- Leading-edge product design
- First online network for marketers
- Mass customisation: great products you can personalise
- Online community for grandparents
- Welcome to the safety era: fingerprint shopping
Breaking through the clutter in the overcrowded retail space is a challenge for any brand. Now these two have got it right: with a combination of clean packaging design and straightforward language, Beauty Engineered for Ever (B_E_E) and Another Bloody Water are really making a difference on supermarket shelves. New Zealand-based company B_E_E, who offer a range of environmentally friendly cleaning products, believe that being green doesn’t entail compromising on beauty and performance. As for Another Bloody Water, the St Kilda studio Subgroup Design has recently been rewarded with a Food and Beverage (FAB) Award for its bottle design: "(...) The packaging was made to reflect the true nature of water: clear and refreshing." We say: well done!
Sources: Marketing Magazine, October 2007, p.28 ff.
http://www.bee.net.nz/background.html
http://www.subgroup.com.au
"The marketing communications sector is to have its own designated social networking portal in the form of MarCom Professional. The website (www.marcomprofessional.com) was launched by Social Professional and was described by its creators as the first "social professional" online network for the marketing communications industry."
Source:Source: B& T Magazine, October 5, 2007, p.2
NIKEiD
Nike surely leads the way with their fully customised sneakers. On nikeid.nike.com, all it takes is 5 minutes to design your individual pair of shoes.
HEINZ CUSTOM LABELS
In its latest marketing move, Heinz has launched an interactive website (www.myheinz.com) where consumers can customise their own bottle labels.
CUSTOM-MIXED CEREALS
Hailed as one of the most innovative business ideas of the last months, three German students have set up a website (www.mymuesli.com) where consumers can choose from 75 organic ingredients to create their personal muesli.
Source for NIKEiD and Heinz:
http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/mass-customization-top-18-things-you-can-personalize
http://www.mymuesli.com
"Parenting websites have been around for years, but not until recently have grandparents had fully fledged destinations of their own. Now there’s Grandparents.com, a dedicated site that uses the power of online community to help today’s grandparents make the most of their relationships with their grandchildren. Launched in early September, Grandparents.com is targeting the more than 78 million grandparents in the United States with innovative ways to expand on the grandparent-grandchild relationship (...)."
Source: http://www.springwise.com/weekly/2007-10-11.htm#grandparents
"Shoppers in Shanghai now have a safer way to pay money as thousands of retailers have launched an electronic payment terminal that can match consumers’ fingerprints with their bank accounts (...). The retailers include department stores, supermarkets, restaurants and entertainment venues (...). People who have an account with the Agricultural Bank of China can register their fingerprints at the bank’s Changning branch (...). Live By Touch Holdings Ltd, operator of the system, said paying by fingerprint is safer than credit cards because no one can imitate the fingerprint."
Source: http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2007/200710/20071012/article_334241.htm