Very Krafty

Towards the end of last year, Kraft decided to renove all articial flavours, perservatives and dyes from its popular Macaroni and Cheese product. But when Kraft informed its customers of the imminent change, it was met with strong resistance. Social media lit up with moans and complaints from fans saying they will stop eating the product if they change. Now for the Krafty bit; with advice from their agency CP&B - their response? Don't tell them!! So what did they do? So for 3 months around the end of 2015, Kraft quietly started selling the new product in the old packaging, and the changes was only announced in very small type on the packs. Kraft sold 50 million boxes, which is standard in 3 months, so no complaints, they then launched the campaign' We'd invite you to try it, but you already have' - the whole idea was don't advertise (How ironic coming from an ad agency) That’s what you call real problem solving in marketing - not trying to over analysis, or use tech for tech sake, or do a big old production number – it just comes down to one thing; smart thinking.

Sign of true problem solving

I came across this on Twitter and wanted to share this invention for two important reasons, the first is; it's a brilliant idea. (Yes it's still in development and needs certain things to be ironed out but it's still a great idea especially an idea that has come from students so young. Both Thomas Pryor and Navid Azodi are undergraduate students at the University of Washington (UW) studying Aeronautical & Astronautical Engineering and Business Administration, (Bet that looks good on your CV :) The two met in their freshman year and connected over a shared interest in invention and problem solving. The invention idea came from a personal experience of Navid's. During the first seven years of his life, he used non-verbal communication. Notice their interest in 'invention and problem solving' this gets onto my next important point; how can we in our multi-million pound industry of ‘digital transformation’ or ‘digital marketing’ or ‘engaging content’ whatever we decide to call it, try to replicate that sediment when in reality the work that is been produced is such pointless, worthless crap?

Rob Campbell a spanner for anyone outside the East End it's Cockney slang for Planner. Anyway Rob at W&K wrote a brilliant blog piece last week canning the industry for producing dumb ideas such gems as the ‘smart peg’ worth a read for me this was bang on. And the reason why? The big problem with our industry is we aren’t problem solvers anymore we are just confused. (The industry is changing at such a rapid rate we are desperate to find a meaning on what we and our brands are about). There was a small few but now we have heaps of people who think they are really solving problems, they think they are super clever but in reality they are so wrapped up in their little bubble, they are blinded to the fact they are producing utter bollocks. It’s not and repeat not ‘digital transforming’ (By the way there’s another phrase that has surfaced that’s adding to the bullshit) I do honestly believe it hurts our business and screws a brand and a company’s reputation as most people in the real world just think; WTF. A casing point last week I read that some company ‘invented’ an umbrella that tells you when it is about to rain. Please just stop and just fuck right off. Really? I read it thinking it was a joke but sadly it wasn’t. Now just push the creative pause button. Let’s stop what we are doing and look at ideas like SignCloud and celebrate that people are out there really trying to change and transform people’s lives, we as an industry have so many smart people it’s time for us to channel it and produce work on a par with SignCloud – the bar has been risen, and for many in our industry they won’t be able to compete and keep pace in innovative thinking. The others can so make a difference and seek them out and create brilliant ideas.

The future of shopping is now

Facebook Likey

Some developments from Facebook conference pow wow here's some top line updates great news for marketeers. Live API: Facebook Live has been incredibly successful, and now we’re opening up our API so developers can design even more ways for people and publishers to interact and share in real time on Facebook. Bots for Messenger: As part of the new Messenger Platform, bots can provide anything from automated subscription content like weather and traffic updates, to customized communications like receipts, shipping notifications, and live automated messages — all by interacting directly with the people who want to get them. The Messenger Send / Receive API will support not only sending and receiving text, but also images and interactive rich bubbles containing multiple calls-to-action. Facebook Surround 360: We’ve designed and built a 3D-360 camera system called Facebook 360 that produces sharp, truly spherical footage in 3D. The system includes stitching technology that seamlessly marries the video from 17 cameras, vastly reducing post-production effort and time. We’ll be making the design specs and stitching code available on GitHub this summer. Profile Expression Kit: People can now use third-party apps to create fun and personality-infused profile videos with just a few taps. The closed beta kicks off today with support for six apps: Boomerang by Instagram, Lollicam, BeautyPlus, Cinemagraph Pro by Flixel, Lollicam, MSQRD, and Vine. Free Basics Simulator & Demographic Insights: It’s now easier for developers to build for Free Basics with the Free Basics Simulator, which lets them see how their service will appear in the product, and Demographic Insights, which helps them better understand the types of people using their services. Account Kit: Account Kit gives people the choice to log into new apps with just their phone number or email address, helping developers grow their apps to new audiences. Facebook Analytics for Apps updates: More than 450,000 unique apps already use this product to understand, reach, and expand their audiences, and we’re now introducing more features to help developers and marketers grow their businesses with deeper audience insights, and push and in-app notifications (beta). Quote Sharing: Quote Sharing is new way for people to easily share quotes they find around the web or in apps with their Facebook friends. Save Button: The Save Button lets people save interesting articles, products, videos, and more from around the web into their Saved folder on Facebook, where they can easily access it later from any device. I very much likey

Innovation and creativity all under one house

Lovely piece here from HAKUHODO Kettle Tokyo, in the fact they took a simple obvious idea for moving house and did something completely left-field - a very sweet and powerful eco-social experiment. Tapping into something that people care about and turned it on its head. With the behind the scene builds which puts it all into context this makes for a very watchable piece of content, that's so good on all fronts. Hat tip. I wish I done.

Clever Interaction in one easy swipe

Good morning beautiful people, Don't worry about the rain - people either run from getting wet or there's people who feel the rain - anyway this was very interesting; interesting in that yet again online meets offline - neat simple idea - that harnessing something that is as old as Keith Richards - the pin badge - what is also interesting my 16 yr old daughter sent me the link from Kickstarter - times are changing - this generation will be the next marketing directors, CEO's CCO etc. They don't see digital and an offline experience - they just see an experience - enjoy your day and think positive creative thoughts https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pinscollective/pins-collective