Robert's PlayGround: Shopping

August 02, 2007

The touchpoint is the message

Mobile telecom provider Telfort demonstrates a perfect example of smart context planning. Telfort is a cost leader and price fighter in the Dutch market for mobile communications. What better opportunity to both meet bargain & discount hunting people and tell a significant story about your brand than presenting yourself at... markets! I haven't found any pictures yet of how they attend markets, but I guess it is with some sort of mobile shop/info stand among all other traders with their commerce.

Posted at 15:45 in Branding, Shopping | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

April 05, 2007

Top 5 most nicked

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.

Posted at 23:26 in Branding, Creativity, Nonsense, Shopping | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

November 09, 2006

Pimp my fashion brand

They sell instant fashion copied straight from the catwalk. If you wear the stuff a couple of times is gets out of shape. Color washes out straight away. Yet, everybody loves H&M. And with reason. After flings with superstar Madonna and couturier Karl Lagerfelt, H&M entered a new love affair with the successful Dutch designer duo Viktor & Rolf. This is how you make a brand cool. Bravo!
See Dutch women loot the Amsterdam H&M store, this afternoon. Or shop on-line.

Posted at 19:29 in Advertising, Art, Branding, Creativity, Inspiration, Shopping, Strategy | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (3)

September 22, 2006

Gimme the Goodies!

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. Yet I cannot surpress a bit of envy when my son unpacks his Happy Meal or Kids Meal and the surprise of the complimentary GADGET brings a smile to his face. I want that, too!!!I just wonder what would happen if shops or restaurants would offer their adult guests a little playful toy, goodie or gadget with their purchase. Would that have the same magical effect on grown-ups as it has on kids? Hell, it will!Strange though, that (to my knowledge) no one ever copied that free present big idea and applied it to the adult world.

Posted at 17:45 in Food and Drink, Nonsense, Shopping | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 14, 2006

Build your virtual self @ H&M

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.

Posted at 16:20 in Interactive concepts, Nonsense, Shopping, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (1)

Library

Dan Roam: The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures
Drawing pictures is an amazing strong help if you try so crack something. Even if drawing and doodling is a familiar thing to you, this book can help you to refine the art of visual thinking. Where was this book when I needed it? (****)
Alexander Osterwalder: Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers
By far the most insightful, practical, fun to read and relevant business book I've read over a long period of time. The tools in this book have gone straight into my daily toolkit. There's a Dutch edition too. (*****)
Bertrand Cesvet: Conversational Capital: How to Create Stuff People Love to Talk About
(**)
Chip Heath: Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
I found this one of the better books on the hot topics of storytelling and engagement. Where many authors present a couple of far fetched characteristics, the Heath brothers come up with insightful observations on what makes a remarkable story. (****)
Robert B. Cialdini: Influence: Science and Practice (4th Edition)
A quite practical guide to persuasion based on scientific insight. (***)
Alastair Crompton: Craft of Copywriting
This referencebook is as much about the craft of advertising as it is about copywriting. Although is was first published in 1979, it contains many truths still valid today. Reading a book like this helps shifting hype and Zeitgeist from intrinsic laws. My copy came from an anonymous technical college library and it was never opened. I'm glad that I did. (***)
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. (***)
Pim van den Berg: Ondernemen is een Straatfeest
Inspiring book by a Dutch guy who invented 'street-o-logy'. Or: the fine art of observation and surprise. (***)
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. (*****)