Is 'kind capitalism' and RAK just a marketing trick? I never got freebies :(

Trendwaching.com talked in their latest briefing about the trend "Random acts of kindness" http://www.trendwatching.com/briefing/. I am still waiting for presents and gestures... The trend shows examples of brands giving samples and experiences to customers in need - but seriously... isn´t it just for a few and then spread like a bushfire around the ad community. Like "wow, how cool, the CEO went home to a chick and gave her free body spray" but was it anything else than a cheap pr trick - making us all rave about the new kind captitalism? Ah well, I adore capitalism as a mecanism for growth and welfare for all, but the kindness is no really from the heart :) And WHERE are my flowers, shampoo bottles and other goodies? I have tried to tweet that I´m tired, that I am disappointed with one brand and that I love another. But naaaah.

Cool trend, and hopefully it indicates a cultural shift towards people being genuinly nice to each other, respecting one another and acting like angels. I believe eye contact and compliments is way more efficient than weapons to create world peace.

I´m still looking forward to Trendwatching.com´s april issue. Come on guys, wow me :)

And be kind and positive today:

How to make people fall in LOVE with your brand

Buy the book to special price during April. $20 incl shipping in Australia and $25 for world wide shipping.

Loyal customer is a key to success!

What can a Love Coach teach marketers on how to flirt and attract consumers to their brands?

By seeing the relationship between brands and customers as similar to romantic partnerships, you will get a useful perspective to use for your business. Learn how to not only catch their eye, but also touch their heart.  
 When people feel good around your brand, you attract more customers and make them want to stay around. Customer are emotional buyers and you need to go beyond facts and features to connect and get their attention and liking.
Learn what psychological research tells us about what make people feel good and:
- stick out on the crowded market
- get more customers and sell more to each of them
- make the customer like you better and be happy about their purchase
- make them come back to buy more
- be able to charge more because customers pay for emotional values
- get free brand ambassadors talking you up

To buy the book, email info@carolindahlman.com and Carolin will send you a Paypal request.

Reviews

“Love Branding takes a fresh approach by offering simple yet practical and actionable tips to marketers looking to build ‘emotional layers' into their products and brands.”

Research magazine

“One might expect a book comparing brand relationships to human love would be full of fluffy anecdotes about romantic misadventures and speculative analogies to brand building. While there are indeed a few love coaching stories sprinkled around the book, they aren’t the main emphasis. In fact, Dahlman populates this slender but interesting volume with over a hundred end-noted citations as well as her own branding observations from both personal experience and consulting gigs.”

Neuromarketing blog http://www.neurosciencemarketing.com/blog/articles/love-branding.htm

Poor people are nicer

Poorer and less educated people are nicer, according to new research from University of California, San Francisco.

The studies found that the lower our socioeconomic status, the more charitable, generous, trusting and helpful we become. In interaction with strangers, poorer people were consistently more likely to use polite, attentive, respectful gestures. They showed greater empathy than the richer, better-educated counterparts.

Researchers explain this with that people who are in a high-status position are more likely to believe that they can control their own destiny, use their power, authority or wealth independently, and keep themselves safe and secure. Those further down in the social pecking order are more vulnerable, and therefore more likely to need to co-operate to survive (presented in The Week).

Other studies have showed that it´s the poor, not the rich, who are inclined to charity, and generosity increased as participants´assessment of their own status fell.

Those who rated temselves at the bottom of the ladder gave away 44% more of their credits than those who put their crosses at the top, even when the effects of age, sex, ethnicity and religiousness had been accounted for.

Upper-class participantts said 2.1% of incomes should be donated. Lower-class individuals felt that 5.6% was the appropriate slice.  Upper-class participants who were induced to believe they were lower class suggested 3.1%. And lower-class individuals who had been ”psychologically promoted” thought 3.3% was about right.

People who were shown a compassion-inducing video behaved in a more sympathetic way than those shown emotionally neutral footage.  That suggests the rich are capable of compassion, if somebody reminds them, but do not show it spontaneously.

Where are you on the ladder? Are you rich, in a top job... and slightly arrogant? Do you think people below you have themselves to blame, and just need to 'toughen up'? This might be psychologically logical - and proven - but if it is the case, please re-think. I must admit I was like that back in Sweden when I was successful, work kept flooding in and I got lots of recognition. A change of country certainly changed things, having to re-build a network, start on the bottom and be less fortunate. Hmm.

In hindsight I am incredibly grateful for this, since it broadened my insights about humans and made me humble. I don´t take things for granted anymore, I realise success is a matter of circumstances and that anyone who is a boss one day can be the junior the other. Just like anyone who is married one day can be the 'poor single' the other, and anyone who is healthy today can be sick tomorrow.

I wish than more people could get this experience, and I suggest that no-one should be promoted to a leader unless they have tried various industries and places on the social scale. Leaders with narrow minds will get narrow results. Those who are comfortably surrounded by the culture they grew up (or always worked in) in will never truly understand other humans. Challenge yourself, put yourself at risk, fly away. Have faith.

Get dinner recommendation from Anonymous Video Analytics technology- who needs cook books?

Apparently 70% of shoppers enter the store without a clue as to what to serve that night for dinner, which has led Intel and Kraft to cooperate to help confused shoppers come up with dinner solutions. They have created a special "kiosk" where Anonymous Video Analytics technology scans your face and base a recommendation out of what they think a person with you age and gender would like (yeah, it will be Kraft products of course...).

The screen advisor will also suggest recipes based on the shopper's meal-time intentions: a weeknight dinner, for example, or a weekend dinner party, or game day potluck--using Kraft dressings, CoolWhip, or Ritz crackers. If shoppers are willing to assist the effort by swiping their local market's loyalty card or their mobile phone, the kiosk can make recommendations based on past purchasing history. The kiosk syncs with Kraft's iFood Assistant, which allows shoppers to add recipes, shopping lists, etc. to their smartphones via a barcode scanner. Best of all, it will dispense a sample, so you can continue your trip down the aisles fueled by Oreos or Triscuits.

Read the whole article here: http://www.fastcompany.com/1716684/whats-for-dinner-intel-and-kraft-can-help-with-that-video

This idea is similar to the phone game where you win coupons: http://howwemove.blogspot.com/2011/02/ibutterfly-coupon-hunt-that-makes-me.html or the icecream vending machine that reads smiles (see video)! New ways to do old things.... People love to have fun and brands that can entertain us while doing something boring like grocery shopping are winners.

Why the advertising and media industry needs annoying people to be useful for their clients

Might be obvious, but must say: the key to great marketing is great people!

At the Circus - festival for commercial thinking earlier this year, the awesome Rob Campbell held a passionate speech on the power of inviting unexpected people into the world of advertising. He talked about how important it is to have staff on board who has done anything else in their life than living and breathing ads, how this can enlighten and enrich.


Mark Polland, founder of "Life. Then Strategy" and strategist at McCann (now heading to NY), wrote something similar in one of his wise post (Why strategist should make stuff):

The first thing I look for on a resume is proof of what that person has done and made of their own accord in the past – outside of advertising. And, what they are doing now – outside of advertising. There are a lot of smart people ‘learning advertising’ – university, ad schools – but I actually get a little suspicious of this sort. Possibly, it’s simply because that’s not what I did and my bias is ridiculously ignorant but I always gravitate towards people with real-world, hands-on experience.

I completely agree that he media agencies and creative agencies so often produce bad results because their great thinkers (ehum, the planners) are born and bread in the same little chair as their are seated in now. Huge money-spending brands get thrown at poor ads that are created on the back of a brainstorm session with the team - or a focus groups with people from the agency - hence based on the insights from "chic & cool under 30 something"s with excellent skills in media/ad lingo (they speak fluently in TARPS, ROI and churn rates) who are venting their feelings and thoughts, bringing out 'big ideas' that are more than often based on their own hobbies. Upon this we have the constant tension between different agencies, all eager to have their say and share of the dollar-bag, refusing to collaborate and do a great work together. Gee, how much time and energy is wasted on politics - and still you see the shine in people´s eyes when they talk about it, as if the struggle is exciting in itself, making the day more dramatic than if everyone was just working in peace together. I mean Kyle Sandilands IS more interesting than Delta Goodrem. 

The time I have spent in this world makes me both spooked and really passionated about changing and improving the norm, bettering the strategy departments of Australia.

I know this mission is making me a bit annoying for some people who feel they need to protect their territory - haha - but I guess I am wicked and want to improve things rather than getting into the box. I´ve always changed things, values, behaviours - in politics, in love, in life, and I am damn proud of what I´ve done. Isn´t it more fun and meaningful to challenge status quo than to bow and take shit until you are a perfect copy of your bosses? Hanging out with similar people with similar values, way of speaking, thinking and being is comfortable and peaceful. But is it great for the client?

I believe diversity leads to true understanding of humans (consumers!) which makes the ideas really useful for brands. Let´s stop making crappy campaigns mates. Face the fear, meet people from outside the industry and SHINE!

(pic is of North Korean dancers... get the point? lol)

More from Pollard´s post:

1. Money appreciation

One thing that frustrates me in ad world is the phrase ‘limited budget’. I hear it every few days. A project with a $50,000 budget has a ‘limited budget’ just like one in the millions of dollars. What annoys me is that I continually find that the people who say this have never put their own money into anything.
I set up a hip hop magazine when I was 20. I was earning $150 per week, sharing a single bed with my now-wife. I put on events. I poster-ed at 4am. I did community radio for 5 years un-paid. I wrote hundreds and hundreds of articles for music press usually earning $30-$45 a pop. The magazine was distributed globally through Tower Records, New York City Library subscribed, it’s been quoted in a bunch of books.

You can read about that journey here: 10 things about trying.

I got bits of funding along the way but the energy and focus required to turn nothing into something gave me a very different perspective on the phrase ‘limited budget’.
If you make stuff, you too will have this appreciation – not only that, you may actually relish the challenge of making do without lavish budgets. I find that mentality exciting.

2. Stories are currency

Making stuff means you are comfortable flirting with failure, and, from failure often emerge the richest stories. I’ve actually only started talking about my hip hop magazine in professional circles in the past year – 12 years after it started. But that’s because people didn’t understand hip hop until recently. I’ve realised that other business people – once they get over their misconceptions of the subculture – are actually interested in hearing these stories. They relate to me differently.
If you make stuff – regardless of whether you make stuff successfully – you will hand-make lots of interesting stories that will find a home some time during your planner journey. I guarantee it.

3. Initiative gets the team further

The way agencies are evolving, departments will matter less and less. More people will have more varied skills and combine those skills in odd, curious ways. It will take teams of people with a lot of initiative to get projects that have never been attempted before off the ground.
If you make stuff, it will show people you’re bigger than your role and are self-motivated. That is golden.

4. We need white space finders not mirror holders

Lateral thinking – the essence of creativity (and, it’s more than words and pictures) – requires lots of different experiences and stimuli. In my brief time in advertising, I’ve seen way too many people looking into the advertising mirror – they’re on YouTube, Ads of the World, Campaign Brief all day… seeking inspiration.
If you make stuff unrelated to advertising, you will have a pool of stimuli to mesh into your approach to advertising. That’s usually when the exciting stuff happens… you don’t learn this in ad school.

5. Wisdom not theory

Reading the ‘Plannersphere’ and observing different planners over time, one of the things I’ve struggled with is the theorist – the person who knows everything but does nothing. A lot of planners are lost in their own cleverness, making things look and sound complicated to everyone in the room only to reveal their incredibly smart solution to the world of problems just revealed.
This is snake oil stuff. If I ever find myself heading into this space, I try to pull myself out of it as fast as possible.
Making stuff will keep you grounded and ensure you talk mostly with knowledge you farmed in the field – not simply theory.

6. A network built in the trenches

If you collaborate with other stuff-makers, you’ll grow with them throughout your career and be able to bring them in on projects when required. This is cool. You’ll have already stood shoulder to shoulder stuff-making so will trust each other more in a corporate environment and know what you’re both good at.

7. Not an advertising lifestyler

Yes, this is cynical of me, but proof of stuff-making tells me you aren’t an advertising lifestyler. If you were, we wouldn’t get on. I don’t like expensive stuff. I do like interesting stuff though.

8. Multiple skills to fall back on

If you make stuff, you will have skills for your post-advertising life. And, let’s face it, you will have a post-advertising life.
So there you go. Eight reasons making stuff is one of the most important things an aspiring planner can do.

Coke and Maroon 5 on 24 hr webcam created a song with you

Yesterday Coke had a 24 hour session with Maroon 5, putting a song together with the help of the world. Screened on webcam directly, showing the artists doing yoga, playing table tennis and singing, the project was kind of comforting to watch.

Coke says: "Thank you, music fans of the world for tuning in and helping Maroon 5 write a new song in just 24 hours. You can relive all of the great moments right here. Be sure to come back on April 1st for a free mp3 of the hot new track created during the recording session. For the first 100,000 downloads Coca-Cola will make a donation to *RAIN, which will help to provide clean water to people in Africa. Thanks again for being part of music history!"



Is this successful for the brand? Yeah, the project only have 47 Like´s on Facebook, but it signals the power of Coke. And these kind of projects are still so exciting they get sent around the office.

Unhappiness comes from holding on to an idea that is out dated

In every creative line of work (strategy is definitely creative!) you will run into ideas that you LOVE - your own or others. And you will fight for them until your face goes red because you want them so badly, you are their body guard, their cheer leader, their biggest fan! And other people will be idiots trying to make you change your mind.

I´ve been there and I´ve worked with those people. Amazingly often this Idea is one that has come from the person herself, and not from solid research of the market. When someone is obsessed they tend to say "I know that when I am buying x I feel y, so... Idea!"

Aaaah, the Ideas that we worship are often based a personal story, developed out of fluffy hallucinations and lack of true understanding. That´s why people tend to not join the fan club.

In love, this phenomenon occurs when a girl or a boy gets IN LOVE with someone they have never met, or desperately wants to get back with their ex even if the ex lives overseas, never were really into them or is so wanted just because they look good (Justin Beaver fans...)I made this video for people who are stuck when it comes to love and life. It´s useful for creatives too :)



Oh, and check Mark Pollards post on ideas on Life. Then strategy: http://www.markpollard.net/how-to-explain-an-idea/#more-1574

Why so many ads are embarrassingly awful - yeah, SHIT

I many times wonder why there is so much BAD advertising out there. How can well paid and intelligent people spend so much money on shit?

I know it´s stressful when a brief comes in and unfortunately a lot of agencies don´t have time to let their planners do a proper job finding insights, and I do think that if you buy enough spots on TV you will win through repetition, so perhaps the clients don´t think it´s necessary to create quality. After all, psychological research has proven that we like better what we have seen several times (which is awesome for ageing people in romantic relationhips...) but still...

I get sad listening to the copy in this ad, because it repeats the word: SWIRL. Why? To hypnotize me? Well, I don´t like it...

A lot of brands also have this annoying habit to use their own industry lingo to speak with normal people. This ad to the left is one example; I have NEVER heard a real person speak about "devices" when it comes to technology (the most used word I think is "thingie"). I have seldom heard the word "ultimate" either; it´s just not something the customer say, so why try to win them over by speaking in that way ? It´s just confusing.

If you really want great, effecive (and award winning) ads, you can´t avoid the stage where you are getting to know your consumers. Just as in romantic situations you can´t just jump into marriage (at least most of us) before dating and finding out more about each other. You have to ask questions to the target audience, analyse their movements, their reactions and feelings. Understand how they speak, think and are. Don´t just go into a brain storm room with your colleagues and the client to vent whatever you are thinking. You can explode ideas at the stage after - once you have figured out drivers and barriers - but not as step 1.

I know people can be scary (...) and that it´s easier to catch up with your agency mates, but come on... You are not the norm, especially not if you are the cool 25-year old who just scored his first job :)

Look, I don´t want to patronize just because I have lived decades outside advertising; I don´t think I am better than you :) I come up with bad ideas as well. I fail nailing the insight and strategy. I mess up. We all do. But let´s at least try, huh? Build a ground before you paint the house.

Help me analyze bad ads! Please send examples and figure out what is "wrong" with them! Let´s create a "least efficient" award, lol. Let us put the client in the centre, drop our egos and work together to create miracles.

Money is rarely an issue - build brand!

Many brands try to attract customers with sale, discounts and price cuts. Others say the reason people don´t buy their products is that they are too expensive.

But even if consumers are flocking to groupon and mid season sale - is money REALLY the reason?

Money is no strong driver for most human beings. Sure, we all want some extra dollar in our pockets, and some people find money immensely important, but for most of us, other factors outweight materialism.

Australian institute of management, AIM, asked people about what makes them like their job. Responses from 3400 private and public sector employees revealed that pay was ranked 10^th on the list of factors keeping participants in their jobs. Other, more important, factors were job satisfaction, good relationships with co-workers, new and interesting challenges, feeling valued, training and development and flexible work arrangements. The main reason for leaving was "no career advancement".

Never settle for the 'top of mind' barrier when building a marketing strategy; there is always a deeper emotional reason behind the first thing people say. Everyone looks at the salary aspect when applying for a job, but that is rarely the true motivator - and the same goes with saying 'I can´t afford this product'. Of course they can - they just don´t want to spend their money on it, and they need arguments that go beyond 'cheap' to be attached.

You could of course say that results from a quantitative survey is as shallow, but it all depends on what you ask about and if other research indicates the same results.

Finally!! Group texting!

OMG how I have been waiting for this!! It seems like we are finally going to be able to have a chat with several people at once through texts.

How many times haven´t you tried to organise a larger group catch-up with friends and it´s bloody hard when everyone replies and comes with changes and suggestions without knowing what other people are saying. Aaaargh. Now, release of pressure. Next stop group chats on Facebook please?

Trend spotted at trendcentral.com: “Group Texting: The concept of group text messaging seems so obvious it’s shocking that it’s only a recent trend. Inspired in part by Facebook Groups, group texting applies a unique number to a designated group of friends that can then be used to send one text instantly to everyone approved for the group. Some of the leading services are Fast Society, the Facebook-owned Beluga, and Breakout Digital Trend award winner GroupMe. Not only was everyone at SXSWi talking about group texting…everyone was using it. Now, when news hits of a last minute Sleigh Bells showcase at SXSW Music, fans can immediately let those who matter know without broadcasting it to all 1,436 of their “friends” and followers.”

It might increase my mobile bill but it´s still brilliant... Would be awesome for tonight when co ordinating several groups, couples, friends to one single venue. Don´t want to spend my whole evening texting when I could chill and have a drink. Yay.

Happy Weekend everyone!

Why brands fail even if their TVC is brilliant

The last TEDx screened to the world a few weeks ago actually showed an ad to the audience, and the ad was the amazing Dulux creation where people are panting dull and grey places in strong happy colours - hence bringing some joy, happiness and life to people´s everyday life. It´s a stunning TVC worth watching, so that a high status organisation that normally gather scientists and leaders spent a few minutes on an advertising is lovely. I reaaaaallly hope it wasn´t sponsored...

BUT, now to my point with the picture of the gentlemen here... They work as painters. They have Dulux logos on their shirts. And they walzed into my favourite café the other day, all dressed in white!!! Sure, they were bubbly and colourful guys, but they didn´t match the ad I saw.

This is just one example of brands not considering all the touch points, all the parts of a brand. I know how marketing departments normally function, and I am aware of how creative agencies, media agencies, pr, digital, event....... etcetera etcetera...... often find it hard to communicate. There is so much prestige involved, and too often the ideas come before the insights on the consumer, causing the ground to be unstable, the ideas wobbling around in the mud, blown away by floods and winds of time. I know it´s hard to be consistent. But please, please keep on trying....

Your consumer will see you from different angles. Just like with online dating - one day you need to step away from the photoshopped snap of yourself and the well edited profile and be REAL - 3D. To the customer a brand is not the TVC however beautiful or cool or funny or clever. It doesn´t matter how many rewards you win if the robot voice in customer service pisses people off. It doesn´t matter if you have a great way of catching people´s eyes if you can´t reach their hearts.

Rent a painting, a cocktail dress - or someone´s husband?

Another interesting spotting from trendcentral.com caught my eye:
"Artsicle: The idea of renting artworks may seem odd, but we live in an era when consumers think nothing of renting a cocktail dress for an evening. Launched earlier this month, Artsicle is a “Netflix for art.” For a $50 monthly fee, members can transform their homes into galleries. Customers can keep a piece for as long as they pay the fee, or can exchange it for another work if they conclude that, say, they’d rather wake up to an abstract than to a portrait. All works are also available for purchase. In addition to benefitting would-be collectors who are averse to long-term commitment, Artsicle could become a powerful promotional vehicle for young artists struggling to land a gallery show."

In a time when we want something new every day, renting is a brilliant solution. I remember my grandma´s house, where the same stuff was present year after year, decade after decade. No changes unless necessary or if she got something new. Today it´s different; we seek novelty and get stressed by status quo. Move, move, move...

This is probably why there is a new trend in Sweden, offering websites for married people, encouraging infidelity with the tag line something in the lines of: "Make life more alive" - indicating that what is in change is alive, while stability is almost like a rolling stone (where no moss can grow..). Is monogamy dead? Are we simply going to "rent" our partners, as we rent art and cocktail dresses, handbags and dvd´s?

The picture is of a billboard in Stockholm city, advertising cheating. Half of the population upset, the other half...? I´d love to see the ROI of this campaign...

Kindness creates headlines - marketing trend from the heart (or...?)

The March trend briefing from Trendwatching.com is about on one of their trends for 2011: Random acts of Kindness.

One example of this marketing trend is the Proctor & Gamble-owned Secret deodorant that has applied R.A.K. as part of their marketing strategy to 'Blow People Away'. When someone wrote on Secret's Facebook wall that she couldn't buy Secret in Spain, P&G weren't able to just send her products from the US because of customs regulations. However, an agency executive took some to Italy on an unrelated trip and then mailed them to her from there.

Wow...

I like this new attitude from brands, serving people instead of holding a monologue about their fabulousness and expect us all to open our wallets based on admiration; I really appreciate the new humble, arrogance free approach, and I wonder why not more brands are using this, since it´s still seen as a novelty, worth reporting of. It´s so easy - and cheap! Send the CEO over to one customer, create a PR campaign around it and BAAAAM.

Ok, I am getting a little cynical... The 'kindness' is not really an act from the heart or as a response to God´s wish. Ehum. It´s just a new way to get attention, to earn more cash.

Nothing wrong with that, of course; capitalism makes the world go round and puts coffee on my table, but to talk about a kindness revolution is perhaps being too optimistic and to take it a bit too far. We still haven´t seen the kindness in man, where people randomly give each other presents and gestures peer-to-peer. It´s not a cultural transformation, since the volume of our heart is still the same.

Random acts of kindness is a marketing tool. That´s it. I´m  still waiting for the love.

The goal with 'fake' goes beyond looking 'normal but better' - New view on looks

Wow, this blogpost from Trendcentral is really exciting. http://www.trendcentral.com/style/bold-strokes/. The post suggest that we are now taking 'fake' to another level. Usage of botox, hairextensions, heavy makeup, fillers and so on - to look perfectly normal - is now being replaced by usage of feathers to make your hair look bold, 3D nail polish and fluoro eye make-up. Why limit the possibilities of fake to just look normal... Very refreshing!

Change behaviours with FUN - Volkswagen project that makes us smile

I regularly check in on the very interesting blog Neuroscincemarketing, and today Roger Dooley is showcasing brilliant marketing projects from Sweden so I need to spread the word :)  He writes about Volkswagen´s http://www.thefuntheory.com/, a project supporting fun marketing.

"This site is dedicated to the thought that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behaviour for the better. Be it for yourself, for the environment, or for something entirely different, the only thing that matters is that it’s change for the better."

Hah! Wonder what the strategy is behind that, but guess it´s about rubbing the brand against something that makes people smile, to kind of hypnotise people to smile when they think of the brand. Simple NLP techniques...

In coaching we use encouragement instead of punishment to change behaviour, since what you give attention to will expand, and if you only talk and think about what NOT to do, that´s more likely to happen.

This campaign for safe driving is excellent, and the winner of The Fun Theory project´s contest:



Or what about this wonderful idea, making people choose the healthy way:

How clever! Using a person as an outdoor media channel - Artline pens rule!

Celebrities like Justin Bieber and Jennifer Lopez make us recall the ads better - New Nielsen stats

The Nielsen Company has analyzed the Top Recalled Ads that aired in this year’s Oscars, and four of them included celebrities.

It is most likely extra efficient to use celebrities marketing a product in a show that is all about celebrities, and that attract people who are curious about gossip and famous people, so results may be biased but the data from Nielsen are still interesting. Keep on reading:

Among the most watched commercials, a Listerine spot with animated Listerine fighters topped the list with 37,715,000 viewers. The most recalled ad was an M&M’s commercial where a criminal threatens to eat an animated M&M hostage in a convenience store holdup. Check it out:



One prominent trend was celebrity ads. Best Buy’s Buy Back Program ad, featuring Ozzy Osbourne and Justin Bieber touting 4G, 5G, and 6G phones, was the strongest celebrity ad in terms of brand recall.



Consumers also remembered the Venus brand in a commercial with Jennifer Lopez singing, dancing, and chasing her children on the beach.



The American Cancer Society ad featuring Celine Dion singing “Happy Birthday” was the sixth best recalled spot. Adrien Brody also did some singing in a Stella Artois ad, where he left women swooning as he serenaded a beer.

Nielsen Top Ten Ads for Brand Recall in the Academy Awards, February 27, 2011
1 M&M’s A criminal threatens to eat candy hostages if demands are not met
2 AT&T Man forgets anniversary and makes a reservation on his phone
3 McDonald’s Ronald McDonald House — Children look for hope inside Happy Meals
4 Best Buy Buy Back Program — Ozzy Osbourne and Justin Bieber present new generations of phones
5 Venus Jennifer Lopez explains how every woman has an inner goddess
6 American Cancer Society Celine Dion sings happy birthday
7 Stella Artois Adrien Brody sings to a beer while women stare and cry
8 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid — People use older versions of technology
9 AT&T 4G — A man throws his friend’s phone from a ski lift
10 LivingSocial.com Couple dines, goes to a salon, and does tango

The Best Buy and Stella ads were also seen at this year’s Super Bowl but performed significantly better with the Oscars crowd than they did in the Super Bowl. The Hyundai Sonata commercial with people using older technologies in the modern world also premiered during the Super Bowl and saw a bump as the eighth most effective spot for the Oscars.

LivingSocial.com was the only brand premiering a new ad during the Oscars to crack the top 10. This spot featured a couple dining, getting a cut at a salon, and taking tango lessons.

Overall, brand recall for this year’s Oscars jumped 9 percent versus last year.

Source: http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/media_entertainment/celebrity-ads-among-most-memorable-of-2011-oscar-commercials-listerine-tops-list-of-most-watched-ads/

Super power eyes now a reality - GPS in glasses, blood sugar level monitoring contact lenses...

New technology is popping up all over in multi speed and it´s exciting how much fun stuff is invented - I sometimes feel like being in a sci-fi movie (or a 'future' vision from the 50´s... see further down in this post) This knowledge is borrowed from http://www.trendcentral.com/ 

Being a white witch, I prefer my third eye, and I believe that´s where the greatest wisdom will eventually be found, but until then we have:

Transcendent ski goggles: Transcend, a collaboration between Vancouver’s Recon Instruments and Colorado’s Zeal Optics, is the world’s first GPS-enabled pair of ski goggles. Unobtrusive built-in displays monitor speed, altitude, distance, location, temperature and more, both frontally and peripherally. By connecting the goggles and computer by USB cord and installing free post-processing software, users can even share and compare their TrueStats on a social network of sorts.  

Triggerfish Contact Lenses: The news of imminent augmented reality in the form of a sixth human sense has already made the rounds, but it may be closer than anyone expected. Triggerfish contact lenses, the invention of Swiss scientists at Sensimed, can already be used to monitor blood sugar levels in people with diabetes and look for signs of glaucoma by recording slight changes in cornea curvature. The lenses are powered by a loop antenna, which users tape to their faces. However, researchers’ hope is that the integration of familiar technology with microelectronics, as demonstrated by Triggerfish, will ultimately allow for the addition of direct in-eye 3D and Sixth Sense Technology. An iEye may not be too far off.

emPower Glasses: Made by Virginia-based lens developer PixelOptics, emPower glasses run on unique battery-powered technology. Similar in concept to the Priva-Lite glass used in the flagship Prada store’s dressing rooms, liquid crystal molecules reorient to vary refracted light, just as normal lenses do by varying in thickness. Users need only touch the side of the frames to turn reading power on or off.

Thanks to trendcentral, published by The Intelligence Group (imagine having that on your business card!!!), a trend research and consumer insights company focusing on youth culture. For more information on our services, or to subscribe to our syndicated Cassandra Report studies, please contact Alina Goncalves at agoncalves@intelg.com.

And now, some insighs from the past...

In 1950 the magazine Popular Mechanics posed the question "What will life be like in the year 2000?" and Waldemar Kaempffert, the science editor of the New York Times, tried to answer. 

we were going to see miracles.

It was going to be a world of planned suburban communities built in the shape of ever increasing concentric circles with a jet port at the hub, factories and offices next to that, and tracts of land for mass-produced family homes beyond. 

Supersonic jets would be a common sight, though the family car would give way to the family helicopter, which would be built in robotic factories. Atomic plants wouldn't be a major source of energy except in the northern regions or to propel ships, while solar power would run most of the world.

Everything would be electric, pollution free and, above all, orderly. 

Agriculture would have long ago failed to keep pace with population, so a large fraction of daily fare would be synthetics, such as sugars and starches made from sawdust or wood pulp.  Even recycled cloth would be turned into food.

Not that anyone would do much cooking. Frozen foods and microwave ovens would turn boiling, frying, and roasting into curiosities; the Food Channel would never come to be, and Jamie Oliver would be parking cars for a living.

There wouldn't be any dishwashing machines, however. Dishes would be designed to dissolve in a stream of superheated water and flow down the drain

Even table clothes and napkins would be made of paper woven to resemble the finest Irish linen in look and feel.  Use it to today, have it recycled by the synthetic food people as next week's dinner. 

Television, of course, would be everywhere and would have long ago been wedded to the telephone.  Even shopping would be done by videophone with department store assistants giving personal attention to customers via television cameras. Less the Internet than a more aggravating version of the Home Shopping Network.

Shaving would be a thing of the past as men smeared depilatory cream on their beards. 

Housework in the year 2000 would be as effortless as turning on the tap, because everything in the house would be waterproof.  Just hose down the sofa, the chairs, the rug, the Picasso, and give the living room a going over with an industrial size blower.

Happy people for happy brands - and Ben Cousin if you want a bad boy...

Hugh Jackman and Kylie Minogue have been named as Australia’s most powerful celebrities in Australia’s first-ever celebrity + brand (Cebra) research by Millward Brown.

According to the Cebra study, Australia’s most popular celebrities can be identified by three main personality types: outgoing and spontaneous ‘lovers of life’ (Hugh Jackman, Jennifer Hawkins); clever and sensible ‘safe bets’ (Kylie Minogue, Nicole Kidman); and thorough and laid-back ‘solid males’ (Pat Rafter, Roger Federer). 

As a ‘lover of life’, Hugh Jackman’s personality aligns best with high energy brands such as Virgin Blue, Milo or Vodafone, while ‘safe bet’ Kylie Minogue would be a perfect match for calm and collected brands such as Nestle, Cadbury or Sunsilk.  With very similar personality attributes to Jackman, Daniel MacPherson could be a suitable and budget-beating alternative for brands seeking a life-loving celebrity endorser.
“When it works, the chemistry between brands and their celebrity ambassadors is powerful and adds the bottom line.  Yet when brands and celebrities are mismatched, campaigns can fail spectacularly,” said Daren Poole, Millward Brown’s Chief Client Officer for Australia.

The Top 10 Most Powerful Celebrities by Cebra score are:
1. Hugh Jackman
2. Kylie Minogue
3. Nicole Kidman
4. Jennifer Hawkins
5. Glenn McGrath
6. Hamish Blake and Andy Lee (duo)
7. Rebecca Gibney
8. Olivia Newton John
9. Pat Rafter
10. Guy Sebastian   

Top 10 Positive Celebrity Role Models
1. Hugh Jackman
2. Pat Rafter
3. Rebecca Gibney
4. Geoff Huegill
5. Andrew Gaze
6. Olivia Newton John
7. Glenn McGrath
8. Jennifer Hawkins
9. Kylie Minogue
10. Roger Federer.

Top 10 Negative Celebrity Role Models
1. Matthew Newton
2. Sam Newman
3. Kyle Sandilands
4. Ben Cousins
5. Lara Bingle
6. Tiger Woods
7. Shane Warne
8. Sophie Monk
9. Lleyton Hewitt
10. Jackie O

The Millward Brown Cebra study also reveals consumers’ Top 10 favourite brands, a mix of local and international brands, from grocery to retail:

1. Cadbury
2. Target
3. Vegemite
4. Subway
5. Coca-Cola
6. Coles
7. Milo
8. K-Mart
9. Woolworths
10. Apple

http://www.millwardbrown.com/Global/News/PressReleases/PressReleaseDetails/11-03-02/Millward_Brown_plays_cupid_with_Australia_s_first_celebrity-brand_matchmaking_study.aspx

Morgan Spurlock was my favourite at TED so far

This morning I´ve been watching TED live screened from Long Beach. All the speeches: http://blog.ted.com/

I especially liked Morgan Spurlock, even if he is attacking what I work with at OMD with his new film "The greatest movie ever sold" :)

Some info: http://www.slashfilm.com/sundance-2011-morgan-spurlocks-the-greatest-movie-sold/

Once you K pop you can´t stop!

On Communication Council´s "Circus - festival for commercial creativity" the lovely Thang Ngo from SBS introduced us to the world of K-Pop. Korean pop bands are taking over the world, one song at a time - and one video response at the time!! The intriguing thing about K pop is that people all over the world record their own versions of the songs - in Korean - even if they can´t understand a word of it. Wach responses here: http://www.youtube.com/video_response_view_all?v=aUiMaz4BNKw (does anyone remember those days when we used to laugh at Asians trying to sing in English... ehum...karma)

The original...


More about similar phenomenons: http://www.trendcentral.com/media/fan-club/