Good set of China digital stats
A lot of stats and claims about the internet in China have to be taken with a pinch of salt. But there are a couple of reports from Burston Marsteller recently that do a good job or summarising current activity. Twitterisque microblogs look a much bigger deal this year as they cope better with low bandwidths: also the growth of brand social media activity seems to be driving a more interactive discussion format.
www.twitter.com/BMAsiaPacific www.Burson-Marsteller.Asia www.facebook.com/BursonMarsteller.Asia
Update on 2011-09-20 16:02 by Philip
Worried your Eco car makes you feel impotent? Cadillac have just the car for you
Just when you thought the American car industry finally got the modern world they build the Cadillac Ciel, less a car more a barge, it really is huge, but yet it is sooooo wrong it just has to be right. -and the doors are fantastically impractical you just want them (but not in a Tesco carpark!) I mean in the days of Whipcar.com and Streetcar.com if you are really going to own your own car I think you should go balls out and get this. Nothing says I own the road like having a car that covers ALL of it! I would love to see this try and get through central London. The promo film features two young couples weekending in wine country, you do feel the cars more natural habitat would however be in old skool rap videos. Worth noting as well that in the film there appears to not only be no roof or covering but also no seatbelts - lets face it, if you are aiming on annoying the European eco's, you might as well really go for it!
WSJ pics of the whale, sorry Ciel here : http://on.wsj.com/pvyXM9
Fastcodesign.com also have pics and few good points about design studies gone mad: http://bit.ly/p7mFQ7
What is it like to buy spirits in Sainsbury's?
A 2010 look at spirit shoppers in Sainbury's, I pointed out the need for a brave approach to spreading shopper triggers out and around store, using both Wi-Fi and ontrade activity. Tesco have this month announced they will be rolling out free Wi-Fi across its stores. Also the recent award winning Tesco work in Korea that used QR code shopping in the Metro is a great example of multi-point shopper marketing
Update on 2011-08-24 11:45 by Philip
Spirit shoppers in Sainbury's v2 better in Slideshare.net view with speaker notes on, makes a whole ton of diffrence!
View more presentations from Philip Slade
Shopper trends in travel retail (edit)
Shopper marketing in airports
View more presentations from Philip Slade.
Posterous: great platform
Been playing around with the blogging platform: Posterous. very easy to use. imports the contents of this blog and lays out all fine. Squarespace is a very detailed service that I ma only really using a small amount of, but Posterous is actually (as a free service) just a tad too limited for what I want to do with it
July will be all about ZMOT thinking
Well actually there is a whole bunch of stuff this month to ponder, from Google+ to 'Networks of the Unacquanited' and 'data is the new oil' but in terms of agency activity here at Saatchi and our new chums at Google its all about ZMOT
click for video preview
"...Whether we're shopping for corn flakes, concert tickets or a honeymoon in Paris, the Internet has changed how we decide what to buy. Today we're all digital explorers, seeking out online ratings, peer reviews, videos, and in-depth product details as we move down the path to purchase. At Google, we call this online decision-making moment the Zero Moment of Truth—or simply ZMOT...."
London capitol of the world
If you like stats this is an excellent read, (no honest, it is) but also a great insight into future trends.
MasterCard Index of Global Destination Cities:
Cross-Border Travel and Expenditures 2Q 2011
Yuwa Hedrick-Wong, Ph.D.
Global Economic Advisor, MasterCard Worldwide
London remains the global capital. This based not only on visitor numbers and average spend, but that its visitors come from the most diverse cities of origin.
Key trend is how American cities are getting less and less relevant on the global stage, none make it into the top 20 this year. Only New Yorks staggering average visitor spend of $2,671 (my last bar bill may of helped with this) make any headlines within the report.
Key global growth cities for 2012 with all factors considered are Istanbul and Kuala Lumper. In the long term, Istanbul's key rival in the region may be the newly democratic Tunisia as it has similar workforce, transport & economic attributes
Big big sign on the horizon however is China, New regulations mean Chinese nationals can now travel to places like duty free Hainan Island (savings of about 30% on luxury goods) Predictions show that by 2014 China will be the worlds biggest consumer of luxury goods
Remember we work in the worlds best city. People want to come here from just about every county across the globe. Once here more want to work, spend & invest than in any other city in the world. Wants more it's Friday and the sun's out
http://bit.ly/iTK1KA (news bit on report)
They've got search nailed, now time for the banking system
Google Wallet turns your phone into a wallet.
Begins field test today in the US, full roll out later in the year. Launch is on Android but can't see it not coming to the iPhone at some point.
Google Wallet is a cashless system (NFC) using a 'tap' technique similar to an Oyster card. Launch announcements covered its use as a store loyalty card. Store voucher and cashless payments
Questions at the launch centred on the data privacy issues (held by each of the stores own systems) and why you still need to sign, Google says this is just piece of mind for the shops. Big question of course what happens if you lose your phone (Mathew) Google Wallet uses a similar system to the Apple 'wipe my phone' remote control via a laptop
This is a video of retail partners talking about why they have signed up to the system = http://bit.ly/jeI4Vd
This is a link to the official press release = http://bit.ly/ltkZ3h
If you are one of those worried about Google taking over, do note they are NOT taking any revenue from the payment side of the system just the deals & voucher side, so pretty soon they will be able to undercut credit card payment systems in all stores............be scared
Small note for students of design, the logo for Google Wallet is strikingly similar to Google Wave the bonkers collaboration tool they launched a few years ago that died shortly after because know one could work out what to do with it.
You can also see this on my other blog = http://philipslade.posterous.com, why have I got two blogs? can't deceide on formats so went for both, content almost the same on both -ish
Boxpark cool use of shipping containers
BOX PARK 08/2011 from Roger Wade on Vimeo.
Re-booting empty retail space
Empty retail space is the current look for most high streets. Pop-up shops can only fill so many vacant lets. I really like this new idea from RIBA. Multiple Installations combined into a kind of indoor sculpture park -but viewed from the pavement. True this one is not really taking on the empty spaces exclusively. But it did make me think about what would you do if you did co-ordinate all of a shopping centers empty lets into a single piece of shopper engagement
http://bit.ly/kDEVzb - Londonist.com
http://bit.ly/me9jZi - RIBA / Regent Street Project
also seen on http://philipslade.posterous.com duplicate but easyier to use (in a rush) platform
This is very neat, daily/weekly newspaper made from your Twitter feed
Win a job working at SaatchiX
At Saatchi & Saatchi X we’re giving grads the chance of a job.
All you have to do is tell us WHY you should have a job here - in 30 seconds...in a lift.
On April 8th, show up, bring your CV, take a number, join the queue and get ready to pitch to our leadership team in the lift at 80 Charlotte Street, London.
You’ve got 30 seconds to impress.
For the shortlisted candidates there’s boot camp and summer placements; then one of you will walk away with a job for at least a year (and a rather impressive story to tell your mates).
www.facebook.com/xliftpitch
Who are you trying to delight?
"Pleasing everyone with our work is impossible. It wastes the time of our best customers and annoys our staff. Forgive us for focusing on those we're trying to delight."
The math here is simple. As soon as you work hard to please everyone, you have no choice but to sand off the edges, pleasing some people less in order to please others a bit more. And it drives you crazy at the same time. - Seth Godin's blog
It is very easy to say in hindsight but why do we get sucked into briefs that are trying to be catch all, shouty messaging. The truth being any measurement that counts will be looking at a minority of shoppers who convert into advocates.
Bored of blogging yet?
It would appear the world is slowly getting bored of blogging. There have been a number of end of year reviews looking at this very issue.
The instant sharing of Twitter and the better designed Facebook wall seem to have taken the mainstream. Bloggers now are more likely to be specialist writers.
Certainly I feel blogged out, I have not been updating this page much these past months, a very busy new job hasn't helped. But wonder how the other part time bloggers will fair in 2011
"...Hints of that appear in the new Pew Internet report that finds that blogging by teenagers has fallen by half since 2006, and even young adults seem to be dropping the habit.
Few of the activities covered in this report have decreased in popularity for any age group, with the notable exception of blogging. Only half as many online teens work on their own blog as did in 2006, and Millennial generation adults ages 18 to 33 have also seen a modest decline — a development that may be related to the quickly growing popularity of social network sites.
At the same time, however, blogging’s popularity increased among most older generations, and as a result the rate of blogging for all online adults rose slightly overall from 11 percent in late 2008 to 14 percent in 2010.
Yet, while the act formally known as blogging seems to have peaked, internet users are doing blog-like things in other online spaces as they post updates about their lives, musings about the world, jokes, and links on social networking sites and micro-blogging sites such as Twitter..." By Ryan Singel Wired Nov 2010
Potentially an amazing opportunity for voice and motion control POS in store
Really innovative POS that you control with proximity body movements plus has face and voice recognition? Easy! hack the new Xbox Kinect games consol so it works on a laptop rather than a Xbox
I have become really interested by the hackers who in a matter of days have broken most of the code behind the new Kinect Xbox game system. Why have I come over all geek?
Well, it could mean in a matter of months time having a POS unit instore that recognizes your skin, hair or body type as you approach and changes accordingly, it would know if you were in a group or alone. You could interact with it simply by waving your hands or speaking.
You could even have shoppers do some action at fixture that is then downloaded straight to their Facebook account or mobile handset.
You could already build a POS unit to do all these things, but the cost of the components and time needed to test it all would be exorbitant. The Kinect unit is currently £129 in the UK, but likely to drop dramatically next year. Most hackers have got the units to work in a simple manner, in a few months time I'd expect pretty much all of the Kinect to be open. The possibilties of two kinects facing each other could deliver full 3D capture (see Oliver Kreylos video below)
Microsoft does not approve or support any of these hacks, but even Google’s offering prizes to coders who can break into the Kinect and produce secondary uses. YouTube has this weekend (14/11/10) seen loads of videos appear of Kinect hacks in action.
It might all seem a bit geeky (well, OK, it is) but subverting tech is a very fun way to gain knowledge and leap frog into rapid prototyping
Background links
http://bit.ly/c0Eaev = Adafruit.com, People behind first Kinect hack 4 days ago
http://bit.ly/aXOdIG = Matt Cutts blog, The guy behind Google’s hack-a-Kinect into a secondary use competition
http://bit.ly/9kDT8x = Oliver Kreylos Video of 3D image capture using a hacked Kinect
http://bit.ly/a7GAXh = Video of a Multi touch interface using a hacked Kinect
http://tisch.sourceforge.net = Open source code to download, so you can hack your very own Xbox Kinect – from the guy who built the motion control example shown.
The future of books prt 34.
It may be very difficult to make any money from books (outside of Hogwarts) but that's not stopping some stonking thinking about how interactions can change the reader experience. Does often, as here demand the use of an iPad**, strong wi-fi, time and a fully charged battery. But such details are not holding back innovations in narrative depiction. ** other tablet devices are available, but you knew that.
The Future of the Book. from IDEO on Vimeo.
In praise of geotagging
Eric Fischer has produced a series of simply stunning maps that chart the differences between tourist and locals in locations chosen to photograph. He has mapped a 50 of the worlds cities using geotags from Flickr and Picasa. Why? not sure, but they are a joy to behold and that's good enough for me, and yes you can zoom into see your own house! The full set is HERE seen via Trendland.net
You want data with that?
This is very cool, seen via the blog of Andrew Murray CEO of Saatchi X. Not sure about the colour scheme, but you can't have everything
Changing behaviours with fun.
Late last year VW ran The Fun Theory Award, one of the winners, a take on speed cameras, is a joy to behold
"..Instead of using a speed camera to detect and fine speeders, a speed camera will register drivers who keep the legal speed limit and give them the chance to win a cash prize of SEK 20,000..."
(Thanks to
Both the competition and the entries themselves, highlight the joy of random play. Humans get bored with process. We might not admit it, but everyone enjoys disruptive behaviours. The best uses of mobile platforms to innovate time saving do just that. You remember surprise not simply job done well.
Actually the other use of this appears to be to counter planned terrorist attacks. Begun in LAX and now rolling out is a software process called ARMOR that randomises the position of patrols and checkpoints within airports. By having armed secuirty popping up in random, places at random times.
"...Developed by computer scientists at the University of Southern California and believed to be the first program of its kind to be used at an airport, ARMOR aims to thwart terror plots during the early, surveillance phase. Typical plots start when would-be attackers begin watching their target "18 months to four years prior to an attack" to look for security weaknesses, says James Butts, deputy executive director of law enforcement at Los Angeles World Airports, which runs LAX and other city-owned airports. "Part of it is to look for patterns in the deployment of assets. We're trying to block the surveillance cycle...."
The more a process or service can surprise, randomly shock the more you'd remember/recommend it, However I do think my mate Jon's idea of minefield hop-scotch maybe going too far.