Our latest Potty Posting is here! With a keen eye for changing food cultures and the trends that follow them, we’ll take a look at why 2012 is shaping up to be a delicious year.

The New Nostalgia.
Yes, it’s a food trends report, but it won’t be the run-of-the-mill, snobby kind (sorry to everyone who’s into that). In fact, it won’t even give you a lot of foods that’ll be trending at all (maybe just a couple: keep your eye out for bibimbap and yuzu).

It’s more of a food culture trends report. See, it’s pretty much impossible to separate the two, so it would be a little silly to talk about food trends in 2012 without the accompanying trends in culture. Culture isn’t static. It changes with the times, demographics and generations. These are the same reasons that food culture isn’t static. We’re too young, too diverse, and too adventurous to let our food be constrained to one flavor, one ethnicity, or one state of mind. Let’s celebrate it.

The Old Nostalgia
The sensory experience we get from food is a powerful one. We turn to food when we feel stressed or anxious, it’s always present when we celebrate or mourn, and it’s nearly impossible to deny a strong craving (don’t pretend like walking by a movie theatre doesn’t instantly transform you into a ravenous, insatiable, buttered popcorn-fueled monster).

But in 2011, we turned to food for its nostalgia. We hadn’t seen much progress in terms of the economy, our jobs were still in danger, and our outstanding student loan debt exceeded $1 trillion for the first time (“The economy is so bad…” “How bad is it, Jay?”). Our fear drove us to foods that remind us of a better time in our lives and in our communities. As a coping mechanism, we turned to (even upscale versions of) burgers, mac and cheese, and grilled cheese sandwiches – satiating, not-too-expensive reminders of childhood in pre-recession America.

Food items themselves were not the only trends that revealed our nostalgic patriotism, or our attempt to bring back the good ol’ days by eating like them. We started gravitating toward ideas of “farm to table” and now-hackneyed “artisan” to show our frustration with Big Food Inc. and the ridiculous consequences of lobbying – like when pizza sauce was officially made a vegetable thanks to the lobbyists of the American Frozen Food Institute and the Coalition for Sustainable Meal Programs (which, surprise surprise, is funded in part by ConAgra). Before these phrases lost all meaning (Domino’s Artisan Pizzas? Molto bene!), their purpose was to support the small-scale American farmer and bring communities back together with locally-grown, sustainable food.

Something Old, Something New
Thankfully, some of that won’t be going away in 2012! We’re still going to see a focus on fresh, local food and small-scale, sustainable farming (it can’t all be bad, right guys? …Right?!). Right! We’re still enjoying that homemade comfort food, but we’re not doing it with so much fear anymore. The economy is picking up again, the outlook for the U.S. restaurant industry is way high, and, overall, it’s a great time for American food.

But while we’ll still want comfort food in 2012, what we consider “comfort food” has been changing pretty dramatically. We’ve all heard that America is a melting pot (of delicious fondue, of course), and Millennials are the most keenly aware of this than any other age group. Not only is Gen Y the most ethnically diverse age group, it’s also the most experimental when it comes to food. Since most Millennials have grown up in an environment where global cuisines are the norm, the definition of “comfort food” for them is a lot different than for previous generations, which vastly broadens the scope of food culture in 2012.

Because Gen Y’s palates are getting more adventurous, we have a good chance of seeing a trend of picking and choosing global ingredients from different cuisines to build optimal dishes. It won’t be a surprise to see kimchee on the same plate as bacalao (“You’ve probably never heard of it,” says the Source’s inner hipster), or fusion sandwiches made with ingredients that might actually clash – but expanding our taste horizons is exactly the point. We saw this with the explosion of Korean tacos, which got their fame a) because of the “cool factor” of the food trucks that carried them and b) because to us, especially Gen Y, tacos are a safe, household staple we’ve come to know and love, and experimenting with putting different things in that crunchy shell is really intriguing. In addition, don’t be surprised to see global substitutes for familiar ingredients, like bao instead of biscuits and different meats/parts of the animal in sandwiches, like oxtail, goat, and innards (don’t cringe, it’s not like I told you to blend ‘em up as a substitute for smoothies).

The Kitchen Sink
So, how can marketers tap into this culinary globalism? Think Gen Y. They’re not super wealthy, they’re bold, and they aren’t afraid to try new things. This leaves marketers with a ton of room to play around, especially when it comes to food. Don’t assume that one ethnicity will be closed to another’s cuisine, or that mixing and matching is out of the question. Keep an eye out for innovative new food pairings, or new experiences you can offer consumers with a meal — can you put a twist on a dish they thought they knew by using an ingredient they never would have considered? Can you pique their interest in an ingredient by using it in place of a similar, familiar one? Food may bring nostalgia for the past, but with some playful ideas and global thinking, you can inspire action and keep consumers excited about the culinary future.

Social media is hyperactive word of mouth, only there are so many mouths talking you need a way to know how your brand is influencing and who it is reaching. It’s not new news that brands want to connect with consumers. What is new to the speed at which they can track and affect their influence digitally. This media channel is a main conduit for brands to express their voice, promote new products and even tell a larger brand story. It’s not hard to see why and how social media efforts have become the most valuable back-channel way to communicate and build a following. (If your brand isn’t into it, work on that.)

So how do you track all your social media efforts? Who’s talking? How do we keep them talking? With Klout, the current leader in the “social analytics” provider, it all boils down to engagement based on click-throughs, comments, likes, retweets or how often your message is passed along. The number of services they track for you is growing (it now includes the top 10 digital forums, with 3 more coming soon).

Recently celebrities have been using Klout for PR pushes and testing. Brands are also reaching into the system to understand how their audience is listening or if they’re listening at all. They’re taking notes on what topics resonate and using that information to build a stronger brand presence and gaining followers as well as traction in the marketplace as a resource, leader or otherwise. Klout’s easy-to-digest “social analytics” has potential to build smarter partnerships, promotions and more believable categories of influence. Plus, you’ve got to love the dynamic nature of the data. In my opinion, “instant” is the new “ASAP.”

Don’t forget the perks for having influence. Klout Perks are great place for brands to highlight and use those influential talkers directly. It’s kinda like a social media pat on the back from brands to their fans. I’m on board—are you?

Recently Mountain Dew’s Green Label Sound elevated brand/band pairing with the release of “When Fish Ride Bicycles,” a new full-length from Chicago hip-hop group the Cool Kids. What’s different than other brands playing in this space? Unlike Starbucks Hear Music—which is essentially a music publishing house and not necessarily a full-blown label—Green Label Sound is behaving like the real-deal: signing artists, handling distribution, PR, partnerships (read: iTunes) paid media, etc.

What can Green Label offer that traditional labels can’t? The better way to ask that question is to put it in reverse. With the state of the music industry going through its biggest shift in well, ever, record labels have become less effective at helping artists distribute their work, build fan followings, and evolve. Marketing is a major component of artist success, and Green Label relies on Cornerstone, a NY/LA based promotions agency to help run the label. By tapping into this agency resource, and genuinely committing to the artists they bring on board (imagine the bad PR if a brand-backed label treated artists poorly) Green Label Sound gives other labels a run for their money—especially considering their primary focus likely isn’t money—by promoting artists who in turn elevate the brand’s street cred.

In other words, it’s a perfect manifestation of our Brand Patronage trend for 2011. While consumer brands have played in nearly every area of media for nearly a century, I suspect we’re at the dawn of many deciding to go beyond sponsorships and carve out dedicated business units to support the creation, distribution and marketing of entertainment: whether that’s music, games, movies, apps, or books. Undoubtedly they’ll be no shortage of artists and agencies waiting to sign-up to help.

Today’s post is by Jaclyn Gordyan. Senior Art Director and perpetually curious mind, discover more about her at Upshot’s main site. Follow Jaclyn on Twitter @JGordyan.

All the Peeps, Jelly Bellys and Cadbury Creme Eggs have been eaten. So what’s one to do during the afternoon Easter lull? Kick it on the couch with the NBA playoffs and hit Facebook. Yup. Wait a minute, what’s this in my Facebook news feed- Bonobos is having an online Easter Egg hunt? For cash? I’m so game.

Bonobos (a high end online menswear store) offered Easter themed promotional codes, but you had to find them first. The promotion leveraged the idea of a digital Easter egg hunt but by making you work for the codes, it became a game. An addicting one. Oh look at that, it plays beautifully into our 2011 ‘Game On! trend’. Their promo codes were distributed in an unexpected way that effectively sparked their consumers’ curiosity. It was almost too effective, as the grand prize was found just 15 minutes after the promotion went live. Lesson for those launching a game- prepare for quick wins.

Back to the hunt. They don’t even sell women’s clothes, but had you better believe I was in it to win it. A ‘friendly’ competition between myself and friends heated up to find any code, but mainly the $500 egg. We happily (and feverously) surfed their site, fast becoming intimate with the product lines, and site navigation. This obviously added value to their brand by giving us a welcome distraction from the holiday afternoon lull. Alas, I lost*. The anecdote is just a small example of how consumers are willing to ‘play the game’ and engage with brands. So where was the ‘Golden Egg’? [SPOILER ALERT] It was right under our noses… err… fingers in the HTML code. You heard me correctly. A picture of a goose laying a golden egg with the promo code below it was created in simple text (see below). 

The only hiccup in this hunt was smart phone or tablet users were at a disadvantage having to jump through bigger hoops to see the goose in HTML code. But that’s what the other hidden $25-$100 promo codes were for. The brand still won with an inevitable lift in page hits and fans. Brilliant.

A few candy companies such as M&M, and Cadbury held online Easter egg hunts in years past, but their executions were obviously targeting different demographics.

*Note: My friend wasn’t the official winner as someone had already found & used the Golden Egg promo code. But he can still hold bragging rights over my head. Sigh.

Once marketers buy into Brand Patronage, there’s an understandable temptation to go after the biggest stars on the biggest stages. From a PR perspective, you’re pretty much guaranteed a big splash if you grab yourself a Lady Gaga or Black Eyed Pea (both will be making appearances in subsequent Brand Patronage coverage). But, remember that Brand Patronage isn’t just about half-assed testimonials from megastars; rather, it’s about forging partnerships where both the brand and the artist can flex their creative muscles in a collaborative effort. For this to work effectively, marketers must be careful about choosing artists (and a medium) that are the right fit for their brand.

That’d explain why you don’t see Macallan scotch working with, say, Katy Perry. In fact, the brand isn’t working with musicians at all. Rather, they’ve created a series called The Macallan Masters of Photography, which enlists some of the sharpest shooters in the field to tell the story of the Macallan production process. The latest installment features a project from Albert Watson, in which he is tasked with highlighting the Spanish sherry oak casks in which Macallan is aged. Fortunately, the brand didn’t add any other stipulations to the project; even Watson remarked, “The freedom and encouragement given to me allowed the creation of a visual journey demanding complete artistic integrity.” Watson settled on a story about a couple traveling from a Spanish forest to Scotland, and the end product (as seen in the video above) certainly evokes luxury, refinement, and distinction.

Of course, highlighting the wood is a pretty straightforward way of bringing the brand into the exhibition. But, there’s also more subtle branding being done through the choice of the medium. Photography is a slow process (in terms of setting up the shot), has a rich heritage, and focuses on minute details when it’s done right. These elements are certainly consistent with the brand attributes that Macallan is trying to cultivate, so their choice of both Watson and the medium of photography are appropriate for the brand. The campaign also supports amateur photographers with a contest, which encourages consumers to submit their own photos to be judged by Watson for a chance to win Nikon equipment. It’s a picture perfect extension to an already-compelling campaign.

But Macallan isn’t the only marketer peering through a viewfinder for inspiration. The Dali Museum, which recently opened in St. Petersburg, Florida, also turned to photography to promote (and help fund) the new attraction, although their campaign presents a stark contrast to the slow refinement of the Macallan project. For one, the Dali execution takes the traditional camera out of the mix, opting instead for a twist on the mega-popular Hipstamatic iPhone app. While the standard version of this app allows iPhone users to add all kinds of analog effects to their photos, the museum’s version (named the GoodPak – shown in the image below) expands these features to include elements of Dali-esque surrealism. They’ve also got their own user-submission contest, judged by – wait for it – John Waters. (C’mon, you know you chuckled at that.) While there are some other goodies included in the GoodPak, the most good comes from that fact that all proceeds from the Pak’s sales will go toward the museum. For more info on the app, head this way.

Well, this kind of blows my old Super Nintendo soccer game out of the water.

Check out the trailer above for I AM PLAYR, a game that’s currently in development, but slated for a beta release this year.

There’s a lot happening here, but we’ll try to give you the gist. The game is a first person narrative of a football player (the soccer kind) who’s just getting started, and has to face numerous challenges on and off the field. While you develop your skill set and compete in matches, you’re also tasked with managing your teammates, your social life, and… well… your more “intimate” fans.

While that’s certainly an interesting storyline, it’s also only the first chapter. As players navigate their character through the game, they compete against a global audience of other players to see who can develop the top-ranked star. Moreover, the game takes a page from alternate-reality gaming (you remember our coverage of ARGs, right?) and lets the elements of the game seep into the player’s everyday lives. Characters from the game communicate with the player by text and video, radio broadcasts cover the happenings from around the league, and even the tabloids are (reportedly) willing to dedicate headlines to the events that transpire within the game.

Admit it. You’re impressed.

While we could keep raving about how cool this will be, we do need to bring this back to marketing, right? Easy enough. It’s not especially surprising to see Nike jump all over this opportunity, snagging a principal sponsorship that will see them integrated into the storyline and game experience. And, while the game itself is free to play, players will have numerous opportunities to purchase (branded) virtual products that will improve their performance. (Considering the nightlife angle, it will be interesting to see just how risque those partnerships get.)

But, even if this particular game isn’t an appropriate fit for your brand, there are many lessons to be learned from this ambitious project. While there’s a literal connection to our Game On! trend, the more compelling angle is seeing how the creators have brought Life in the OOC to life. Thanks to the game’s multi-platform media integration, and the fact that competitions on the virtual field feed into the leaderboard against other human competitors, there is no clear line where the game ends and the player’s “real life” begins. Even though your average marketing campaign isn’t quite this fun (okay, it’s a LOT less fun), it should still be this seamlessly integrated across a variety of touchpoints. Notice that the creators aren’t hand-wringing over whether they need a mobile strategy or an above-the-line component or an online element. Instead, they’re pulling together an arsenal (yeah, pun intended) of high-tech and low-tech touchpoints to communicate a common story, and letting the players (i.e. the consumers) decide which formats work best for themselves.

I AM PLAYR, I am impressed. (For anyone who wants to read more, head this way.)

We’ve blown through a slew of Sized Right examples in our trends report and Smartshot webinar, covering an admittedly wide range of applications. After all, Sized Right is our most versatile trend for 2011, with implications in-store, at home, in consumers’ daily lives, and even in their heads. With that in mind, it might help to step back and set the mood for the trend, pointing out a couple of examples that, while fringe in their specifics, powerfully illustrate the driving factors behind these sentiments.

The rise of Sized Right starts right at home, where Americans are retreating from the past few decades’ trend towards McMansions. Tired of maintaining homes that are too big – and increasingly wary of the massive mortgages they require – consumers are now opting for more appropriately-sized homes. But, don’t mistake this for self-denial. There’s a certain comfort in finding a home that fits your needs, especially with smarter solutions that allow you to get more out of smaller spaces.

What’s that look like in practice? How about fitting 24 rooms into a 330 square foot apartment? That’s what Hong Kong architect Gary Chang miraculously pulled off, as seen in the video above. Now, we’re not saying this is going to be the norm for home life, but we are saying there are valuable lessons to be learned here. While Chang literally packs multiple layers into a single space, this is indicative of a general trend (both at home and in-store) toward more flexible configurations that allow the same space to serve multiple functions. This can happen physically, as in Chang’s case, but as we’ve seen in our Life in the OOC trend, it’s also possible thanks to digital technologies that overlay virtual functions on real-world spaces.

It’s also noteworthy that Chang doesn’t see the small size of his abode as a constraint; rather, it’s an opportunity for efficiency. He uses plenty of practical tricks, ranging from mirrors that amplify the space to shades that bring in golden light, which all combine to give the impression of space without the burdens that would accompany that physical footprint. This is a sentiment that runs through everything we’ve seen with consumers seeking smaller (but not 330-foot) homes. Consumers are reassessing their priorities, and realizing the benefits of having less stuff to fret about. We tend to fill bigger houses with crap we don’t need, so small houses force the residents to be more proactive in their filtering. This ends up being a relief for consumers who otherwise feel the pull toward hoarderism, as well as (often younger, Millennial) homeowners who happily sacrifice square footage for the experiences offered by their ideal locations.

Clearly, Chang’s layout is very, very smart. So, the opposite would be… dumb? That’s the opinion of Smart Car USA, who recently kicked off a campaign “Against Dumb” that mocks everything supersized, as shown in the video below. On the one hand, this campaign bluntly speaks to the beliefs behind Sized Right, and manages to communicate the philosophy in a quick, visually appealing manner. Still, we have to take issue with the tone. It’s a little too condescending, a little too holier-than-thou, and even a bit obnoxious. The transition toward Sized Right is a huge undertaking for the Amercian consumer after half a century of moving in the other direction. You’re much better off offering helpful reassurance for consumers looking to make the switch, rather than ridiculing them for the mistakes of their past.

In fact, these consumers are probably willing to do most of the mocking themselves. And that’s the part of the Smart campaign that we really like. On the brand’s Facebook page, Smart encouraged fans to submit their dumbest purchases to be voted on by the community, with the winner getting a Smart car. It’s a much more playful tone than their ads, and does a better job of getting participants to think long and hard about their personal consumption histories. And there’s nothing dumb about that.

Is it a little bold to equate the check-in with being the “king” of emerging marketing trends? Perhaps. But now that the tweet has gained a (perhaps reluctant) legitimacy, that leaves the check-in as the most hotly debated element in social media. And with good reason – as we’ve hammed home with our Find Your Place trend, location has the potential to provide contextual information that can drastically improve the relevance of your marketing, and ultimately create more meaningful engagements with consumers.

Now, if we can only settle on a way to get that location data in the first place.

We’ll be the first to admit that the check-in process is flawed. While check-ins are (currently) our best option for protecting users’ privacy and ensuring that they’re not accidentally sharing their location without their approval, they’re also annoying, disruptive, and easy to forget. Each of those problems poses a significant obstacle for checking-in becoming a mainstream phenomenon, but those obstacles also beg the question: if checking-in is such a pain in the butt, why are millions of people doing it? Clearly, they’re getting something out of the check-in. (The dorky among us would call this a “value exchange.”) Fortunately, a couple of discussions at Mashable and The Daily Marauder have uncovered some intriguing answers to these questions. We’ll save you from having to wade through the whole argument by highlighting some of the most relevant points for marketers.

For starters, why do people check-in to locations? Because they want deals, of course (as anyone who’s had an array of free suds at their local bar can attest), but to also enable serendipitous experiences – you know, the “crazy seeing you here!” interactions that allow us to unexpectedly reconnect with lost contacts. This becomes especially applicable at large events, where huge numbers of attendees are checking-in together. So, when you’re considering event marketing executions, the idea of encouraging serendipity can produce delightful surprises for your consumer.

There’s another often-ignored reason to check-in to locations – doing so creates a personal record of where you’ve been. This is especially relevant when consumers are traveling (“What was the name of that BBQ place I liked in Nashville? Oh, Jack’s Bar-B-Que!”). But, other than the nifty PepsiCo-Safeway arrangement we recently highlighted, it’s surprising to see a lack of campaigns that apply users’ histories in more insightful ways. As that Pepsi example shows, the spots where your consumer hangs out say a lot about them – yes, we’re looking at you, “mayor” of the tanning salon.

There have also been a rise of check-ins that have nothing to do with locations. Consumers can check-in to sporting events, TV shows, or even brands. Some of the motivations are the same: serendipitously discovering that your friends are watching the same show, or the having a personal record of you watching a sporting event that you know will be memorable. But this is where the concept of badge brands comes in – and we’re not referring to the badges you earn on foursquare. We’re referring to the same reasons that people Like a brand on Facebook – many of these brands say something about who you are. Are you a Mac or PC? Liking one or the other symbolizes your views on technology, and sharing your check-ins is no different. If your brand has this kind of badge cache, ask yourself if there’s a way to apply it as a movement via location-based services.

So, check-ins probably aren’t the ultimate solution to the location question, and someone (foursquare? Facebook? A service that’s not yet invented?) will inevitably figure out a better solution. But for now, they provide a peek into consumer psyches that marketers dismiss at their peril.

P.S. Thanks to the Daily Marauder for the images used in this post.

• Our #1 hit of 2010 was our celebration of the innovative marketing efforts of… a car company? An American car company?? Yep, Ford has Facebook all figured out, especially with their live launch of their 2011 Explorer. No other marketer demonstrated such a nuanced approach to engaging with consumers via Facebook. It’s the perfect case study for seamlessly applying all the features that Facebook has to offer, and giving consumers what they actually want from a brand on social media. (It’s also one of the reasons we wholeheartedly agree with Ad Age naming Ford marketer of the year for 2010.)
• Part of the impetus for naming Cause with Effect as a 2011 trend came from watching the shifts in cause marketing over the course of 2010. Pepsi Refresh was clearly the game changer in this category, but we put Levi’s “Ready to Work” campaign under the microscope because it really drove home the depth-over-breadth approach that we expect to become a bigger focus in 2011. Likewise, one of the few bright spots that came out of the Haitian disaster was discovering that enormous sums of charitable money could be generated by aggregating millions of small (mobile) donations. If only this breast cancer awareness gag could have tapped that tactic!
• Anyone could’ve told you that food trucks are poised to upend the restaurant world in 2011, but readers were enthusiastic about our coverage of non-food applications for the food truck fad.
• It’s not everyday that our readers get jazzed about billboards, but these outdoor spectacles changed that perception pretty quickly. Likewise, we think this might be the only time a conversation about sustainable packaging has ever been so damn sexy.

Head this way for Part 2!

If you’ve caught yourself yelling phrases like “Get off my lawn!” or “Turn down that infernal racket,” it might be time for a quick refresher on today’s youth. A step in the right direction: spend ten minutes watching “We All Want to Be Young,” a video from the Brazilian research company BOX1824 (shown above).

While much of the content isn’t all that eye-opening in particular, to see it drawn together in the aggregate does paint a pretty comprehensive picture about the “global youth” who are going to rule the world someday. And yes, it does include a reference to the Double Rainbow video, so you know it’s worth your time.

Interestingly, one of the themes of the video (starting around the 5 minute mark) is that today’s youth feel anxiety precisely because they are connected to the entire world and because of the massive amount of information these connections generate. Having called this out in our Driven by Data trend, we’re not entirely surprised to hear about the need for data curation. However, it’s interesting to consider this as a trend that disproportionately affects Millennials. It’s easy to assume that the generations that most need data curation are far older than Millennials, but those populations probably tend to keep this overwhelming amount of data at arm’s length. It’s not a source of anxiety, per se, because it’s not a central problem in their lives.

But for the younger Millennials? Yeah, this dilemma hits them right between the eyes, and it’s something that can’t be ignored by marketers. So, we’ll go ahead and integrate this point into our trend, concluding that data curation matters for everyone, but is especially crucial for the up-and-coming Millennial generation. If that generation is a significant part of your brand’s target, what can you do to help mitigate this situation?