I remember reading about a speed dating event for finding a roommate. How about finding a bass player for a band, a personal trainer, a new book group member. What else would benefit from a speed dating format?
- Usability Testing (PandoDaily, 1.23.13)
- Theater (PostStar.com, 12.31.12)
- Business proposals (NorthernLife.ca, 1.3.13)
- Venture capital funding (SYS-CON MEDIA, 4.5.12)
- City council meetings (Stuff.co.nz, 4.16.12)
- Career exploration (Valley Star, 4.29.12)
- Digital health innovation (GigaOM, 1.25.13)
- Student selection (The Berkeley Blog, 1.21.13)
- Networking (The Globe and Mail, 1.18.13)
I always think it’s interesting to learn about major rebranding efforts of tried and/or true brands. Recently cable network VH1 unveiled a new graphic identity. To go along with that news, here is a very incomplete picture of where the brand has been.
- New promotional materials feature a plus sign (+) within the VH1 letterforms.
- The plus sign featured in the brand’s new graphic identity is meant to represent the network’s dedication to combining music, pop culture and nostalgia programming.
- VH1 creates a Foursquare badge, VH1 Fanatic Badge
2008 February 2
- VH1 Uno discontinued
- VH1 Country music video channel renamed CMT Pure Country
2003
- Dropped “Music First” from name
- VH1 Save the Music Foundation launched
- Rebranded as “VH1: Music First”
- Hyphen removed from logo
- Network launched as Video Hits 1
Chessboxing anyone? Apparently it can teach us about creativity (Co.Design, 11.21.12),
What are some other mashups that might help open up our minds and bodies?
- Social bridging – At the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History, they attempt to bring together knitters and graffiti artists, ukulele and opera, etc. (Santa Cruz Good Times, 12.26.12)
- Edutainment – getting kids to learn through video games and other media they are interested in interacting with (NWCN.com, 12.19.12)
- Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School combines burlesque, comedy, drinking and drawing (Sabotage Times, 6.19.11)
In an office space it might be sitting the creative types by the analytically minded.
In a classroom it might be called following an IB curriculum, or even simpler, creating story problems to make math more intriguing.
In a preschoolers playroom, it might be turning the Barbie playhouse into a garage for the Batmobile.
Whatever gets people to play nice together and either eases them or tricks them out of their comfort zone.
Magazines and newspapers are making news. They’re adapting to new formats, struggling to grow readership and trying to grab headlines and ad dollars as they’re doing it. Some recent coverage is indicative of the variety of news coming out of the news industry.
Magazines have been trying to make the most of digital apps (Advertising Age, 11.30.12).
- To bundle or not to bundle? To charge more or to reward print subscribers?
- Time Inc. gives print subscribers “All Access.” Hearst and Conde Nast sell app subscriptions separately. The Economist has stopped bundling app access with new print subscriptions, charging more to those who want both.
- Of course legacy print publications have to satisfy both print subscribers and those who only need/want digital access to content. So much trial and error going on.
- The winners might be those print subscribers who nabbed total access right away for free and will be grandfathered in.
And then there’s “Digital Magazines as a Service.” PandoDaily calls it the “age of premium micropublishing” (PandoDaily, 12.3.12).
- The Periodical Co. is taking a less is more approach, with immediate publishing options to multiple platforms. The site reads, ““Digital doesn’t need to mean multimedia. Digital can free us to simply enjoy text, beautifully.”
- It won’t make anyone any money, but it sounds like the inevitable next step away from print magazines slapped into PDF format and up from Twitter and blogging.
BuzzFeed is an online content success story, but how will they cover business (Advertising Age, 12.4.12)?
- They currently cover areas such as politics, tech and lifestyle with speed and exploding readership. But they talk about moving in a deliberate way and being careful to get it right before proceeding. Not the case with a lot of publishing.
Metro is using “responsive design” (Econsultancy, 12.10.12) to ramp up mobile. They are following the BBC and USA Today in focusing site design on mobile translation.
It’s not just the design that’s different in print and online. It’s the content as well (Poynter., 12.10.12).
- Researchers from the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication studied how stories played in the print and online editions and found vastly different stories. Online editions played up crime news and sports, while print provided more government, politics and education coverage. And while there is a perceived infinite online space compared to shrinking print pages, the Star Tribune’s print edition over the time period covered had three times the word count of its digital edition.
A ReadWrite article posits that the flood of digital photos adds significance to the ones we print. Do our old school choices mean more?
Do the books we read in print have better endings?
Do the songs we happen across through FM scanning give us more of an inspiration jolt or memory trip?
Do the letters we write out mean more than email?
Are we giving respect to someone when we actually know the digits of their phone number?
#1 – Dawn of the “personal ecosystem”
Early pacesetters in the “living services” that come together to form the “personal ecosystem” – Nike+ FuelBand, Jawbone UP, and the Nest
The “battle for the wrist” will continue in 2013 with products designed for health, wellness, information and entertainment
We’ll likely be talking about “chart fatigue” in the future – all of this info will become too much to take action on
Most surprising – Everything is drilling down toward an accessibility to at least modest income consumers and those with more. And it’s not just early adopters or youth who will be intrigued enough to try out these new innovations and products
#1 – Artificial organisms made from man-made molecules
Un-surprising, interesting and creepy – so many marketing implications including: A single sustainability index for products and “Reality Mining” from smart phones
Top selection listed by category. I haven’t read any, but am intrigued just by looking at the titles:
Biography – not a current industry titan, but “Eisenhower in War and Peace”
Innovation – “Cloud Surfing” – Surfing seems to be such a light, haphazard word and activity to be teamed with innovation
Healthcare – “Healthcare Beyond Reform” – I don’t think we’re ready to go beyond something that hasn’t happened and that will require an annotated guidebook for all
Organizational Culture – “Productive Workplaces: Dignity, Meaning and Community in the 21st Century” – wish dignity was a given …
Capitalism – “The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided By Politics and Religion” – religion in the subtitle of the book in the capitalism category
Love this compilation of brief histories of 11 big box stores.
Favorites are made-in-MN Best Buy and Target.
Most surprising – Others also opened their doors in the Midwest: Kohl’s in WI, Meijer in MI.
Kids want devices for Christmas – iPads, iPods, iPhones, amongst other things, leading Nielsen to write about the upcoming “iHoliday” (Nielsen Wire, 11.20.12). Gift cards for iTunes and iBooks make good smaller presents for nieces, nephews and babysitters.
What else would it be nice to put an “i” in front of? iEducation. iTravel. iSleep. iFitness. iIrony.
Whatever it is, just make sure it looks okay with a “#” in front of it as well.
Deb Rash
Rash Research 