Best of Me – Newsletter

When most people need a holiday, they find a nice piece of sandy beach and soak up some sunshine, or perhaps climb a mountain for a sense of achievement. Not our Mike though. He just took a week off to go Tuk Tuk racing in India.  Yes, that’s not a made up story, Mike’s “Out of Africa” indeed won the race, with plenty of distractions along the way. We’re all glad he’s back in one piece and more importantly, he left his khakis at home!

As Mike refreshed his brain power, the rest of the Zuni team ploughed on, delivering great strategic work, and in particular for Bernadine, a clear understanding of how online dating and digital marketing are remarkably similar!

If you’ve ever been close to someone suffering Alzheimers, you’ll know how heartbreaking it is to experience one’s memory loss face-on. My grandmother once spoke to me for over an hour, finishing her sentence with “oh, you’re Valentina. I thought you were your brother”. Givaudan have created ‘Smell a Memory’ kits, designed to bring out emotional memories in Alzheimer’s and Dementia patients through different scents. Obviously personalised, the kits are created based on their age, ethnicity, family history, and personal stories, creating scents such as ‘Mom’s Cooking,’ ‘Prayer,’ and ‘School Days.’ The success so far means there are plans to do trials in two of Singapore’s largest hospitals.

How strong is your digital knowledge? If you take only one thing out of this newsletter, let it be this! Find 10mins, go and make yourself a cup of coffee and take this test.  First and foremost it’s a top example of a great marketing tool (it’s a nice lead in to Econsultancy’s training courses and their presence at the Marketing Week Live conference). The fun part is actually taking the test. Nice design, good IA and great content. The test asks relevant and constructive questions about the various areas of the digital marketing landscape and pops out your score, comparing how you thought you would stack up vs how you actually did. There’s a gamification element to the test by placing you on a leaderboard (but this functionality wasn’t working at the time of writing this). Good luck!

What do you get when a vodka brand, an artist & producer, a brainwave expert and three disabled musicians sit in a room together? Smirnoff Mindtunes of course. This is the first project of a number in Smirnoff’s #yoursforthemaking campaign which is all about helping people realise their potential through innovation and inventiveness. Nice campaign, but I’m just not sure if an alcohol brand is the best champion for it? Personal views aside, this is truly amazing. Get your mind around this: this dance track was created using only the minds of the three physically disabled music fans. An electroencephalography device was used to measure the electrical activity in the brain and then convert brainwaves and emotions into beats and sounds. Very cool.

Yep, it is finally upon us – mobile phones, keyboards and computers beamed onto your palms or any moving objects you so desire! The projection even causes a faint tingling sensation in the palm when keys are pressed. Just how practical would this be though? When you can’t move your hand whilst watching a movie etc? Not sure this is a tingling sensation I want in my life!

As we continue to meet with clients and discuss their digital needs, one question does pop up quite often – what should go on the homepage? When we used to visit a site, the homepage was the be all and end all directory to the rest of the content available. Now, with our interrupted consumer pathways, social recommendations, trusted anonymous reviews and forum discussions, there are plenty of additional doors to allow consumers to enter our websites. So what exactly should we be changing to address consumer needs when they arrive at our destination? This blog talks you through some of the options to ensure you don’t get left behind.

Have you heard of Bitcoins yet? Bitcoin is ‘e-money’ or ‘digital currency’ that uses peer-to-peer technology to transact. Bitcoin is experiencing growth, with an increased number of e-commerce facilities accepting the currency and quick-thinking entrepreneurs capitalising on the new opportunities it creates. Australian company Bitfash.com, for example, allow shoppers to purchase well known & loved fashion brands (eg ASOS, ZARA etc) using their Bitcoins. A pub in Hackney, East London is also accepting Bitcoins, having taken over £800. My judgement is reserved on this innovation.

Constantly held up as a great example of content creation for a brand, Redbull has done it again. The Redbull Music Academy has created a feature explaining the creative process behind 22 of the most iconic logos in music history. Think KISS, MTV and Run DMC. It’s amazing to read through how these logos came about, what they were trying to achieve. Keep up the good work Redbull.

• Hilarious – 55 very wrong Google predictive searches – truly, what are people thinking?
• Hopefully you’ve caught this amazing social media campaign already. Direct from Bodyform in the UK, this funny video response pokes fun at men poking fun at women’s hygiene ads.
• Ever struggled with usability of a website?  Well, if you build a site on the assumption that your users are drunk (ie blurry vision, short attention span, etc) you may just create a site that’s easier to use.
• At 7.1m friends on Facebook, this is definitely the world’s most loved dog. All because of a haircut. On the other hand Ray Charles has a better story.
• Let’s get this straight – I don’t run. So to make myself run, really really fast, I think Freddy Krueger is after me. These days younger people think Zombies are after them, which is what makes this running app so clever. Zombies, Run! is a mega-training game for your mobile devices that, well, have Zombies chasing you! (thanks Helen).
• Sometimes the English surprise me. The National Trust have taken traditionally stuffy common signs and embraced a little humour in their recent outdoor campaign. These playful signs encourage exploration, touching and generally having a good time.
• I’ve often wondered if there is any hope of printing out the internet, and it turns out I’m not alone. Remember, just because you can doesn’t mean you should.
• Google Glasses may ban adult content, but can they ban people driving and using the glasses at the same time? I hope so.
• Gentlemen, may you never forget a wedding anniversary again with the Remember Ring, which heats up to cause some discomfort in the lead up to your anniversary!