Tag Archives: Iconowatch

China’s online malls hope shoppers pick up on package pickup option

January 30, 2013 – 7:29 am

by Si Chen WHAT’S HAPPENING Chinese consumers are enthusiastic about the ease of online shopping, but dealing with packages has not been so simple. Two large online malls are helping to solve that inconvenience problem by offering package pickups at — where else? — convenience stores. Tencent’s Buy QQ started an O2O (online to offline) […]

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Global, Retail | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Eye chart inspires “visionary” package graphics

January 30, 2013 – 6:48 am

by Kate Connolly WHAT’S HAPPENING OJO Fortified Eye Care Nectar is a dietary supplement, but package graphics for the product line keep it from looking medicinal. To quickly convey the beverage’s eye-health benefits, graphics on the 8-oz. OJO bottles simulate an eye chart. Not surprisingly, the North American product was developed by an ophthalmologist. Fruit […]

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Health, Packaging | Also tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Digital photo sharing goes analog in Polaroid Fotobar stores

January 30, 2013 – 6:45 am

by Cree McCree WHAT’S HAPPENING Before there were Instagrams, there were Polaroids: instant snapshots you could share with friends, no processing required. Now the company that invented analog photo sharing enters the Instagram age with Polaroid Fotobar stores, where consumers can turn their smartphone snaps into keepsakes. Beginning in February 2013, when the first Fotobar […]

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EUROPEANS SWITCH OFF TO CHARGE UP

January 30, 2013 – 6:42 am

by Gwyneth Holland Europeans are famed for their love of the good life, but the influence of global commerce and always-on tech toys and tools (plus the need to improve productivity in the wake of the eurozone crisis), has compromised their easygoing pace. While connectivity is key for harried midlifers and three-screen teens alike, they […]

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Consumers, Retail, Travel, U.K. | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Silvercar strips down the car rental process

January 22, 2013 – 4:08 pm

by Stefania Revelli WHAT’S HAPPENING Silvercar simplifies the airport car rental process to four steps and one 2013 silver Audi A4 — one  make, one model, one color, one choice. Users make an online reservation, download the Silvercar app, access the car for their needs, and return it when they’re done. Separating it from traditional […]

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Transportation | Also tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off

“Mommy penalty” pushes women’s wages down even further

January 22, 2013 – 4:05 pm

by Hans Eisenbeis WHAT’S HAPPENING Even though women have made big strides in recent decades relative to education and career, they continue to make less than men — on average about 7% less for comparable positions. And a recent survey by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found that women with children typically make […]

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Consumers, Moms, Money/Spending, Work | Also tagged , , , , | Comments Off

THE BEAUTY BUSINESS GETS INTERESTING

January 22, 2013 – 4:02 pm

by Stefania Revelli Unretouched makeup ads. Plus-size models. Airbrush bans. In the last few years, the beauty category has experienced some radical image changes. But many of these shifts were still suggestive of beauty based on physical attributes. Today, sometimes-contradictory character traits like strength, vulnerability, authenticity and individuality are getting more notice as part of […]

By Iconoculture | Posted in Beauty, Consumer Trend | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

BRAZIL BEYOND SAMBA

January 15, 2013 – 1:53 pm

by Becky Sun Brazil is more than samba, futebol and rainforest. It’s a rising economic powerhouse — not only because of agriculture and natural-resource exports, but increasingly because of its beverages, fashion, personal-care products and more. China is one country that’s discovering this Latin American giant. Brazilian Gate, a bar in the trendy pedestrian-only zone […]

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Food/Beverage, Global, Health/Beauty, Retail | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

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

January 9, 2013 – 3:20 pm

by 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 […]

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

Frankfurt airport caters to Chinese shoppers

January 9, 2013 – 3:17 pm

by 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 […]

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Hip Moscow restaurant teaches gourmet kids’ recipes

January 9, 2013 – 3:01 pm

by 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 […]

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

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

January 9, 2013 – 2:58 pm

by 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 […]

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

School! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing!

January 9, 2013 – 2:28 pm

by 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 […]

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Education | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

A “BIG” ALERT

January 9, 2013 – 2:15 pm

by 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 […]

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

Could Nate Silver-style algorithms predict recipe success?

December 18, 2012 – 1:29 pm

by 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 […]

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