Monthly Archives: July 2011

Media, Entertainment and Technology Podcast: Summer Cable Television

July 27, 2011 – 6:31 am

by Andrew Hawn, Nancy Robinson, Katie Elfering, Robert van Alstyne and Mike Garrison Media, Entertainment and Technology Strategists rant on the news of the week.  Tune in for opinions on Spotify, Apple and Hulu, and more specifically, some thoughts around summer cable television. To listen to the podcast, click here. Referenced in the podcast:  The […]

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BinCam Facebook app shames users into recycling

July 26, 2011 – 1:08 pm

by Cree McCree WHAT’S HAPPENING Consumers may want to think twice before throwing a plastic bottle in the garbage instead of recycling it. BinCam, a specially programmed cellphone that attaches inside a trashcan lid, aims to change consumers’ bad habits by posting their non-recycled discards on Facebook (Inhabitat.com, 13 June 2011). Miscreants looking to reform […]

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Swedish pre-school goes gender-neutral

July 26, 2011 – 1:05 pm

by Bosco Chiclana WHAT’S HAPPENING Egalia, a pre-school in a well-to-do district of Stockholm is attempting to free children from social expectations based on gender (bbc.co.uk 8 July 2011). Teachers avoid using the pronouns “him” and “her”, and dolls and trucks are placed deliberately side-by-side to encourage children to play with whatever they choose. Gender […]

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QR grocery store offers a glimpse of retailing’s future

July 26, 2011 – 12:44 pm

by Kate Connolly WHAT’S HAPPENING Home plus, a Korean retail chain owned by Tesco, broke ground in mobile marketing using a promotional campaign that created a virtual grocery store in a South Korean subway station. Aiming to boost online sales, Home plus fitted the “store” with graphics that duplicated the looks of product-packed grocery store […]

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HOT AND COLD

July 26, 2011 – 12:33 pm

by Hans Eisenbeis Last week much of the United States was plunged into hellacious heat, echoing the contentious situation in Washington, DC. While the weather is hot, the economy is cool, and no one is doing anything about either. The weather will eventually break, but can the economy fix itself? Although there aren’t many encouraging […]

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Website makes range of products available for sampling

July 19, 2011 – 3:27 pm

by Guarav De WHAT’S HAPPENING “Tryvertising,” or, more simply, product sampling, has been around for ages in the marketing world. But the technique takes a digital step forward with SampleAndTry.com, a website that enables registered users to sample products from different categories (Afaqs.com, June 28, 2011). The website will reach out to consumers in 2,500 […]

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, India, Retail | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Weotta’s impromptu itineraries keep boredom at bay

July 19, 2011 – 2:55 pm

by Robert van Alstyne WHAT’S HAPPENING Billing itself as a “Pandora for your social life,” online social planning service Weotta wants to keep consumers happy by giving them the ideal activity itinerary at a moment’s notice. Weotta users link their Facebook account to the service and then select a theme for their planned outing (Business, […]

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Isolation Week has UK consumers empathising with the elderly

July 19, 2011 – 2:40 pm

by Kelly Stevens WHAT’S HAPPENING Between 20th and 27th June 2011, Friends of the Elderly conducted ‘Isolation Week’, the first stage of a campaign to raise awareness of the frequent loneliness experienced by older people (FOTE.org.uk, June 2011). Ten volunteers were confined to their own homes for a week with no social contact whatsoever and […]

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A GENIUS BAR FOR FASHION

July 19, 2011 – 2:30 pm

by Charlotte Beal My husband told me he wanted to “refresh” his wardrobe. Cue the shirts cartoonishly flying out of the closet as he parsed what would go to Goodwill and what was classically hip. Now he has embarked on the procurement phase, which involves finding trusted style advice with a minimum of human interaction. […]

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Invading living rooms: Mythology to rule primetime yet again

July 13, 2011 – 9:28 am

by Aditi Krishnan WHAT’S HAPPENING TV producers are set to satiate Indian viewers’ voracious appetite for mythology. Serialized versions of epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata captivated India’s imagination in the 1980s. Their reruns are popular to this day, prompting producers to capitalize anew on viewers’ love for glitzy costume period dramas. To keep viewers hooked […]

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Don’t can the can: UK Consumers get creative with aluminium

July 13, 2011 – 9:21 am

by Kelly Stevens WHAT’S HAPPENING “i luv my can” is a nationwide competition to find the most imaginative and creative use of drinks cans in a bid to increase recycling rates and promote their versatility (Easier.com, 9 June 2011). Launched by TV presenter and recycling queen Miquita Oliver i luv my can is asking those […]

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

What’s it worth? Dedigitization raises the question with virtual-to-physical retrofits

July 13, 2011 – 9:07 am

by Jana Branch WHAT’S HAPPENING “Dedigitization,” a term recently coined by cultural commentator Rob Walker, describes virtual goods or iconography retrofitting into the physical world. He cites the smiley emoticon ring or Facebook “Like” rubberstamp. Physical to virtual. Virtual to physical. The pendulum swing is part of physics. Vinyl died and came back. Sci-fi characters […]

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CLIPPING (EXTREME) COUPONING

July 13, 2011 – 8:45 am

by Nissa Hanna TLC’s special-turned-series Extreme Couponing will return for a second season in September, broadcasting hope to a captive audience of bargain-hungry US consumers. In its most distilled form (withholding judgment and disregarding the hoarding issues), the show radiates optimism: Armed with a circular and a sense of purpose, anyone —anyone! — can reduce […]

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The Lesser Depression? American optimism sputters

July 5, 2011 – 12:51 pm

by Hans Eisenbeis WHAT’S HAPPENING Recovery, wha? Not only do most Americans see few signs of tangible economic recovery in June 2011, almost half actually think we’re heading into a depression this year. That’s according to a CNN poll, which found that 48% of Americans think another “Great Depression” is “very” or “somewhat likely” in […]

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Germans involve tourists in local protests

July 5, 2011 – 12:47 pm

by Kimberly Ochs WHAT’S HAPPENING As Germans continue to protest rising housing and electricity costs across the country, a group of Berliners are involving tourists in protests by creating techno parties in squatted buildings (Local.de, 31 May 2011). As Berlin is known across Europe as a key techno music capital, activists are integrating tourists into both […]

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