the gold. Heck if i paid that, id want the gold on at least for a day. Ridiculousness at its best.
Au-ch
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Redscout's new site has gone live. See what all the clamoring is about.
Redscout
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A new Whole Foods has opened up on Houston St on the east side of Manhattan. It is absolutely an absoultely amazing space, with a cooking school, sushi bar, pomme frites bar, and a whole body shop upstairs. What i love the most though is the fact that they show you where the foods come from. There has been a lot of debate lately about organics versus locally grown produce. The consensus is that local is better than organics flown in from argentina because it supports the local economy and causes less pollution. They also have another board which shows imported foods from various countries. As far as i know this is the only Whole Foods or grocery store that visually shows the origin of the food they sell. The visual impact is much greater than any written label. Washington Apples or Upstate New York strawberries will always be sweeter than generic organic produce. Great idea to establish WF as supporting local farmers. Would have loved to have taken more photos but we got kindly chased away.
WholeBlock
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PSFK has an upcoming conference that is shaping up to have a ton of heavy hitters. Should be a great meeting of the minds! Will be there . Come say hi!
Speakers
Mike Byrne of Anomaly
Scott Campbell
Kacy Coll of Naked
Wendy Dembo
Josh Deutsch of Downtown Records (tbc)
Jill Fehrenbacher of Inhabitat
Doug Jaeger of TheHappyCorp
John Lee & Jiae Kim of Theme Magazine
Floyd Hayes of Cunning
Grant McCracken
Sascha Lewis of Flavorpill
George Murphy of Fitch
George Parker
Peter Rojas of Engadget
David Rosenberg of JWT
Lauren Rosenwald
Elizabeth Spiers of Dead Horse Media
Ken Rother of Treehugger
Kevin Slavin of AreaCode
Scott Witt of Droga5
Simon Sinek of Sinek Partners
Steve Hardwick of StawberryFrog
Rony Zibara of Fahrenheit 212
Meetup!
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Leo Burnett has really been on fire (can't believe im saying that) lately in the outdoor realm. This max factor ad actually runs when the weather rains. The pictured woman sports finely groomed eyelashes when kept dry, but rainy weather creates black runs akin to real life scenarios to presumably suggest that ladies should make haste in picking up the run-resistant flavor of makeup. So now art imitates life in a sorts. Pretty cool interactivity here, really gives an element most advertisements are lacking- Tangible & Real Engagement. 2 thumbs up.
Maximum Crying
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Whoa.. Some of you just may be seeing stars right now. As many of you can tell the Lifefilter has upgraded quite a few options on the site such as
-Tagging EVERYTHING
-Email
-Links
-Archiving
-Improved coding for browser compatability issues
-More Ads! (sweeeeet) -*Come on. All you ad people are rejoicing i know it.
Let us know what you think (if you arent stumbling on for the first time) or better yet even if you are, tell us your thoughts. Subscribe to the email listserv and stay in touch even when you can't visit the site. Who knows we may even have a few goodies to send your way.
I used to do quite a bit of cool hunting back at my last agency. NYC is the perfect town for it, and i quite never had as much fun sending out my interns to do the dirty work. Chuco/JWT has a nice cool hunting video which gives you the latest in under 10 minutes. And i didn't even break a sweat from the office. Some are great creative, some are just cool and some are actually great ideas that work.
Cool Hunt
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You would think that thing has a 360 in it......Students at SUNY Morrisville college are totally stoked. Looks like All Season Services has brought Shop24, an automated convenience store, to the US and plopped it right down in the middle of their campus. Forget Turkey Hill or 7-11, this baby is open 24 hours a day and can provide you with almost anything your heart desires—from an extra toothbrush to an iPod download card. Already super popular in Europe, Shop24 has 160 stores in seven countries and of course, it also includes all kinds of fresh and chilled foods, like the ever-popular bean burrito. But the best thing for All Seasons Services has to be the inability for drunken pocket filling. No ocifer, I don’t know how that bag of Doritos got down my pants. Finally, finally, finally! These things are all over and it finally comes to America at SUNY morrisville??? Im gonna put these all over the south and at truck stops
Where's Apu?
Thanks to cool hunting for finding out what i already knew. When i lived in san fran, we would go down to this market all the time. It used to be only thurs and saturday, but it sounds like its popularity continues to grow. This is THE MECCA for organics. It had the most incredible vegetables, meats, and assortment of goods in the usa. I have yet to see anything on par with this in new york. A couple hills down from me, it was a secret san franciscan treat. The ambience here at night would be fantastic, so i have to say the idea to extend this into the evening was a no-brainer. If in San Fran, this is one place not on the guide to check out.
"San Francisco's Ferry Building Marketplace is a compendium of gourmet food vendors, restaurants, and retail naturally evolved from the longstanding farmer's market that was held in the Embarcadero locale. If you find yourself downtown, the soaring ceilings leftover from the building's past as a terminal for transbay ferries make for a great destination to shop European-style or to lunch on some of California's finest artisanal foods.
During Summer months from 4pm-8pm the Ferry Building hosts a Thursday Night Market, an event that gathers a cast of local farmers and merchants in what has become something of a tradition for farmer's markets. Running through at least Ocotber, it's a perfect appetizer for dinner at the famed Vietnamese spot The Slanted Door which is also housed in the building."
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