OF NOTE: Grumpy, Lonely, Oldie, Sleepy (11.6.09)

November 6, 2009 – 9:04 am

-According to findings in Australian Science magazine, negative emotions can have a positive effect on decision making and clear thinking. Joie de Vivre gets another smackdown in Barbara Ehrenreich’s latest book where she shreds the powers and prowess of positive thinking, scolding Americans for being relentlessly upbeat.

-Lonely? A recent Pew study on social isolationism and technology found that the Internet and cell phones have actually made people more connected, despite previous studies that suggest we are all silos now. Related: David Brooks is worried that cellphones — or text messages, more specifically — are hurting your love life. Sentimental? Curmudgeon? Both? So, what what kind of text plan does Brooks have?

-At Iconoculture, we track not only tech natives, but also those who came before them. Is technology ageist? Today, we published an article about Florence Henderson’s FloH Club of computer support for seniors.

-A glimpse into competition culture at the office.

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumers, Links | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment

Give the gift of healthcare this holiday season

November 6, 2009 – 6:00 am

by Stefania Revelli

WHAT’S HAPPENING

  • For BlueCross BlueShield of Florida, the line between healthcare and retail continues to get fuzzier; this fall, the company has rolled out healthcare gift cards (MyFoxOrlando.com 10.07.09).
  • Two different types of gift cards are available and can be picked up in Winn Dixie or CVS pharmacy stores. The $59 Blue Health Care card covers up to ten weeks of limited health insurance and can be used towards the purchase of plans (like GoBlue) for routine and preventive medical care (including doctor, dentist, pharmacy or lab work).
  • The Family Blue Discount card ($19) gives users significant discounts on dental (10-50%), prescription (20%) and vision services (10-60%) for up to three months (BCBSFL.com 10.09).

WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS

  • These days even those who have insurance could use more help in the health department. Innovative signs that affordability and healthcare can co-exist provides peace of mind when times are tough.
  • A company that seemingly makes healthcare as easy, accessible and affordable to pick up as laundry detergent is a health hero for consumers.

RESOURCES

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By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Health | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off

OF NOTE: Virtual handcuffs, deadwood copyrights, women’s undergarments and child rage (11.5.09)

November 5, 2009 – 3:18 pm

-At Iconoculture, we still believe It Sucks to Fly, but trip planning might suck a little less since Expedia has dropped its fee for booking flights over the phone. Broadband-challenged consumers can now save a few bucks and spend some quality time on hold.

-What happens when blind justice stumbles into the ethereal abyss we call the Web? That is, Can The Rule of Law Exist in the Virtual World? Well … can it?? This is about more than forcing bloggers to reveal their advertising alliances, people.

-This interactive map shows voter turnout by block. Love thy neighbor, track thy neighbor, shame they neighbor, whatever.

-2010 is prophesied to be the year of the woman. Some evidence to the contrary: Women are voluntarily shrink-wrapping themselves in spandex to make for a $750 million market! Christina Hendricks et al wear actual girdles for up to 17 hours. I believe her when she says they’re “superuncomfortable” but at least she’s getting paid for it.

-”There is no reason to keep pretending that the Copyright Wars involve matters of morality or principle—they don’t and never have. The Copyright Wars and their predecessors have always been about one thing and one thing only—a fruitless effort to resist, to the end, the very nature of capitalism, which is a dynamic, creative force by which new innovations and business models replace old ones.” IP is so 2003.

-Kids’ books. Xers. Bad parenting. Rage. Helicopter parents.

-We’ve covered vertical gardens, upside-down gardens, roll-out-a-mat-and-just-add-water gardens … These crocheted containers bring the, erm, spoils of the garden inside and if you’re handy with a hook they’d be a good holiday gift in the spirit of deconsumption.

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumers, Links | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment

Surprise Gift For Me picks out presents for self-gifters

November 5, 2009 – 6:00 am

by Nissa Hanna

WHAT’S HAPPENING

  • While self-gifting is all fine and good, it usually lacks one key element of gift giving: surprise. A new service, Surprise Gift For Me, is offering to be a personal wish list shopper so self-gifters can be pleasantly taken aback by their own presents.
  • Here’s how it works: The giver/receiver lists three to five items that he’d like to get from himself, and notes the deets like the store, cost, size and brand. He authorizes Surprise Gift For Me to charge his credit card for the price of the product, plus shipping and handling.
  • The service picks one of those items and sends it to him on his selected delivery date.

WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS

  • Self-gifting has always been part of the holiday season, but as consumers cut back to make up for tighter budgets, personal presents have lost some of their allure. Services that offer the element of surprise bring back a sense of indulgence.
  • That said, more practical shoppers prefer to avoid a middleman.

RESOURCES

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    By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Culture, Money/Spending, Retail | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off

    Student blogs help college recruiters

    November 4, 2009 – 6:00 am

    by Cree McCree

    WHAT’S HAPPENING

    • Did you know M.I.T. ranks high in mattress dominoes? Potential M.I.T. students do. The university is among dozens of U.S. schools using student blogs to market campus life to high schoolers.
    • Ivy League schools including Vassar, Wellesley and Yale have all joined the blogosphere. But the M.I.T. site is especially robust, with a dozen uncensored undergrad blogs on its admissions page.
    • Some schools remain leery of giving students free rein. But for most, it’s a marketing plus.
    • “We saw very quickly that prospective students were engaging with each other and building their own community,” says Ben Jones, former director of communications for M.I.T. admissions, who initiated the school’s first student blog at the dawn of the Facebook age (New York Times 10.1.09).

    WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS

    • Student-to-student marketing has always been a part of official campus tours. But unfiltered blogs can lure recruits while they’re still in the browsing stage, giving them a real sense of day-to-day campus life.
    • Even before the recession hit, schools were using social networks to recruit. Now, faced with the double whammy of cash-strapped families and spiraling costs, they’re amping their marketing efforts. Blogs are a smart way to build their brand.

    RESOURCES

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    By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Culture, Technology | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off

    LIVING IN THE MOMENT

    November 3, 2009 – 4:00 pm

    by Robert van Alstyne

    I recently attended the CMJ Music Marathon, a showcase for hundreds of on-the-rise independent music acts that essentially takes over the Lower East Side of Manhattan for a five-day stretch. In addition to the expected sight of lots of fashionistos in exceptionally tight pants, the festival stood out for what I wasn’t seeing.

    I’d grown accustomed, over about the past five years, to seeing a significant chunk of concert attendees digitally capturing the experience. What began in the early 2000s as a few plucky digital-camera-toting superfans had gradually become a full-blown amateur paparazzi fest at many gigs. At particularly trendy shows here in the Twin Cities in recent years, it wasn’t uncommon to catch dozens of crowd members snapping pics on their smartphones or tweeting the band’s latest song choice. But more lately crowds seem to have fallen out of love with documentation.

    The nearly picture-taking-free crowds I encountered at every CMJ gig I attended confirmed my suspicions. Consumers (particularly the Millennials who made up the majority of the goers) are getting over the urge to digitally chronicle every experience they have. They’re realizing that shoddy user-generated content isn’t worth anyone’s time, including their own.

    Delivering effective in-the-moment mobile media means giving consumers content that deepens their experience (location-aware apps that unlock bonus content on mobile devices, high-quality multimedia mementos of the experience) rather than distancing them further. Now if only we could do something about those pants.

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    By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Culture, Entertainment, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off

    TWITTER IS FULL OF TOOLS: More than just snark, the social net offers useful utilities for everyday life

    November 3, 2009 – 3:29 pm

    thumbnailby Katie Elfering

    • Twitter gets a lot of grief for letting people share the most mundane aspects of their lives (“I just ate a Pop-Tart”) or for being a tool that encourages self-promotion and narcissism. But lately, Twitter has started shaping up into an almost (gasp!) practical utility for consumers’ lives.
    • One of the most obvious examples of this shift is the customer service that many brands have implemented on Twitter. JetBlue and Comcast have become 140-character service experts. Newer entries, like HyattConcierge, are taking off by offering specialized tools to help travelers on the go.
    • Another oft-mentioned Twitter tool? The ability to report breaking news. From earthquakes to planes in the Hudson to the aftermath of elections in Iran, Twitter users are posting events the second they happen.
    • But beyond brands and breaking news, cities and states are starting to see the value in using Twitter as an info disseminator. New York state’s transportation and travel service, 511NY, has Twitter feeds that alert NYC residents to traffic conditions and emergencies on the city’s subway and highway systems. @SF311 lets Bay Area residents send messages to the city government about city utility issues. And the Stolen Bike Boston Community Alert program uses Twitter to help catch bike thieves by posting descriptions of stolen bikes for citizens.
    • Online classifieds? Try 140-character classifieds. iListMicro lets consumer swap and sell goods. Users tag tweets with “#ihave” or “#iwant” to get their listings added to the service.
    • Even day-to-day activities are getting the Twitter touch. PackageTrack lets consumers track incoming deliveries from FedEx, UPS and the USPS. After users follow @packagetrack, it updates them each time a package status changes.
    • Twitter tools can even keep consumers healthy and safe. After the recent rash of food recalls, the FDA set up a Twitter feed to keep concerned consumers up-to-date and (perhaps overly) informed about what’s safe to eat.
    • Maybe the most useful Twitter tool in today’s economy? TwitterJobSearch, which uses crowdsourcing and link-crawling to track job openings. Twitterers can search for jobs in categories or by company and save desired gigs in a special account. 140-characters to find a career? Works for us.

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    By Iconoculture | Posted in Media, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

    Fans calling the shots when it comes to narcocorridos

    November 2, 2009 – 6:00 am

    by Rocio Zamora Arzola

    WHAT’S HAPPENING

    • Some Spanish-language DJs have a reputation for raciness. Now the songs they play are catching up, as radio stations respond to listeners’ requests by playing narcocorridos — songs about drug dealers and their exploits.
    • Bluntly spelling out drug usage and violence, songs like “El Corrido del Katch,” a tune about getting high and making money, and “El Baleado” (The Shooting Victim), are making the top 20 in regional Mexican airplay charts (Reuters.com 10.4.09).
    • What’s breaking down radio programmers previous reluctance to play these hardcore tunes, sung to a jaunty polka beat? A younger generation of listeners, many from Mexico, demanding the visceral thrill of songs celebrating drug culture.

    WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS

    • Latino listeners are flexing greater power when it comes to choosing what they want to hear.
    • The appeal of songs that leave little to the imagination may lie in their shock value. But then again, it’s probably better to blast out a narcocorrido than dodge actual bullets.

    RESOURCES

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    By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Entertainment, Latino, Multicultural | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off

    Older workers may get more protection against layoffs

    October 30, 2009 – 6:00 am

    by Cree McCree

    WHAT’S HAPPENING

    • After a June 2009 Supreme Court decision that favored employers, Senate leaders are working to add more teeth to existing age-discrimination law.
    • The Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination bill, supported by AARP, would broaden the scope of what plaintiffs must prove by making age one of several motivating factors in termination, rather than the sole determinant.
    • “The [Supreme Court's] Gross decision established a far higher standard of proof for age than for other forms of discrimination,” said bill cosponsor Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA). He said the new legislation would be aimed at “restoring fundamental fairness in the workplace” (SeniorJournal.com 10.7.09).

    WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS

    • America’s oldest workers are the least likely to get sacked. But that doesn’t mean age discrimination has retired. Supreme Court plaintiff Jack Gross, 54, belongs to a Boomer cohort whose jobs are disappearing much faster than those of his 55+ coworkers.
    • With jobs still lagging far beyond the recovery curve, making sure workers of all ages get a fair shake is a top priority.
    • Businesses that retain older employees are rewarded with experience and good workplace attitude.

    RESOURCES

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    By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Culture, Work | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off

    This year’s Iron Chef battle: Foodies vs. foodiots?

    October 29, 2009 – 6:00 am

    by Charlotte Beal

    WHAT’S HAPPENING

    • New York Observer contributor Joe Pompeo coined a new word to describe the 20- and 30somethings who are obsessed with food talk: foodiots (Observer.com 9.22.09).
    • You know the type: constantly posting status updates about eating and drinking, blogging about cooking (the more pedestrian concoctions, the better), sending digital pics of last night’s restaurant dishes. Mobile tech is their great enabler.
    • Grub Street’s New York edition weighed in the next day, saying that foodies “passed the torch” to foodiots once gourmet chefs starting selling burgers and fried chicken (NewYork.GrubStreet.com 9.23.09).
    • When Conde Nast announced it was closing effete Gourmet magazine, bloggers and print columnists started lamenting the death of the elite foodie (AP 10.5.09).

    WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS

    • Most consumers have gotten very sophisticated about food, democratizing once-haute cuisine. It’s not surprising that a subsequent culture war (high vs. low; legit vs. inauthentic) might be brewing.
    • Everyone’s an expert — or are they? Traditional foodies, who value artisanal craftsmanship and years of training, tend to scoff at opinions offered by everyday Joes.
    • Millennials (and some younger Gen Xers) like to express their passions, especially online. Older gens might call it self-absorption, but the younger set just calls it being and sharing.

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      By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Culture, Food/Beverage | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off

      This lip gloss comes with a date-rape detector

      October 28, 2009 – 6:00 am

      by Stefania Revelli

      WHAT’S HAPPENING

      • The concept of kiss and tell gets a safety makeover with 2LoveMyLips, an innovative lip gloss available in the U.K. (CosmeticsDesign-Europe.com 10.7.09).
      • The lip gloss comes with a date rape drug testing kit, which can detect drugs GHP and Ketamine. Doubting dames just dip the test strip into their drink; a blue stick means spike alert.
      • 2LoveMyLips comes in four varieties: Sophisticated Coffee, Charasmatic Cherry, Passionate Pink, Beautiful Pink and Posh Gloss.
      • The company has plans to make 2LoveMyLips available in U.K. pub and club vending machines as well as in Australia and the U.S.

      WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS

      • Better safe than sorry has long been an American proverb. Prevention via discretion is an effective key to the strategy.
      • A personal safety tool that provides peace of mind and confidence lets women know they can have both sassy and safety in the palm of their hand.

      RESOURCES

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      By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Health/Beauty | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off

      PERVASIVE, PERSUASIVE PACKAGING

      October 27, 2009 – 4:34 pm

      by Lisa Pierce

      Take a second and think about some of the products you’ve used today. Probably coffee or soda. And toothpaste and shampoo. Maybe cereal or soup, and hand sanitizer.

      Just like you, other consumers interact with products like these every day — and they do it first through packaging. More and more, shoppers are opting to buy this or that product based on how much they like the package (FoodNavigator.com 10.7.08). Remember boring ol’ milk before the Dean’s Milk Chug? That single-serve, reclosable, portable plastic bottle transformed the dairy market. Kids thought they looked so cool carrying it around — and sales flowed like never before (Brandweek 6.22.98).

      Plenty of success stories center on convenient, high-performing packages. But there are also some, uh, challenges. Will bisphenol-A (BPA) survive as an effective component of metal cans? Moms have already killed it as a hardener for plastic baby bottles. And what’s the deal today on portion control? Smaller packs are handy, but, man, they sure use a lot of packaging material, so they’re not the greenest choice. And with shoppers having to scrimp as they suffer through the Great Recession, bulk packs often emerge as the better deal. What will win out with consumers? Convenience, sustainability, economics or health?

      Packaging matters, and not just to those of us at Iconoculture’s new Global Packaging Advisory Service. Get inside consumers’ hearts and minds to understand why they prefer one container over another. Because the right package — one that delights and engages — can give your brand a huge competitive advantage.

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      By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Packaging | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off

      Hair pieces: South American students launch line of headwear

      October 26, 2009 – 6:00 am

      by Abelardo de la Peña Jr.

      WHAT’S HAPPENING

      • Three young Venezuelan students are rocking the Maracaibo fashion scene with their Oh! Nena line of hand-crafted headwear, with their sights set on North American success.
      • Taking their name from the title of a romantic ballad by Argentinean rocker Fito Páz, the pieces from their latest collection called “Wink” are a mix of vintage bohemian flair and edgy minimalism. The headwear is made of natural as well as manufactured material, including feathers, plastic and silk.
      • Individual pieces in the “Wink” collection — created by Oh! Nena’s founders Daniela Ordoñez, Andrea Moreno and Valentina Alvarado — are named after women, including “Angela,” “Irina,” “Alexa” and “Teresa”.”

      WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS

      • Edgy accessories with a compelling story are cutting through the high-priced fashion clutter. When created by young media- and tech-savvy designers, they’re must-haves for like-minded fashionistas.
      • Fashion brands can turn their sights south for styles that resonate with Latinas and other multiculturals.

      RESOURCES

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        By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Culture, Fashion, Latino, Multicultural | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off

        Forget wine tasting, let’s go eat dirt

        October 23, 2009 – 6:00 am

        by Tory Davis

        WHAT’S HAPPENING

        • Artist Laura Parker’s newest installation, “Taste of Place,” is part art, part culinary experience and is shifting how people relate to the food they eat.
        • Visitors experience a dirt “tasting,” where Parker provides wine glasses full of carefully chosen terroir, adds water, swirls and then passes them for a sniff. Attendees discuss the bouquet as they would vino, then taste vegetables grown in said dirt for a contrast-and-compare. Occasionally Parker also offers tastes of cheese or eggs from animals who grazed on the land (Culinate.com 9.21.09).
        • Tastings/installations are being held throughout the fall and winter in Sonoma, San Francisco and Santa Cruz — and Australia in the spring.

        WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS

        • Farm-to-table is hot, and this is the most literal expression of this trend. Foodies are gaga for the newest culinary experience, and, “I went to a dirt tasting,” is guaranteed to turn heads at the next dinner party.
        • Oenophiles have waxed rhapsodic about terroir for ages, but rarely get into the dirt themselves. This is a primo experience for an authenticity one-upmanship contest.
        • This is a locavore fantasy come true, and reinforces the message that healthy soil equals healthy food.

        RESOURCES

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        By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Food/Beverage | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off

        AirManager makes plane air pure air

        October 22, 2009 – 6:00 am

        by Sarah Barker

        WHAT’S HAPPENING

        • For those who fear deplaning with bugs they originally didn’t board with, global defense and aerospace company BAE Systems and Quest International have joined to develop a filtration system that removes viruses, bacteria and pollutants from cabin air (TimesOnline.co.uk 9.15.09).
        • AirManager, which can be retrofit to existing airline air conditioning systems, zaps particles with electrons, effectively sterilizing air and reducing the spread of disease on-board. Quest claims AirManager destroys swine flu, avian flu, MRSA and other airborne bugs.
        • One European airline has already placed an order for AirManagers: Quest hopes demand from health-conscious passengers will spur more sales (more surplus charges, anyone?).
        • Hospitals are also considering AirManager as a health precaution.

        WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS

        • Flu-freaked passengers breathe easier when airlines take responsibility for their in-flight environment and practice preventative medicine.
        • Good idea, bad timing? Health-conscious consumers might not mind shelling out a few extra dollars in the name of prevention and peace of mind, but one AirManager costs about $16,000 and a large jet could need 8 of them.

        RESOURCES

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        By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Health, Transportation, Travel | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off