Tag Archives: Stefania Revelli

Silvercar strips down the car rental process

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 […]

THE BEAUTY BUSINESS GETS INTERESTING

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 […]

CEB Iconoculture’s Big Ideas 2013 Series: Meet 2 of 5

by Stefania Revelli Since 2008, Iconoculture has been following consumers as they get more health-smart, more health-oriented and more proactive. In a few short years, health and wellness has evolved from a purposeful need-to-know basis to a lifestyle expectation. A glance at hotel bedbug registries, anti-allergen car upholstery, breast-cancer-detecting fitness bras, antibacterial nail polish and salmon […]

Fitness bra could detect breast cancer early

by Stefania Revelli WHAT’S HAPPENING The First Warning Breast Tissue Screening Bra, by First Warning Systems, may resemble a standard sports bra, but it’s loaded with health technology on the inside. The bra has sensors that monitor and detect subtle temperature changes in cells, indicative of breast tissue abnormality. Data from the bra, a prototype […]

HEALTH ETHICS

by Stefania Revelli Corporations, consumers and our reelected commander in chief are facing a cultural climate where health looks like a battlefield. Who’s responsible? Who’s to blame? And, most important, who’s going to pay for it all? Indeed, Americans’ formerly “fun” habits are turning into very public vices. This Halloween marked the year’s biggest candy-buying […]

Does that car come in brown?

by Stefania Revelli WHAT’S HAPPENING Silver, white and now brown. After nearly phasing out a few years ago as a preferred car color, brown is making a comeback (Yahoo.com, August 2012). According to Jane Harrington, global color manager of PPG, brown evokes feelings of stability, authenticity and comfort that are reminiscent of appreciated lifestyle indulgences […]

Travelers GetGoing with surprise destinations

by Stefania Revelli WHAT’S HAPPENING GetGoing.com helps travelers pack the element of surprise into their itinerary. Users provide details like departure airport, travel dates, preferred flight times, two cities or regions they’d like to visit and type of trip they’d like to make (e.g., museums, romantic getaway, skiing), and the site generates a list of […]

Digital meds help forgetful patients

by Stefania Revelli WHAT’S HAPPENING Patients can swallow it and forget it — the first ingestible digital pill has received FDA approval (iHealthBeat.org, 3 August 2012). The copper and magnesium digital “pill” is only as large as a speck of sand and, when placed inside a pill and ingested, sends an electric signal to a […]

RAYS ON THE HOT SEAT

by Stefania Revelli Bronze and gold were two of the summer’s hottest shades, and not just because of the Olympics. Between indoor-tan taxes, overexposed “tan mom” Patricia Krentcil, new government regulations for sunscreen labeling, and health concerns around airbrush tanning, catching rays — whether natural or synthetic — has taken a lot of heat. Medical […]

Pregnancy tests at bars put out the message that babies and booze don’t mix

by Stefania Revelli WHAT’S HAPPENING As part of a “Think Before You Drink” campaign commissioned by Healthy Brains for Children, Pub 500 in Mankato, MN, has installed what could be the first of many pregnancy test kit dispensers in bar bathrooms (StarTribune.com, 19 July 2012). Users simply need to swipe their credit card to pick […]

Dog parking is now available at Ikea

by Stefania Revelli WHAT’S HAPPENING Drop off your kids, your husband and, now, your dog while you shop. An Ikea Germany outlet in the region of Cologne has added dog parking to its storefront (Dog-Milk.com, 9 August 2012). Ikea’s service provides individual Astroturf quadrants with bowls of water in front of the store, where owners can […]

Consumers enter more fragrance-free zones

by Stefania Revelli WHAT’S HAPPENING Tuttle, OK, is providing purer air to its more sensitive residents through a fragrance-free law (USAToday.com, 3 July 2012). Visitors to Tuttle’s City Hall are asked to “remain at the front of the building” (outside) if they are wearing perfume or fragrances like aftershave. Some fragrances can trigger asthma and […]

Travel plans now include the layaway route

by Stefania Revelli WHAT’S HAPPENING Layaway isn’t a new way to pay, but travel hasn’t traditionally been a category associated with the piecemeal-style payment plan. Sears has launched Sears Vacations, an online destination where customers can put hotel and travel packages, hotels, cruises and rental cars on hold and pay for them progressively. Layaway payment […]

WOMEN, SPORTS AND MARKETING TO THE MODERN FAN

by Stefania Revelli The French Open. The LA Kings. The Euro 2012 soccer championships. Olympics fever. It’s an exciting time for sports fans, but especially for female fans. Women athletes often get less attention for their merit and more for their magnetism, while female fans are perceived as superficial and less knowledgeable (see the Baseball […]

CAR CONVERSATIONS

by Stefania Revelli It’s that time of year again. Oil refineries are getting a spring cleaning, gas prices are heading upward, and New York City was recently host to the 2012 International Auto Show. Iconoculture talked to dozens of consumers and product specialists there and found three recurring themes: fervor, fuel and fear. Visitors were […]

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