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Wednesday July 21 2010 |
Letter from the Editor - Edition 57 |
Celebrate the Curious Mind
I recently had the pleasure of chatting to a government official who talked about celebrating a curious mind. He was an audience member who believed that it was imperative that his department go down this philosophical road in order to solve some of the issues that his area of responsibility faced. Immediately I grabbed my journal and jotted down the line celebrate a curious mind
. Imagine if leaders walked around their offices, factory, workplace, shops or buildings looking for and celebrating the curious minds of his or her employee's. Wouldn't it be wonderful if parents looked everyday to see and hear the curious mind of their children that they could then openly celebrate. When this guy mentioned celebrating a curious mind I thought "you know that's actually what is missing in business and homes today". A curious mind unlocks great ideas. A curious mind will find the cure for cancer. A curious mind designed the iPod, the iPad and the colour TV. A curious mind built your car, designed your home, invented the enamel for you fillings in your teeth and wrote the article that you will read on the bus on the way home tonight. It's the curious mind that pushes things forward. The sad thing is that we don't celebrate it enough. In most businesses
the boss walks around throwing buckets of water over the sparks of ideas because they think it is their job to critique everything. It's far easier to be a stinker and extinguish a curious mind than to be that special person who looks, see's and hears the way someone thinks differently, acknowledge's it and celebrates it. There are not many things that can make a person feels as good as when their good idea is acknowledged. Think about this prospect ... the leaders of the future will celebrate the curious mind and outstanding parents will celebrate the curious minds of their children - they won't constantly correct them, they won't vilify them, they won't make them feel silly. Iinstead they will celebrate them, lift them up, build on their possibilities and give them a future where anything is possible.
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Retail |
Pop-up Plus
In the past we have given a fair amount of newspaper coverage to the global trend of pop-up stores for retailers. Pop-up stores are temporary stores that are set up today, gone tomorrow. We have also covered how some of the best known and coolest brands in the world are using these pop-up stores in prime locations. They are now particularly popular in New York where brands without a retail presence like Target who don't have a location in Manhattan have successfully launched limited shops in empty stores in high traffic areas. Naturally right now across the world empty stores are available everywhere. Hence Target's Spring 2010 tie in with Liberty of London for it's mid town NYC Pop-up store that has even attracted celebrities like Naomi Watts. Stores like Target are going to great lengths to use specific designers to make them look anything but temporary. But don't be fooled,
even some of the world's most expensive vodka's like Belvedere Vodka and fashion brands like Gap are using these Pop-up stores to promote their brands. Gap are even promoting Pop-ups within their stores for hip French retailer Collet and the AIDS fighter (Red) campaign where they are collaborating for a good cause. If you have got a brand, product or service and with the amount of empty stores throughout Australia right now, it's got to be something to keep on your radar.
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Food |
Twitter Sandwiches
There is a new concept on the streets of LA for summer. Driven via Twitter the Coolhaus team (owners and co-founders pictured above) sell handmade ice cream sandwiches from a pink and chrome converted postal jeep. Supposedly using local and organic ingredients the Coolhaus
sandwiches are about 5 x 5 centimetres and about 3 centimetres deep and they are assembled using two cookies and a slice of ice cream. They can also customise to suit your particular taste. The sandwiches are even available in an edible rice paper wrapping that can naturally feature a brand name or logo in edible ink! The next step for the brand is edible spoons and popsicles shaped like famous buildings....of course! We definitly wouldn't mind one running by The Ideas Vault so we could try them for ourselves!
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Social Media |
The Whole Picture
Whole Foods Market in the US is a food paradise stuffed full of organic or minimally treated foods that are free from hydrogenated fats, artificial flavours, colours, sweeteners, preservatives and all the other things that are not good for us. In a world of processed food it's a paradise for many. Whole Foods Market were one of the first retailers to embrace Twitter, but as quickly as the followers came Whole Foods
noticed many of its shoppers were asking different things of their Twitter account, whether it be about product, opening times, events or stock in particular stores. They currently have nearly 1.8 million Twitter followers. As a result Whole Foods are now personalising their social media for each individual store, so that now each store has its own Twitter and
Facebook account in order to personally engage more effectively with their customers. Not content with that the company has now created Twitter accounts for areas such as cheese, wine and so on, ie. areas that were fielding the most calls from their shoppers. This has meant that customers who were interested in those things and those things alone could engage directly with the products and Whole Foods. Consequently Whole Foods now has more than 150 corporate Twitter accounts. The Whole Foods website thus becomes the central point for the overall Whole Foods
target audience (carrying such things are recipes, ways of doing business, health tips, products and blog), while they use social media to take care of the smaller slices of the minimally treated pie, to target more specific and specialised areas. This is one of the cleverest executions around social media that we have come across so far. These guys really are leaders in so many areas.
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How Low Will You Go?
San Diego Hotel, Rancho Bernado Inn, is responding the GFC with a very unique concept. They are offering travellers a unique pricing model dubbed 'The Survivor Package'. Rancho Bernado Inn asks cash strapped customers how low will you go? You set your own price depending on what amenities you want in the room. Take out the amenities...lower the price. Promoted through Twitter, you can buy deluxe accomodation with the works including breakfast or you can take out breakfast, mini-bar, air-conditioning, pillows, sheets, lights, linen, toiletries and even bed and the price comes right down. The top end room with the works comes in at $219.00(US) but depending on "how low you can go", a room can cost as little as $19.00(US) if you sleep on the floor (yep really!). An amazing new concept and we would love to know how it's going.
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Puss 'n Bikes
In last weeks edition we touched on the latest trend of celebrities buying into brands (Ashton Kutcher and PopChips). Espresso reader (and now contributor) Laynie Kelly from The Marketing Muscle
has given us another extension of this trend in the form of 'Puss n Boots' AKA Antonio Banderas, who has started his own motorcycle racing team competing in the World MotoGP championship series this year. Half way into the series he has announced his intention to enter into the premier class. As a known rev-head, Banderas is able to contribute and leverage his name to bring together the sponsors, riders and technical team. Thanks for the update Laynie, The Espresso welcomes your feedback and contributions. If anyone else out there has something to say or share, please click on the link below to get in touch....
jake@theideasvault.com.au
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