Check out what Brazilian footwear company Melissa did to build its brand, one Post-It Note at a time. The company turned the side of a building in São Paulo into a mega-huge movie screen to broadcast its noteworthy brand: From FastCo.Design: Twenty-five animators worked for a steady five months, stamping sherbet-colored notes on the U-shaped [...]
My hubby is a packaging design/engineer-type, and so some of the packaging vernacular has rubbed off on me over the years. We don’t say “cardboard” at our house; it’s corrugated. And our kids were raised knowing that the word “styrofoam” was not nearly as cool as polystyrene. But you know what’s even cooler? Designer barcodes! [...]
How many hours do you spend tweeting, sharing and blogging about your products and services, and what do you get for your effort? That’s the million dollar question keeping too many entrepreneurs up at night. A lot of business owners want to know how to gage the return on their social media investment. The results might [...]
Have you ever avoided a service or product because of schmaltzy writing? Of course you have! Why would you invest your time, money and reputation with a business that can’t be bothered to proofread its mailer or tell you a compelling story? When I see spelling errors or grammar mistakes, I assume that the “boss” [...]
By now millions of people around the world have seen and heard of the “Man with the Golden Voice,” a homeless man with a velvet voice whose hard-luck story changed one day thanks to a video that went viral on YouTube. (The original video was removed for copyright reasons but this one seems to be [...]
I like to shop, but hate to go shopping. Does that make sense? The crowds, the picked-over items, and knowing that flu and cold germs are lurking on everything I touch. That’s the problem—The little kid in me wants to touch everything, even stuff I don’t want to buy! Whether it’s a bright red cashmere [...]
I remember when brownish diamonds were jewelry store rejects. Far inferior to the real thing: the bright sparklers that would set a guy back two-and-a-half paycheck cycles. Not anymore. We’ll apparently consume anything coated with rich, succulent chocolate. Yes, Chocolate Diamonds are now the “it” stone of 2011. No longer relegated to second or third [...]
Did you know that American consumers will spend 25 percent of their holiday gift budget on online purchases? We are so used to shopping via click that we don’t even think twice about fraud. Online shopping fast, easy and more risky than ever, thanks to the seething yellow underbelly of online criminals eagerly waiting to [...]
If you thought Black Friday was the busiest shopping day of the year—“ehrrrrrgh!” (That’s my phonetic attempt at the “wrong answer” buzzer. I dare you to come up with a better one!) Today is Cyber Monday, the true celebration consumption via click. Almost every retailer with a website– 88 percent—is offering discounts and free shipping [...]
Where are your Thanksgiving dinner guests? Shopping? Working to serve the shoppers? Thanksgiving is no longer a day to simply rest and be thankful. It’s not about the family gathered around the table. It’s not about the parades and the football game. It’s not even about the turkey and stuffing. It’s about stuff. In an [...]