Tag Archives: trends
Step by step, consumers are taking over creative control. Some brands are willingly embracing this opportunity – crowd-sourcing their ad campaigns, giving out prizes for packaging, outsourcing their naming or voting over videos – but others are being forced to play the game more reluctantly. And the corporate logo appears to be the next target. The design story of 2010 was the consumer reaction to the new Gap logo and the back-peddling that followed as Gap succumbed to the pressure of consumer dislike (much like Tropicana did) and went back to the way things were. And now, the new Starbucks logo could be heading for the same fate. Consumers have a voice and when they don’t like something today they have many ways to express it. This year, we are going to see design become the next platform for creative expression – but when is the right time to listen?
Read MoreIt’s official – all .com web addresses for four-letter names have gone. We are rapidly running out of options. The naming system for the internet is finally going to have to change. The .net TLD never got going and .org was never a good answer. Country codes like .co.uk, .fr, .kr or .jp have eased the pressure over the last few years, and the idea for localized domains like .nyc or .paris could become reality this year. But it looks like this is the year all those odd domains like .tv, .mobi, .museum and .xxx are finally going to come of age. Building your brand in the digital age demands that it have a home on the Web that people can find, but with Google or Bing at your fingertips, who needs to know the address? Any domain will work as long as you can find it through search. Brands are going less mainstream, yet people are still going to find them. Of course with Facebook, Twitter and mobile apps, maybe you don’t even need a website anymore…
Read MoreInternational brands are going to need each other more. Western brands going east; eastern brands going west. We are going to see more deals, more tie-ups and more relationships as brands look to become more relevant and more pervasive in expanding communities around the world. The truth is, brands don’t necessarily need to – or know how or to – do it on their own. International partnerships will give them inroads to new territories and new users where they can find success not just eventually in the long-term, but immediately in the short-term. A new era of global collaboration is underway.
Read MoreTV is falling to pieces, and this year those pieces will start to make more sense than the whole. Stop thinking “everything,” start thinking “something.” Piecemeal programming will start to replace standard subscriptions as more established brands like Apple, Google, Xbox and Amazon – and newer ones like Netflix, Boxee and Roku – compete to offer more ways to access, easier ways to consume and better ways to engage. It may be just a single show, a series or a channel, but Gen Y doesn’t want to get their TV the same way their parents got it or ultimately to pay for it the same way either. As the last bastions of local news and sports crumble to the Internet, á la carte TV will finally become easier, better and here!
Read MoreFinally brands are beginning to look at B2B customers as B2C consumers. For years, the word “Enterprise” implied a second rate user experience, sacrificed to the altars of productivity and profitability. But, no more. After a decade of living with iPhones and BlackBerry devices, 1-click buying and “LIKE” buttons, we’re seeing a new generation of users looking for that same easy experience in their spreadsheets and business applications, forms and reports. Why shouldn’t business processes be as engaging and efficient as iTunes, Flickr or Facebook? The user economy is demanding a better user experience and as brands apply the same elegant digital, social and mobile efficiencies that are driving modern consumer applications to B2B products, they’re creating deeper loyalty
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