The Espresso: Edition 80
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Thursday August 25 2011

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Letter from the Editor - Edition 80

The New Age

As a corporate speaker on marketing and brand, thankfully I get to hear and see a lot that I can pass on to our Espresso readers. Things are certainly changing in the world of marketing, brand and advertising, and just as we the consumer look at brands differently, so too do the brand custodians who now have more opportunities than ever to help customers or clients. In fact, one executive in a US agency recently said that it has gone from advertising to use-vertising -  meaning that, rather than being about mass media and spamming your customers or clients with a monologue of messages, it has become a dialogue where instead you have to work out different ways of helping your customers or clients in their day to day lives.

For example Build-a-Brand.com has reduced the branding process to an algorithm that produces customised logos in five minutes. Facebook and foursquare are also starting to work directly with brands to allow them to cut out agencies and start conversations directly with the client. Then there are new world ad agencies like GeniusRocket who are stripped of the typical high priced creatives, the flash dinners and the two week TV shoots in the most exotic locations with more crew than you can poke a stick at. Instead, it is nothing more than a bare bones website that crowd-sources broadcast ready TV commercials from a pool of loosely vetted talent from around the world. Rather than handing over millions to an advertising agency, you can now get 7, 8 maybe 10 TV spots through GeniusRocket  for around US$40,000. What's more, the way they are designed, they can also build in tracking, testing and a wide distribution through the web, all as part of the package. GeniusRocket takes a percentage (maybe 20% to 40%) and the rest goes to the crowd sourced creatives, whoever or wherever they are. As Jon Bond, an advertising executive in the States said in a recent blog, "Marketing in the future is like sex, only the losers will have to pay for it".

Literature

I Will Drink To That

Collaboration can bring together the most unique of partners. When a Massachusetts based brewery created a limited edition beer bottle, it partnered with a well known author to create something different. Called "Case of the IPA", this unique creation is the result of a collaboration between microbrewery Just Beer and author Paul Goodchild . What's cool about this is that each bottle has a chapter of crime fiction on the label. Apparently the story is a 1920's inspired detective melodrama about a wealthy brewer and of course includes lots of stories about brewing and beer story lines. I guess the challenge for every person in business, charity or the arts is to think about WHO they can collaborate with and how they might do it. The next step for these guys would be to allow drinkers a part of the action. 

Home

Store It By Mail

We have long believed that the category of storage is only going to get bigger and bigger. With increasing separations in families, our downsizing to smaller homes and the focus on minimalisation, it makes sense for there to be a completely new category in storage. New Jersey based company, StorageByMail aims to change how we store our possessions. It's a unique service that lets you send your stuff through the mail to the company's central warehouse where they will store it for you. You start by registering an account online and describing the types of things you will be placing in storage. You then print your own customer pre-paid UPS shipping label for the packaging and off it goes. Of course there is even a mobile App to send the label to the nearest fax machine. The US Postal Service provides the transportation allowing some degree of confidence that the goods will arrive at the right place in decent condition and shape. However if you have only got one box...its free! Naturally after the first box, the costs kick in. As we move more and more towards a storage based model of living, this is a really clever concept. 

Travel

Smart Park

This one has us excited. The brainchild of Paris-based Smartgrains, ParkSense is an iPhone app that tells you which nearby parking stations have spots available. Based on specifically designed sensors that are placed directly in the ground and parking areas, the presence of a vehicle changes the sensors ambient magnetic field allowing it to detect whether or not there is a vehicle in a particular spot. These sensors are all connected to a wireless radio network that allows the free ParkSense iPhone App to tell you which parking spots are available in the vicinity. Apparently the system can be used both indoors and outdoors, on streets, parking lots, retail settings, airports and so on. In the time poor world that we live in, knowing where we can park in an instant has got to be a bonus by improving time efficiency, traffic congestion and wasted petrol while driving around and around in a car park. Note to Smartgrains....bring to Australia ASAP!

Green

Sun Power

Imagine a solar powered lightbulb! What a bonus that would be for not only campers everywhere, but also people around the world in remote locations who up until now have relied on kerosene. Recently launched by Denver/ Hong Kong based Nokero (which stands for No Kerosine) the N200 lasts six or more hours on one days charge...by the sun. The new and improved N200 is said to be even brighter than the last version and it features one solar cell and four LED lights along with a brand-able frosted globe. The bulb uses the solar energy it collects to power one AAA battery which is then used to provide light at night. It also turns off automatically in bright light to save energy. What we love about the N200 is that it is currently being used in remote, war-torn countries to avoid the high cost of running diesel generators. This means less fumes, less fuel and less accidents as well as a more clean and powerful source of light.

Technology

Just A Minute

Anyone who has tried to build their own website will know that even a seemingly simple thing like creating a 'Coming Soon' page can be a nightmare. However, someone has taken the time to think about a better way and so Capturely is born. It is a new online service that lets people who have a domain registration create a custom 'coming soon' page in about 1 minute. They are based in the States and you begin by entering a headline and body text along with the service that you plan to use. You can then either pick a template for the sites appearance or you can style your own page in real time. It is a pretty cool way of getting your message up to get you started. Once it is up you can even use it to start collecting email addresses for potential customers or consumers. We love the fact that someone has taken what is typically complicated and simplified it....and that is always a sure to find a market!
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The Espresso is a weekly free newspaper designed specifically for those who want to look at things differently.

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