Libraries and bikes the rage

http://www.news.com.au/business/money/story/0,25479,23979965-5017313,00.html

Local libraries, bike riding and camping are making a comeback as families turn to free activities to cope with rising fuel prices. Interest rate rises, soaring petrol prices and growing grocery bills have also made a big dent in our discretionary income, nearly halving it within the past six months. Australians now are focusing on more home-based leisure activities and such free outings as visits to libraries and parks.

= My life...

(Bike courtesy of Chanel; for a cool $12,000AUD you can have one too http://www.vogue.co.uk/news/daily/2007-10/071022-two-wheels-are-better-than-none.aspx)

Forging the consumer experience

For me, the best part of a buying experience is getting the goods home post-purchase to do the initial unwrapping... there's nothing quite like unpacking the box, peeling off the protective packaging and seeing the product in action for the first time. For larger purchases it is perhaps not wise to repeatedly spend to get this same love, that's why dweebs on YouTube have solved the problem by posting videos of them unwrapping their purchases.

Case 1) MacBook Air:
I would love a MacBook air but for functionality purposes, wouldn't dream of buying one currently. However I can watch the following video (- silence is golden) to get the same post-purchase buzz as if I'd had.

Case 2) Asus Eee Pc
For less than $500AUD a pop, the ultra-portable Asus notebook is seriously on my to-buy list. After watching the unboxing and also another video of the walk through tour of the Linux OS, it has only made me want it more.

After recently purchasing a car I also did a YouTube search to see fellow peer reviews and non-publicity videos of the car in question. This helped me to retain the excitement and desire for the product long before I came to have it.

So what next? Perhaps this could be adapted somehow into online e-tailing strategies as the elements such as touch and feel are lost here. Media showing the product in use and in motion could help recreate the offline consumer experience...

If I read another source which says that DDB won the Tourism Australia account - please kill me!

Perhaps it's due to the success of The Gruen Transfer, or because promoting Australia as a tourist destination homes in close to people's hearts, but I've never seen so much referencing to one advertising campaign before!

The news that DDB Worldwide won the Tourism Australia account even hit mass media: http://www.news.com.au/travel/story/0,26058,23968563-5014090,00.html. I mean do the general public even care about this? Should they care about this? Especially enough to have the 'news' in prime 'front page' spot on news.com.au! The article then goes on to mention the other agencies in the selection process such as Satchi & Satchi and M&C Saatchi. Why would a layman again care or need to know about this information?

Melburnians: Something to do this weekend...

This shopping guide to South Melbourne is courtesy of Lucy @ The Design Files; a blog which is becomingly increasingly influential in the design world scoring interviews with well known retailers/designers such as Liane Rossler from Dinosaur Designs and Kristina Karlsson of kikki.K. These people really understand how to hollistically work publicity in the age of Web 2.0!

Anyway back to the post topic... the full write up of the SM guide can be found here, complete with further info and lovely images.

http://www.thedesignfiles.net/

Melbourne International Design Festival

MIDF is fast approaching and there are some great events and initiatives happening at Fed Square and surrounds during the festival.

My picks would be:
1) Checking out some of the best of Melbourne's architecture under the open house scheme such as the Manchester Unity Building: http://www.melbourneopenhouse.org

2) Seeing an installation of a vertical wall garden by French artist and scientist Patrick Blanc in Melbourne Central: http://www.nationaldesigncentre.com/Default.aspx?MenuCode=ME0226&ValuePath=ME0182/ME0226.


3) Checking out some of the Design on Toast Breakfast Series speeches such as the 'Branding: What's in a name?' one, not to mention they're FREE: http://www.nationaldesigncentre.com/Default.aspx?MenuCode=ME0261&ValuePath=ME0182/ME0254/ME0261

(Thanks to Apartment Therapy for the second image).

Starbucks Feel the Slump...

Starbucks announced yesterday that they will close 500 of their US stores, making 12,000 employees redundant. The news comes as a result of the further slow down of the US economy and rising petrol costs. What's surprising is that 70 percent of these stores opened from 2005 onwards, which just goes to show how volatile markets can be and that you can't predict anything, particularly in periods following success/growth.

Whilst 500 stores may sound like a lot, especially in comparison to the Australian market, this is just under five percent of Starbuck's 11,000 US stores and relatively miniscule considering Starbucks opened 2,500 new stores across the globe last year at a rate of seven outlets per day!

More info from The Wall Street Journal:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121494400432420449.html?mod=googlenews_wsj