Month: November 2011

  • Mr Pizza in Korea

    Pizza in Korea is a unique experience compared to other countries. Pizzas in Hong Kong were generally more premium and had more of a focus on sea food. Pizza in Korea was remarkably different: About the company Mr. Pizza was founded in 1990. They have one branch in the US, one in Vietnam, 15 in…

  • CIC on China’s luxury market

    CIC who provide the IWOM set of reports and flakey tools (think Sysomos, Radian6 or Adobe SocialAnalytics for the mainland Chinese internet eco-system) have come up with an interesting report on online conversations around the Chinese luxury market. CIC is increasingly being integrated with GroupM. It will be interesting to see how CIC copes as…

  • Systeme D

    According to Foreign Policy, the D in Systeme D comes from the French word débrouillard which is used to describe people who are ingenious or resourceful. In the Francophone companies being resourceful means operating outside of proscribed government regulation and bootstrap entrepreneurship hence, systeme D. Back in France, this might have been applied to people…

  • Dealer chic

    If the working class and the lower middle class are worried about financial security with trends like extreme couponing; the upper-middle classes are also interested in the thrill of a good deal with the changing economic environment a distant secondary motivator. With this in mind Trendwatching talked about dealer chic; reading their profile its almost…

  • Video futures

    Peter Jackson has been shooting a really interesting video diary for the forthcoming Hobbit two-part film. Whilst all the Tolkien geeks are pouring over it salivating at what they are going to spend their next ten year’s disposable income on, I was curious to know what it was likely to tell us about the future…

  • Optimising for platforms

    Optimising for platforms rather than clients and audiences. Three years ago I taught an interactive marketing module at the business school of a private university in Barcelona. It was a great experience presenting to a number of senior executives and up-and-coming talent from various parts of Spanish industry including advertising and interactive agencies. I ended…

  • Extreme couponing

    Extreme couponing – is a phrase that I came across in the Knowledge@Wharton newsletter to describe the way hard-pressed value conscious consumers in North America are using offline vouchers and online resources including comparison shopping and coupon websites to make their grocery spend to go further. Having worked on FMCG programs rolled out in North…

  • Sony Discman D-250

    When you think about the likes of the Sony Discman D-250 you need to realise what it was like growing up in the 1980s. It meant that personal music on the move was a ghetto-blaster perched on your shoulder annoying the neighbourhood or a Sony Walkman personal stereo. I was really fortunate in that I…