Meet The Connected Consumer

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Meet The Connected Consumer

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Don't Be Frustrated By Tourists, Exploit Them!

The desire to experience history is a powerful tool for inspiration. This motivation fuels the popularity many travel destinations. However, too much popularity coupled with advances in technology can create another inspiration - bring to life history from another perspective.

Abby Road is a landmark in music history. We all know this. Our minds immediately go to the photo of John, Paul, George, and Ringo strutting across the white striped pedestrian crossing. However, Abbey Road is first and foremost a real place where people live; a place where local expect the planned flow of people and cars to be fairly normal so that they can get on with their daily lives. Normalcy like this is expected and is almost a right. Right? We, not for everyone.

Just like the Dekota in NYC, where Lennon was murdered, is rarely without tourist presence, I suppose so too is Abbey Road. Only here, tourists don't flock to have a glimpse at the entrance where John was shot. No, here tourists attempt to mimic that famous pose on the legendary Beatles album. There is only on problem: cars and buses where this place with pedestrians. The outcome: traffic (and likely a good deal of frustration).

Now, local residents have a few options to deal with this scenario. There are the unproductive options: They can avoid it altogether and choose another direction, or they can be utterly annoyed and curse at each tourist that rushes into the street to set up his or her camera. However, the productive ones are more fun. They can set up a booth and charge (be it, illegally) a fee. They can get a few mates together, get dressed up like the Fab Four and charge tourists for "Abbey Road Re-enactments". They can take a picture of the actual album, make duplicates, and sell them as original prints from that infamous shooting day to "sucker" tourists. And the list goes on. The main takeaway is that there is more opportunity from a creative use of a potentially irritating situation.

The author of the attached video is clearly one who believes in this. Since tourists are generally quite funny because they believe that they are being original, but more times than not are fairly routine. Consequently, why not shoot these unintentional comics as they demonstrate their "creativity" on the infamous crossing. In doing so, you quickly catch a large volume of people and begin to see patterns: how they approach the crosswalk (some reservedly, some boldly), how they set up their shot (some quickly some painfully slow), how they do a good job, how they stumble, and so on. Ultimately, you create new entertainment, new art. Therefore, the simple act of shooting an album cover of a highly creative and inspirational band, has involuntarily spawned new creativity in other fields. Brilliant.

I love this because it shows that there is so much opportunity out there. You can see it if you just have a positive disposition and an open mind.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKCG3zMEsYs

Mobile Fashion Has A New Player

Have a look at these awesome decorative shells for your new Blackberry or iPhone. They are done by Colorware. I love their rich colors.

See more examples of the great work. http://www.engadgetmobile.com/tag/Colorware/

What Was Your First Time Like?

Hi everyone,

I've been away from my blog for quite a while. The reason is that I've started a new job and have moved to another country. The transition pre-occupied all my time. However, I am now back.

For my first "article back" I want to let you know about a great play that I saw in New York City over the holidays. It is called "My First Time".

As the title suggests the play is about people's first sexual experience. The concept was birthed by two grad students who created a website called, you guessed it, MyFirstTime.com. The site is still live today. While the site was created for research, it gained momentum quickly and became a valuable online property. This play was based on the thousands of submissions from that site.

The play is arranged simply, with four actors sitting side-by-side quoting lines from the site. The beauty lies in how the lines play off one-another and how humor quickly blends into drama. The beauty also lies in the stark ability of the content to relate to our own experience and even "after the first time" experiences. Behind each of the quotes lies so much visual and psychological context that memories are ignited and stories that you've heard quickly come to life. Yes it is very powerful in its simplicity. Above all, the play underscores the impact of first time moments, sexual and other. They stay with us forever and, whether we want to acknowledge it or not, have an effect on actions we take thereafter.

You can find the play running at the New World Stages at 340 West 50th Street between 8th and 9th Avenue. To get inexpensive tickets, visit one of the TKTS booths in Manhattan shortly before closing, chances are that you'll be able to get 50% off.

Enjoy!

Why fashion fades as you age

Why do people as they age get locked into the look and style of their prime?

I've been thinking about this for a while because I just happened to be gravitating towards looks that I really like but that have moved on. While I mix them up with contemporary items and accessories, I feel that I should explore more overall contemporary looks.

This tension caused me to look around the influences that shape fashion sense and why they may cause fashion paralysis versus fashion exploration. I have observed 4 forces that may be the culprits: Corporate discouragement; Style stealing; Teen undercover identification combined with the explosion of individualism; and The rise of thrift.

Corporate discouragement is likely the biggest influence. Most companies support a common look, be it formal (the suit) or casual (often the Dockers khaki). People enter the workforce with some form of identity be it a slight variation of the norm or a unique subculture. Once in a working environment, especially a larger and more corporate one, there are dress codes and, even more importantly, the need to assimilate to be effective. To assimilate you have 2 ways of doing so: You can truly stand out and be admired, or you can run with the flock. Most people tend to go with option two. This "corporate herding" is important for a company to create a culture and a sense of unity. Unfortunately it also makes people somewhat lose there desire, however tiny it may have been, to have a unique fashion sense. Consequently, many people inadvertently get stuck in the look that they had prior to entering the workforce. Granted, the growth of the small company will change this but I feel that the dynamic is still here now.

The second influence is style stealing. This is where fashion designers give old looks and old designs a re-birth. It happens time and time again. Look at the recent Milan Fashion Week. Plaid was very prevalent. This is a pattern that is age old. More importantly, the designs using plaid skewed towards looks of more conservative times. Therefore, there is a sense to the person who does not know the insides of the fashion scene that looks frequently re-emerge. Consequently, the motivation to explore new looks can be suppressed. Let us not forget that people have increasingly little personal time and thus not needing to explore the shops for the latest look, relying instead on the styled down offerings of larger scale retailers, can become appreciated. This will encourage people to not think about fashion and thus all they remember about fashion is from the time that they actually cared about it.

Another influence is what I call teen undercover identification. In short, this is where teens build their unique identities through fashion manifestations that are not noticeable to those not in the know. From the outside they look like many other teens. They look like teens from when you were young. For example, I visited London this week and made a point of observing the fashions of teens in this fashion leading city. Many stayed true to the standard jeans and Ts look, varying only in the designs of the Ts. Then you look closer at the accessories and the unique generational identity becomes evident, such as the way they wear their headphones, their jewelry, their bags. In addition to this dynamic is the mass explosion of individualism. Therefore, teens no longer have a select amount of tribes that they can belong to. Due to technology, global connectivity, brand abundance, teens can truly create micro sub-cultures. So with all this going on, how on earth are "adults" supposed to keep up? The natural reaction is to stick to what you know. Unfortunately what you know is dated.

Lastly is the rise in thrift. Due to the dynamic of overt individualism mentioned above coupled with the need to hold back on excessive spending driven by the economic downturn, today's youth are heading back to the thrift shop. While they tend to rework what they purchase to create truly unique pieces, they are generally recycling old looks. This may already be influencing the runways if I am to judge recent fashion week shows. The affect on older mass consumers is similar to what I mentioned above about style stealing. I've always got something in my wardrobe that is in now so why bother? Worse, I go and buy that style at Walmart. The slight changes in design and the additions of accessories that make the old look new aren't as pervasive as say the 80s fluoro look.

Overall, there seem to be several major forces that drive fashion paralysis: societal norms that set in as one enters and becomes consumed by the workplace and its group dynamic, and detail blinding that occurs with mass micro changes in teen culture and pop culture. My assumption is that paralysis will start to change as people are forced to place more emphasis on individuality given the push away from large scale company security into personal enterprise. Simply put, the personal brand will grow in importance and losing touch with fashion will no longer be an acceptable alternative

China: We did it! Next?

The Beijing Olympic Games have finally come to a close. I am both sad and incredibly curious.

Having lived in China for several years very recently, I watched the event with excitement and an unexplained desire for its success. So much has been built up in the Chinese psyche about this event that it affected anyone living in the Mainland whether they were willing or not. Therefore, I stayed glued to the TV throughout the opening ceremony, watching nervously as each colossal setting choreographed smoothly into the next, hoping that no one would slip up. Perfection was required and perfection was delivered. Right to the last beat of the closing ceremony, the show was unbelievable. This is how sport should be celebrated, with grandeur, spectacle, creativity, pride, and showmanship. Clearly, sport agreed as it delivered its best face forward, delivering multiple records and some potentially eternity standing achievements. The hosts provided an environment that was beyond what was promised, and excellent enough to silence critics that have chattered throughout the event with no ability to affect the event.

Countless journalists and bloggers spoke about the deceptive tactics used to demonstrate a flawless show. However, I think this just adds to the credit of the organizers. They identified the areas where human and environmental ability could and would falter. Subsequently, they proactively took error out of the equation and underscored their planning prowess, even superiority. I would not be surprised that we will see many innovations developed and displayed during these Games used in future large scale events.

The Chinese pride could be felt during the national anthem of the closing ceremony. This was it. Their time. Their event. Their affirmation. I was sad to see it end. No sporting event has ever had this type or aura and we may have to wait a great many years for something similar to re-emerge.

Now comes the next chapter and I have no clue what to really expect. If this was the coming out party that China believes that it was then they better be well prepared to experience and deal with the blows that will follow. When you are out then you are part of the big discussions, and if you want to be taken seriously you’d better have something valuable to say or be relegated to your former league. The next year will be noteworthy because the many actions on international issues will be viewed with more scrutiny by the global public. All the hot topics, human rights, Tibet, Sudan, North Korea, even Taiwan and now Georgia will require Chinese state input. No longer can the Games act as a foil.

My hopes are that China utilizes its gained positive perception capital to good use. A fellow blogger mentioned that Space may be the next platform that the government uses to rally the nation. A healthy competition to drive technological innovation is wonderful. I just hope that it doesn’t lead to something less globally useful as we’ve seen it did to both the US and Russia. Let’s sit back and see.

To read what others have written about the Beijing Games, please see the following article list from the Shanghaist:

Deutsche Welle: Controversial Beijing Games Close in Spectacular, Surreal Style
AP: Mixed legacy likely as China's Olympics conclude
Reuters: No medals for China, IOC from rights groups
Reuters: China basks in the glow of success of Games
Al-Jazeera: Olympic chief praises Beijing games
Seattle Times: China put on great show in Beijing, but with iron fist
The Scotsman: Olympics: The gold medal for public relations goes to China
The Nation: What would Mao think of the Games?
Canwest News Service: Olympics a good springboard for change in China
Star Tribune: Medals are just tip of Beijing successes
DPA: As Olympics end, doubts nag a so-strong China
Fox Sports: As Olympics come to a close, questions remain

Google: Intelligence enhancer or mind eraser?

A fiercely debated topic of late is the effect of the Internet on behavior, learning, and thinking. Both sides of the discussion have powerful arguments. The Atlantic Monthly just published an article from renowned futurist Nicholas Carr who takes the side of those concerned that our ability to think and focus may be negatively affected by the information dissemination model of the Internet and our increased reliance on the net for even the simplest of information.

I am particularly interested in Carr's observation of the reaction of other, traditional, media to consumers expectations on bite-size information rather than more detailed articles/ stories. Equally interesting is Carr's observation on the change in format of other media to provide more content per available surface area to reflect formats commonly found on websites. However, I think that each medium has its value and it is up to each industry to identify what that is and merchandise it through formats that consumers are becoming accustomed to. Sure consumers want more bite-sized information, but many are also hungry for information so that they can add valuable input into the discussion, perhaps even guide the discussion. Hence the growth to the blogosphere.

Much of how behavior, learning, thinking, and culture will change as a result of the Internet will likely have much to do with teaching and reward. If parents and schools endorse "snippet" learning, even teach in micro-information bits, then the change may be negative and we are allowing our natural tendency for laziness to get the better of ourselves. However, if we teach, and, above all, reward thorough learning and novel but detailed output then we are controlling the increased artificial intelligence (offered via search). Consequently, the change in format (to more bit-sized content) may very well evolve to be utilized to communicate not more vague content, but rather equally rich in information (as found in today's longer formats) and significantly more precise in execution.

Just a few thoughts. However, I would highly recommend reading Carr's article. It's really inspiring.

Here is the link to Nicholas' article - http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/google