Social Media and Mental Health Care Reform

I am really passionate about charity communication and social marketing. Today I came across this new movement aimed at driving awareness about the appalling state of mental health in this country........along with refom for mental health care.

It's powered by "Get Up"..............I have signed up for this.....think it is an extremely worthy cause and one that requires clear strategies to overcome pending disaster.

I love that Patrick McGorry (Australian of the Year) is the face of this campaign. They've made it easy to understand (providing real human impact measures) and participate in.

Good one.

Key Trends in Consumer Packaged Goods

Datamonitor's Product Launch Analytics, which tracks new product launches in food and drinks around the world, outlined the following consumer packaged goods that are predicted to be hitting supermarket shelves in 2010.

Personally not so sure about "meat flavoured products" but hey, happy to be proved wrong on this one!......

Here goes:

• A more humane world - Animal rights have emerged as a growing worldwide concern as consumers want to know more about how the foods they eat were raised and prepared.
• Growth in meat flavoured products market - A flurry of meat flavoured product launches in the US over the past few months has combined with innovations from the UK.
• Plastics back in from the cold - New types of degradable packaging enable plastic to biodegrade in years, not centuries.
• Skin care you wear - Innovations like skin-enhancing bedding and sun activated clothing show that wearable skin care could be a breakout hit in 2010 and beyond.
• More muscular functional drinks - Muscle Milk and similar healthy and active lifestyle beverages could be the next hot niche within the functional drinks market.
• Superfruits get more exotic - Candidates for the next hot superfruit for 2010 and beyond include Baobab, Borojo, Maqui and Yumberry.
• Ingredients: the fewer, the better - Packaged food and drinks companies around the world are seeking to say 'better for you' in innovative ways.
• Bamboo cleans up - Bamboo has become the ingredient of choice for companies that want to bolster their sustainability credentials.
• From energy shots to relaxation shots - While the shot format has been around for some time in various world markets for dairy-based drinks, the format has exploded in popularity in other markets.
• A gluten-free world - A doubling of new gluten-free products since 2005 with major consumer packaged goods companies now jumping on the bandwagon.

Mecca Good vol 2.

Here are the pics (p.s I'm not a Gemini and I still bought it).............

Mecca Good

One of the reasons I love working with brands at-retail is the endless option for creating amazing and unexpected customer experiences.

Technology can really add wow factor but so can simplicity.

Case in point: Mecca.

I am a huge fan of Mecca Cosmetica. Love the space. Love the people. Love the products.

Mecca is brand not bland for the following reasons:

1. Sets its own playing field - no other competitor offers what it can (= scarcity).
2. Creates a brand experience each and every time via store lay-out, product range, packaging and staff experts ( = tangibility).
3. Treat customers like friends - you're welcomed, trusted, rewarded, engaged (= talkability).
4. Simple, beautiful POP. Makes you want to leave spending twice as much (= shoppability).
5. Take customer service and value to new levels (= loyalty + lovability).


Inside every Mecca store is a wall of individually packaged products that are swapped over regularly. Each of the products selected for this wall is moderately priced making it even more tempting to "add on" in your basket as you check out.

Recently, Mecca combined their wall of temptation (at least, that's what I'm calling it) with a fantastic promotion. They personalised products based on astrology signs then gave customers the chance to meet the well known astrologer in person, and naturally, in store. What a winning idea. No surprise it sold out. It really proved their knowledge of their market and their customers. Simple. Memorable. Effective.

A Super-Market Experience

In Coles today and had the most amazing customer service experience. This is the second time it's happened (different person). Really impressed me. I turned up for a 'transaction' and what I got was an experience (and now I'm talking about it). Cool.

Got me thinking (again) about how it is the human encounters that turn the retail experience from bland to brand. Those little details that make the difference between talkability and forgetability.

When Apple hire and train their people, they don't just look for "floor staff" they hire "brand ambassadors." They employ people who are fans of Apple - obsessed, tech-literate Apple-junkies who live and breathe every nuance and brand detail Apple has to offer.

What if we could do the same with a brand like a supermarket. Imagine if Apple or Virgin opened a supermarket - how different would it be from our usual experiences?

Here are my top 5 ideas for transforming the ordinary retail experience into something amazing:

1. Be a brand that stands for something beyond the expected. Be brave -dream big.
2. Create personal brand-value for each & every one of your team members.
3. Empower your brand ambassadors (staff) to surprise & delight customers in unexpected ways.
4. Transforming "customers" to a "fans" means consistent delivery of your brand promise every time. Create systems and processes that allow this (rather than inhibit it).
5. Make the experience personal. Build loyalty at every opportunity.

Brands Engaging Youth

Shift? Advertising to Entertainment - stop interrupting what they're interested in & start being what they're interested in.

10 tips:

1. Create an experience....an interaction.
2. Audience co-creation + ownership. Don’t take yourself too seriously.
3. Make sharing between tribe members easy. Allow them to help create the story.
4. Use humour. Enterain.
5. Be authentic. Everytime.
6. Be transparent. Everytime.
7. Consistency across all touchpoints. Don't give it all away up front.
8. Enable belonging. Teens are tribe-centric.
9. Add something useful.
10. Don’t assume anything. Trust + respect get earned by being relevant.

Great Creative Spirits

I saw the documentary "The September Issue" about a week ago, and I gotta' say, I loved it. I thought it was a fascinating insight into an industry that cops a lot of flak (some deserved, some not so deserving).

What struck me most about this film was the creativity that ran through the veins of the people who worked at Vogue in New York. A somewhat obvious deduction you might agree however I guess coming from a background in advertising, it was only natural for me to make comparisons.

I really thought Grace Coddington - the CD of Vogue - was the stand out. Whilst I was truly curious about Anna Wintour ('she of the dark glasses' fame) I thought Grace stole the show. Her passion, talent and creativity was inspiring. Grace's ability to take an idea and bring it life (see the "twenties" shoot in the movie for my favourite example of this...or the "jumping camera guy" in the colour block shoot)...) was fantastic. She is a woman whose whole career has rested on an ability to "think different" and see the potential where others have missed it. Originality is her calling card.

Wow.