What the flock? Pom's new campaign breaks the rules

This clever campaign is creating buzz with the controversial prhase, "what the flock." Created by the in-house agency for Roll Industries, I think this phrase will work its way into mainstream culture. NYC is the first market, and hope to see some of the out-of-home "live" this weekend. I bet the Anamoly folks are green with envy. (they launched Enviga).

Millenials: Organizing for the future

The Millenials know they will have the power of numbers to create change. Most of them are too young to vote now, but they are beginning to understand their power. Gen We is being marketed as a book and a movement to organize this generation. Howe & Strauss wrote (Millenials Rising) that great generations rise in historical cycles. The Millenials are timed for greatness, and will rise to what appears to be nearly insurmountable challenges.

Who will win

Music Platforms: the next big social thing

Twitter may be getting all the buzz as the new social networking thing...but I think 2009 is the year music platforms take off. I find Last.fm the most engaging of the social nets. Viacom/CBS bought Last.fm in 2007. A mere $280mm. Can't help but think that Viacom will merge this platform with MTV and VH1 and re-revolutionize the music scene.

If you're on Last.fm, check-out my playlists under the user name: bdaycarol. (title of a Todd Rundgren song).

Pondering the Degrees of Connection

Walking home tonight, I saw a large yellow Hummer with two suits in the car. On the side of the car was a magnetic sign that said, "Mark Hanson. Liberal Republican. 5th Congressional District." I've never seen the Liberal Republican term in printed form before, though I have heard the words spoken. No matter what the political persuasion, it made me chuckle that the positioning is rather clever.

Curiously googling, I learned that Horace Greeley was the first national Liberal Republican candidate, who ran for president against Ulysses S. Grant. Greeley was an editor of the NY Times and wrote the famous line, "Go west young man." I've strolled the street of his charming summer home in Chappaqua, just blocks away from the Clintons. As we enter the final week before the elections--I just thought it was interesting how even old historical connections can connect to today, like six degrees of separation....

1.Grant, last President elected from Illinois, who ran against

2.Greeley, who lived in Chappaqua, down the street from

3.Bill Clinton past President, now living in Chappaqua

4.Hillary Clinton, born in Illinois, now living in Chappaqua who vied for the nomination against

5.Barak Obama...the future President from Illinois?

1.7 Million Adult Pirates for Halloween

A year ago, I did a deep dive on pirate culture. I stumbled on evidence in unexpected places, like Adam Morgan's book on how companies can embrace pirate culture (Apple did). Macy's was selling an inexpensive jewelry line. And bespoke pirate fashion was brought to life in the window of a children's boutique in Florence.

Back at home, watching a band set up, it dawned on me that the ultimate pirate is the roadie. Today, pirate culture is still hot. The National Retail Federation predicts adult pirate costumes will outsell devils, cowboys, french maids and zombie costumes combined this Halloween. Today, the NY Times writes about the pirate cultural phenom. The ad next to the editorial features the utlimate pirate: Keith Richards. Arrgh, brilliant positioning Vuitton!

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/26/fashion/26pirates.html?ref=style

Recessionista: Frugal is the new hip

Today's NY Time's Style section word of the day is "Recessionista." The style maven on a budget. She's still shopping, but believes carrying a $1200 purse may send the wrong note in today's repressionary times. (a la Marie Antionnette).

Last November, I splurged on a purse in Florence's Central Market (pix). The owner and I had a nice chat about the purse market. He owned 4 stores in Florence, and was thinking about opening up a store in the US. Florence now imports leather from China, but the design value comes from the Floretine crafstman. I said it would be a mistake to open in the US during these times -- the purse market was following the real estate market. I expected we would be cutting back on pricy purses, but I never thought the meltdown would be... so melty.

Yesterday, this Recessionista heard the siren call of a patent-enevelope clutch in the color of the season (purple) at Target with their Xhilieration brand. Target broke a new spot this week that is celebrating value as a sign of family values. The TV spot even has a scene of a father actually cutting his child's hair at home! Marshall's new campaign,"Shamelessly Shopportunistic," leverages a great insight and hits the Recessionista's sweet spot. Yes, we will still shop, but it's a shift from what fashionistas like Tom Ford encouraged in terms stretching our dollars by mixing high and low. Today, prestige will come from being frugal and not being insensitive to the times

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/26/fashion/26words.html?_r=1&ref=fashion&oref=slogin

Laddering is not new--but I like it

I ran across this chart from research that pointed the way to the winning strategy for the Reagan campaign in '84. Richard Wirthlin, the research strategist, believed the way to win the White House was to link what Reagan stood for to the values of the voters. On the chart, the shaded boxes are benefits uniquely associated with Reagan. His competitor's benefits (the underlined areas) were leading to a "Better America." The Reagan strategists decided to go after the white-space of "Preserving World Peace." It drove the creation of one of the most famous political ads in history: "The Bear in the Woods," created and narrated by Hal Riney. The"Bear" spot is on the link:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpwdcmjBgNA

As I write this, I can look out my window at Millenium Park--where David Axelrod may be celebrating his strategic success in just 11 days.

From the ad maestro: passion for the new

A lot of the talk in the ad world today is about "the big idea." New buzz about an old topic that the digital revolution has reinvigorated. This week, AdAge talked to one of the old masters of advertising, George Lois, who's written a new book about the big idea.

George's ideas didn't come in a bolt of ligthening, but from his deep love for culture, particularly literature and old movies. The iconic shot of little Andy in a big can of Campbell's was inspired by a scene from Hitchcock's "North By Northwest." In one shot, Cary Grant and Yvette Mimiuex are visually subsumed by a giant "nose" of one of the Presidents as they escape the villains across Mount Rushmore. Lois said the juxtaposition of little and big was the inspiration. (side note: Grant's character was a "heroic" ad man)

When asked if he liked this month's 75th anniversary issue cover of Esquire (with the world's first e-ink flashing cover), George said "gimmicky." He said the key to big ideas was the continued pursuit of knowledge, experiences and a passion for new things. (hello, it's the gist of this blog).

The Museum of Contemporary Art (NYC) is now exhibiting a retrospective of George's famous Esquire covers. Seeing original transparencies like the one of Muhammed Ali, with red grease-pencil markings for the retouchers to know where to hand-paint the arrows...a relic of the ad biz... a la Cary Grant as the ad guy...is still inspiring.

The next "new" flavors?

The Hartman group predicts that these exotic flavors popping up at restaurants are likely candidates for new food products at supermarket. Hartman talks about how snacks seem to be an ideal entry point for new flavor profiles.

Which reminds me of a recent Rick Bayless TV episode, where he used his own flavor-infused oil, lightly brushed over store-bought tortilla chips and then baked in the oven. What an easy, yet customized trade-up from chips straight from the bag. This wreaks of a new product opportunity...

Perkonomics

Ad Age today reports on AC/DC's icconclastic strategy of focusing on brick & mortar retail over digital, online music distribution. For their new album, the band cut a deal with WalMart, who gets the exlusive rights to the cd. This is a great example of the "Perkonomics" Trend at work, one that Trendwatching has been writing about for some time. And one that will continue to have momentum in our recession, as consumers continue to crave status and an experience, even as they cut-back on spending.

WalMart has had exlusive deals with other aritsts in the past (I remember standing at a WalMart in Fremont MI, watching the Hanson's perform in an an exlusive, live concert broadcast in WalMart stores, feeling I was seeing the future unfold). Nearly ten years later, the retailer has really kicked-up the promotion behind this offering, with TV ads and 3,500 pop-up retailing mini-boutiques selling all things AC/DC. WalMart believes they have built an "entertainment destination."

Trendwatching says that perks can make boring offerings interesting. Can WalMart be more interesting? In these times, absolutely.

Mindless Labor Good for the Brain

New research suggests that "working" hands activate areas of the brain and stimulate new cell growth. Meaningful hand movement, like scrubbing, knitting and kneading trigger the "effect-driven reward circuit" of the brain. The more this circuit is activated, the greater our sense of psychological well-being. Rewards like this are more difficult to achieve in a world less reliant on physical labor, and as a result, our modern psyche has been impacted. The researchers point out that rates of depression have grown as we've made the transition from a labor workforce to a knowledge workforce.

Puts a whole new persepctive on house cleaning, cooking, baking, knitting, car-washing...

(from Scientific-American Mind's article, "Depressingly Easy," Kelly Lambert, August/September 2008)

Promoting on Itunes

Artists have been doing podcasts and videos to promote new work for some time, however the Billy Joel podcast celebrating the 30th anniversary release of "The Stranger" was something I had not seen done before. Other artists have been interviewed about the cultural impact of the album (Sting, Duncan Shiek, Jimmy Webb), along with personal recollections by Billy himself. These interviews have been added over intermittent weeks since the podcast launched. (The Stranger broke sales records of the day, only to be superceded by Thriller years later).

A smart way to engage the audience--but it would have been even smarter if the marketers could have figured out how to get consumers involved in the conversation.

New Google Product: Rich Media "Connecting" Ads

At last night's Google party in Cgo (@ Museum of Contemporary Art's warehouse), they demo'd a new rich media product that allows an ad to connect to another person in real time. The demo Google showed was an ad for Best Buy with Pong imbedded into the ad. One person viewing the online ad could invite a friend to play along, in real-time. Think of the applications beyond gaming (chat, recipe-sharing, gossip...)

I'm predicting we'll see some marketers break ads with this new technology during the holidays and Superbowl.

Cocooning in the glow of Edison

Just this past weekend, the NY Times Style Section featured a bar that evoked the clubby, old-style Wall St. bar. Gild Hall's ambience is heightened with the use of reproduction Edison light bulbs. That sparked the memory of my summer visit to Scarpetta, a new NYC restaurant also using this kind of lighting. The vintage glow emitted by these lights is more evidence of our heightened need for cocooning (see earlier post).

This lighting first started popping up in NYC restaurants circa 2003. While they evoke a time gone by, they are the "anti" of the energy-efficient CFL bulbs we are all being encouraged to install. The maitre'd at Scarpetta told me they blow all the time--at $18 a pop.

Coincidentally...earlier this year there was press about the longest continously-buring lightbulb. Located in a Livermore CA firehouse, it's been burning since 1901! 107 years and still going strong with the orginal Edison bulb. There's a great idea here for a book--the light bulb as observer of 107 years of American history, all played out at the firehouse. (then the book becomes a movie starring George Clooney). Check out their website and live webcam:
http://www.centennialbulb.org/

New twist on the pop-up store trend

Made it to Method's pop-up store in Lincon Park over the weekend, before it closed. Wanted to see for myself what that oh-so-clever Eric Ryan (former ad guy) had planned for his brand experience. Method has morphed the "pop-up" retail trend. Their concept extends to developing a community of "Method Mavens." Some of the Mavens had their pix taken and posted at the "Cleaning Confessional" photo booth in the store (above).

It appears Method recruited bloggers from Chicago to become brand advocates and spread the buzz . Bloggers were also invited to host their own party with their girlfriends in the backroom of the store, and they all walked out with a free bag of goodies.

During my visit, I took advantage of the in-store promo: 5 for $25.00, with an additional 10%-off for whispering the secret words (Chicago is dirt-free). Unfortunately, they were sold-out on the one product I thought was very unique: non-toxic stainless steel cleaner.

Sometime at the turn of the century, I wanted to do a pop-up very much like this. I thought SoHo and the Orlando airport would have been great pop-up locations to engage with the stroller crowd: invite celeb moms, have events, conduct informal gatherings (aka focus groups). Back then, the web was just in 1.0 mode, so social networking would have been just a glimmer in someone's eyes.

Back to "Cocooning?

Attended the opening of Macy's (Field's) trend house and I was surprised! I expected to see was contemporary design. What I saw reminded me of 1920's Hollywood--louche and dark. The 71st Annual Trend House at Macy is designed around the theme of "cosmopolitan oasis." Seven spaces—entryway, living room, dining room, boudoir, office, bedroom and patio—were designed by Martin O'Connor and Amy Hinck of Macy's Interior Design Studio. Deep reds, shimmery beiges and golds with touches of the orient were key motifs. I talked to the designer, Martin, after the preview, and told him I had expected to find Louise Brooks lounging in one of the rooms. He laughed and said I should have been there the day before when he was wearing his Louise Brooks t-shirt as he put the finishing touches on the rooms.

The trendist, Faith Popcorn, first coined the trend, "cocooning," back in the early 1980's, to describe the need to insulate, protect ourselves from the environment. At the turn of the Millenium, her trend evolved to "Hiving," where home became the center of all busy activity....like a bee hive. With times being what they are today--are we returning to the cocoon?

I couldn't find pix of the trend house online, but I found a picture from a famous 1920's Manhattan apartment, which gives a good feeling for the design at Macy's.

All of the showhouse's furnishings hail from the Baker Studio Collection (a favorite of my old pal Ron). House remains open through September 2009.

Lipstick Economy

Over 50 years of data has shown that lipstick sales increase as the economy slows down. Wow, lipstick sales must be at an all time high, based on what's been happening with the down, I mean dow.

Frugal is the new hip

David Rosenberg, a Merril Lynch economist, held a conference call on 8/14/08, giving his assessment about the “Elusive Bottom” of the market. He outlined many of the many steps of the recession--and we’re only at the midpoint! Oh, to have only read this in August, when we had the chance to move our 401Ks around.

He believes “Frugal is the New Hip.” One of the outcomes of this deep recession, which he doesn’t expect to be bottoming out until Q1 2009. Ramifications are expected to last for years. In fact, I recently heard someone describe these times, “The Pooring of America.”

Notes fromRosenberg’s conference is in the link:
http://www.investorsinsight.com/blogs/john_mauldins_outside_the_box/archive/2008/08/18/the-elusive-bottom.aspx

Manup: the new call for the times?

Todd Rundgren just released his new album, Arena last week. I've seen Todd on tour several times singing these new songs, but their meaning didn't really sink in until I had the album in hand. Look at Arena's song titles:

Mad
Afraid
Mercenary
Gun
Courage
Weakness
Strike
Pissin
Today
Bardo
Mountaintop
Panic
Manup

I've always been intigued with an artist's prescience. How do they know what's going to happen before the rest of us? What vibe are they getting before we feel it? PJ Harvey won the prestigious Mercury music prize in 2001 for her album with the song, "The Mess We're In." Rich and lyrically gloomy, the song has overtures and images about a dreamily appocalyptic New York City. But PJ released the song before 9/11!

But back to Todd. In concert, he made a specific call-out to his brothers: time to Manup. Gotta love the concept.

Beck makes the "old" new

Beck and MGMT played a private, live show for WXRT radio today. Both bands played an unrehearsed live show together on-stage for the first time. There were a few hits from each artists' repertoires, with the majority of the show being covers of old songs that sounded oh-so-new:

Blowin' in the Wind, played in minor key, Beck commented afterwards, "there's nothing like a funeral dirge in the afternoon. This song sounded particularly fresh and appropriate for these times. All the Young Dudes sequed into Across the Universe and Dear Prudence. A sprinkling of songs and bits of songs in homage to the Windy City: Cat Stevens' The Wind, Dust in the Wind, Another One Bites the Dust and Windy.

The sound was particularly unique as MGMT's drummer fashioned a drum kit from a cardboard box and white plastic utility bucket. Chatted with a guy touring with MGMT and asked him if there was a difference to the Chicago music crowd. He said that the Chicago fans were more about the music and less about making the scene, like he has seen in NYC and LA.

Welcome to "The New is Now."

October 1st is a great day to start a conversation about the new, the firsts. After all, the Cubs and Sox are both playing in the finals (a 100+ year first!). Our country, in a mood of gloom about the economy, lack of leadership et al, needs something positive to think about.

So what better way to stoke our inherent national value of optimism and talk about what's the new for now?

That's the goal of the blog--glimpses into things that are signs of the new that are mainstreaming. Or things that may be part of our cool new future.

A great place to look for the future is 36 floors below my office: Wired magazine's Nextfest. A quick perusal of the exhibits reveals there's a new way to think about plahying"Mindgames." A Swedish company is developing technologies that use brain waves to help people relax and focus. Like their Mindball Game (see pix).

Interactive ProductLine's website says:

"Mindball Game is a game that goes against the conventional competitive concept, instead of activity and adrenalin it is calmness that marks the truly successful Mindball Game player. The goal is to be more relaxed than your opponent and thus move a physical ball away from you into your opponent’s goal; Winning by Relaxing! "

http://www.mindball.se/links.html