It may even be upon us.

Allison Arieff writes about “Rethinking the Mall” on her blog, ByDesign, (NYT, June 1, 2009), when she was recently invited as a juror to ICSC (International Council on Shopping Centers) for the organization’s inaugural Future Image Architecture Competition, which asked entrants to imagine the shopping mall of the future. She notes that some developers with eyes to the future have envisioned “technology not as some sci-fi fantasy, but as something that could enhance not only the shopping experience but environmental and social conditions as well.” Hmmm, practical application.

by Coleman Architects.

Such as the Retail Galleries concept by Colman Architects (above image) with “its astute analysis and expansion of the customer-retailer relationship. Spaces are delineated for services akin to personal shopping, but go much further. With a nod to current consumer recalcitrance, Colman proposes Accounting Suites, where representatives assist consumers in budgeting for purchases (and avoiding future debt). Recycling Depots deal with the euphemistically brilliant dilemma of “‘after-wear’ management,” while the One World Desk allows customers to donate a percentage of their purchase price to charity.” (we can thank Nau, Inc. for this last thought)

It’s a shame it’s come to that….I mean after all we’ve been through, can’t we reel ourselves in, yet? That said, the idea, one has to admit, has merit.

But there’s more. Cathy Horyn, NYT’s fashion critic, just posted parts of her speech given to the 6th annual Citi Women & Co. event hosted by the Times on her blog, On The Runway. In “The Bigger Picture” she was asked to give her views on fashion and the economy with a backward glance at previous recessions but an eye toward what may signal the future for fashion as a consequence of this current recession. Big job, but she managed to do it and do it well. If I may, in essence, she creates the call for designers to develop “fashion that is not history-minded—this has been the pattern of the past 50 years—but rather future-oriented. It involves thinking of the consequences of technology, and relating these changes more imaginatively to how we dress, how we shop—the design of stores, the potential of online magazines and stores.”

She also brings up the “consumer,” as if this notion is something recently discovered. But, as a colleague of mine and I were also discussing, people in industry, as much as they talk about it, really aren’t doing it–talking to the consumer that is. My colleague suggested it was because manufactuers were so “operations” oriented. Ms. Horyn indicated in this article as she has in past articles, that the fashion industry is too “marketing oriented,” creating the urge without having anything truly meaningful or relevant to today’s consumer behind it.

Another article that is circling the internet is from Forbes and how the internet has forever impacted the retailing environment, giving instances of retailers with business models that are working in spite of the economy (well that’s relative, but nonetheless they will come out okay), vs. those who seem to be flailing: Why Retailing Will Never Be the Same, by John Karonis and Madison Riley.

I agree with some of the observations Karonis and Riley mention, but I don’t agree that becoming vertical as a business model is for everyone. They too bring up the consumer as it relates to offering services. Again, like it’s a novel thought, but as it is currently being “not practiced,” these are at least examples of very thoughtful processes as it relates to “what will make the consumer happy and spend again.”

What I can agree on with everyone I’ve mentioned here, is being forward thinking and working at finding solutions, now that we have come to grips with the fact that the future isn’t what it used to be.

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So much is happening, and not happening, at the same time it is dizzying, and has taken my time to keep up with and absorb to determine what if anything the patterns add up to. So pardon my absence, but to sum up my findings:

1) Twitter’s future still undecided
2) Sustainable Solutions are where it’s at
3) Banks, and the government, are failing the little guy
4) Global vs local, two business models that are no longer mutually exclusive

The science of green is still developing and is in fact, almost crude compared to other technologies. You can really tell where we’ve focused our time and attention, thank you Apple and Google. Talk about Nero fiddling while Rome burnt.

Almost everything I pick up these days is telling me how to use Twitter. Most of which I find unusable information.

This article came across my desk, and I found it to be, while promotional for the writer, insightful for its reportage: http://www.forbes.com/2009/04/20/sustainability-profits-growth-leadership-citizenship-future.html.

And finally, there is much debate afoot about whether or not manufacturing can actually be brought back to U.S. shores and whether or not that counts given both Toyota and Honda have factories in the U.S. as an example, so what equates to Made In the USA or not. Again, everywhere I go, the question of how things need to be structured to sustain our futures is on everyone’s lips.

Without question, our financial structure needs rehabilitation as does the U.S. auto industry. What are our options here? Re the auto industry, that’s a little easier, build greener autos. Re the banking industry, financial sector et al, we must get around them. It will be up to our local communities to figure out how.
But while we are creating our new Made In the USA models we must at the same time figure exporting into the business plan.

Just my initial assessments. Indepth studies will need to follow and of course the courage to take the road less travelled to encourage innovation. It’s the only way. Now is the time for all good innovators to come to the aid of their country.

Above image: Alexander Graham Bell speaking on phone, 1892 Gilbert H. Grosvenor collection, prints and photographs Division, Library of Congress

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CNBC Reports: The Future of New Media.

I just finished watching this CNBC report/debate on whether or not newspapers were going to become extinct (while I was exercising my little heart out on a Stairmaster in my building’s fitness room, complete with cable).

In a self promotional cry, Michael Wolff, Vanity Fair columnist and guest anchor on CNBC, seemed to think so. But, as he said, “I am trying to put newspapers out of business.” His site, Newser.com, a news aggregator, is doing well and only online a year, is on board to show a profit.

When quizzed by CNBC news anchor David Faber, “Who will write the news? A world of bloggers who don’t know anything?” (Love it….), Wolff, who knows he still needs the promotion of mainstream media for his new media model, suggested perhaps each journalist/news anchor would become their own newspaper of sorts, individually writing columns with their own followings.

It’s an interesting thought. What say you, New York Times, WSJ, et al?

Some of my own thoughts, observations: Wolff (watch the video) who deems the articles in the Times “incredibly long and incredibly gasey” annoints his site and others like his, “the ones” who will decide what’s newsworthy and what’s authoritative enough to report on, but in a way people have the time to digest.

So, Wolff, what you are saying is that you are creating a “Readers Digest” online of the news? Or a Headline News in print online?

I am not so sure about any of this myself…..both sides, if you watch the video, have their points. What I will say is that newspapers will have to find a way to get better or die. And I do agree that I don’t want to get my news from one source. While I think in some sections the New York Times, as an example, is very good…..and it does have to do with columnists in particular, the news itself is becoming pretty one sided. If the internet has proven anything, it is that consumers of news and information are demanding that the information they are receiving be more democratic…..since the early days of Napster, industry has had to, finally, get on the side of their audience.

So, Nike, you may want to change your “Just Do It” slogan to be “Do. Or Die.” Who isn’t feeling that pinch these days? Newser.com for one, so he says.

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The average launch takes 37.5 weeks, (read that in one of my Marketing Daily Briefs). But that didn’t cover what happened in the course of those 37.5 weeks and whether it was a successful launch or not.

It didn’t even define what a successful launch was….which I would need to define in advance of the launch, at its outset, in fact.

Now that new media has taken center stage, it is the much buzzed about method du jour for marketing, a key step to that successful launch. With all of the options available, wonder what will work and wonder what one needs to pass on by?

For many mass retailers these days, private label is the thing. So, where would new media come in on that one for manufacturers? Keeping a brand name alive actually, while private label trys to take the market share.

But taking it a step further, what’s the product? What’s the goal? These are the questions I like to ask and answer before starting the launch. It gives the process a structure and a destination and also an audience.

Once the audience is determined then you can decide what new media can or can not do for your company/product/launch.

Ashton Kutcher’s goal of hitting 1 million followers on twitter before CNN in and of itself was his product launch, and a terrific success at that. But does that make twitter the end all and be all? Lots of people are jumping onto the twitter bandwagon, almost in unison….I’m not an adopter myself, not yet.

It only makes sense to me if there is something very specific I am working on that needs to generate buzz; some may argue that thought. It also helps to be able to speak so people will hear in 140 characters or less so truthfully it has to be connected to something that someone will bother with. I do see twitter as being a very useful way in which to keep up with one’s friends/network. I recall when there was a run on the market for Beanie Babies (in the 90’s)….twitter would have been very useful because when a mom went into a shop and found out there was a brand new shipment she would make that call to her friend who would in turn call someone else and so on. Twitter could have made that all happen so much faster. Now this is a little in jest, given sometimes that new shipment would be sold out in an hour….I mean how much faster do you need for your customer to be unhappy and frustrated that you don’t have the much requested gift for your their child….15 minutes? Just sayin’

Speaking of humor, Ellen Degeneres has used it very successfully in her pet care product launch for Halo keeping her followers all apprised of when she would be on QVC to sell the all natural, made in the USA, cat and dog food. On top of that she has an auction, Whatcha Sellin’ Ellen, of her clothes (worn for very special occasions) on Ebay and that of her friends, i.e., Drew Barrymore’s Oscar del a Renta dress she wore onto Ellen’s show promoting Grey Gardens. All proceeds from the auction will be donated to the Humane Society.

All of this works, but especially so in tandem with each other. The links connect so well it’s easy to bounce from one medium to the next, staying connected to the brand the whole time (see Ellen.com). And that’s really where the genius lies, in my opinion wrt marketing. Talk about impressions. There are so many touch points in that process for one, its remarkable; I don’t know, maybe we should all get Ellen’s marketing guy/s name. If nothing else, at least take note.

And finally, in my process of working on this piece, I discovered two blogs, A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC and Logic + Emotion getting into this subject even more in depth but at a different angle and with different perceptions on the same topic, now a new marketing buzz term: earned media.

However, the Search Engine guys would, will, and do argue that paid search must be a part of this process and that leads back to the previous paragraph….check out the two blogs, it’ll be worth your while. Trust me.

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I am frantically looking for the signs that things are improving, and in that search am finding that things are.

They may be small indications but they are there. Plus, while it’s good that the media is bringing light to bear on how strained American families, and global economies, are (it’s as if they’ve just discovered it….truth be known, this condition has taken time to get to this point. It’s just that massive numbers are now beginning to feel it so the media, lest they become totally outmoded, must be reporting on the realities).

That said, the clock is ticking forward not stuck as it was in 2008. Now we are moving, through mud perhaps, but at least we are moving forward.

The stimulus money in Our Town, St. Louis, hasn’t shown up as yet. Well, it’s here, but now it has to be distributed (that’s the moving through mud part) so the communities aren’t feeling the impact.

These things take time, I presume, but come on. People are still losing their homes, unable to put food on the table, losing health insurance, so what are we waiting for?

Seriously. The notion that millions, in some cases billions, of dollars are just sitting someplace waiting for some government genius to dole it out properly just sends the hebe jeebies up my spine (grammar visitor, feel free to comment on that spelling).

I’ve just spent some time reviewing the SmallBiz April/May 2009 issue stating the best opportunities for entrepreneurs from Obama’s Stimulus Plan and gotta say, there’s not much there. It’s pathetically puny infact, unless the new head of the SBA, Karen Mills, figures out it’s time to actually fund small business rather than train them.

The SBA is upping their guarantee to 90% on loans but who gets those loans, well that’s gonna be interesting. The beauty of this recession and these massive layoffs is that an entire bumper crop of new businesses and methods and technologies are about to spring up but without the proper funding they’ll go nowhere.

And frankly, IMHO, this is what will save this country. With jobs totally disappearing and the state’s only recommendation is to go back to school (who educated us to get to where we are anyway?) for retraining, oy vey, it’s that good ole entreprenurial spirit that will forge us ahead while the big guys continue to duke it out for the lion’s share of the stimulus money.

I say, forge ahead. No time like the present. Just be sure you are picking an industry that will survive well into the 21st century. My take? Same as SmallBiz, Social Entrepreneurs. For a time they may well be the ones who create the most change. You can read more about them @ www.businessweek.com/go/sb/social. Since money is actually becoming available for these ventures, they have the greatest chance of creating the cutting edge business models that the rest of us can look to for the next great thing (not to mention how not to do it).

I confess, the ideas have merit.

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Since I brought up supply chain and packaging, I need to use Aladdin as an example again of what can be done. They print their labels on kraft paper for their e Cycle ™ products. And it works. It’s eye popping, simple…..get’s the message across and it continues to communicate what they are about, which is providing eco friendly solutions and keeping us hydrated without guilt all at the same time (all of their recycled, recyclable product is BPA free.

Hey, works for me!

P.S. Gotta comment on the fact that their mug and travel mug are microwaveable (left and middle). How cool is that?
For more info on what theypre doing and how theypre doing it, visit Aladdin’s website, www.aladdin-pmi.com.

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It’s become clearer to me over the last year that people need some sort of scale that represents the dialog surrounding the production of environmentally friendly products, buildings, businesses. The facts are muddy given the degrees by which a company or the products one produces or that we as consumers purchase are considered environmentally friendly.

While this scale is by no means exhaustive, it is my attempt at trying to clarify those degrees or at least create the debate surrounding it. In other words, it’s a beginning, albeit a primitive one. Until the Environmental Protection Agency creates certification not unlike what the Food and Drug Administration does for what we ingest, we will have to do our own monitoring.

Consumers and people in industry continue to speak about Greenwashing….marketing that says a product or service is green but isn’t really. Maybe it takes more energy to create that product so negates it’s greeness, or the product isn’t based on any green properties per se only that it is to be kept for a long time (not disposable in other words such as bespoke tailoring or even haute couture), so where or how to judge the eco friendliness of your choices? The Green Scale is meant to create debate and help create better definitions associated with our progress. And, progress, not perfection, is what we are looking for.

Aladdin has a proprietary manufacturing process called e Cycle ™ which takes product originally headed for landfills, i.e., cottage cheese containers, yogurt containers, dip tubs and so on, breaks it down then uses it along with its recycled plastic to create its mugs and travel mugs which are also recyclable wherever plastic water bottles can be recyled. So, some percentage of post consumer industrial waste is now the buzz phrase. In Aladdin’s case it is 25% post industrial consumer waste and 75% recycled product that makes up their BPA free water bottle, mugs, and travel mugs.

In the case of Design Ideas’ EcoGen, their proprietary technology that has created plastic that looks and acts and feels (even tastes like) plastic but is in fact biodegradeable in composts so comes even closer to being perfect, don’t ya think? Except one must basically plant it or put it in soil for the proper bacteria to come together before it can break down. Tossed into a landfill, Eco Gen’s product won’t break down and there’s the rub.

But, to my knowledge, no one is doing that technology.

Bed Bath Beyond and Container Store both carry Eco Gen’s bath products. This season Eco Gen added onto to this product line with desktop product. And while this is a wonderful move, another equally important one is the issue of price. Eco Gen says their product pricing is being reduced by some 30%. The company spokesman didn’t say where that reduction was coming from, but one can guess…..economies of scale are being achieved but also in general prices coming down wherever they are getting it produced. This helps. Once more of that happens then the larger plastic guys whose product is more commodity and mostly based on price can also take advantage of the technology. (That green will just become a deeper color green….it may still be a number 9, but it’s a stronger color of green, right?).

Henry Poole & Co. 2007 ForbesTraveler.com “London’s Bespoke Tailors.”

And then there are the conversations that took place in the Conference on Sustainability in India for the fashion industry. Suzy Menkes interviewed Stella McCartney who is a leader in the fashion industry on living and producing environmentally conscious products (she uses no real leather or furs and uses organic cotton), also made reference to bespoke tailoring like what one finds on Seville Row in London. Something someone keeps for 10 years or more, (haute couture belongs in this bracket as well depending on the designer, I think). With the continuing furor over disposable fashion created cheaply with cheap fabrics and even cheaper (some think sweat shops, and who really knows?) labor purchasing better quality goods that just last longer and aren’t meant to be replaced must be considered as a serious part of the equation (green scale ™). Made once, kept for 10-15 years, perhaps put into Good Will and becomes part of someone else’s wardrobe for maybe another 4 years suggests another type of sustainability.

I can not engage in this conversation without bringing up China and the energy it is taking to bring goods in from China. The supply chain to me is where much of the focus needs to go (and on packaging) to help create more enviromentally friendly businesses and products. It’s as much a part of the Green Scale ™ as the creation of products that break down in composts or are recycled even with post consumer waste. We can’t ignore China as a resource obviously but we can use more local manufacturers or craftsmen to make our product…..this too has to be placed on the Green Scale ™, but where? On it’s own? As part of a company’s basket of green practices? Nau, Inc. might have been a 10 on this Green Scale ™, but they filed. Granted they were purchased, and thankfully continue today, however, their story is one that just indicates how expensive perfection is and how and why we can’t get their immediately. Progress not perfection.

And so, the conversation continues.

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Form-fitting, removable, washable, universal-sized slip covers for lampshades, FROCKZ allow a consumer to transform an existing lamp into a design statement by simply slipping a FROCKZ over their lamps existing shade. FROCKZ saves lampshades otherwise destined for landfills.

“As long as the frame is good,” says co-inventor/founder Shelly Dick, “it doesn’t matter if the fabric has long since rotted or if it’s torn, faded or dented. If the frame is OK, Frockz will give new life to it.” The idea was born out of a friendship between Ms. Dick, an attorney, and Wanda Guadarmud, a business manager (now the other half of the Frockz team) for a network of physical therapists and their shared frustration for a lack of contemporary and modern lighting resources near their homes in Baton Rouge, La..

Frockz ™ patented stretch fabric process for covering any sized lampshade.

Available in 2 shapes, drum or cone, and three sizes each, small, medium or large the designs are basically divided into four categories: traditional, animal print, modern and fun. Made out of a special stretch fabric, the covers conform to practically any shape and at prices ranging from $26.00 to $34.00 are an affordable alternative to buying a new lampshade. For more info or to purchase your very own visit Frockz’s website.

It’s an innovative idea to be sure, and, I’ve seen first hand, they work. Very easy to use and very colorful Frockz definitely fulfils a need. Wonder where it falls on my theoretical Green Scale?

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Live blogging the Home and Housewares Show in Chicago, exhibitors have decidedly and overwhelmingly used color to offset these recessionary economic times.

The theory is manufacturers and retailers must give the consumer a reason to buy and color can immediately outdate a product and make it necessary to purchase on the basis of color.

Color has always been used, though generally cautiously by most housewares manufacturers and retailers, i.e., Target…Wal-Mart, but without question, color is now THE statement. Case in point is Whitmoor, above. They’ve taken an ordinary ironing board cover and used great eye popping colors to enhance its utility.

I can tell you I don’t need an ironing board cover, but this is an inexpensive (relatively speaking) purchase that is going to make me feel good. That dull green (that I purchased a few years back in hopes of updating my everyday routine) can now be replaced by a HAPPY COLOR.

Other show trends are focused on cooking (as a large percentage of consumers have decided fine dining is expendable); so celebrity chefs are here, and gourmet cooking utensils now rule.

Lauren Greenwood, my pr contact at the show, also pointed out when showing me through the media rooms selected products, that manufacturers have also responded to these recessionary times by creating products and offerings to enhance a new DIY sensibility…..where you may have farmed out the cleaning to a maid at one point in time, you are now doing it yourself and manufacturers are enhancing that everyday utilitarian product.

My favorite of these is ALICE Supply Co., a self described hip housewares company who is putting fun into home chores by using HAPPY COLORS and designs (stripes and camouflage) on plungers and hoses and dustpans and broom handles, oh my!

Maria Barnes and Raili Clasen are the brains behind ALICE Supply Co.. Friends since college, Maria and Raili both came out of the fashion industry having worked for Roxy and Quicksilver. Using those connections and those sources, ALICE Supply Co., now all of two months old, is bringing that same hip cool formula from the surfer world and making waves in a formerly staid part of the housewares industry. You can find their product currently at Fred Siegal in Los Angeles and Lisa Perry in New York. Their website is www.alicesupplyco.com but is in the process of being designed so is coming soon.

As to the GREEN category it’s still alive and well but it looks to have receded to some degree in importance (with the exception of water bottles which proliferate at this show) while manufacturers decide how best to define themselves in the green/sustainable environment. There is a focus on more durable long lasting product as opposed to throw-away disposable products. This in itself can be defined as part of the green movement. But I can tell, overall, the lingo of what is green and what is not or where a product falls on the GREEN SCALE (a term I’ve coined) is yet to be clarified.

In an effort to help not only the consumer but other manufacturers clarify their position on the sustainable movement, I’ll be using Aladdin and Eco Gen (I blogged about Eco Gen launched at last year’s housewares show) as the best of the best when it comes to walking the walk.
Check back soon for the details.

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This collection designed by Edward Van Vilet for Moroso and previewed for Milan, is some cooly calculated combination of patchwork, geometrics and kid fun (thus the ’sushi’) Plus those colors!

It hits a lot of cords at one time which is why I give it a heads up. Edward claims he used a spirograph for the print design. I knew I recognized that from somewhere (I think from my daughter’s tool kit when she was a kid). So he’s gone beyond the usual stars and dots. Fabulous thinking and an even better result.

For more images and a video of the designer’s thought process see designboom.

(he was influenced by Marrakesh, too!)

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