Controversy Abounds Over Revolutionary Sneaker

July 15th, 2010 by Chris Strong

I’m just going to go on record and say that I don’t understand Sketcher’s Shape-Ups. Apparently, nor does anyone else because according to a story on USAToday.com disputes about whether they work or not, are safe or not, are cool looking or not, etc., have yielded no definitive answers either way.

It doesn’t matter where I side on this really because I don’t know enough about these to make an accurate assessment, but I will say that Joe Montana is part of their marketing and Joe knows sneakers.

The globally respected news organization, The Onion, believes otherwise I guess.

Posted in News | 165 Comments »

America: Nation of Good Sports

June 29th, 2010 by Julie Hill

Did I say good sports? I meant sore losers. From Best Week Ever:

Posted in News | 188 Comments »

Continued Innovation in the World of Bacon

June 10th, 2010 by Chris Strong

Leave it to bacon and bacon fanatics worldwide to continue pushing the envelope on creating new culinary delights in the bacon food group.

Yes, there is a bacon food group. There is an ad campaign about it right now, helping to increase the knowledge of consumers so they meet their daily minimum, if you don’t believe me:

It's true!

It's true!

Well, the kind folks at Uncrate.com recently helped inform the world that there is a new innovation in the bacon category: Bacon Moon Pie.

Sweet-Tooth meets Meat-Tooth

Sweet-Tooth meets Meat-Tooth

Do you like marshmallow, bourbon, maple syrup, dark chocolate and bacon, among other things? Well, this slice of heaven is for you.

We are a company comprised of many foodies (and one member of the United Embassy of Bacon), so it’s always great to see new food evolutions taking place. Connecting your “sweet-tooth’ with your ‘meat-tooth,” it only serves to make it that much better.

Posted in Uncategorized | 137 Comments »

Consumers showing brands new levels of love in 2010

June 7th, 2010 by Chris Strong

So consumers have often shown their love for brands in a variety of ways, some more endearing than others.

At one point in time, the pinnacle when it came to a consumer showcasing their love and dedication to a brand may have been the simple act of cutting the logo of the brand in one’s hair.

This took the top haircut spot recently, surpassing the faux-hawk.

This took the top haircut spot recently, surpassing the faux-hawk.

Not only is it another form of advertising for the brand, but hey, this looks pretty killer and who wouldn’t want a haircut like that whether they liked the brand or not, right?

Of course there is always getting a brands tattoo on you (oh and if you need help with that, just see our earlier post on how you can find a good tattoo parlor via your iPhone), but come on, that’s still not showing a brand the love they deserve.

Well, thanks to the gang over at The Onion, we now know that at least one consumer showed his true love for a brand recently. They reported that earlier this week in a Circle K convenience store in Redmond, OR, Bryce Thompkins proclaimed his devotion and love for the Pepsi brand. Apparently only a small group of employees and close friends were there to see the ceremony.

Details from The Onion’s report:

‘”I love Pepsi,” Tompkins vowed as he offered the clerk two crisp dollar bills, symbolizing his willingness to sacrifice for Pepsi, and received 71 cents in return, symbolizing the portion of the two dollars that Pepsi does not cost. “Always will.” The solemn union of man and flavored soda was commemorated by a small bit of printed paper, which Tompkins declined.’

Now I ask you as you read this, can you say that you show the same dedication and support to the brands you use and respect? Our connections with the brands we use everyday are changing and Mr. Thompkin’s actions are a testament to that. I’m will to bet that as brand advocacy by consumers continues to evolve in 2010, we’ll see more of these types of reports.

So in short, take a cue from Mr. Tompkins and show the brands you love, some love.

Posted in News | 174 Comments »

The New 2012 Olympic Mascots

May 24th, 2010 by Julie Hill

The 2012 Olympics so far have not failed to entertain with each announced design choice/uber-Britishy production number, and things over in England have just gotten a whole lot crazier. Meet the mascots, Wenlock and Mandeville:

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This video explains the characters’ origins…I guess?

500x_screen_shot_2010-05-19_at_2.13.47_pm

The press have been particularly unkind to this newest Olympic development. Barry Petchesy, of the Deadspin blog, describes them thusly: “Wenlock and Mandeville, their cyclopean eyes representing England’s Big Brother police state, were unveiled today. You might as well just sacrifice your firstborn now and get it over with.” Both the Telegraph and The Independent have ridiculed the choice as well.

Optimized_image_6d63bfd8
Waldi

Mascots were originally introduced during the 1972 Munich Summer Games with Waldi the Dachshund. Subsequent mascots have seen the full spectrum of acceptance, from the much-reviled Izzy (Atlanta 1996) to the recent superprecious Vancouver mascots. Olympic mascots are important for two reasons: the more altruistic Getting Kids Interested In Sports, and the more practical Merchandising Bucks (Wenlock and Mandeville will be sold as cyclopean digital cameras, among many other things).

izzy_vancouver
Izzy and the Vancouver 2010 mascots

It will be interesting to see how the new 2012 mascots fit into the overall Olympic plan, till then my only question is, Why so angry-looking, Wenlock?

Posted in Design, News | 244 Comments »

Pantone Hotel

May 19th, 2010 by Julie Hill

Oh yes, they did.

p1_rect540

It’s in Brussels.

p4_rect540

This looks photoshopped, right?

p5_rect540

Seems to be real, though “why” is another story.

More to be read about it at Apartment Therapy.

Posted in Design, News | 156 Comments »

KFC & the Japanese digital coupon fiasco

April 26th, 2010 by Chris Strong

You know that feeling where you want some KFC so bad that you’ll do anything to get it? And if anything or anyone gets in your way, you’ll go crazy and start flipping tables/chairs or staging sit-ins right?

GIMME MY CHICKEN

Well, imagine you want that KFC, you have a coupon you got off the internet and you go to get your chicken on and the staff at your local fried chicken establishment won’t take your coupon.

What else is there to do but cause a riot, right?

Hard to believe, but it happened in Japan last week. Next time someone has to be a bit more careful to ensure fraudulent digital coupons can’t be made. But hey, it shows digital couponing works if the offer is good enough!

http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/nontraditional/e3i2bf7a2a5a7ec6db2ebe035d420ef018c

Posted in News | 183 Comments »

Now that’s what I call a weather forecast!

February 12th, 2010 by Chris Strong

So our fair city of Cincinnati has been getting dumped on this week by good old mother nature.  I like snow, I don’t love it, but it could be a lot worse as evidence by the beating that Washington, DC has taken.

Now, I’m not a Meteorologist and the HQ blog sure isn’t a weather blog by any means….. but I can tell when people are excited about their jobs and bring a passion to their work and Jim Kosek @ Accuweather, you my friend, are that guy. Why am I posting this here, well, I guarantee you will laugh hysterically at the videos of this guy’s forecast.

Thanks to mother nature, Jim is getting all kinds of play due to his crazy antics and manner of presenting the weather. I’m coming across him on various newcasts talking about his manner of delivering the weather and online in blogs, twitter, etc. If this storm never happened, I don’t think I’d have found Jim.

If only we all had a local weather man who truly tells it like it is and makes the story fun/interesting when they tell it to you.

Posted in Uncategorized | 179 Comments »

Is MIT Messing With Me?

January 20th, 2010 by Julie Hill

mit_wtf

“The Center for Advanced Visual Studies is a community for contemporary art in the School of Architecture and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.”

OK, so it’s not a web or graphic design school, but still…WHAT. This website…it periodically reloads itself. The layout appears to be random. There are animated gifs. THIS IS A REAL PAGE. I’m baffled and sort of enthralled all at once.

Maybe that’s the point, aha! The website itself is meant as a “contemporary art piece,” (right?) a commentary on Internet and Art and Grid Systems and Whathaveyou. Whoa. It really kind of IS making me think. This reminds me of a recent episode of NBC’s Parks and Recreation, where Tom (who proudly declares, “I have no interest in art”) commissions an abstract expressionist painting, and finds as he really looks at it, that his opinion changes from derisive to admiring. “A piece of art caused me to have an emotional reaction. Is that normal?”

Related: a friend just reported that, while viewing the MIT site, his cat leapt from his shoulder to attack the computer screen.

Posted in Design, Thinking | 183 Comments »

Come be my friend on Friendster!

December 17th, 2009 by Chris Strong

OMGWTFROFLCOPTER

So apparently, Friendster still exists. Yep, if you are an active user of social networking tools, you probably know what I’m talking about. For those who don’t know Friendster, it started in 2002 gaining traction quickly (heck, I signed up) but then quickly died with the arrival of MySpace and Facebook.

Today, apparently Friendster is HUGE in Asia where it has 100 million users. Crazy!

Even crazier, someone is willing to buy it for at least $100 million. What!? That’s more than the $30 million buyout Google offered Friendster 6 years ago. I can’t seem to digest this.

With so many social networking tools around these days, its both interesting and confusing that Friendster still has users and is actually valued at something. I guess that should be good news to all those fledgling social networking sites out there.

Posted in Thinking | 164 Comments »