Pocket Parm is silly enough to get attention and practical enough that plenty of cheese lovers will feel the need. I‘m a fan of every cheese from bocconcini to Limburger, and so the idea of never finding myself stranded somewhere without Parmesan has obvious appeal. Sure, I much prefer the real stuff. But we’re discussing emergency cheese here. Standards gotta be flexible. Photo: Kraft Kraft Natural Cheese has created Pocket Parm, a miniature version of its familiar grated-cheese shaker that...
1 day ago • 1 min read
Bentley is designing its new EV around something product teams tend to underuse: the senses beyond sight. Most brands obsess over what they LOOK like. You know, logo, colours, typography and industrial design. The usual, obvious stuff. Bentley is asking a broader question: what should a Bentley SOUND like, touch like and even put you in the mood to do? For its new electric Torcal, Bentley has worked with Sensory Experiences, a research and design lab founded by Russell Jones, to orchestrate...
3 days ago • 1 min read
Toyota’s Walk Me asks a useful innovation question: what if the limitation you’ve been improving around is the thing that needs replacing? Wheelchairs have been in slow evolution for a super long time. The earliest known depiction of one dates to about 525 AD, and Spain’s King Philip II had a wheeled chair built for him in 1595. The first recognizably modern folding wheelchair arrived in the 1930s. They’ve gotten lighter, faster, more comfortable and way more sophisticated. Yet their defining...
4 days ago • 1 min read
Halloween gives brands permission to go places that would get them the stink-eye any other time of year. Most days, suggesting that customers arrange to have their ashes buried in your snack packaging would be a super fast route to a crisis meeting. But in October? Apparently, that’s brand engagement. Pringles has launched Once You Drop, inviting fans to sign a “will and taste-ament” for a chance to win a custom metal cremation urn shaped like its famous can, complete with cobweb details and...
5 days ago • 1 min read
Corona Cero’s seven-pack is a wonderfully silly packaging idea built around a much bigger change in how people can consume beer. I stopped drinking alcohol almost nine years ago, and it was one of my better decisions. I truly haven’t missed the booze at all. Cold beer was another story. So I love the explosion of 0.0% beers from global brands and tiny breweries alike. Many of them taste really, really good. One of my favourites (and my wife’s too) is Corona Cero. Ice cold, wedge of lemon,...
6 days ago • 1 min read
The new Roadster has questionable commercial value, but as an attention-generating product demo it has already worked spectacularly. Elon Musk unveiled the long-delayed Tesla Roadster this week by having it accelerate to 60 mph in under a second, cling upside down to a ramp and kickflip over Tesla’s existing vehicle lineup using SpaceX-derived cold-gas thrusters. Then social media did exactly what Musk was countin’ on it to do. Fans circulated the footage because it looked impossible. Critics...
7 days ago • 1 min read
Cause marketing can improve how people see a brand, but the product you attach it to determines IF that goodwill turns into buying. Cause marketing usually seems made for stuff we love buying. Like chocolate that helps feed children, sneakers that support youth sport, or concert tickets that fund community programs. There’s an obvious logic to it. If buying something indulgent creates a little guilt, attaching a good cause can make the purchase easier to justify. A study in the European...
8 days ago • 2 min read
Visit Sweden shows how an overlooked product attribute turns into a compelling reason to buy when it connects with the right customer need. Visit Sweden has opened a travel agency for introverts. The Introvert Travel Agency promotes Sweden to folks who want more personal space, fewer obligatory conversations and the freedom to explore without constantly interacting with strangers. As an introvert, I SO get this. Some days I’ll happily chat with an Uber driver on the way to the airport. But...
9 days ago • 1 min read
Apple’s new product burst is a useful reminder that the loudest reaction to an unfamiliar product rarely predicts what buyers will do with it. John Ternus has been running Apple for barely six weeks, and already the place is lookin’ busier. Since September 1, Apple has introduced its first foldable iPhone, HomeView in tabletop and wall-mounted versions, plus a whole family of smart-home cameras, thermostats, sensors, a doorbell and deadbolt. Obviously, this stuff was underway before Ternus...
10 days ago • 1 min read
