1983 Sans Aqua-Net

Tommy Sparks is the latest darling of Apple.  You can hear his single on the new iPod commercial.  You can also listen and have a free download below – one of the catchiest hooks to pass my way this year.  Another great artist that’s been featured in Apple’s campaign is Chairlift…also catching the 80s music fever and also posted below for a listen and free download.  The 1980s music catalog was incredibly fun, playful, and poppy.  I can’t help but think the spike in 80s influenced sounds is mirroring the aspirational mood of global culture.

Reference MGMT, The Horrors, Franz Ferdinand, and Hot Chip for other greats in this musical vein.

Tommy Sparks “She’s Got Me Dancing”

Chairlift ” Le Flying Saucer Hat”

The New Passport

We saw jetblue jolt the airline industry when they offered their $599 unlimited flying package this past summer.  Now Live Nation one of the biggest concert promoters and now ticketing companies launched a music passport that allows music-heads to see an unlimited number of concerts in their area.  It’s a cool new bulk-package that might soon hit other industries.  Would the hospitality industry be willing and able to offer an unlimited hotel night passport?  Perhaps an unlimited weekend room night passport in a particular market or region of the country?  Might be an effective revenue generating strategy for unseasonable parts of the country or the slowed down travel industry.  It’s also an interesting idea for the workforce who is retiring and might have some time on their hands.  Maybe a little combo package between someone like Marriott and American Airlines.  $3,000 bucks for a month of unlimited flying and unlimited room nights Thursday through Sunday…could be interesting.

When Not To Geek-Out

A recent article from Thrillist covered a new nightclub in Philadelphia that is installing touch screen computers into their club space.  For me. this brings up an interesting question of when and where to offer socially based technologies.  I wonder, how cool is it to have your nose in a phone or computer when there is real life going on around you?  We’ve seen a growing value for meaningful experiences  as well as the integration of technology and physical activities; refer to our previous posting about “big games” for more examples.  Maybe I’m  just being nostalgic about the time when I was satisfied with the company that physically surrounded me.  I mean, should I start getting comfortable with the fact that the new process of a romantic relationship is this: I will hit on a girl through Loopt, work out our arguments through Facebook status updates, and then break up via text?

As we’ve moved closer to core values and the idea of deeper, more meaningful relationships, one would think it might become somewhat un-cool to prefer interacting with a machine than a human or physical environment.  I think back to one of John Lennon’s quotes, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”  This could be updated to “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy texting someone to find out the next cool place to go.”  Now, I’m just as guilty as the next guy, but lately I’m starting to feel the need to stop all the constant checking and updating of my social media accounts.  I feel like the biggest loser when I’m more interested in capturing an iPhone image of Karen O instead of enjoying the concert while it’s going on…mainly because I feel I’m a phony fan who’s more focused on the status of being at a cool show rather than actually liking a cool show.  Judd Apatow recently was interviewed by a hipster literary magazine, The Believer.  I think he hit right on it.  He said, I’m paraphrasing here, I enjoy the idea of being someone who reads the Believer more than I actually enjoy reading it.

So the question is, will geeking-out in social settings always be OK or will it become socially lame to be caught up in what people are doing elsewhere?  And, are we more concerned with building our status than building a life filled with activities we intrinsically enjoy?

From Aggrevation to Aggregation

Aggregating online reviews is becoming a critical need for those who obsess about selecting the best purchase.  It’s so easy to post a review these days that many more people are doing it and doing it all over the web.  The new task is to gather all those various review sources and aggregate them into an overall review.

For those looking to book a hotel, Raveable is a website worth exploring because it’s not just a tripadvisor.com or the like, but rather an aggregated result of hotel reviews posted on all those various travel/hotel review websites.  I would have loved to use this service when planing a recent trip of mine.  I ended up having to manually jump around all the various travel review sites and form my own general impression or final booking decision.  Who wants to spend time searching all over the Internet to collect a variety of reviews about hotels in Amsterdam?

In general, those sites that aggregate reviews (also see rottentomatoes.com) increase sample size and ultimately provide buyers with better guidance for how they should spend their time or money.  Raveable is a nice addition to the landscape of aggregated review offerings.

Reviewers of Reviewers

We’ve seen a movement to praise and reward reviewers who have “helpful” reviews.  Have you ever rated on Amazon.com, “Was this review helpful to you?”?  Right there, you’re participating in the review of reviewers and contributing to the filtering of good info versus bad or inauthentic info.  Epinions gives reviewers monetary credits based on the quality and helpfulness of their reviews.

So why is this important?  Well, what’s emerging is another group of influencers that brands should pay attention to and potentially target.  At the very least, should a highly rated reviewer post an unfavorable review, they’d be the first person I’d respond to with a resolution or feedback.  Brands can’t respond to everyone, so identifying key influeners will be a critical skill when managing the conversation and perception of a brand experience.

Is Best Buy Just a Showroom?

For those who have a smart phone, how many of you go to a store, jot down a product name, and then search for a better price online?  It’s something I find myself doing more and more.  Can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone into Barnes and Noble to check out a book, only to then order it through my Amazon iPhone app.  The experience of seeing something in person is hard to rival, but in many cases, that’s the only benefit physical retailers are providing these days.  It’s like one big showroom or exhibit hall…fiddle with the product you’re interested in, then jump on the Internet for the best price.  I’m not sure if this will have an impact on scaling back inventory space or taking on a price-match policy.  I gotta say, I’m starting to feel a little guilty for going into stores, test driving products, and purchasing it for a better price online.  Should I start to feel sorry for physical retailers who can’t compete with strictly online retailers ?  Is this karma biting back for all those great mom and pap stores that couldn’t compete with Walmart store pricing?

Big Games

New York University recently launched a new game focused program and a dedicated space for the enrolled.  It’s called, the Game Center and it’s inspired by one of the pioneers of “big games” and founder of the game consultancy Area/Code.  Think, video games that are not virtual, they’re reality.  The concept is to build the world of a video game into the public spaces that surround us…like parks, streets, etc.  Frank and his students developed a big game called Pac Manhattan in 2005-using the grid of the city as the board and dedicated players functioning as either Pac Man or the ghosts that try to eat him.   With advances in GPS technology and growth in friend locator apps like Loopt, people are expanding the way they navigate and use their urban spaces.  For a while now, we’ve been seeing groups of people coordinate large masses people for games in cities. Great examples are Improv Everywhere events or the SF invented Street Wars – a cool three week assassination game that uses water guns to hunt down market targets in the city.

This might be an interesting concept to consider for hotels that are aiming to be more family centered and offer entrainment options for kids.  Some companies are developing hotel-like spaces, specifically designed to be a full-on real-life game experience.  I love the idea of saying, “see you ’round”  to virtual and, “yo, what’s up?!” to real-life game experiences.  Another good reference to get your head around this concept is the Michael Douglas, Sean Penn movie, The Game.

Entertainment needs to be much more than sitting on the couch and even more than Wii- how do you replace the benefits of fresh air and outdoor fun?

Local Music Trends

City Sounds is a service that allows someone to tap into the music trends within a particular city.    It’s a global offering and potentially a supplement to a hotel’s local area knoweldge efforts.  What I like about this is that it’s not local music, but rather local sentiment about music and trending.  A much better alternative for those who’d rather see a polished band than a local up and comer.

Twitter Whores

Celebrity influence plays such a huge role in consumer buying habits and image shaping.  One of the other huge influences is word of mouth.  Now IZEA has launched a platform that kind of combines both, it’s a pay per tweet platform. Why not pay people (or celebrities) to talk or tweet about your product – more dough for more reach.  Think of it like TV or any other form of media; better circulation or wider viewership = greater cost for advertising.  Now that Twitter and other social media tools have shot to the moon, those who have harvested a healthy following have basically built a captivated audience, that’s pretty damn valuable to a business.  I sense some personal brand erosion if these characters don’t properly select endorsement opportunities…

Moooo

For frequent business travelers, the resort vacationer, or parent that is tired from taking their kid around an amusement park all day, the Slow Cow Drink might be an interesting product that satisfies the need to restore oneself.  There are plenty of drinks that help stimulate an emotion or wellness.  Not too many offering the benefits of relaxation so we’ll have to see if people continue to rely on brushed silver cans to give them the energy levels that are desired-whether that’s flying high or diving low.  Also check out Mary Jane’s Relaxing Soda for a dip into the pool of serenity.