"bitches on a budget" - cheap tips for big spenders

This recession has created a lot of guilt around spending money on things we want but don't necessarily need. I just discovered the sassy, say-it-like-it-is blog by author, fashion buyer and marketer Rosalyn Hoffman. Hoffman disagrees with the notion that living on a budget means abandoning the fabulous life. Her new book, which will be released December 29th, is designed to help the affluent woman who finds herself now on to a budget “learn to live a truly fabulous life on a shoe string,” as blog says. 

Bitches on a Budget, and it’s accompanying blog, illustrate how the values of the elite have shifted and ways for them to find compromise between their new budgets and their old ways. Her tips range from the best honey to how to get a stain out of a carpet (which involves paper towels and a stack of heavy books).

This leads me to a research idea for brands who play in the luxury space - have a group of customers read the book and give it a review. Ask them what tips they found most useful, which ones they passed along or actually tried themselves? How does the book resonate with their lives today and where does it veer away from how they budget and what they value?

trend: rallying for good design

Just saw on a blog that some British designer decided he didn't like Facebook's layout and created his own design. What really struck me was the call-out for support in the article: "If you feel this is a step in the right direction, you can lend your support to the cause via a Facebook group here." Facebook was not asking for their help nor anyone's input on changes to their design. But we, as users, feel a divine right to have input over the design of a website we use so frequently.

I've seen this elsewhere too, people rallying to fight for good design. The demand for design is really less of an aesthetic thing and more for an easy-to-use user interface. People don't want to deal with visual clutter. (I'll bet you could study this by showing that sites with cleaner design get more return hits and a lower bounce rate.) They want their eyes to be able to understand instantly the purpose of a website and how their eyes should navigate around the page.

It's almost like the way people fight against clutter in their closet. You keep things organized because you get a pang of anger when you open a closet that you need to find something in. It's not that your closet needs to be art - there's a door covering it anyways, but it's gotta be quick to scan through and find the piece you need.

By designer Barton Smith:

wired magazine: vanish contest

How difficult is it to disappear in a digital age? In Wired Magazine’s recent contest, Vanished, writer Evan Ratcliff took on the challenge of living under the radar for a month. The chase became a game of Where’s Waldo? meets The Bourne Ultimatum as people hunted Evan down, sharing clues and working together through social media to discover his whereabouts.

Ratcliff provided hunters with some basics about himself such as a few photos, his hometown and the fact that he has a gluten allergy. Ratcliff even provided his IP addresses (which show the general location from which a computer has accessed the Web), bank account transactions and emails to be published by his editor. According the rules, the first person to take a picture of Ratcliff and say the code word “Fluke” won the $5,000 prize.

Evan created a new Twitter account under alias name, James Gatsby (one of his favorite fictional characters) and made allegedly made anonymous comments to confuse hunters. He complicated his digital trail through his knowledge of how to manipulate and hide digital data in order to stay hidden.

In the last week of the contest, Wired enticed Evan into public spaces by offering prize money for the completion of challenges discoverable only by completing that morning’s New York Times crossword puzzle. After 25 days on the run, his IP address informed the only gluten-free pizza place in New Orleans, Naked Pizza, that Evan had been accessing their Web site. Knowing that Evan’s challenge that day was to attend a book reading, the team caught Evan walking in to a local bookstore and won the prize.

When asked by ABC News what he learned from doing this experiment, Ratcliff replied that in our digital age “fantasies about disappearing are just that, they are fantasies.”

Read all about it in Wired's December issue.

trend: praise for thrift in clothing

Since the accusations of Sarah Palin being a hypocrite - speaking as an average American mom and then spending $150k on one outfit - the clothing on celebs has been a hot issue. Mrs. Obama was praised for getting her outfit at J. Crew and spending like an 'average American' woman, not a high-rolling star.

Apparently this kind of commentary has traveled across the pond. Just saw on Dailymail.co.uk, a post about the Conservative Party leader's wife, Samantha Cameron. She was photographed wearing a pair of shoes that cost 29 English pounds. The post goes on and on about how pragmatic this shoe choice is and how she pulled together more than one outfit by wearing these shoes.
Gotta love how a show of thrift can be applauded.

this program is smarter than i am

Testing out a Firefox add-on called Zemanta. It's funded by VC group Union Square Ventures who funds Twitter, MeetUp, foursquare (the newest addition) and many others. As I type, Zemanta, shown on the right hand side of my screen, recommends links to pictures, articles, websites of companies I am writing about, potential tags and other stuff that it thinks could apply to my content. By simply clicking on their suggestions, the two companies named above were automatically hyperlinked for me.

What's truly amazing to me is the concept of programs that learn, this program however is essentially teaching me. It has the power to direct my writing to new directions depending upon the stories that it serves up. This is a simple add-on writing tool. Who knows where programs that teach could pop-up next.

Question: Would you consider all of the mobile city-guides programs that teach?

the counter-intuitive cuppa

IMG_0595
Originally uploaded by lookitsfitz

Starbucks has just introduced its first instant coffee product, Via. Via, meaning “road” in Italian, is meant to be a quick grab for those on the go. The company will be selling the product at their stores, Target, Costco, outdoor gear shop REI and on United Airlines flights.

There are three things I find very contradictory about this product and it’s parent brand, Starbucks.

Via doesn’t belong on the shelves in Starbucks. The store locations, designed to be comfortable spaces where customers could sit and relax, reflect a brand you spend time with. The core idea of Via is ‘on the go’ making it a sore thumb in the store.

Starbucks has suffered in the recession as customers head to McDonalds or Dunkin Donuts for a cheaper cup of coffee. There is the understanding that at Starbucks you are getting the quality that you are paying for. Via is less than one dollar for a cup of coffee and while it may be a competitor at gas stations, cheap is not a value one attributes with Starbucks.

Despite the fact that families have cut back on road trips, Starbucks is promoting its ‘road coffee’ by filming two people on a road-trip. The duo road-tripped throughout North America to hand out the coffee and explore the scenery.

Taste test the instant cuppa at Starbucks locations October 2 - 5 and receive a free cup of the brewed stuff.

*Thanks Platypusrex256 for the suggestion. Adding this video from the road trip series.

**Update: I tried it! It's actually not that bad... just make sure to use enough water.

keep your eye on this ball

Early adopters have found Foursquare addicting. Being one of them, I've noticed over time the increased number of friends joining the site and the number of those reporting being "checked in" at the same location as myself. One example I found funny was when I checked in at LaGuardia Airport one Friday morning a couple of weeks ago, there were two or three others (not "friends," but random Foursquare users) who had also checked in that morning. Who knew LGA was so hoppin?

3 Reasons why Foursquare will succeed:

1. Now hear this - Today's news is that Twitter co-founder, Jack Dorsey, just put money behind the company

2. Part of keeping tech alive is figuring how to make money off of it and Foursquare users will have noticed the more recent pop-ups on FS maps - special deals for the mayor of the store. Thanks to geo-tagging technology, the trend towards local, which started in food, is now moving into other business categories. Placing ads for companies on Foursquare will bring money into the company. If it is so extremely localized (holding a mayor-ship is something only one local person could realistically have) this could help mom and pop shops.



3. The growing relevance of geo-tagging technology: Since the number of Smart Phone users has increased, Google has increasingly been developing geo-tag products. Consumers will find that they no longer have to look for a store, it will find them. Now that we can get the info we want WHEN we want it via the real-time streaming web, we will grow to desire info WHERE we want it.

We are seeing the release of augmented reality tools that give information of a Smart Phone users world by simply looking through the lens of their phone. Now if Foursquare is able to incorporate AR...

a documentary gives voice to struggling Americans

I wrote this piece for AnxietyIndex.com and am reposting it here.

Austin and Brian Chu were tired of hearing statistics about Americans losing their jobs and homes from politicians and reporters. The brothers, ages 26 and 23, decided to make the hard numbers more human by traveling across 50 states to interview Americans heavily affected by the recession. They talked to single mothers, seniors, Amish people, house squatters, students and others who have shown leadership in their communities but whose stories had slipped under the radar.

The resulting documentary, The Recess Ends, premieres Sept. 30 in San Francisco. The Chus will also preview the film in several cities before then.

One of their brand-related findings was the sizable shift in opinions they heard about Wal-Mart. While some consumers had once demonized the superstore as a killer of mom and pop shops, many now said they’d grown to be grateful for Wal-Mart, seeing it as a haven for the budget-strapped.

gaming should be fun, not intrusive

Playing an online game should not lead you to have to apologize to your friends. Thanks to MobsterWorld however, I feel as though I owe all of my Twitter followers a big apology.

The damn thing took over my Twitter account, sent tweets to all of my followers trying to get them to join and tweeted each move that I made in the 5 minutes I spent playing. That's embarrassing. You shouldn't have to be embarrassed because you interacted with a game. Whereas MobsterWorld may see this as a way to gain users, they are actually putting themselves out in an extremely negative light. People will accept, play once, be angry, disable the game on their account and never go back.

Games via Twitter is a big potential market. It allows for interesting social experiments too; think about how you could prove the '6 Links to Kevin Bacon' theory. But a game has to think less like a virus and more like a console.

And just for the record, I did not rob any houses.

tweeting incentives to get customers into stores

I wrote this piece was written for AnxietyIndex.com and am reposting it here.

Smart brands are gaining followers on Twitter by offering real-time discounts or giveaways to get customers into their stores. Borders, the bookstore chain, is offering free or discounted books at certain locations. Baja Fresh, the Mexican fast food food chain owned by Wendy’s International, offers freebies or discounts during lunch hours to customers who show the Tweeted offer at the register.

This kind of promotion is smart for a couple of reasons. Establishing consistent rapport with consumers during a downturn helps a brand remain top-of-mind when the economy improves. And for chain retailers, which are often seen as having no real connection to the communities where their stores are located, a promotion like this evokes a sense of local familiarity. The tactic is also extremely measurable—return on investment is easily calculated based on the number of Twitter followers a brand has and the number of people who follow through on the giveaway.

Plus, this is a great way to participate in the online conversation, the constant stream of social media chatter that brands need to join. Our most recent trendletter, “The Now Web,” explores how brands can leverage the Web’s shift to real-time communication.

trends

A couple trends we've seen popping up recently in society:

Loss of a filter
- South Carolina Republican Joe Wilson yelling "You lie!" during President Obama's speech to congress
- Kanye Interrupting Tayor Swift at the MTV VMAs
- Williams at the tennis match

Having the ability to broadcast our opinions the moment they are formulated in our heads has become easier than perhaps it should be. Taking the time to allow our consciousness to filter through our powerful words has been annihilated by our own expectations to stay current and react immediately.

Web: Integration through location
- The progression of map-based technology (such as geo-tagging) has allowed for online ads to incorporate a target's location into the message. We see, more and more, ads that directly link to maps showing where a brand's retail stores are near us.

Tools that brands provide online will be more useful and apply more to the user through this technology. One site for example, All for Good, uses IP Addresses and maps to help users find places to volunteer. Twitter is moving into geo-Tweeting. We will see this technology moving into all pieces of brand communication. Watch for over-lays on Youtube music videos that give you info about local music venues where that artist is playing.

fitz goes to the MTV VMAs

A few FAQs about my experience going to the MTV Video Music Awards:

How’d you get in?
A friend had a ticket he couldn’t use. The funny thing is, it was through the Richard Brand fan club. Now, I’m not up on my U.K. pop-culture, so I didn’t know if that was a person or a brand called Richard. However, I am now in a photo somewhere describing me as a member of the Richard Brand fan club (if someone finds, please send!). Turns out Sir Brand was hosting the show. I found him annoying. Thanks for the ticket anyways Dick.

Where did you sit?
Hahaha. Hmmm. Ah Dick. You see, Richard was supposed to save seats for his beloved fan club, but that must have slipped his mind. The fifty of us lucky winners got into Radio City Music Hall and were dragged from one side of the theater to the other and back again, field trip style.

After a while of this I got fed up, saw an empty seat and jumped into it. What I did realize is that I had just hopped into the ‘seat filler’ section. Seat fillers, selected through submitting a photo to MTV, are placed throughout the theater where there is an empty seat or if someone decides to go to the bathroom.

I went from being a nomad to having a great seat. But no, I didn’t sit next to any celebrities. : )

Did you see any celebrities?
I did. Many. During the field trip portion of the experience, I walked past Beyoncee (gorgeous woman), the actress who plays Blair Waldorf walked by, Taylor Swift with a very hurt facial expression climbed down the stars by me and I was standing in Adam Brody’s way. There were also a few MTV reality TV show stars wandering around - the brunette model from NYC show with Whitney from ‘The Hills.’ Those were the closest encounters. Otherwise they were in and around the theater. As you can pry tell though, I don’t do celeb names well and thus a few familiar faces were lost on me.


Two things that jumped out at me:
The quality of the screen!! The screen hanging in the back of the stage from which they project all of the videos is amazing! Crystal-clear quality. I swear I’ve never seen better.

How vigorously the crowd booed and raised their 'thumbs-down' at every mention of Kanye’s name or his videos. I wasn't surprised at how pissed everyone was, just how strongly, quickly and frequently they were up in arms.

Photos from my phone: http://bit.ly/NGyBk

If you have any other questions. Please feel free to submit. : )

hip, trendy, basic

The basic necessities that all living people have (otherwise they wouldn't be alive) are:

1. Shelter
2. Water
3. Food

It seems like it would be counterintuitive then that in the 2000s this items have gone from hot commodities, to just hot.

We've seen luxury, elitism and high prices placed on these items. Think about it - luxury is diamonds and Aston Martins, and yet...here come....

Shelter - "The Small Movement" - It was all about compact homes/living spaces. Look at The Pod Hotel - everything is tiny and that is what makes it so damn cool.

Water - flavored, filtered, sparkling, enhanced, bottled, gourmet, find an adjective that makes your nose snub the ceiling and it can be attached to some stylish water brand.

Food - from celebrities writing cookbooks and 'Julia and Julia,' to the sexy Anthony Bourdain

Is it possible that these items will ever become passe? That water will once again just be water?

Anyone have an idea how this came about?

wanted

I wish there was a widget that sat on your desktop and every time you higlighted and copied something, it would show in the history on the widget. That way, if you forget that you've copied multiple things, rather than copy the wrong thing into the wrong paste, groan, then search for what you originally copied - it would be in your history. Very similar to Photoshop's history (see pic). If you can build this, please do.

east coast rambler

I have put thousands of miles on my car in this post-graduation summer. Broken promises, listened to hours of audiobooks and drank seltzer water to the point of bubbling over.

My endless wandering has been seemingly the only consistency in my life. The road is always there for me. It doesn’t matter the destination, or what I am running from, as long as I am running. I guess it’s not that I’m running from anything really. It’s that I’m afraid to stop running. You know how your legs, after a few miles, feel fluid--the motion a part of your subconscious.

I have begun to fear committing to one local.

Looming on the horizon lies August 12th. August 12th is the date I commit. I stop moving and start digging in. I will begin digging the trench that will, hopefully, become the foundation upon which I build my career. The less round-about way to spell it out is to say that I begin, officially, working on that date. I begin working, and although I have yet to truly define what my dream job is, I must begin to work as though it were my dream job. This mental state will help me wake up every morning. In the same bed. Take the same route to work. And feel satisfied by what I have accomplished that day, when I lay down to rest my head.