Meijer’s smaller concept store is a big hit with consumers

February 18, 2010 – 7:56 am

thumbnailby Nissa Hanna

WHAT’S HAPPENING

  • The Meijer grocery chain is testing smaller format stores that shed superfluous extras (like patio furniture and apparel) to focus on food staples (IndyStar.com 2.1.10).
  • The first mini-Meijer opened in December 2009 in Niles, IL; the next locations are lined up for Orland Park, IL, and other Midwest cities.
  • By trimming almost half its size (down to around 100,000 square feet), the grocer is able to fit into urban neighborhoods. It plans to stock foods that fit the ethnic tastes of its new environments.
  • The concept store that’s currently open is doing well with customers; spokesman Frank Guglielmi says that the register lines have been seven and eight shoppers deep.

WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS

  • Busy urban residents don’t have the time (or energy) to shop cavernous grocery stores. They’re a cohort that’s connecting with smaller format shops that deliver on convenience through compact sizes and smaller product assortments.
  • Consumer interest in the “get in and get out” shopping method is building, as exhibited by the adoption of online and site-to-store shopping. Brick-and-mortar retailers need to evolve their formats and services to keep pace with these shoppers’ time-saving demands.

RESOURCES

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

A Seesmic shift in the Twitter rift

February 17, 2010 – 2:56 pm

thumbnailby Anna Otieno

WHAT’S HAPPENING

  • Twitter isn’t for everyone, which is why Seesmic (and Microsoft) recently launched an application that transforms Twitter into an entertainment browser. Click an “interest channel” like sports or politics and voilà: football MVPs or political VIPs emerge.
  • Seesmic users don’t even need a Twitter account — they can view all the happenings of the Twittersphere right on their desktop or mobile device.
  • Brand channels are also part of the Seesmic mix. The Huffington Post and Kodak are just a couple of the companies with their own channels, which include branded designs and selected tweets from other Twitter accounts.
  • Twitter users can send tweets and check replies using Seesmic, but advanced options like juggling multiple Twitter accounts are currently a no-go.

WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS

  • Sometimes consumers are looking for a less interactive experience — yes, we said it! Why tweet about what you had for breakfast, lunch and dinner when you’re only interested in what Brad Pitt had for breakfast, lunch and dinner?
  • Social media applications that streamline the experience and cut out the clutter are a plus. Consumers may not want the whole enchilada, but they’d still like a small bite.

RESOURCES

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

FOOLS FOR FOOD

February 16, 2010 – 5:01 pm

thumbnailby Charlotte Beal

Valentine’s Day fell on a Sunday this year, but also on a three-day weekend for some lucky workers, and we bet that meant more people just focused on food and relaxation, staying home to cook a romantic dinner or going out to a low-key restaurant. Or they went to White Castle, which has been dressing up with tablecloths and waiter service on Valentine’s Day for more than a decade. Talk about recession-friendly love.

Indeed, a report from the National Retail Federation showed that couples planned to spend less on each other this year ($63.34, down from $67.22 last year), but more on friends, coworkers and pets (Chicago Sun-Times 2.2.10). Maybe romance is dead, having ceded its place to platonic love?

Since forever, going out to dinner has been the de rigueur way to celebrate V-Day. Yet more of the people in our foodie circles were bemoaning the whole tradition entirely. At the very least, restaurants are getting more creative about the celebration. Two of our favorites: New York’s Prune does a “lovers’ menu” ($69) and “cynics’ menu” ($25) — for the latter, think bourbon sours, bitter greens with a broken vinaigrette and blackberry fools (TastingTable.com 2.3.10). And one Toronto restaurant even encouraged couples to have relations in its unisex bathrooms (Toronto Star 2.3.10). Yum!

But the true sign that Valentine’s hearts and minds are living in a new zeitgeist? Necco added “text me” and “tweet me” to its Sweethearts candy messages this year. Eat it, Cupid.
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By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Food/Beverage | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Using mobile tech and social media to increase census awareness among Latino youth

February 15, 2010 – 6:04 am

thumbnailby Rocio Zamora Arzola

WHAT’S HAPPENING

  • Looking to include as many people from hard-to-count communities, the U.S. Census is partnering with Voto Latino and civil rights org MALDEF to use mobile technology and social media to reach Latino youth.
  • The goal: to improve Latino youth’s awareness of and access to accurate, bilingual information about participating in the census (InformationNeeds.org 1.13.10).
  • How will they do it? A cellphone app called the “Census Challenge” will target Latino youth to take an online pledge to be counted; youth will be encouraged to become virtual census recruiters by tapping into their social networks; and participants will be eligible for prizes from Apple and MTV.

WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS

  • Technology and social media are key in communicating with young on-the-go Latinos. The importance of accurate census data may be esoteric to some Latino youth, but when educational info comes from sources and media they know and trust, they are more apt to take part.

RESOURCES

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By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumers, Latino | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

WhatIsFresh turns New York farmers’ markets into searchable databases

February 12, 2010 – 6:53 am

thumbnailby Charlotte Beal

WHAT’S HAPPENING

  • When a cook has a need for a specific ingredient, how does she know if trudging to the farmers’ market will be a waste of time? Enter WhatIsFresh.com, an online guide to the greenmarkets in the boroughs of NYC.
  • Consumers can use the site to search by market location, day of the week, vendor or ingredient. The latter category is broken down into handy descriptions and even culinary history, sometimes listing special varieties offered by particular vendors.
  • The site was the brainchild of a greenmarket customer. Rumor has it that Chicago and L.A. markets might be next on his list (TastingTable.com 1.20.10).

WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS

  • Aimlessly wandering the stalls of an open-air market in search of culinary inspiration is a nice fantasy, but not always reality for busy consumers. Many food shoppers want the convenience of one-click, targeted searches — even (especially?) when we’re talking about fresh-from-the-farm fare.

RESOURCES

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

Divorcées can register for new stuff at Debenhams

February 11, 2010 – 6:49 am

thumbnailby Nissa Hanna

WHAT’S HAPPENING

  • When a couple goes their separate ways, each has the daunting or cathartic task of replacing the items possessed by the other. In January 2010, U.K. department store Debenhams launched a divorce gift registry to help friends and family pitch in for those purchases (Guardian.co.uk 1.18.10).
  • The retailer has a large audience for their service: According to Jennifer Baker of the Forest Institute of Professional Psychology, 50% of first marriages and 67% of second marriages end in divorce (DivorceRate.org 1.25.10).
  • Debenhams expects divorcées to be interested in items found in a typical wedding registry: cookware, bed linens, small appliances; and a few that aren’t: non-iron shirts and computer games.

WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS

  • Consumers’ lifestages are often in flux. Retailers need to evolve their gift registries to meet new needs.

RESOURCES

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

Trade School lets students pay tuition by barter

February 10, 2010 – 9:42 am

thumbnailby Hans Eisenbeis

WHAT’S HAPPENING

  • OurGoods, a New York community bartering network, has established a night school that offers adult continuing education to students in exchange for barter items the teacher might want.
  • One example: A writing instructor would like more locally grown organic produce. Students wishing to take her class can sign up to bring a nice basket of in-season vegetables.
  • Grand Opening Public Projects is a pop-up storefront in Manhattan’s Lower East Side that’s hosting Trade School classes from January to March 2010.

WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS

  • Bartering has received new attention and popularity during the Great Recession as consumers look for creative ways to cut back on spending without necessarily giving up on life.
  • Barter can also build social capital — in other words, create new friendships — where money cannot.

RESOURCES

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

MUST-SEE 3-D?

February 9, 2010 – 4:19 pm

thumbnailby Robert van Alstyne

At this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, the funky iPod cases and ever-skinnier laptops ceded the spotlight to 3-D TVs. Multiple consumer electronics players (Sony, Panasonic, Toshiba, LG) unveiled the first wave of flatscreens to bring Avatar-style wonderment into the home. Those prone to premature proclamations about the death of 2-D TV, however, should hold their horses.

3-D TV is a platform in desperate need of content, and while a few companies, like ESPN, are stepping into the void, that’s a mighty expensive screen ($2,000 minimum) to be broadcasting normal content the majority of the time. Other technological barriers, like the glasses factor, ensure that 3-D television’s journey from cutting edge to mainstream will be a lengthy one.

The question consumer electronics companies don’t appear to be asking is whether all consumers even want 3-D TV content at home. A study last month by Opinion Research Corp. concluded that 3-D TV “isn’t much of a blip on consumers’ buying radars” yet, with only 5% of respondents saying they intend to buy a 3-D set in the next few years (Variety.com 2.5.10). The immersive aspects of the technology could very well backfire in the living room, where the television set often plays the role of casual backdrop. While certain event programming — particularly sports — lends itself perfectly to this emerging medium, most shows don’t. (Dunder Mifflin in 3-D? We don’t think so.)

Media producers need to think long and hard about what content they’ll present in 3-D. And all brands need to keep in mind the relative size of the glasses-donning audience in comparison to their marketing budget. Because making a splash on the 3-D scene will take multidimensional consideration.
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By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumers, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off

Iconoculture’s SocialIQ gets you closer to the conversation

February 9, 2010 – 1:27 pm

We’ve been using social media analysis tools to follow online conversations, and to try to make better sense of the blogosphere. Recently, we tracked conversations centered around the blue dudes populating James Cameron’s movie Avatar (as well as examining topics around 3-D technologies and the IMAX experience). Using data from our partner, Collective Intellect, we saw a few key peaks in the conversation. Chatter around the movie crests on December 19, in reaction to Oscar predictions around the movie. But there was also a sizable spike of geek speak that happened on August 20, when the trailer for Avatar was first released.

Twitterer @JasonBock wrote “Watched ‘Avatar’ trailer a couple more times. Now I really like it. Can’t imagine what this is going to be like on a big screen (in 3D too!)” Back then, when the trailer was first released, though, much of the chatter about the movie was negative, as Twitterers compared the film (unfavorably) to video games and dissed its overall aesthetic.

By examining sources (see chart at left) of social media conversation, we can garner further context. The bulk of the buzz we saw in the social media space was concentrated on Twitter (which actually doubled the blogosphere mentions). That’s not uncommon, but it is indicative of the business category.

Tweeting frequently leads (and makes up a preponderance) of media and technology discussions, while social media conversations in other business categories – such as financial services – are more news driven, with traditional media and blog posts making up a larger share of conversation sources than Tweets do. Other topics, such as diapers, baby food or other ideas or products important to parents, have relatively heavier discussion on boards or forums.

The more we learn about the shape and context of these conversations, the more useful they become. And that makes today’s “chatter” high in potential to become a more valuable – and a much more instructive – conversation for those who know how to listen.

Image via Collective Intellect

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

Pulling out the card: Latinos using credit for necessities

February 8, 2010 – 5:59 am

thumbnailby Abelardo de la Peña Jr.

WHAT’S HAPPENING

  • Another recession situation: Latinos are pulling out the credit cards more often for everyday necessities, but also worrying about not being able to pay down the debt, according to a National Council of La Raza report (ChicanoNews.net 1.19.10).
  • The report, based on findings from focus groups conducted in Chicago, Atlanta, and San Antonio, shows that Latino card users are relying on their credit to pay for groceries and household emergencies like hospital bills or auto repairs.
  • Other key finding include Latinos’ belief that credit is important and should be used responsibly; their collective concern about overspending when jobs are unstable and income unpredictable; and the fact that they don’t always read the fine print of credit contracts, which sometimes leads to negative consequences.

WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS

  • Like all credit card users, Latinos are struggling to keep their spending under control, reduce their debt and build or maintain their credit history. Using their credit cards for necessities may not be the best option, but applying for cards with lower interest rates and fees, utilizing other payment methods and comparing costs will serve them well.

RESOURCES

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By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumers, Latino, Money/Spending | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Target and Wal-Mart think out of the box for installation services

February 5, 2010 – 7:53 am

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by Nissa Hanna

WHAT’S HAPPENING

  • As if shopping for a new TV isn’t hard enough, there’s also the major hurdle of at-home set-up. Target and Wal-Mart have launched new services to help their shoppers with this post-purchase phase of buying electronics.
  • In mid-January 2010, Target rolled out a national TV and videogame console set-up service (BizJournals.com 1.18.10). In-store shoppers can have the product sent to their homes and installed by pros from Zip Express. The retailer will also recycle old TV sets.
  • In fall 2009, Wal-Mart partnered with NEW for home theater and PC installation — sans delivery option (Twice.com 10.22.09). Shoppers purchase the service via prepaid cards found in the home theater and computer aisles.

WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS

  • Consumers are turning to big box and discount stores to find good deals on items that would cost more at specialty stores, but that doesn’t mean they’re willing to sacrifice all the bells and whistles of the specialty-store shopping experience.
  • As product offerings become more homogenous and prices more competitive, retailers need to think of creative ways to stand out.

RESOURCES

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

Wine tasting gone wild: Pairings for the drive-thru set

February 4, 2010 – 10:12 am

thumbnailby Tory Davis

WHAT’S HAPPENING

  • It’s hard to speak pretentiously about terroir with secret sauce dripping down your chin. Los Angeles-based Learn About Wine’s Blind Date tastings pair a variety of respectable reds with beloved In-N-Out Double-Double cheeseburgers (UrbanDaddy.com 1.5.10).
  • The tastings are held on assorted Friday nights in a downtown loft and boast 20 one-ounce blind pours. Each night of the series features a different red: merlot, cab, zinfandel, pinot noir and Rhone. Afterwards the wines are revealed so that tasters can ensure they pair the right bottle with their next combo meal.
  • But you can’t get fries with that — wine tasting has to retain some level of class!

WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS

  • Californians, with their own lively vinoculture, know that wine is not just for snobs, and most oenophiles know the scene at the end of the movie Sideways speaks the truth: Wine goes with just about anything, including a hamburger.
  • Mainstream consumers are curious about wine, but are often intimidated by the snooty reputation and endless rows of bottles on the shelf. A class that pairs vino with fast food opens the door to massclusivity and welcomes all to swirl and sip.

RESOURCES

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

“Go ahead, kid. Throw rocks!” 50 Dangerous Things parents should allow

February 3, 2010 – 8:41 am

thumbnailby Hans Eisenbeis

WHAT’S HAPPENING

  • We’ve been tracking for some time the “Free Range Kids” movement — an idea spawned by blog and book to loosen the apron strings of today’s obsessively protective moms and dads. That mindset is strongly nostalgic: Let kids play outside unsupervised, give them building blocks for birthdays instead of video games, basically let them be kids the way their grandparents were 50 years ago.
  • But 50 Dangerous Things (You Should Let Your Children Do) is decidedly more scientific and contemporary, arguing that many dangerous activities are “interesting, eye-opening, enlightening or just plain fun.”
  • Included among the 50 ideas: superglue your fingers together, play with fire, spend an hour blindfolded, and put strange things in the microwave.

WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS

  • Why should parents try to insulate their kids from all risk? They may actually be robbing them of important and educational experiences. This countertrend to extreme, hands-on parenting is growing.
  • Kids will be kids, and giving them straight dope on how to avoid catastrophic outcomes — play with fire outside, away from buildings and cars — may benefit them more than simply stifling all urges.

RESOURCES

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By Iconoculture | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

TILL GREEN DO US PART?

February 2, 2010 – 1:14 pm

by Sarah Fazio

What’s good for the earth isn’t always fun for your dinner party — hosting green friends can sometimes feel more like a guilt trip than a pleasure cruise. And the pressure from the environmentally sensitive Joneses is well documented. But now greener-than-thou tension is moving from interpersonal to intimate with reports of a green-fueled gap growing in some couples.


“The danger arises when one partner undergoes an environmental ‘waking up’ process way before the other, leaving a new values gap between them,” says marriage and family therapist Linda Buzzell (New York Times 1.17.10). This values gap may lead to a behavior gap, with partners having different standards for being “green enough.” The position of the thermostat has long been fodder for disagreement among housemates, and we’ve seen green-values shifts turn bickering over bills into a sustainability argument of planetary proportions. We’ve also seen several new tools for monitoring home energy use come to market this winter — from a Smart Grid-connected videogame to a whole-house monitor that pairs electricity-consumption tracking with weather reports and a Facebook app.


At Iconoculture, we talk about green as a journey — for many consumers, the focus is on becoming greener, not on being perfect. After all, there’s no such thing as the ideal environmentalist or the perfect partner. But if your better half is green enough, it just may come down to “It’s me or the Prius.”

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Bilingual promotoras making healthcare less intimidating

February 2, 2010 – 8:22 am

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by Abelardo de la Peña Jr.

WHAT’S HAPPENING

  • Latino immigrants living in California’s San Joaquin Valley are more likely to seek and get healthcare services if someone helps them overcome language and systematic barriers. Promotoras — bilingual community health educators — are fitting the bill.
  • A study by the Central Valley Health Policy Institute at California State University, Fresno showed that both documented and undocumented immigrants are intimidated by the enrollment process to apply for healthcare services and had experienced poor treatment at doctors’ offices (FresnoBee.com 1.14.09).
  • Immigrant patients that had an average of 10 hours of contact with a promotora increased their access to preventive health services, such as mammograms, prostate checks and physicals.

WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS

  • Because promotoras are trained to use culturally competent approaches and outreach methods, health policy makers and planners could better utilize their services for both routine care and emergency response planning.
  • Ensuring that immigrant Latinos have access to preventive health services not only keeps them well, but lowers the overall cost of healthcare by keeping them out of doctors’ offices and emergency rooms.

RESOURCES

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