ThinkLola

Our continued existence as a species depends on the sale of lip-gloss. Every marketer lately seems to be blogging about the ‘Lipstick Index’. You know, the idea that when the economy takes a dive sales of cosmetics invariably climb. They say it’s due to a realignment of priorities and values, the desire for small luxuries when the big ones are out of reach. They say that we as marketers should exploit this opportunity. Not only does this strike me as overly simplistic, it’s sexist.

Let’s view this through the lens of evolutionary theory 101. Many women would agree that the stock market isn’t the only thing that’s flaccid these days. Males in our society have been emasculated by the distraction that is our current economic situation. It’s affecting their sex drive. The female of the species, because her sexual needs aren’t being met, attempts to increase her desirability in an instinctual effort to ensure the survival of the species, hence the bullish outlook in the rouge market.

You could also view it another way. Where the female is increasing her desirability and signaling her availability to other suitors. It’s a back-up plan - in case her mate loses the ability to ‘bring home the bacon’. Again, the survival of the species is assured, happy endings indeed.

Much like the US Constitution and Maslow’s hierarchy, Darwin’s theory has been tested under load. It’s one of our society’s beautiful constructs and tests of truth. It’s a handy, and useful tool when trying to determine root causes. Often, we need look no further than to our cousins in the animal kingdom to find analogous behaviour, and inspiration.

So, long story short: Lipstick will save humanity, and, as always, sex sells.

Whew!

It sure is dusty in here. Been a while since my last post. I’m going to try and pick this up where I left off.

Nice to see that Wordpress is still alive, kicking and as user-friendly as ever I take that back. Post #1 of 2009 to follow shortly.

If there’s anyone who still has me on their RSS reader - ping me. It’s always nice to know you’re not alone.

I threw the old blogroll up - on the right. When I get some time I’m looking forward to seeing who’s still blogging away 2 years on.

I won’t be adding to this blog anymore. I’m pursuing a great opportunity at an amazing company called Capital C - if you haven’t heard of them yet, you will.

Hugh MacLeod over at Gapingvoid.com always seems to nail the zeitgeist. Check out his Hughtrain manifesto - although first posted in 2004 it’s still refreshingly relevant. Hit it.

“We are here to find meaning. We are here to help other people do the same. Everything else is secondary.

We humans want to believe in our own species. And we want people, companies and products in our lives that make it easier to do so. That is human nature.

Product benefit doesn’t excite us. Belief in humanity and human potential excites us.

Think less about what your product does, and think more about human potential.

What statement about humanity does your product make?

The bigger the statement, the bigger the idea, the bigger your brand will become.

It’s no longer just enough for people to believe that your product does what it says on the label. They want to believe in you and what you do. And they’ll go elsewhere if they don’t.

It’s not enough for the customer to love your product. They have to love your process as well.

People are not just getting more demanding as consumers, they are getting more demanding as spiritual entities. Branding is a spiritual exercise. These are The New Realities, this is the Spiritual Republic we now live in.

The soul cannot be outsourced. Either get with the program or hire a consultant in Extinction Management. No vision, no business. Your life from now on pivots squarely on your vision of human potential.”

Here’s a great video by Michael Wesch, Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Kansas State University. It succinctly explains the evolution and beauty of Web 2.0

“For the longest time ideation was about throwing out as many ideas as you can. We’ve realized pretty quickly it’s really not about a bunch of ideas, it’s about really good strategy, alignment with business, diagnostics, and deep customer understanding…Then, the ideas are no longer just about the product, they’re about new business models and how you go to market, and what’s your supply chain like.” - Sam Lucente (Thanks metacool!)

Interesting news from our friends across the pond: Browsing the internet has overtaken DIY and gardening to become the favourite pastime of older people, according to a survey.

The current generation of “silver surfers” spends an average of six hours online each week, research by the insurance company AXA found.

Emailing and online chatting to friends and family was the favourite internet activity of the retired people surveyed, followed by researching information, booking holidays and shopping.

Alison Green, a spokesman at AXA, said: “It is encouraging to see British pensioners embracing technology. The report highlights how pensioners are using the internet to support a less stressful approach to life.

“The potentially arduous task of struggling with the shopping is becoming less of an issue as retired people can simply log onto their computers and select groceries at their leisure.”

According to the survey, 41 per cent of retired Britons named internet usage as one of their favourite pastimes. DIY and gardening were named by 39 per cent, hobbies by 36 per cent and travel and walking by 28 per cent. Four in 10 retired people said they were regular internet shoppers. Read more here.

Here’s a cool article about how a Canadian company used a Wiki to generate some big dollars. Thanks Business Week.

A few years back, Toronto-based gold mining company Goldcorp (GG) was in trouble. Besieged by strikes, lingering debts, and an exceedingly high cost of production, the company had terminated mining operations….Chief Executive Officer Rob McEwen needed a miracle. Frustrated that his in-house geologists couldn’t reliably estimate the value and location of the gold on his property, McEwen did something unheard of in his industry: He published his geological data on the Web for all to see and challenged the world to do the prospecting. The “Goldcorp Challenge” made a total of $575,000 in prize money available to participants who submitted the best methods and estimates…

Within weeks, submissions from around the world were flooding into Goldcorp headquarters. There were entries from graduate students, management consultants, mathematicians, military officers, and a virtual army of geologists….

The contestants identified 110 targets on the Red Lake property, more than 80% of which yielded substantial quantities of gold. In fact, since the challenge was initiated, an astounding 8 million ounces of gold have been found—worth well over $3 billion. Not a bad return on a half million dollar investment. Read more after the jump.

I’ve always been in a perpetual state of ‘beginnerness’ on the guitar. I’m in awe at some of these vids - check them out and you too will be busting out some air guitar moves in your cube: Guitar World complied a list of the “100 Greatest Guitar Solos“…so we took it a step further and dug up a video link for each of the top 20! Listen and watch the musical genius and mastery that made these classics famous!

For something a little more soothing watch John Williams bust a move with BWV 1006 - Prelude from lute suite 4 here.

Clay Shirky over at Valleywag has an interesting take on the metrics of social networking sites:

“Someone who tries a social service once and bails isn’t really a user any more than someone who gets a sample spoon of ice cream and walks out is a customer.

I suspect Second Life is largely a “Try Me” virus, where reports of a strange and wonderful new thing draw the masses to log in and try it, but whose ability to retain anything but a fraction of those users is limited. The pattern of a Try Me virus is a rapid spread of first time users, most of whom drop out quickly, with most of the dropouts becoming immune to later use.” Read it here.

Update: here’s a cool little satirical rip on Second Life

If you still think blogs are the realm of tech-geeks holed up in their parents basement or a place where blue-haired ladies exchange cat pictures, have a look at these:

Bob Lutz, Vice Chairman, General Motors Corporation
Randy Baseler, VP of Marketing, Boeing Commercial Airplanes
Jonathan Schwartz, COO, Sun Microsystems
Eric Kintz, Vice President, Hewlett-Packard Company
Carole Brown, Chair, Chicago Transit Board
Harold Burson, Founding Chairman, Burson-Marsteller

Jump here for more. Why not add your own?

Update: for a counterpoint to this post check out the video below. Thanks Kottke.

Check out artist Theo Jansen’s amazing wind-powered kinetic art and this successful viral campaign for BMW. Here’s the skinny:

“Five months after being awarded the prestigious BMW (South Africa) advertising account, fledgling creative hotshop Ireland/Davenport launched the agency’s first new TV commercial for the brand. Shot in the Netherlands utilising the moving sculptures of world-renowned artist Theo Jansen, the commercial, entitled “Kinetic Sculptures” forms part of a broader campaign which serves to highlight BMW’s market leadership in the fields of technology and innovation.”

The folks over at BlendTec show us how to do viral right. This is brilliant. Thanks FutureLab.

“Does your company make something extraordinary? BlendTec does and here’s a 50 dollar advertising campaign, including the cost of the rake. It’s been watched 280,000 303,493 times, favorited 474 500 times and has 119 119 comments, not bad ROI.” Check out all their videos here.

Not sure where Canada stands on this - it likely hasn’t come up in the courts (yet), but it’s good news for our neighbours down South: The California Supreme Court said Internet publishers can’t be held liable if they post defamatory comments written by others, a victory for online companies like Google Inc. and Time Warner Inc.’s America Online Inc,. In a unanimous decision, said those claiming defamation can only sue the original source of the allegedly offending comments, not publishers or distributors, even if the distributor is an individual. Internet users are protected by the same 1996 Communications Decency Act that grants immunity against defamation claims to publishers in most circumstances, the court said, overturning a San Francisco appeals court. “By declaring that no `user’ may be treated as a publisher of third party content, Congress has comprehensively immunized republication by individual Internet users,'’ the court said today. Read on.

Had a good laugh and a brief moment of self-reflection after reading this one. Thanks to Brad over at HKS for passing it on.

“If you’re an idiot VC or a Yahoo! acquisitions type who is willing to throw money at any website that features the words “collaborative”, “social”, “tagging” or “AJAX”, then please get in touch with us…Please set the subject to “I have more money than sense”. read on…