Finally a 2D Breakthrough!

It finally happened. The standardization battle shifted. The tide changed. Scanbuy's Scanlife application will now be preloaded on all LG camera phones. For the past few years, 2D barcode companies have battled to get shelf space on camera phones to no avail. They won small battles like earning the ability to be downloaded over-the-air, but no one was able to convince a handset manufacturer to pre-install their software...until now. The problem with 2D barcodes is that no one knows anything about them. No one knows anything about them because they aren't prevalent. They aren't prevalent because no one has the software to decode them. However, all this is going to change. "It's one small step for Scanbuy, and one giant leap for the 2D barcode industry."

2D barcodes are nothing new to Japan or Europe, but they will soon be the next biggest marketing tool for brands in the US. Every brand wants their customer base to interact with their brands. Whether it's a Flash microsite or a video game, brands want consumers to spend time with them, play with them, fall in love with them. Be prepared to get barraged with campaigns that have a "snap" call to action. No longer will you have to send in a form to "enter for a chance to win," you'll just snap a photo. Want to add time to your parking meter, just snap. Want to buy movie tickets, just snap. Want to do anything, just snap. The sky is the limit!

You heard it here first, "some brand is going to leverage this technology so well it will change the whole way marketers look at 2D barcodes." The race has officially commenced.

Katie Couric the Brand

Since her big debut a couple years ago as the host of the CBS Evening News, Katie Couric has faded into the sunset. She tried to turn her morning talk show gig into a nightly news anchor position...and it didn't work. However talented a journalist Katie Couric might be, she is a victim of her own brand. For years on the Today Show, Katie perfected her role as the US's morning news gal, and in the process created an incredible brand. She was so good at what she did that no one could see her doing anything else. She was typecast.

Her brand resonated with the demographic that watches the Today Show, not Dan Rather. Katie Couric "the brand" was so well established that it was impossible for people to accept her as someone new. I'll never be able to see James Gandolfini as anyone other than Tony Soprano, and I'll never be able to buy Katie Couric as Tom Brokaw. It just ain't happening.

In what seems to be a last ditch effort to reinvent her brand, Katie Couric has gone to the chopping block. She lopped off her hair! Just the other day I caught a bit of her program and noticed that her hair vanished. She now appears much more chisel, masculine, and serious. I am not sure if this look will get her the kind of respect that she wants, but it's clearly a hail mary.

It's so bizarre that some women need to appear more masculine to be taken seriously. Rachel Maddow, Katie Couric, and Hillary Cinton all have short hair. Many female CEO's wear short haircuts too. It's no coincidence, and it's very interesting. My guess...subconscious sexism.

Tagging Products on Facebook

Many many months ago, July 2008ish, I came up with an idea to tag products on facebook. I thought this could revolutionize the way brands and consumers interact on social networks. For example, if John Smith tags 12 Mountain Dew cans, he can get one free. It's hard to imagine that a large amount of people would be compelled to spend the time tagging their products without some form of incentive. However, assuming the products were tagged, it would transform them from flat images to clickable hyperlinks. So, if you clicked on a Snickers bar you can be taken to their brand page on facebook, snickers.com, or wherever the company choses. Essentially it would completely shift the way we interact with photos on facebook. User generated product placement is the term I coined to describe this idea. I can't figure out why it hasn't happened until tonight.

I predict that facebook is currently scanning its billions of photos with software that detects all major and relevant brands. e.g. Keystone, Budweiser, Pizza Hut, Pepsi etc... and plans to offer the a brand tag/hyperlink to the companies. Let's assume they cull through all the photos and find the Taco Bell logo 12 million times on facebook. I bet they'll establish a "price per tag" and offer it to Taco Bell. Taco Bell can then create promotions, coupons, and microsites that activate once a a facebook user clicks.

Time will tell if this revenue driving platform is currently being stirred in the facebook cauldron.

The !

As a member of the generation that communicates through our fingers rather than our mouths, the ! has taken on a whole new meaning. After having an insightful conversation with my friends we realized there was something profoundly interesting about the ! Long gone are the days of speaking off the cuff, now we plan what we text, get a consensus from friends, and then express ourselves in 160 characters or less. James Joyce wouldn't stand a chance. For example, a text message that reads "Thanks for dinner" doesn't have the same meaning as "Thanks for dinner!" The ! adds the much needed emotion and inflection to the text message. We're evolving into a culture of concise communication, and we're losing our individuality simultaneously.

Our voices have a range of !'s, but texting makes them all equal. It makes everyone seem similar, when in reality they're not. Sometimes I want to give a 1/2 !, but have to resort to the full ! However creative one might be, they're still limited by text messaging.

In the flirting/dating phases of a relationship, it all boils down to the ! No one wants to be in a situation where someone could have added !, but didn't. It's insulting, painful, and so much more powerful than it needs to be. Maybe the sender had a good night but didn't want to sound too excited; too bad. You have to make a choice. It's either, "I had fun tonight too" or "I had fun tonight too!" Texting is great for people that don't like to communicate, but awful for those who do. We text all the time enough don't talk enough. My advice: rest your fingers!

A new way to engage and inspire

After seeing the movie Minority Report, it seems that the future might be even cooler than expected. Everything is executed via touches and gestures; it's not mind reading, but it's awfully close. HP is the closest in terms of using really futuristic graphics and visuals into their TV commercials; I wonder who will use this technology and ascend to the next level of visual stimulation. In a perfect world, IBM would transition from their STOP TALKING. START DOING message and bridge it solely to cool and efficient ways of doing. e.g. START DOING. [LIKE THIS or WE HAVE]


g-speak overview 1828121108 from john underkoffler on Vimeo.

What's left for Coors Light?

Is there anything left for Coors Light to do? They have the "freshness liner," the color temperature indicator, born on date, and now the vent. I think Coors Brewing Co. has a think tank that sits around and tries to find new ways to make the can cooler. It's scarily akin to Steve Jobs at MacWorld where he says "One more thing." It feels like Coors Light makes a new debut of their can every quarter. Their latest modification, "the vent" is clever for two reason. One, it allows Coors Light to brag about its new design and improved "drinkability," and two, the vent allows more beer to exit the can at a faster rate so more beer gets consumed. Luckily, the alcoholic beverage industry has created the word "drinkability" to mask the truth. If I were in the Coors Light think tank I know what my next suggestion would be. "Shotgun enabled cans!" The can would have another tab on the side of the can, so the consumer can shotgun the beer without ever stabbing a knife or pen into the side. All the Coors Light stunts seem so silly. I would never be more compelled to buy the beer. In fact, all the superfluous additions aggravate me and make me want to find the least expensive and innovative beer on the market. Someone should invent "Party Beer" and market it as such. Coors Light, Bud Light, Miller Light and all the other light beers except for Amstel should be in the "party section" of the supermarket. There is nothing about their taste that is interesting, and they serve no purpose other than low calorie intoxication. If you ever compare one of the aforementioned beers to something of substance like Dogfish Head the difference is incomprehensible. Therefore, Coors Light should exploit their party audience and make their next can a pinata. When you finish it, you can bash it with a plastic bat and little pieces of confetti appear. I like it.

Victoria's too sexy! What a paradox.

As the economy enters a recession and all things seem to be hitting the fan, we have to deal with another crisis..."Victoria Secret CEO Sharen Turney says the chain has become 'too sexy.'"

WHAT?! I never thought I'd hear the words "too sexy" and "Victoria's Secret" in the same sentence, but stranger things have happened. After the initial shock and seemingly paradoxical statement, I sat back and realized that it's true. I recall my tween days of mall shopping and seeing a clear mix of customers in Victoria's Secret. The typical 15-20 year-old, youthful 40 year-old and single 30 something, but now it seems that you need a lower back tattoo to enter. The mannequins used to have 90's era sexy underwear, and now they barely have enough fabric qualify as lingerie. No wonder they're losing their 40 something demographic. Women at that age no longer feel the need be skanky, they just want to look better than bland.

When an article of clothing has less material than a cocktail napkin, something went wrong. The store didn't get too sexy, it got too skanky and dirty. They followed the trends and unfortunately it led them into a corner. So when did this look become popular? A few years ago girls started wearing clothes that deliberately revealed their thong. Thongs became the only acceptable mainstream underwear. So how did this start? Who do we credit for being the trend setter of skank? I say Sisqó.

That's right, you heard me, Sisqó. He was the pioneer of thong thought. His song "The Thong Song" was an anthem for everybody of the Carson Daly TRL generation. He made it loud and clear, "Thongs are a man's dream. The only way to show a man that you are truly sexy is to wear a thong." I'm not going to argue his point, I just want to credit him with the explosion of mainstream thongs and sexy underwear.

It's funny that a brand is suffering from a sexy image. Who would have ever thought "sexy" would be a problem in a lingerie store? Most companies try to convince you their product will make you sexy and now Victoria's Secret has to deal with a whole new marketing problem...becoming un-sexy without losing its image altogether. This might be the greatest advertising dilemma ever. Victoria's Secret has been the guinea pig for all other brands that might walk a fine line between west village fantasy sex store and a legitimate clothing store. Maybe as a society we've finally reached the point where we've gone overboard. The income statement has spoken, and it says "make some less skanky lingerie so the 40 year-olds will feel comfortable in your store."

Next fall... "Body by Victor Victoria" The Julie Andrews Line.