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Welcome to The Quarterly and what a quarter it has been. From London this summer we keenly felt how much smaller the world has become. Not only as we
welcomed millions of people from across the globe to be part of the Olympic Games but because the way that this event played out revolutionised the notion
of the collective experience and how we can enjoy moments together in real time no matter where we are in the world.
Thoroughly unconstrained by geographical boundaries and language barriers, the broadcasting, conversing and capturing of these momentous occasions gave over 4 billion participants and voyeurs a chance to be a part of the
action, collectively creating and curating the experience; viewing and sharing commentary and sentiment in real time. All on a scale never seen before.
Collective, social experience is a theme you will see running through this report as we look at scalable examples from all over the world, with contributions
collected from 13 countries and nearly 50 individuals from across the Edelman network who continue to share with us the happenings and events that are
exciting them every day.
Welcome to the third edition of
from
......Ears to the Ground Around the Globe......
UK
Lauren LakeAvra LorrimerEmily Brown
Mary MitchellEdward Norbury
Andrew Szwajkowski
GERMANY
Uta BehnkePhilip HirschfeldMarc-Pierre Hoeft
Anja Guckenberger
USA
Emily ChapmanMichael Ni
Alex BernardinFallon O’ConnorVeronica White
Lindsay AnthonyMarisa PickerResham ParikhBrynn Whitfield
CANADA
Lena BeyerKate Kernahan
Tais Pinhero
MEXICO
Ana Chevas
AFRICA
Abiola OlaonipekunOriname Agbi
BELGIUM
Stéphanie PerugioCaroline Leen
NETHERLANDS
Sabrina SpongMegan Smith
UAE
Julie Nguyen
INDIA
Rosanne Rodricks
SINGAPORE
Julia WeiCindy Lim
Kate McLennanYishi Ho
CHINA
Nikki Huang
AUSTRALIA
Jennifer NgaiKate Spencer
Alexandra LoftusEthan Tuxford
Cameron SteadJessica De Boer
Debra HoleTori Foschini
@Gidi_Traffic started small enough - an anonymous, single-person Twitter handle reporting on traffic updates and advising on alternate driving routes on the busy roads of Lagos in Nigeria, proving that the simple things are often the best. Gidi has now grown into a crowdsourcing phenomenon in the region driven by an ever growing user base who provide real time content.
Following months of speculation and interest as to the identity of the Tweeter (who was finally revealed as Kaptin Odoko), a nomination for the ‘Life Saving Hero’ award of the Shorty’s (the Oscars of the social media world) and a recently announced partnership with NOKIA maps, the service continues to grow exponentially not only in reputation, but in all-important scale and user engagement.
The service is now essential for drivers on Lagos’ hugely over-populated roads and it utilises a channel that is growing in Nigeria in both popularity and users at an incredible rate.
Reddit is the social news website that has simultaneously become broadcaster, quickly establishing itself as ‘the front page of the internet’ and has provided us wtih a way of consuming news that is ultra-social, very quick and ranks topics by crowdsourced popularity.
Users post links of interest to the site and can up-vote or down-vote, affecting the story’s prominence on the homepage (a location that has become a top source for major US news outlets) and shows us how the role of setting the news agenda more and more belongs to the people instead of traditional news editors.
Through AMA, the site’s live Q&A section Reddit is optimising audience participation and conversation with subjects being asked anything the audience desires. Celebrities, such as Stephen Colbert, Deadmau5 and Jimmy Kimmel have all taken part in this interactive experience, including most recently, Barack Obama.
Weixin or ‘WeChat’ in English is the world’s biggest group messaging app with current user figures at a staggering 200 million.
In China, Weixin’s services are extending beyond the formulaic nature of back-and-forth messaging as brands, media and celebrities begin to use the platform to reach audiences in a highly personalised way through QR codes offering news, discounts and special notes tailored for the receiver.
On the surface, the app is beginning to take the shape of some of China’s most well-known Twitter clones such as Weibo but the intimate dialogue and personal connections between users that Weixin allows, makes it the most natural outlet for this type of engagement.
As more social media channels follow the evolutionary road that takes them from simple messaging forum to uber communications hub, this extreme personalisation of online interaction between brands and consumers will be seen more and more.
THE TENSION BETWEEN UNRESTRAINED AND OFTEN CHAOTIC ONLINE CONVERSATION; jUxTApOSED WITH GOVERNMENTS UNREMITTING INSTINCT TO REGULATE GROWING EVER STRONGER pOINTS TO A pOTENTIAL FOR GREATER INTERFERENCE AND AN INCREASING NOTION OF CONSEQUENCE
Driving With Twitter The News According To You Weixin Gets Personal
Image courtesy of Eva Blue via Flickr Image courtesy of Ola Uno Corporation via Flickr
Feel like watching your favourite soap opera in real time while you wait for the bus? Consuming entertainment in the UAE anywhere, at any time has just got easier with TouchTV Arabi, the first free social TV app developed by Arabi On TV.
Aggregating TV content from all around the world, the app gives audiences a world of not only programming, but on-demand content at any time.
Tapping into the current obsession with getting our entertainment fix whilst on the go and recognising the prominence of social media in the region (the number of Arabic users on Facebook currently stands at 45 million with predictions indicating this could reach nearly 100 million by 2013) the app will deliver more than 20 Arabic channels free of charge to watch and share via Facebook.
Belgium theme park Walibi has become the first park in the country to bring the real world to the virtual one with Walibi Connect.
The concept is a unique way to share experiences live on Facebook, enabling visitors to extend the storytelling opportunities beyond the moment and ensure maximum visibility for the park in the world of social conversation.
Via a free wristband, visitors can post automatic messages about their time at the park on their social media walls without needing a smartphone or tablet. Once at the park, they are given an individual barcode which is then exchanged for a Walibi Connect wristband with built-in RFID microchip.
Interactive screens enable the automatic updating of Facebook meaning adventures are shared as they are being had to a receptive network of family and friends who can experience the day with you – in a virtual sense at least!
A new initiative by Israeli-based advertising agency BBR Saatchi&Saatchi IL has taken the competitiveness of job-hunting to a new level in their search for a talented new programmer.
Tapping into the spirit of gamification and utilising online platforms to connect to potential employees in a unique way, the recruitment drive was turned into an online ‘battle’ where applicants had to challenge their future boss to a game of Diablo III.
The game gave the company a chance to judge the candidates on their reaction time, creative thinking and teamwork capabilities as well as asking a series of personal and professional questions. If successful, they made it through to the interview stage. The winner received the legendary Warmonger sword (one of the most hard-to-get items in the game) and of course the most important thing, the job.
Image courtesy of BelgianChocolate via Flickr Image courtesy of othree via Flickr
Social TV in the UAE From Physical to Virtual Challenge Your Future Boss
A team of Harvard geneticists at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering have successfully managed to store the equivalent of 70 billion books in an area the size of a postage stamp – a very extreme way to downsize!
The team utilised the futuristic sounding ‘next generation sequencing technology’ to store the data in the physical form of DNA. In theory, DNA as a storage medium has huge potential; it is incredibly ‘dense, stable, energy-efficient and proven to work over a time span of some 3.5 billion years’ but how does this translate into a usable solution? Once sequenced and archived, the DNA data can be embedded onto the surface of a tiny glass chip ready to be transported wherever you like.
Currently the technology is priced out of reach to make it an economically viable alternative to our cumbersome USB sticks, but this advancement could herald a new era in data storage as printed material becomes less sustainable and space continues to be one of our world’s most precious commodities.
Euro 2012 saw a bevy of football related apps hit the online shelves with hopes of capturing the imagination of tech savvy fans by creating greater interaction and shareability amongst their football-obsessed networks.
In Holland, where the game is king, a group of students from the University of Twente developed an app that managed to fulfil all of the above criteria.
CrowdCoach provides a social forum for fans to interact on whilst watching the game, allowing them to comment, suggest tactics and even pick their ‘man of the match’ as the game plays out in front of them. Comments are collated and analysed giving fans a chance to see how they would fair in the Managers seat.
Looking forward, social TV will set the scene for greater fan participation within sport as online fun meets real world, on field action....watch this space.
The Belgian Metro (a free daily newspaper) recently launched their latest venture, ‘Scoopshot’ a strikingly simple to use app and the most recent innovation in citizen journalism.
Users are invited to share images with the editorial team at the paper and once reviewed, those with news value or that capture the imagination may be used in the paper, earning a nice little fee for the snapper along the way.
With continued pressure on traditional media outlets to innovate and interact with their audiences in new ways, the app is a great example of how the old guards of traditional media are keeping pace with their online rivals and is potentially setting the stage for the next wave of news intermediaries – where once it was bloggers, consumers may take centre stage.
As well as being a powerful asset for breaking news by utilising passers-by that may be closer to the action, Metro will soon be announcing specific editorial briefs via Scoopshot with the goal of forging stronger connections with their readers.
REINVENTING THE ESTABLISHED WHEN IT COMES TO THE WAY WE SHOp, CONSUME NEWS AND INTERACT WITH SpORTING EVENTS SEES A CONTINUED ExpECTATION FROM TECHNOLOGY TO EVOLVE
Image courtesy of fdecomite via FlickrImage courtesy of KlaVy via Flickr Image courtesy of SG Blau Gelb Laubsdorf via Flickr
DNA Library The Newest Social Football Game
Metro’s Big Scoop
The UK supermarket giant Tesco shocked everyone earlier this year as they announced their first drop in profits in 20 years. According to their CEO, Tesco is undertaking a ‘long course of treatment’ which includes some of the most creative retail concepts ever introduced.
This summer they launched the ‘future of shopping’ with the UK’s first interactive virtual grocery store at London’s Gatwick airport, clearly targeting the ever-moving, commuter crowds.
It allows travellers to browse and purchase core products whilst waiting for their flight by scanning the barcodes on the products which were then delivered post-trip upon arrival back into the UK.
Tesco is just one of many big brands existing in a traditional sector who are under increasing pressure to innovate and redefine consumers’ ideas of ‘normal.’
Just as newspapers and magazines are changing the way their operations are viewed and interacted with, so too are supermarkets and other stalwarts of our everyday shopping experiences.
In our last issue we looked at Taghreedat, the e-dictionary attempting to ‘Arabise’ online terms - the next installment in this revolution can be seen from TAGIpedia, the online encyclopedia of Arabic content for the estimated 78.62 million internet users in the Middle East.
Taking their cue from Wikipedia, TAG-Org has already begun compiling over 400,000 articles and items from across the Arab markets, covering content and topics including science, history, news, Islamic culture and more.
With estimates that only two percent of the entire content found on the web is Arabic, this ongoing commitment to localise the internet and ensure its relevance and accessibility for an ever-growing user base is a great example of community thinking going large.
In a new take on the online shopping experience, Hamburg-based start-up Stuffle.it is the iPhone app that takes the principles of a global online marketplace and turns it into a very localised purchase experience.
The visual nature of the app takes inspiration from Pinterest boards and gives users the opportunity to ‘buy’, ‘sell’ or ‘rummage’ – all digitally with items sorted by proximity.
Acting like a huge virtual swap market, the app which was created by Digital Pioneers, connects people living in the same area and neighbourhood, giving them the opportunity to engage in a very local, community-based sort of commerce that is a great example of ‘collaborative consumption’ in action, a movement we’re seeing more of across the globe with the rise of sites such as Airbnb and ZipCar.
Image courtesy of AbdillahAbi via Flickr
Virtual SupermarketFrom Dictionary to
Encyclopedia Connect and Shop in Your Neighbourhood
Brazilian Chevrolet dealership Orca recently rolled out an ingenious operation to promote the new Chevy Cobalt in an idea that disrupted the traditional purchase path. ‘Rescue Drive’ was created to reach potential consumers in a very simple, highly personalised way.
Partnering with local towing companies, drivers whose vehicles had broken down were offered a free test drive in the new Chevy Cobalt, delivering them to their intended destination as their wheels were towed off to the scrapyard. What better way to connect with consumers than helping them out at a genuine moment of crisis?
A genius example of reaching out at the right time, test-drivers were sure to develop a sincere connection with the brand at a time when they would clearly be considering the purchase of a new vehicle.
To introduce their latest flavour of beer, Belgian brewer Maes took a very personal approach to reach out to their consumers in a great example of the Extreme Customisation we saw in our last report. They identified everyone on Facebook in Belgium whose name was also ‘Maes’ (around 17,661 individuals) and sent them a personalised letter containing a code.
The code gave them access to the competition page on the website and placed them in the draw for a free barrel of beer. After only several days, the stock had almost completely ran out. The second phase of the campaign opened up the competition to anyone who had names that sounded like Maes (such as Massinon and even Masset!)
The result was a wave of consumers suddenly anxious to change their names on Facebook, just for a chance to participate and reap the rewards which in turn, created huge amounts of brand love being broadcast throughout the social world.
Traditional British media outlets are circumventing the limitation of the printed page and taking their editorial teams and ideas direct to their audiences, as they look for new ways to stimulate discussions with readers and maintain cultural relevancy.
In a project that exemplified the movement that is media outlets behaving more like brands, weekly fashion magazine Stylist set up a temporary office in London’s iconic Saatchi Gallery allowing their daily work to be live streamed 24/7 as they compiled the latest issue. Part installation, part performance, the aim was to see how tasks evolve by interacting with visitors to the gallery and aimed to strengthen a connection between the magazine and its readers by giving them a unique bird’s eye view into its daily running.
Elsewhere in the UK, the BBC is following suit with the opening of their engine room to the public in a new media café, giving consumers a chance to get an intimate view of the inner workings of Europe’s largest newsroom.
BRANDS ARE LOOKING AT HOW THEY CAN BREAK THROUGH ‘NOTIONS OF NORMAL’ BY REACHING OUT TO US IN WAYS THAT ARE SIMULTANEOUSLY DISRUpTIVE AND DEEpLY RELEVANT
Image courtesy of 6th Gear Advertising via Shutterstock Image courtesy of Stylist.co.ukImage courtesy of Piutus via Flickr
Roadside Rescue from Chevrolet What’s in a Name? The Evolved Media Office
Museums and libraries are increasingly moving away from the one-way ‘view and leave’ nature of visitor interaction with more of these institutions engaging crowdsourcing principles to curate their content.
The Brooklyn Art Library in New York City is home to a large and growing collection of sketchbooks from everyday artists thanks to The Sketchbook project. A community initiative that allows the public to doodle and sketch anything in a 32-page notebook and contribute to the collection. Currently, the library has collected over 12,500 sketchbooks from 130 countries, a number which grows daily.
And over in Europe, the museum Obermutten in Switzerland has begun a project to crowdsource the International Museum of Friendship using its Facebook page and asking fans from around the world to send in ‘objects of friendship’ to be photographed and featured in both the online and offline galleries at the Museum.
As social media reshapes the way we communicate, our hunger for ‘fast-food style’ information is increasing.
One of the pioneers of this movement is designer Alice Wang, creator of the ‘Quote Vendor,’ a concept that takes the structure and style of a traditional vending machine and applies it to books.
What is interesting about this idea is how we are seeing the physical manifestation of the digital world alongside the instantaneous nature of the vending machine experience.
The machine is filled with clear plastic bottles that contain a note with the title of the book, the name of the author and a quote from the story.
People can choose from different categories and the idea is that opening the bottle will create a similar sense of fun and anticipation to that of opening a fortune cookie.
An interesting concept that takes the traditional text-heavy book and transforms it into a bite-sized literary snack!
In a great example of art transforming the mundane, London’s ‘Make The City Sound Better’ project took the functional concept of using taxis purely for transport and created a very unique cultural experience.
The project from Denmark-based audio manufacturer AIAIAI and UK artist Yuri Suzuki, saw one of the city’s trademark black cabs completely fitted out with microphones and loud speakers journey the city and ‘collect’ the various sounds from different locations. The sounds were then translated into ambient tunes that represented areas of the city.
Passengers travelling in the taxi were able to experience the music via Soundcloud at the same time as the sounds were being broadcast to any passersby lucky enough to be in hearing distance.
The idea was to use the local environment as inspiration to heighten the travelling experience, utilising the uninteresting to encourage commuters to consider the world around them in a more thoughtful way.
Image courtesy of girl-meets-art via Flickr
NECESSITY AND THE WILLINGNESS TO EMBRACE NEW MEANS OF CULTURAL CONSUMpTION ARE THE TWO DRIVING FORCES THAT ARE TRANSFORMING CULTURAL ExpERIENCES AND AUDIENCE INTERACTION
Next-Gen Museums and Libraries Vending Machine Bestsellers A Traffic Symphony
Combining service with education, a motorcycle repair shop in Vancouver has managed to win over a new crowd of customers with its innovative new take on the vehicle servicing experience.
So why is this interesting? Because the combination of education and recreation is a movement we’re seeing constantly reinvented, appearing in new guises when economies look bleak and wallets increasingly cash-strapped and is one that often creates entirely new facets to well-established hobbies.
Motomethod Garage offers clients the chance to learn first-hand how to ‘Do It Themselves’ when it comes to repairs - customers book a service space in the garage, get access to the tools and receive one-to-one tuition on how to fix their precious rides. It’s a win, win situation for both the clients and the shop as the knowledge share instills a sense of loyalty and satisfaction within its customers and promoted an inclusive ‘open door’ policy to encourage repeat custom.
Festival goers at Nevada’s famously creative Burning Man festival were this year invited to take part in Blue Sky – a project that saw technology innovation collide with art culture for not-for-profit group, ReAllocate.
Guests were invited to a specially designed shipping container dome to interact with a Kinect photo booth that captured their image in 3D. The image was then printed by a 3D Cubify printer and hand delivered by ‘drones’, unmanned aerial vehicles using GPS trackers which could locate where the visitors were at any time.
Aside from the impressive technology employed to create and deliver these unique portraits, the project aimed to act as a launch pad for a wider cultural project and the creation of a mobile entrepreneurship centre for deprived and underprivileged communities.
The UAE is home to a host of entrepreneurial talent across a range of sectors and as a result, the country has seen a huge increase in the demand for innovative office designs and creative work spaces that in many cases, are shared.
It is interesting to observe how culture and creativity is increasingly seen as imperative to commerical success as we see exciting communities pop-up and begin to thrive in districts that act a blank canvas for this inspired thinking.
Collaborative business hubs such as MAKE and The Pavilion Downtown Dubai (a café and art gallery respectively) are designed to keep up with the ever growing and evolving technology and design workforce and provide a great platform for creativity, networking and inspiration.
Image courtesy of mckaysavage via FlickrImage courtesy of Wolfram Burner via Flickr
Serve and Be Served 3D Portraits, Burning Man Style The ‘New’ Creative Zones
Many of Germany’s major cities are committed to making their public spaces as attractive and user-friendly as possible and in recent months, we’ve seen several initiatives put in place in support of this, aimed at encouraging recycling.
One of our recent favourites comes from LemonAid, the Hamburg-based drinks company that is ‘half soft drink, half development aid.’
The company recently embarked on a disruptive project to clean up the streets. ‘Pfandkiste’ is a pre-prepared lemonade crate that is installed around street signs and acts as an additional place for consumers to leave their empty bottles and then recycle them. It’s a brilliant way of simplifying the recycling process that is visually arresting and encourages people to consider where the bottle will live on after use.
StartUp Britain is the UK initiative aimed to ‘inspire and accelerate’ entrepreneurship in the UK and their latest venture ‘StartUp High Street’ is all about reviving the country’s flailing shopping districts in a two-way approach – re-engaging the local community with their local High Street by giving them a reason to shop there again and creating a platform for small businesses to gain widespread exposure.
The initiative, which is fully-funded by the private sector and supported by the Government, was launched with a pop-up store in Richmond which became home to six budding small businesses over a rolling two week period, giving as many the chance to take part as possible.
Running in conjunction with the scheme is PitchUp – another strand to the initiative which gives retailers taking part a chance to present their products to UK department store John Lewis and an opportunity to have their goods stocked all over the country.
Online crowdfunding platform Kickstarter has not only changed the way individuals start businesses but also the way they interact with and consider their communities. For the restaurant industry in San Francisco, this is something we’re witnessing more and more of as foodies use Kickstarter to help turn their ideas from concept to reality, injecting a real sense of community into their business.
Forage Kitchen was one of the pioneers, fundraising to create a co-working space for the Bay Area artisan food makers and was followed by Chef Eskender Aseged and his fabulous team who opened Radio Africa & Kitchen Restaurant, a community-oriented sustainable restaurant earlier this year. Located in an area without much of a sense of community, AQ Restaurant & Bar’s goal was to create a fun, safe and active neighborhood for locals and visitors.
AQ is now part of a growing community hub in the city and was recently named one of Bon Appetit’s 50 Best New Restaurants.
IN LOOKING FOR SOLUTIONS TO SOME OF OUR MOST TOpICAL SOCIETAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES, WE’RE SEEING A RETURN TO SMALL-SCALE THINKING, STARTING AND ENDING WITH COMMUNITY SpIRIT AND ENGAGEMENT
Image courtesy of Duncan Brown via FlickrImage courtesy of Kristoffer MC via Flickr
Aiding Recycling Starting Up the High Street Crowdfunding Community Spirit
Capitalising on the sartorial buzz surrounding New York City during fashion week in September, shoe label Cole Haan launched a unique social media, events-based campaign to make sure the brand and its products were going direct to their consumers, in the most literal way possible.
The ‘Don’t Go Home’ campaign took inspiration from an interesting source – the mobile food revolution and went to the streets with takeaway food trucks selling their latest pump shoes designed with Nike Air technology to create the ultimate comfortable high-heel for tired fashionistas, direct from the sidewalks.
The campaign, which bought new meaning to the concept of mobile retail also included street entertainment in the shape of drag queens encouraging customers to visit the trucks along with hashtagged billboards empowering New Yorkers to ‘party all night.’
Online retailer Zappos is using fashionistas’ pinterest accounts to produce personalised shopping lists, tempting customers with the best match for their most pinned items from Zappos’ extensive catalogues.
Whilst buzz terms like ‘social shopping’ have frequently been coined by e-retailers to describe product integration with more established social networks like Twitter and Facebook, the result has often been limited to only allowing users to promote products they love that they’ve found themselves. This marks the first time Pinterest and its user-generated mood boards have been mined for commercial intent and importantly, how Pinterest’s wealth of highly personalised information is being used to drive users to the checkout point.
As this year’s wave of fashion weeks showcased new ways designers are digitalising their catwalks, with buy-it-now options appearing immediately alongside catwalk looks, will Pinterest become the new must-use social network for designers looking to second guess the desires of the ever fickle fashion community?
Nigeria has recently been labelled the ‘epicentre of growth’ in Africa and one of the most obvious proof points of this can be seen in the openings of global luxury stores such as Louis Vuitton and Moet Hennessey.
In a country like Nigeria, understanding the importance of maintaining local relevance to ensure products translate is the key to survival for any luxury brand.
A consideration that some are clearly taking notice of as they attempt to create meaningful and relevant connections to the wealthy elite.
Luxury watchmaker piaget recently collaborated with Polo Luxury Limited to create knowledge sharing opportunities in-market so that local salespeople could interpret the brand message in a way that would resonate. Similarly in the motoring world, porsche have created a line of models that have engines tested on flood prone roads and treacherous potholes, perfect for combatting those found in the country’s capital.
THE DEMOCRATISATION OF FAST FASHION CONTINUES TO SEE CONVENIENCE pLACED AT THE CORE OF THE CONSUMER OFFERING – FROM E-COMMERCE INNOVATIONS TO MOBILE FASHION TRUCKS BRINGING NEW MEANING TO DIRECT TO CONSUMER
Image courtesy of Tratong via Shutterstock
Taking it to The Streets Zappos and Pinterest Localising Luxury
It seemed inevitable that Burberry, the brand with innovation at the core of their DNA and for so long at the vanguard of both the online and physical shopping experience, should fuse both elements together so seamlessly in their newest Central London shop.
The Regent Street store has been designed as a physical manifestation of the Burberry website - known as Burberry World Live – where the digital shopping experience leads the physical one.
Clothing in the store is embedded with chips which can be read by screens and mirrors and when a customer walks into a changing room holding a jacket, the mirrors respond by turning into a screen showing images of how it was worn on the catwalk, or details of how it was made.
The in-store purchasing experience also re-creates the ease of online shopping, no long lines at tills in this store – customers are asked to relax on a sofa where staff armed with iPads take payment from mobile stations and have their purchases bought straight to them.
The tiny island that is Singapore has been home to a raft of exciting retail innovations in recent years; including Blogshops of which the country is now home to a whopping 50,000, reinforcing that online and mobile shopping have now become an essential and established part of Singapore’s purchase cycle.
Recent research estimates that over 1 mllion visitors frequent blogshops monthly and that each month, these retail outlets generate around $6 million USD from sales.
Blogshops are a strong example of the online world going offline, being the physical manifestation of e-commerce and acting as a launchpad for many Singapore entrepreneurs.
Blogshop aggregators are another example of online-to-offline moves with retail spaces renting out racks to blogshops for a low monthly fee. Kissjane, for example, helps blogshops reach out to a ‘million footsteps on a monthly basis’ and targets consumers who prefer a bricks and mortar retail experience.
MyHigh.St is the UK’s first online High St, tailor-made for the local High Streets and only selling goods from independent retailers, providing customers with more choice and flexibilty when shopping locally.
The aim of the site is to help local retailers compete with nationwide chains and online giants by giving them an always on, mobile outlet accessible at all times; an imperitave for many UK towns as they’re faced with growing numbers of small businesses closures.
The pilot scheme is currently limited to Somerset in the South West of England, but there are plans to make it nationwide. A ‘click and collect’ service featured on the ecommerce site as well as online vouchers will further assist in bringing shoppers back to the high street - even if it’s a virtual one.
BRINGING DIGITAL CONVENIENCE INTO THE REAL WORLD ExpERIENCE TRANSLATES TO A RAFT OF INSpIRED BRICKS AND MORTAR SOLUTIONS FOR RETAIL
Image courtesy of Reggie Wan via FlickrImage courtesy of Tupungato via Shutterstock
Flagship of the Future Blog Shops MyHigh.st
What started as a home delivery trend aimed at providing city dwellers with access to the best organic Australian produce has developed into a new dining sensation that has turned Sydney’s restaurant scene into an oasis for fresh food. New inner city restaurants are opening their doors with premium dining spaces that include their own rustic vegetable patches, fruit gardens, and friendly chicken pens.
This concept has seen the recent openings and successes of inner city café, The Grounds, and highly acclaimed Australian chef Matt Moran’s latest top tier restaurant, Chiswick.
The movement is an evolution of the ‘food theatre’ trend we’ve seen in recent years, as chefs look to inject an element of performance into the eating experience – something we expect to see more of in inner city restaurants as they expand their offerings to include vegetables and produce that have been grown and cared for by their own staff.
One of the biggest food trends in the U.S in recent years has been a focus on the slow food movement and consuming locally grown foods, something that San Francisco does better than anywhere. Recently, we’ve seen this combined with the more recent trend of retro-inspired foodie delights for some truly scrumptious sweet treats popping up in the Bay Area. Two examples worth sharing can be seen:
• Over in Cole Valley, The Ice Cream Bar is bringing back the iconic ‘soda jerks’ with its ice cream parlor and soda fountain. House-made tinctures, flavored syrups and extracts are used to create made-to-order sodas, shakes and floats like the Passion Project, a chai creamed soda lactart with tobacco aromatics and chai tea tincture
• Down in the Mission District, The Fizzary is a one-stop soda shop for anyone looking for an artisan fizzy drink. Offering more than 800 varieties, the store stocks its shelves with obscure concoctions from popular brands and new creations with highly unusual flavors
Word of mouth is still one of the most trusted sources when it comes to product recommendations with customer opinion and curation continuing to shine through as the real voice of authority.
Taking this into consideration, Brand Nooz is the new German website for consumers to ‘Taste the News’ of the food world.
People can register online to order samples within the food and drinks category, which are either new to supermarkets or will be available to purchase soon. For a minimal monthly fee, registered customers can also receive a monthly test box which will include all new sample products.
Products are rated by customers on Brand Nooz creating a forum for knowledge sharing and consumer curation, enabling consumers to dictate which items become the most popular.
LOOKING BACK TO SIMpLICITY AND TRADITION IS ON THE MENU FOR LOVERS OF ALL THINGS GASTRO, WITH RESTAURANTS MOVING TOWARDS A ‘GROW IT YOURSELF’ pHILOSOpHY DOWN UNDER AND A RETRO RESURGENCE TAKING pLACE STATESIDE
Image courtesy of aur2899 via FlickrImage courtesy of benjgibbs via Flickr
Farm Restaurants or Restaurant Farms?
Would you like some Retro with your Desert? Brand Nooz
Located near downtown Austin, the HOpE Farmers Market (FM) is a unique take on the typical food market, committed to uniting the city through a passion for food and creating a community environment that is inclusive and engaging.
Founded in 2009 as part of the not-for-profit HOpE (Helping Other people Everywhere) Campaign, the market initially started slow and until recently, only featured vendors from local farms, copying a model seen at most other markets in town.
Recognising the need to grow beyond this and diversify the standard food offering into a wider cultural platform, HOPE FM now encompasses free yoga classes in its very own HOPE Gallery, showcases the work of local artists and runs a music program where local bands perform every week. In addition to this and as a way of adding further value to the community, the organisation regularly hosts workshops, cooking demonstrations, supper clubs and other special events.
Mezcal, the spirit native to Mexico is continuously anointed as the next big thing. Although it’s been around for hundreds of years, it’s experiencing its ‘moment’ in the drinks spotlight as its traditional aspects are embraced as being in fashion and in demand.
Once only able to be acquired from travelling rural factories, new brands of Mezcal are now turning up all the time as this traditional product’s status continues to be elevated to a special place in the hearts and minds of the nation. Popular bars such as La Nacional Condesa and La Clandestina are offering a selection of artisanal mezcal agave distillates and pairing them with hip music, design and a faint essence of haute couture, in a great example of old world meeting new world culture.
Mezcal’s chic new image isn’t unique only to Mexico. The Mexican export is also making its way into cocktails at some of the hippest bars in the most cosmopolitan cities - London, New York, Los Angeles - and even as far away as Tokyo.
Although whisky continues to maintain a vice-like grip on Indian drinkers, wine is increasingly finding its way into the hearts and hands of discerning palettes.
As alcohol advertising is banned in India, brands are utilising social media to not only promote their products, but educate consumers about the benefits and increase demand.
No Indian wine company has leveraged social media better than Fratelli, who engage enthusiasts through initiatives like Vinectionary (wine word of the day), ‘Grape Escape’ (a wine map of the world’s famous wine regions) and wine appreciation workshops and dinners for social influencers.
With a growing elite population that is well-travelled and eager to partake in ‘global’ culture, wine is becoming more accessible and more visible amongst a discerning crowd of consumers all over the country.
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Uniting Austin through HOPE The Mezcal Effect India’s Wine Revolution
While patients, advocacy groups and pharmaceutical companies are increasingly turning to social networks for communication and innovation in mundane processes, many healthcare providers are now embracing the role social media can play in medicine, assisting in knowledge and best practice sharing across borders.
The time has come for doctors to get schooled in the role that social media can play with a slew of new courses, resources and even a competition coming to the fore.
A group in Budapest, Hungary has launched The Social MEDia Course, described as the world’s first online university course addressing social media in medicine.
Over in the US, the pennsylvania Academy of Family physicians released their first-ever physician Social Media Guide on Facebook, Linked-In, and Twitter.
The concept of make-up for men is no longer something contained to the film ‘Zoolander’ as the US continues to see growth in this sector and recent research from Mintel reveals that sales of men’s toiletries will hit $3.2 billion by 2016.
The challenge for brands is that most men won’t use anything described as ‘make-up’ or appearing remotely feminine. The result has seen the creation of entirely new lines, product names and packaging that appeal only to men, using product names such as ‘facial fuel’ and ‘repeat defender’ with packaging that resembles cigar boxes or liquor bottles.
Major retailers such as Nordstrom and Macy’s are eager to claim their piece of this growing industry and have devoted separate floor space in their outlets dedicated to men only in a bid to ensure image conscious males feel right at home!
“Have you tried…” is a frequent question among athletic women in Chicago these days. With exercise studios like All About Dance, Flywheel, and CrossFit taking the Windy City by storm, fitness buffs are seeking to revitalise their routine by seeking out small group classes dedicated to innovative and highly specialised workouts that are all about a personalised experience.
Barre Bee Fit is the latest - an intense total body toning and stretching studio that offers more than five types of bar classes including a workout focused on arms, abs and thighs held in a 95-degree room with a cardio-dance sequence.
Class options like these provide clients with variety, adventure and personal touches (the instructor knows your name!) while still allowing them to focus on a specific workout methodology and see results, especially tailored just for them.
AS THE HEALTH SECTOR BEGINS TO UNLOCK THE pOTENTIAL OF MORE SOCIALLY-ENABLED pRACTICES AND SERVICES, THE BEAUTY SECTOR CROSSES OVER TO A GROWING AUDIENCE - MEN
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Doctors get schooled on Social Media
Manly Cosmetics A Personal Approach To Fitness
If you’re looking for a glimpse of the future then why not head down to Paris’s Gare de Lyon, where the city’s main transit agency (RATP) has rolled out a revolutionary prototype of a transformation of the humble bus shelter at Station Diderot.
The 80m² area designed as a ‘multi-purpose public space’ hopes to provide a more fruitful usage of time spent waiting for your ride home and boasts a library, coffee machine, recharge point for mobile devices, food to take away, information on the surrounding area and a fleet of electric bikes for hire.
The dawn of cloud technology and the proliferation of 4G and Wi-Fi Hotspots are all leading to greater connectivity on the move. As we strive for more efficiency both at work and with our own time we expect to see an influx of similar initiatives that are transforming our ideals of ‘normal’ and reimagining the future.
In a bid to engage with their cultural side, the four star Clarion Hotel in Stockholm have launched their ‘Room for Art’ project – allowing artists free accommodation in exchange for their work.
In an age where cash is rapidly being replaced with all kinds of ‘virtual’ currencies and payment methods – think of the rise of ‘Swipe and Pay’ from the likes of Visa and Mastercard – the concept of art as currency signals a move back towards more traditional forms of payment, where goods used to be exchanged for other goods and bartering was commonplace in the purchase journey.
The art work needs to be submitted on an A4 piece of paper and signed by the artist in exchange for one night in a double room – a bargain if you’re not bad with a paintbrush!
As airlines are becoming increasingly competitive when it comes to their service offerings, the latest from Virgin America proves that airlines will go to great heights to find ways for their passengers to save time and get those mundane daily tasks done whilst en route.
As part of the launch for their non-stop flight service between San Francisco and Washington, Virgin teamed up with Rock the Vote to introduce a new service that allowed passengers to register to vote at the presidential Elections at 35,000 feet.
Aided by Presidential impersonators on board (who also helped ensure Virgin’s trademark ‘fun’ personality was maintained) and conducted via QR codes on the in-flight entertainment platform, the concept meant Virgin was able to position themselves as the ultimate airline of convenience and further acknowledged that customer service is at the heart of their brand offering.
USING THE TIME SpENT WAITING OR COMMUTING AS AN OppORTUNITY TO CREATE IMMERSIVE ENVIRONMENTS FOR CONSUMERS AND OFFERING CHANCES TO SAVE pRECIOUS TIME SEES THE FUTURE OF TRAVEL EMERGE
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Bus Station of the Future Creative Currency The Mile-High Vote Club
ColleCtive entertainment
The 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games bought us many amazing moments that will take their place in sporting history but also critically, it sounded the death knell for the passive consumption and linear entertainment experience.
The phenomenal depth and diversity of conversation driven by digital channels throughout the Olympics marked a significant moment in broadcast, entertainment and sport history and culminated in a true celebration of Collective entertainment.
This was perhaps best witnessed by the Opening Ceremony which unfolded through social media from the outset as the audiences, both those in the stadium and watching at home were encouraged to be involved in a ‘no spectators, everyone participates’ event concept. Opinions were shaped and formed in real time as continuous commentary poured in from all four corners of the globe, giving us unique insights into what other nations were thinking.
We all have our favourite social moment – from the masses of athletes in the Opening Ceremony procession carrying mobile devices, capturing and sharing moments, to Samuel L Jackson’s almost constant Twitter reportage. But what we’ll remember most is how London 2012 was the world’s first global social media event, bringing the world together, collectively in real time and marking the end of one-way entertainment forever.
meDia tranSFormeD
As media brands exist in a constantly moving and evolving communications context, the pressure to innovate by pushing traditional boundaries and stay relevant to audiences that are continually transforming the way in which they consume news and process information remains paramount.
Media interaction with audiences has ushered in a new era of openness, of media transformed, where the lines between media behaviour and that of brands is becoming increasingly blurred.
We have been observing brands take on the role of media outlets for some time as they implement their own broadcasting channels and reputational programs and now, we’re seeing reciprocal moves as media outlets begin to behave more and more like brands.
As media continues to compete fiercely for customers we predict that we will see more of the established models of brand behaviour adopted by traditional outlets as they attempt to drive greater customer loyalty, ensuring they have a point of difference from their counterparts and guaranteeing their place in the ever-evolving media landscape.
relevant DiSruption
The idea of subverting people’s daily routines in order to drive attention to a brand message is a tried and tested practice and one that is executed frequently and successfully.
However like all great ideas, the concept is undergoing a reinvention as relevant Disruption takes personalisation to a whole new level as positive disruptions enter our lives at moments when we need them most.
Clever brands will identify the right times to do this – at points where they are most needed and can be truly relevant, helping to forge a unique bond between themselves and the consumer to cement a longer lasting relationship.
From the small-scale as seen on the streets of Hamburg with Lemonaid to the larger scale initiatives such as Chevrolet’s roadside rescue in Brazil, the more relevant and timely the disruption, the more potential it has to be viewed positively.
