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And if you track consumer trends, check out trendwatching.com's current trend briefing — INNOVATION INSANITY. Our sister site selected 67 of our spottings and added its own trend insights. Makes for a fresh look at the innovative products and services we've recently covered! |
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There seems to be no end in sight to the urban gardening innovations. No sooner did we publish our story about the rooftop garden at London's Thornton's Budgens than we got word of Triscuit's Home Farming effort, which aims to create 50 community-based home farms across the United States in 2010. Nearly two-thirds of Americans are interested in growing food in a backyard garden, according to a recent Triscuit survey, and three out of four of those surveyed prefer to eat foods with a few, simple ingredients. Toward that end, Kraft's Triscuit brand recently teamed up with nonprofit group Urban Farming to launch what it calls a Home Farming movement, with a site that aims to provide a place where both beginners and seasoned gardeners can connect and get advice about growing food at home. Four million packages of Original and Reduced-Fat Triscuit crackers have been packed with cards including basil or dill seeds that are ready for planting; with the help of crop guides, a community forum and tips from master gardener Paul James, visitors to Triscuit's new site can use those seeds to reap the rewards of home gardening. Triscuit and Urban Farming are also collaborating to create 50 community-based home farms across the U.S., starting with one in Los Angeles that launched in March; others are slated to appear in such cities as Dallas, Detroit, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Tampa, to name just a few. A full list of cities participating in the community-based program is available on the new Triscuit site, along with details about where people can volunteer or get started with their own community-based home farms. Both individual and community farms can be plotted on the site's Google-based Live Map. There's certainly no shortage of gardening advice sites out there; what's interesting here is the big-brand involvement and the “seeding” of all those boxes of Triscuits. Not that it's surprising, mind you, given the USD 167.5 billion-plus globally that's at stake here. (Source: Husqvarna's 2010 Global Garden Report.) Other food brands: time to find—and flaunt—your own green thumb...? Website: www.triscuit.com/homefarming Spotted by: Jim Stewart |
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Businesses can give back to the world in many ways, from making one-off donations to innovating new, socially minded solutions of their own. Opting more toward the latter end of the scale, Vai Vai is a drink brand that dedicates one side of each Tetrapak container to featuring worthy social organizations. Founded last year, French Vaiva is a registered collaborative whose principal product is Vai Vai, a coconut water beverage made from coconuts that are hand-picked on socially minded farms in the southern Philippines. Nothing is added to the healthful coconut water, and the project helps to support 8,000 local families with development programs, microcredit and training. Product transportation is chosen as sustainably as possible, and Vaiva uses its profits to hold concerts, sports matches and other events. Most interesting of all, however, is that one side of each Vai Vai package is set aside for the promotion of various socially minded artists, entrepreneurs and associations, at no cost to them. Currently, the project of the month is Durable.com. Packaging space, of course, is something any brand with a physical good could donate in a similar way. One more chance to please the generosity-minded masses of Generation G! Website: www.vai-vai.com Spotted by: Florent Lesauvage |
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There are now countless places out there for consumers to voice their opinions about brands large and small, and hotels are by no means exempt. In fact, online reviews are now the most critical measure of guest satisfaction and the top factor influencing where travelers decide to stay, according to Revinate. That, in turn, is why the San Francisco company recently unveiled a hotel-specific service that aims to bring structure, performance tracking and actionable guidance to that never-ending stream of social media. Launched in March, Revinate collects every review, news story, blog post, photo, video and social media mention of its client hotels and presents them in a single intuitive dashboard that's accessible online. Revinate can also do the same for competitors' reviews and social media activity, giving clients new competitive insight into their relative strengths and weaknesses. Its Social Media Scorecard, in turn, converts those online reviews into a detailed guest satisfaction report, tracking key performance metrics and competitive benchmarks. The tool's powerful analytics, meanwhile, provide real-time, easy-to-use reports that highlight what's important, with charts, exportable data, competitive intelligence and flexible options. Finally—and perhaps most important—is that, similar to Brands in Public, Revinate also makes it easy for hotels to join the conversation by responding to reviews and communicating with consumers via social media. TweetConcierge, for example, is Revinate's hotel-specific Twitter client with features designed exclusively for hotels, including the ability to track Twitter campaigns and measure click and sales activity generated across multiple promotional tweets. Revinate clients include Peninsula Hotels, Trump Hotel Collection, Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, Kimpton Hotels, InterContinental, Andaz, White Lodging and Peabody Hotel Group. A video tour is available on screenr. The service's pricing is based a hotel's size and average daily rate, approximating the value of one incremental booking per month, Revinate says. There can hardly be any brands left that doubt the power of social media. Will they be the victim of that transparency tyranny, or will they turn it into transparency triumph and—indeed—foreverism, as our sister site would call it? That's up to them, and how actively—and proactively—they get involved. As Revinate says, “millions of travelers are talking, and hoteliers must listen.” (Related: SeatGuru for hotel rooms — Analytics tools help music bands uncover local demand.) Website: www.revinate.com |
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If Fortnum's can keep bees on its roof and sell the hyperlocal honey they produce, it stands to reason that other purveyors of food should be able to make the most of their rooftops in a similar way. Enter London grocer Thornton's Budgens, which just began selling organic produce grown in a rooftop garden of its very own. Dubbed Food from the Sky, the rooftop garden project is a collaboration between Thornton’s Budgens, The Positive Earth Project and the local community. In late May, a crane lifted up the necessary materials onto the roof of Budgens' Crouch End store, including 10 tonnes of compost, fencing, trees and over 100 pallets. The project is collaborating with the heritage seed library to grow a number of endangered species of food; it also plans to run food growing workshops on the roof and provide seeds from the harvest free of charge to residents and schools. The garden's first organic fruits and vegetables just went on sale in Budgens, all grown and harvested by volunteers. All proceeds from the not-for-profit venture will be put back into the project; plans for the future include the addition of chickens and top bar bee hives. As urban areas continue to sharpen their focus on sustainable and local production, it's not hard to imagine food retailers large and small setting up rooftop farms of their own, buoyed also by consumers' love for a good still-made-here story. Other grocers around the globe: what about you? Website: www.thorntonsbudgens.com/social-environment/food-from-the-sky Spotted by: market.se via Maria Dahl Jørgensen |
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Much the way FoodHub aims to promote the buying and selling of locally grown food by connecting those on both sides of the purchase equation, so OpenPop-UpShops.com strives to do the same for pop-up retail by helping retailers, building owners, shoppers and others find each other at just the right time. We've been covering the pop-up retail trend for years now, of course, and it's clearly still going strong. But typically, it can be difficult for would-be pop-up retailers to find space that's available when they need it, and for consumers to learn about fleeting stores while they're still open. OpenPop-UpShops.com aims to change all that by providing a central place for all interested parties to meet. Launching today, the South Carolina-based site lets retailers, landlords, designers, contractors, journalists and consumers around the world register for free. Once inside, they can create or search listings for property that's available or desired, or for pop-up stores past, present or future. Listings cost USD 10 per month, and a variety of press releases and other promotional aids are also available for USD 10 or less. OpenPop-UpShops.com will soon launch a blog, a printed magazine and video content as well, it says. If there was any doubt the pop-up trend is maturing, this should help put such concerns to rest. Now, all those involved in pop-up ventures of their own: time to log on and make the most of these new connections! ;-) (Related: High-end clothing brand only sells on tour dates — Partnering with Crunch, pop-up Gap store focuses on fitness for a month — Nationwide network of pop-up marketing spaces.) Website: www.openpop-upshops.com |
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Eco-minded products are all very well and good, but for many consumers the important thing is the green credentials that go with them. A new smartphone from German sports company Puma—launched just last week in Europe through a partnership with France's Sagem Wireless—promises to serve both purposes by featuring both an integrated solar cell and an eco-metering function that displays all the resulting energy savings. With a tablet form factor, a 2.8-inch thumbable screen, a 3.2-megapixel camera and a VGA video call camera, the Puma Phone is available SIM-free for an estimated retail price of EUR 399; it's also available subsidised by local operators as part of a contract bundle. The sports-centric phone is shipped in eco-friendly packaging, and just one hour of sunshine provides enough power for one hour and 30 minutes of MP3 play or about 30 text messages, its makers say. Even more interesting is that users can easily see how much of their phone calls, music and messages have been powered by the sun—data that's eminently shareable for a quick boost in status. According to a report on Gizmodo, solar power usage also translates into points redeemable in the Puma store. Of course, in addition to providing an eco-metering, status-conveying alternative to the rest of the cellphone pack, the Puma Phone is also a nice example of what our sister site would call a branded brand. Makers of other eco-minded goods: what are you doing to help your customers flaunt their green credentials...? (Related: Fitness-focused cell phone — Laundromat reaps solar rewards — Energy meters get tweeting — Thermoelectric wellies charge festival-goers' phones.) Website: www.pumaphone.com Spotted by: Henry Mason
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Regular Springwise readers are already well-acquainted with the concept of product stories and the way they can enhance the value of virtually any good. Similar to the way the Daily Grommet shares the story of one product each day in its curated marketplace, so Itizen provides a place for artists, gift-givers and owners of any item to share and track its story over time. Minnesota-based Itizen aims to let anyone associated with a particular keepsake, gift or interesting thing tell, share and follow its life story. Those interested in beginning a story for a particular good start by affixing an Itizen TRACKit tag to it—both stick-on and sew-on versions are available. Then, they can either type in the tag's alphanumeric code or scan its QR code for automatic connection with its record. There, they can share the item's story—where it came from, how they got it, what made them want it, and whatever other details seem relevant. Such stories can be made either private or public; either way, subsequent owners or borrowers of the product can add to it later and those with its code can see where it's been. Everyone who adds to the product's story, meanwhile, gains Itizenship Points, which ultimately can be used for free product giveaways. Now in beta, Itizen seeks to forge partnerships with independent artists, crafters or retailers that facilitate selling, swapping, exchanging and sharing interesting things. As it moves out of beta—a full launch is scheduled for Aug. 1—it aims to include features specifically tailored to small retailers and to develop a mobile version. One to get involved in...? (Related: Tracking & tracing fashion brands' product stories — Columbia reuses shipping boxes, tracks their stories — Yak down: luxury yarn with a story and a cause.) Website: www.itizen.com Spotted by: Petz Scholtus |
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Starting a family is such a fundamental part of human life that it's no surprise that babies are an inspiring subject for enterprise and innovation. There's a new idea born every minute ;-) Here are five we spotted recently: 1. EMBRACE — Premature or underweight newborns can have problems maintaining body temperature. Unfortunately, proper incubators aren't available or affordable everywhere. The Embrace is an infant warmer that costs less than 1 per cent of the price of a traditional incubator, according to the eponymous non-profit currently trialling it in India. It looks like a tiny sleeping bag, and is powered by a small electrical element or hot water. 2. TEXT4BABY — The result of a partnership between government agencies, corporations, academic bodies and non-profits, text4baby is a free SMS information service for expectant mothers in the United States. Messages cover health, childbirth and post-natal childcare, and are scheduled to accord with the mother-to-be's term. 3. BABYBLOOMS — Once birth has been given, friends and family will often send flowers to congratulate the new family. BabyBlooms offers a gift that looks similar, but turns out to be rather more practical: their 'bouquets' are assembled from baby clothes. There's a choice of pink, blue, natural and twin bouquets. 4. CITYSHADE — The hoods provided on strollers are sometimes too small to keep babies fully protected from the sun, and parents often find themselves augmenting the canopy with a blanket or some other improvised item. The CityShade is a purpose-built alternative. It comes in a choice of colours and styles, and can be attached neatly to many popular stroller models. 5. LE KNOCKOUT — With a medley of attendant legends, the shedding of a baby tooth is a rite of passage celebrated worldwide. Now parents can have their own memento of the occasion by getting their child's tooth cast in gold and fashioned into a piece of jewelery or a keepsake. Mawkish or charming? The sentimental imperative should not be underestimated! Spotters: Judy McRae, Marie Sedefian, Julie Mancuso |
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Back in January we covered Blippy, the Twitter-like site that lets users automatically publish their shopping transactions in real time for all the world to see. Now targeting the same space is Swipely, a Rhode Island-based venture that's planning to do much the same thing. Currently in invitation-only beta, Swipely aims to “turn purchases into conversations,” in the site's own words. Toward that end, it has developed a secure platform for consumers to share their purchase experiences online. Users begin by signing up and importing purchases from their credit or debit card accounts; email can also be used for purchases made online. Users remain in complete control of the purchases they share. For those they do, they can rate the experience and add comments or photos. Many purchases are automatically geolocated to specific store locations, and Swipely supports product details as well by integrating catalogs and menus from more than 250,000 retail and restaurant locations. The result, it says, is that users can start conversations around “specific outfits, meals, songs, movies, gadgets and millions of other products.” Upon seeing a compelling new purchase, other users can click to see the venue on the map and add the item to their own wish list; for music, movies and apps, meanwhile, they can just press play on select purchases to hear a song preview, see a video trailer or browse app screen shots. Swipely places a strong emphasis on protecting consumer privacy, it says, and has passed reviews and audits from leading third-party security and privacy organizations. After a recent security glitch at Blippy, it's not entirely clear how concerned users will be about protecting their purchase information. Still, there's no doubt the potential of social shopping is compelling, particularly when combined with a twist of nowism. Another one to watch! Website: www.swipely.com Spotted by: LA Times via Jim Stewart |
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We've seen airports engage consumers with everything from free dancing lessons and light therapy to a four-storey slide that rewards duty-free spending. The latest innovation? Gatwick Airport's Runway Models contest. Launched in late May by the UK airport and Storm Model Management, the Runway Models contest invites Gatwick travellers to submit a photo of themselves either online or by taking advantage of the dedicated photo booths in the airport's departure lounges. The closing date is 12 July; all entries are posted online, where they're available for public voting. Once all the entries are in, Storm's model scouts will choose four guys and four girls to go through to the next stage, while public votes will choose an additional guy and girl to advance; those chosen by the public will also win GBP 500 in Gatwick retail shopping vouchers. The Final 10 will then be invited to a “model bootcamp” and photo shoot where they'll spend the day with industry professionals learning the modelling basics as well as having their hair and makeup done. The guy and girl that impress Storm the most will be selected as the final winners of a year's “New Faces” contract and a debut at London Gatwick Fashion Week in August. Gatwick, meanwhile, will donate GBP 1 to the Great Ormond Street Hospital charity for every photo uploaded. There are myriad ways to impress and engage consumers, but sometimes there's just nothing like a good, old-fashioned contest; if it can tap into consumers' vanity, so much the better. Beat that, traditional advertising! ;-) (Related: Lottery contest appeals to dog owners' gravanity — Contest replaces ad campaign for Nissan launch — Contest asks fans to design their own doughnut.) Website: www.gatwickevents.com/runwaymodels/ Spotted by: airlinetrends.com |
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A full 40 percent of North Americans do not have their own yard space; those who do, meanwhile, often leave it underused. Aiming to match the haves with the have-nots anywhere there's a similar inequity, Sharing Backyards partners with local community organizations to create land-sharing programs in diverse regions around the world. Similar in many ways to UK-based Landshare, Sharing Backyards is a project of LifeCycles, a Canadian nonprofit dedicated to cultivating awareness and initiating action around food, health and urban sustainability in the Greater Victoria, B.C., community. To help maximize land use in communities far and wide, Sharing Backyards actively seeks out local partners and gives them administration of their own, local Sharing Backyards Program. That includes not just promotional materials but also a forum for interaction with other local partners. Consumers, then, begin by browsing the free site's list of programs already in existence. To find or share land in their area, they can scan an interactive local map for current listings and use the program's internal messaging system to make a connection. Sharing Backyards is working on a downloadable contract to spell out agreements between landowners and gardeners. With programs up and running in more than 30 communities in North America and New Zealand, Sharing Backyards is seeking volunteers as well as advertisers and sponsors. Gardening-related businesses around the globe: who will be first in your community to stake this highly targeted claim...? (Related: Online gardening service sends seeds when it's time to plant — Gardens for rent by the season, with vegetables pre-planted — Five new business ideas for urban gardening.) Website: www.sharingbackyards.com |
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There's no doubt consumers love free samples, as evidenced by all the tryvertising stores, services and even vending machines we've seen emerge in recent months. The latest spotting? Raffle Dog, a site that raffles off free, vendor-sponsored products. Launched this past spring, New York-based Raffle Dog offers different raffles every week for local and national companies. Brands begin by signing up with Raffle Dog—it's free through today. Consumers can then participate in any raffle, with the option of entering three times: once by simply commenting on the Raffle Dog page, another time by sharing the raffle on Facebook, and a third time by sharing via Twitter. Raffle Dog also taps Twitter to give followers the opportunity to participate in secret raffles as well. Raffle Dog itself, meanwhile, promotes each raffle on the streets, handing out flyers in targeted locations; it also hosts a YouTube video on its site showcasing the vendor's product or service. When the raffle draws to a close, Raffle Dog emulates the contests of the past by picking its winners live online from a fishbowl filled with tickets. Winners are notified via email, Twitter or Facebook and have seven days to claim their prize, which gets mailed out directly. Raffle Dog donates 5 percent of its earnings to cancer-related charities. Currently, however, it's open only to U.S. consumers. One to bring to a market near you? (Related: Free products for bloggers at invitation-only events.) Website: www.raffledog.com Spotted by: Cecilia Biemann |
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