Mexico’s biggest bakery creates website to promote its wind energy

January 9, 2013 – 3:20 pm

thumbnailby Gabriela Boylan

WHAT’S HAPPENING

  • Bimbo, the largest bread and pastry company in Mexico, has launched Bimbo Verde Parque Eólico (Green Bimbo Wind Park), a website that invites people to be part of a virtual wind farm. In October 2012, Bimbo inaugurated Piedra Larga, celebrated as the world’s largest wind farm for the food industry (BakeryandSnacks.com, 31 October 2012).
  • Once signed in, Bimbo Verde prompted users to blow through their computer’s or device’s microphone to start a virtual turbine moving. Depending on how strong the user blows, it will produce energy. Each turbine is named after a user; they’re encouraged to come back and locate it on a virtual hill again.
  • The Bimbo Verde site educates consumers on what a wind farm is, how it is a source of new jobs, and that it provides clean, efficient energy for over 100 Bimbo plants in the country. With Piedra Larga, almost all the electricity that the company uses comes from wind power.

WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS

  • In today’s world of seemingly endless choices, consumers want to support a brand that is doing good. By playing up its environmental and economic initiatives in a fun way, Bimbo is giving its customers a reason — besides price and taste — to choose it over its competitors.

RESOURCES

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By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Social Media, Sustainability | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off

Frankfurt airport caters to Chinese shoppers

January 9, 2013 – 3:17 pm

thumbnailby Ann Kathrin Weldy

WHAT’S HAPPENING

  • Frankfurt airport operator Fraport AG has launched a free personal shopping service for travellers from China. The personal-shopping staff assists them in making purchasing decisions and obtaining sales tax refunds (Spiegel.de, 23 November 2012).
  • The Chinese are known to be keen consumers and many shop for bargains at the airport. Fraport wants to make sure language barriers don’t stand in the way of shopping.
  • One personal shopper explains that European products can cost between 60% and 350% more in China.
  • The staff speak Mandarin and are familiar with Chinese customs. They wear orange jackets and proactively approach passengers to see whether they need assistance. Visitors can also phone to request the service (AirlineTrends.com, 15 November 2012).
  • The service was trialed in June 2012 and, after receiving a positive response, is becoming a permanent feature at the airport.
  • Fraport’s goal is to increase the average earnings per passenger from a little over €3 to €4.

WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS

  • Many travellers like to shop to kill time at the airport. Services that cater to their personal needs and help them spend efficiently are welcome.
  • Many Chinese passengers are happy to hear their mother tongue being spoken and may feel more open to ask questions and make purchases.

RESOURCES

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

Hip Moscow restaurant teaches gourmet kids’ recipes

January 9, 2013 – 3:01 pm

thumbnailby Victor Sonkin

WHAT’S HAPPENING

  • Ragout, a hip Moscow restaurant, is offering courses for parents of toddlers, teaching them to cook diverse high-quality food (Ragout.ru, November 2012).
  • The courses are scheduled over three days. The first day is devoted to children aged 5-8 months, the second to children aged 8-14 months, and the third to those 14-24 months. Cost of participation is 8,000 RUB ($264); the class size is 40 people.
  • “You can nurture the taste for good food”, says Katerina Agronik, the expert teaching the course. “From a very early age, children can learn about seasonality, different spices and subtle tastes”.
  • During the three days, parents will learn to cook everything from simple vegetable purees to complex curries and desserts.

WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS

  • Affluent Russian parents are eager to give their children the very best, including the wealth of international gourmet cuisine.
  • Traditional, very conservative Russian attitudes to children, regarding their lifestyle, daily routine and diet, are gradually giving way to Western-style practices and experimentation.

RESOURCES

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

Sweet equality: Teen petitions Hasbro for a gender-neutral Easy-Bake Oven

January 9, 2013 – 2:58 pm

thumbnailby Nina Elder

WHAT’S HAPPENING

  • To McKenna Pope, not all Easy-Bake Ovens are created equal.
  • The New Jersey teen’s 4-year-old brother, Gavin, asked for a dinosaur and an Easy-Bake Ultimate Oven for Christmas. When the family went shopping, they saw that the mini cooker was available only in pink and purple, and therefore chose not to buy it. They feared that Gavin wouldn’t play with such an overtly girly toy.
  • The experience frustrated McKenna so much that she decided to petition Hasbro, asking them to feature boys in Easy-Bake commercials and packaging and to offer ovens in gender-neutral colors. As of early December 2012, the petition had collected almost 39,000 signatures. Then a group of professional chefs released a video backing the petition.
  • Score one for the little guys: On December 17, 2012, Hasbro invited McKenna to the company’s Rhode Island headquarters and announced that a black-and-silver Easy-Bake Oven would be available in Fall 2013.

WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS

  • The idea of gender-specific toys doesn’t match up to the way kids play (or live) today. Smart companies recognize this shift and adjust their products accordingly.
  • In this foodie-focused world, more and more girls and boys are dreaming of growing up to be a Top Chef. Food-related toys should reflect the fact that there are so many more little cooks in the kitchen.

RESOURCES

  • Hasbro
  • McKenna’s petition, which also includes a video of her brother talking about the oven, can be found on Change.org.

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

School! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing!

January 9, 2013 – 2:28 pm

thumbnailby Cree McCree

WHAT’S HAPPENING

  • Steve Jobs. Bill Gates. Michael Dell. Mark Zuckerberg. College dropouts and zillionaires all. Why pay crazy money for school when you could be making crazy money instead? More Millennials are asking that question and just saying no to college (New York Times, 30 November 2012).
  • Skyrocketing tuition and explosive student debt are partly driving the trend. But it’s the gold rush to the digital frontier, where startups can and do succeed, that has sparked a new breed of risk-taking dropouts.
  • UnCollege, founded by Thiel Fellowship recipient Dale Stephens, does an end run around school with its 12-month Gap Year Program.
  • Launching in September 2013, the $10,000 “custom-designed hackademics curriculum” includes three months living abroad, a global network of mentors, and paid internships at hot Silicon Valley startups.

WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS

  • 21st-century dropouts are a far cry from the old “tune in, turn on, drop out” hippies. But they’re not just writing code and pitching startups to VCs. UnCollege’s DIY approach to education involves a broad range of self-directed learning, from volunteering to travel to cooperative work-study groups.
  • If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. To prepare students for the real world, increasing numbers of colleges offer entrepreneurship courses that serve as business incubators.

RESOURCES

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

A “BIG” ALERT

January 9, 2013 – 2:15 pm

thumbnailby Charlotte Beal

The food trends that need to die. The home design trends we’re sick of. The top beauty picks of 2012. Media and future-casting companies are swirling with their picks for year-end content, but Iconoculture is different. Our Big Ideas 2013 series, rolling out now, dives deep into five influential market shifts that will shape the consumer landscape for years to come. And it’s no accident that the “Big” is capitalized.

While many of the aforementioned companies pull together a grab bag of “important” content, Iconoculture makes it our mission to examine the underlying motivators and larger themes that cross categories, demographics and even geographic locations. “Six Shopper Missions” describes the universal routines that are likely to transform retail around the world. “Big Data Gets Personal” shows how smart brands are balancing privacy and product to help rather than annoy consumers. “Health Pulse” provides a guide for plotting consumers’ level of health sophistication in order to craft more effective wellness messages. “Foodies Recalibrate” makes a case for quality convenience products as the game changer of the moment. “BRIC Saving and Spending by the Letters” helps marketers understand the different money habits of consumers in the explosively emerging markets of Brazil, Russia, India and China.

This Big Idea research is big enough to command the attention of global food and beverage manufacturers, retailers, CPG innovators, app developers, social media marketers and creative directors … but not so broad as to be generalist and unhelpful. We don’t dare call it a crystal ball. It’s more powerful than that.

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By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Consumers, Economy, Food/Beverage, Global, Health, Retail, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Could Nate Silver-style algorithms predict recipe success?

December 18, 2012 – 1:29 pm

thumbnailby Tory Davis

WHAT’S HAPPENING

  • Lada Adamic, a computer scientist at Facebook and the University of Michigan, has developed an algorithm with her team that predicts how well a recipe will turn out. She can predict how many stars a dish will receive on AllRecipes.com with an 80% success rate (NPR.org, 19 November 2012).
  • Her research analyzed almost 50,000 recipes and two million reader reviews and pulled out the ingredients, cooking methods and nutritional profiles, then built a social network of sorts for the ingredients and observed how often two ingredients appeared together. Duos caught canoodling often, like bacon and onion, appear closer together than unusual pairs like cheese and lemon.
  • The team also analyzed comments about ingredient substitutions and produced a notably robust list of recipe replacements that’s more comprehensive than the Joy of Cooking‘s.

WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS

  • Some consumers consider cooking a science far more than an art. These data-minded cooks seek information firmly grounded in research and solid data — especially when it comes with a colorful algorithm chart.
  • Nate Silver at the FiveThirtyEight blog made data aggregation and algorithms not just mainstream, but cool. Applying them to other areas will pique consumers’ curiosity.
  • Good cooks can recognize a good recipe and know what to swap out, but for kitchen novices, extra guidance boosts confidence and enthusiasm.

RESOURCES

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

From lyricist to physicist: New York City schools incorporate hip-hop into science classes

December 18, 2012 – 1:25 pm

thumbnailby Lisa Parks

WHAT’S HAPPENING

  • Music has often been used to teach complicated ideas. Columbia University professor Christopher Emdin is finding that rap can help high school students rhyme their way into scientific literacy.
  • Emdin, Wu-Tang Clan hip-hop artist GZA and the founders of the lyrics website Rap Genius are launching a program in 10 predominantly black and Latino New York City public schools.
  • After a science lesson, students will create a rap, relaying the material back to the teacher. The best raps will be posted on the Rap Genius website.
  • During the project’s trial period, attendance, interest and graduation rates rose once music was introduced (CNN.com, 19 November 2012).

WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS

  • Black and Latino teens who normally see science as a subject for nerds may respect and envy those who use the class to show off superior rap skills. This positive peer pressure could change the way they view science and lead them to want to impress their peers as well as please their instructors.
  • Rappers like GZA (pronounced JIZ-ah, a play on genius) are part of a new wave of consumers who see hip-hop exploring topics other than street life, including science and art. More youths are embracing their brainy side and enjoy music that makes them think.
  • Many urban teens want to rap it out rather than talk it out. This is a good rule of thumb for brands that want to get in on the conversation.

RESOURCES

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

H&M puts families in aesthetic harmony

December 18, 2012 – 1:22 pm

thumbnailby Nissa Hanna

WHAT’S HAPPENING

  • H&M is playing stylist for the 2012 holiday portrait season with the launch of its Fashion Family Collection.
  • Matching motorcycle jackets for everyone? Not quite. The line offers complementary styles for hip parents and their ultracool kids. Save for some chic mama jackets that are replicated for sophisticated little girls, the configurations stay away from matchy-matchy looks.
  • Anchored in shades of burgundy and gray with pops of metallics, furs and leathers, the collection includes dresses, tops and skirts for mom and daughter; tees, sweaters and pants for dad and son; and shoes and accessories for all.

WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS

RESOURCES

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

Digital Hopscotch connects learning and motion

December 18, 2012 – 1:19 pm

thumbnailby Eric Braun

WHAT’S HAPPENING

  • It’s no longer just a sidewalk game: Hopscotch, developed by the German-based Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology, lets kids hop, skip and jump while learning math, language and other ordinarily static subjects (Good.is, 28 November 2012).
  • A sensor mat includes squares numbered like the well-known sidewalk version as well as letters arranged like a phone’s keypad. Players jump on the mat to answer questions that appear on a connected monitor, and earn more points by exercising harder, as measured by an accompanying motion-sensor belt. The data is then transmitted in real time via Bluetooth.
  • The device, which is being tested in schools, could also be used to boost mind-body connection for patients in rehab or nursing homes.

WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS

  • Standing while working. Walking on a treadmill while working. With more and more research showing the ill health effects of sitting all day, technology that connects exercise to everyday tasks is blossoming. Targeting school-age kids seems like the best place to start.
  • Parents appreciate tech that brings a nostalgic and well-loved playground game like hopscotch to the 21st century.

RESOURCES

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By Iconoculture | Posted in Education, Health, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off

IT’S A WONDERFUL, SOCIAL LIFE

December 18, 2012 – 1:10 pm

thumbnailby Hans Eisenbeis

The holidays underscore some conflicts in the American psyche around instant gratification, conspicuous consumption and the ties that bind us to those on our gifting lists. These themes get a close-up in the annual TV-driven recurrence of It’s a Wonderful Life. At its core, the movie speaks to one of the most powerful facets of the American Middle-Class Identity: equal access and opportunity for all, a value that George Bailey martyrs himself over for the “working poor” of Bedford Falls.

What you may not know about the film is that it was based on a 1944 short story by Phillip Van Doren Stern, originally called “The Greatest Gift.” The author was rejected by numerous publishers, so he self-published the story as a 21-page Christmas card that he sent to 200 friends. As a result of the 20th-century’s version of a social network — involving quaint things like paper letters in envelopes — it wound up going viral and landing on Frank Capra’s desk.

The moral of the story is that our most cherished values survive like weeds on a playground, or like reruns on TV, because of our innate need to connect with friends and family. Long lines at the cash register and maxed-out credit cards are no match for the rituals behind the shopping — celebrating the people we love and the beliefs we hold most dearly. Never in the calendar year is there a better view of values-driven consumerism that says less about rugged American DIY individualism and more about what you could call the DIT (Do It Together) spirit. And that’s an idea that George Bailey could certainly get behind.

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By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Economy, Social Media, Television | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Pinterest photos help therapist gauge clients’ moods

December 11, 2012 – 2:45 pm

thumbnailby Cree McCree

WHAT’S HAPPENING

  • Forget Rorschach tests. Pinterest is the latest therapeutic tool. Relationship counselor Crystal Rice scans people’s emotions by viewing the photos they post on the popular social media site.
  • Rice, who runs Insieme Consulting in Hagarstown, MD, asks clients to pin pictures that reflect their mood every day. When clients return to her office, they look at Pinterest together to see what stories the photos tell.
  • “I’ll ask them how things have gone, and they’ll say, ‘Oh, it’s fine,’” says Rice. “Then I say, ‘OK, let’s go over your Pinterest board.’ And, really, over the last three weeks, it’s been dark, or maybe they were sad or upset, and they weren’t thinking about that when they were sitting in my office” (NewsWorks.com, 5 November 2012).

WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS

  • When it comes to gauging emotions, a picture really is worth a thousand words, and many people find it easier to express themselves through images. The photos also serve as icebreakers that give therapists an opening to get a dialogue going.
  • Pinterest encourages daydreams, which point to where a person wants to go. It also makes it easy to create an interactive journal that documents the ups and downs of life.

RESOURCES

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

Indian schools put hand washing on the daily schedule

December 11, 2012 – 2:42 pm

thumbnailby Rasika Batra

WHAT’S HAPPENING

  • Instead of washing its hands of absenteeism and illness, the Ministry of Human Resource Development has found a unique solution. It has instructed all schools that serve midday meals to include in the timetable the washing of hands with soap.
  • The egalitarian WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) in School programme includes students, cooks and teachers.
  • The ministry claims that this “essential life skill, once learnt at school, can then be inculcated within the household and wider community by children” (IndianExpress.com, 25 October 2012).
  • The programme makes five recommendations: create a dedicated slot in the daily timetable to allow time for all children, cooks and teachers to wash their hands; ensure the availability of soap; provide buckets and mugs if the facilities are not adequate; monitor the activity; and, at the state level, generate comprehensive data on schools’ water and sanitation systems.

WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS

  • The lack of access to running water in poorer urban areas and the hinterland has an impact on basic hygiene. In their attempt to use water judiciously, many people do not wash their hands as frequently as they should.
  • The fight for survival means that people look for food, water and shelter; the need for hygiene registers low on the list. Basic survival skills that can prevent illness — including diarrhea that can lead to death — are being promoted by NGOs and the government.

RESOURCES

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

New attraction at the mall: Insurance stores!

December 11, 2012 – 2:39 pm

thumbnailby Hans Eisenbeis

WHAT’S HAPPENING

  • Health insurance companies are gearing up for an interesting season indeed, as the Affordable Care Act comes fully online in 2013 and 2014. Judging from late developments, insurers may be expecting some stiff competition. UnitedHealthcare, HealthPartners and Blue Cross and Blue Shield are all opening retail sales locations at malls and pharmacies around the US (StarTribune.com, 23 October 2012).
  • As of November 2012, some 30 pop-up stores and 1,400 kiosks have opened at US malls in anticipation of the open-enrollment period. For most Americans, that occurs in January 2013.
  • HealthPartners executive vice president Andrea Walsh said the insurer wants to be “where consumers are … as opposed to expecting them to come to us.”

WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS

  • Like other financial services companies such as banks, health insurers are in danger of being the target of consumer anger, especially as they get their Obamacare close-up in the next two years. Proactively seeking out new customers with good and inexpensive products can look like strong pro-consumer advocacy.

RESOURCES

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

A MERRY MULTICHANNEL HOLIDAY

December 11, 2012 – 2:36 pm

thumbnailby Nissa Hanna

It’s two weeks until the gift wrap comes off, and the holiday-shopping kickoffs have been closely watched by retailers and analysts who continue to proclaim that Cyber Monday (or Cyber Any Day) is crashing the Black Friday party. For the first time, online sales on Black Friday surpassed $1 billion, according to comScore (25 November 2012). That’s a 26% increase over last year (CNN.com, 26 November 2012). Meanwhile, brick-and-mortar retail sales were down 1.8% this Black Friday compared to last year (ShopperTrak, 27 November 2012).

While some read the e-retail figures as an encroachment on brick-and-mortar territory, Iconoculture sees them as the progression of an inevitable equilibrium. Just as these retail events are no longer truly separated by a weekend, consumers don’t see online and in-store shopping as an either/or thing. In early November 2012, we asked our IconoCommunities panel to tell us where they plan to do their holiday shopping. Overwhelmingly, individual responders said that they’ll be getting their gifts from both online and offline stores (1 November 2012).

This year’s festive-shopping examples illustrate how brands are getting channel-creative: Target and Best Buy stores are price-matching online competitors; Target also outfitted its top toys with QR codes so sneaky parents can purchase gifts via their smartphones with kids in tow; the Toys R Us in-person reservation system takes the anxiety out of scoring the most coveted items. Online-only fashion brand Everlane opened a New York-based pop-up where customers can check out its threads and then order online; and Etsy also set up a holiday pop-up in SoHo that features a collection of its online items curated by tastemakers like Martha Stewart and blogger Tavi Gevinson.

Consumers’ need for channel toggling, access and flexibility is intensified in the high-pressure and frenetic holiday season, but it doesn’t go dormant after the year-end sales. Whether they’re shopping for gifts or groceries, clothing or electronics, people are grateful for the innovations that lead to the purchase paths of least resistance all year round.

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