Posts Tagged ‘technology’

What’s that smell?

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010


What is it: ScentAir Technologies is building a billboard that emits a particular smell. Shaped like a giant fork holding a piece of steak, the billboard fans a pepper steak and charcoal smell onto passing traffic and pedestrians, aiming to promote a new line of beef available at Bloom grocery stores.

Why is it cool: Using smell in marketing is not a new idea –supermarkets place the bakery section near the entrance to draw shoppers in. It’s powerful because of how closely smell is linked to memory and emotion.

On the other hand, the powerful emotions elicited aren’t always what you want; PETA plans to build a billboard displaying a skinned cow’s head on a slaughter hook, emitting a smell of rotting flesh, urine, faeces and blood.

Where to find it: Article here! PETA’s response here!

Submitted by: Bernard Visperas

Lying eyes

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010


What is it: Eye-tracking software being used to detect when people are lying. It’s a great digital alternative to the old polygraph which tests people’s emotional reactions – eye-tracking looks at people’s cognitive reactions and things like eye movement and pupil dilation.

Why is it cool: Eye-tracking is used in market research to determine things like what is the best shelf positioning for a product in the supermarket; as well as website design to answer questions like where should I put my most appealing/important content. This show that it’s not only useful for marketers but also law enforcement and potentially national security.

Where to find it: here!

Submitted by: Melissa Yee

Opinionaided

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010


What is it: A mobile phone app that allows users to asks opinions of their contacts on various topics. The app has been up and running for about a month where its users can seek advice on a wide range of public topics, including: “Would you wear teal, fuschia or purple yoga pants?”, the questions can be accompanied by photo’s to illustrate the questions.

Why is it cool: New digital communication tools will change the way we do research. Sure, market researchers can already do surveys on mobile phones, but what functionality with apps bring? How must survey language change for the evolving research media? And what are the impacts on sampling of interviewing social clusters or cascades (e.g. cost, representivity). Exciting times!

Where to find it: here!

Submitted by: Erin Hearn

Spray construction

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010

One house... two house... spray house... new house!

What is it:An Italian inventor has developed a construction scaffold that operates like a digital printer. Using CAD software, it sprays alternating layers of sand and a magnesium-based adhesive to build sandstone buildings from the ground up. With this process, the buildings go up in only a quarter of the time and cost half as much as conventional buildings. Even better, the resulting structures are as durable as sandstone buildings, and without the restrictions of conventional right-angle building (imagine oval rooms, oval windows, etc.)

Why is it cool: We may not all have flying cars yet, but spray-building homes could revolutionise construction. Imagine the public works projects that could be done in developing regions.

Where to find it: here!

Submitted by: John Cucka

iAd

Tuesday, April 13th, 2010

These are not the spies you are looking for

What is it: A new mobile advertising platform from Apple that allows companies to find out where users are and supply relevant ads to their location – ads that combine the emotion of TV with the interactivity of the web. For advertisers, it creates a new media outlet that offers consumers highly targeted, relevant and almost personalised information.

Why is it cool: Although the marketing opportunities are profound (e.g. McDonalds could serve 10,000 people mobile ads and receive analytics showing what percentage of them later actually visit; people can already receive ads and special offers for the very shops and restaurants that they are walking past!), there are privacy implications that will likely require regulation.

Where to find it: here!

Submitted by: Melissa Yee

Simply Coasting

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010

What Coasting might look like

What is it: A bike with no manual gear change or brakes and a super comfy saddle placing the rider within easy reach of the ground.Automatic gear change is managed through a chip embedded in the front wheel.

Why is it cool: A dramatic shift from talking about the product, something that your traditional cyclist usually laps up, towards an approach based upon an emotional insight. They’ve called it Coasting, and all the communications are pitched around ‘riding as fun’. The aim is to encourage people who remember riding a bike as a kid and want to relive that experience effortlessly. Forget all the rational technology stuff, people ride bikes because they want fun.

Where to find it: here!

Submitted by: Jo Jones

Motormouthmeter

Friday, March 5th, 2010

I'll tell you "you talk to much", when you stop to take a breath

What is it: German-made Talk-o-meter identifies who is speaking in a dialogue and tracks the extent to which one or other is monopolising the discussion.

Why is it cool: Aside from the application being an opportunity to be more inclusive to the quieter members of a team whether an in-house meeting or a focus group (we can’t all be superstars!, it’s a great reminder about the importance of listening – communication is two-way!

Where to find it: here!

Submitted by: Hilde Swendgaard

Document your life

Thursday, January 28th, 2010

What a time lapse reel of your life might look like

What is it: An auto snapping camera documents the wearers life. Users typically wear the camera on a cord around their neck, but it can also be clipped to clothing. Among its features are an accelerometer, a compass and a fish-eye lens to ensure that nearly everything in the wearer’s view is captured. The device can operate either on a timer—taking photos every 30 seconds—or it can be set to take photos automatically when triggered by internal sensors, which can detect body heat as well as changes in temperature, light and motion. Along with images, the camera also stores a time-stamped log file that can be enriched with GPS traces. It holds around 30,000 images, or approximately 6 days’ worth.

Why is it cool: Aside from the potential uses within research (hello first-person ethnography!), this steps eerily close to a truman-show-esque voyeurism.

Where to find it: here!

Submitted by: Dom McCarthy

Le Bar Guide

Friday, January 15th, 2010

Le beer

What is it: An example of a brand taking advantage of augmented reality (which combines GPS and the internet, overlaying digital information on real world images). The “Stella Artois Le Bar Guide” is a free iPhone application that enables users to find out the places nearby that serve Stella Artois. It provides directions to the venues and users can upload venue reviews.

Why is it cool: From our research, it is clear that, apart from wanting discounts and exclusivity, members of clubs want to know the nearest places that stock and sell their favourite products. Not only does the “Stella Artois Le Bar Guide” provide a solution to this, but it also fulfils other features of community, such as shared information and opportunities to give back (by letting users leave comments, send messages to other patrons, etc.)

Where to find it: Article here! Video here!

Submitted by: Bernard Visperas

Tame your wild monkey

Monday, December 14th, 2009

What the mind of a tamed monkey might look like

What is it: Zen text editor is a multi-sensory tool to help people concentrate when writing.

Why is it cool: Recognising that the modern age is filled with distractions, and that distraction is the enemy of the focus and concentrated required, in particular, for writers, this text editor combats the information overload of our age. Much like the slow cow beverage of previous SCIOs, what other categories are ripe for counter-trend offerings?

Where to find it: here!

Submitted by: John Cucka