Amusing Headline Copy

"For the Body-Conscious, It's Now the Ankle That Rankles" 

From the Wall Street Journal, July 23. I'm surprised this is the first time someone has made marketing around cankles. That word must have shown up in enough consumer insights by now that it just couldn't be ignored any longer. I guess I never realized there were exercises to reduce it, so I'm amused it's coming up in fitness/gym ads. I always thought it was just one of those things you accepted. And the lengths some women will go to have surgery to eliminate the problem. Wow. 

Visual Thinking.

Before starting my job I was spending a lot of time with my family. I LOVE my family and the older I get the more I appreciate our quirks and eccentricities. Aw. 

Anyways I was thinking about who we are as a family and I realized there was a beautiful way to display my conclusion through a venn diagram, a popular tool strategist often use. Enjoy.

Brandcenter Strategist Brains- Hollaaaa!

Here's an update: 

My fellow classmates Culture Standpoints paper can be viewed HERE. So proud of them all! It looks great and has some really smart, cutting edge ideas, opinions and thinking represented. 

In previous blogs you may remember me mentioning da Vinci Center for Product Design and Innovation. It's what I did in place of my Cultural Standpoint. Here's an update on that: we were invited to present to the Sweedish team. Whoop. I start my first days of work so I can't be there to present but I'm proud of my group and know they will do exceptionally well. If the Sweedish team likes it, there's a chance they'll pick up our innovation idea. So cool! Fingers crossed! Too bad I'm legally bound and can't talk to anyone about it (although, it's completely understandable)... Here's a picture of the product we worked on for a nice tease and eyebrow raise :) It's called the Alfie 500 and I know an absurd and amusing amount of information about this product's design, functionality and market opportunities, the industry it operates in and everything there in between. 

Quote of the Friday

Without having a goal, it's difficult to score.

-Paul Arden

image credit: toptenz.com

Please Redesign This:

image credit: defendingwomen.com

I've carried this clunky thing on my keychain for the past 3 years now. Luckily I've never had to use it. It's one of those love-hate relationships. I love that I feel safe with it. I hate what it looks like. It's clunky, it's obvious and on display for the world to see. If people weren't fascinated by pepper spray, it would be borderline embarrassing. More importantly, I find myself thinking it would be hard to use if I was presented an actual situation in which it would serve its functionality.

The point is, I think there needs to be a redesign. I did some online digging and found these "redesign" examples. Seriously?! Pink, a gun, a ring, a carry case (Do explain who has the time in the midst of being attacked to take their mase out of a carry case?), a crystal, blinging one, and a miniature. 

I suppose many women love the one with crystal/bling. I see the fun in it as well. It's not really my style but I get it (the DIVA, is a bit much for me, but again, that's just me). It's been featured in many news stations so I'm assuming it's popular? Anyways, I appreciate the company, Pepperface, (www.pepperface.com)'s, valiant attempt to make this product better, less clunky, less embarrassing and less of an eye sore. This is appealing for a lot of women, but me, I'd just like something simple. The problem with this is that I just want something unobvious and the clunky one I carry is obvious but so is this studded one.  

My favorite out of all of them is the very last one, the miniature, which is a product from Malaysia. It's cutesy but at least it's fun and cheeky... and not clunky. 

image credit: mase.com

 image credit: defendingwomen.com

image credit: ubergizmo.com

image credit: notcot.com

image credit: kaboodle.com

image credit: pepperface.com

image credit: alibaba.com

There must be a more ergonomic solution to safety... Maybe one already exists and I missed it. If that's the case, please enlighten me!

Healthy Mouths Trump Healthy Smiles.

Let's be honest. Some innovation is just marketing gimmick to sell more in emerging markets. Fine. It has to be done. But some innovation that probably was meant for just that reason (to sell more) turns out to be something really, incredibly useful and appealing to consumers. 

Here's my favorite example:

The toothbrush, as one dental hygienist put it to me, is just another accessory for your mouth. It was made as a WAY to get people to brush their teeth. 

Everyone uses one. They've got all kinds of twists, bends, blue coloring that fads when it's time for a new one, grips, grooves, spins, and bristle shape and softness, etc. They've really learned how to soup up a toothbrush in so many ways. There's a lot of research and innovation being done in this area obviously.

BUT about a year ago I started using a toothbrush with a tongue scrubber attached to the back of the head (see photo below). Really smart! The packing was done well. No, it wasn't eco friendly BUT, it had a sample of the tongue scrapper on the outside that interested consumers, like me, could touch. It sure helped me make up my mind to make the purchase. All the sudden, instead of just cleaning my teeth, this toothbrush was helping me clean my entire mouth more thoroughly. We all know how ticklish the tongue is when using the regular bristles and it made it unappealing to brush the tongue that often. Soon I started seeing this across brands. I'd love to know who started the trend and when the first toothbrush of this kind was released.

Recently, however, I tried to get a bit too frugal and went for a toothbrush without the tongue scrubber/scrapper on the back of the head. I realized after one brush with this inadequate, ill equipped toothbrush, that I'm a lifer for toothbrushes with tongue scrubbers on the back of the head. I actually missed the utility and functionality of my more expensive brush equipped well enough to bring me a healthy mouth, which I consider, even one step better than having just a healthy smile.

photo credit: drugstore.com

Update.

Wow. So it's been a while. I've been beating the pavement in NYC looking for a job. I got one! whoop whoop :) I'm excited b/c it dabbles in strategy, branding, messaging, innovation, new product development annnnnd I'll get trained as an ethnographer. It's a fairly new place and I love that it has an entrepreneurial vibe. So good. 

Anyways, I've sucked at updating because I've been moving and packing and am all over the place.

Finally in NYC. Expect new post to come soon :)

Picture Credit: http://www.mta.info/nyct/maps/submap.htm