Department store HEMA demonstrates it has a good sense of humor. They have promoted their top 5 most stolen articles in a special display. Food supplements, rechargeable batteries, lip gloss, CD-R's and Bicycle LED lights are temporarily on offer with a 25% discount. To top it off, they treated the 10,000th shop lifter in the Amstelveen shop on a little celebration. No wonder Holland loves HEMA. 
Last Friday my wife and I were doing some casual shopping in Amsterdam. In particular "de negen straatjes" and de Rozengracht are profoundly attractive when we are hunting for interior stuff, gifts, books and the unexpected gadgets that can make a day of shopping so rewarding. This time we ran into a peculiar thing for our interior. We were both electrified by a
white cuckoo clock crossed our path at De Kasstoor. When the shop lady confirmed our hopefull question "whether the clock truly produced a cuckoo sound" we were sold. Now it sits on the chimney in our kitchen, flanked by two white cupboards. And every sixty minutes, the cuckoo sings to tell us that another hour of time passed. Yet we praise the designer of our clock that this cuckoo is equiped with a volume button ;-) We still have to get used to the extraordinary sound that probably will soon be part of the familiar humms, clicks, squeeks, cracks and buzz sounds that make up the natural soundscape of our home. The cuckoo acts as a sort of electronic replacement for the doves that leave the pear tree in our garden in order to head for warmer places during winter.
Every time I visit a Mc-D or Burger King with my five year old, there's this vague jalousy nibbling my stomach. Traditionally I'll be munching a Big Mac + McNuggets Chicken 6/sweet sour sauce + french fries + sauce + large Coke light(!). Or, where it just taste better, it'll be a Double Whopper bacon cheese + large coke light(!) and some fries. Enough to satisfy a grown-up man, one would say. 
Are you tired of fighting for parkings, the right clothes and fitting cabins at overcrowded and messy clothing shops? Then build your own virtual self at H&M and fit as many combinations as you like without even taking your shoes off. Warning: filling out your personal body specs in order to create your virtual model may come as a bit of a confrontation ;-O.
Robert B. Cialdini: Influence: Science and Practice (4th Edition)
A quite practical guide to persuasion based on scientific insight. (***)
Bob Gill: LogoMania
I quite liked this booklet. In a witty, direct style it provides some insight into the art of design concepts. Interesting to anyone with a broad interest in communication arts. Gill demonstrates some fresh thinking. (***)
Malcolm Gladwell: Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
After the Tipping Point, this book is quite disappointing. The idea of Blink moments is interesting. But Gladwell doesn't make as strong a point as with the Tipping Point. His examples demonstrate both the accuracy as well as great failure of people to judge correctly in a blink. (**)
Seth Godin: Purple Cow
Triggered by All Marketers are liars, I expected a lot from this book. I found it a bit disappointing. After classics such as Eating the Big Fish, Blue Ocean Strategy and Disruption, Godin fails to add something significant. All American brand examples don't make it better for a European reader. (*)
Martin Lindstrom: Brand Sense
Maybe I expected too much of this book. I think there's more to sensory branding. Yet it contains a couple of comprehensive tools and pointers. (**)
Cooper: How to Plan Advertising
Although this book was written in the late eighties, most of its contents still hold true. A valuable source book for those who take strategic planning seriously. (****)
Robert Greene: Concise Art of Seduction
Recent brain research leads us back to the belief that seduction is stronger than argument. This booklet offers an inspiring overview of types of seducers and ways of secuction to get your thinking started. (**)
Crispin Porter + Bogusky: Hoopla
An entertaining book about an entertaining agency that turned branded entertainment into an art. I much admire these guys for their contribution to the (r)evolution in advertising. (***)
Sandy Thompson: One in a Billion: Xploring the New World of China
The true story of the unexpected pride and drive of the Chinese people, disclosed through a form of participating research called Xploring. (***)
Jon Steel: Perfect Pitch: The Art of Selling Ideas and Winning New Business
Must read for all those who sell ideas. And for agency planners - Perfect Pitch is a fantastic book on strategic planning in disguise. Best consumed in combination with 'Truth, Lies & Advertising'. (*****)
Tom Himpe: Advertising is dead, long live advertising
A very helpful inventory and analysis of an art that in full organic development: alternative advertising. Must read for any planner and creative. Full of inspiring examples. The only standard work on the subject I've spotted so far. (****)
Russell Ash: Top ten of everything
The ultimate book of lists. I got the 2007 version. Full of conversation pieces. (****)
Paco Underhill: Why We Buy: The Science Of Shopping
As with many true things, it all seems so simple and intuitive. Nevertheless this book is an eye opener. I will never see shops and shoppers the same anymore. (***)
Malcolm Gladwell: The tipping point
Cram full of interesting and fascinating stories. Gladwell doesn't provide instant solutions but very useful food for thought when you try to stimulate or stop things of epidemic proportion. (*****)
All marketers are liars: Seth Godin
The power of telling authentic stories in a low-trust world. And that is the best summary there is. Seth rewrote the very basic book about consumer psychology in a way that your grandma will understand. Precisely the kind of books I like. This is a must read for marketers and communications professionals. (*****)
D. B. Holt: How Brands Become Icons: The Principles of Cultural Branding
Douglas B. Holt uncovers the world that's hidden behind the casual jargon "expressive value". He reveals the secret of brands that connect with people in the true sense of the word. This your guide to placing brands at the heart of peoples lives. (****)
Andrew Ballantyne: Architecture: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)
Keeps the promise of the book title and succeeds in kick starting a different look upon buildings around you. (****)
Louise van Swaaij & Jean Klare: The Atlas of Experience
An amazing attempt to capture or inner world of experience in topographic maps. Inspiration from cover to cover. See: www.worldofexperience.com (****)
