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Waste Beer converted into Fuel
19 August 2008.
When the Democratic National Convention descends upon Denver next week, a fleet of vehicles provided by General Motors for the event won’t be using just any ordinary fuel. Instead, the flex-fuel cars will run on clean-burning ethanol derived from waste beer produced at Molson Coors’ Golden, Colo., brewery.
Whereas most ethanol is based on corn, Coors produces about 12 million litres of the stuff each year from beer that gets lost during packaging or is deemed below quality standards, for one reason or another. Coors says it is the nation’s first major brewer to convert its waste beer into ethanol, having begun the practice back in 1996.
At the convention, the GM fleet—which includes vehicles with biofuel capabilities and hybrid technology—will run on a mixture of fuel combined with ethanol from the Coors facility. The cars will provide transportation for numerous delegates, staff, members of the media and other special convention guests.
Check it out @ www.molsoncoors.com
Prepaid Gas @ MyGallons.com
19 August 2008.
Today’s high gas prices are already forcing changes in the way many consumers live, but it’s a pretty safe bet they won’t look so bad in a year or two. A new service from MyGallons.com lets consumers prepurchase gas and lock in today’s gas prices for the future.
Consumers who sign up for a MyGallons Card begin by paying an annual membership fee of USD 29.95. Up to three cards can be linked to one account, and the membership fee is backed by a 100 percent money-back guarantee if the consumer doesn’t save money on at least one redemption during the year.
Members can then monitor their current MyGallons price—a fluctuating quote that’s good for purchase of unleaded gas at a particular point in time, including estimated local taxes—and prepurchase gas when they deem the price worth locking in. Purchasing gas is simply a matter of visiting a participating gas station, where the MyGallons Card is accepted much like a debit card, complete with four-digit PIN. The number of gallons pumped is deducted from the consumer’s MyGallons account balance, with adjustments automatically made for more expensive grades or types of fuel and price differences caused by tax discrepancies or other local variations.
If the consumer pumps fuel from a filling station for less than the lower end of the MyGallons range on that day, he or she will receive a credit, in gallons, to his or her account.
More than 80 percent of the prepurchase money consumers spend through MyGallons is placed in an escrow account and invested in money markets and US government-backed notes; the remainder is used for financial transactions to accommodate gasoline price changes, MyGallons says. There are no time limits on using the prepurchased gas, so consumers can save it for as long as they want, provided they maintain their MyGallons membership.
After a pilot program beginning in April, MyGallons.com just recently underwent a public launch. Due to an unexpected, last-minute pull-out by US Bank, it is in the process of negotiating with other payment networks to allow the MyGallons Card to be accepted at most stations in the US that already accept credit cards.
Nevertheless, the service promises to be a taste of what’s to come.
Evernote - Its awesome
06 August 2008.
Evernote is a software application that allows users to capture information of various types, including text notes, mobile phone snapshots, printed and handwritten text within images, web clips, and digital ink. All data added to Evernote are run through a series of recognizers that make any text within the various note formats searchable. The application uses a continuous “roll of paper” metaphor for its user interface. Additionally, users may create folders, categories and notebooks.
For capturing content beyond direct text and digital ink input, Evernote uses a system of Clippers (Web, Mail, and Universal Clippers) and supports drag-and-drop, cut, copy, and paste, and import/auto-import capabilities.
AI technologies are used in the Evernote application for recognition, indexing and search of text within images.
Its a very cool application which allows you to record and save anything that you think is cool or memorable so that you can go back to it at any time. Check it out at www.evernote.com
Busy week and collaborations
07 July 2008.
We have been very busy in the past few weeks and it seems that the next few are shaping up in the same way. We spent some time collaborating with the capitalist punks from thunk recently which has been fun as well as seriously valuable. We are looking forward to more thunk/ iKineo mashups in the future.
We are growing
18 May 2008.
The IK Team is growing from strength to strength. Welcome to Annette and Firdaus who are our newest members. Happy to have them!
Hidden Treasure
06 March 2008.
The first person from iKineo to send Joshin an email with the subject “Hidden Treasure Found” wins a bottle of Moet and Chandon. This offer is only valid for 3 days from the date of this post.
The heartbeat of iKineo
03 March 2008.
We recently installed a commissioned artwork at our offices. Our Heartbeat is a heartshaped collection of individual team member portraits. It is a dynamic work which will grow and change with the evolving iKineo team. The talented artist is our friend Tamsin Relly and the work is a reference to her body of well-known work titled Heartbeats.
iKineo in Switzerland
02 March 2008.
We recently visited Lausanne to meet with the Kent team at BAT. We are working with them on a strategic engagement. We are also working closely with Intrigue. Kent’s experiential eventing partner in Switzerland.
We worked hard, but also managed to see the sights. It was a great trip to Switzerland, and I’m sure the ones to follow will be even better.
Starbucks recycling coffee ground
29 January 2008.
Coffee drinkers around the world are expected to consume almost 7 million tons of the stuff each year by 2010, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization. That means a hell of a lot of spent coffee grounds to dispose of. Rather than throw the nitrogen-rich material into landfills, the global chain Starbucks has found a greener solution by giving it away to consumers with gardens.
Eco approaches may be all the rage today, but Starbucks’s Grounds for Your Garden program actually began as a grassroots initiative back in 1995. Since then it has grown steadily, offering up free spent coffee grounds to North American customers year-round on a first come, first serve basis. Grounds are packaged in reused coffee bags and sealed with simple directions for using them in the garden or compost pile, where they can help improve soil quality.
“Coffee grounds are a valuable source of nutrition for the garden,” explains Ben Packard, director of environmental affairs for Starbucks. “Reusing coffee grounds in the garden is a great alternative to disposing this rich resource from our stores. It’s a win for gardeners and a win for Starbucks.”
Indeed, now that the spotlight is shining full-force on companies’ environmental practices, this kind of approach really is a win-win for everyone. It’s relatively low-cost and easy to implement, but it means less waste in the landfills, a benefit for consumers and their gardens, and a green image for Starbucks—definitely worth emulating!
To read more visit: www.starbucks.com/aboutus/compost
Students get free photocopies
29 January 2008.
An innovative Japanese company is offering university students free photocopies. This free service is made possible by printing ads on the back of the copy paper, which is slightly thicker than normal to prevent ads from shining through. For JPY 400,000 (R25 000), advertisers can have their message printed on 10,000 sheets of paper.
Tadacopy machines have been placed at a few dozen campuses, and are a big hit with students. The company was founded by students at the universities of Keio, Chuo and Hosei, who installed the first free copy machine in April of last year. Nice one for student entrepreneurs to set up in other countries! You’ll make some extra money, your fellow students will thank you, and local advertisers will be able to reach a targeted audience in a novel way. Like any good free love concept, it’s a win-win-win situation.
Imagine Success
29 January 2008.
The launch of the Gateway Imagine programme was a resounding success. During December and January we ran a massive acquisition campaign, recruiting consumers onto our database for further communication throughout the year. Gateway set us a target of 20 000 recruits during the 6 week campaign. In order to hit that target we had a team of promoters working in our Imagine promotional area for more or less 12 hours a day. Not only did we have a number of great prizes to give away, but we were also showcasing the use of biometrics – a first for any shopping centre in the country. The basic idea was that our promoters would interact with shoppers, and bring them back to the promotional area to be recruited. We then took down their basic information, and some contact details, so that we can get in touch with them in the future.
Next we used our biometric scanners to record their fingerprints, the idea being that rather than giving them a loyalty card, their fingerprint will be their access pass to the world of Imagine. So at the next event they attend, they won’t need a ticket, they simply arrive and place their finger on the scanner to gain entrance. Eventually customers will also be able to access special in-store offers and discounts by scanning their fingers when they pay for their purchases. By the end of the campaign we had roughly 20500 people on our database. Mission achieved. Now the rest of the programme begins. It promises to be a busy year, but all the latest news will feature on our iKineo blog.
To read more visit: www.imaginegateway.co.za
Innovation Predictions 2008 (by Bruce Nussbaum)
19 December 2007.
The only truly predictable thing about the coming year is that it’s sure to be full of surprises. But some innovations will be ways of dealing with just that fact
From Business Week
2008 will be one hairy beast, what with a U.S. Presidential election playing in the background and huge economic and social forces making us lead our lives in constant beta. Predictions are foolhardy in these circumstances, but…fun. I tapped into the wisdom of my crowd for this enterprise, including Doblin’s Larry Keeley, Richard Saul Wurman, Tim Brown of IDEO, David Armano from Critical Mass, Peer Insight’s Jeneanne Rae, writers Jessie Scanlon and Jessi Hempel, Pop!Tech’s Andrew Zolli, Ammunition’s Robert Brunner,consultant John Kao, and a couple more. So—here goes some fun. Fourteen guesses of what may take place in the innovation and design space next year.
Innovation Consolidation
One of the big, established consulting firms such as McKinsey, Bain or BCG makes a pass at one of the small design-turned-innovation consultancies—Jump, Continuum, IDEO, or ZIBA—to bolster its innovation practice. Demand from corporate clients for help in executing innovation is surging, and consolidation in the innovation field is on the rise.
B-School Goes D-School
A top American B-school follows the lead of University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management and transforms its curriculum to a design model. Business administration focuses on making existing business processes and products better and more efficient. Business design focuses on creating new options for new forms of enterprise.
Creative Growth
A major private equity firm embraces innovation when a deal goes sour thanks to the weakening U.S. economy. As the traditional, cost-cutting workout fails, the private equity firm brings in innovation consultants to shape a growth strategy.
Presidential Policy
A national innovation policy emerges as a key part of the Presidential campaign. With the economy sinking into recession and competitors from China, India, and Europe embracing national innovation plans, Hillary Clinton is the first to propose a program — and rivals respond.
One Laptop Boomerangs
The One Laptop Per Child ”$100 laptop” becomes a Christmas best-seller in the U.S. but fails overseas. OLPC is criticized as “Western high-tech imperialism.” Governments in Asia and Africa reject the beautifully designed children’s computer because of high costs for installation, repair, and electricity as well as limited local educational content.
Our Urban Planet
The 192021 project—a study of 19 cities with 20 million people in the 21st century—gains massive corporate support. For the first time, in 2007, more than half the planet’s people live in cities. 192021 plans to generate uniform data on the rise of these supercities and the role their consumers and creators play in business and civic life.
Fly WiFi
WiFi on U.S. planes changes the travel experience. Forrester (FORR) estimates that 38% of frequent business travelers would use WiFi—even at a cost of $25 a trip. European airline Lufthansa already offers the service, and demand is big.
Unfriend Me
Who you’re friends with becomes more important than how many friends you have. Exclusivity and privacy replace open community in social media. People move to gated networks from Facebook and MySpace (NWS), fleeing the commercialization of their personal information and relationships.
Mobile Explosion
The next big disruptive innovation is—Super Mobility. A flood of new applications for the iPhone (AAPL), the newly opened Verizon (VZ) network, and Google’s (GOOG) Android platform generate an explosion of great cell-phone experiences. Especially watch the apps developed for Facebook on the iPhone.
Kindle Catches Fire
Amazon’s (AMZN) Kindle e-book reader does much better than the tech blogs predicted. Shifting from paper made from trees to electronic paper reduces personal carbon footprints enormously, and this makes Kindle a darling of the Green Movement, propelling sales. Along the way, Kindle’s remarkable direct-to-Web capabilities and cool, anti-iPod design finally get credit.
It’s All About Me
“Identity” replaces “experience” as the next big concept in design and media thinking. People create their own identities interacting with products and services. The notion of a consumer experience is a more passive way of thinking. It’s so 20th century. Identity gets the buzz in ‘08.
Hang On to the Good Stuff
“Longevity” replaces “sustainability” as a core concept for the green thing. Just hanging on to that expensive, fancy car does more to help the planet than recycling stuff again and again. Or so the marketing argument will go.
The Customer Is King
The end of competition for business occurs. Consumers replace competitors as the key reference point for corporate strategy. Reason? Disruptive innovation now often takes places outside the normal competitive environment. Think Google in advertising or Apple in mobile phones/music/retail. Consumers are more knowledgeable and more powerful than competitors.
Shape-Shifting Enterprises
A new set of on-demand, Web-based toolkits for business emerges out of the innovation movement. These kits focus on maximizing new options and possibilities for a fast-changing, uncertain global business environment, not boosting efficiencies for existing processes in a stable marketplace. They manage talent, production, and creativity on a global scale.
Even the idols joined Gateway Imagine!
Imagine. Gateway. Just more. Gateway’s Customer Relationship Programme went live on 4 December 2007. And so far we’ve been really happy with the numbers of people we’ve achieved during our acquisition drive. In a world first, Gateway has become one of the first shopping malls to use biometrics to sign-up people to a loyalty programme. Even the Idols finalists signed up today!
The aim of the programme is to acquire people to the Gateway programme and then interact and get to know more about them. By joining, they receive exclusive access to information, experiences, events and opportunities to connect with family and friends.
The project has also been quite challenging in terms of the integration of a Data Management Tool, bluetooth, biometrics, web and SMS to wapsites with synchronised data over all the channels.
The campaign ends the 15th of January and thereafter we will start the next phase of our campaign.
Vida e’Caffe has also partnered with us in a 2-for-1 coffee deal about which we are very excited.
Imagine. Gateway. Just more.
Congratulations to Giles!
02 December 2007.
Congratulations to Giles and Jacqui, his new fiance, on their engagement this weekend. The iKineo family extends their warmest wishes.
Eye-Fi Makes Photography Easy
15 November 2007.
The digital camera allows you to share memories with old friends and loved ones—or it would, if you ever bothered to upload those memories onto your computer!
Eye-Fi provides an alternative way to upload photos. It is a 2GB memory card that connects to your wireless network to so that you can automatically upload photos as you take them. The process is quite simple. Once you have purchased the card, you simply need to go on to the Eye-Fi website, configure your network info, and choose the social-networking/photo-hosting/blogging site you want your pictures moved to. As long as your camera’s turned on and in wi-fi range, any photos that you take will be automatically pushed to your desired destination.
At present, Eye-Fi can only auto-transfer to one target at a time, but it is quick and easy to change destinations, which ensures that your grandmother doesn’t receive photos of you trying on new speedos.
For more info visit http://www.eye.fi/
The Wrangler Laundromat
15 November 2007.
At recent music festivals in the Netherlands, jeans brand Wrangler offered festival goers a much needed service: laundry. And at 18 meters wide and 9 meters high, the Wrangler Laundromat was hard to miss.
People dropped off their mud-encrusted laundry and were sent a text message the moment it was ready. No spare change of clothes? Wrangler came up with a generous solution to that problem, too: they handed out black overalls to anyone who used the laundromat. Like most other pop-up ventures, Wrangler Laundromat is an exercise in experiential marketing, aimed at surprising and delighting consumers in a way that magazine ads or TV spots usually can’t.
After picking up their spotless garments, visitors are given a “Dear Mom, I’m clean” postcard to send home. All of which makes for a fun and memorable experience.
Visit http://www.wrangler.nl/ for more info.
View the Wrangler Laundromat advert on Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMjbZuxRVBA
iKineo in Lagos, Nigeria
01 November 2007.
Joshin and Franco are presently in Lagos developing a relationship with Leo Direct (above, Dickson Eze, GM of Leo Direct), which is part of the Rosabel Leo Burnett group in Nigeria. The group is 30 years old and is one of the larget advertising and media groups in NIgeria. We are working to strengthen the Leo Direct offering with our CRM experience and expertise. The Leo Direct pedigree and deep local experience is valuable.
We have been working hard this week and have seen numerous exciting clients within Rosabel’s portfolio. The Rosabel team is fantastic and we are really enjoying the people.
The Lagos experience is unique, but the city buzzes with energy and the vibrancy of an economy on the rise. We are very excited by the new iKineo presence in this phenomenal market.
Watch this space for updates… (pics coming soon)
African Leadership Initiative
23 October 2007.
As a new Fellow of the African Leadership Initiative, I recently attended the first seminar of the 4th ALI Class. It was a fantastic immersive experience – academically, professionally, and personally – with 20 other amazing Fellows.
We spent the few days at Didimala, a beautiful game lodge in the Limpopo Province in South Africa.
ALI is closely affiliated to the Aspen Institute and modelled after its Henry Crown Fellowship. ALI Fellows are part of the Aspen Global Leaders Network.
I look forward to the 3 upcoming seminars over the next 18 months, the individual project commitment, and the lifelong relationships.
Collaboration with Whatiftheworld
02 October 2007.
We are co-sponsors and patrons of Number Two, the second in a series of projects and events for emerging designers, presented by Whatiftheworld, which was voted in the Top 50 Emerging Galleries worldwide.
Event details:
Friday 5 October, 19h00, 208 Albert Rd, Albert Hall, Wood Stock The Number Events are an initiative started by Whatiftheworld in February 07. For an entire week furniture and product design exhibitions were held,culminating in a group fashion show of emerging fashion designers (Union of the Dull). The event was a huge success with many of the designers receiving international orders for their work.
This time things have been taken up a notch. Designers from Johannesburg have joined, to create an event that is more representative of design talent from a larger part of the country.
Expect to see product design installations by emerging industrial designers:
Adriaan Hugo Lyall Sprong Liam Mooney Xandre Kriel
A key element of the evening, from 21h00, will be The Nothing, a group fashion show, that will feature emerging talents:
Abraham + Louisa, by Suzaan Heyns – Abraham Louisa is a ladieswear label that explores the relationship between masculinity and femininty. Strict and stern versus soft and pliable. Black meets white. Sheer versus covered up. It is both strong and soft, innocent and jaded.
Dandy Savant, by Cameron Foden & Kerry Chaloner – Dandy Savant Spring Summer 2008 “This is a Summer of Violence”. Dandy Savant is a design collaboration between Cameron Foden and Kerry Chaloner. The menswear brand was conceived in December 2005 and showed for the first time at Whatiftheworld: Union of the Dull Autumn Winter 2007/2008. This, their second collection, draws inspiration from conflict. “This is an amorphous conflict, not political or personal, not necessarily definable. We are exploring isolated or fractured identities and the dual natures of protection/exposure and strength/fragility in conflict situations. We became obsessed by this theme, and how it draws negative or destructive connotations, but is a natural state. Conflict can signify or catalyse change and growth.”
White Noise, by Petro Steyn – White Noise will showcase a special neoprene project for Number Two, The Nothing. Its called something like Zonkey, a zebra and a Donkey its not street wear, avant-garde or Haute Couture, its nothing you cN WEAR something quite weird. Its abstract in shape and form.
Pwhoa, by Richard de Jager – This summer season pwhoa continues its signature organic tech feel in a ladies wear collection thats totally devoid of colour. Using the most mundane cable and rib knits the silhouette explodes in shapes that grows all over the knits reminiscent of fungi, sea anenome ,and local flora.Get ready for a new nightmare in craft!
Emerging jewellery designer DONNE BULLIVANT, will also be showing a selection of her newest work. All these installations will be on show on the first floor of the Albert Hall building on Albert Rd, Salt River.
For more information visit: Whatiftheworld
Announcing On-Product Magazines
02 October 2007.
The media mix now has a new and viable form of print publishing – on-product magazines. The idea is simple: create a small magazine which fits onto a fast moving consumer product and distribute via grocery rather than traditional magazine channels.
The idea is now patented and has launched the first on-product magazine – a bottled water aimed at the female market with iLove magazine attached. Distribution will be focused through convenience stores, supermarkets and gas stations, significantly differentiating the products that carry them and offering advertisers a circulation far in excess of magazines sold through traditional magazine distribution channels. In three months, iLove magazine was the largest circulation magazine in Australia and the company has global aspirations, holding patents for on-product magazines attached to all common food packaging formats.
Print was the first mass medium, the first medium to take advertising, and still commands more than 50% of the world’s advertising expenditure despite the advances of radio, television, outdoor and more recently the internet. Newspapers and magazines have not had an easy time over recent years as the paid circulations of the leading publications have declined, partially due to the ability of the electronic news media to deliver more specialised, relevant and up-to-date news and partially due to the increased competition in the market. The availability of Desktop Publishing tools such as Adobe PageMaker, QuarkExpress and Adobe InDesign have democratised publishing, more than doubling the number of newsstand magazines in most countries and fragmenting the market.
Those magazines which still hold large circulations do so with cover-mounted tip ons, freebies, competitions and massive marketing budgets. While magazines target specific audiences far better than most media, these market forces have detracted from magazines’ ability to deliver large audiences.
This is where on-product magazines come in. They allow publishers to reach a much larger audience than conventional magazines without the huge marketing budgets.
As one would expect, on-product magazines have also had a terrific response from advertisers. Its the progressive, innovative marketers who have been the first to adopt the idea. But as the distribution channels improve, no doubt major marketers will want a piece of the action.
Moving up!
02 October 2007.
Giles has been promoted to Account Manager. He has certainly proved to be a valuable member of the team and to our clients.
Pintsized Interns at Tokyo Hotel
01 October 2007.
For a few weeks in July and August, the Rihga Royal Hotel in Tokyo ran a program for guests aged 3–12, employing them for a day.
Children picked one of five different types of work: housekeeping, doorman, front desk, floor service and kitchen, with different tasks to tackle. At the end of the day, the young staffers were allowed to choose their preferred form of remuneration: a gift certificate for books, or a passport for free ice cream every year. Rihga Royal’s informal work experience program was open to children, who had to be accompanied by a parent/guardian staying at the hotel.
Parents had the option of hiring a professional photographer to snap shots of their industrious offspring greeting guests or making an omelette. With dual aims of keeping children entertained and encouraging them to consider a future career in hospitality, this seems like a fun program for hotels.
In Flight Entertainment with Air France
01 October 2007.
Giving customers the opportunity to learn a few words of Korean or Portuguese while en route to Seoul or São Paulo, Air France introduced in-flight language instruction on selected flights this month. An interactive audiovisual language program developed by Berlitz, the service works on regular in-flight entertainment screens. Passengers can learn and practice the basics of 23 different languages, in four main lesson categories: numbers, dates, words and dialogue.
JAL and Singapore Airlines also offer Berlitz Word Traveller as part of their in-flight entertainment package, and Virgin Atlantic has experimented with Japanese and Spanish lessons. It’s a great example of trendwatching.com’s status skills trend. As many consumers are demonstrating a value shift in status from passive consumption to mastering skills. Smart companies are offering their customers the opportunity to add to their skill set. Watch, and learn!
Valugram: Truworths Fashion Workshops
03 September 2007.
Truworths is providing great value to all of its consumers by instituting the Truworths Fashion Workshops.
These workshops are setup and facilitated by Truworths, but are initiated by the consumer. So basically anyone can request for a stylist to come and perform a workshop. During the workshops, experts share their insights on fashion, trends and the latest styles. Consumers can even provide a list of topics they would like to cover, and Truworths will ensure that any and all questions are answered. It provides an excellent way for consumers to find out more about the local and international fashion industry, as well as getting tips on what to wear, and how to wear it.
For more information you can visit the Truworths website (www.truworths.co.za).
Our Creative Day
17 August 2007.
Giles has already mentioned our creative day and I just wanted to share my version of it.
Not only was it a relaxing, inspiring day, but most importantly it brought us all together even more as a team. This was an investment into the most valuable aspect of the business, Our ridiculously good looking team!
Giles mentions the galleries in his blog, so read up on how we were inspired by a the VEO gallery and also an artist from the ‘What if the World’ gallery, I like to refer to him as ‘The Polish Hack, who needed to be breast fed and now is a walking threat to society.’ In my experience, if I sum them up in this way, then they are destined for success.
I myself created amazing works of art at the afternoon session with our resident ArtMaster – Tamsyn. She should be the one on exhibition. Tamsyn, I think iKineo will be investing in its own gallery space soon!!!!
Special mention goes out to Debbie, who without doubt has inherited her mother’s artistic flair. I’ll take that pear sketch for a 100.
Admire the pic above, just proving to all that we actually did get our hands dirty and also attained some self confidence in front of the camera.
Thanks to all below:
Tamsyn, you are an inspiration to all of us.
Justin for sharing your vision with us and being an amazing outlet for upcoming art www.whatiftheworld.com
Joshin, also known as the Boss around these parts for fronting the cash so we could have some fun.
Planning our next one, feel free to share your ideas… perhaps an exchange with some of our partners? lemme know franco@ikineo.com
HouseParty.com - The new wave of 'tryvertising'
16 August 2007.
What is ‘tryvertising’? Well, in a nutshell, the practice involves companies giving free products to hotels, airlines or cruise ships, so their guests will try them out and associate the goods with holiday feelings. It’s win-win for both parties: hotels cut costs; manufacturers market to a captive, happy audience.
While tryvertising started with shampoo in hotel rooms, it has progressed to higher-value goods. Sony has equipped every room in Brighton’s Pelirocco hotel with a PlayStation, while some hotels in the US have even done tryvertsing deals with luxury car makers – the use of a Porsche Boxster was included with the room at one Fairmont hotel in Florida.
The idea is that your target consumer is greeted with your product on the first day of their holiday, at a time when they are without stuff from home and will have seven days to form a new habit with your brand.
While tryvertising has been around for years, HouseParty.com has given the concept a radical makeover. A far cry from your mother’s Tupperware gatherings, House Party combines in-person tryvertising with rich media sharing to link thousands of parties where consumers convene with friends, family, co-workers and neighbours to test products and share their experiences.
Unlike traditional sales parties, hosts don’t sponsor events to earn a cut of the profit, nor are company representatives or consultants present to pitch their wares. Instead, anyone can apply to host a party through the House Party website, where they can browse a list of upcoming events—which may include anything from watching a previously unseen television series, listening to an unreleased CD or tasting a new food or beverage. Hosts get freebies, samples and special offers, plus planning tools to help create invitations, manage RSVPs and more. There’s an online community for hosts to interact with fellow party-throwers to share tips and suggestions as they plan their bashes.
The other key factor is that for each event, House Party aims to book at least a thousand parties across the United States to take place on the same day. Which bundles the buzz and exponentially increases the effect of word-of-mouth advertising following an event. On Party Day, as many as 10,000+ individuals take part in parties across the nation, which are documented by hosts through photos and videos on houseparty.com.
House Party, which got started in 2004, has worked with a number of big brands, from Nickelodeon to Pepperidge Farm. Time to get the party started in other parts of the globe!
For more information visit www.houseparty.com
iKineo Creative Day
16 August 2007.
iKineo has decided to resurrect one of our old practices, namely: iKineo Creative Day. The basic premise of the day is that the whole team spends a day out of the office engaging in activities that stimulate our creativity. There isn’t much of a restriction on what those activities can be. Suggestions have ranged from exchange programmes with creative partners, to a day spent with top designers.
Our re-launch of the creative day concept took place on Friday the 10th of August. We set out in the morning to visit VEO Art Gallery, which is located in De Waterkant, at number 28 Jarvis street. They are currently holding an exhibition by 5 of South Africa’s most talented contemporary artists: Jenny Merritt, Bastiaan van Stenis, Kerry Murray, Jennifer Gray & Anthony Mutheki . The exhibition was fantastic, and we chatted with the owners for a while, as they explained some of the more unusual art in the gallery.
Next we made our way into Woodstock, to the newly acquired venue of the ‘Whatiftheworld’ art gallery. Justin, the owner of the gallery, guided us through an exhibition of Andrzej Nowicki, a 22 year old artist born in Poland. As we wandered around, Justin explained a bit about the philosophy of Whatiftheworld. The gallery aims to identify up and coming artists, and provide them with a platform on which to exhibit their work, and launch their careers. It also provides an excellent opportunity for art collectors who can get fantastic art at a decent price.
Finally we decided the time had come for us to try our own hand at some art work. Tamsin Relly, a Cape Town based artist, took us into her studio in Gardens, where we learnt a bit about the practical side of art. From pencils, to charcoal, to painting with wine, the whole experience was greatly rewarding, and we all left feeling like we had a shot at an artistic career.
To view more photographs you can visit our Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2708755358
Contact details for all the venues we visited are as follows:
VEO Art Gallery www.veo.co.za
28 Jarvis Street, De Waterkant Tel: 021 421 3278
Whatiftheworld Art Gallery www.whatiftheworld.com 208 Albert Rd, Woodstock Tel: 021 448 1438
Tamsin Relly http://www.tamsinrelly.com/home/default.asp tamsinrelly@gmail.com
Accelerate Cape Town
11 August 2007.
iKineo supports the Accelerate Cape Town initiative.
Lucky Number 7
06 August 2007.
Uwe Gutschow from SaatchiAtPlay, in his presentation in the Nomadic marketing course at the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business , outlined 7 rules for success that most successful marketing campaigns are using:
Why blogging is important to business
Blogging matters to business, whether they want it to or not. Whether you ignore it or embrace it, it will still have an impact on your business. Here are the reasons:
1. A blog is an informal, easy to maintain method for communication with your customers and for them to communicate with you – A business blog can be an informal way in which customers can really interact and learn more about your business. If it’s just more marketing blurb and not made for interaction, then rather don’t.
2. A blog is an informal, easy to maintain method to communicate with your employees and for them to communicate with you – A blog that only employees have access to can give employees up-to-date information daily and allows for more and informal interaction with all tiers of the business. News can also come from more than one source and allows for synergy and networking even for multi-nationals
3. A blog can give an informal “voice” for your company that educates and informs website visitors – it is a faster, easier way to get information to customers and employees and gives a personal face to the company by talking about culture, value systems etc. Some examples are: Google and General Motors
4. Your employees are definitely blogging – By April 2007 Technorati – a blog search engine – was tracking 70 million blogs and found that 1.4 blogs were created per second worldwide. Facebook receives 40 billion pageviews per month. You therefor want to be sure that you communicate with your employees regularly, so you can assess their satisfaction with the company and know that if there is a problem they will communicate with you, not the rest of the world. You also need to know what they are blogging to ensure that they are not giving away trade secrets or confidential information. You should have a policy giving emplioyees guidelines about what they can blog about your company or customers. Blogposts can live forever. Here is some ideas for such a policy: Corporate Blogging Policies
5. If your employees are blogging, so are those of your competitors – it is quite amazing what type of market and competitive intelligence one can find on blogs. It is a good idea to keep track of competitors’ blogs, those of their employees as well as that of the industry.
6. Potential employees are blogging too – a quick search for potential employees name on the internet, might give you more of an insight into the personality, background, mindset, values of a candidate than what an interview or CV can ever give you.
The power of the Blogosphere is here. It is immediate, interactive and a superb communication and networking tool. We suggest that you embrace it as a critical business tool.
DJ Battle up and running
03 August 2007.
The Hennessy Cognac DJ Battle is finally up and running.
You can view the site at www.hennessy.co.za. Its looking pretty cool if I dont say so myself! We’ll be adding in content as we go along, so keep checking to see the latest updates.
Fantastic Moet & Chandon Table evening with Hans Enderle
03 August 2007.
We hosted another Table evening last night at the stunning Ellerman House in Bantry Bay. Hans Enderle, founder of the City Lodge group of hotels, was our featured guest. 10 Seats of Table got to spend quality time engaging with this business icon. He has a fantastic story beginning his career at age 15 as a baker’s assistant, with his first job in South Africa as a hotel receptionist.
We drank plenty of fine champagne, eat well, and finished off the evening with cognacs and engaging conversation.
The Table programme is going well this year, with a number of new Seats and engaging guests.
The next Table evening features Trevor Ncube, a newpaper tycoon, and is on the 5th of next month in Johannesburg.
Winning the MTN account!
31 July 2007.
We won the fantastic (and BIG) MTN media account in a joint pitch with the fabulous MediaCompete.
After much celebration, we are now buttoning down and focusing on the work. we are in the process of forging the relationships with the various agencies working on the business and the various members of the client team. We are super excited by the opportunity to do great work!
Southern Comfort S+I
30 July 2007.
Just got back from a great strategy and ideation session for Southern Comfort. Lots of fantastic ideas for F08 and beyond. Looking forward to seeing all these ideas come to life.
We had the pleasure of hosting this S+I and so the 3 day session was held at Ka’inga Private Game Reserve in Limpopo.The BF team came from the US, the UK and Prague to join us.
A great time was had by all and we even managed to find the time to see the big 5 (minus a rhino)!
12 forms of Television Advertising
30 July 2007.
Slate.com put together a 5 minute crash course in the basic 12 master formats of television advertising, first identified over 30 years ago by advertising executive, Donald Gunn. Have a look at the video on Slate – 12 master formats of television advertising. It is useful background knowledge for anyone in the marketing industry. I wonder what the 12 master formats of digital marketing are going to be 30 years from now…
iKineo Newsletter
25 July 2007.
Hi all. We are about to sendout our first issue of the new iKineo newsletter.
If you would like to receive a copy, please send your email address to giles@ikineo.com, and I will add you to the mailing list.
iKineo sets best practise standard... again :)
25 July 2007.
Our client recently informed us that our ongoing work in creating and managing the Nokia Mobile Leaders Society is acknowledged within Nokia as global best practise marketing. We are very excited by the acknowledgment, as it is a compelling consumer engagement and relationship programme. Congratulations to the team working on the programme!
This adds to global best practise acknowledgements we’ve received over the years from Jack Daniel’s, Southern Comfort, Lucky Strike, and Dunhill.
Microsoft releases Photosynth
18 July 2007.
Microsoft’s Photosynth takes collections of images, analyses them for similarities, and then displays them in a reconstructed 3D space. The system will allow users to walk or fly through a scene to see photos from any angle.
The technology works by scanning collections of photographs, which can be taken from different cameras at different times. It picks out distinctive features in each image and cross-references them against the other photographs, checking for similarities.
This allows it to pinpoint a feature’s 3D position and to also calculate where the position of the camera would have been when the picture was taken.
The program can use as few as two pictures but it becomes a lot more exciting when several dozen images are used. The 3D model will enable people to move through a scene, looking at pictures from any angle, click on specific photos, zoom in or out of a feature, and see where snaps were taken in relation to other images.
It is most likely that the photo-sharing websites will be early-adopters of this technology, since they are already a storage space for thousands of photographs. Wherever people share photos, instead of just seeing a gallery of unorganised photos, now you can pull everyone else’s photos together and make a rational sense out of it.
Microsoft have said they believe the technology will almost certainly be web-based, and people should be able to run the application toward the end of 2007.
Tesco's Implements Carbon Footprint Packaging
18 July 2007.
Tesco is set to halve the price of energy efficient light-bulbs, cut its reliance on air freight and install more wind turbines on supermarket roofs as part of a £500 million green initiative. Britain’s biggest retailer has also pledged to label every product with its “carbon footprint” – the amount of carbon dioxide generated during its production and distribution – to help customers choose environmentally-friendly goods.
The moves, which are designed to appeal to the growing number of “green shoppers” as well as help cut Tesco’s overheads, follows a pledge from Marks & Spencer to be carbon neutral within five years. Other British supermarkets are expected to unveil their green agendas over the next few months.
The supermarket will halve the price of energy efficient light bulbs, offer more biofuels in its petrol stations and use its Green Clubcard scheme to promote energy efficient appliances, including televisions that use less power when in stand-by mode.
It will also begin the search for a universally accepted label to detail the carbon footprint of every product.
The store will also reduce Tesco’s reliance on air transport by restricting it to less than one per cent of products. All air freighted products will carry an aeroplane symbol.
Podcasting for Business (by Dave Duarte)
11 July 2007.
A podcast can be an extremely engaging and high-impact business-to-business marketing tool. Many companies, particularly business service providers, seek to position themselves as thought leaders in their industry by writing articles and white-papers, but haven’t considered using the same content in audio form as a podcast.
Increasingly, people are looking to have more control over their media consumption, and for content which best fits their information and entertainment needs. Companies should aim to make their communication available in as many formats as possible, in order to fit people’s increasingly complex media consumption preferences.
Some other advantages of podcasts:
Podcasts can be produced with very little cost and effort, but can be accessible by an influential global audience.
People can subscribe to receive your podcast regularly – like a newsletter in audio form.
Voice can be more effective than text alone in conveying personality and building trust.
An alternative use in large companies could be an in-house podcast which employees can download from the internal server. This could be used as a training aid, culture-building tool, or as an alternative to the usual newsletter.
MP3 players are becoming increasingly popular in South Africa, especially as many new cellphones integrate them. I would like to encourage companies to start wrapping their heads around this medium and get a headstart in building subscriber bases.
from http://daveduarte.co.za/podcasting-for-business-2/2007/07/07/
Style My Coke & Boogaloos
28 June 2007.
After some negotiations and initial chats the Coca Cola and Boogaloos collaboration is under way. Style My Coke was at the Monte Casino and Brightwater Common Skateparks this weekend, thanks to the iKineo & Boogaloos management teams.
A start to many amazing activations. Not only will we continue a relationship with skating on a national level, but Boogaloos are open to collaborations within their planned lounges and the SkateBoarding World Championships in Monte next Feb…..
You heard it here first!!!! Watch this space….
Its alive!
18 June 2007.
We’ve been working on the Jack Daniel’s calendar for a couple of months now, and the hard work is starting to pay off.
We received the first working version of the calendar last week, and an updated version today. Its looking really great, and its also really easy to use.
We’re hoping that we’ll have the final working version in the next two weeks. So keep your eyes open, and you can have your very own Jack Calendar.
Welcome to new members of the team!
07 June 2007.
Isabel and Elaine have just joined the iKineo team. Very exciting!
Welcome and goodluck to them.
Jack Daniel's Strategy and Insights Meeting in London
01 June 2007.
We had a valuable two day session in London working with the broader Jack Daniel’s team from the US and the UK, as well as the core South African team, developing key ideas and strategic marketing direction for the brand in South Africa.
We worked in a fantastic venue close to Spittlefields market in East London, which from the outside looks like a derelict building site, but on the inside is a funky lounge, club, and creative workshop. Apparently it is managed by Sony and is a showcase for Playstation. Great for inspiring creativity.
Nokia Mobile Leaders Society Leadership Chat with Philip Hourquebie
25 May 2007.
On Wednesday night we had our 7th Leadership Chat with Philip Hourquebie CEO of Ernst & Young. This Leadership Chat was held at the Park Hyatt in Johannesburg. The evening was a success with great learnings from Philip. We will soon be updating the Mobile Leaders website with key comments from the evening and a photo gallery.
Stay tuned for more info, and go to Nokia Mobile Leaders Society for more information on the programme.
The 411 on new media terminology
23 May 2007.
After years and months of assuming they knew what we were talking about, Debbie compiled some user-friendly definitions from Wikipedia to give some of our clients the 411 on the changing media landscape.
1. Social media
Social Media describes the online technologies and practices that people use to share opinions, insights, experiences, and perspectives with each other. Social media can take many different forms, including text, images, audio, and video. Popular social mediums include blogs, message boards, podcasts, wikis, and vlogs.
A few prominent examples of social media applications are Wikipedia (reference), MySpace (social networking), Gather.com (social networking),YouTube (video sharing), Second Life (virtual reality), Digg (news sharing), Flickr (photo sharing) and Miniclip (game sharing). These sites typically use technologies such as blogs, message boards, podcasts, wikis, and vlogs to allow users to interact.
2. User Generated Content
User-generated content (UGC) refers to various kinds of media content that are produced or primarily influenced by end-users, as opposed to traditional media producers, licensed broadcasters and production companies. The term came into the mainstream during 2005 in web publishing and new media content production circles. It reflects the expansion of media production through new technologies that are accessible and affordable to the general public. These include digital video, blogging, podcasting, mobile phone photography and wikis. In addition to these technologies, user-generated content may also employ a combination of open source, free software, and flexible licensing or related agreements to further diminish the barriers to collaboration, skill-building and discovery.
3. Social Networking
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking website. It was originally developed for college and university students but has since been made available to anyone with an email address. People can select to join one or more participating networks, such as a high school, place of employment, or geographic region. As of February 2007, the website had the largest number of registered users among college-focused sites with over 25 million members worldwide (also from non-collegiate networks). Facebook is the number one site for photos in the United States, ahead of public sites such as Flickr, with over 6 million photos uploaded daily. It is also the sixth most visited site in the United States. The name of the site refers to the paper facebooks that colleges and preparatory schools give to incoming students, faculty, and staff depicting members of the campus community.
MySpace
MySpace is a popular social networking website offering an interactive, user-submitted network of friends, personal profiles, blogs, groups, photos, music and videos internationally. According to Alexa Internet, MySpace is currently the world’s fifth most popular English-language website, the fifth most popular website in any language, and the third most popular website in the United States, though it has topped the chart on various weeks. The service has gradually gained more popularity than similar websites to achieve nearly 80% of visits to online social networking websites. It has become an increasingly influential part of contemporary popular culture, especially in English speaking countries. With the 100 millionth account being created on August 9, 2006, in The Netherlands and a news story claiming 106 million accounts on September 8, 2006, the site reportedly attracts new registrations at a rate of 230,000 per day.
Twitter
Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send “updates” (text-based posts, up to 140 characters long) via SMS, instant messaging, the Twitter website, or an application such as Twitterrific. Twitter was founded in October 2006 by San Francisco start-up company Obvious Corp. Updates are displayed on the user’s profile page and also instantly delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. The sender can restrict delivery to those in his or her circle of friends (delivery to everyone is the default). Users can receive updates via the Twitter website, instant messaging, SMS, RSS, or through an application. For SMS, currently three gateway numbers are available: short codes for the USA and Canada and a UK number for international use. While the Twitter service is free, posting and receiving updates via SMS may incur charges from the wireless carrier.
4. Blogs
A blog (short for web log) is a website where entries are written in chronological order and displayed in reverse chronological order. Blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject such as food, politics, or local news; some function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. Most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on photographs (photoblog), sketchblog, videos (vlog), music (MP3 blog), or audio (podcasting), and are part of a wider network of social media. In May 2007, blog search engine Technorati was tracking more than 71 million blogs. Popular South African blog search engines are Amatomu and Afrigator.
5. MXit
MXit (pronounced “mix it”) is a mobile instant messaging application developed in South Africa that runs on GPRS/3G mobile phones with java support. It allows the user to send and receive text messages to and from PCs that are connected to the Internet and other phones running MXit. These messages are sent and received via the mobile Internet, rather than with standard SMS technology. The user can also exchange messages with online chat communities like MSN Messenger, ICQ, and Jabber. Messages are limited to 2 000 characters. Because messages are billed by the amount of data sent, they are much cheaper to send than traditional SMS messages.MXit claims to have a registered userbase of over three million, about five million log-ons per day and over 100 million messages sent per day. The application is distributed internationally, but the bulk of its userbase are South Africans.
6. Podcasts
A podcast is a digital media file, or a series of such files, that is distributed over the Internet using syndication feeds for playback on portable media players and personal computers. A podcast is a specific type of webcast which, like ‘radio’, can mean either the content itself or the method by which it is syndicated; the latter is also termed podcasting. The host or author of a podcast is often called a podcaster. The term “podcast” is a portmanteau of the name of Apple’s portable music player, the iPod, and broadcast a “pod” refers to a container of some sort, and “cast” to the idea of broadcasting. In other words, a podcast is a collection of files (usually audio and video) residing at a unique web feed address. People can “subscribe’ to this feed by submitting the feed address to an aggregator (like itunes). When new “episodes” become available in the podcast they will be automatically downloaded to that users computer. Unlike radio, or streaming content on the web podcasts are not real-time. There is no live broadcast of content, the material is pre-recorded and users can check out the material at their leisure, offline. Though podcasters’ web sites may also offer direct download or streaming of their content, a podcast is distinguished from other digital media formats by its ability to be syndicated, subscribed to, and downloaded automatically, using an aggregator or feed reader capable of reading feed formats such as RSS or Atom.
Video podcast (sometimes shortened to vidcast or vodcast) is a term used for the online delivery of video on demand video clip content via Atom or RSS enclosures. The term is an evolution specialized for video, coming from the generally audio-based podcast and referring to the distribution of video where the RSS feed is used as a non-linear TV channel to which consumers can subscribe using a PC, TV, set-top box, media center or mobile multimedia device.
A phonecast is similar to a radio or broadcast television program but designed for internet transmission to a mobile phone. Mobile phone software allows a user to connect to a media server within the wireless carrier network, which is distributing (phonecasting) the phonecast, and displays the audio or video content to the user’s mobile device. A phonecast can be either live or pre-recorded for on-demand use after the live broadcast. Phonecasting differs from podcasting, which assumes a transfer or download from a desktop PC and is on-demand only. Phonecasting does not require a desktop PC and connects directly to the carrier’s network.
7. Web jockey
A Web Jockey (also called WJ or dubjay or webjay or webjock) is a term for an “on web” host or talent who selects and presents prerecorded media for a targeted audience. Analogous to a “disc jockey” for radio or a “video jockey” on television, a Web Jockey is a live personality on the internet entertaining, guiding and interacting with viewers through a show, presentation, videocast or webcast. An emerging term the WEB 2.0 for an Online Presenter, the term “web jockey” is derived from the VJ and the DJ. The principl aspects of the web jockey that sets it apart from its predecessors are that it is on the internet and also that it is interactive. The audience plays a much stronger role as a result of the onine user’s access to the web jockey, as compared to the the one-way, linear mediums of television and radio. A “dubjay” is part host, part presenter, part friend and hence has a close and personal relationship with the audience. Mistress Juliya (VJ from Fuse Television) was one of the first Webjay’s online, setting up a live webcam and videocasting a daily show from her personal computer that was watched by millions.
8. Second Life
Second Life (abbreviated as SL) is an Internet-based virtual world which came to international attention via mainstream news media in late 2006 and early 2007. Developed by Linden Lab, a downloadable client program enables its users, called “Residents”, to interact with each other through motional avatars, providing an advanced level of a social network service combined with general aspects of a metaverse. Residents can explore, meet other Residents, socialize, participate in individual and group activities, create and trade items (virtual property) and services from one another. Second Life is one of several virtual worlds that have been inspired by the cyberpunk literary movement, and particularly by Neal Stephenson’s novel Snow Crash. However, Second Life is in a virtual world class of its own. The stated goal of Linden Lab is to create a world like the Metaverse described by Stephenson, a user-defined world of general use in which people can interact, play, do business, and otherwise communicate. Second Life’s virtual currency is the Linden Dollar (Linden, or L$) and is exchangeable for US Dollars in a marketplace consisting of residents, Linden Lab and real life companies. In all, more than six million accounts have been registered, although many are inactive, and some Residents have multiple accounts. Despite its prominence, Second Life has notable competitors, including Active Worlds, There, and newcomers such as Entropia Universe, Dotsoul Cyberpark, Red Light Center, and Kaneva.
9. Mashup
A mashup is a website or application that combines content from more than one source into an integrated experience. Content used in mashups is typically sourced from a third party via a public interface or API, although some in the community believe that only cases where public interfaces are not used count as mashups. Other methods of sourcing content for mashups include Web feeds (e.g. RSS or Atom), web services and Screen scraping. Many people are experimenting with mashups using Google, eBay, Amazon, AOL, Windows Live, and Yahoos APIs.
Jackhammer
21 May 2007.
We at iKineo are getting used to the sweet sound of drilling. A new restaurant is being built below us,and although I am sure we will enjoy it when finished – we are NOT enjoying the noise right now.
We will keep you posted.
Our own customer engagement strategy
18 May 2007.
We spend all our time focused on client work that we don’t and engagement programme with our own clients and target market, apart from the daily client service and work delivery. Over the past few weeks, in between client work, we have been working on getting our own act together. Today we decided to put a few activities in place that engage our clients, partners, and potential clients. Looking forward to seeing this in action and its results.
London calling...
16 May 2007.
We are off to London at the end of the month for a global Jack Daniel’s strategy workshop. Selected people working on the brand worldwide have been invited to share their insights and thoughts to collectively develop ideas and strategy for the brand over the next 5 years. I am looking forward to it.
Famous Grouse Website
16 May 2007.
We are currently working on a very exciting project for Famous Grouse Malt. It’s all about Fathers Day and making your Dad feel famous. Turn around times are epic on this site- 5 days to build a website, upload tool, e-mailer and re-skin the old website.
It’s going to be great when completed. Hats off to Wireframe for helping us turn this around :)
Jack Daniel's Strategy
14 May 2007.
We are currently developing the Jack Daniel’s Consumer Engagement and CRM strategy for the upcoming year. It’s been interesting understanding the gaps in the current strategy and particularly the challenges we have in measuring and segmenting the consumer data. We’ve formulated some exciting engagement concepts and the challenge is to craft these into a coherent strategy and engagement programme to achieve the key objectives. Interesting stuff…
What Japan thinks
14 May 2007.
What Japan thinks is an interesting blog that translates consumer surveys in Japan. While many surveys could be classified as pop, there’s quite a bit of interesting information to be gleaned here, especially concerning the mobile market.
Among them that keitei (mobile) email has strengthened parent/child relationships though this seems to be just in communication and not in building trust – there’s a lot of peeking going on (more than 1 in 10) of eachothers emails and call records.
Japan does not use SMS. Well, it is available, but it is almost never used – keitei email kills SMS hands down in both convenience – being able to send a message to your friend’s phone from your PC mail app, as opposed to going through a SMS gateway, and in number of characters and attachments allowed. Heavy use is also made of a Japanese blend of emoticons called kaomoji as well as built in graphic icons (as in the picture above) and decor mail – a kind of html mail. http://whatjapanthinks.com/2006/04/06/mobile-smilies-ヽ▽ノ/
Interestingly difference in emoticon design may have a deepermeaning than just cuteness, http://japundit.com/archives/2007/05/15/5989/
Another interesting acticle concerns Voice Over IP phones. Almost everyone who has an internet connection has a high speed connection in Japan, yet the ability to make free VOIP calls has not really effected phone habits
MTN Pitch
13 May 2007.
It was great working with the MediaCompete last week preparing for the MTN pitch. On the eve of the pitch, they sent us a curve-ball brief (we had to prove we could deal with last minute briefs), and then MTN informed us they were moving the pitch to two days later. It meant I had to stay in Johannesburg for a few extra days, but it also allowed us a little more time to develop the presentation.
The team and work came together and I think we delivered a fantastic and hopefully on-the-money pitch on Friday. Eagerly waiting for the results…
PItching MTN
07 May 2007.
We’ve been asked by MediaCompete, one of the three shortlisted media agencies, to be a key part of their pitch and client team for the humungous MTN account. We’ve developed some awesome consumer engagement programme concepts using various social media to mobilise people. The pitch is this week. Keep your fingers crossed!
Rock your little heart out
05 May 2007.
After attending the Coke Fest concerts I’ve been inspired to get back to my rock ‘n roll roots. So I went and bought ‘The Razors Edge’ by AC/DC, and ‘Appetite for Destruction’ by Guns ‘n Roses, which incidentally is the fastest selling debut album of all time.
My Coke Fest- Cape Town
03 May 2007.
My Coke Fest was in Cape Town on Tuesday the 1st of May. But, while most people were there to enjoy some of the best local and international bands, we were there to sell Coke. More specifically iKineo was managing the Style My Coke stalls.
The main preparation took place from 1pm on Monday. With the help of 12 students we worked through the afternoon and into the night. Gazebos were erected, fridges were moved into place, and roughly 1440 (give or take) 500ml bottles of Coca-Cola received a design make over. As usual there were a few hiccups, such as the lack of electricity, the late delivery of stock, and the theft of our chairs. But by 9pm more or less everything was in place.
The day itself was great. The local bands (Taxi Violence, Dirty Skirts, Parlotones and the Springbok Nude Girls) were awesome, and set a great stage for the bigger international bands. Unfortunately the only international band to live up to its reputation was Hoobastank, who played some great rock, and were excellent at engaging with the crowd. All the others (Staind, 3 Doors Down and Evanescence) were a little disappointing.
All in all it was an excellent day, despite 17 hours on our feet.
My Coke Fest- Johannesburg
28 April 2007.
On Friday (27th of April) I made my way up to Johannesburg to get an inside peek at My Coke Fest.
Despite the hype over the last few weeks, the music was a little disappointing. The local bands were alright, with The Parlotones and the Springbok Nude Girls being the pick of the bunch. The Nudies are apparently recording some new music, but obviously opted for a ‘best of’ line-up for the show, playing some of their most renowned songs such as “Little” and “Bubblegum on my Boots”.
The international bands were a big let down. Hoobastank were great, even though I knew 3 songs out of their entire set. 3 Doors Down were okay. Staind were completely average, and Evanescence weren’t good at all.
But music aside, the event was a great experience. Never before have I seen so much skull branded clothing, so many tattoo’s or such a proliferation of black hair die. It was all a little intimidating for a Capetonian boy wearing jeans and all-stars.
Things also got a little festive with a record breaking sale of 145000 draight beers. Bearing in mind that the crowd was roughly 25000 strong, this equates to roughly 6 pints per person, or 3 litres of beer.
Style My Coke
25 April 2007.
We are preparing for the Cape Town leg of MyCoke Fest 2007. Our boardroom is currently jam packed with 4008 bottles of Coca-Cola, 12 Style My Coke machines, 6000 plastic ‘skins’ and some electrical equipment. Needless to say we aren’t having many meetings at the moment.
SAA (screws up again)
25 April 2007.
Had a full day of meetings scheduled in Johannesburg today, which I had to cancel. South African Airways (SAA) seemed to have deleted my flight booking off their systems somehow. Despite the booking confirmation print-out I had in my hand, making amends didn’t even cross their minds. They always seem to let customers down!
IK Values - Our 6 Cs
24 April 2007.
These are our shared values:
Committed to Delivery
Creativity and Innovation
Common Sense
Creating Value
Challenging, Learning, and Growing
Commitment to Each Other
Working with Heineken in the UK
23 April 2007.
The Heineken global brand team recently approached us to assist them to develop a Consumer Engagement Model and associated campaign for 1-to-1 consumer engagement for the UK market. They were impressed with the work we did for BAT some years ago. We are very excited!
To be continued…
CIA
17 April 2007.
Went to a great presentation by CIA about their new research on archetypes. A great way to understand different market segments of our country.
As stated in biz-community .com, CIA is the Cape-based consumer insight agency and is the company that pioneered the practice of video-based qualitative market research in South Africa, celebrates its tenth anniversary this year.
And ten years on, the company is set to launch another first, a product that promises to shake up traditional marketplace segmentation, born out of a decade of in-depth product and brand research for South Africa’s leading brands.
Going to be presenting this to our clients early next month.
Think small
04 April 2007.
It is every city’s challenge to carve out a unique brand, position and value proposition that is compelling to local, regional, and national communities alike (business and individuals).
We like to think of Cape Town as a leading international city – a global icon. I think Cape Town can still be a global icon and a compelling place to live, work, and play. However, we are never going to be an international CITY that goes toe-to-toe for positioning against global CITIES like New York, Barcelona, and Melbourne. We are not that. We are different, and for many this is better.
Let us realise we’ll never be bigger than our name – Cape TOWN – and rather re-frame this positively. Let’s position Cape TOWN as the best and the coolest TOWN in the world where everthing you could want is in close proximity- a vibrant, diverse, globally connected community with easy-living town values. Cape Town can still be a unique global icon.
This is a compelling story and an idea worth mulling over. Food for thought when developing the Cape Town brand.
Made in Japan
26 March 2007.
The idea started with us looking at social networking, blogging and web 2.0-type user involvement and we could make this relevant to the iKineo business model.
Having worked on a number of projects closely with iKineo, most notably more than two years on Lucky Strike, I had a goodfeeling of how thecompany operates, and their processes.
I felt it was important for the brand to reflect their personality, and this would not be achieved in the usual manner. Also, seeing the finished product never tells the full story, and in most cases this is the interesting (and fun) part that people are not seeing – the buildup to a giant Lucky Strike event, sourcing a tent from overseas, because there wasn’t one big enough in the country to hold the ammount of guests, sitting watching the numbers roll in live on the website as 1000s of people bid for limited tickets to an event, within hours of launch. These are the things that makes this company so great, and having worked so long with them, this is what I wanted others to be able to see, feel and participate in.
This is the most exciting things I’ve seen a corporate entity do – a bold and amazing move – effectively open sourcing your business, and allowing clients to participate in the process too.
By the way, that’s my apartment in Tokyo. On the bottom left. See it?
TheCoolHunter
02 March 2007.
TheCoolHunter is a site that has hundreds of contributors from around the world, each of whom has their finger on the pulse of whats cool. From design, to music, to amazing promotions, there is loads of great content.
Have a look, its really interesting: www.thecoolhunter.net
Putting together the Pocket Blue Fashion Cellphone Film Festival
04 January 2007.
We put together the Levi’s Pocket Blue Film festival screened at selected Vida e Caffe’s in Cape Town and Johannesburg. This innovative fashion film exhibition, coordinated by iKineo together with CapsuleCreative, challenged acclaimed and emerging South African filmmakers and fashion photographers to make short fashion-inspired films shot entirely on the Nokia N93 cell phones. While the films are not primarily about technology, it does encourage creatives to continue to explore new ways of expressing themselves using new technologies.
The featured directors included Crispian Plunkett, Bryan Little, Patrick Ryan, Natasja Fourie, Padraic O’Meara, Xandre Kriel, and Purienne aka Berlin. They each also collaborated with leading local music talent for their respective soundtracks.
We have always strived to push the boundaries of creativity, and the convergence of media and technology. Our work with leading brands continues to be a result of a collaborative process between visionary clients, talented partners, and ourselves. Pocket Blue Films was an opportunity for us to engage and collaborate with leading & emerging creatives, exciting brands, and new media formats. We are excited about the process of the project’s development as well its outcome.
iKineo was a collaborator and co-sponsor (with Levi’s, Vida e Caffe, Frangelico, and CapsuleCreative) of the initiative. Says Franco Raffa, iKineo’s Business Director, “iKineo is a 1-to-1 Marketing & Brand Activation agency that has We hope the people who caught the screenings at Vida e Caffe were as inspired.”
If people missed the films at Vida e Caffe, they can still be downloaded from Pocket Blue Films