Ever missed out on seeing your favourite band because the tickets were too expensive? Well, Spanish concert promoters Caravana de Emerxencia are trying something a little different to ensure music loving Spaniards get to see the bands they really want to see – attendees can decide the price of the ticket when they leave, based entirely on how much they liked (or disliked) the show. Yesterday’s one-off gig, featuring four leading bands, was the first to trial the new system and follows in the footsteps of Radiohead’s pay-what-you-want model for the release of album In Rainbows. We applaud Caravana de Emerxencia for placing so much trust in the honesty of gig goers and so much responsibility on their own and the bands’ shoulders to deliver a great show. How about a pay as you enjoy festival?
Ladies - ever wanted to know if your handbag is happy? Well, if you can afford a new eco-friendly Jackie, Hobo or Tote from Gucci, you can be certain it is. Buyers will not only receive the highly desirable bag, but also a passport that details the life of the cow that was used to make it. The passport begins with the cow’s birth on a rainforest-friendly ranch in Brazil and then follows its supposedly happy life, detailing the processes the animal, and eventually its hide, go through to become the final handbag. Launched in partnership with Paris Fashion Week, the National Wildlife Federation and The Green Carpet Challenge, the collection has been widely praised by conservation groups. A real stand out idea in terms of bringing to life just where products come from and how they are made.
Here’s a lovely idea from The States. Concerned that all children do is watch and consume content rather than create there own, Honey Maid sought to encourage creativity in kids by encouraging them to innovate on behalf of the brand. Devised to launch Honey Maid Grahamfuls, the Made.Co initiative will make great ideas a reality by teaming children with experts, and includes a story book challenge in partnership with Harper Collins and a Disney comic strip challenge. Indeed, the creative output is already flowing with the ideas for both of the current product commercials submitted by children under the age of 14. A great example of involving and inspiring kids.
It would seem you don’t need a product to create a brand these days.
So believes designer Ben Pieratt who has created the brand ‘Hessian’ despite not having a product. Having pieced together all of the modern staples of a brand – the brand name, logo, URL, website theme, social media accounts, t-shirt logo and app interface – Pieratt has put a $18,000 price tag on Hessian and plans to sell the lot to anyone who wants to slot a product or service in. Ben will even offer 30 hours of free design work to ensure everything fits together neatly.
It’s certainly an interesting notion and surely $18,000 is a bargain for a smart start-up blessed with a great product but lacking the vision or creative power to craft the brand and brand assets around it.So what kind of product or service could Hessian become? Restaurant? Bar? Clothing label? We think there’s something glorious in it becoming a branding or brand building agency…why not buy it yourself Ben?
30 minutes of darkness was all it took for the creative team at Oreo to come up with this super smart advertisement during the blackout at Super Bowl XLVII today. With some advertisers forking out over $4 million for halftime commercial spots, Oreo showed a little hussle and pushed out this online ad within minutes of the power outage. Few brands can afford the halftime spots at the Super Bowl, yet for the most creative it hardly matters.
A Coca-Cola vending machine is spreading Christmas cheer in Sweden one bottle at a time. Equipped with two microphones and a karaoke screen with lyrics, the “Sing for Me” machine asks holiday-spirited Swedes to croon their favourite festive tunes by accepting carols as payment for soda. A great example of an innovative and timely vending solution that reminds us a little of the Limon Y Nada work in Spain, that featured vending machines that dropped the price of soda as the day got warmer…a useful concept for these shores as we’d all welcome soda prices falling as the mercury sores.
It seems you can put a price on creativity…$50 million! The New York Times has reported that Beyonce has signed a new deal with Pepsi that will not only include all of the usual advertising elements such as a TV commercial, sponsorship of her Super Bowl halftime show and her face on a limited edition line of cans, but will also harness the iconic singer’s creativity by funding a series of yet to be revealed projects. An interesting example of the ever-evolving nature of celebrity/brand partnerships and we wait excitedly for the first signs of creative output from this collaboration…now there’s a brainstorm we’d love to be part of. In fact, let’s get it going, how about seeding an exclusive album track within the can itself? Crack open a can and as you slurp away, technology within the can makes it seem as though the lady herself is serenading you. You heard it here first.
With Christmas fast approaching, brands will be competing for our attention more than ever, so how do you stand out from the crowd? Simple, project the faces of your consumers high above the streets of London. Our friends at Marmite have found a unique way to breathe new life into the traditional Oxford Street Christmas light display, while at the same time delivering a hard to top platform for their consumers to grab their ‘15 minutes’. At a bus shelter outside Selfridges, people can take amusing pictures of themselves either loving or hating the traditionally divisive brand, which are then uploaded to a large digital screen within the display. Can’t make it to Oxford Street? Simply upload a picture via Facebook. Love or hate Marmite, you’ve gotta love that.
In many world’s before the explosion of 50 shades of Grey, Anais Nin existed in a time where she was celebrated as a boundary-pushing author but also as a celebrated diarist. Besides these accomplishments, she was also a publishing entrepreneur who set out to self-publish her third book, and through this process, also taught herself the art of typesetting and operating a hand press.
We love artists who are engaged with their work from the first through to the final step - truly encompassing the notion of a ‘labour of love’.
“The relationship to handicraft is a beautiful one. You are related bodily to a solid block of metal letters, to the weight of the trays, to the adroitness of spacing, to the temper of the machine. Each triumph is a conquest by the body, fingers, muscles. You live with your hands, in acts of physical deftness,” she said.
In the fast-paced, results-driven lives we now lead, it seems we are all too quick to outsource and cut corners in favour of reaching the end in the most efficient, but perhaps least satisfying of ways.
What do you think is more important? The journey or the destination?
“The notion of fast fashion is being elevated to new heights with UK fashion brand Very launching what it’s called the world’s first festival delivery service.
Partnering with Virgin Media’s V Festival, punters can browse and buy anything from the brand’s special “Festival Favourites” range, from tents to T-shirts, and the brand promises delivery each item to its on-site tent within one hour. Also available in the Very tent will be “Glam Pods” armed with beauty necessities and hair straighteners.
We like Very’s thinking and wonder what our brands could do to cater to these summertime revellers… who said it was just about the music?”
Please meet Hepzibah. Hepzibah works at Hausmann across Merlin Entertainments and Procter & Gamble. Once a month, Hepz joins her parents and sisters at their market stall in Surry Hills, a family tradition since the 80’s, where they like to sell bric-a-brac, furniture and second hand clothes. What they are most recognised for, though, is their delicious, home-made honey.
Where are you from? I am from a quaint little town called Mulgoa, halfway between Sydney and the Blue Mountains.
Describe Sydney in one word: Sunny.
What are you currently interested in? Green, Israel, Harvest Festival, chocolate soufflés and paper art.
What is your personal motto? It changes all the time but at the moment, I like ‘Fortune favours the brave’.
If you had a whole day off in Sydney to do whatever you want, how would you spend it? If I had my way, it would be a lovely Autumn day and after a delicious breakfast at Cafe Giulia’s, I would spend the day reading in the park. Perhaps a park near the beach in case it was warm enough for a swim.
What are your influences (across any field)? Anything that I come across whether it be tangible or not.
What is your second activity outside of Hausmann? I have a market stall at the Surry Hills markets with my mum and sister. We sell everything from clothes, wax candles , marmalade (made with love by my mum), honey(my dad’s a beekeeper), furniture, art, bric-a-brac, toys, jewellery, books and records - pretty much anything that we want to pass on or found the month before.
How did you start doing this? My parents started their first stall at the Surry Hills markets in the early 80’s and I have followed suit. It must run in our blood.
What do you love / hate about Sydney? Love the parks, beaches and natural wonders but dislike the lack of nightlife options.
Favourite movie? Too many to choose but I’m loving the series Breaking Bad right now.
Tips for purchasing vintage / antique? Know your product. That way you have less chance of being ripped off.
What is the most bizarre thing you have sold? An old book press (it weighed about 40kg!).
What do you love most about the markets? Getting to buy lots of things.
Where can we find you next? At Shannon Reserve, Surry Hills - the first Saturday of each month so the Saturday, 6 October - we are the ones with the honey!
Newism
Definition: The ‘new’ has never been hotter with new products, services and experiences emerging daily, if not hourly.
We’re exhausted just thinking about it. But check out trendwatching.com’s insights into what’s propelling this new trend and how we and our brands can be apart of it so we don’t get left behind.
“The risk of trying out something new is approaching zilch.”-Inspirational stuff.
Night owls and fixie fanatics take note! Forget glow-in-the-dark stickers and clothings… Pure Fix in the States has created a glow in the dark bike, aptly named Glow.
So how does it work? Well, the paint on the bike is solar-activated. All you need to do is leave your bike in the sun for an hour or so and then wait for the sun to set.
What else would you like to see glow in the dark? We would love to see this on a larger and more interactive scale!
Can animals be art? That is the question Swiss & German artists Julian Charriere & Julius von Bismarck asked during this year’s Venice Biennale.
In ‘Some Pigeons are More Equal Than Others’, Charriere and von Bismarck spray-painted pigeons and released them into the city.
This makes us question our ordinary notion of pigeons as pests. With a bright lashing of colour we are only too quick to show interest in what we would otherwise consider an international pest.
From a PR perspective - we love the idea of turning something ordinarily mundane and every-day into something spectacular, unleashing it onto a city and inspiring its residents to view their surroundings with fresh, news eyes.
Many of our Haus Favourites this month combine two classic things something new. Karaoke and rock bands. Bikes and DJs – and now we bring you edible cinema.
We get the fact that this combination isn’t a new one, we’re all doing it whether you’re eating ice cream during a rom com in the States or chicken feet during an action flick in Hong Kong.
However we like this idea because it takes eating in cinemas a step further. Little packages of food are designed to correspond with what’s happening during the film, which ideally heightens the sensory experiences of the movie-goer. For example, eating pine-smoked popcorn while characters in the film are travelling through an enchanted woodland.
We can only imagine where chefs and directors can take this, especially when working with quite surreal material. Imagine this with “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” or ‘Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs’!
