Nobody expected that a Finnish company would come up with the idea of selling mobile phones.

Nobody expected that a Dutch company would dare to develop navigation systems.

Nobody expected that a Korean company would become the world leader in flatscreen technology.

And probably nobody expects that a Swiss company will build a car.

This is what it says on the website of Mindset, a new swiss company with a new car concept. In a time of a car industry in crisis, you could say: bad timing for a start-up, or: extreme opportunity to come up with a vision for what mobility means in the future, which in swiss unadornedness is:

We are not offering some future vision but a sustainable, contemporary automobile for everyday use. We at mindset know about cars and we want to attract people who like cars and enjoy driving.

Submitted by Florian Geiger

We have been operating under the assumption that the primary challenge is to convince businesses to focus on fulfilling user needs with higher quality products, with more meaningful experiences? But what if the ‘users’ themselves are the problem?

In his article, Robert discusses new dimensions of social value that currently are not considered in the design process. After web2.0 it would be easy to agree that this is more than necessary. I agree with him that the holy grail of experience design cannot just be a quotient of user tasks completed and pain points eliminated on the single user journey to a successful transaction. Moving from the individual to the collective brings with it a focus on joy points derived from social value. Hence, as Robert call out, we have to plan and design for scial systems from the get-go. But how?

But engaging with communities is fundamentally different. We are not merely substituting one center (the user) for another (the group). With communities, the means of engagement and influence exist across the participants not within a single person. Value is created and shared dynamically through cooperative activities that are not often apparent from the outside. They emerge from within.

Yes, and it isn’t new. Old-school discplines such as PR have understood that engaging communities is driven by an inside force. While a rational decision making process of an individual (or a single user) is usually based on only one’s own black or white processing of the experience, dealing with a community means being part of a phenomen where everyone has a different experience, even if they are at the same time and place. Hence local relevance and offering a communual benefit, even if is not black and white is always part of a social force. Grassroot movements are good example of this. He continues…

As much as we can look at the external symbols of communities (such as status and reputation) we cannot appreciate the nuance of social behavior without participating. Certainly not to the degree that is needed to support effective design solutions.

To learn more about his techniques on how to design from “the inside out”, check the rest of the article here.

This should be interesting not just to experience planners.

“NO CONTROLLER REQUIRED. YOU ARE THE CONTROLLER”

E3 2009: Project Natal Xbox 360 Announcement

E3 2009: Project Natal Milo demo

Project Natal - Live Demonstration - E3 2009 Microsoft conference Xbox 360

Find out more here!

I wish they had continued the “study”. I am sure that in parts of Berlin this could have spawned a retro-trend.

Inspiring, and it gives me a lot of ideas for how marketers could be helping women spread the positive word.

This monday, June 22., I attended the GAMESplaces International 2009 Conference in Frankfurt am Main. Here are the bits I found interesting:

Nintendos ways of marketing the Wii and the DS to women.

Silja Gülicher (Senior Assistant Manager PR Nintendo Europe, GER) presented two cases in which Nintendo targeted women in a different way.

1. Based on the insight that 60% of the book sales in book store today are to women, Nintendo approached several book stores to sell Nintendo DS games (the software) in their stores. After adding the DS hardware to the offering, the sales of the software and hardware went up considerably. Some book stores even have “Nintendo corners” now.

2. Nintendo talked to Tupperware to include the Wii and Wii Fit in their “Home Parties”. Nintendo would take the Wii where the women are and Tupperware would have a product to attract a younger audience. Tupperware agreed and Nintendo sold hundreds of Wii units this way.

The Keynote presentation style

Jason Della Rocca presented his keynote “The evolving games industry ecosystem” in a very interesting form. He drew most of his presentation slides with an stylus and a tablet live on stage. This had a very honest and being part of the process feeling to it.

He sees the games industrie adopting the “google model” of launching products/games in beta and evolve them over time to reduce the risks of game development.

What was missing

Besides talking about the latest technical advances in CPUs, GPUs the conference lacked any news or visions of future interface for playing games. Everybody seemed fixed on the status quo using games-controllers, keyboards and mice. Location aware and augmented reality games, with posible new interfaces on mobiles have not been mentioned at all.

Most of the talks should posted as podcast in the coming days or weeks as it has been in the previous years.

Anthony J. Phillips, global Marketing Manager from Coca-Cola talking about the new vending machine, in Cannes.

Their 7 lions in Cannes for their Store+ idea for the Red Cross: A store that sells hope. A truly HumanKind idea: something that transcends advertising, but makes a qualitative difference!

Their 3 lions in Cannes for their Ephemeral Museum idea for Pampero Fundación. The first true outdoor museum!

Their 1 lions in Cannes for their Amnesty International video.

Case Store+ Red Cross

Case Ephemeral Museum

Amnesty International

Apart from being another innovative urban development idea which marries city and sustainable concepts, the Highline also features a city and neighborhood community. I am sure the Park’s peculiar format and location will attract many New Yorkers and visitors alike. I am going to check it out for sure. Says Ross von Berg:

The High-Line Park has captured that kind of spirit but with inevitably more restrictions on what is and isn’t allowed. The elevation makes you  feel a little above and outside it all. Its a pleasant point of view not often experienced by New Yorkers, a kind of ‘Island in the Sky Feeling.’  It offers a common amenity made for both the occasional stroll and a viewing pleasure from a unique perspective.

So some agencies are realizing that the pitch for the digital business for Turkish Airlines is going to require them to do a little more than just checking their email to get the brief.  They need to be familiar with Flickr, Tumblr, Blogger, Twitter, Googledocs and more, or they can’t even get to the brief!

Read more here and here.

I think we can’t talk credibly as an agency about digital properties without spending the time using them as just that - typical users.  So yeah, I think you should have an account on Plurk, and Social Sooshi, and RunPee.  Even if you think they are crap.  Use them, see what the experience is, and you’ll be able to give real advice.

Kudos to the client for recognizing that the agency they’re looking for needs to walk the walk.

I wonder who advised them and set it up?