Will hybrids be the next generation of hot rods?

Today with more people becoming environmentally conscience and until recently, gas prices souring, everyone is looking for ways to do their part in helping the environment all the while cutting their fuel costs.  With low emissions and great fuel economy, gas-electric hybrids are a good way to meet both requirements, but don’t exactly meet the performance expectations that some buyers are looking for.

Most of the performance upgrades made on hybrids now are cosmetic, like lowering springs and body kits, but this is likely to change with hybrid sales rising and the demand for performance certainly there.

Most successful high performance hybrids can only be seen on a racetrack like Braille Battery’s 440-horsepower Hot Rod Hybrid Altima displayed at the annual Specialty Equipment Manufacturers Association.

Until this track technology is adapted to production cars, hybrid hackers will search for new and innovative ways to squeeze performance from their cars.

As I sit and ponder the past year and look forward to the New Year, I came across an article on how different cities around the country celebrate New Year’s Eve. As a native New Yorker, I have experienced the ball drop in Times Square and think of those memories fondly. According to the article, many other cites also celebrate by dropping various objects, such as a conch shell with a drag queen in Key West and a Hershey Kiss in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

“Ball drops” weren’t always reserved for New Year’s Eve. The idea of lowering a sphere to measure time was first used in Greenwich, England, where a ball descended every afternoon at one o’clock so ship captains could calibrate their navigational tools. The concept eventually made its way to New York City, where it’s now used to usher in the New Year in front of thousands of freezing-cold spectators.

Every now and then I come across some really unique marketing ideas and think to myself: “What a great idea – why didn’t I think of that?”

In today’s world where thousands of brands are feverishly competing for consumers’ attention, the simple, intuitive and well-executed campaigns are the ones that really tend to stand out from the rest of the clutter.

Here are a few that caught my eye over the past few months:

How do you take single serve stuffing in a cup and spin out a unique and innovative non-traditional marketing campaign? That was the challenge for Stove Top Stuffing Quick Cups this past month. Their solution? Activate a one-month program in Chicago that combines traditional outdoor advertising with an experiential sampling program in 10 heated bus shelters in high traffic areas.  It can get mighty cold in Chicago in the winter—what could warm you up better than a fresh hot cup of Stove Top Stuffing in a heated, that’s right, heated, bus shelter!

Here’s an experience that I am sure that everyone has had: Ever walk off a flight, clear security, head down to baggage claim only and see a barrage of about 40 drivers holding signs for VIP passenger pick up? (I have always been tempted to hang out at the airport with a big sign that says, “Not looking for anybody—just like to hold signs.” But that is another story…) Absolut Vodka recently had a unique take on this one: They partnered with Improv Everywhere—the group responsible for a host of stunts including a huge sight gag in New York City’s Grand Central Station—to personally greet individual passengers at JFK Airport in New York with a crowd of complete strangers… It’s an instant classic.

“Look here. This $100,000 could be yours!”

Well, maybe… That was the premise for this playful execution by The Ladders—an executive search firm that specializes in recruiting professionals that earn more than $100,000 a year. Their challenge was to create a promotion with a high-end look that helps weed out non-qualified candidates that tend to flood traditional executive search sites. Their idea: Put $100,000 cash in a totally secure clear plastic/plexiglass box, set up 10 hidden cameras and record what people will do to try to get their hands on that kind of money. Then they created a 3-minute montage of the antics to send to potential clients around the county.

Ideas such as these inspire me to ask: How can we truly challenge ourselves and our teams to stand out from the clutter and really connect with our clients and consumers?

In 1997, an artist in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Clark Whittington, came up with a revolutionary idea for a local showing of his art.  In addition to hanging his paintings, he took an old cigarette vending machine, gussied it up and stocked it with several of his black and white photos, selling the photos in the machine for $1.00 each.

His show at a local cafe was a success and one month later when the show was to be dismantled, the owner asked to keep the machine. Several more artists were asked to stock the machine with their own creations and “Artists in Cellophane” was formed.

Now many of these “Art-o-mat” machines (as they are called) can be found around the country. Brilliant! For a mere five bucks you can pull a knob and add an original piece of art can be added to your collection.

People have always been drawn to treasures that drop from a machine. It starts at a young age with machines full of candy or cheap plastic toys and the temptation carries on through life with the drop of sodas and snacks all dispensed from a machine as treasures in exchange for a small sum inserted.

What a creative use for recycling a clunky old vending machine, or is it a treasure chest?

Thinking Green
Positioning products has traditionally revolved around a few basic marketing axioms - find the right price, product, placement, promotion - and you’re golden.  However, as it turns out, these days gold isn’t worth nearly as much as Green.  Of course, Green in this context is the new wave of environmentally friendly products and marketing that’s raining down on consumers from every direction.  Brand managers, marketing directors, and creatives have all jumped on the Green bandwagon - recognizing and embracing a critical shift in consumer mindset.  It’s surprising the range of companies and products that are finding a way to capitalize on the movement.  Green is bringing value to brands in ways they never imagined it would.

The Tipping Point
When Malcolm Gladwell described in The Tipping Point the social criteria that propels an idea from trend to movement, he argued that products reach critical mass in the perfect storm of three factors: the Law of the Few, the Stickiness Factor, and the Power of Context.  The Law of the Few basically describes a trend’s ability to find it’s way into the hands of the right social groups - charismatic trend influencers and salespeople.  The Stickiness Factor refers to a trend’s resiliency within the consumer mindset - it’s what separates flash-in-the-pan fads from concepts that “have legs.”  It reflects the uniqueness of a concept, and it’s capability for ongoing resonance with consumers.  The Power of Context is really about timing, and finding out if the masses are ready to adopt an idea, product, or movement.

Green has reached Gladwell’s ”tipping point.”  After spending decades planted firmly within the liberal agenda, the Green movement has slowly made the shift to mainstream acceptance.  Satisfying all of the social criteria outlined by Gladwell, it has achieved credibility, become entrenched in the consumer psyche, and surfaced as an integral component of the marketing mix.  Green has gone from grassroots fringe to the expected and accepted responsible norm.

Paradoxically, science (a longtime friend of “big industry”) provided the stickiness to transform the Green trend into something more sustainable.  After failing for years to definitively support the Green agenda, recently the scientific community has supplied the necessary teeth for Green to gain traction and make progress.  Their agreement on hot button issues surrounding global climate change and environmental impacts of industry have given Green the momentum and gravitas it previously lacked.  Validity was a critical component Green had been missing.  The Power of Context has come easier as a result.  One driving factor for this is a fundamental shift in approach.  The longtime top-down angle of attack for Green has been flipflopped, affording the average citizen a means to support the cause without extreme measures (like chaining himself to a tree in the midst of logging operations).

The revised approach has resulted in a more socially acceptable Green, one that encourages everyone to take personal responsibility for their portion of the solution.  By turning the game plan inside out, Green has found a way to make the sum of parts greater than the whole.  What followed was the natural fulfillment of Gladwell’s Law of the Few.  Having demonstrated the ”realness” of issues, and made them personal in a way that was accessible, the market swelled with opportunity.  Brand managers, marketers and salespeople now began seeing the light, and finding ways to capitalize on the Green trend.  Components, processes, and materials previously seen as too costly were now viewed as valuable ways to boost company goodwill and profit margin.  With consumers asking themselves the question “what can I do personally”, corporate America has been more than willing to serve up the solution in ways that benefit their bottom line.  The tail is now wagging the dog.

Green paving the way to green ($)
Once there was a clear path to make a buck off the idea, the Green movement had all it needed to thrive and succeed.  The result - everybody wants a slice of the Green market, which is now bigger than ever before.  People want to know they are doing their part when making purchase decisions, and this encourages brands to find and leverage eco-friendly features and benefits.  Brands now tout their environmental contributions right on the package, knowing this can be the deciding factor at point of purchase.  Comparing similar products, the Green consumer will enthusiastically purchase from the brand that allows them to contribute to the greater cause.

Doing the right thing never felt so good.  In the best scenarios, brands are sometimes able to apply even more leverage by charging a premium for Green consumers eager to “make a difference.”  Green has reached the tipping point.  Smart marketing calls for brands to find an eco-angle for their products, tie into a cause, snipe the product packaging with Green buzzwords (organic, sustainability, reduced carbon footprint, etc).  Consumer mindsets have shifted, and marketing strategies must evolve along with them.  Brands in tune with this concept can boost brand perception, enhance their web presence, and drive sales for their packaged goods on the shelf.

John Lennon stood for a lot of things but most notably, the ability to change the world through goodwill. Through his music he begged you to imagine a world living as one and now he’s imploring you to do just that by being a part of the One Laptop Per Child initiative, well a digital version of Lennon is, anyway. Yoko Ono approved the use of her late husband’s likeness for an OLPC ad to be run on donated television ad space as well as on the Internet. The clip features a copycat of Lennon’s ever-familiar voice tied to a digitally enhanced video of the pop idol.

OLPC is a non-profit association that is attempting to make Internet access available to children in developing countries by providing them with durable, solar-powered laptops that cost as little as $200.

As Ono has been hesitant to permit the use of Lennon’s likeness in the past, the OLPC association must be something she truly believes her husband would have supported had he been alive today.

A story on NPR this morning kindly reminded me that a photo project I’ve been following online this year is coming to an end today. For the past year, six photographers have been taking a photo at the same time every day (7:15 PM) and posting them online at sametime715.com.

Early on, the site looked more like an online photo gallery, but as the project progressed, it became something more. With captions attached to each photo, it’s diary-like but more importantly, when you take all of the individual posts collectively, it paints of picture of who each artist is.

With each artist documenting what they were doing each day at 7:15, there are often shots of dinner time or other seemingly mundane, everyday things we all do. But the photos are far from mundane. And because they’re taken on a daily basis, something about them becomes rather extraordinary and also different from sites like Facebook where people also post personal information, as co-founder Brad Walker points out.

Comparing SAMETIME 7:15 to social networking sites, “this feels a lot more risky because this is a chance to show your life being boring,” Walker says. “The whole point of those Web sites is to show your family, your dog — all your prizes. And this is kind of about the opposite of that actually, you know? Showing how day-to-day is not really full of that necessarily.”

The next time you step in to a bookstore chain, if you do happen to set foot in one at all, do not neglect to peruse the bargain/discount department. Besides finding the odd former bestseller, occult, or cookbook, one can find some real gems if looking in the right spots.  The bargain section is where many chains have their large, coffee table style books.

For the artist, there are numerous, photo-filled, tomes on famous painters, illustrators, and photographers. Additionally, there are plenty of books on travel and history which usually have wonderful photography. You’re not going to find the latest art books there, but should be able to find something of interest. Waiting for a cheaper price is quite the gamble, but it may pay-off and you will find yourself paying 50 to 75 percent less than the already low price tag.

The holidays are when most bargain/discount departments fill up with the larger, more picturesque books. Many of these books will go on deep discount after the holiday season, which makes timing very important. The stock counts are limited and the books are usually on their last run so when they are gone, it will be difficult to find and order.

This past holiday season, I came across a few books in which I had no problem handing over a few dollars for. I have a great interest in World War II propaganda posters and found a rather nice book on the subject with some posters I have never come across before. At the same table, I spotted a book about graphic design and illustrations from the Art Deco era, another great find.

As you may know from my previous post about Hard Case Crime books, I am a big fan of pulp books and magazines. I happened to spot a book entirely on pulp magazine illustrations and some of the history behind the subject matter and magazines. Oddly, the book is printed English with French and German translations included.

When not working or designing video games for the iPhone, I like to take snaps of the world around me. Here’s a recent visitor to my yard here in Savannah.

Are you interested in the world of international diplomacy and the goings on at the State Department, but you are not sure where to get information in real time? No problem, the State Department has caught the Twitter bug and they want to have a conversation with you.

A quick scour of the “dipnote” Twitter site shows that they regularly post updates about what Secretary of State Rice has on her agenda, and that there will be no daily press briefing today, and there is an updated travel alert concerning travel in India. Like everything posted on Twitter, it’s up to you to measure the relative value of the individual tweets.

If you desire to get up close and personal with a real diplomat to see what they do each day, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Public Diplomacy Colleen Graffy has her own Twitter feed. Many of Graffy’s tweets have nothing to do with her official duties at the State Department, such as her recent tweet concerning Bed, Bath & Beyond coupons, but some do, such as her tweet about a “Green Diplomacy” webchat in Malta with a link to the transcript.

Graffy wrote about her embrace of Twitter in an op-ed for the Washington Post that points out the positive aspects of diplomats embracing social media. She notes how Twitter, Facebook (the State Department has a Facebook page and if you want to be a “fan” of the U.S. embassy in Montenegro, here you go), Youtube, where the DOS posts briefing videos, and even the State Department blog are all positive tools for diplomatic outreach. These various mediums, Graffy says, helps to put a human face on what it is that diplomats try to do out there in the world.

Not that long ago, communicating diplomat-to-diplomat was enough. Agreements were reached behind closed doors and announced in a manner and degree that suited the schedule and desires of the governments involved, not the general population. In fact, the public was by and large an afterthought. But the proliferation of democracies and the emergence of the round-the-clock media environment has brought an end to those days. Now, governments must communicate not only with their people but also with foreign audiences, including through public diplomacy.

We also like Twitter.