A Wider Net

Foodies know what I’m talking about - an experience isn’t limited to the payoff. In the case of dining, the experience includes the anticipation based on the reputation of the chef and the restaurant, the ambience, the service, the scents, the sounds, and of course - the actual tastes, textures, and aromas of the food. But the presentation - the act and result of plating the food in a fashion that makes the meal look almost too good to eat - plays a role in that experience. Maybe presentation doesn’t affect taste as much as the bouquet of a fine red wine affects it’s reception by your palate, but it does affect the overall experience.

Take this ginormously over-engineered ring box below called the Euricase. It’s a box. It holds a gift item of value. And it might just be more interesting than the item itself. One thing is for certain, it is going to profoundly affect the experience of receiving this gift.

Inside the luxury container is an LCD display that cycles through a series of photographs. In the case of engagement rings, it would (I assume) feature photos that prove to the would-be ring-bearer that “yes” is the only correct answer to the ensuing question. Post-wedding, one would probably insert images of the wedding, as shown in the example or, more wisely, keep those “pre-proposal proof-you-should-say-yes images” in there to help answer the inevitable question years later “what was I THINKING?”

As LCD, OLED, and other display technology gets leaner and cheaper, this sort of living, active surface can be incorporated just about anywhere.

I would love to make a VIP pitch package using something like this - where the proposal, boards, and other materials are packaged within a video-encrusted case. Glittering and alive, the package would tell my story immediately upon opening. It would also make a terrific way to give a long-time employee a service award - their gold watch would be surrounded by vivid memories of their long career - something they can re-use with their family for years later.

In retail and exhibits, this type of package would make a great demo station for just about any premium product from jewelry to cellular phones. Gummy bears probably don’t need this level of presentation - they speak for themselves.

We do have a responsibility to make sure we don’t place these cheap displays in an application that could be considered a throwaway. In our (re)newly green-spirited culture we should make sure that the display has some residual usefulness after it’s role as a one-off “wow”.

Counterpoint: Ok, part of me wants to simply shout “Come on! Isn’t the ring enough, already?” I guess I like the packaging for applications when the “ring” isn’t enough.

Via Everything USB

EcoBranders offers a whole line of environmentally-friendly products. Some are great - they include plastic things made out of corn plastic, things made out of cork, things made out of hemp, and clothing made of cotton and bamboo (like the picture to the left which also features their most expensive product: a premium recycled slacker).

Some things are weird, like the recycled stone made from pulverized… er… stone. Not sure what the environmental need is there, but for the sake of Mother Earth we should stop buying virgin rocks and get the recycled kind. I guess.

I’m also not sure the recycled paper pens will pass muster with the shirt pocket. It just seems like a recipe for disaster.

It’s worth a look - there are a LOT of products made from all kinds of recycled and recyclable stuff. It will make you feel better. And it may help you satisfy your next event’s green requirements

Then it will have to include these guys: Experience Chocolate.

Custom chocolate tastings… I can think of no greater marketing innovation. At the moment.

I’ve already informed the marketing team.

Thanks to Corporate Meetings & Incentives Magazine - I’ve had this clipped and hanging around my office since it was published in the March issue. I’d link you there, but the article seems to have been removed.

The blogs are busting about a pair of new cameras from Sony. These new teeny tiny digital cameras have several remarkable things going for them. First, they sport giant wide-screen touchscreens on the back for easier camera control, photo manipulation, and custom focusing. If you’re a gadget freak, you may find it amusing that Sony would be early to market with a touchscreen camera when they couldn’t manage to place a decent touchscreen experience into their phones, music players, or hand held game consoles. Instead, they let themselves get flogged by the likes of Apple and Nintendo. But Sony clearly has something here.

These cameras are beautiful. Sleek, tiny, and well-designed - clearly a sign that manufacturers are taking design more seriously now. By adding a touchscreen, Sony has managed to pack incredible features into a tiny device without the typical “button overload”. This is especially helpful if you’re looking for a special gift this holiday season as it looks like these devices will not only be attractive, but they should be easy to use by anyone.

The most innovative feature, and the reason for my posting it here, is the smile detection system. Face detectors have been present in cameras for a while, and they help the camera decide what type of exposure and flash to use in many situations for optimal pictures of people. This camera builds on that facial recognition technology by actually detecting when people smile. The camera can be placed in a mode where it waits for a smile to appear then it quickly snaps a picture. The skeptic in me thinks that simply advertising this feature will sell cameras, even if it doesn’t work well - and Sony knows how to market useless features better than anyone (disclosure: I own two Sony TV’s, a Sony monitor, a Sony camera, and a Sony Playstation2 - I may not appreciate Sony’s method of foisting proprietary storage formats like on us consumers, but I admit they make great stuff). If this feature works as advertised, however, it should make these cameras incredibly fun to use.

And there’s also one or two business uses for smile detection I might mention. The first is obvious - on an event, when you’re taking candids, you’re more likely to catch those elusive smiles that make an event more appealing when looking back at the photos. The second is a little more “out there”. Smile detection cameras would be great at customer service points as a way to measure the friendliness of the service team. You can set a measurable goal of “smile percentage” and have a camera snap pictures only if it detects the customer smiling on the other side of the counter. It would encourage, if not demand, service reps to be friendly and strive to make the experience enjoyable for each customer. A camera never lies.

I guess you could also use this technology at a Registry of Motor Vehicles, a passport office, or at a warehouse club whenever an identification photo is needed. It could save time by snapping the moment it detects a smile, reducing retakes. The problem is, it can’t seem to make sure your eyes are open (that has to be easier than detecting smiles, Sony!) and it can’t save your hair.

e-Photographia seems to have hit it first.

As this review points out, every living thing has heard of the iPhone. We are collectively the victims of another unstoppable buzz campaign from Apple. Like many reviews of this slick new device, the comments are mixed. The iPhone is slick, elegant, and potentially game-changing. At the very least, every handset maker in the world has been given a challenge to make better devices and for that we will all benefit. But, like the iPod, the device is technically imperfect and, like the iPod, competitors should be able to beat the iPhone technically and at lower prices. The question on every analysts mind must be: Will people continue to buy the iPhone despite the inevitable availability of lower cost, technically superior products, just because it’s an iPhone (just like they do with iPods).

I don’t have that answer of course, but I suspect iPhones will sell no matter what. In the meantime, the iPhone is among us, we have rumors of another iPhone right around the corner, and we have time to ponder it’s success from a marketing perspective and it’s usefulness as a marketing or communications tool.

As far as the marketing hype is concerned, we have only to look back at Macworld 2007 during which Steve Jobs finally unveiled the phone, after months (if not years) of endless and frantic rumors and speculation. I was a few hundred miles away at CES and once it was announced, that’s all anyone at CES was talking about. Steve Jobs had stolen the thunder of the largest consumer electronics event from hundreds of miles away. It was simply astonishing. Months later, on iPhone launch day, despite the over-abundance of iPhones at retail stores, the news media only covered the stores that had long lines filled with mattress-toting diehard fans, afraid to miss having their $1,975 phones on launch day. The media clearly loves Apple, because there were plenty of stores with plenty of stock and no rabid fans. Today, there are still iPhone stories in every magazine, newspaper, newsletter, and blog. Clearly Apple has a handle on brand loyalty and hype.

As a gadget, it’s has strong appeal despite its technical limitations, and because the price is out of range for most cellphone slingers, it has become arguably the hottest VIP gift you can give without wheels. And because it can display video and images so beautifully, it makes elevator pitches engaging. It’s the handset equivalent of a fancy car and a Rolex watch carrying prestige and gadget-chic. I imagine we will see at least one exhibitor at every trade show in America offering an iPhone giveaway, just like the iPods when they launched (before everyone got one).

For those of you simply hating the overpriced little thing, or if you are one of the unfortunate people charged with finding one for someone else, here’s a video you’ll love: The iPhone in a blender.

Eee, a brand name intentionally meant to sound like Wii, represents the first ultra micro PC at the affordable level. In fact, if this lightweight wonder offers internet browsing, WiFi, and a webcam for $200, then sign me up - it’s a perfect TV-chair-side companion to check sports scores, TV listings, email, weather, and shop for anniversary gift that you just remembered when one of those annoying “spoil her” diamond commercials flashed on your “spoil him” plasma screen.

It’s also the same price as a Sony PSP, making it the biggest tech-gadget incentive gift bang-for-the-buck I’ve seen lately.

If anyone sights one in the wild, please report in immediately.

Found on Engadget.

I haven’t listed a premium gadget in a while, and I have been meaning to mention this one. The Zen Stone is the latest MP3 (or Digital Audio Player - DAP) from Creative and the latest salvo in the ongoing war against the iPod(s). This one is positioned squarely against the iPod shuffle but it has several important advantages: It comes in all kinds of colors, feels nicer to the touch, you can choose to shuffle or not, you don’t need iTunes software, and it’s half the price of a shuffle. It probably also sounds better.

I like the $40 list price, and the (optional) accessories like the keychain clip, the TravelSound dock with speakers, and the sound isolating headphones give you most of what you’d want in a teeny player. Rubber gel skins give you additional branding opportunities.

I’m sure companies will find that this device’s price and features and better branding options will make the Zen Stone a better fit for their incentive or marketing campaign. It’s very easy to drop a podcast or two on here before you hand it to your employees or customers, and even if they already own a big player like an iPod, they will appreciate this for it’s ultra portability for when they don’t feel like bringing their more fragile and more valuable player everywhere they go.

You do have to contend with the lack of prestige. Creative doesn’t have the Apple brand appeal and popularity and, as such, doesn’t feel like as much of a gift. But you can work out a less-cheesy version of this positioning: it’s better and it’s cooler - just like we are, and we prefer to carve our own path and not copy what everyone else is doing.

Recently at the Exhibitor Show in Las Vegas I was given a promotional pen from Nimlok, a national provider of exhibit structure solutions. The pen has a great feel - strong, heavy, metal with fine details and a smooth interlocking ‘click’ between cap and body. It feels precise, solid, and reliable - like any booth structure should be. I felt this pen captured their brand perfectly. Sure - it’s just a pen, but if you had to ask your company “What kind of pen are we?” what would you expect for an answer?

Would your company be a cheap bic, a neon roller, a fake designer, an ergo, a space pen, a genuine Mont Blanc, or a fountain pen with platinum nib and radioactive carcinogenic rhodamine ink?

With every promotional item you dispense, you have the opportunity to extend your brand into the lives of your customers and prospects. With so many options it seems a shame to see exhibitors sporting heaps of crummy pens that effectively advertise their lack of creativity.

So here are some pen ideas for you to consider for future campaigns, ranging roughly from inexpensive to executive-level:

A perennial favorite: The syringe pen.

This pen contains post-it flags in the body of the pen.

The pen pictured and described above is a steel Cosmonaut found on Fresh Promotions.

This one projects your logo on the wall.
Your customers keep forgetting things? This pen has a voice recorder built in.

How about a pen that contains a stylus and a laser pointer?

Here’s a pen that cleans your camera lens, but strangely and sadly has no actual writing capability.

I’m not sure what message this sends, but this pen contains a breathalyzer.
But they may need it after using this pen with a built-in bottle opener and can tab-lifter.
Here’s a pen gadget-gone-wild that contains a USB Memory drive, a laser pointer, a flashlight, and (oh, yeah) a pen.

And here’s a tiny silver pen so sleek, it fits in the fold of a mens wallet. Nice.

Successful Meetings magazine had an article in February about how the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) is forcing more of us to carry passports when traveling. It suggests picking up document holders such as these from LL Bean and Red Envelope.

I recommend offering these RFID-blocking passport-holders and wallets to your traveling sales force. These block systems from being able to read the RFID tags in some credit cards and in the new passports. Otherwise, there’s a chance that someone can snatch your personal information as you walk by. I’m sure you can find someone who offers this with your logo on it.

You hand these USB memory drives to all your booth visitors. They run home and plug it in to see if they’re one of the lucky ones who get a spoken message “You are a lucky winner”. Everyone else hears “Thanks for visiting . Checks us out at www..com” every time they use the drive.

And if you want to be less annoying you can simply load it up with a pleasantly subdued remix of your company jingle.  I’d want it loaded with the Jetsons doorbell, but that’s just me.

Found via Everything USB