The image to the right comes from a new campaign called “Think About…,”  which matches this phrase with some unintimidating and accessible suggestions. For instance, one reads, “Think about… adopting a pet – who needs a boyfriend anyway?”
This is just the kind of messaging we’d expect from a retailer known for meeting practical everyday needs.
Wait, [...]

Last week, Ad Age ran a brief article titled, “The Most Influential Cause Marketing Campaigns.” Much of the list is familiar; we’re all aware of the massive efforts like the Livestrong bracelets and Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty. However, some of the campaigns on the list took on a decidedly narrow mission, such as AmEx’s [...]

Okay, that’s a bit of a stretch. The economy’s not that bad.
Nonetheless, we’re seeing a lot of bartering examples popping up in unexpected places. While we’re not suggesting that marketers give up cash payments for beaver pelts, we do think there’s a lesson here for how to better incentivize consumers.
Consider the Dust Jacket Project from [...]

Brands, are you really confident about the quality of your products and services? Are you certain that you could send your customers into your competitors’ arms, and they’d still come running back to you?
You’d better be. Welcome to the world of Ubiquitous Connoisseurship.
See, there’s a reason we made this trend #1 in our 10 Trends [...]

From a marketer’s vantage point, few would argue that 2010’s biggest question goes something like this:
As economic indicators trickle in the right direction, will consumers continue to practice the New Austerity?
Sound familiar? Of course it does; we lifted that from trend #2 – Down-to-Earth-ism – from our 10 Trends for 2010. The resilience of the [...]

No need to dig any further – one glance at this package and you get the gist of Scanwood kitchen utensils. They’re wooden. They’re authentic. They’re natural.
(Of course, you can also zoom in a bit and see the “Designed in Denmark. Made by nature” tagline on the side.)
Scanwood’s packaging instantly drives the message home, especially [...]

If you haven’t already heard, our 10 Trends for 2010 are making their way around the interwebs at a blistering pace. (You can catch our press release here.) Click here to request a copy of your own by email, and be sure to share it with your clients, coworkers, friends, and pets. What? Maybe Mr. [...]

Since it was posted just as we were heading out to vacation, we wanted to make sure you didn’t miss the annual NYC Holiday Window Survey from the fine folks at PSFK.
The hundred or so images certainly indulge in the fantastical and whimsical, with our personal favorites coming from the imaginative “Compendium of Curiosities” series [...]

As we wrap up a year that was, in many ways, dominated by technology and crisis, this video for the Google Chrome browser pleasantly embraces slow and low tech. Seems like a nice note to go out on for 2009.
Have a happy, safe holiday break, and we’ll catch you in 2010. The year that The [...]

As we get ready to wind down 2009 and look forward to a fresh new decade, we know you’ve got a lot on your mind. In particular, you have a nagging suspicion that no one will ever buy anything ever again thanks to trends like the new austerity, the new frugality, and the new unemployedity. [...]