The Espresso: Edition 109
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Wednesday August 31 2011

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Letter From the Editor - Edition 109

Do It 

Last month I had the privilege of speaking for the leadership team at Reach . Reach is an organisation fronted by AFL legend Jim Stynes that helps youth to be the best they can be. Based in Melbourne, Reach is an amazing program run by an amazing group of young talented minds. I had the privilege of spending an afternoon with the guys talking about creativity and idea generation. At the end of my speech one of the guys made the comment that he had been wanting to be a songwriter for some time and the speech had given him the permission and the courage to do it. The thing that dawns on me quite often is that one of the barriers that stops us from pursuing our dream of creating is that we worry about what others will think. The number of times I have worked with authors, songwriters, entrepreneurs or corporates who won't move on their great idea for the fear of ridicule. My advice: do it for yourself and nobody else. Be selfish and write, record, produce, develop or move forward purely for yourself. Let YOU be the only judge of your creative Mojo. In the words of well known movie director Quentin Tarantino "the more you worry about what they think, the more you create a they". There is no they, there is only you and YOUR opinion, you are the greatest judge or jury of your own creativity. If you want to be a songwriter then pick up the pen and start to put lyrics on the page. Should no one else ever see your lyrics don't worry about it, you wont die wondering what it would have been like to be a songwriter. The minute you commit the word to the page you are a songwriter in my book. 

Marketing

Powering Up Sales

We love it when we see a product using an affiliation or promotion to not only boost sales but also enhance the perception of the position of the product in the market. Vitamin Water has executed an excellent ad concept which promotes their energy boosting positioning for their product. Vitamin Water has used bus shelters in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Boston to mount 5 Volt battery powered USB ports so that people waiting for a bus can recharge their phones, iPod, gaming device or what ever else fits the port. Clever idea, its innovative, makes sense and does something for the true brand values of Vitamin Water. We like this one.

Advertising

Taking on the Big Guys

We love it when we get Espresso contributions from around the world. This one comes to us from Phil in Geneva who spotted this pretty cool idea and thought it might be of interest to you, our readers. We have to agree Phil, its a cracker. Tesco have been finding a way to move into South Korea and even went down the track of re-branding itself as Homeplus. It had a very big market leader as a competitor in E-Mart. This is where the innovation came in. Homeplus realised that South Koreans worked really hard and have little time for grocery shopping and in most cases they dread it. Homeplus decided to spin it around and take the store to the people. They started by building billboards in subway stations that exactly mimicked the shelf of produce in their stores. You then put your smartphone to the billboard, centre it on the product you want to shop with and it automatically scans a barcode. That product then goes into your online shopping basket. The products are then ordered and delivered to your home, just after you arrive home. This is an amazing concept and certainly opens up the door to innovation for retailers all over the world. So whilst waiting at the subway you can do your shopping in what looks exactly the same as the shelf in a Homeplus. It saves you time, energy and is delivered to your doorstep and really solves a big problem. Well done.

Food

Sniffing Out a Bargain

A report recently on one of the international television networks told of a Brooklyn supermarket chain that installs special machines that pump out the smell of items for sale. For example, if you are in the meat section they will send out the smell of a smokey bacon. If you are in the fruit section they will send out the citrus smell of oranges. Delicatessen, it's salami. Using the olfactory sense of smell this Brooklyn supermarket is experimenting to see whether they can increase the desire for people to buy their products based on the scent. They are going through the normal draw cards like strawberries, chocolates and not surprisingly the manager has seen a gradual increase in sales around these scented products. The supermarket spokesperson said that they believe that the scent machines have bumped up sales by around 7-8%. They are likely to install more of these machines and why wouldn't you! If it's paying handsome dividends when the normal decline in sales is on the nose then this is a great solution! 

iStuff

Pass the Opener

Being Australian this new app had us at hello. You can imagine the scene. Two blokes from Australia are about to have a stubby when one turns to the other and says "pass me an opener". Admittingly what springs to mind is, where's an app for that! Rob Ward and Chris Peters from Melbourne have created a case for your iPhone that contains a slide-out bottle opener. The case is called Opena. Typically the Aussies have tested their invention to ensure the opener stood no chance of scratching or putting pressure on the phone and most importantly was water-proof should the brew spill. You can imagine they have done plenty of testing, going through many cartons of booze in order to make sure it works well. The Opena has just come onto the market this month and is one to keep an eye on. A great pressie for your dad or a mate!

Fashion

A Head Of Their Time

There is no doubt that the white earphones that attach themselves to an iPhone or an iPod have been a wonderful marketing ploy by Apple to help sell the popularity of their incredible machines. Two Hong Kong designers Stanley Xing and Wa Chu who were obviously bored by the standard white have designed MIYA Headphones. The customisation comes where you can use any colour in any of the components to create your own unique set of earphones. If thats too hard you just hit a button and they will do it for you through a randomised system that will make a unique pair of headphones for you. No doubt our opinion leading Espresso readers who like to be ahead of the curve will love this one and will be onto the Miya Headphones website quicker than you you can find the next song on your iPhone.
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The Espresso is a weekly free newspaper designed specifically for those who want to look at things differently.

Delivered to your inbox every Wednesday afternoon, you can receive the world's first ever newspaper dedicated to creativity, imagination, and problem solving.

Gary scours the world to find interesting tips, tools and news to give you a new or different perspective on the world around you.