Saturday, January 31, 2009

Internet population


Seems to be that January has been the month of statistics in my blog, so here some more: How many people live in a country, if we just count the interent users? And how much is that compared to the total population? We can see that internet usage is still surprisingly uneven distributed.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

We think

We think is a book written by Charles Leadbeater, describing the idea of social wealth. He points out that in the last century we were defined by what we own, and in this century we are defined by what we share. I like the idea a lot, as I am sharing things in my blogs and social networking sites which matter for me, so they tell a lot about me.


And because Charles Leadbeater is living what he is preaching, he shares the first three chapters of his book with us.

Monday, January 26, 2009

Social Networks: Global data

As my last blog entry about facebook user statistics in Finland has caused some interest, I would like to refer to data published recently concerning the global development of social networking platforms. Very impressive growth rates!

Here the global data

Sunday, January 25, 2009

GM sold of its heritage and museum cars

A nicely fitting but very sad counter post to the opening of the Porsche museum and German car temples I have been writing recently… now GM sold away their company heritage. For as little as 9 million $ they sold 252 cars from their company museum, carrying the heritage and DNA of the company. How they could do it? I guess that is the final sign of resignation. The last one will shut down the lights, then.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

German temples

On 31st of January one more temple is going to open its doors – to be precise, one more automobile temple. In the middle of the crisis, which is especially hitting hard the car industry, Porsche is opening its doors to a new museum. I guess money is not their problem, as they managed to make more profit than turnover last year. The German car industry is healthy and feels that it will be even stronger after the crisis, and I assure you that after a visit to one of these car temples you will be a fan of the brand – what else you can expect from your return on marketing investment?

Here some links to the latest openings:

Porsche Museum
Mercedes-Benz Museum
BMW Welt

Mr. Andrews,

if I interpret your post correctly, these are your comments about Memphis a few hours after arriving in the global headquarters city of one of your key and lucrative clients, and the home of arguably one of the most important entrepreneurs in the history of business, FedEx founder Fred Smith.

The words above are the beginning of a response to a negative twitter post from FedEx to a social media advisor from Ketchum, a funny story telling something about transparency. So be careful if you are writing in blogs, microblogs, facebook or just about anywhere in the web… you are a public person then!

Read the full story here

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Like Obama? Order one home…


Yes, Obama is president, and the world and I am relieved. And of course his inauguration was a big media spectacle, CNN broadcasting on facebook with live comments from users, a merger of two media. But that is not my topic today… today I just would propose to all Obama fans to order him home. On this Japanese toy site he is available.

Brilliant!

ps/ You can order him as well with a samurai- or laser sword, if that suits you better

We’re all gonna die – 100 m of existence…

… is the title of Danish Simon Hoegsberg’s last photography. It is 100 m wide and he worked 17 month on it.

If you want to see it, click here

Generation G – February trend briefing is out

Generation ’G’ stands for ’Generosity’ – and is the main topic of the latest trend briefing on trendwatching.com. Interesting as always, so thanks for you trendwatching guys for being so generous with us!

Here the briefing

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Facebook and IRC Galleria data for Finland

Taneli Tikka has published some very interesting figures regarding facebook and IRC Galleria accounts in Finland. I recommend to read his article which you will find on his own blog.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Captain C.B. Sully Sullenberger


Who hasn't heard of him, the hero from US Airways flight 1549. His fan base is growing rapidly, and his facebook fan page shows currently 365.605 fans. The really interesting thing about this observation is the growth rate, there are 3 new fans every second. The tendency is that the growth is gaining even more speed, so let's see with how many facebook fans ’Sully’ ends up…

’Art & Copy’ documentary at ’Sundance’ festival


Legendary independent film festival ’Sundance’, this year hold in Park City, UTAH, is at halftime now. From 15th to 25th of January dozens of films are introduced to the public, for getting an overview on this festival visit the extensive website. As if the festival would not be interesting enough, there is a documentary about advertising, ’Art & Copy’ from Dough Pray. Quick description: ’Got creativity? Got manipulation? Got art? Advertising’s profound effect on modern culture is unquestionable. Art & Copy takes us inside a powerful, yet surprisingly unknown, industry to reveal the most influential creative forces tapping the zeitgeist of our time.’ Sounds interesting, so I propose that we all gonna watch it (-;

Here the full description of the documentary

Further there is a discussion going on about the truth in advertising. Maybe not the hottest topic any more, but still a high profile discussion with the biggest names in advertising and director Dough Pray.

Here the dicussion

Friday, January 16, 2009

Monocle Travel Top 50

Here a link to Monocle’s latest travel top 50, featuring the currently closed Design Shop at Helsinki-Vantaa airport. Nice to see the discoveries off the beaten track, travel fever is rising…  Have a nice weekend!

LEGO digital

According to this press release Lego is entering the market for digital gadgets. The target market are young people, and the nicest line might be the classic brick-built portable electronics. Sounds fun and might be a nice toy for adults as well… I was playing with Lego all my childhood.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Soviet Dior vs Whopper Virgins


These pictures were taken 30 years ago on the streets of Moscow for Life magazine, initiated by the fashion house Dior. The idea is simple: Bring some models to Soviet Union, dress them in the lastest Dior fashion and let the huge contrast to Soviet ’fashion’ speak for itself. It somehow reminds me to the campaign ’Whopper Virgins’, where Burger King exposed the Whopper to people living in remote areas of the world. The campaign faced a storm of criticism, and people where wondering if this is ethically correct, or if the people featured in the campaign are abused for advertising purposes. However your view on this issue might be, if a campaign is still creating strong reactions after 30 years, something must have gone right.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Two magazines – One man


Although people spend more and more time on the web and some content is published exclusively digital, the most enjoyable way to read is a beautiful print magazine, well designed and printed on a nice paper. The look, feel, touch and smell is unmatched by digital media as so far. Tyler Brûlé must have the same opinion, as he managed to launch two great magazines in his life already, Wallpaper was followed by the Monocle magazine. Monocle is a great example that things can be successful when working them out properly, no matter what the main trends are out there. And because all that is inspiring for me, I will buy the latest Monocle issue. Again!

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

10 friends for a Whopper

I admire the work Crispin Porter + Bogusky is doing for Burger King. After ’Whopper Freakout’’Whopper Virgins’ and the bit weired ’Flame’ this time it is the ’Whopper Sacrifice’. It's just a facebook application, providing you with a free whopper if you delete 10 of your so called friends. Simple and effective viral marketing celebrated by the blogosphere. Respect!

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Advertising on the edge – The Economist

Media companies and ad industry is fighting against budget cuts in tough times, as their business is depending on marketing spending. Here some old school theory we all have heard before, still worth a read as it is presented by ’The Economist’.

Friday, January 9, 2009

LOHAS – Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability

The megatrend I want to introduce today is called LOHAS, and although it is not a very new one it is strongly relevant also and especially during times of recession and economical downturn. There are estimations that 40 % of all US citizens and 50 % of German citizens can be counted as LOHAS, which is describing the potential of this idea quite strongly. After the decade of turbo capitalism, coming along with wild usage of natural resources and before unseen destruction of our environment, people have felt and experienced that things went to far. At the forefront and as symbol of this development stand the ’1 € stores’ selling items for just a euro – made to be thrown away just days after purchase. This products have been produced under uncontrolled conditions in China or India and travelled over the oceans to US and Europe. Fortunately more and more people are interested how and where things are produced, and they do care what carbon footprint they produce. And so do I.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Graphic Design Battle – Cut & Paste 2009

It is again ’Cut & Paste’ time – a truly inspiring global event featuring a graphic design contest which can be followed live. After the brief the contesters have just as little as 15 min time to do the job, so action is guaranteed. Fascinating to see how the graphic artists handle the technique and creativity at the same time! The championship is structured in three categories: 2D Design, 3D Design and Motion Design, and the call for competitors is now open.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

One did it – Ecological backpack test

A very nice website, produced by a young start-up company in Helsinki. The main product on the site is a test measuring your ecological backpack, very interesting and useful, and perfectly fitting in our times. More and more people are striving for a sustainable and healthy lifestyle, forming a strong movement. But about that I will blog tomorrow.


ps/ Nice artwork on the site, Antero!