Talk to me

Consumers Itching to Talk to Brands

by: Matt Rhodes

A new study from ExpoTV shows that 55% of consumers want an ongoing dialogue with brands. The study investigates how brands and consumers interact, and in particular how consumers want brands to engage them. And the results are exciting. In addition to the 55% wanting an ongoing dialogue, 89% of respondents said they would feel more loyal to a brand if they were invited to take part in a feedback group.

These results mirror our own experiences, where involving people in a true feedback process has positive impacts on loyalty and advocacy. The ExpoTV survey looks into this in more depth and shows also how consumers will spread this positive message.

Of those who have a positive experience, 92% said they would recommend the brand to somebody else. Perhaps more striking from the perspective of generating buzz, 60% of people said they would tell 10 people or more about a brand they liked and a third would tell 20 people or more. There is a lot of willingness to create buzz and word-of-mouth for a brand that you like. There is a real strengthening of positive feelings when a brand engages a consumer. And there is a real willingness on the part of the consumer to take part in such engagement.

These are the building blocks of a really successful word-of-mouth and advocacy campaign. People want to be engaged and if you do it, this will only have a positive impact on feelings towards the brand.

For every 100 consumers about 55 want to engage with you. And nine out of ten of those that you engage would feel more positive about you as a result. So from any group of 100 customers that you try to engage in a feedback group or online community, 50 would be more loyal to the brand as a result.

From these 50 people, about a third (or 16 people) would tell more than ten people about the brand (so at least 160 people from our group) and another third would tell more than 20 people (so at least 320 people from our group). So as a conservative estimate from those 100 people you try to engage:

• 50 of the original 100 become more loyal to the brand, and tell a further
• 480 other people about how positive they feel about the brand.

This survey helps us to understand motivation for taking part in an online community or feedback group, and the benefits it will cause.

As a conservative estimate, these results suggest that for every 100 people you try to engage in an online community, 50 will leave more loyal to the brand and a further 480 people will hear about this loyalty through word-of mouth. That’s a huge impact for engaging a relatively small number of people.

There is a real willingness on the part of the consumer to engage with brands, and a real and demonstrable benefit to the brand of them doing this.

via FutureLab

A Toast to Art: Sylvie Fleury creates "Stolen Kisses" for Dom Pérignon Rosé

Sylvie Fleury has been a darling of the fashion community in recent years, having sculpted a two-foot-long silver-plated version of the Louis Vuitton Keepall in 2000. Most recently, she designed a giant Chanel compact for the Zaha Hadid-envisioned Chanel Mobile Art. Now the Swiss artist has turned her hand to...champagne.

Working with Dom Pérignon Rosé, known as the champagne of seduction, Fleury imagined a whimsical way to applaud the spirit of the bubbly with her newest vision, "Stolen Kisses." The results? A pair of wine glasses imprinted with lips, mimicking a freshly-sipped glass. Available in November for $600, the gift box, commissioned in 999 copies, features the two large glasses, each numbered and signed by the artist--and a bottle of Dom Pérignon Rosé Vintage 1998, natch.

via Fashion Week Daily

fashion news

This weekend is all aboutt fashion with the menswear in full swing in Paris
I've got fashion news too


Well apparently Comme des Garcons and Louis Vuitton are joining forces. A a joint Tokyo store is set to open in September, it is rumored to be an ephemeral three-month space where six one-off bags, designed by Kawakubo in LV monogram pattern, can be ordered by shoppers.

Yves Carcelle, chairman and CEO of Louis Vuitton, spotted at Kawakubos’ show on Friday, said that he was approached by Comme and considers the project a fine way to celebrate 30 years since Vuitton first opened in Tokyo.

Kawakubo has re-designed the entire Comme des Garçons store on Kottodori, Omotesando for the Vuitton project. Carcelle says that LV is investing in the store, and that any financial profits will be divided.
Kawakubo described her designs as ‘party’ bags, promising multi-handles or two handles morphing into one. All will use the Monogram toile, with the LV initials, and the offerings will hark back to the styles of 30 years when Vuitton made only bags and leather goods."

via Selectism, via The moment

Also, Lanvin is to Open Men’s Store on Savile Row

Alber Elbaz’s rejuvenation of Lanvin is spreading further into the men’s department, with a new-look store coming to London’s Savile Row this fall. The 1,600-square-foot boutique at 30-32, which will replace an outmoded unit on New Bond Street, will showcase the French brand’s runway collection, its classic 15 Faubourg line plus made-to-measure, a pillar of Lanvin’s men’s wear business since the ‘20s.
“Men’s is showing a great dynamic,” said Lanvin president Paul Deneve, also disclosing plans to renovate its flagship men’s store here on the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore. Renovations, to be done in stages, commenced earlier this week and are to be completed by September. Besides a new design concept, the 6,500-square-foot men’s store will house a VIP room for its bespoke clients on the third floor. Deneve said Lanvin counts some 120 clients for bespoke, with suits starting at 5,000 euros and running up to 20,000 euros (or about $7,850 to $31,400). Men’s wear represented 31 percent of Lanvin’s buinsess last year, Deneve said. Lanvin is slated to show its spring/summer 2009 collection, overseen by Elbaz and designed by Dior Homme alum Lucas Ossendrijver, on Sunday at the end of Men’s Fashion Week here.

via DNR

Marry Me Mug

Well I know Louise, but I also find this marry me cup super cute







I also love the junk hats








check her work on Knock Knock Design

On types of planners.

'Talent hits a target no one else can hit. Genius hits a target no one else can see' - Arthur Schopenhauer. I was thinking about types of planners out there following a conversation with a great planning director and we were debating the virtues of various 'types' of planners. Labels abound of-course, account planner, creative planner, communication planner, digital planner etc. Yet the only types I could come up with were simply two: the first are planners who are brilliant at de-construction: these are the folks who are great at telling you how the world works. Typically because they come from research and curiosity backgrounds / mindsets. The other type are the planners who are brilliant at construction. These are the ones who are into how the world 'could' work. The latter type don't need a curiosity background. Sadly i was say that the latter are the rarer variety. I suppose the difference between the two is what Schopenhauer described between the talented and the genius. Finally, as far as planning processes go wouldn't it be simpler to narrow down the planning cycle to two phases: Deconstruction - Reconstruction. The first is about understanding 'how the world works?' and the second is about 'how it could work?'. If it is one planner who is doing both then he/she would need to swap hats somewhere in the middle but you could always have two planners the de-constructionist and the re-constructionist in charge of each phase.

via Planning on Subversion

Petra Mrzyk & Jean-Francois Moriceau

Long overdue, but better late than never

images via Notcot

Some People Really do Want to 'Join the Conversation'

In a recent study conducted by product review online TV site, ExpoTV, it was found that, yes, some people do actually want to "have a conversation" with a brand. The study found:

- Consumers not only want to talk to brands, they want to establish a conversation: 55% of consumers want an ongoing dialogue with brands

- Learning about new products in the pipeline is a top priority: Respondents were most anxious to talk to the product design (49%) department, followed by customer support (14%), marketing (14%) and pricing (13%)

- Positive brand experiences can generate word-of-mouth buzz: More than 60% of those polled said they tell 10 or more people about the products they like while a third tell 20 or more people

- Listening leads to loyalty: 89% of respondents would feel more loyal to brands which invited them to participate in a feedback group, and 92 percent of those who have a positive experience communicating with a brand will recommend purchasing a product from that brand to someone they know

- Consumers are open to engaging with the competition: 93 percent of consumers surveyed would be interested or very interested in communicating with competitive brands that expressed interest in their feedback if their first choice is not interested in hearing what they have to say

by Steve Hall

via Adrants

Pluk by Tjep

Pluk
Good food is great fun!

Pluk is a new take-away formula which offers: fresh juices, yogurt shakes and special salads that customers can compose by themselves: the so called tossed salads.

The essence of the formula is to enjoy good food. The emphasis on health is implicit. Pluk says: if you are consuming the healthy things 99% of the times, you can indulge yourselves with 1% of wiped cream. Pluk offers the 99% and the 1% next to each other, on top of each other or mixed with each other.

The interior tries to reflect this juxtaposition of healthy and fun. For some reason healthy wants to look boring but we just said no! The counters contain fruits and vegetables in three color groups. They are actually fake, but because of the way we integrated a special gradient effect the whole counter becomes simply delicious, by the way it took us months to develop the exact right color, gradient and fruit/vegetable combination to get this result: people who enter Pluk are overwhelmed and just cant resist ordering one of the wonderful specialities specially prepared by Aïda and Zeger. These new friends came to us last year and asked us to help them out with they're dream... since the opening last June the whole Tjep. team is addicted to Pluk.

Anyway if you are in Haarlem in the Netherlands check it out!

Tjep. was responsible for the identity, naming and interior design of Pluk.

Client
Aïda & Zeger

Project Team
Frank Tjepkema, Janneke Hooymans, Tina Stieger, Leonie Janssen, Bertrand Gravier, Camille Cortet.

Special thanks
Iris

via tjep

Planning Survey Result 2008

Planner survey, the accent stats are interesting.

| View | Upload your own

via Fallon Planning

8-8-2008 by Gucci: a global brand going local

Gucci is launcing a special collection for the forthcoming olympics: "8-8-2008 Limited Edition”

Taking her cue from competitive sports, Creative Director Frida Giannini has conceived 8 exclusive accessories that epitomize sporty luxury.

A noteworthy product in this collection is the hot new I-Gucci watch, unique to the "8-8-2008 Limited Collection". It is Gucci's first ever digital timepiece, it will be offered worldwide and is a tantalizing option for cosmopolitan watch fans.

Its clean digital face (which features both numerical or clock hand formats), black dial and steel frame epitomize sporty elegance. The surface of its red monochrome rubber strap is engraved with the Gucci logo on the exterior, while the interior has been embossed with Gucci's iconic GG pattern.

The rear face commemorates the year 2008 with a chic red and green logo. All functions are easily executed using lateral push buttons embedded in the smooth circular frame of the 44mm case. Its high-tech capabilities even allow the wearer to select a dedicated Beijing time zone code on the display.

The "8-8-2008 Limited Edition" collection also includes a unique bicycle, with bold red double GG leather details and collectable items such as a luxurious Mah Jong set covered in red "La Pelle Guccissima" and, to pay homage to China, a panda in soft leather. Though intended for leisure, the products bear the hallmarks of Gucci's impeccable quality.

Frida also proposes the bold "La Pelle Guccissima" for two pieces of luggage. The first is a chic, sturdy leather duffel and the other a soft leather messenger bag with Gucci's iconic green-red-green web on the shoulder strap. Also included in the collection are sports shoes, for both men and women, articulated in a fresh patchwork of suede, patent leather and gold trim and a necklace nspired by military tags, in sterling silver and enamel making it the perfect accessory for casual looks.

"La Pelle Guccissima" is, as usual, buffed and finished by hand and the products feature a specially created metal plaque that combines the interlocking GG logo and the year 2008.

As for the bold red that permeates this standout collection, Frida comments: "Not only does red evoke "Happiness" and "Celebration" - two emotions that couldn't be more appropriate to describe the excitement in the world of sports - but it also happens to be a very fashionable color for 2008! I also designed just 8 products for this collection, which mirror the lucky number 8 in Chinese culture".

Though the I-Gucci watch will be offered worldwide, all other designs of this special collection will be sold exclusively in Hong Kong and mainland China.

via yatzer

Reaching their audience: Veuve Clicquot + Riva Collaboration

Classic Italian yacht maker, Riva, (yes, the ones that you can stick a Lamborghini engine in) teams up with Veuve Clicquot in their latest beautiful design collaboration, that makes me dream of living the dolce vita lifestyle, and has me desperately yearning to hop a plane back to Italy to relax on Lago di Como.

They have launched La Grande Dame by Riva Collection which includes three products in mahogany, chrome and leather - the Cruise Collection, Cruiser Bag, and ice bucket ~ the Cruise Collection contains 4 bottles of La Grande Dame 98, 2 magnums of La Grande Dame 88, 6 champagne flutes Riedel and 6 water tumblers, plates, table mats and cutlery ~ the Cruiser Bag contains a bottle of La Grande Dame 98 and two champagne flutes. Full photo spread to help you fantasize about the Riva/Veuve Clicquot lifestyle on the next page… as well as some background on the incredible story of Riva… and i found some amazing original sketches of the various Riva boats over the last 40 years worth taking a peek at!

p.s.
no, i’m not condoning drinking and boating ~ have a designated driver?

And on a side note ~ for those of you unfamiliar with Riva… to be honest it was vaguely familiar with it, and upon a call to my dad, i’ve suddenly spent the last few hours flashing back to the 70’s hearing his tales about Riva’s in their prime, family friend, Gino Gervasoni, who was partner to Carlo Riva since 1950 and took over in 1971, how the owner of some of the hottest Singapore nightclubs now used to be the main Riva rep for all of asia… so, surprisingly, i must say, one of the awesome perks to running this site, is getting a chance to find out more of the secrets in my parent’s pasts!

As for Riva - the story dates back to 1842 Lago di Como (see the full story at the bottom of the post) ~ It stays in the family generation after generation ~ they start mass producing in the 50’s as waterskiiing begins to take off ~ and it really becomes seen as the Ferrarri/Lamborghini of the sea in the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s when they capture the attention of the film world (yes that’s Brigitte Bardot in ‘68 in the bottom left of the top image) ~ in the 70’s they introduce Fiberglass production ~ in 1969 Carlo Riva sells the yard to the American company Whittaker ~ and Gino Gervasoni, his partner since 1950 takes his place ~ in 1991, Rolls Royce takes control of the company and Gervasoni (married to Carlo Riva’s sister) steps down, ending the family legacy with the company ~ and in 2000 Italian Yacht powerhouse, Ferretti, takes over and continues to run Riva today. Going through the history in pictures is a fascinating quick study on the history and evolution of the luxury/speed boat industry, and the images and stories of the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s seem like such a romantic, nostalgic, fun era to have missed out on!

1) Cruise Collection: a “made to measure” piece and costs $80,000 - comes with 4 bottles of La Grande Dame 98, 2 magnums of La Grande Dame 88, 6 champagne flutes Riedel and 6 water tumblers, plates, table mats and cutlery.

2) Cruiser Bag: Limited Edition piece (only 300 pieces available) - includes a bottle of La Grande Dame 98 and two champagne flutes. Available from July and costs $425

From a design standpoint, i can’t not share some of the gorgeous sketches of Riva’s boats as well!

I love this “myth” of Riva:

The Riva myth starts on the banks of Lake Como, in Laglio, in 1842. One Spring day a fisherman arrives from Sarnico, a village on Lake Iseo in the province of Bergamo. Stunned by how the young Pietro Riva, born in Laglio on 12 March 1822, is repairing his boat that has been damaged by a load of bricks, the visitor proposes he go to Sarnico to repair two boats that have been damaged by the Oglio River bursting its banks and throwing them against the rocks on the river bed. Covering the seventy miles that separate the two lakes marks Pietro’s emancipation and the birth of Riva’s history.

Pietro’s skill is noticed once again in a wooden hut on the River Oglio and his ability as carpenter finds an environment willing to offer him boats both to repair and build. The first commission he receives is for a “fishing boat and Comacine type rowing boat”, probably a streamline “inglesina” for one, two and three rowers. The young Riva is able to set himself up and, ten years later, marry Lucrezia Taroni. They have five children: Angelo, Francesco, Ernesto, Erminia and Luigi.

Ernesto is sent to Laglio to learn the trade and on returning to Sarnico joins his father as a skilled carpenter. He senses engines are the future and proposes they build larger models. A new yard is needed, built on the other side of the bridge over the River Oglio: it is the so-called “tesone”, due to the particular type of roof. Business increases rapidly.

In 1881 Ernesto Riva marries Carolina Malighetti, with whom he has six children: Francesco, Angelo, Serafino, Mauro, Anna and Pierina. In the meantime Ernesto is commissioned to make the first motorboat. Success encourages him to build one of his own. He proposes the first tourist trips on the lake with this boat that he calls Sarnico. In particular the trip to Montisola, the largest lake-island in Europe, includes a visit to the shipyard at lunchtime. Mrs. Riva’s kitchen turns into a restaurant that honours the local gastronomic tradition and livens up holidays in particular.

via NotCot

Price Trumps Quality in Emerging markets

Must read article this week,

Check this really interesting insight on marketing in rapidly developing economies in Business Weeek written by Harold Sirkin and Jim Hemerling,

Antwerp/Royal Academy of Fine Arts 2008

Heaven Tanudiredja for Vitrine, Antwerp
Photograph by Sonny Vandevelde

Via Diane Pernet

Spring/Summer 2008

En direct du camion has a nice selection of men's accessories, the bags are from One bag One and available on http://www.paris-place.com/




Also lovely derbies from APC

Lanvin et ses petites voitures

Alber Elbaz himself is designing those wonderful windows and they are changing every months. Originality is probaby easier because of the number of shops, however as a shopper, it is what I want to see

Many thanks Alber

Every accessory has been enhanced by bright toy-like colours.

via Café Mode