Cold As Ice, America v. Luxembourg and Barbie Sexes It Up

Are Americans taking the idea of diet-friendly snacks too far? Chewing Ice is becoming a new snack trend among consumers, as evidenced by a 23% increase from 2003 to 2006 in sales of machines that produce easier-to-chew ice, with names such as Nugget Ice and Pearl Ice. Some quick-service restaurants are even selling ice-to-go by the cupful (going rate: $.25) or by the bag. I did always LOVE eating that Sonic ice. Might have been the best part of the drive-through experience. Who am I kidding...the Frito Pie still takes the cake on that one.



Who would win in a drink-off: the U.S. or Luxembourg? While the average American adult drinks the equivalent of 38 six-packs of beer, a dozen bottles of wine and two quarts of distilled spirits per year, 39 other nations outdrink us...the list is topped by Luxembourg, where residents manage to ingest roughly 284 bottles of beer and 88 bottles of wine annually.

On People Aren't Wiied Out Yet: Unable to keep up with consumer demand for the Wii this holiday season, Nintendo could be losing approximately $1 billion in potential sales, according to analysts.

Barbie's outfits has always seemed a little too racy for comfort but who would have thought that Mattel would propagate this stereotype through their Barbie Collector dolls - "designed to be appreciated by adults, not kids." The Lingerie Barbies, for example, wear items described as "heavenly bustier with pink peek-a-boo peignoir". And just so kids don't accidentally see the outfits while exploring the Barbie website, the doll's picture is confined to head and shoulders. Read more here.

2007 Brought Marketers to their Senses...

Scott Cook (founder of Intuit) recently said that "A brand is what a friend tells a friend it is. Not what the company tells them." Kind of a scary sentiment for marketers, but I think arming consumers with information, entertaining them somehow unexpected and letting them spread the word is definitely the way of the future. And one of the best ways of doing this is by reaching them in viral ways and speaking to them in their own terms, acknowledging their power.

Which brings me to another thing that became apparent to marketers this year. Your product better damn well be awesome and live up to what you say about it, otherwise everyone will know in a millisecond. It is imperative that the way you speak to your consumer is AUTHENTIC and TRANSPARENT. According to Ad Age, our Experience Economy (where people are choosing products because of the experiences they incite/help create) has necessitated this non-phoniness in a big way.

Appealing to the senses (physically and metaphorically) has occurred a lot in the past year in interesting iterations:
Smell: For the relaunch of Weeds, Showtime created magazine insert ads with a scent strip, smelling like...what else? No word as to how they concocted/scent tested the fragrance. Also Kraft put out a scratch and sniff DiGiorno garlic bread card in-store to entice consumers to buy.
Sound: As previously posted, A&E's Paranormal-going-to-make-you-think-you're-crazy out-of-home ads. Also, TVs at grocery checkouts have directed sound systems that can be heard only by the first person in line, shielding the ears of cashiers from repeated messaging. One more: stores using sound waves that can only be heard by young ears to keep teenagers from loitering at their doors...
Touch: My favorite ad of the year - one for Fage yogurt (also a personal obsession as I eat one daily...) clearly shows (not tells) of the brand's main equity - the thickness of the yogurt. Check it out here:



Random facts:

Kraft boasts at least one product in 199 of 200 homes in the United States.



Window shopping 2.0: Polo Ralph Lauren created 67-inch interactive window displays that consumers could touch, explore choices of gear and even make purchases!


Most popular ringtone of 2007: T-Pain’s “Buy U A Drink,” followed by Mims’ “This Is Why Im Hot.”

Not-so-fat, buying spam, and cartoon-loving

No need to go nuts at the gym trying to shed a few pounds after indulging this holiday season — just let HP's slim filter shed the weight for you. Available on a few different digital cameras, the slim filter promises to rid consumers of that extra 10 pounds brought on by the camera.
After taking the pic, consumers can compare and choose to keep the original or filtered photo. The subjects still look like themselves, there's just slightly less of them to see.
The slimness filter can be adjusted for slight or more dramatic effects. Looking at pictures from the beach will be so much more enjoyable now.

On maybe it's not so SPAMmy or these people are just buying a lot of Vi*AGRa or X@n@x: One in six people (16%) have made a purchase from an email they found in their spam folder, according to Endai Worldwide.

That's a lot of Spongebob: 57% of parents watch six or more hours of TV with their children each week, according to Harris Interactive for Panasonic.

Brides and schitzo tendencies

Bridezillas just a fad?: The fastest-growing segment of the print magazine market from 2002 to 2007 was wedding magazines.

Apparently inducing schitzophrenic freak-outs is the newest way to market: A&E has placed a billboard for their new show Paranormal State in SoHo that speaks to you, and only you. According to AdAge, "the billboard uses technology manufactured by Holosonic that transmits an "audio spotlight" from a rooftop speaker so that the sound is contained within your cranium". All I can say is, next time I'm alone walking down Prince and hear a woman's voice asking, "Who's there? Who's there? It's not your imagination" at least I will know I'm not going completely nuts. Too bad for all those unsuspecting, hypochondriac New Yorkers that are going to run home and self-diagnose...

Golden Grades, Onion Chopping and Lost Socks No-More

How this passes in this increasingly obesity-fearing culture is beyond me: McDonald's is advertising on school report cards. The Golden Arches paid the $1,600 cost of printing report-card jackets for the school year in Seminole County, Fla., in exchange for a Happy Meal coupon on the card's cover. Basically, kids who get top grades, have good attendance and good behavior get a free happy meal.

If you need to know how to do just about anything, try this search engine called How Do I?
It accesses all the "how to" sites as well as YouTube for video instruction and lets you decide who you want to trust to teach you how to chop an onion without crying (my brother wore ski goggles over Thanksgiving - there has to be a better way), sharpen a pencil (just double checking) or buy a wedding shower present (my cousin's is this weekend...)

FINALLY someone has figured out how to solve the lost-sock issue that has plagued me for basically my entire life. Throx so brilliantly sells their socks in threes! Now I can kick off my socks in my sleep and not worry if one falls into the oblivion of my under-bed area...yippee.

Doggie drinks and U.S. Miscellany

I thought this pampered pets trend was slowly going away - but then I noticed this: the launch of a line of nutritionally enhanced flavored bottled waters for pets. Molli's Choice waters come in such distinctive flavors as beef tenderloin, bacon delight, roasted turkey, roasted chicken and original enhanced purified water. This verbiage is actually on their website: "We offer both unflavored water and a selection of subtle and sophisticated flavors to keep even the most discriminating pet properly hydrated." Last time I checked my "discriminating" golden retriever liked toilet- and mud-flavored water and wasn't drinking out of plastic bottles...

Una otra razon de praticar nuestro espanol - According to the US Census Bureau, Hispanic surnames Garcia and Rodriguez have now moved into the top 10 most common last names in the U.S.
And just because I started playing on the Census website, these NYC statistics always amaze me:

• 36.1% of the New York City population speaks a language other than English at home
• Only 29.3% of NYC women are married - compared to 52.1% across the U.S.

For those of us who feel as though we should be politically active but don't necessarily have the time/energy to research candidate, this website is a great resource. Glassbooth gives you points to allot to issues based on how important you find them, and then asks you how strongly you agree or disagree on certain reforms or issues (complete with links to wikipedia if you need to catch up to be able to answer the question). The site then matches you with the candidates you jibe most with, and tells you, in detail, why.

Chemicals, sleeping and aliens

I am clearly behind in my trade newsletter reading...but what gives with Clorox buying Burt's Bees? I can't think of two companies with such vastly different images - Clorox with its chemical ability to annihilate whatever stain comes in its way, and Burt's Bees with its organic, live and let live, natural small-brand mentality...but that's just me. I don't want to be putting on Burt's Bees products that have been produced in the same giant factory as my toilet bowl cleaner.

I need me one of these - maybe it would help shake the perpetual exhaustion. The Sleeptracker alarm clock is a watch that measures where you are in your sleep cycle and "catches" you at an optimal, almost-awake moment. Which means no more waking up mid-REM sleep groggy and confused.

Here's a promotion that is both interesting on an attempt-to-reach-a-different-consumer level and a complete nonsequitur - Kimberly-Clark is asking the public to generate videos that imagine the bathroom habits of aliens and post them on www.aliendroppings.com. I want to know who gets to dress up as the alien invading the bathroom stall...

For the launch of Buckley's Cough Syrup in the United States, Ad agency Saatchi turns a negative taste perception (the mix is made from camphor, pine needle oil, menthol and Canadian fir balsam gum) into a positive with the tagline "It Tastes Awful. And it Works"
Ads compare Buckley's with Used Mouthwash, Public Restroom Puddle, Snail Trail Accumulation and Trash Bag Leakage. Guess in a world where people will willingly eat Snot and Vomit flavored Jelly Belly's (or excuse me, Bertie Bott's Beans) this campaign isn't so outrageous!

On my radar: brands that are combining two existing products to form a "hybrid". Smart application: Apple and Nike - there's a chip inserted in the sole of a special shoe that turns it into a step counter. Then the runner's iPod displays info about number of miles run, pace and calories burned...and then they can even pump it up with a one-click request for a "power song". This is a great example of two brands that are leveraging core equities and capabilities to create an alternate usage for the products (e.g. iPod screen to track your workout!)

Today we'll end with a statistic that might make all of us 20-somethings who feel old feel better: 60% of those in their 60s, and 58% of those in their 70s agree that 70 is the new 50, says The Shopper Report.

Oreo what's up in the world today

So speaking of Oreos (how can I not, with the aroma of those red-cream-filled Winter Oreos wafting through the air from the corner office) yesterday I was reminded of one of the most hilarious TV spots of my childhood. It's for Milk - view it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-SxCCQfdrk. There are a bunch of guys in suits sitting around a conference room with stacks of Oreos and the task of naming this sandwich cookie. An employee named Hurley has his mouth full of cookie when asked what he thinks...and when he says "I don't know" it sounds like Oreo. The room explodes with applause and "Hurley, you're a genius!" No, Milk (and Goodby, etc - the agency), that ad is pure genius.

Seems like everyone out there is focused on being green - now, guerilla marketing has come clean. British company Street Art is making enormous stencils of clients' logos and messages, and "cleaning" them on to the streets. Using high-pressure cleaning machines and water/steam, messaging is "blasted" onto pavement - providing squeaky-clean communication with no carbon footprint... Check it out at http://www.streetadvertisingservices.com/.

According to the extremely reputable and current-events focused Fox 5 News, Santas in Sydney Australia are being mandated to say "ha ha ha" instead of "ho ho ho" because the familiar greeting may be construed as offensive to women. Insert funny comment here.

Did you know that camping is the top outdoor recreation activity among all Americans age 6 and above as tracked by the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association? Guess growing up in CT didn't groom me to be the average American. Although I think I would like to escape this concrete wonderland and commune with nature...(erm, honestly I don't know if that's the truth or if I am being sarcastic). I'll ponder that this weekend from the safety of my midtown apartment.

Let's start with some drinking aides...

Like we needed another reason to get wasted/trashed/hammered (depending of which of my work buddies you ask) or if you are missing those college-pregame events that actually become the party - here's an amazing little site that provides fully "curated" power hour mixes you can stream for free - www.thesearepowerfulhours.com (each mix has recommended beverage choices). Here's a site you can go to if you want to create your own power hour mixes from your iTunes library: http://www.ipowerhour.com/

Check out http://www.adamsballs.com/ to make your own, personalized (with photos/words/exclamations/proclamations) PING PONG BALLS. Because there's no way you could win without your lucky balls.

Some fashion news:
1) Topshop is opening in the States! By September '08 there will be 3 locations opening in Manhattan. Perfect for all those NYC ladies (particularly ex-London-abroaders) to pretend we're abroad. On a sidenote, the last purchase I made at Topshop is a purple tee with a screened image of a deer, with the words "Frankly, my dear..." Wow I am a dork. Worst part: I think I wore it this summer.
2) Craziness on the Fendi Front...Karl Lagerfeld and the Double Fs staged a $10 million extravaganza fashion show on the Great Wall of China. 88 models, walking 88 metres (in homage to the Chinese number signifying/portending prosperity) in Chinese-inspired luxe garb. The spectacular ended with the Fendi logo shone hugely onto the majestic mountain backdrop. Lagerfeld joked: "it's the first fashion show to be seen from the moon!"

Other Randomness:

According to Wharton study "Men Shop, Women Buy," for women "lack of help when needed" is the top problem (29%) when shopping. I would have to say that my top problem is when I realize (yet again) how far away I am from that pre-college clothing size.

The average time it takes to open an American Idol Barbie is 15 minutes, 10 seconds.

Why were these "Big Macs of Oreos" discontinued? Big Stuf Oreos (introduced in 1985) were several times the size of a normal Oreo. Sold individually, each Big Stuf contained 316 calories and 13 grams of fat. They were discontinued in 1991.

The First

I am an intellectually curious, 23-something strategic planner at a boutique advertising agency in New York City. I am basically obsessed with people watching and trying to figure out what makes people tick. That mixed with a creative propensity/utter inability to do math, a desire to wear jeans every day at work, and a childhood collection of Absolut ads steered me toward this advertising and marketing career path.
With all my reading of trade publications, internet scouring and trend observing, I need a place where I can dump my thoughts (and come back to when my memory of "that cool thing I read" fails me). Disclaimer: This is by no means an exhaustive list of the latest and greatest out there in the marketplace - but it's my own subjective, depending on what I read today, list (and sometimes analysis if I have time) of what I, personally, think is rad (or exceptionally well-done/plugged-in/brain food).