CapsuleBlog

iPhone for everyone

I held out for a long time when it came to getting a handheld wireless device - ie a Blackberry (who?) or an iPhone. I have a laptop at home, so I can log in to work emails remotely whenever I need to, and I didn't like the idea that I'd always be "connected". That just didn't appeal to my occasionally anti-social ways.

Ha.

Who was I kidding?

I received my first ever iPhone last week and haven't looked back. I was a fool - how did I survive without Yelp? The Weather Channel? The multitude of ringtones?

If you also work in an industry even remotely creative, you'll know that the iPhone is THE object you MUST own. Blackberry has lots its cool. If you're a designery type, it's Apple all the way, lest you want to risk much mockery. The Capsule designers will verify this with a sneer, should you have the guts to inquire. I was lured away from the Blackberry and into the clutches of the iPhone by the promise of all those applications.

So yeah, now I do check my email at 3am if I happen to wake up. I do look for reviews of the restaurant we're about to walk into, I also listen to the npr on the bus home, and write dumb status updates on Facebook.

Big business has not ignored these technological developments - in fact there are now about 100 branded iPhone applications. Most recently, Kraft Foods created the iFood Assistant, a recipe finder database that helps you build recipes (mostly recipes that require Kraft ingredients - surprise!).

According to Brand Week, an application typically costs around $50-100k. A lot of money for a small business, yes, but peanuts to the goliaths out there like Kraft.

Much of the focus so far has been on either commerical applications that encourage us to buy more, or entertainment apps (iFart, anyone?) that are a waste of time. I'm looking forwad to the time when it becomes more affordable for anyone to create apps, when non-profits can come onboard with new ways to help us contribute more to our communities.

I'm a big fan of the Best Friends Animal Society - what if I could login to see a webcam of the animals I sponsored? Or get updates on their progress and their (hopefully) adoption?

There are so many ways that the new social media can help those organizations that truly need it. Just like the internet has, I really hope the possibility presented by iPhone applications can too.

Tropicana causes quite a stir

The online design community has been abuzz with the news that after a VERY brief stint in the public eye (and $35m in ads), PepsiCo is retiring the new Tropicana packaging. It's going from this:

back to this:

A Tropicana head honcho claimed that it was not because an overwhelming majority of orange juice consumers protested - it was merely a fraction of the "most loyal consumers." I wonder how much orange juice those loyal people must actually go through?

Interesting that PepsiCo was very willing to revert to an original look for a few orange juice freaks, but yet when bajillions were upset about the new Pepsi, Mist and Mountain Dew designs, no dice.

The Google Effect

Brandweek writes about several logos that have undergone transformation, drawing a connection between the "softer, more approachable fonts; multiple colors and natural, child-like symbols" and the state of the economy.

Consumers are worried, time-pressured and cynical, and so if a logo can appear more friendly and comforting that can only be a good thing.

BW writes "The latest example of the trend is Kraft. While the food giant’s previous visual treatment was a red, white and blue hexagon, the new one, which the company introduced with great fanfare last week, is in lower-case and sports yellow, green, purple, blue and orange as well.



"Designers have a name for the trend: The Google Effect. Many say that Google’s multicolor design and the company’s willingness to tweak its logo for holidays and such have been widely influential.

“Because we’re in a tough time and people are getting laid off, I think there’s a subconscious desire to take you back to when you weren’t worried about things like that, which is why we’re seeing these almost hand-drawn logos,” McAllister said. “And when you see a logo that’s boxy and the edges are hard and sharp, and the company just laid off 10,000 people, you get mad at them. But if it’s a watercolory rounded logo, you feel kind of sorry for them.”

Starbucks is smart

I am a loyal Starbucks woman. In fact within our Capsule lab there is a mini-war that goes on everyday when a coffee break is called. Caribou or Starbucks? Admittedly the local Starbucks adds approximately 200 extra paces to the journey, but they are 200 paces (and an escalator ride) I'm happy to make alone on my quest for the daily Venti Latte.

Others in here are not so keen and will take Caribou instead.

It's purely a taste thing. As in palette.

So of course when Starbucks introduced its Gold Card program, "for people who really love Starbucks", I signed up immediately. It saves me a percentage off purchases and I get to carry a swanky black card in my wallet. (It's the little things.)

 

Offering extra incentives to those who register their card online was a clever way of capturing my information so that I'm emailed news and updates. The latest to hit my inbox touts their new offering: Via, "Instant coffee that actually tastes like our fresh brewed."

Now here's an example of a brand that is keeping itself relevant and culturally accessible by thinking about how it can use the current economic climate to its advantage. Some Starbuckers less loyal (or more money-wise) than myself may have begun limiting their coffee purchases in an effort to save money. After all, it's cheaper to make it yourself at home, right?

What a great solution - bringing back instant coffee (and positioning it so as to challenge people's common perceptions of instant.)

Where this Capsulian hails from (Australia), instant coffee is extremely popular. I'd never seen a Mr Coffee machine til I landed in the big old USA - we either do instant or perculated in a French press at home, and when you buy your brew in a coffee shop, it's espresso-based only. No waiter circling the room with a pot of brown stuff.

So to me, Starbuck's new Via makes perfect sense. It'll be interesting to see how it pans out with Americans.

Doing the rounds

 You might have already seen this in your inbox, but some of them are pretty clever.

 

Event marketing: Face time is still in, apparently

Brandweek.com reports that in a recent survey of 300 senior marketing execs, more than half cited event marketing as the most promising tool for strengthening the relationship between a brand and its clients.

According to the piece, Twenty-nine percent of marketers will transition their strategy from event marketing to experience marketing in the next 12 months. The difference being that experience marketing "involves integrated live and online experiences that drive deep brand interaction through highly relevant story telling and brand immersion," per the study. A third of those polled said they already made the switch.

The response to Capsule's recent invitation to our lecture on experience design, Make Every Scent Count, has been overwhelming. People are obviously ready to get together and connect, to listen to someone else's ideas, and to find some little nuggets of sunshine during these dark times.

So, tell me more about this newfandangled experience marketing?, I hear you ask.

Jeff Rutchik explains:

Just as the traditional monologue and interruption-based event management model evolved into event marketing, where event marketers began to look past just mere execution to issues like channel integration and fine-tuned event portfolio planning, experience marketing represents an important shift that embraces live experiences rooted in dialogue, storytelling and targeted, immersive face-to-face and online experiences to drive purchase behavior and brand preference.

Experience marketing aims not to interrupt but to enrich the lives of a brand's customers and community and to allow them to internalize the brand in ways the other marketing disciplines simply cannot.

The Design Council of the UK gives an excellent example.

Consider the task of redesigning a Sunday newspaper. A conventional approach might be to employ graphic designers who would change the page layout and typeface and make recommendations on how photos should be shot.

However, if the redesign were to use an experiential approach, the experience designer would first consider the 'moments' of engagement of buying the paper and reading it. How is it bought or delivered? How is it read and disposed of? What does the reader like and dislike about 'using' the newspaper? Such an approach is more likely to lead to a radical and market-beating innovation.

For example, the experience designer might discover that on opening the paper the person throws away the sections that are not relevant to them, keeping only the three or four sections that are relevant. So how about designing a personalised Sunday newspaper that gives the reader only the sections, supplements and advertising they want to read, and which is available in different sizes and materials?

How can you enhance your customer's experience?

On 'corporate' blogging

Capsule is hardly what you'd call a corporation. We really have none of the hallmarks. You do your own dishes. Jeans are worn on days other than Friday. Flip flops are acceptable in summer. In fact, shoes are optional.

So I'm definitely not categorizing this blog as corporate. It's a one-horse-town in the world of Intel, Macintosh and other huge corporations with blogging employees.

Google "corporate blogging" and the first page of results brings up the McDonald's Corporate Social Responsibility blog. I received a personal response to a recent comment I left about some new packaging I witnessed that seemed completely unsustainable. It was both cool and weird to know that a McD's bigwig actually read and replied to my comment. And he did seem sincere - it wasn't a PR form response. Ok, perhaps it was an intern - we can never be sure. Was I completely convinced that McDonald's is an industry leader when it comes to sustainability? No. But the personalization of this interaction did count for something. Even just having a corp like McDonald's acknowledge that there is the need for a Corporate Social Responsibility department is a big step forward compared to just a decade ago.

Minneapolis' own Best Buy's CMO has his own blog - and the guy gets lots of traffic! He even allows readers to preview new ad campaign concepts and writes frankly about how Best Buy is trying to ride out the recession.

Some of these corporate behemoths are letting their customers get an intimate view like never before. They see that blogging is a relatively inexpensive way of improving transparency and authenticity, engaging with customers in a genuine way and hence gaining trust. This is the ultimate in strengthening brand loyalty.

For others (and I'm not naming names - at this point), a blog is yet another PR tool to be carefully controlled and crafted. This kind of blog is a token effort, and one that consumers will quickly see through. Now more than ever, they will never simply swallow what is spewed out by the PR machine - consumers are savvy and smart, and willing to take the time and effort to research who's being honest and who isn't.

The internet has given Joe-the-plumber and Joe-six-pack (sorry, couldn't resist) access to information that we've never previously experienced. I can now see what another Macy's customer thinks of the Martha Stewart Milk Eyelet duvet cover. That, people, is crucial information. But there are other benefits to this new era that people may care about more than Martha's threadcount, obviously. Want to find a list of companies that still conduct barbaric animal testing? Manufacture products only in the USA? Donate to charity? Find a group of people sharing your fascination for the space-time continuum? The internet will make it possible.

What is your company doing, thinking, or changing that your customers will want to know about? How can you begin a sincere conversation with them?

Oh Target, you're teasing me!

Seems like only the other day I was talking about Target's clever design for all stance.

Well, in my regular perusal of the Apartment Therapy blog, I came across mention that the latest designer to grace Target's aisles is the fabulous Orla Kiely.

Yep, your eyes read right. Orla Kiely. If you haven't heard of her, you must acquaint yourself at once with her colorful, vintage-inspired designs. Can't get enough. Her usual range of clothing, accessories and papergoods is a little out of my range. But a Target line? Yes please!

The word in the blogosphere is that the line of homewares would be in stores on Feb 1. The Target press release says the same. So last night I trekked in the subzero tundra to the local SuperTarget, drooling in anticipation...

Did I find it?

Let's just say my heart broke. The disappointment was palpable. There was one, tiny, pathetic endcap with several magazine and media boxes from the range. A mere tease.

But where were the aprons, the pitchers, the platters, the plates?

Can anyone enlighten me? Anyone willing to haunt their local store?

Superbowl ads

Perhaps more exciting than the Superbowl itself is the anticipation about the ads that will be shown. Costing an average of $3M per 30 seconds, this timeslot is not for the small fry.

My favorite was the silly McGruber / PepSuber for Pepsi ad.

View in full here.

Adweek.com has the full rundown here.